The results of the first round of presidential elections sent shockwaves through Romania. But was Russia really behind it, as many suspect? Or is this another example of the far-right using social media to amplify its message? And what do you think will be the broader significance of all this? Let me know in the comments below.
@@JamesKerLindsay Rusia had nothing to do with it. The majority is so sick of the corupt PSD party that would vote an extraterestrial if it means they dissapear. Lasconi is so stupid that she has no chance. She's the romanian version of Biden. Thats why Georgescu won. Its not a vote for him, but against the others.
I have been closely following the entire election process and was shocked by the results. To my dismay, I later discovered that even people I know voted for a man nobody had heard of until a week before. Since then, I’ve made several unsuccessful attempts to explain to people that they’ve been manipulated, and that the situation in Romania isn’t dire enough to justify such extreme actions. Yet no argument seems to stick. People are gripped by fear of the LGBTQ community and claim they’d rather speak Russian than live in a society influenced by what they perceive as "gay ideology," which they associate with the second candidate. In my conversations, I’ve noticed striking parallels to the way KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov described indoctrinated Americans during the Cold War. It makes me wonder if similar tactics are being used today. The phrase "better red than dead" from the Cold War echoes eerily in what people are saying now: "better to speak Russian than be gay." What are your thoughts on this? Thanks for the video-it's excellent as always.
Very well narrated, we'll see in a couple of days, BUT things are suspicious,1.Georgescu 's political campaign was built with 0 dollars ( that s his official story ) while other political partys spent millions on campaigns 2. We never saw him, all candidates did televised debates for weeks . Nobody knew who Georgescu was until after the first round of elections.
No way. Political parties pay a lot of money to the televisions and then anyone else is considered pro-Russian. It's the same policy that was done in the USA with Trump.
I feel obliged to point out a huge mistake in the video: In 2004 Iliescu was not forced out of office by Basescu. He didn’t even run anymore because he ended his second full term and the constitution allows only 2 mandates. Basescu won the elections in 2004 against Adrian Năstase, the PSD’s candidate, the serving prime-minister between 2000-2004 during Iliescu’s second full mandate as president.
@@zo2779 A lot of people care, and really everyone listening should care. If you're so careless about foreign news (and even your own country's media), you are bound to be misinformed.
Romania is not a supporter of Russia. But it is a strong supporter or EU and NATO (more than 60%) despite whatever stupid morons say over the internet.
@@Eygon-ce3ccsuddenly, lots of accounts with names ending in 5 random chars after a dash have very pro-russia and pro-georgescu opinion. Not suspect at all, you know?
Thank you! Romanians are absolutely sick of the corruption PSD has installed in every system of the country.. The educational system has been let down, the medical one is barely even working, salaries have been awful and the job market is basically non-existent.
One mistake you have in your video, Romania was placed under comunist Russia by Winston Churchill, he chosed to save Greece by sacrifcing Romania, when they shared europe after world war
Wrong. The occuying soviet army, NKVD and their cronies, useful idiots, educated and trained in the USSR in the spirit of the International Communist movement (Komintetn) and the local useful idiots, naive enough to trust and believe the soviet/communist propaganda were responsible. It took Winston Churchill some years to realise the enormity of the realities of the Soviet Empire, but it was too late at that time.
I don't know where you pulled that from. Romania was doomed to become communist not just because of the Soviets but because it had an active communist party, even before ww2, strongly supported by the Comintern. When the war started some of them went underground while the main leaders fled to Moscow. They returned when the war ended stronger than ever, pulled their own out of prisons and took over.
@@nihlus9589 After discussing Poland, Churchill told Stalin Romania was "very much a Russian affair" and the Soviet-Romanian armistice was "reasonable and showed much statecraft in the interests of general peace in the future." Churchill then stated that "Britain must be the leading Mediterranean power", which required having Greece in the British sphere of influence.[50] Stalin expressed some sympathy for the British who for much of World War II have been unable to use the Mediterranean because of the danger of naval and air attacks from Axis forces based in Italy, forcing the British to supply their forces in Egypt via the long route around the Cape of Good Hope.[50]
@CiobotaruElena As Romania LOST the main Security Guarantors (France and England - France Capitulated to Nazi Germany and Britain being hammered by the Luftwaffe), Romania had to do something to STOP THE EXPANSION OF SOVIETS / PAN-SLAVISM (which PROVED TO BE CORRECT after the end of the War). In spite of Romanians War effort alongside the Allied Forces, the US and Britain "Sold out" Romania (and Poland) to the Soviets in exchange of Greece !!! These Empires (British and US) ARE RESPONSIBLE for so much suffering in Eastern / Central Europe !!! By the way, 1 (one) Empire IS GONE ....... CAN'T WAIT FOR THE OTHER ONE TO DISAPPEAR AS WELL !!!
Professor, your brief overview of Romania's history was so skimpy that it missed important elements that lay at the foundation of profound anti-Russian sentiments in the Romanian society, thus distorting your analysis. For those of your viewers with keen eyes, the countour of the Principality of Moldova before and after the union in 1859 with Wallachia will show the loss of nearly half of its Eastern part, taken by the Russian empire in 1812 (most of it is the current Republic of Moldova). Maybe mentioning the 12 occupations by Russian troops of the territories of the Principalities and of Romania, the betrayal in WW1 and never returning of 90 tons of gold send there for protection, the fact that Romania only entered into an alliance with Nazi Germany after the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact and the rapt of Eastern Moldova, northern Bucovina by the Soviets, Northern Transylvania by Hungary and Southern Dobrogea by Bulgaria, then having to accept Germany's guarantees for what remained of our country and become their allies and give them access to our oil fields. So no, we don't need Russians as friends because we know them and do not trust them! All those online saying they want to be friends with Putin's Russia are mostly trolls or bots, and a few useful idiots in between.
And yet bloody Georgescu comes as favorite in the last round. 32% radicals were sent in the Romanian parliament, while half of PSD shares same views like AUR. Who can tell Firea, Pandele that they can't govern with godfather Becali? Or ex PRM Olgutza with a wacko like Georgescu? There is a strong chance they will, even not from the start, to avoid EU criticism and block of EU funds, while AUR to let their radical voters chill for a while the anti PSD sentiment.
Western European and Americans simplify politics too much, don’t understand the nuances. All they see is Left Right, and assume that the Left and Right in America is the same in Romania. Liberals in Romania are right wing while in the US they’re left wing. Nobody in Romania is pro Russia. You might have some pro Russians in Moldova.
I am 44 years Romanian, lived all my life here in Romania and till two weeks ago I had no ideea who this guy was, never heard of him . I hope we send him back in round 2.
But if he wins in the second round everyone should respect it like in Georgia no need for riots it's the will of the people same thing vice versa scenario
@@bilic8094 You can't say that it's the will of the people when Georgescu tricked the Romanian people with TikTok, Crazy Words and so on, to be honest, I will go in the streets if this guy is selected.
@@klauscata225 doesn't matter... I myself disagree with this man and I think he is dangerous to our democracy, but if he wins the election we need to accept him and hope he will be a democratic president and won't make us, the people, do the same thing that happened in '89.
idk, did the candidates in these countries also claim they have 0 funds for their campaign while simultaneously having a full coordinated takeover on tiktok, with both bots and paid influencers?
How about in US when Trump was first elected. These vectors manifested inside a particular social network. Romania is a cybersecurity hub, so everything is rock solid from that perspective, but inside tiktok there's another universe. The vulnerability is that many romanians spend time on tiktok and ar not the wisest of romanians due to type of content on that platform. So is a perfect match ... vulnerable people receptive to questionable content. problem is they don't have capacity to discern what is true or not from what they are fed by tiktok algo. Not sure how many countries are safe from these kinds of attack vectors, so everyone better prepare. I think best thing is to ban tiktok 1-2 months before elections and re-enable after elections end, if you cannot properly monitor its activity.
Yeah, Russian election meddling according to the American trash media. Of course for globalists it is not a convenient candidate and therefore it is necessary to blame him for being pro-Russian, it is such a democracy, it is normal to elect a pro-Western candidate and kill the economy, but to elect a pro-Russian candidate is election meddling. hypocrisy of Europe as usual. They are not pro-Russian, but against globalists, so there is no point in spending money from Ukraine, which is also globalist, they will steal everything there anyway, and moreover the war was a US plan. Watching the short video “History of Russia-Ukraine Conflict Explained” on Valuetainment channel will open your eyes.
One question: Did Russia also fixed the elections in USA, or are you excluding the ideea that people simply voted for these people? Is that the case? If people chose in one direction is democratic, if not it's russian hand.
@@_Silviu It is undeniable that it is a big win for Russia that Trump won the USA elections, Trump wants to stop the aid to Ukraine and has shown some reluctance in helping NATO. It makes perfect sense for Russia to support Trump in his election and probably did, not necessarily in an illegal way. Now the same pretty much goes for Romania, with the difference that Trump was very well known, won the elections in 2016 and analysts were already predicting his victory. Georgescu on the other hand was a nobody, analysts believed he would not surpass 10%. And the fact that he won the first round of elections makes this a lot more suspicious. Of course nothing is confirmed, we know that the Russian media gave him a lot of support but as far as anything else goes, we do not know.
@@_Silviu well American media said he was a Russian agent than they said he was Hitler if he gets elected it's the end of democracy lol same propaganda from the media. We will see, ofc everyone will riot if for example we will get out from EU or NATO without a plan, for now it's not the case for the near future
This type of question is known as whatabaoutism (the technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counter-accusation or raising a different issue). We are currently exploring the possibility of Russia meddling with Romania's elections. Judging by the thousands of newly created accounts promoting that dude everywhere on social media, as well as its followers (either fake accounts or real voters) that don't engage in debate, this might be the case. The way Georgescu's campaign has been happening, convincing its voters to trust him and not engage in healthy discussion is more akin to a promotion of hate against anybody against his political ideas. Lastly, there have been numerous of Georgescu's public declarations that have been disproven by a lot of Romanian media and people. The response of his cult-like following was, for the lack of a better way of putting it "so what? at least we are not LGBT". Mind you that his counter-candidate has signed the 2018 Referendum organized by Coalitia pentru Familie to revise the constitution so that only a man and a woman can be united in matrimony. So, to cut it short, there is a very high possibility that Russian influence has unnaturally spread among the Romanian voters. Whether that happened in the US, too, or not is a good topic of discussion.
@@Monastiraki2022 this!!! And there was also a masked campaign in which influencers received money and a brief to say that they want a candidate with "verticality and equilibrium". Although they should have mentioned that they got paid and to write the unique candidate identity code CMF.
@Monastiraki2022 about the bots , welcome to 2024 , that's the way elections are won, televisions do the same actually since they receive money to support a party, like a propaganda. Unfortunately there is no way at the moment to have free bot social media and it will get worse, unless we are starting to give our ID's to make an account, which is also not a great idea. By the way the bots can't vote, and if there are idiots that went and vote on what's trending on TiKTok, they are beyond saving, which I'm sure there were, take note to what SENS party have done doing disinformation saying Georgescu supports their party ....
Let me just understand something professor, if I am a politician or political organization in some democratic country. I receive funding from USAID, the Norwegian government, the Rockefeller Foundation, or the Open Society Foundation, then I am not considered a foreign lobbyist and everybody should treat me as a fer democratic candidate in political arena completely independent from my financiers, and if someone tries to question my funding sources and label me as a foreign lobbyist, complete EU will sanction that person or government. But if I on the other hand get funding or any sort of support from Russia and Russian government-affiliated institutions (or practically any institution outside of western sphere of influence) all of a sudden the same pro-democratic thinkers that were defending my US/EU-backed funding will jump to explain to everybody that I am under the influence of Russia (or that other malign organization/government). Isn't that just pure hypocrisy? If we are honest, in a real democratic, independent society no external funding to political organizations should be allowed, but I just cannot grasp why you and other prominent political thinkers never attack the same when it is happening from Western governments and organizations? Do you believe that influencing countries' elections is OK if it is performed by Western governments, security services, and/or affiliated organizations, or is it something that should be outlawed for all sides equaly?
This is exactly how it works: "Rules for thee but not for me". Georgia is going through hell right now exactly because of the US inspired law on foreign agents (FARA). You can talk about foreign hybrid warfare, but you're not allowed to list the foreign sponsors of parties, the media and NGOs from the West.
@@V.C.R.11 I'm Romanian and read your long comment so I said to just give a quick reply. I personally don't believe that there is an evil globalist agenda. But I think many of us in Romania are anti-Russia, as other have said in the comments of this video. We have issues in our country but I value the freedom of speech and living that we have now compared to the communist era. I think we should make room for both sides, conservative and progressive views should be discussed and debated in the public space and we must remain an united nation and not get so divided. Maybe you know that conservative values are still very strong in Romania. One thing that strikes me in your comment is the fact that you are wondering if Russia felt forced to attack Ukraine to stop the globalist agenda. I don't understand how can you even wonder about something like this. How can that be a reason to attack another country and to start a war that kills other human beings? It is not justifiable in any way to start a war that kills people, there is no justification for Russia! I think we should all try to remain decent human beings, and try to leave in peace. All the best to you!
This is a common thing in the West that some election results are interpreted through the influence of foreign governments as a decisive factor, while ignoring the real situation on the ground. As we saw in the 2016 American elections, when the Democrats claimed that the elections were rigged by the Russians and then 8 years later faced the reality, which is that many voters were not satisfied with their policies. So even today in Romania, people are primarily dissatisfied with the economic situation as a result of Covid and the war in Ukraine, and they have never approved of such a confrontation with Russia, because like other Eastern Bloc countries, they have seen both sides of the coin, i.e. both communism and democracy, and traditionally do not have much trust in the government and the media.
Who in the EU approved a confrontation with Russia? No one. Who went on Ukrainian soil and wages a colonial war trying the erase Ukrainian culture? It was Putin's Ruzzia, not the other way around.
Russia's part in the US elections from 2016 was confimred by US secret serivice. Moreover, in ROmania declassified documents have shown Georgecu paid his campaign and TikTokers to praise him with Russian money. When asked he claimed he invested 0 in his campaign. He might go to jail.
Excuse me but as a young(er) Romanian I do not feel the desire to experience dictatorship myself (under Georgescu). I would much rather support Ukraine, I would much rather approve of that. I have read enough history to not wish my country any ties with Russia
So what you said is true for a segment of population here (that voted for him) but I refuse to believe we forgot our history and they form the majority
Democracy is weak, it destroys itself, it doesntweed out traitors, it doenst manipulate the voters in their favour. Voters now are brainwashed so bad they vote their own destruction and think they are escaping from it and from corruption when i nfact they choose russian puppets
Terrible analysis that completely fails to recognize the Trump phenomenon and the shift to the right in many parts of Europe. NATO is no longer a functioning alliance heavily dependent on the US, who under Trump will move to bilateral relations rather than broad alliances. EU’s out of control bureaucracy needs to be tempered by strong leaders in the member states who no longer wish to be bullied. The people have spoken, this is how democracy works - you must respect the will of the people whether you like the outcome or not.
Trump phenomenon is not a thing here, and neither is a right shift. You're seeing what you want to see, just like a lot of western media covering this. You guys have literally no clue what's happening here and you're trying to fit puzzle pieces into your world view.
well, "combat online desinformation" was cherry on top. those clown from EU political media are not better than communist elite party losing touch with population in old regime.
it's election compain if you influence in favor of your own group of interest.. if it's against your group/ for an oponent it's manipulation.. what don't you understand.
