On November 25th the Romanians woke up to the stunning news that a man many of them had never heard of won the first round of their presidential elections.
In other words, welcome to Romania, the "Gates of the Orient, où tout est pris à la légère" (some people will recognize this quote from Matei Calinescu's Craii de Curtea Veche" - in fact Calinescu himself had a very adequate motto for anything that happened in his country: "It doesn't matter anyway"). I will add only the fact that Potra was released because the "lethal" weapon he was carrying in his car (and for which he was arrested) was a non-functioning airgun (so not lethal in the least). The prosecutor in this case is as unprofessional as anybody else, and the facts are as unreliable as anything coming from that part of the world.
Yes, I too found out (about Potra) after writing the piece (but was too lazy to update it.) I wrote this a week ago and now, with the info I gathered meanwhile and after some reflection, I would reconsider some points. I think I (too) got a bit carried away because some journalists were presenting the situation a bit hysterically. The more I think about it, the more the decision to cancel the elections seems, at the very least, wrongheaded. The consequences will be very negative, because those who voted out of resentment and anger will be a thousand times more resentful and angrier now. (Lasconi would have probably won, but, boy, it would have been a bit like voting for Harris.)
In other words, welcome to Romania, the "Gates of the Orient, où tout est pris à la légère" (some people will recognize this quote from Matei Calinescu's Craii de Curtea Veche" - in fact Calinescu himself had a very adequate motto for anything that happened in his country: "It doesn't matter anyway"). I will add only the fact that Potra was released because the "lethal" weapon he was carrying in his car (and for which he was arrested) was a non-functioning airgun (so not lethal in the least). The prosecutor in this case is as unprofessional as anybody else, and the facts are as unreliable as anything coming from that part of the world.
Yes, I too found out (about Potra) after writing the piece (but was too lazy to update it.) I wrote this a week ago and now, with the info I gathered meanwhile and after some reflection, I would reconsider some points. I think I (too) got a bit carried away because some journalists were presenting the situation a bit hysterically. The more I think about it, the more the decision to cancel the elections seems, at the very least, wrongheaded. The consequences will be very negative, because those who voted out of resentment and anger will be a thousand times more resentful and angrier now. (Lasconi would have probably won, but, boy, it would have been a bit like voting for Harris.)