There’s an ongoing theory that the corrupt guy might want this to happen indeed. See, the presidency in Romania isn’t as important as it is in the US. We’re a parliamentary republic, which means that parties need to form a coalition so that they can vote in a government. There are some hints pointing in the direction that the corrupt guy might try to hijack the elections so that the far-right guy gets the presidency. This in turn would mean that the corrupt guy’s party can form a coalition government with the far-right parties and thus get elected as prime minister. It’s easier for them to govern with the far-right than with the progressives or center parties.

And pushing the corrupt guy to the second place will give the far-right guy pretty much a free pass to the presidency.

In a country as racist as Germany… good luck.

Just my two cents, as a Romanian (or half Romanian, half German) living abroad, with family members that voted for this far-right candidate, both in Romania and from abroad:

Romania suffers from the same problem many other European countries suffer from. The status quo parties haven’t come to the realization that they need to change their course if they want to stay relevant, either willingly, because changing political course would hurt their financial interests, or unwillingly, because they’re too dense to understand what the people want.

The economic situation is dire. Over 3 million Romanians (out of ~20 million) live abroad, most of them due to the dire economic situation at home (as is the case with a big chunk of my own family). These are not doctors, engineers, or other people with a ton of degrees hanging on their walls, but normal laborers that moved abroad in the pursuit of a better life. They often get exploited and discriminated, due to their lack of education, language skills, and other factors. One question I get asked very often about by my relatives in Romania is “but when are you moving back home?” and “but aren’t the people there really shitty to you?”. Most of these people dream about saving enough money so they can move back “home” (which in turn is also quite hard given the dire economic situation they face and the very insignificant amounts of money they can save in western Europe).

The status quo parties keep failing to deliver on their promises, with one corruption scandal after the other. The improvements are moving very, very slowly, and people are getting fed up. I’ll quote Milton Friedman on this one (someone that I, as a communist, very often do not agree with):

“Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.”

People are looking for alternatives, and the only alternatives lying around are far-right reactionaries, often because their campaigns are getting funded by Moscow, capitalist think tanks, and other actors that want to change the course of our politics.

The classical parties have failed the average person. Doing a Kamala and just campaigning on keeping the status quo won’t win you an election there, because the status quo sucks.

The capital has exploited and hollowed out the individual, and now the individual is striking back by choosing the most reactionary “opposition” candidate they can put their stamp on.

The anti-EU (and anti-NATO since they’re very closely associated) rhetoric is only helped by the huge wave of xenophobia these people face from foreigners either while abroad or online. We know that we don’t have the best reputation abroad, and this insecurity is well drilled into our heads.

Now to get back to Georgescu, I won’t deny it that it is indeed very weird how this guy appeared out of nowhere. I’m fairly sure Moscow had its money in there somewhere, but that only launched him into the public consciousness. The reason people voted for him isn’t because he got big on TikTok, but because he presented himself as an outsider and he spoke directly to people’s insecurities and anger.

Romania sadly has no leftist parties, nor any leftist candidates. The only “leftists” are somewhat progressive neoliberals that fight to keep the status quo alive (or sometimes make it even worse with their proposed austerity measures). That obviously doesn’t speak to the average person’s insecurities. That’s how this guy got so big, and that’s how many more after him will get big if no candidate with actual solutions shows up.

My ancestors suffered pogroms and survived the Holocaust. She just took this word in her mouth without any consideration towards that. Just for her political gain, to win some extra brownie points. Shame on her, but at least she took it back now, even if late.

The fuck even is this headline

The headline is shining light on the hypocrisy.

All protests or just pro-Palestine protests? There’s a huge difference between the two.

Just donated to Wikipedia.

Understandable. Both candidates are a face of the same US imperialist coin to people living outside the US. Might be different for those living in the US though.

They should. Israel already has nukes and the western powers haven’t done jack shit about it. Why wouldn’t Iran get some too?

I’m from an Eastern European country that’s in the EU. LGBTQ people are still getting getting killed, although not by the government’s direct laws, but by the authorities’ unwillingness to take us seriously. I’m active in multiple queer organizations back home (I currently live abroad) and there are countless cases of police officers beating up gay and trans people (not at protests but in isolation, on the streets) with no subsequent investigations. Trans people are constantly brutalized and it is never taken seriously by anyone. It doesn’t even make the news. The government is spewing anti LGBT rhetoric because of it’s anti western stances, and that’s because the western neoliberal movement has coopted our movement and everyone else sees us as an extension of its politics/imperialism. There are also some very gruesome videos out of Ukraine with gay people being tied to trees and whipped with barbed wire. There are also cases of murders that have gone unsolved for years now. The only queer people you see there are the ones privileged enough to have better off families that can fend them from such acts of violence, and even that doesn’t always work. Many in our communities end up committing suicide because of this. And yes, there are a ton of LGBTQ murders even in Asia up to this day. Most of our community is stripped off any opportunity, they end up working as prostitutes and get brutalized by other civilians and authorities alike.

That’s why we, the queer community should stop letting western neoliberals coopt our movements. Our movements are being associated with western imperialism all across the world. Anti-western reactionary governments are using us as a scapegoat in turn. I’m from Eastern Europe and the LGBTQ movement is always associated with “western values”, and every time the west does something nasty, we are the first ones to take the blame for it.

Why not “Israel killed journalists covering the war in Lebanon as they slept”? Israeli airstrike make it sounds relatively passive as if it was an accident. With over 170 if these “accidents” we know that the IDF is either very, very incompetent or they’re not accidents at all

Oh, I can’t wait for the sympathy piece on Auschwitz guards to drop any day now. They must have seen some very, very, very difficult things too, poor souls.

It’s quite rich to see one of the genocide supporters sitting at the heart of the imperial core complain about aid not getting into Gaza, as their rabid settler colonial project is the main cause for the mass starvation/extinction in Gaza in the first place

Racism at the heart of a past colonial empire? No way!

REEEEEEEEE how dare you vote any other way than what I PERSONALLY WANT? Have you thought about asking me first??

Then maybe Kamala should stop glazing Israel’s d. so much and actually do something to win back michigan muslims. They’ll either vote third party or won’t vote at all. The trumpists will vote Trump anyway. This post is purely delusional if you think you’ll win some voting groups back just by dragging third party candidates through the mud. Especially voting groups so deeply involved in some issues that your beloved candidate clearly doesn’t care about at all.

First and foremost, this isn’t a 1000 year war. It’s a bit over 100 years at most. The colonization of Palestine started around 100 years ago. Israel was founded in 1948.

Secondly, Kamala isn’t working towards achieving shit. Her government is literally still sending weapons to Israel as Israel is shooting at UN peacekeepers, burning people alive, attacking five different countries, and much more worse.

With each passing week, the Israelis are steeping even lower.