In my country there are very strict rules about political advertising. You certainly could t have foreign actors pumping millions of dollars into social media advertising to other parties detriment.
Many Romanians are upset about the aid Ukraine receives from their country. A reason often mentioned is that wilsh orphans in orphanates live in bad conditions, the health system is dreadfully underfunded the state diverts resources towards Ukraine's war effort. Also Ukranian people and the Ukranian state have always treated the Romanian population living in North Bucovina very poorly.
Ukrainians receive help from EU money, not to mention that a large part of the information related to this subject is grossly exagerrated and wrong. Those upset that others receive basic help after fleeding a war-torn country are a shame for the human kind. Not to mention that ALL those complaining about children in orphanages never ever helped or care about those children, until now
As a Romanian I’m asking you kindly Professor to include an important detail whenever you tell the short version of our history from now on: after World War II broke out Romania quickly claimed neutrality initially, but being faced with a fate similar to Poland’s (USSR annexed Bessarabia in East and nazies “gifting” Hungary with a chunk of Transilvania in west) it quickly chosen to join the Axis powers in order to survive as a state - USSR was feared as a mortal enemy of our state. I’m asking you to include this important piece of information for the Western public opinion and also because USSR robbed us blind after the end of the war (‘cause this is what you do to a new ally, right?..) motivating that as “taking reparations for the war”. Only that said reparations had been “collected” several times in value than agreed by peace treaties.
Though you may be right at what Russia did to Moldova, old Moldovans in their majority want to return with Russia because they were much better with Russia than with Romania.
I would just like to point out that there were many Nazi collaborators in Europe, and most of them, like the Frenchman Petain, claimed that they only sided with the Nazis to save their country from destruction. It should be noted that this argument is generally not accepted as valid; In France, for example, Petain is considered a traitor. So I think this excuse is at best of limited value.
@@3ascdo743 in many ex URSS countries local culture, language, trasirions were supressed. Russian language and URSS ideology was promoted. Intellectuals, leaders were arrrsted, deported…and ethnic russians were brought in. that how you russify a nation.
As a Romanian I feel like not even Russia would make the shit up that is happening in the public here in Romania...... The goverment did it with it's own hands. I don't think that even Russia would want to deal with romania
Why can't you simply see the truth? People voted him because he is actually proposing something different. Are you truly Romanian? Have you seen the level of living in some rural areas? I thank God that people are not stupid and voted him. But you truly seem to miss the reality by far. And then you try to make conspiracy theories.
@@trotziger_emil He is actually proposing something different, Ro-Exit, NATO-Exit, communist ideas, legionary's praising, lies over lies about him, stuffed with mystic delirium tremens
@SXsoft99 Af course a lot of other countries leaders detest us being without personality and accepted for 35 years to be slave for this corrupt leaders and Putin is laughing of us ,detest us.Of course he's right.
He is not pro Russia, he is pro Romania and because he is not pro war corporate media start to label him as pro Russia. Romanians vote for him because it was the only one who promote peace and ensure the Romanian people that he will not drag the country in a war with Russia. Because the other candidate Lasconi state that she will fully support Ukraine in the war with Russia this made the difference between the two very big so they decided to top this election witch is basically a coupe.
Professor, I appreciate your work, and especially the fact that you are covering my country, and that is why I feel the need to point out that there are many, many flaws in this video. Much of the western media also makes these mistakes, and it's infuriating to see them propagated. I will gloss over the historical mistakes because the important one is that Georgescu does not present himself as a far-right candidate to his audience. That is to say, his results do not reflect a large presence of far-right sentiments. What we are seeing is the collapse in credibility of the highly corrupt status quo that has ruled the country since '89. Most voters of Calin Georgescu and other far right parties previously voted for the somewhat progressive staunchly pro-NATO/EU USR! However, USR managed to gain a bit of power - not enough to actually change the course of the country, but enough for them to be considered part of the "system". And as USR itself descended into chaos, it lost most of its support. And so, the anti status-quo voters were left looking for something - ANYTHING that can topple the corrupt system. And here comes Georgescu with his carefully crafted providential image and massive TikTok campaign aimed at people who have lost all hope for a change. That is what is driving it.
@Sasha-mdib sorry to hear that. But I haven’t said anything here that doesn’t reflect what I have said in other videos. But I understand that sometimes things I say aren’t going to please viewers. But that’s what happens. Still, while you can choose to disregard my comments and call em a propagandist, I still have thirty years as a published academic, many spent at one of the world’s leading institutions, and I am open about who I am, unlike many channels on TH-cam. But again, it’s up to you to make your own decisions on who you want to listen to on world affairs and who you don’t.
@@JamesKerLindsay the dude is just a russian bot, not an actual person. As any other russian bot they try to subminate your status without pointing any verifiable facts by saying "the respect was lost" which a russian textbook tactic.
@@JamesKerLindsay i know you have academic pedigree, that makes these kind of onesided views from your side that much worse. Last 3 years if China or especially Russia is mentioned it's like watching CNN or BBC, not an academic's video.
Report this guy for misinformation lost my respect seeing his comment he dont even care just wants views because Romania is Trending now he should be ashamed!!
Just heard that a couple hours ago, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced martial law but it was overturned by the parliament a few hours later
According to all polls, Romania was the most pro-American and pro-European country in the European Union. The fact that this individual has now been elected highlights the fragility of the system. And it should be noted that Romania has strategic partners, namely the United States and the major powers of Europe. And yet, together, they seem to have missed something millions of Romanians knew-that this individual was extremely popular on TikTok. I don't understand how this is possible. And I don't believe this happened without the knowledge of the authorities, who now claim they were unaware.
the vast majority of his defenders simply refuse to believe he is anti-EU or anti-NATO, despite him saying that Romania isn't interested in a defense alliance that doesn't defend it's members
His entire discourse is anti-EU and anti-NATO. All his supporters are clearly anti-EU and anti-NATO. All the values he expresses are completely incompatible with the values of European civilization as we know it. When I say "we," I am referring to the vast majority of Romanians who are liberals in the classical sense, not progressive.
@@rodobird this assumes his voters are smart enough to understand simple sentences. the ones on tiktok, under a video of him saying we don't need NATO because it's useless, would leave comments like "Where is he saying that he is anti-NATO? Stop making up lies about him!"
Haha! Sometimes, it's impossible to keep up with things. I might try to cover it. I know many want me to do something in Syria, and I do want to take a look at it, but the events in South Korea have a fascinating background.
Perhaps, but never as blatant as this one, in Romania at least, one of the candidates favoured by analysts pretty much always won. Never someone getting under 10% in estimates.
@@degle1923 Analysts and polling companies are part of the rigged propaganda system, that's why in the US only Polymarket, a decentralized prediction market, so pretty much a betting site (!!!) was able to accurately predict Donald Trump winning the elections (the Biden administration expressed its gratitude by sending the FBI to pay a visit to Polymarket's founder later...).
@@alphadios2003He has repeatedly stated that he is not pro-russia and just wants peace in Ukraine and for the war to end. He also believes in faith, family, and freedom? How is that type of rhetoric far right? 😂
you guys don't realize it, but romania is an extremly complex nation, and fortunately, people don't see that. this analisis altough a small distorted perspective, barely even grasps the true nature and debth of all of this
Professor Lindsay, your affirmations are ridiculous, you take from the international lying press , the rhetorical talking points of the political enemies of Calin Georgescu, your work is shoddy at best or intentionally misleading the people at worst.
It's not that _highly unlikely_ that Georgescu will win. Lasconi's party, USR, was villainized for years by PSD and PNL, the two larger traditional parties. LGBTQ+ rights being a big weapon. There's a lot of homphobia in the country, but Lasconi is in favor of civil partnership. Other than EU and NATO stance, PSD's message is not that different from Georgescu's. They have mixed messages these days. While calling themselves pro-EU and pro-NATO, they also reiterated some of their conservative views. They seem to play both ends. The race is very much on.
This is unbelievable! The "hate party" is a victim! I will vote for Georgescu just because comments like yours! USR are against: public servants, teachers, medical staff, military, retired persons. Remember when USR attacked using violence the government on August 10th? When you tried to change the government not by vote but by force?
I find it hilarious that PNL now supports Lasconi. I'm not pro-Georgescu or any of the far right parties in the running right now, so I am kinda scared that Georgescu will win and use the support of the three right and far right parties to basically rule the country and pass whatever they want.
Dude, Lasconi is NOT in favour of civil partnership. She said clearly she voted against same sex marriages. What people cannot understand about USR is that not all people inside it agree on the LGBT matters.
@@grigturcescu6190 civil partnership and marriage don't necessarily have to be the same thing. She said she supports civil partnership at the debate she had with Simion at Micutzu.
Because there is a clear effort by Russia to subvert western nations and separate them from the EU to weaken them. Brexit was partially funded by Russians who flooded the internet with bots. Also being anti EU is equivalent to being pro Russian. Romania would be 3rd world if it weren't for EU funding.
Love how whenever an election doesn't go in the way the EU/NATO has predicted... it's always Russia's fault. Bruv, don't You think that Russia has more important things to care for!? So, then, why would the Romanian People vote for a random guy? Perhaps because all their elected officials, thus far, have not earned their trust? Perhaps because his promises were better? Isn't the whole point of a Democracy to let the people choose who will lead them? Then, let them choose.
@@FlaviusLacatusu Not stupid, just desperate. People have the privilege to use their democratic vote, yes. But they don't realize that this may be the last time they do it. I have observed that people think it has always been like this in the country, bad. But the truth is that these have been the best times for Romania. People think it can be better by cutting of the EU because their teachers haven't been paid enough, all this time, to make them aware of history. WHY haven't the teachers been paid enough?? It's the sphere of influence, it's the cards that have been shuffled and GIFTED a long time ago. We were a soviet satellite, yes... We have always been oppressed by Russia so it's easy to exploit the peoples fear of it.
@@CaApa Electing this guy, Georgescu, as a president will not spell the end of our democracy. Presidential power is very limited and requires cooperation from the Parliament/Government to have any authority on domestic matters. A president can easily be suspended or locked in his palace (isolated). Presidential powers without support in the Parliament verges on ceremonial.
@@CaApa While I agree that some were desperate, I've met a fair few people who were definitely on the stupid side of things, parroting the same hateful things as either Calin Georgescu or the people at AUR. I understand wanting change and I understand some being desperate, but I doubt that all of them were desperate and not just stupid or brainwashed by those arguments.
A manipulative article, full of untruths. The author either does not know the truth about the brutal unconstitutional intervention of the Constitutional Court in the ongoing voting process, without any evidence of Russian involvement, or he is knowingly aligning himself with the lying press in Romania.
Romanians don't want nato's war. Ukraine is not in nato anyway. People think it's time they wrap it up and refugees can then return to their homes. Zelenski is overstaying his mandate. Ukrainians also want him gone and they want peace. If the uk has a beef with russia they can go fight themselves not using proxies.
What does wrap it up even mean? Who gets what? Russia whatever they want and Ukraine nothing? Why is no one calling for Russia to leave Ukraine, they are the ones that invaded in the first place, and the Russian people (that are somehow not afraid to speak) also want an end to the war.
@@tudvalstone Ukrainians like their leaders Zelensky and Zaluzhny. If Zelensky will go from power they will choose Zaluxhny to fight with Russia for them. Any other ukrainian leader will come in power wil fight with Russia. But it is not Zelensky or leaders of Ukraine who want to fight with Russia, it is all people of Ukraine who want to fight with Russia. The people of Ukraine do not want a peace in which part of their territory is taken by Russia. There is no Ukrainian people who want Zelensky to go and there is no Ukrainian people who want peace in a country partially occupied by Russia. And Romanians don't see any Nato war. There is no Nato war. There is only Russia attacking Ukraine and Ukraine defending them selves.
UK has a Russia Derangement Syndrome worse than TDS. If it is willing to treat its own people the way they are now, imagine how they will treat the Romanians after they have finished all the Ucranians! As they say, chose wisely, because they didn't on the 4th of July! Puțin criptic dar sper să înțelegeți. Puțin dar nu Putin😂
I think politicians in Europe tend to blame Russia for populist candidates, but looking at poll numbers more generally, it is hard to see that as anything more trying to avoid blaming themselves for not following the will of the people. The great paradox of democracy is that we rely on government stability and therefore tend to be at risk of populism and yet populism is the expression of loss of faith in governmental policy expressed through democratic means. As austerity policies set in, populism is increasingly going to be seen as the answer by many voters. I think Mark Blyth's lectures on "Global Trumpism" from a viewpoint of political economics hit the nail on the head here. These are also not found merely in the West, but are a genuinely global phenomenon and may have something to do with the changing world order.
@@mumbai3899 It's both good and bad. Good because as Blyth describes, the center has largely failed the working classes. It is bad because it undermines the stability on which we all depend. Trump withdrawing from the INF treaty being a good example of that.
This is likely not the case though... Idiotic policies do undermine leadership pushing for it, true, however, that is a long process. And long processes create gradually create people/parties, who get more and more known. Key is, it is a slow process. Something this fast is suspicious.
However you can get a very slow buildup of resentment against low propensity voters which then decide to go out and vote. Now, if Russia is driving voter turnout among dissatisfied voters, the question is, is that an attack on democracy, or support of democracy?
@@WorldTravelerCooking That doesn't happen on this scale. You only take stuff so long, before you act. Again, barring outside influence, gradual inputs produce gradual outcomes.
Prof, quick FYI, if you put a question mark in the lead, the answer is no. As in Can Kamala beat Trump? The implied answer is no. Did Russia fix the Romanian election? The implied answer is no. Now I'm going to watch the video and see if the lead is reflected in the body.
Ignore the bot comments. Thank you for telling the truth. We want to remain in the EU and work towards the same living standards as most developed European countries have.
yes ignore all the pro eu globalist bots too. i can’t imagine the three letter agencies would ever spend money on trying to influence an election or destabilize a government that didn’t agree with western hegemony.
It won’t happen, the whole point of the EU is just to extend the markets for the EU’s corporate elites, while in the process killing the local corporates. Notice how EU countries or NATO never bought Antonov products, like the An-124 & the An-70 even though both were significantly superior to the the wests’ equivalent products while being significantly cheaper. Also note how Belarus has kept up to the Wests’ 3 Baltic micro states in productivity & living standards without the huge EU subsidies that they get BTW, do you notice that in the entire era when Ukraine was aligning itself with the West it’s economic figures relative to Russia’s kept getting worse & worse. So even before things escalated in Feb 22 Russia’s GDP per capita figures were 5 times greater than Ukraine’s. That’s a huge difference, even after being adjusted for population. Ukraine went from being near the richest republic in the SU in regards GDP per capita figures to close to the lowest of the former SU republics in the space of just around 2 decades. Only by being independent & looking after their own interests & by sticking to their own policies, even when they conflict with Brussel’s or DC’s, instead of looking to the EU & NATO for rescuing, will Romania move forward
this is where you people who think you are always right are blind and ignorant, just like they do in Romania now. Those "bots" are people who have a different opinion than you. We exist, we are many, and at some point you will have to take un into consideration because we will be more than you, we will be majority and you a minority. I hope you will still believe in democracy when you are in the percentage that is below the 50%. :)
Călin Georgescu said in a public interview that he wants to remain in the EU, keep Nato's military base etc, but that he does not want to give Romania away for peanuts as it has been done up to nowt, that he wants to receive equal value from the EU, from Nato and stand proud as a Romanian. That he is not pro-Russia, but pro-Romanian. Why are you calling people bots, just because you may not have informed yourself enough?
