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| Traian Basescu |
Removing Basescu from office might seem illogical from the point of view of US-Romanian relations, but it is not by chance that the US is repudiating the Romanian president.
At first sight the president seemed to be a perfect vassal of the United States: he sent Romanian troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, allowed deployment of a missile defense site (thus turning Romania into one of the priority targets for Russian nuclear missiles), started verbal attacks against Russia, and advocated American interests at European forums where decisions were made. Under such conditions, many supporters of the Romanian president believe that Basescu’s patronage by the US is stable and will not be subject to any changes. The reality, however, turned out to be different.
General Clark’s visit to Bucharest and the fast replacement of Ambassador Gitenstein prove that Washington has made a decision to support Romania’s USL (Social-Liberal Union) party in the internal political struggle. Despite all of Basescu’s efforts to remain the best vassal of the United States, he ended up in a situation where the decision-makers at the US administration decided to remove him from politics.
The obvious question is: what has he done to upset Americans? There are two possible answers to this question and the answers might not be mutually exclusive.
Traian Basescu failed to become the president who could have won the benevolence of the democratic part of the American elite. The image of “being one of the republicans in Bucharest” turned out to be harmful for his political career. Probably there is another incident which made Washington nervous: Basescu’s visit to the Chinese Embassy earlier this year where, on January 10, the president of Romania decided to participate in the Chinese New Year celebrations. The decision was quite unexpected, since the president had never taken part in such events. Only a couple of Bucharest analysts note the inconsistency between the official version of the visit and the calendar. In 2012, the Chinese New year started on January 23 – two weeks after the official ceremony held in Bucharest. For an outsider the situation was absolutely clear: Basescu needed to discuss something important with Chinese diplomatic representatives and for that reason the New Year was moved two weeks. We can only guess what topics they might have discussed, but one thing is obvious – such discussions can not but cause certain irritation in Washington. Today the situation Basescu has found himself in might be the result of such annoyance.
Another possible explanation which does not exclude the above-mentioned might be Basescu’s behavior abroad. It is well known that superpowers often use their vassals as an exchange coin in their geopolitical operations. At a certain point, Basescu’s behavior abroad started to irritate some geopolitical forces so much that his “getting out of the game” became a topic for discussions at high-level talks. In the context of such operations, global geopolitical forces tend to make mutual concessions on certain regional problems often combining problems which do not have any apparent connection.
It is quite possible that change of regime in Romania – which means removal from the political life not only the president but also the entire team who supported him – is just an exchange coin, a concession in a geopolitical deal which the US made at the international level. Such explanation of the current situation can be proved by the fact that General Clark was sent over there and he actually organized Basescu’s removal in a blitzkrieg and with military accuracy. It looks like Washington needed the urgent resignation of the president, but did not want to leave the process in the hands of local executors.
The steps that USL government will be taking domestically and internationally and the difference between them and what Basescu was doing might be able to somewhat explain the real reasons for his removal. Regardless of that, it is absolutely clear that the policy of Romania will never be the same and Romanian politicians will understand that subservience cannot guarantee security for the future.
At first sight the president seemed to be a perfect vassal of the United States: he sent Romanian troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, allowed deployment of a missile defense site (thus turning Romania into one of the priority targets for Russian nuclear missiles), started verbal attacks against Russia, and advocated American interests at European forums where decisions were made. Under such conditions, many supporters of the Romanian president believe that Basescu’s patronage by the US is stable and will not be subject to any changes. The reality, however, turned out to be different.
General Clark’s visit to Bucharest and the fast replacement of Ambassador Gitenstein prove that Washington has made a decision to support Romania’s USL (Social-Liberal Union) party in the internal political struggle. Despite all of Basescu’s efforts to remain the best vassal of the United States, he ended up in a situation where the decision-makers at the US administration decided to remove him from politics.
The obvious question is: what has he done to upset Americans? There are two possible answers to this question and the answers might not be mutually exclusive.
Traian Basescu failed to become the president who could have won the benevolence of the democratic part of the American elite. The image of “being one of the republicans in Bucharest” turned out to be harmful for his political career. Probably there is another incident which made Washington nervous: Basescu’s visit to the Chinese Embassy earlier this year where, on January 10, the president of Romania decided to participate in the Chinese New Year celebrations. The decision was quite unexpected, since the president had never taken part in such events. Only a couple of Bucharest analysts note the inconsistency between the official version of the visit and the calendar. In 2012, the Chinese New year started on January 23 – two weeks after the official ceremony held in Bucharest. For an outsider the situation was absolutely clear: Basescu needed to discuss something important with Chinese diplomatic representatives and for that reason the New Year was moved two weeks. We can only guess what topics they might have discussed, but one thing is obvious – such discussions can not but cause certain irritation in Washington. Today the situation Basescu has found himself in might be the result of such annoyance.
Another possible explanation which does not exclude the above-mentioned might be Basescu’s behavior abroad. It is well known that superpowers often use their vassals as an exchange coin in their geopolitical operations. At a certain point, Basescu’s behavior abroad started to irritate some geopolitical forces so much that his “getting out of the game” became a topic for discussions at high-level talks. In the context of such operations, global geopolitical forces tend to make mutual concessions on certain regional problems often combining problems which do not have any apparent connection.
It is quite possible that change of regime in Romania – which means removal from the political life not only the president but also the entire team who supported him – is just an exchange coin, a concession in a geopolitical deal which the US made at the international level. Such explanation of the current situation can be proved by the fact that General Clark was sent over there and he actually organized Basescu’s removal in a blitzkrieg and with military accuracy. It looks like Washington needed the urgent resignation of the president, but did not want to leave the process in the hands of local executors.
The steps that USL government will be taking domestically and internationally and the difference between them and what Basescu was doing might be able to somewhat explain the real reasons for his removal. Regardless of that, it is absolutely clear that the policy of Romania will never be the same and Romanian politicians will understand that subservience cannot guarantee security for the future.
Valentin Mândrăşescu is the author and presenter at the Voice of Russia, Russia's first internationally broadcasted Radio. On air since 1929.
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