Forum for Democracy: Romanians are not as passive as we thought
By Stephen Baskerville, author of Who Lost America? Why the United States Went “Communist” — and What to Do about It. There are two reviews on TOO, by Eric Paulsen (here) and F. Roger Devlin (here).
Romanians are not so passive as we thought
The first-round result in Romania’s presidential election has shocked the European political class. Calin Georgescu, a candidate from the “extreme right,” who was ignored in pre-election news broadcasts or polls, just won first place with 23% of the vote. The candidate favored by the media (and pollsters), current Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, came in third with 19% rather than the predicted 26%. In the second round, Georgescu will compete with another media favorite, Elena Lasconi, variously described as “liberal” and “center-right” (ideological labels are flexible in Romania) and an “ardent backer of Romania’s membership in NATO and the EU, as well as a vocal supporter of Ukraine” (in the description of Radio Free Europe).
Romania has long been known as a traditionalist and Christian country, like most of East-Central Europe. Governments in Hungary, Slovakia, and Serbia reflect their populations’ preferences, but many assume that Romanians are too passive and apathetic about politics to challenge the Western-dominated liberal elites in the government, media, universities, think tanks – and polling firms. It turns out that our image of Romanian passivity reflects the preferences of those elites themselves.
The image is reinforced by incumbent President Klaus Iohannis, an obedient servant of NATO and the European Union who reliably supports the Ukrainian government according to instructions but who also avoids a profile on the war or much of anything else. Epitomizing today’s European politicians-on-the-make, who disdain their own people as they chase after European sinecures, he demeaned himself in the eyes of many Romanians earlier this year by openly – and unsuccessfully – angling for the post of NATO Secretary General. In this election, the candidate from Iohannis’ National Liberal Party (PNL) scored below 9%.
Even the party usually dismissed as “extreme right” by the media, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), was caught off-guard. The big unknown had been whether AUR would qualify for the second round against Ciolacu. In the event, neither qualified. Led by George Simion, AUR espouses a nationalism advocating reunification with the Romanian-speaking (but partially Russified) Republic of Moldova, an agenda that neither country wants and that serious analysts understand is both unlikely and undesirable.
AUR also distances itself from the dissenting politics of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, reflecting long-standing friction over the Hungarian-speaking minority in Transylvania. Georgescu, by contrast, expresses admiration for Hungary. He invokes peculiar new-age rhetoric and seems to have built his career pushing fashionable trends like “sustainable development” at the United Nations and similar places, but his “nationalism” hardly seems xenophobic or belligerent.
Contrary to the media narrative, Georgescu did not “emerge from nowhere”. (He held prominent positions in AUR.) He was quite deliberately ignored by the media and polling firms. As recently as October, pollster Inscop listed him under “other” with less than 0.4% support (as reported in Reuters). Earlier this month, it ranked him 6th with 5.4%.
His following was apparently built entirely through TikTok, at almost no cost, and it is overwhelmingly young. One “takeaway” from this election is therefore that the mainstream media’s monopoly of information still works in places like Romania. Informed and connected Romanians – including some who sympathize with Georgescu’s views – have either never heard of him or paid no attention. On the other hand, the shift to social media for political information among the young has gone further than most of us realized.
Equally striking is that Georgescu polled a huge 43% among Romania’s important diaspora. The “mainstream” candidates competed fiercely for the diaspora vote, because it is large, young, affluent, educated, and informed politically. Their mistake was to assume that it is also liberal-left.
The last time the diaspora mobilized for a political cause was a few years ago, when Norway’s feminist child-protection gendarmerie seized the children of a Romanian couple for the “abuse” of raising them as Christians. All five children were put up for adoption in separate homes. Romanians amassed such determined protests at Norwegian embassies all over the world that they succeeded in getting all the children returned to their parents.
Germany ahead – with Danish landscape
The CDU wants to put Germany back in the lead. To this end, it has now released an election video spot. However, it features a landscape from Denmark, with the extras coming from America.
The CDU’s first election campaign ad is one minute and seven seconds long. Under the slogan “Germany back to the front”, it shows Friedrich Merz, Carsten Linnemann and German landscapes from a bird’s eye view. We travel over Saxony and West German cities with a drone camera. The Reichstag can be seen.
At second 53, the shot flies over a wooden floor terrace towards an idyllic lake, you can see blue sky, surrounded by green nature. Unfortunately, this is not Germany. Here the CDU is foisting a lake in Denmark on us.