@@ilovethisworld3059 You are the one uninformed. After the elections you are free to emigrate to Russia if you're even a real Romanian citizen and not a bot.
I respect your opinions Prof. That being said, I am finding very strange that from your perspective, you have missed the coup d'etat that was called the 1989 Romanian revolution. Romania was the only country were people died during the fall of the comunist regim, And conveniently we changed the communist leaders with second in command communists. Also, when the current president won elections with the help of a huge Facebook campaign, you failed to note that, but now, since the current candidate is not part of the US/EU influence, out of the blue we are worried. People cast their vote and the majority spoken, let's respect that, all candidates had the same level of access to social media. I wonder if you follow an agenda or not? Regards
@@wyqtor you mean he had more money? How can he had more access to social media? Maybe the other candidates are just weak and they did a horrible job when they governed the country. That will make more sense
What must one understand about Ceausescu's communist rule is that he was a patriot, with the wrong political ideology. The country suffered a lot during his time but: guaranteed jobs once you finished highschool/university, very cheap apartments - you would buy an apartment from the state in 2-3-4 years, he industrialized complete romania - glass factories, tram factories, train factories, tractor, cars etc (although the industries' performance was not great as you can imagine). He borrowed massively from the IMF, raised an industry and infrastructure and immediately in a very short time Romania became the only country in the world ever to repay the IMF debt. Most Romanians who lived through communism know that the "revolution" in '88 was nothing more than a government overthrow orchestrated likely by the west through Iliescu. Back then, as of today, Russia was made to be the great enemy which was used to scare people and justify the crimes they did to the Ceausescu's family. Who in the world is 'judged' by being thrown against the wall and shot? You can`t correctly judge history by only reminding ourselves of things that we would like to hear and ignore the ones that we must hear. if we split the world into virtuous people and tyrants, we`d better do it properly. If the east is the enemy because it symbolizes oppressions and tyranny, the west must be as much as of an enemy since it no longer represents freedom, prosperity, the west europe, america, canada, australia, are mere vestiges of once great civilizations. now they are totalitarian regimes vaguely masked as democracies. If people don`t see this they are merely blind.
Hi! Thanks for making this video. I'm Romanian and I am witnessing and very much plugged into the current events, and I can confirm you made a pretty decent summary of this crazy situation. But there are some errors, plus there are very intereseting followups that I hope you will address, potentially in a pinned comment, potentially in a followup video, and I wonder how you will do it. 1. There are some errors and important omissions in your historical summary that were also pointed out by other commenters. Such as: - the president Basescu did not run against Iliescu but against Nastase in 2004 - there are about 4 million Romanians outside the country, one of the largest populations of emigrants of any country. About 800K voted this season, so it's not essential for the video but still feels like an important figure. - I feel like the stuff about WW2 is a fair summary, altho of course there are lots of details about how Romania was fighting against USSR for taking some of our land and treasure, and later even in communist times Romania was distancing itself from USSR having never been a part of it. So there is a strong anti-russian sentiment here, not that it makes much difference to your analysis. 2. Could you share sources for any of the information you presented? I noticed some of the screenshots show the news article source and seems legitimate, but I feel like there's a lot of important info that might be politically biased, and it would add a lot of credibility to support them with legitimate sources in links. I feel like you did a good job keeping things objective and making a fair analysis, but I wouldn't know anything about the Korean situation from another video - so I would be much more happy to see a bunch of sources and know that the public has the ability to go and double check what you say, and reading some comments to know if you are being fair and accurate or not, plus the ability to investigate further, starting from your sources. 3. Already on the 4th dec, a day after your video came out, Romanian president Iohannis declassified secret documents showing that there is evidence of russian meddling in the election. On the 6th (today), the presidential election was cancelled, due to said evidence, and the election will have to be redone in early 2025. Of course you couldn't have known but it will be interesting to see a followup from you, considering I am very interested in all your other content about the geopolitical situation I'm not familiar with. Thanks again! And hope to see some more sources!
What fixed this candidate it is:Romania's 7% budget deficit,one of the lowest salaries in EU taxed at 47%,prices at the same rate as in Germany, Spain, Italy,a political class corrupt to the core,a population of 19 million citizens with 1.5 million state employees to which are added almost 6 million retirees and 600,000 people who benefit from social assistance,this whole equation is supported by only 5.5 million people who work! I hope you now know the answer and believe me it is not Russia.
@@praetorian9196 România has indeed many problems - many of them caused by decades of Russian interference. That, however, wouldn't have been enough. It was a massive investment in a professionally executed online campaign that got the many votes for Georgescu. Where the money for that campaign came from is still not officially known. What's known is that Georgescu has close ties with people representing Russian interests both in Romania and Moldova. You go ahead and tell me that's a coincidence ...
@@praetorian9196 It is most likely Russia. Georgescu's campaign was extremely professional, albeit under the radar, the source of the funds is still unknown but he repeatedly declared that he's a huge admirer of Putin, and that he sees Romania's salvation in Russian wisdom. He's even more of a Russian agent than Iliescu was, who single-handedly prevented the unification of Romania and Moldova in the nineties.
And so you elect Georgescu so he can make those problems even worse. By his own words: He wants to isolate Romania (suveranism): even higher prices but for lower quality products in less stock. He wants mandatory military service back: less people working He wants to raise pensions: the money needed to support those retirees will be more. He wants closer ties with Russia: Russia is even poorer than we are, so our wages will drop even more. Georgescu is not the solution, but just another problem.
I don't know where you got your news from, but nothing you mentioned is accurate. He does not want to isolate Romania , he does not want Romania to leave the EU and Nato. He didn't say he he wanted closer ties with Russia... and Russia isn't poorer then Romania. 🤦♂️
This just shows how paranoid the EU and Nato is. Listen to the interview this guy made, he wants to be a part of Nato and EU. He is doing his best to make Romania great. Romenia first like Trump with USA.
This time, it is very obvious that you created this video based on liberal progressist information only. Calin Georgescu will be a president who will fight for Romanian rights and interests and still maintain a healthy relationship with the EU and NATO.
I see a lot of Georgescu fans in the comments here. Not far right? He's a fan of General Antonescu, who in 1941, in the span of only 3 days, killed 14000 jews in Iași. He also has provable ties to Russia and has declared that Romania's membership in the EU and NATO would be reevaluated if he becomes president. He also said there would be no political parties under his presidency and that he would implement a distributive economic model. Not sure how any of these views can be called moderate. The guy's a basket case and a threat to Romanian democracy.
Thank you! It really has been astounding to see all these comments. I am just trying to work out whether people are deliberately naive or whether they are being deliberately manipulative, trying to persudenothersreadibgvthe comments that he is a benevolent patriot. And, of course, there’s the question as to how many are in fact Russian bots keeping up the work that brought him to attention in the first place.
@JamesKerLindsay We've seen this phenomenon on Romanian FB pages and on Tik Tok, many many bots, but also many naive people, unfortunately. It's been a bit of a shock for many of us in Romania to see how immune these people are to simple basic research and easy to find video evidence of this candidate's very concerning and extreme views.
Sadly, a growing problem in far too many places. Brexit was the early result of this. But at least the Court in Romania is tacking this. The question is whether they let Georgescu stand in the rerun.
@@JamesKerLindsay I don’t think they’ll let him run again. For days now, we’ve witnessed a slow drip of evidence and revelations about his connections and dodgy financing. Just yesterday, a mercenary group connected to Georgescu was caught on the outskirts of Bucharest with a lot of weapons and cash on them. It seems they were heading into Bucharest to cause unrest among the pro EU protesters. This is just my speculation, but this slow drip of information from the authorities and media is meant to prepare the public for not only Georgescu’s exclusion from the election but also his arrest. Even some of the other pro Russian candidates have started to change their tune and are now saying they are pro EU and NATO.
Russia didn't needed to influence in any way the first round of presidential elections in Romania ; the European Commission does this constantly and the romanians are fed up.
Russia didn't have to fix it, Romanians were disappointed by their government, working abroad, hoping for their economy to improve, for jobs - but they were only receiving promises since they joined the EU. They wanted a drastic change, it happened organically.
So are you saying that Romania did not improve since joining EU? Romania economy grew very much in the last 15 years. Of course it's not near the level of western european countries, but still far better then Serbia/Moldova/Ukraine.
@@panthbestbaker7565 Improvements were, but not by much. We joined the EU right before the 2008 crisis kicked in and we went through a severe recession in the early 2010s. Economically speaking things have somewhat improved, but not by much. 30% of the population is in danger of chronic poverty still. A lot of counties are still in a desolate state with not much going on and no significant improvements. Some parts of the country developed way ahead compared to the rest which lead to severe regional inequality. Wages haven't grown on average as much as prices did. In recent years, prices for consumer goods and bills have grown way higher than wages did. Before the pandemic, I could go shopping and leave with a bag full of stuff without leaving behind 100 RON (around 20 euros). Now it is impossible to get a full bag without leaving ~150 RON (30 euros) behind. I am lucky that my wage is in median area (1000-1200 euro), but much of the country lives on minimum wage or a bit above (515-600 euros). Those people are really struggling now. Romania today has half or even less wages than Western Europe, but prices are similar to those in Western Europe for goods and services. Of course, there is variation. Some products are cheaper than in Western Europe. Others have the same price, others cost more. But on average, the cost of living in Romania is similar to the rest of the EU, but wages are much lower.
@@claudiu-mihaipuiu1221 Same propaganda of Lasconi and her Kremlin tanks to scare old ladies to vote her as back in 2000 PSD went in country side with a bag of 1l sunflower oil and 1kg sugar to buy votes
Very good summary of Romania s history and recent events. 🎉 I had to study for 6-7 years in school, just to get to something similar to this short video summary 🫣
I'm a normal Romanian who voted every time even if I was disappointed, but I didn't even know about this candidate except that I had very vaguely heard his name. Neither me nor my friends. It's very strange how he ended up winning round 1 overnight. He now claims he didn't even have campaign money...
Your endpoint about the opinion-forming power of social media, with its algorithms, is so important. A good example is here in Australia. The prime minister, who I don't particularly like, was accused of secretly ingratiating his lifestyle by buying a $4.2 million seaside mansion. There was no mention of his reasonably well-off partner who probably financed half of it. $2.1 million is not an excessive figure to contribute towards a house. This is an exercise in social media smearing. It was not about accuracy but character assassination with distorted information. Here, mud sticks on a feeling/gut level. He is portrayed as a dodgy, self-interested character.
Nope! ... no worries about us, we are quite peaceful 😊... just some paid brainless youngsters who can not understand what a democratic vote means... and they think that acting like a crybaby would change things. Much love!
Professor, do you observe that UE apply old Soviet social tactics for control , can you please do a video comparing their methods of mass control? Please it will be interesting.
It's sad to hear of some of the countries in eastern Europe are moving more to the right. I hope that the EU reviews its own policies and asks whether or not they may contribute to the movements on the right.
I think you should inform yourself better before promoting lies. Patriotism was never synonymous with extremism. You should talk to the Romanians about what they think about this and the lie from Brussels. But since you don't know what it means to be a patriot, I'm not surprised that you say these things.
then why did he also claim that ukraine is a fake state? why did he make a video pretending to be putin? why is he talking about "russian knowledge"? some idiots like you like to pretend that these things don't exist. CG is just a traitor and he'll soon be put on trial for this.
Why don't you worry about usa with Biden, eu with ursula and uk with stramer ??? Are they a good example, or did they represents democracy or capitalism????
@@StefeligaFlavius clearly, not all Romanians are “stupid” but maybe you can relate?! And not all Romanians want to be subservient lackeys to the EU agenda! Open your eyes and do your research, bruh!
@@StefeligaFlavius 😅😅. Eu in loc sa ma preocup de presedinte ma-s preocupa mai mult de guvern care e acelasi .,Acum poate veni si Mos Craciun presedinte nu-i mai salveaza nici sfantul sfintilor din coruptie hotie mentalitate deforma aretrata incultura si sa nu uitam faimoasa spagā 😅😅,,,indiferent cine va fi la cei de afara nu le va convine a se intoarce si tinretul romaniei abia va putea va fugi de acolo Asta este probabil incultura suferinta i-a purtat a vota aceiasi Amin. Eu stau bine unde sant si mi-am pierdut speranta deocamdata de a ma intoarce
Yes, lack of education, reading history books and listening only Russian propaganda inside their online conspirationsts bubble, Romanians are thirsty for Moscow's BS and Ceausescu's lies stuffed with mystic delirium tremens.
Thank you for your care to details about our country! Just one observation, it’s “Băsescu”, not “Băşescu”. The latter turns his name into a fart joke. It’s a very humorous moment in the middle of a very serious video there.
3:45 - FALSE !!! Romania initially was NEUTRAL until the Soviet Union / Russia invaded it in 1940 and occupied its eastern region - majority romanian Bessarabia (today’s republic of Moldova). Only after that Romania joined Germany against Russia.
Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. As you can see I have been getting a lot of abuse from supporters of Georgescu who said it is all incorrect. However, they can’t seem to come up with any hard inaccuracies except for what I said about the end of Iliescu’s second term.
5:36 *third. He had a first mandate from 1990 to 1992, and then elections were held again in 1992. Despite the number of presidential mandates being limited to 2, the 2000 election was the third time he ran, due a technicality (he was elected for the first time before the constitution was adopted in 1991, and he didn't serve a full 4-year term).
Yes because 3 million Russians came to Romania, got citizenship and voted for him. Not like the people chose him because when someone who they don't like wins it's always Russian intervention
Ha, ha, yes, 3 million Russians came to Romania to vote for Georgescu! So hillarious! These journalists are so dumb (or worse, corrupt)! But they don't mention a bit about some young/athletic Ukrainians who now come to Romania to make another 22 December 1989 (terrorists, right?) using the mob called by Lasconi in Victoria Place - Bucharest, today 05.12.24, at 5,30 PM. They try today to make another crimes, only to justify an annulment of the elections and to stop Georgescu be president of Romania. So: calm down, people! We don't need another "December 22nd 1989 terrorists bloody fake story"! Most of Romanians are awake!
Thank you for this video!😊 one thing I think would have made it even more beneficial for viewers would be to dive a little deeper into the national sentiment that is prevailing in Romania that has made the country so willing to look to a man like Georgescu. The predominant sentiment in Romania is a desire to remain in the EU and NATO but it comes along with a very intense awareness of how the EU and NATO have treated Romania. It is the treatment of Romania by these two institutions that have led to the people feeling mistreated, taken advantage of, disregarded, coerced, and taken for granted. At the root of it, whether there was outside interference in the elections or not, it is these intensifying sentiments that have allowed the seeds of this candidates ideas to take root. Once we understand the underlying sentiments of the country we can look at what exactly is in the content of this candidates TikToks that have made him so appealing to the people? What exactly is he saying and why is it appealing to so many people?
Thanks. I think this is really important. But I also get the sense that there is a degree of victim mentality at play. I’m not sure why many feel that Romania has been badly treated. It was taken into the EU when it was clearly unready. It has received huge amounts of development assistance. Many in Europe would say that Romania hasn’t lived up to its part of the bargain. Of course, there is truth in both sides. But it’s interesting to hear that many in Romania support Georgescu because they feel unhappy at the EU and NATO. Many elsewhere can’t understand why they feel this way.
@ There definitely is a degree of victim mentality at play here, that coupled with some of the negative experiences with the EU and NATO that the people have had creates a very fertile ground for populist chaos to ensue. And it can definitely be hard for those outside of a Romania that do not have direct experience with what life inside the country looks like to understand. A few examples of instances that have really stirred up these sentiments in the people are the excessive delays with Romania joining the Schengen space due to business interests in the opposing countries (like the Netherlands and Austria), predatory business practices of foreign investors that open up operations in country, the detrimental impact of improperly regulated Ukrainian grain exports flooding the markets and devastating the Romanian farmer populations, the imposition of social/cultural requirements contradictory to the values of the country. There is definitely a vast amount of internal corruption that is predominantly responsible for the current state of the country, however there is also a wave of sentiment that Romanian diplomacy has largely failed to protect the interests of its people and this plays a huge role in what is currently unfolding.
@@SpringtimeSunshine Actually, in the objective reality, there is a victim mentality and that is what intersects with Neo-Marxism, but it is on the Elena Lasconi propaganda. Calin Georgescu Has NEVER EVER blamed anyone or talked bad about ANYONE, even after he was attacked by everyone on the media (except Realitatea TV). That is how they brainwash you with a victim mentality. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH WHERE ROMANIA is heading. This movement for Georgescu did not come from resentfulness or a slap to the politicians, it came from actual people who woke up.
@@JamesKerLindsay It is not that they feel unhappy with the EU and NATO, the movement is to wake an entire country up against the Neo Marxist reptilians that are against humanity. Some of them control Brussels, and universities true, but it is just a coincidence. We want to change the movement of the EU and to stop them from going towards the destruction of Western Values.
Russia can NOT fix elections in Romania because: 1. Romania is not a slavic country, they do not speak or write cyrillic in Romania 2. Romania was never a part of Soviet Union. 3. Romania has/had territories taken(occupied) by the former Soviet Union. This implies the 2 countries were never "buddies". 4.Romania is a part of NATO and EU... this implies protection from massive election interference or otherwise. Now a few explanations about the Georgescu situation: 1.Georgescu had 2 million votes from a total of 18 million max possible. so not that much. 2.Georgescu is not pro russian, or pro anything, he is a charlatan (a person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skills), these types of persons do not have a strong belief in anything. 3. Different groups of radicals leached on and campaigned for him, these include: the neo communist, the neo fascists, the prorussian and anti NATO. all these groups are minorities. 4. He was voted mainly by people with less intellectual capabilities who traditionally were supporters of the left parties(meaning socialists).
1 is debatable about being slavic since we bulgarians are also mostlike not but romanians dit use old church slavonic(know as old bulgarian)till 1830 as first lenguage and writed whit the cyrilic script(aka bulgarian alphabet) till 1860 all oficialy and never hiden from any history get you to think are romanians realy romanians :D (that was a joke dont get mad pls , i know you were aways diferent from us :D we calld you vlahs because you prefered to live a simpler life but still :D)
@@Francisco_CS Well im Romanian and he is right! And because you have acces to internet just compare what rusia and usa did after 1990!!!NATO WARMONGERS ,by the way NATO WAS suposed to be disolved after the fall of the soviet union ! but here they are closer and closer ,suroundign and poking the bear in his own house!!!!! wake up and think and learn how GEOPOLITICS WORK !
Hello good day professor I am Romania , what happened in Romania with the elections is the fact that Romania had decent candidate for the last 35 years , we always have to choose the smaller evil and it's also the fault of the European Union sice 2004 we have been working for the last 20 years to become Schengen but there's always been problems and barricades , unfortunately the Romanian people hade enough with the bullshit , bureaucracy and the false promises from UE and at the democratic elections the Romanian people and diaspora choosing it's destiny and future and it's not like countries in Western Europe don't have their own problems when it comes to "far-right extremist" in my humble opinion the mother left has failed but it doesn't want to let power to go . GOD Bless you and GLORIE ROMANIA .
Calin Georgescu is probably not the most suitable Romanian for the presidency, but the rest of the candidates are not brilliant either. Romanians voted for him on the principle of "choosing the lesser evil." However, you made numerous errors about Romania in this material, you did not have precise and/or correct sources. I conclude by saying that this Mr. Calin Georgescu did not claim that he wanted Romania to leave the EU and NATO, and Romanians do not want that either. What Romanians want is for Romania's resources to serve Romanians first, then the rest of the allied countries. Romanians also want peace, war is not profitable, and Romanians are tired of how much other nations have impoverished them through invasions and conquests. P.S Let's not forget that the globalists had the same agenda about Donald Trump, who they said was pro-Russian and would sell out Americans, yet Americans voted for him and look how well they are doing and they weren't even Russified like Moldova was after the Russians stole it from the Romanians.
Your information contains several inaccuracies. As a Romanian, I can confidently say that Russia is not involved in the matters you mentioned. The issues stem from the actions of the governing powers over the past years, which have undermined democracy. As a professor, could you address the apparent coincidence of Russia facing conflicts near its borders? For instance: - The protests in Georgia bear similarities to the events in Ukraine during the Maidan protests. There are documented cases of politicians, now refugees in Ukraine, who allegedly prepared for a coup as early as 2023. - In Syria, insurgents are now attacking again after years of relative calm, following Russia's assistance in expelling rebels nearly a decade ago. - In South Korea, there was a failed coup attempt, with the president accusing parliament of colluding with North Korea to avoid impeachment. Why does the narrative often lean towards misinformation rather than seeking the truth? This persistent focus on blaming Russia and Putin needs to change. These conflicts are not our war. Since the fall of Ceausescu and the introduction of "democracy," Romania has accumulated $200 billion in debt. This is despite being the only country in history to fully repay its debts by 1988. We've dismantled factories and production capabilities, and although we produce energy and gas, we now rely on foreign companies because state assets were sold off. They want to piss on the vote of 3 million Romanians, they do not matter? The " far-right candidate" invited the democratic candidate to a debate, and she refused, saying he is not a democrat :)). Is not democracy about communication? Who is far right or democrate in this situation?
Although missing some details for a foreigner this video is pretty accurate. Thank you for showing an interest in our country. As a Romanian citizen I am deeply worried over all this and I hope we won’t be thrown decades back in time by the new government, parliament and president.
-Some are alleging Russia is doing XYZ. (Yes you are alleging this. Why use weasel language?) -We have no evidence of any of this. (So why make the allegation?) -If it were true it would be very bad! (Agreed. But why make an allegation which you admit there's no proof of and drum up this drama?) -Russia is bad. (Ok.)
Russia is evil, yes. If you choose to keep your head in the sand and not see the evidence of the Russian modus operandi: bots, approval of the candidates by Kremlin, it is not our fault.
He broke campaign laws and used undeclared campaign funds. He was hiding where he got his money from. Why do this if he is not being funded by foreign governments?
Correction at 5:55. Iliescu wasn't forced from office in 2004, he didn't run for presidency because he had reached (and actually surpassed) the limit of mandates allowed by the constitution. Basescu faced against Adrian Nastase, not Ion Iliescu.
Thanks a lot. I think we will have to agree to differ on this. But I certainly don’t believe that I am spreading “fake news”. You may disagree with my interpretation of events, but I make all my videos in good faith.
@@JamesKerLindsay Professor, I'm part of a group that has attempted to counter CG's propaganda in the last two weeks. Most of the active online CG supporters are very much part of a neo-protestant/new age cult. That being said, some of the core assumptions at the foundation of this video are wrong, thus leading to wrong conclusions. I don't necessarily blame you, as English language media and other resources are highly inaccurate and distort the events inadvertently due to not knowing the context and filling in the gaps with the context in the west. Unfortunately, this leads to a cascade of misinformation that makes it harder to explain what's actually going on. I'm not going to lie, having to counter the actual Russian funded campaign (during the first days, when Moldovan bot farms were in on it, at least) and now having to counter western misinfo is disappointing, to put it mildly.
@@JamesKerLindsay with all due respect, you made this video based on roumanian propaganda… 2.1millions people vote for him, because we are roumanian got tired of the political system… anyway is hard to get real informations in these days. God bless u all 🙏
No, it’s not always Russia when the results aren’t what was wanted. It’s Russia when there is clear evidence of Russian manipulation. In fact, have you stopped to ask yourself why you even knew about him? Maybe you are exactly the product of that Russian manipulation and that your free will isn’t as free as you thought it was. That’s the whole problem here.
@@JamesKerLindsay No. The whole problem is that this "clear" evidence is not so clear and sometimes, there is no evidence. Have YOU stopped to ask yourself WHY DID WE VOTE FOR HIM, despite the fact he was unknown? Could be that we are fed up with Johannis and his mafia, and we just voted anything else but. No Russian interference. Just common sense.
@@madden12 He is. Can you stop defending that psycho who keeps saying fascist stuff? He literally said Antonescu's fascist speech today WORD BY WORD. What is it you people do not understand? He is a danger
@@madden12 He is, stop lying. He said nato is weak. He wants to get closer to Rusia. He idolizes Rusia and Putin. He only flip flopped on EU recently. The americans denounced him and said no one supports him from their side, dem or rep. Moldova warned us, they have more experience and just won pro-EU.
@@madden12 He said once he is not anti-NATO now, after being accused he is. But, until now, for years, all his talking points were anti-NATO and ANTI-EU... He is 100% pro rusian and anti western, only his uneducated followers think he isn't.
You don't have to worry....Even if Georgescu wins...the EU will anulate the elections if there is no Pro EU and Pro NATO Winner....Foreign investors owe 90 % of the Romanian agricultural ground and the most of the companies in Romania. There is NO chance. Romania is totally in the Hand of EU !
Very well documented! That's what we are currently aware of in Romania too, but some don't want to see these arguments. Still, i don't think that our country will return to Russia, at least that's my hope
Thanks. It’s certainly worrying to read some of the angry responses to this video. Many refuse to accept Russia’s role, which has now been seemingly confirmed by the Romanian government.
The results of the first round of presidential elections sent shockwaves through Romania. But was Russia really behind it, as many suspect? Or is this another example of the far-right using social media to amplify its message? And what do you think will be the broader significance of all this? Let me know in the comments below.
@@JamesKerLindsay Rusia had nothing to do with it. The majority is so sick of the corupt PSD party that would vote an extraterestrial if it means they dissapear. Lasconi is so stupid that she has no chance. She's the romanian version of Biden. Thats why Georgescu won. Its not a vote for him, but against the others.
@@fu1644 False and dumb. You're probably one of his cultists....
I have been closely following the entire election process and was shocked by the results. To my dismay, I later discovered that even people I know voted for a man nobody had heard of until a week before.
Since then, I’ve made several unsuccessful attempts to explain to people that they’ve been manipulated, and that the situation in Romania isn’t dire enough to justify such extreme actions. Yet no argument seems to stick. People are gripped by fear of the LGBTQ community and claim they’d rather speak Russian than live in a society influenced by what they perceive as "gay ideology," which they associate with the second candidate.
In my conversations, I’ve noticed striking parallels to the way KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov described indoctrinated Americans during the Cold War. It makes me wonder if similar tactics are being used today.
The phrase "better red than dead" from the Cold War echoes eerily in what people are saying now: "better to speak Russian than be gay."
What are your thoughts on this? Thanks for the video-it's excellent as always.
Very well narrated, we'll see in a couple of days, BUT things are suspicious,1.Georgescu 's political campaign was built with 0 dollars ( that s his official story ) while other political partys spent millions on campaigns 2. We never saw him, all candidates did televised debates for weeks . Nobody knew who Georgescu was until after the first round of elections.
No way. Political parties pay a lot of money to the televisions and then anyone else is considered pro-Russian. It's the same policy that was done in the USA with Trump.
I feel obliged to point out a huge mistake in the video:
In 2004 Iliescu was not forced out of office by Basescu. He didn’t even run anymore because he ended his second full term and the constitution allows only 2 mandates.
Basescu won the elections in 2004 against Adrian Năstase, the PSD’s candidate, the serving prime-minister between 2000-2004 during Iliescu’s second full mandate as president.
Who cares, Iscu this, Iscu that - the essence is clear🎉
@@zo2779 I care. For us it's important.
@@zo2779 not even close
Thanks. Point taken. But in the overall scheme of things, it probably isn’t the essential point to focus on!
@@zo2779 A lot of people care, and really everyone listening should care. If you're so careless about foreign news (and even your own country's media), you are bound to be misinformed.
Romania si not a supporter of Russia, neither anti EU or NATO, and will never be.
Amen. Sa fie asa!
Romania is not a supporter of Russia. But it is a strong supporter or EU and NATO (more than 60%) despite whatever stupid morons say over the internet.
@@dshitman78 yes, I agree
speak for yourself, maybe you didn't even had the right to vote this year XD
@@Eygon-ce3ccsuddenly, lots of accounts with names ending in 5 random chars after a dash have very pro-russia and pro-georgescu opinion. Not suspect at all, you know?
Very surface level analysis that ignores a lot of information an d avoids asking what led to this.
american style
Thank you! Romanians are absolutely sick of the corruption PSD has installed in every system of the country.. The educational system has been let down, the medical one is barely even working, salaries have been awful and the job market is basically non-existent.
One mistake you have in your video, Romania was placed under comunist Russia by Winston Churchill, he chosed to save Greece by sacrifcing Romania, when they shared europe after world war
👍👍
Wrong. The occuying soviet army, NKVD and their cronies, useful idiots, educated and trained in the USSR in the spirit of the International Communist movement (Komintetn) and the local useful idiots, naive enough to trust and believe the soviet/communist propaganda were responsible.
It took Winston Churchill some years to realise the enormity of the realities of the Soviet Empire, but it was too late at that time.
I don't know where you pulled that from. Romania was doomed to become communist not just because of the Soviets but because it had an active communist party, even before ww2, strongly supported by the Comintern. When the war started some of them went underground while the main leaders fled to Moscow. They returned when the war ended stronger than ever, pulled their own out of prisons and took over.
@nihlus9589 go and search!
@@nihlus9589 After discussing Poland, Churchill told Stalin Romania was "very much a Russian affair" and the Soviet-Romanian armistice was "reasonable and showed much statecraft in the interests of general peace in the future." Churchill then stated that "Britain must be the leading Mediterranean power", which required having Greece in the British sphere of influence.[50] Stalin expressed some sympathy for the British who for much of World War II have been unable to use the Mediterranean because of the danger of naval and air attacks from Axis forces based in Italy, forcing the British to supply their forces in Egypt via the long route around the Cape of Good Hope.[50]
You forgot to say that Romania allied with Nazi Germany is because USSR anexed Basarabia and North Bucovina
There are a lot of things he forgot to say.
@Verity_Truth666 yes, a lot of things deliberately forgotten and others things adjusted slightly to suits his Masters....
@CiobotaruElena As Romania LOST the main Security Guarantors (France and England - France Capitulated to Nazi Germany and Britain being hammered by the Luftwaffe), Romania had to do something to STOP THE EXPANSION OF SOVIETS / PAN-SLAVISM (which PROVED TO BE CORRECT after the end of the War).
In spite of Romanians War effort alongside the Allied Forces, the US and Britain "Sold out" Romania (and Poland) to the Soviets in exchange of Greece !!!
These Empires (British and US) ARE RESPONSIBLE for so much suffering in Eastern / Central Europe !!!
By the way, 1 (one) Empire IS GONE ....... CAN'T WAIT FOR THE OTHER ONE TO DISAPPEAR AS WELL !!!
@CiobotaruElena Yes. And Basarabia & North Bucovina was once part of Romania 🇷🇴
Indeed , how could you skip that?