The video has been on a Danish website for some time on the division of ownership of vacation homes. It originally came from an international agency that sells photos and moving images. This agency also hired the blonde boy who is happily playing in the freshly mown grass at second 24: Danish grass. The agency transparently states where the film was made. The CDU has made use of it.
Fake policewoman, fake Reichstag
If you search the relevant databases, you will also find the smart-looking boy with big glasses sitting at a laptop at second 25. He appears again and again in advertisements, for example for an optician in Spain. He probably comes from America.
In any case, the lady with the moon tattoo used by the CDU is listed by the photo agency as coming from America. The woman has nothing to do with the CDU. Parties do not always use such international images. In the Merkel era, CDU commercials sometimes featured employees of the Konrad Adenauer House and their family members.
Once, in 2021, this even caused trouble. At the time, the police union criticized the CDU for an election campaign poster featuring an employee dressed as a policewoman. “Just as police officers are not allowed to go to party rallies in uniform, parties should not advertise themselves with fake police officers in our outfits,” said deputy federal chairman Jörg Radek.
In 2023, under Chairman Merz, a CDU advertising film showed the Georgian presidential palace in Tbilisi, which looks similar with its portico and dome, instead of the Reichstag.
This mix-up caused astonishment and amusement throughout Germany. Now, in 2024, the real Reichstag is on display, but the enchanting landscape belongs to Denmark. The CDU wants to bring Germany forward. “A country we can be proud of.” The party should start with the image selection. When asked by the F.A.Z., the Konrad Adenauer House did not comment on the video.
https://archive.is/Kdhz1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHXs9u5Hnas
I’m told that Seventh-day Adventists observe more Jewish than just their sabbath get special consideration for asylum as a persecuted in the US.
In Romania, New Educational Center Will Cater to … – Adventist …
https://www.adventistworld.org/in-romania-new…
Web Oct 17, 2020 · The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)
in Romania inaugurated the new “Hope for Immigrants” Educational Center …
In Romania, New Educational Center Will Cater to Immigrants’ Needs
https://adventist.news/news/in-romania-new…
Web Oct 29, 2020 · Several Seventh-day Adventist Church organizations and anonymous donors contributed to make this project a reality. ADRA’s center is already offering
Romanian, …
3 continents, 7 years, 11 countries | ADRA Europe
https://adra.eu/adra-romania-and-the-seventh-day…
Web Jun 20, 2022 · June 20, 2022 ADRA Romania and the Seventh-day
Adventist Church celebrate 7 years of national and international solidarity
with refugees on World Refugee …
Refworld | Romania: Seventh-Day Adventists
https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ad7828.html
Web Feb 28, 2023 · Romania: Seventh-Day Adventists Seventh-Day Adventists in Romania are estimated at 80,000 in a country of 22,810,035, among whom 1,000,000 are Protestants …
• Citation / Document Symbol: ROM34635.E
• Publication Date: 9 June 2000
War-Refugee Relief Fund | Seventh Day Adventist Reform …
https://sdarm.org/news-events/news/2022-03-01/war-refugee-relief-fund
1, 2022 · Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement. 4 – Wire Transfers from outside the USA: Bank’s Name: TRUIST ABA (Routing #) 051404260 SWIFT CODE: BRBTUS33 …
Romania: Information on the view of the Seventh Day Adventist …
https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ac6164.html
Web Nov 1, 1995 · For the official position of the Seventh Day Adventist Church on divorce,
please consult the attached facsimile sent to the DIRB on 24 November 1995 from the …
Adventist® Refugee & Immigrant Ministries : About Us
https://www.refugeeministries.com/about
Web Adventist Refugee and Immigrant Ministries (ARIM) was created by the North
American Division of Seventh-day Adventists to inspire, coordinate, facilitate, and expand Adventist ministries to and by refugees, …
Romania :: The Official Site of the Seventh-day Adventist Inter …
https://eud.adventist.org/en/territory/romania
Web Uniunea de Conferinte a Bisericii Adventiste de Ziua a Saptea din Romania. Str.
Erou Iancu Nicolae 38-38A, OP 30 Bucuresti 077190 Com. Voluntari, Jud
Ilfov Romania Phone: + …
Romanian Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_Union…
WebThe Romanian Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (Romanian: Uniunea de Conferințe a Bisericii Adventiste de Ziua a Șaptea din România) …
When it comes to deviant genital circumcision,
America is in the same league as Israel or North
Africa, even surpassing countries like Sudan, i.e.
roughly where child marriage is also legal.