Professor, your brief overview of Romania's history was so skimpy that it missed important elements that lay at the foundation of profound anti-Russian sentiments in the Romanian society, thus distorting your analysis. For those of your viewers with keen eyes, the countour of the Principality of Moldova before and after the union in 1859 with Wallachia will show the loss of nearly half of its Eastern part, taken by the Russian empire in 1812 (most of it is the current Republic of Moldova). Maybe mentioning the 12 occupations by Russian troops of the territories of the Principalities and of Romania, the betrayal in WW1 and never returning of 90 tons of gold send there for protection, the fact that Romania only entered into an alliance with Nazi Germany after the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact and the rapt of Eastern Moldova, northern Bucovina by the Soviets, Northern Transylvania by Hungary and Southern Dobrogea by Bulgaria, then having to accept Germany's guarantees for what remained of our country and become their allies and give them access to our oil fields. So no, we don't need Russians as friends because we know them and do not trust them! All those online saying they want to be friends with Putin's Russia are mostly trolls or bots, and a few useful idiots in between.
True
Another misinformation from western
@@mimisor66 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
And yet bloody Georgescu comes as favorite in the last round. 32% radicals were sent in the Romanian parliament, while half of PSD shares same views like AUR. Who can tell Firea, Pandele that they can't govern with godfather Becali? Or ex PRM Olgutza with a wacko like Georgescu? There is a strong chance they will, even not from the start, to avoid EU criticism and block of EU funds, while AUR to let their radical voters chill for a while the anti PSD sentiment.
Western European and Americans simplify politics too much, don’t understand the nuances. All they see is Left Right, and assume that the Left and Right in America is the same in Romania. Liberals in Romania are right wing while in the US they’re left wing. Nobody in Romania is pro Russia. You might have some pro Russians in Moldova.
I am 44 years Romanian, lived all my life here in Romania and till two weeks ago I had no ideea who this guy was, never heard of him . I hope we send him back in round 2.
But if he wins in the second round everyone should respect it like in Georgia no need for riots it's the will of the people same thing vice versa scenario
@@bilic8094 Nobody will respect this guy, already everyone hates his guts. It will throw country in chaos.
@@bilic8094When people are manipulated by russian propaganda its not about free will anymore
@@bilic8094 You can't say that it's the will of the people when Georgescu tricked the Romanian people with TikTok, Crazy Words and so on, to be honest, I will go in the streets if this guy is selected.
@@klauscata225 doesn't matter... I myself disagree with this man and I think he is dangerous to our democracy, but if he wins the election we need to accept him and hope he will be a democratic president and won't make us, the people, do the same thing that happened in '89.
Did Russia fix the Elections in Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland?
idk, did the candidates in these countries also claim they have 0 funds for their campaign while simultaneously having a full coordinated takeover on tiktok, with both bots and paid influencers?
How about in US when Trump was first elected. These vectors manifested inside a particular social network. Romania is a cybersecurity hub, so everything is rock solid from that perspective, but inside tiktok there's another universe. The vulnerability is that many romanians spend time on tiktok and ar not the wisest of romanians due to type of content on that platform. So is a perfect match ... vulnerable people receptive to questionable content. problem is they don't have capacity to discern what is true or not from what they are fed by tiktok algo. Not sure how many countries are safe from these kinds of attack vectors, so everyone better prepare.
I think best thing is to ban tiktok 1-2 months before elections and re-enable after elections end, if you cannot properly monitor its activity.
Short answer yes. Long answer.. Yes, but I'm too tired to explain anymore
@@BucurAdrian23traitor
Yeah, Russian election meddling according to the American trash media. Of course for globalists it is not a convenient candidate and therefore it is necessary to blame him for being pro-Russian, it is such a democracy, it is normal to elect a pro-Western candidate and kill the economy, but to elect a pro-Russian candidate is election meddling. hypocrisy of Europe as usual. They are not pro-Russian, but against globalists, so there is no point in spending money from Ukraine, which is also globalist, they will steal everything there anyway, and moreover the war was a US plan. Watching the short video “History of Russia-Ukraine Conflict Explained” on Valuetainment channel will open your eyes.
One question: Did Russia also fixed the elections in USA, or are you excluding the ideea that people simply voted for these people? Is that the case? If people chose in one direction is democratic, if not it's russian hand.
@@_Silviu It is undeniable that it is a big win for Russia that Trump won the USA elections, Trump wants to stop the aid to Ukraine and has shown some reluctance in helping NATO. It makes perfect sense for Russia to support Trump in his election and probably did, not necessarily in an illegal way. Now the same pretty much goes for Romania, with the difference that Trump was very well known, won the elections in 2016 and analysts were already predicting his victory. Georgescu on the other hand was a nobody, analysts believed he would not surpass 10%. And the fact that he won the first round of elections makes this a lot more suspicious. Of course nothing is confirmed, we know that the Russian media gave him a lot of support but as far as anything else goes, we do not know.
@@_Silviu well American media said he was a Russian agent than they said he was Hitler if he gets elected it's the end of democracy lol same propaganda from the media. We will see, ofc everyone will riot if for example we will get out from EU or NATO without a plan, for now it's not the case for the near future
This type of question is known as whatabaoutism (the technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counter-accusation or raising a different issue). We are currently exploring the possibility of Russia meddling with Romania's elections. Judging by the thousands of newly created accounts promoting that dude everywhere on social media, as well as its followers (either fake accounts or real voters) that don't engage in debate, this might be the case. The way Georgescu's campaign has been happening, convincing its voters to trust him and not engage in healthy discussion is more akin to a promotion of hate against anybody against his political ideas. Lastly, there have been numerous of Georgescu's public declarations that have been disproven by a lot of Romanian media and people. The response of his cult-like following was, for the lack of a better way of putting it "so what? at least we are not LGBT". Mind you that his counter-candidate has signed the 2018 Referendum organized by Coalitia pentru Familie to revise the constitution so that only a man and a woman can be united in matrimony. So, to cut it short, there is a very high possibility that Russian influence has unnaturally spread among the Romanian voters. Whether that happened in the US, too, or not is a good topic of discussion.
@@Monastiraki2022 this!!! And there was also a masked campaign in which influencers received money and a brief to say that they want a candidate with "verticality and equilibrium". Although they should have mentioned that they got paid and to write the unique candidate identity code CMF.
@Monastiraki2022 about the bots , welcome to 2024 , that's the way elections are won, televisions do the same actually since they receive money to support a party, like a propaganda. Unfortunately there is no way at the moment to have free bot social media and it will get worse, unless we are starting to give our ID's to make an account, which is also not a great idea. By the way the bots can't vote, and if there are idiots that went and vote on what's trending on TiKTok, they are beyond saving, which I'm sure there were, take note to what SENS party have done doing disinformation saying Georgescu supports their party ....
Let me just understand something professor, if I am a politician or political organization in some democratic country. I receive funding from USAID, the Norwegian government, the Rockefeller Foundation, or the Open Society Foundation, then I am not considered a foreign lobbyist and everybody should treat me as a fer democratic candidate in political arena completely independent from my financiers, and if someone tries to question my funding sources and label me as a foreign lobbyist, complete EU will sanction that person or government. But if I on the other hand get funding or any sort of support from Russia and Russian government-affiliated institutions (or practically any institution outside of western sphere of influence) all of a sudden the same pro-democratic thinkers that were defending my US/EU-backed funding will jump to explain to everybody that I am under the influence of Russia (or that other malign organization/government). Isn't that just pure hypocrisy? If we are honest, in a real democratic, independent society no external funding to political organizations should be allowed, but I just cannot grasp why you and other prominent political thinkers never attack the same when it is happening from Western governments and organizations? Do you believe that influencing countries' elections is OK if it is performed by Western governments, security services, and/or affiliated organizations, or is it something that should be outlawed for all sides equaly?
Romanian law doesn't allow a candidate to use money from foreign entities...
This is exactly how it works: "Rules for thee but not for me". Georgia is going through hell right now exactly because of the US inspired law on foreign agents (FARA). You can talk about foreign hybrid warfare, but you're not allowed to list the foreign sponsors of parties, the media and NGOs from the West.
@@V.C.R.11 I'm Romanian and read your long comment so I said to just give a quick reply. I personally don't believe that there is an evil globalist agenda. But I think many of us in Romania are anti-Russia, as other have said in the comments of this video. We have issues in our country but I value the freedom of speech and living that we have now compared to the communist era. I think we should make room for both sides, conservative and progressive views should be discussed and debated in the public space and we must remain an united nation and not get so divided. Maybe you know that conservative values are still very strong in Romania. One thing that strikes me in your comment is the fact that you are wondering if Russia felt forced to attack Ukraine to stop the globalist agenda. I don't understand how can you even wonder about something like this. How can that be a reason to attack another country and to start a war that kills other human beings? It is not justifiable in any way to start a war that kills people, there is no justification for Russia! I think we should all try to remain decent human beings, and try to leave in peace. All the best to you!
Very good question
This is a common thing in the West that some election results are interpreted through the influence of foreign governments as a decisive factor, while ignoring the real situation on the ground. As we saw in the 2016 American elections, when the Democrats claimed that the elections were rigged by the Russians and then 8 years later faced the reality, which is that many voters were not satisfied with their policies. So even today in Romania, people are primarily dissatisfied with the economic situation as a result of Covid and the war in Ukraine, and they have never approved of such a confrontation with Russia, because like other Eastern Bloc countries, they have seen both sides of the coin, i.e. both communism and democracy, and traditionally do not have much trust in the government and the media.
Who in the EU approved a confrontation with Russia? No one. Who went on Ukrainian soil and wages a colonial war trying the erase Ukrainian culture? It was Putin's Ruzzia, not the other way around.
Russia's part in the US elections from 2016 was confimred by US secret serivice.
Moreover, in ROmania declassified documents have shown Georgecu paid his campaign and TikTokers to praise him with Russian money. When asked he claimed he invested 0 in his campaign. He might go to jail.
"have seen both sides of the coin"
Have seen s**t. Once you see the heads side you'll see no need to ever look at the tails side again.
Excuse me but as a young(er) Romanian I do not feel the desire to experience dictatorship myself (under Georgescu). I would much rather support Ukraine, I would much rather approve of that. I have read enough history to not wish my country any ties with Russia
So what you said is true for a segment of population here (that voted for him) but I refuse to believe we forgot our history and they form the majority
All this, then Goergia.. now South Korea...Israel... the world went bozo in the last few years
Clown world 🤡
its all Putin's fault dude.... he is the mastermind behind all this hybrid wars.... every battle they lose is a hybrid war made up by putin
@@NicolaMihaita Matrix and Truman show is collapsing. Enjoy the show
Democracy is weak, it destroys itself, it doesntweed out traitors, it doenst manipulate the voters in their favour. Voters now are brainwashed so bad they vote their own destruction and think they are escaping from it and from corruption when i nfact they choose russian puppets
Covid effects are seriously taking off :))
Terrible analysis that completely fails to recognize the Trump phenomenon and the shift to the right in many parts of Europe. NATO is no longer a functioning alliance heavily dependent on the US, who under Trump will move to bilateral relations rather than broad alliances. EU’s out of control bureaucracy needs to be tempered by strong leaders in the member states who no longer wish to be bullied. The people have spoken, this is how democracy works - you must respect the will of the people whether you like the outcome or not.
They don't get it. About to find out.
yep its the Trump effect snowballing across the world now. there's no far right, no russian interference or any of this nonsense.
Trump phenomenon is not a thing here, and neither is a right shift. You're seeing what you want to see, just like a lot of western media covering this. You guys have literally no clue what's happening here and you're trying to fit puzzle pieces into your world view.
Florinel, mai citește.
9:50 "suspicions of _a coordinated effort to manipulate public opinion"_ ... Sorry, did you just give the definition of an electoral campaign?
well, "combat online desinformation" was cherry on top. those clown from EU political media are not better than communist elite party losing touch with population in old regime.
@@allydea 😂😂😂👌🏼👌🏼
Leftists hate it when others use their free.dom of speech 😂
it's election compain if you influence in favor of your own group of interest.. if it's against your group/ for an oponent it's manipulation.. what don't you understand.
In my country there are very strict rules about political advertising. You certainly could t have foreign actors pumping millions of dollars into social media advertising to other parties detriment.
Many Romanians are upset about the aid Ukraine receives from their country. A reason often mentioned is that wilsh orphans in orphanates live in bad conditions, the health system is dreadfully underfunded the state diverts resources towards Ukraine's war effort. Also Ukranian people and the Ukranian state have always treated the Romanian population living in North Bucovina very poorly.
Ukrainians receive help from EU money, not to mention that a large part of the information related to this subject is grossly exagerrated and wrong. Those upset that others receive basic help after fleeding a war-torn country are a shame for the human kind. Not to mention that ALL those complaining about children in orphanages never ever helped or care about those children, until now
and many more support Ukraine. only a minority don't support ukraine.
As a Romanian I’m asking you kindly Professor to include an important detail whenever you tell the short version of our history from now on: after World War II broke out Romania quickly claimed neutrality initially, but being faced with a fate similar to Poland’s (USSR annexed Bessarabia in East and nazies “gifting” Hungary with a chunk of Transilvania in west) it quickly chosen to join the Axis powers in order to survive as a state - USSR was feared as a mortal enemy of our state.
I’m asking you to include this important piece of information for the Western public opinion and also because USSR robbed us blind after the end of the war (‘cause this is what you do to a new ally, right?..) motivating that as “taking reparations for the war”. Only that said reparations had been “collected” several times in value than agreed by peace treaties.
And all the rapes …
Very good point!
Though you may be right at what Russia did to Moldova, old Moldovans in their majority want to return with Russia because they were much better with Russia than with Romania.
I would just like to point out that there were many Nazi collaborators in Europe, and most of them, like the Frenchman Petain, claimed that they only sided with the Nazis to save their country from destruction. It should be noted that this argument is generally not accepted as valid; In France, for example, Petain is considered a traitor. So I think this excuse is at best of limited value.
@@3ascdo743 in many ex URSS countries local culture, language, trasirions were supressed. Russian language and URSS ideology was promoted. Intellectuals, leaders were arrrsted, deported…and ethnic russians were brought in. that how you russify a nation.
No one wants to acknowledge incompetence; everyone seeks someone or something to blame.
As a Romanian I feel like not even Russia would make the shit up that is happening in the public here in Romania...... The goverment did it with it's own hands. I don't think that even Russia would want to deal with romania
yep
Why can't you simply see the truth? People voted him because he is actually proposing something different. Are you truly Romanian? Have you seen the level of living in some rural areas? I thank God that people are not stupid and voted him. But you truly seem to miss the reality by far. And then you try to make conspiracy theories.
@@trotziger_emil He is actually proposing something different, Ro-Exit, NATO-Exit, communist ideas, legionary's praising, lies over lies about him, stuffed with mystic delirium tremens
You really don't think so ruselroc?
@SXsoft99 Af course a lot of other countries leaders detest us being without personality and accepted for 35 years to be slave for this corrupt leaders and Putin is laughing of us ,detest us.Of course he's right.
He is not pro Russia, he is pro Romania and because he is not pro war corporate media start to label him as pro Russia. Romanians vote for him because it was the only one who promote peace and ensure the Romanian people that he will not drag the country in a war with Russia. Because the other candidate Lasconi state that she will fully support Ukraine in the war with Russia this made the difference between the two very big so they decided to top this election witch is basically a coupe.
He is not an outsider...he is very much part of the system.
He?
As a longtime Romanian fan, I thank you. Please pray for us.
Pray that the UE puppet of trans and immigration agenda doesn't win
bulangiuu
@@getodaca Da, Kremlin Georgescu e cel mai mare.
bulangiu
@@baddolphin1423 asa e...in 3/4 o sa ave`m 500k globalisti pe santiere la canale dupa ce castiga CG ...
Professor, I appreciate your work, and especially the fact that you are covering my country, and that is why I feel the need to point out that there are many, many flaws in this video. Much of the western media also makes these mistakes, and it's infuriating to see them propagated. I will gloss over the historical mistakes because the important one is that Georgescu does not present himself as a far-right candidate to his audience. That is to say, his results do not reflect a large presence of far-right sentiments. What we are seeing is the collapse in credibility of the highly corrupt status quo that has ruled the country since '89. Most voters of Calin Georgescu and other far right parties previously voted for the somewhat progressive staunchly pro-NATO/EU USR! However, USR managed to gain a bit of power - not enough to actually change the course of the country, but enough for them to be considered part of the "system". And as USR itself descended into chaos, it lost most of its support.
And so, the anti status-quo voters were left looking for something - ANYTHING that can topple the corrupt system. And here comes Georgescu with his carefully crafted providential image and massive TikTok campaign aimed at people who have lost all hope for a change. That is what is driving it.
I never thought that gogudelagaze would become a wise man, you are absolutely correct, cheers
James is just another blatant propagandist, lost all respect i had for him.
@Sasha-mdib sorry to hear that. But I haven’t said anything here that doesn’t reflect what I have said in other videos. But I understand that sometimes things I say aren’t going to please viewers. But that’s what happens. Still, while you can choose to disregard my comments and call em a propagandist, I still have thirty years as a published academic, many spent at one of the world’s leading institutions, and I am open about who I am, unlike many channels on TH-cam. But again, it’s up to you to make your own decisions on who you want to listen to on world affairs and who you don’t.
@@JamesKerLindsay the dude is just a russian bot, not an actual person. As any other russian bot they try to subminate your status without pointing any verifiable facts by saying "the respect was lost" which a russian textbook tactic.
@@JamesKerLindsay i know you have academic pedigree, that makes these kind of onesided views from your side that much worse. Last 3 years if China or especially Russia is mentioned it's like watching CNN or BBC, not an academic's video.
Report this guy for misinformation lost my respect seeing his comment he dont even care just wants views because Romania is Trending now he should be ashamed!!
Just heard that a couple hours ago, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced martial law but it was overturned by the parliament a few hours later
It's always fixed when the west doesn't like the results 😅😅
When you say fixed in terroruzzia, you fly from the balcony 😅 nice try
@redpill7238 that added a lot pal !
@@redpill7238 Do you always blame Russia for your loses?
According to all polls, Romania was the most pro-American and pro-European country in the European Union. The fact that this individual has now been elected highlights the fragility of the system. And it should be noted that Romania has strategic partners, namely the United States and the major powers of Europe. And yet, together, they seem to have missed something millions of Romanians knew-that this individual was extremely popular on TikTok. I don't understand how this is possible. And I don't believe this happened without the knowledge of the authorities, who now claim they were unaware.
Nothing flies below the radar of the security agencies. They most certainly knew. Which begs the question, why allow it?
@@rodobird Romanian citizens are still pro Eu and Nato… Georgescu voters just don’t believe that he is against Nato and Eu…
the vast majority of his defenders simply refuse to believe he is anti-EU or anti-NATO, despite him saying that Romania isn't interested in a defense alliance that doesn't defend it's members
His entire discourse is anti-EU and anti-NATO. All his supporters are clearly anti-EU and anti-NATO. All the values he expresses are completely incompatible with the values of European civilization as we know it. When I say "we," I am referring to the vast majority of Romanians who are liberals in the classical sense, not progressive.
@@rodobird this assumes his voters are smart enough to understand simple sentences. the ones on tiktok, under a video of him saying we don't need NATO because it's useless, would leave comments like "Where is he saying that he is anti-NATO? Stop making up lies about him!"
James! Are you going to cover martial law in South Korea and its implications?
@@thompson_papa it's already over lol
Haha! Sometimes, it's impossible to keep up with things. I might try to cover it. I know many want me to do something in Syria, and I do want to take a look at it, but the events in South Korea have a fascinating background.
No. NATO and USA have been trying to fix elections all over Europe though.
Perhaps, but never as blatant as this one, in Romania at least, one of the candidates favoured by analysts pretty much always won. Never someone getting under 10% in estimates.
@@degle1923 Analysts and polling companies are part of the rigged propaganda system, that's why in the US only Polymarket, a decentralized prediction market, so pretty much a betting site (!!!) was able to accurately predict Donald Trump winning the elections (the Biden administration expressed its gratitude by sending the FBI to pay a visit to Polymarket's founder later...).
and you point is? NATO and USA are allies. CG is just criminal, a traitor who will soon go to jail.
Nice video.Thanks.
Iohannis is the biggest traitor we ever had! 10 years he didn't do anything....
@@hahaha8697 Better a traveler than a russian double agent.
I'd prefer a president who does nothing, to one who sells us to Russia.
@hahaha8697 ....... ACTUALLY HE DID ....... Holidays, Trips abroad and pretty GOOD TIME !!!
@@alphadios2003He has repeatedly stated that he is not pro-russia and just wants peace in Ukraine and for the war to end. He also believes in faith, family, and freedom? How is that type of rhetoric far right? 😂
@@tonyilias2561 This is just a "it wasn't me" type of speech. Do you really think he would be dumb to confess his true allegiance?
you guys don't realize it, but romania is an extremly complex nation, and fortunately, people don't see that. this analisis altough a small distorted perspective, barely even grasps the true nature and debth of all of this
Are you romanian by any chance?
@FlaviusLacatusu no, i'm russian
@@FlaviusLacatusu Not all romanianc are romanian, you should know that.
Professor Lindsay, your affirmations are ridiculous, you take from the international lying press , the rhetorical talking points of the political enemies of Calin Georgescu, your work is shoddy at best or intentionally misleading the people at worst.
It's not that _highly unlikely_ that Georgescu will win. Lasconi's party, USR, was villainized for years by PSD and PNL, the two larger traditional parties. LGBTQ+ rights being a big weapon. There's a lot of homphobia in the country, but Lasconi is in favor of civil partnership.
Other than EU and NATO stance, PSD's message is not that different from Georgescu's. They have mixed messages these days. While calling themselves pro-EU and pro-NATO, they also reiterated some of their conservative views. They seem to play both ends.
The race is very much on.
This is unbelievable! The "hate party" is a victim!
I will vote for Georgescu just because comments like yours!
USR are against: public servants, teachers, medical staff, military, retired persons.
Remember when USR attacked using violence the government on August 10th? When you tried to change the government not by vote but by force?
it's not unlikely. it's hard to say who will win. Anything is possible
I find it hilarious that PNL now supports Lasconi. I'm not pro-Georgescu or any of the far right parties in the running right now, so I am kinda scared that Georgescu will win and use the support of the three right and far right parties to basically rule the country and pass whatever they want.
Dude, Lasconi is NOT in favour of civil partnership. She said clearly she voted against same sex marriages. What people cannot understand about USR is that not all people inside it agree on the LGBT matters.
@@grigturcescu6190 civil partnership and marriage don't necessarily have to be the same thing.
She said she supports civil partnership at the debate she had with Simion at Micutzu.
You are clueless. This is anything but “an informed look”
Why is everyone not pro eu considered Russian bot or pro Russian...cant someone just be pro Romanian!!!😂😂😂
It's called propaganda. Just that simple.
Because there is a clear effort by Russia to subvert western nations and separate them from the EU to weaken them. Brexit was partially funded by Russians who flooded the internet with bots. Also being anti EU is equivalent to being pro Russian. Romania would be 3rd world if it weren't for EU funding.
Love how whenever an election doesn't go in the way the EU/NATO has predicted... it's always Russia's fault. Bruv, don't You think that Russia has more important things to care for!?
So, then, why would the Romanian People vote for a random guy? Perhaps because all their elected officials, thus far, have not earned their trust? Perhaps because his promises were better?
Isn't the whole point of a Democracy to let the people choose who will lead them? Then, let them choose.
You are right, it's not Russia's fault. It's stupid people's fault. This time at least ...
@@FlaviusLacatusu Not stupid, just desperate.
People have the privilege to use their democratic vote, yes. But they don't realize that this may be the last time they do it.
I have observed that people think it has always been like this in the country, bad. But the truth is that these have been the best times for Romania. People think it can be better by cutting of the EU because their teachers haven't been paid enough, all this time, to make them aware of history.
WHY haven't the teachers been paid enough?? It's the sphere of influence, it's the cards that have been shuffled and GIFTED a long time ago. We were a soviet satellite, yes... We have always been oppressed by Russia so it's easy to exploit the peoples fear of it.
@@CaApa Electing this guy, Georgescu, as a president will not spell the end of our democracy. Presidential power is very limited and requires cooperation from the Parliament/Government to have any authority on domestic matters. A president can easily be suspended or locked in his palace (isolated). Presidential powers without support in the Parliament verges on ceremonial.
@@CaApa While I agree that some were desperate, I've met a fair few people who were definitely on the stupid side of things, parroting the same hateful things as either Calin Georgescu or the people at AUR. I understand wanting change and I understand some being desperate, but I doubt that all of them were desperate and not just stupid or brainwashed by those arguments.
Romania's president declassified SRI documents 5 hours ago, that prove he was on the Russian side.
A manipulative article, full of untruths. The author either does not know the truth about the brutal unconstitutional intervention of the Constitutional Court in the ongoing voting process, without any evidence of Russian involvement, or he is knowingly aligning himself with the lying press in Romania.
not Russia, the romanian politic class did lead to this result
Romanians don't want nato's war. Ukraine is not in nato anyway. People think it's time they wrap it up and refugees can then return to their homes. Zelenski is overstaying his mandate. Ukrainians also want him gone and they want peace. If the uk has a beef with russia they can go fight themselves not using proxies.
Did NATO invade Ukraine? Or was it Russia that invaded Ukraine?
Do you think that Ukraine could hold elections at the moment?
What does wrap it up even mean? Who gets what? Russia whatever they want and Ukraine nothing? Why is no one calling for Russia to leave Ukraine, they are the ones that invaded in the first place, and the Russian people (that are somehow not afraid to speak) also want an end to the war.
@@tudvalstone Ukrainians like their leaders Zelensky and Zaluzhny. If Zelensky will go from power they will choose Zaluxhny to fight with Russia for them. Any other ukrainian leader will come in power wil fight with Russia. But it is not Zelensky or leaders of Ukraine who want to fight with Russia, it is all people of Ukraine who want to fight with Russia. The people of Ukraine do not want a peace in which part of their territory is taken by Russia. There is no Ukrainian people who want Zelensky to go and there is no Ukrainian people who want peace in a country partially occupied by Russia. And Romanians don't see any Nato war. There is no Nato war. There is only Russia attacking Ukraine and Ukraine defending them selves.
Correct 👍
UK has a Russia Derangement Syndrome worse than TDS.
If it is willing to treat its own people the way they are now, imagine how they will treat the Romanians after they have finished all the Ucranians!
As they say, chose wisely, because they didn't on the 4th of July!
Puțin criptic dar sper să înțelegeți.
Puțin dar nu Putin😂
I think politicians in Europe tend to blame Russia for populist candidates, but looking at poll numbers more generally, it is hard to see that as anything more trying to avoid blaming themselves for not following the will of the people. The great paradox of democracy is that we rely on government stability and therefore tend to be at risk of populism and yet populism is the expression of loss of faith in governmental policy expressed through democratic means. As austerity policies set in, populism is increasingly going to be seen as the answer by many voters. I think Mark Blyth's lectures on "Global Trumpism" from a viewpoint of political economics hit the nail on the head here.
These are also not found merely in the West, but are a genuinely global phenomenon and may have something to do with the changing world order.
Harper in Right here right now presents populism as a good things happening in this political time and I trust his judgement.
@@mumbai3899 It's both good and bad. Good because as Blyth describes, the center has largely failed the working classes. It is bad because it undermines the stability on which we all depend. Trump withdrawing from the INF treaty being a good example of that.
This is likely not the case though... Idiotic policies do undermine leadership pushing for it, true, however, that is a long process. And long processes create gradually create people/parties, who get more and more known. Key is, it is a slow process. Something this fast is suspicious.
However you can get a very slow buildup of resentment against low propensity voters which then decide to go out and vote.
Now, if Russia is driving voter turnout among dissatisfied voters, the question is, is that an attack on democracy, or support of democracy?
@@WorldTravelerCooking That doesn't happen on this scale. You only take stuff so long, before you act. Again, barring outside influence, gradual inputs produce gradual outcomes.
Prof, quick FYI, if you put a question mark in the lead, the answer is no.
As in Can Kamala beat Trump? The implied answer is no.
Did Russia fix the Romanian election? The implied answer is no.
Now I'm going to watch the video and see if the lead is reflected in the body.
Yeah, they did. Without any sort of doubt whatsoever.
Ignore the bot comments. Thank you for telling the truth. We want to remain in the EU and work towards the same living standards as most developed European countries have.
yes ignore all the pro eu globalist bots too. i can’t imagine the three letter agencies would ever spend money on trying to influence an election or destabilize a government that didn’t agree with western hegemony.
It won’t happen, the whole point of the EU is just to extend the markets for the EU’s corporate elites, while in the process killing the local corporates. Notice how EU countries or NATO never bought Antonov products, like the An-124 & the An-70 even though both were significantly superior to the the wests’ equivalent products while being significantly cheaper. Also note how Belarus has kept up to the Wests’ 3 Baltic micro states in productivity & living standards without the huge EU subsidies that they get
BTW, do you notice that in the entire era when Ukraine was aligning itself with the West it’s economic figures relative to Russia’s kept getting worse & worse. So even before things escalated in Feb 22 Russia’s GDP per capita figures were 5 times greater than Ukraine’s. That’s a huge difference, even after being adjusted for population. Ukraine went from being near the richest republic in the SU in regards GDP per capita figures to close to the lowest of the former SU republics in the space of just around 2 decades.
Only by being independent & looking after their own interests & by sticking to their own policies, even when they conflict with Brussel’s or DC’s, instead of looking to the EU & NATO for rescuing, will Romania move forward
this is where you people who think you are always right are blind and ignorant, just like they do in Romania now. Those "bots" are people who have a different opinion than you. We exist, we are many, and at some point you will have to take un into consideration because we will be more than you, we will be majority and you a minority. I hope you will still believe in democracy when you are in the percentage that is below the 50%. :)
Călin Georgescu said in a public interview that he wants to remain in the EU, keep Nato's military base etc, but that he does not want to give Romania away for peanuts as it has been done up to nowt, that he wants to receive equal value from the EU, from Nato and stand proud as a Romanian. That he is not pro-Russia, but pro-Romanian. Why are you calling people bots, just because you may not have informed yourself enough?
@@ilovethisworld3059 You are the one uninformed. After the elections you are free to emigrate to Russia if you're even a real Romanian citizen and not a bot.
I respect your opinions Prof. That being said, I am finding very strange that from your perspective, you have missed the coup d'etat that was called the 1989 Romanian revolution. Romania was the only country were people died during the fall of the comunist regim, And conveniently we changed the communist leaders with second in command communists. Also, when the current president won elections with the help of a huge Facebook campaign, you failed to note that, but now, since the current candidate is not part of the US/EU influence, out of the blue we are worried. People cast their vote and the majority spoken, let's respect that, all candidates had the same level of access to social media. I wonder if you follow an agenda or not? Regards
😍well said sir
Well yes he does have the standard M16 agenda.