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/cut-or-not-cut
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/where-child-marriage-still-common
A truly odd peculiarity. Politically, however, it fits
into the scheme, because just as with Jews and
Muslims, American politics can only be understood
as compensation for severe early childhood traumatization.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFKdZsAkMqs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSsn43w9Dz8
Where is my foreskin, tell me, who stole it?
Where is my foreskin, who dared to do that?
I get up, oh my shock, my foreskin is gone!
Overnight, but it was still there yesterday.
Without a cap, just bald, I miss it so much.
Tell me, where has it gone, the skin on my wiener?
(Repeat Refrain)
Tell me, who dared to come to my sacred protection?
The lid is off my wiener. I loved it so much,
but someone had something against it.
Now it’s no fun waving my palm anymore.
I wish I knew where my foreskin was.
Please find me the nasty foreskin thief!
(Repeat Refrain)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7Itub4ywpI
He walked through the jungle and bushes,
saw the mountains and also the desert.
He has done many tours by day and by night.
A willy on the move,
he goes from house to house
and chooses the most beautiful beds.
A wandering willy, come on, let him in!
A willy must never be alone.
He wanders a lot and always further
and works as a guest worker,
sometimes as a speleologist,
sometimes in tunnel construction,
good for a quick job, he takes it very seriously.
(Repeat Refrain)
Sometimes he takes an injury in his stride,
sometimes he chafes in the dry.
And once or twice he almost broke,
but then he smelled the next adventure.
(Repeat Refrain)
And when you go looking for him,
he’s usually already over the hills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBqyO80WAmU
Incredibly courageous and heroic on the part of the owner of the “X” platform. And at about kindergarten level. https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1860566270942544333
If Musk were a man, he would write (in complete safety for him): “Mrs. Merkel has brought an infinite amount of suffering and misfortune to her country and the whole of Europe since 2015 with her willful opening of borders, which violates all the laws of her country and even of the EU itself.”
But he doesn’t, and you have to seriously ask yourself why. Perhaps simply because he himself is part of the establishment that rules this world. It just has to “look” like opposition without ever really being opposition.
These two videos are not based on any available source and should therefore be regarded as mere clickbait, if not deliberate misinformation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDe7OGpPodM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RifwlKrQO2o
Rheinmetall’s shareholder structure presents a complex and somewhat opaque picture. According to recent data, approximately 85% of shareholders are classified as “Unknown,” which indicates a significant lack of transparency in the company’s ownership. The known major institutional investors hold relatively small portions of the company, with Capital Research & Management Co. (World Investors) owning 4.988%, Fidelity Management & Research Co. LLC at 2.991%, and Wellington Management Co. LLP holding 2.955%.
However, it’s important to note that earlier reports have mentioned other significant shareholders that are not reflected in the most recent data. These include BlackRock (5.52%), Société Générale SA (5.33%), Capital Group Companies (4.99%), and Fidelity International (4.99%). The discrepancy between these figures and the more recent data could be due to changes in shareholding over time or differences in reporting methodologies.
Geographically, the known shareholders are primarily concentrated in the United States (10.96%), followed by smaller holdings in the United Kingdom (1.08%), Germany (0.53%), France (0.39%), and Ireland (0.27%). This international spread of investors underscores Rheinmetall’s global financial significance.
The lack of transparency in Rheinmetall’s ownership structure has historical precedents. In the 1950s, the company repurchased shares from an unnamed major shareholder, later revealed to be the Swiss-Spanish arms company Hispano-Suiza. There have also been unconfirmed reports of potential indirect shareholders from Saudi Arabia, including speculation about a businessman acting as a proxy for an influential prince.
Despite these uncertainties, Rheinmetall remains a significant player in the defense industry. The company’s shareholder composition continues to be a topic of discussion and inquiry, raising questions about transparency in corporate ownership, especially for a company of such strategic importance in the defense sector.
Oh! Dear…so much is wrong in this article. Perhaps one thing is true: Georgescu did not “emerge from nowhere”
As a political analyst, Mr. Baskerville is surely aware that the tendency is to support the political ascension of characters who are either compromised (as Iohannis) or part of a club (as Georgescu) The Romanian media makes sure to bamboozle its readers into believing the image of the “Christian saviour” and cover up the sinister allience with the Club of Rome and perhaps the Lucis Trust (inferable from Georgescu’s connection with the Fullemich and Kennedy) Sooner or later, time will tell!