Through Romania, I seemed to see the future of China after the Communist Party fell from power.
No, Georgescu had MORE access to social media with his millions of bots and shady financing. He declared 0 campaign costs, can you believe it? 🤣
@@wyqtor you mean he had more money? How can he had more access to social media? Maybe the other candidates are just weak and they did a horrible job when they governed the country. That will make more sense
What must one understand about Ceausescu's communist rule is that he was a patriot, with the wrong political ideology. The country suffered a lot during his time but: guaranteed jobs once you finished highschool/university, very cheap apartments - you would buy an apartment from the state in 2-3-4 years, he industrialized complete romania - glass factories, tram factories, train factories, tractor, cars etc (although the industries' performance was not great as you can imagine). He borrowed massively from the IMF, raised an industry and infrastructure and immediately in a very short time Romania became the only country in the world ever to repay the IMF debt. Most Romanians who lived through communism know that the "revolution" in '88 was nothing more than a government overthrow orchestrated likely by the west through Iliescu. Back then, as of today, Russia was made to be the great enemy which was used to scare people and justify the crimes they did to the Ceausescu's family. Who in the world is 'judged' by being thrown against the wall and shot?
You can`t correctly judge history by only reminding ourselves of things that we would like to hear and ignore the ones that we must hear. if we split the world into virtuous people and tyrants, we`d better do it properly. If the east is the enemy because it symbolizes oppressions and tyranny, the west must be as much as of an enemy since it no longer represents freedom, prosperity, the west europe, america, canada, australia, are mere vestiges of once great civilizations. now they are totalitarian regimes vaguely masked as democracies. If people don`t see this they are merely blind.
@@codemasterz6074 we see it brother!
Hi! Thanks for making this video. I'm Romanian and I am witnessing and very much plugged into the current events, and I can confirm you made a pretty decent summary of this crazy situation. But there are some errors, plus there are very intereseting followups that I hope you will address, potentially in a pinned comment, potentially in a followup video, and I wonder how you will do it.
1. There are some errors and important omissions in your historical summary that were also pointed out by other commenters. Such as:
- the president Basescu did not run against Iliescu but against Nastase in 2004
- there are about 4 million Romanians outside the country, one of the largest populations of emigrants of any country. About 800K voted this season, so it's not essential for the video but still feels like an important figure.
- I feel like the stuff about WW2 is a fair summary, altho of course there are lots of details about how Romania was fighting against USSR for taking some of our land and treasure, and later even in communist times Romania was distancing itself from USSR having never been a part of it. So there is a strong anti-russian sentiment here, not that it makes much difference to your analysis.
2. Could you share sources for any of the information you presented? I noticed some of the screenshots show the news article source and seems legitimate, but I feel like there's a lot of important info that might be politically biased, and it would add a lot of credibility to support them with legitimate sources in links. I feel like you did a good job keeping things objective and making a fair analysis, but I wouldn't know anything about the Korean situation from another video - so I would be much more happy to see a bunch of sources and know that the public has the ability to go and double check what you say, and reading some comments to know if you are being fair and accurate or not, plus the ability to investigate further, starting from your sources.
3. Already on the 4th dec, a day after your video came out, Romanian president Iohannis declassified secret documents showing that there is evidence of russian meddling in the election. On the 6th (today), the presidential election was cancelled, due to said evidence, and the election will have to be redone in early 2025. Of course you couldn't have known but it will be interesting to see a followup from you, considering I am very interested in all your other content about the geopolitical situation I'm not familiar with.
Thanks again! And hope to see some more sources!
So many informations are wrong ! Why? Where did you read all this ?
What fixed this candidate it is:Romania's 7% budget deficit,one of the lowest salaries in EU taxed at 47%,prices at the same rate as in Germany, Spain, Italy,a political class corrupt to the core,a population of 19 million citizens with 1.5 million state employees to which are added almost 6 million retirees and 600,000 people who benefit from social assistance,this whole equation is supported by only 5.5 million people who work! I hope you now know the answer and believe me it is not Russia.
@@praetorian9196 România has indeed many problems - many of them caused by decades of Russian interference. That, however, wouldn't have been enough. It was a massive investment in a professionally executed online campaign that got the many votes for Georgescu. Where the money for that campaign came from is still not officially known. What's known is that Georgescu has close ties with people representing Russian interests both in Romania and Moldova. You go ahead and tell me that's a coincidence ...
👏👏👍👍🇷🇴
@@praetorian9196 It is most likely Russia. Georgescu's campaign was extremely professional, albeit under the radar, the source of the funds is still unknown but he repeatedly declared that he's a huge admirer of Putin, and that he sees Romania's salvation in Russian wisdom. He's even more of a Russian agent than Iliescu was, who single-handedly prevented the unification of Romania and Moldova in the nineties.
And so you elect Georgescu so he can make those problems even worse.
By his own words:
He wants to isolate Romania (suveranism): even higher prices but for lower quality products in less stock.
He wants mandatory military service back: less people working
He wants to raise pensions: the money needed to support those retirees will be more.
He wants closer ties with Russia: Russia is even poorer than we are, so our wages will drop even more.
Georgescu is not the solution, but just another problem.
I don't know where you got your news from, but nothing you mentioned is accurate.
He does not want to isolate Romania , he does not want Romania to leave the EU and Nato. He didn't say he he wanted closer ties with Russia... and Russia isn't poorer then Romania. 🤦♂️
This just shows how paranoid the EU and Nato is.
Listen to the interview this guy made, he wants to be a part of Nato and EU.
He is doing his best to make Romania great. Romenia first like Trump with USA.
Stop with this BS Rusia
This time, it is very obvious that you created this video based on liberal progressist information only. Calin Georgescu will be a president who will fight for Romanian rights and interests and still maintain a healthy relationship with the EU and NATO.
What a time to be alive 😂
Thank you for your videos
of course they did, KGB stronk, CIA weak... seriously few days have passed and EU is already crying 🙃
I see a lot of Georgescu fans in the comments here. Not far right? He's a fan of General Antonescu, who in 1941, in the span of only 3 days, killed 14000 jews in Iași. He also has provable ties to Russia and has declared that Romania's membership in the EU and NATO would be reevaluated if he becomes president. He also said there would be no political parties under his presidency and that he would implement a distributive economic model. Not sure how any of these views can be called moderate. The guy's a basket case and a threat to Romanian democracy.
Thank you! It really has been astounding to see all these comments. I am just trying to work out whether people are deliberately naive or whether they are being deliberately manipulative, trying to persudenothersreadibgvthe comments that he is a benevolent patriot. And, of course, there’s the question as to how many are in fact Russian bots keeping up the work that brought him to attention in the first place.
@JamesKerLindsay We've seen this phenomenon on Romanian FB pages and on Tik Tok, many many bots, but also many naive people, unfortunately. It's been a bit of a shock for many of us in Romania to see how immune these people are to simple basic research and easy to find video evidence of this candidate's very concerning and extreme views.
Sadly, a growing problem in far too many places. Brexit was the early result of this. But at least the Court in Romania is tacking this. The question is whether they let Georgescu stand in the rerun.
@@JamesKerLindsay I don’t think they’ll let him run again. For days now, we’ve witnessed a slow drip of evidence and revelations about his connections and dodgy financing. Just yesterday, a mercenary group connected to Georgescu was caught on the outskirts of Bucharest with a lot of weapons and cash on them. It seems they were heading into Bucharest to cause unrest among the pro EU protesters. This is just my speculation, but this slow drip of information from the authorities and media is meant to prepare the public for not only Georgescu’s exclusion from the election but also his arrest. Even some of the other pro Russian candidates have started to change their tune and are now saying they are pro EU and NATO.
@@JamesKerLindsay Sorry, but you know next to nothing about Romania, also about other things, so you teaching the Romanians what to do... 🙄
Russia didn't needed to influence in any way the first round of presidential elections in Romania ; the European Commission does this constantly and the romanians are fed up.
Russia didn't have to fix it, Romanians were disappointed by their government, working abroad, hoping for their economy to improve, for jobs - but they were only receiving promises since they joined the EU.
They wanted a drastic change, it happened organically.
So are you saying that Romania did not improve since joining EU? Romania economy grew very much in the last 15 years. Of course it's not near the level of western european countries, but still far better then Serbia/Moldova/Ukraine.
@@panthbestbaker7565 Improvements were, but not by much. We joined the EU right before the 2008 crisis kicked in and we went through a severe recession in the early 2010s. Economically speaking things have somewhat improved, but not by much. 30% of the population is in danger of chronic poverty still. A lot of counties are still in a desolate state with not much going on and no significant improvements. Some parts of the country developed way ahead compared to the rest which lead to severe regional inequality. Wages haven't grown on average as much as prices did. In recent years, prices for consumer goods and bills have grown way higher than wages did. Before the pandemic, I could go shopping and leave with a bag full of stuff without leaving behind 100 RON (around 20 euros). Now it is impossible to get a full bag without leaving ~150 RON (30 euros) behind. I am lucky that my wage is in median area (1000-1200 euro), but much of the country lives on minimum wage or a bit above (515-600 euros). Those people are really struggling now.
Romania today has half or even less wages than Western Europe, but prices are similar to those in Western Europe for goods and services. Of course, there is variation. Some products are cheaper than in Western Europe. Others have the same price, others cost more. But on average, the cost of living in Romania is similar to the rest of the EU, but wages are much lower.
@@panthbestbaker7565 i dont think its that much better than ukraine (pre war that is)
@@panthbestbaker7565 yes... the prices are like the germany and the salarys paid for multinationals are 400E xDDDDDD
Lapusneanu had a saying, and we get to witness it live
9:07 it's remarks like that that make your credibility questionable ... there is a clear bias here. 20 seconds of absolute nonsense
why not provide balance to the conversation, and cover U#sula's controversies?
Eastern Europe will never learn, guess we were better before, with the Warsaw pact
This is just a step to better. We healed from communism and we will grow and change UE wrong direction
poorly documented, just scratches the surface
bot account, GTFO
Not really? Yeah, it's not in-depth and there is a mistake or two, but otherwise it's a pretty good video.
@@claudiu-mihaipuiu1221 Same propaganda of Lasconi and her Kremlin tanks to scare old ladies to vote her as back in 2000 PSD went in country side with a bag of 1l sunflower oil and 1kg sugar to buy votes
The same Russia-BS everywhere...😒
As a Hungarian from Romania, I have no damn idea, who this "Calin Georgescu" is. We didn't even know he existed before this election.
Very good summary of Romania s history and recent events. 🎉
I had to study for 6-7 years in school, just to get to something similar to this short video summary 🫣
Thank you so much! I hoped it would also be a good short summary of Romania’s modern political history. :-)
I'm a normal Romanian who voted every time even if I was disappointed, but I didn't even know about this candidate except that I had very vaguely heard his name. Neither me nor my friends. It's very strange how he ended up winning round 1 overnight. He now claims he didn't even have campaign money...
Your endpoint about the opinion-forming power of social media, with its algorithms, is so important.
A good example is here in Australia. The prime minister, who I don't particularly like, was accused of secretly ingratiating his lifestyle by buying a $4.2 million seaside mansion. There was no mention of his reasonably well-off partner who probably financed half of it. $2.1 million is not an excessive figure to contribute towards a house.
This is an exercise in social media smearing. It was not about accuracy but character assassination with distorted information. Here, mud sticks on a feeling/gut level. He is portrayed as a dodgy, self-interested character.
Nope! ... no worries about us, we are quite peaceful 😊... just some paid brainless youngsters who can not understand what a democratic vote means... and they think that acting like a crybaby would change things.
Much love!
It wasn’t Russia. It was the Western countries that didn’t like the results…
No, it seems quite clear it was Russia.
🤣 real democracy results are suddenly "considerable concern"
Professor, do you observe that UE apply old Soviet social tactics for control , can you please do a video comparing their methods of mass control? Please it will be interesting.
What is UE?
@@ysteinfjr7529 Romanian version of EU. UE = Uniunea Europeana = European Union.
@Kalimdor199Menegroth I know in many languages they say UE, so I wanted to point it out, if they write in English it's EU.
@ so hard EU
@ oh yeh the corrective committee. Thanks!
It's sad to hear of some of the countries in eastern Europe are moving more to the right. I hope that the EU reviews its own policies and asks whether or not they may contribute to the movements on the right.
not just Eastern Europe my guy. people are going full R word everywhere... even in Central Europe ! look at France and Germany...
@@DacianRiderthis is what happened. When left lead thousand immigrant ignoring economy and social issue
u right,but the elites like to shit theyr pants and blame russians
@@DacianRider Good point.
It's simple, Romanian Trump vs Romanian Kamala.
Its more like putin vs kamala harris tbh, trump is a libertarian when you compare him to the shit this guy is proposing
more like Maia Sandu vs Kremlin Stoianoglo
it's not, you have no idea what you're talking about
stupid people comparing one situation with another like it makes any sense to do that
@@xtrwq I can't debate with someone using insults as arguments. Have a great day!
I think you should inform yourself better before promoting lies. Patriotism was never synonymous with extremism. You should talk to the Romanians about what they think about this and the lie from Brussels. But since you don't know what it means to be a patriot, I'm not surprised that you say these things.
nice try, but he is not patriot.. he is far right extremist. celabrating fascists like zelea codreanu and ion antonescu. try again later..
Just because he doesn't support Ukraine doesn't mean he is pro Russian. He is Pro Romanian.
nice try ivan, buy he said "Romania's salvation comes from Russian wisdom".
@@ismail-paine-de-circ Nice trty BOB. But your westernization of the balkans is coming to an end.
then why did he also claim that ukraine is a fake state? why did he make a video pretending to be putin? why is he talking about "russian knowledge"? some idiots like you like to pretend that these things don't exist. CG is just a traitor and he'll soon be put on trial for this.
New here. Loved the content
Why don't you worry about usa with Biden, eu with ursula and uk with stramer ??? Are they a good example, or did they represents democracy or capitalism????
Romanians can think and decide for themselves! They don’t need the corrupt EU to decide their fate!
Wise words. 👏👏👏👏💪💪🇷🇴🇷🇴
Stupid words. Romania always chose the worst, always wanted to be loved by Russia. EU all the way for Romania!
@@StefeligaFlavius clearly, not all Romanians are “stupid” but maybe you can relate?! And not all Romanians want to be subservient lackeys to the EU agenda! Open your eyes and do your research, bruh!
@@StefeligaFlavius 😅😅. Eu in loc sa ma preocup de presedinte ma-s preocupa mai mult de guvern care e acelasi .,Acum poate veni si Mos Craciun presedinte nu-i mai salveaza nici sfantul sfintilor din coruptie hotie mentalitate deforma aretrata incultura si sa nu uitam faimoasa spagā 😅😅,,,indiferent cine va fi la cei de afara nu le va convine a se intoarce si tinretul romaniei abia va putea va fugi de acolo Asta este probabil incultura suferinta i-a purtat a vota aceiasi Amin. Eu stau bine unde sant si mi-am pierdut speranta deocamdata de a ma intoarce
They elected a person who claims that water is not H2O, FFS! 😅 No, they cannot!
Maybe the people are just full of the BS coming from Brussels
Actually that's the case, but this guy is European. Has no connection to the reality of the Romanian people.
Yes, lack of education, reading history books and listening only Russian propaganda inside their online conspirationsts bubble, Romanians are thirsty for Moscow's BS and Ceausescu's lies stuffed with mystic delirium tremens.
Yes Bit also the shit produced by a corrupt,cleptocratic and arrogant political class,who thinks he owns us.. God may give them what they deserve
Is just paid by George SOROS
That's certain!
Thank you for your care to details about our country!
Just one observation, it’s “Băsescu”, not “Băşescu”. The latter turns his name into a fart joke. It’s a very humorous moment in the middle of a very serious video there.
hahaha și eu am râs la Bășescu. poate rimează cu Ceaușescu și de asta l-a pronunțat așa.
3:45 - FALSE !!! Romania initially was NEUTRAL until the Soviet Union / Russia invaded it in 1940 and occupied its eastern region - majority romanian Bessarabia (today’s republic of Moldova). Only after that Romania joined Germany against Russia.
Neutrality is a lie pushed by ruzzia in its hybrid war against the West. just like it's FALSE idea of " peace "
We even helped Poland to evacuate their government and national treasure.
Quite informative synthesis even for me, a Romanian. Also you may need add a new chapter: the anullment of the first presidential round.
Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. As you can see I have been getting a lot of abuse from supporters of Georgescu who said it is all incorrect. However, they can’t seem to come up with any hard inaccuracies except for what I said about the end of Iliescu’s second term.
5:36 *third. He had a first mandate from 1990 to 1992, and then elections were held again in 1992. Despite the number of presidential mandates being limited to 2, the 2000 election was the third time he ran, due a technicality (he was elected for the first time before the constitution was adopted in 1991, and he didn't serve a full 4-year term).
Calin Georgescu is the real democracy!
Yes, we want less people on the ballot like in Russia, it is too hard to choose with so many candidates.
@@degle1923😂
I mean, he openly stated that he wants a future without any political parties 🙄🙄🙄
Yes because 3 million Russians came to Romania, got citizenship and voted for him. Not like the people chose him because when someone who they don't like wins it's always Russian intervention
Ha, ha, yes, 3 million Russians came to Romania to vote for Georgescu! So hillarious! These journalists are so dumb (or worse, corrupt)! But they don't mention a bit about some young/athletic Ukrainians who now come to Romania to make another 22 December 1989 (terrorists, right?) using the mob called by Lasconi in Victoria Place - Bucharest, today 05.12.24, at 5,30 PM. They try today to make another crimes, only to justify an annulment of the elections and to stop Georgescu be president of Romania. So: calm down, people! We don't need another "December 22nd 1989 terrorists bloody fake story"! Most of Romanians are awake!
We get the picture:
Russian manipulation:
BAD
EU, NATO manipulation:
GOOD
Thank you.
@@arioh7796 Everything that is not EU and NATO Propaganda is bad.....and without doubt created by the Russians 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Few will understand this, I'm quite sure.
You cut the crap.
@@arioh7796 Your manipulating yourself. Russia has a dictator. How can youbsay eu and nato is manipulating. Tell me your arguments,please!
@@MirceaTrifu ce treaba au rusii cu noi ma vere😂😂
Thank you for this video!😊 one thing I think would have made it even more beneficial for viewers would be to dive a little deeper into the national sentiment that is prevailing in Romania that has made the country so willing to look to a man like Georgescu. The predominant sentiment in Romania is a desire to remain in the EU and NATO but it comes along with a very intense awareness of how the EU and NATO have treated Romania. It is the treatment of Romania by these two institutions that have led to the people feeling mistreated, taken advantage of, disregarded, coerced, and taken for granted. At the root of it, whether there was outside interference in the elections or not, it is these intensifying sentiments that have allowed the seeds of this candidates ideas to take root.
Once we understand the underlying sentiments of the country we can look at what exactly is in the content of this candidates TikToks that have made him so appealing to the people? What exactly is he saying and why is it appealing to so many people?
Thanks. I think this is really important. But I also get the sense that there is a degree of victim mentality at play. I’m not sure why many feel that Romania has been badly treated. It was taken into the EU when it was clearly unready. It has received huge amounts of development assistance. Many in Europe would say that Romania hasn’t lived up to its part of the bargain. Of course, there is truth in both sides. But it’s interesting to hear that many in Romania support Georgescu because they feel unhappy at the EU and NATO. Many elsewhere can’t understand why they feel this way.
@ There definitely is a degree of victim mentality at play here, that coupled with some of the negative experiences with the EU and NATO that the people have had creates a very fertile ground for populist chaos to ensue.
And it can definitely be hard for those outside of a Romania that do not have direct experience with what life inside the country looks like to understand.
A few examples of instances that have really stirred up these sentiments in the people are the excessive delays with Romania joining the Schengen space due to business interests in the opposing countries (like the Netherlands and Austria), predatory business practices of foreign investors that open up operations in country, the detrimental impact of improperly regulated Ukrainian grain exports flooding the markets and devastating the Romanian farmer populations, the imposition of social/cultural requirements contradictory to the values of the country.
There is definitely a vast amount of internal corruption that is predominantly responsible for the current state of the country, however there is also a wave of sentiment that Romanian diplomacy has largely failed to protect the interests of its people and this plays a huge role in what is currently unfolding.
@@SpringtimeSunshine Actually, in the objective reality, there is a victim mentality and that is what intersects with Neo-Marxism, but it is on the Elena Lasconi propaganda. Calin Georgescu Has NEVER EVER blamed anyone or talked bad about ANYONE, even after he was attacked by everyone on the media (except Realitatea TV). That is how they brainwash you with a victim mentality. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH WHERE ROMANIA is heading. This movement for Georgescu did not come from resentfulness or a slap to the politicians, it came from actual people who woke up.
@@JamesKerLindsay It is not that they feel unhappy with the EU and NATO, the movement is to wake an entire country up against the Neo Marxist reptilians that are against humanity. Some of them control Brussels, and universities true, but it is just a coincidence. We want to change the movement of the EU and to stop them from going towards the destruction of Western Values.
Russia can NOT fix elections in Romania because:
1. Romania is not a slavic country, they do not speak or write cyrillic in Romania
2. Romania was never a part of Soviet Union.
3. Romania has/had territories taken(occupied) by the former Soviet Union. This implies the 2 countries were never "buddies".
4.Romania is a part of NATO and EU... this implies protection from massive election interference or otherwise.
Now a few explanations about the Georgescu situation:
1.Georgescu had 2 million votes from a total of 18 million max possible. so not that much.
2.Georgescu is not pro russian, or pro anything, he is a charlatan (a person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skills), these types of persons do not have a strong belief in anything.
3. Different groups of radicals leached on and campaigned for him, these include: the neo communist, the neo fascists, the prorussian and anti NATO. all these groups are minorities.
4. He was voted mainly by people with less intellectual capabilities who traditionally were supporters of the left parties(meaning socialists).
You definitively need 🚑🚑🚑
1 is debatable about being slavic since we bulgarians are also mostlike not but romanians dit use old church slavonic(know as old bulgarian)till 1830 as first lenguage and writed whit the cyrilic script(aka bulgarian alphabet) till 1860 all oficialy and never hiden from any history get you to think are romanians realy romanians :D (that was a joke dont get mad pls , i know you were aways diferent from us :D we calld you vlahs because you prefered to live a simpler life but still :D)
Propaganda...Propaganda.....The Voice of the EUROPEAN COMMUNITY and NATO .....😂
@@Ulysses88047 Bravo 👏🏻
Wow i had never seen a Russian troll up close in the wild😂
@@Francisco_CS and you never will, cause they are all in your head XD
@@Francisco_CS Well im Romanian and he is right! And because you have acces to internet just compare what rusia and usa did after 1990!!!NATO WARMONGERS ,by the way NATO WAS suposed to be disolved after the fall of the soviet union ! but here they are closer and closer ,suroundign and poking the bear in his own house!!!!! wake up and think and learn how GEOPOLITICS WORK !
Yea Romania is European not russian
Nice video! It's not Bășescu but Băsescu! no sh this time hahah
@@rubyjardeh Bășescu sounds better 😆
voiam să zic 😂😂😂
Hello good day professor I am Romania , what happened in Romania with the elections is the fact that Romania had decent candidate for the last 35 years , we always have to choose the smaller evil and it's also the fault of the European Union sice 2004 we have been working for the last 20 years to become Schengen but there's always been problems and barricades , unfortunately the Romanian people hade enough with the bullshit , bureaucracy and the false promises from UE and at the democratic elections the Romanian people and diaspora choosing it's destiny and future and it's not like countries in Western Europe don't have their own problems when it comes to "far-right extremist" in my humble opinion the mother left has failed but it doesn't want to let power to go .
GOD Bless you and GLORIE ROMANIA .
Very good video, sir!
Calin Georgescu is probably not the most suitable Romanian for the presidency, but the rest of the candidates are not brilliant either. Romanians voted for him on the principle of "choosing the lesser evil."
However, you made numerous errors about Romania in this material, you did not have precise and/or correct sources.
I conclude by saying that this Mr. Calin Georgescu did not claim that he wanted Romania to leave the EU and NATO, and Romanians do not want that either. What Romanians want is for Romania's resources to serve Romanians first, then the rest of the allied countries. Romanians also want peace, war is not profitable, and Romanians are tired of how much other nations have impoverished them through invasions and conquests.
P.S Let's not forget that the globalists had the same agenda about Donald Trump, who they said was pro-Russian and would sell out Americans, yet Americans voted for him and look how well they are doing and they weren't even Russified like Moldova was after the Russians stole it from the Romanians.
Your information contains several inaccuracies. As a Romanian, I can confidently say that Russia is not involved in the matters you mentioned. The issues stem from the actions of the governing powers over the past years, which have undermined democracy.
As a professor, could you address the apparent coincidence of Russia facing conflicts near its borders? For instance:
- The protests in Georgia bear similarities to the events in Ukraine during the Maidan protests. There are documented cases of politicians, now refugees in Ukraine, who allegedly prepared for a coup as early as 2023.
- In Syria, insurgents are now attacking again after years of relative calm, following Russia's assistance in expelling rebels nearly a decade ago.
- In South Korea, there was a failed coup attempt, with the president accusing parliament of colluding with North Korea to avoid impeachment.
Why does the narrative often lean towards misinformation rather than seeking the truth? This persistent focus on blaming Russia and Putin needs to change. These conflicts are not our war. Since the fall of Ceausescu and the introduction of "democracy," Romania has accumulated $200 billion in debt. This is despite being the only country in history to fully repay its debts by 1988. We've dismantled factories and production capabilities, and although we produce energy and gas, we now rely on foreign companies because state assets were sold off.
They want to piss on the vote of 3 million Romanians, they do not matter? The " far-right candidate" invited the democratic candidate to a debate, and she refused, saying he is not a democrat :)). Is not democracy about communication? Who is far right or democrate in this situation?
bro esti penal daca esti ceausescu apologist. te rog citeste o carte please.
Although missing some details for a foreigner this video is pretty accurate. Thank you for showing an interest in our country.
As a Romanian citizen I am deeply worried over all this and I hope we won’t be thrown decades back in time by the new government, parliament and president.
-Some are alleging Russia is doing XYZ. (Yes you are alleging this. Why use weasel language?)
-We have no evidence of any of this. (So why make the allegation?)
-If it were true it would be very bad! (Agreed. But why make an allegation which you admit there's no proof of and drum up this drama?)
-Russia is bad. (Ok.)
Russia is evil, yes. If you choose to keep your head in the sand and not see the evidence of the Russian modus operandi: bots, approval of the candidates by Kremlin, it is not our fault.
But we do have released evidence of russian influence. Just look it up, there are official documents
He broke campaign laws and used undeclared campaign funds. He was hiding where he got his money from. Why do this if he is not being funded by foreign governments?
Romanian highest State Defence Council proved it
@@SorinSferle What proof?
"They haven't found any froud" ohhh yeah baby they did!
Correction at 5:55. Iliescu wasn't forced from office in 2004, he didn't run for presidency because he had reached (and actually surpassed) the limit of mandates allowed by the constitution. Basescu faced against Adrian Nastase, not Ion Iliescu.
Internationl propaganda! Calin Georgescu is not against NATO or UE! Please do not spread fake news! Thanks. 🇷🇴
as a romanian, this guy is totally lying, he said it multiple times but his fans try to make him sound better to win the election
Thanks a lot. I think we will have to agree to differ on this. But I certainly don’t believe that I am spreading “fake news”. You may disagree with my interpretation of events, but I make all my videos in good faith.
@@JamesKerLindsay Professor, I'm part of a group that has attempted to counter CG's propaganda in the last two weeks. Most of the active online CG supporters are very much part of a neo-protestant/new age cult.
That being said, some of the core assumptions at the foundation of this video are wrong, thus leading to wrong conclusions. I don't necessarily blame you, as English language media and other resources are highly inaccurate and distort the events inadvertently due to not knowing the context and filling in the gaps with the context in the west. Unfortunately, this leads to a cascade of misinformation that makes it harder to explain what's actually going on.
I'm not going to lie, having to counter the actual Russian funded campaign (during the first days, when Moldovan bot farms were in on it, at least) and now having to counter western misinfo is disappointing, to put it mildly.
@@JamesKerLindsay with all due respect, you made this video based on roumanian propaganda… 2.1millions people vote for him, because we are roumanian got tired of the political system… anyway is hard to get real informations in these days. God bless u all 🙏
Yeah, it’s bulshit. It’s always Russia when the results are not the way they wanted. I’m Romanian and I can think for myself, I suport Călin.
No, it’s not always Russia when the results aren’t what was wanted. It’s Russia when there is clear evidence of Russian manipulation. In fact, have you stopped to ask yourself why you even knew about him? Maybe you are exactly the product of that Russian manipulation and that your free will isn’t as free as you thought it was. That’s the whole problem here.
@@JamesKerLindsay No. The whole problem is that this "clear" evidence is not so clear and sometimes, there is no evidence. Have YOU stopped to ask yourself WHY DID WE VOTE FOR HIM, despite the fact he was unknown? Could be that we are fed up with Johannis and his mafia, and we just voted anything else but. No Russian interference. Just common sense.
They did a extreme good targeting. I found about Calin Georgescu (anti nato and ue guy) only after the results. He should have only 2-3% normally
He ain't anti nato or anti eu my dude
@@madden12 He is. Can you stop defending that psycho who keeps saying fascist stuff? He literally said Antonescu's fascist speech today WORD BY WORD. What is it you people do not understand? He is a danger
@@madden12 He is, stop lying. He said nato is weak. He wants to get closer to Rusia. He idolizes Rusia and Putin. He only flip flopped on EU recently. The americans denounced him and said no one supports him from their side, dem or rep. Moldova warned us, they have more experience and just won pro-EU.
@@madden12 He said once he is not anti-NATO now, after being accused he is. But, until now, for years, all his talking points were anti-NATO and ANTI-EU... He is 100% pro rusian and anti western, only his uneducated followers think he isn't.
You don't have to worry....Even if Georgescu wins...the EU will anulate the elections if there is no Pro EU and Pro NATO Winner....Foreign investors owe 90 % of the Romanian agricultural ground and the most of the companies in Romania. There is NO chance. Romania is totally in the Hand of EU !
Very well documented! That's what we are currently aware of in Romania too, but some don't want to see these arguments. Still, i don't think that our country will return to Russia, at least that's my hope
Thanks. It’s certainly worrying to read some of the angry responses to this video. Many refuse to accept Russia’s role, which has now been seemingly confirmed by the Romanian government.