The Land Behind the Shield

Coming from the airport, the ruthless and fearless Victoria Nuland turned on Ştirbei Street and stopped in front of the most filmed building in the universe. She was there for about an hour, but no one dares say what was discussed behind closed doors. However, we did figure out a few things, and if you watch how the over publicized criminal lawsuits unfold, there is no doubt. The latest verdicts confirm my assumptions and, from here on out, everything falls into the natural storyline of this meeting. Therefore, the first credible ally that the Yankees in Romania have is represented by the anti-corruption attorneys and that is the main point that needed to get across. Also, the Potomac government insisted in assuring the incorruptibles on the Dâmboviţa River that “Uncle Sam” is a trustworthy supporter.

He is the one they should be answering to, not the ephemeral leaders in Bucharest, who are always at risk of being put in the jug. And so, here is how after the anti-rocket shield in Deveselu, the exuberant ally builds an anti-corruption shield as well, which makes debates about independence and sovereignty utterly useless. Romania is nothing but that Balkan country from behind the American shield, Europe’s perfect guinea pig. We live in this sheepfold, well enclosed by the “Master of the Planet,” marginally and submissively, with a pass and with our pants down. Our freedom has been democratically rationed by others, not by us. Living under the rule of others has become more than a temporary weakness. It is a Wallachian tradition. Some time ago, the Turks ruled us, as well as the Greeks and Austro-Hungarians, and, at those gates, we lost both our dignity and pride. Later, given no choice, we crawled into the Soviet yoke.

The red boot crushed the last remains of the Romanian courage and our pride as unbound people. The Russkis’ spit on the Romanians’ cheek is not yet dry; the scar of humiliation is still bleeding. Only under Nicolae Ceausescu did we take back some of the things we wasted in the never-ending servility and vassalage. Enough for the heinous agitators of the time to turn him into general secretary of the only political party in the game and guarantee of the victory of a people used to crawl through history. Soon after, however, everything came to a sudden end, and even the West’s shield against capitalism was shattered.

Ceasusescu’s sinister assassination marks the beginning of the end for the post-revolution agony. Since then, Romania is dying a little more each day and has stopped wondering if there is another kind of life beyond the shield, beyond the snippy and severe orders of goddamn Gitensteins. Just as the rest of the dying, Romania is sick of being jaded and is sending its politicians and justice heads on their knees, to solemnly salute outside the alpha firefly’s embassy.

Romania is acting like it is not able to make its own destiny and seems to lack the ability to practice. Institutions across the world have already put it under their guardianship and mock it any way they want. Why would they care about poor, little us, since our chosen representative abandoned it and made a pact with the devil-colonizer? The perversity in the guardian’s hypocritical language, in his empty words that are supposed to protect our interests … A country with no sovereignty and no national independence is undoubtedly a country with no constitutional capacity. The rest does not even matter. Trust me, I am writing from behind the shield, and, since it is not possible for all of us to either leave or shut up, somebody has to write the journal of our shameful surrender!

In the land behind the shield, the nation’s former leader is playing the game of rule of law. In fact, this is how the “Great Guardian,” very open to burger flavored catchphrases, was drawn in. The unlucky showman tamed his Praetorian Guard and is passing out spoonfuls of justice with a criminal hand. Victims among the leaders shout out and point fingers at all the courthouses; they hum the slogans of the doomed, and the confusion grows even more. As the day ends, week after week, the ghost appears at the palace on the hill and tells the authorities about the attack, the rule of law is cruelly violated! The crooks scream, “Crooks!”, but the “Great Guardian” is not paying attention to shades, as this was always his impairment. News spreads suspiciously fast, and Romania is flailed and criticized across foreign offices.

The ghoul reached its purpose: It promised that we would be shammed and shammed we were. Anyone disobeying its command was condemned to judicial chills, in the shriek of the people always hungry for public executions. The defendants are rigorously selected to be the most detested by the crowd, and then the wait is over. “They were insatiable, too greedy,” scream the bondsmen of capitalism, briefly satisfied by the sound of chains on the barons’ bodies. “Let’s take down the attorneys’ political police,” bark the others. Action and reaction, one might think: However, the latter means debilitating the state. The show is unfolding, and I keep wondering how the others still have not discovered the trick that the evil character is performing. They are just a bunch of dangerous putschists that this country’s guarantor was right to label as such, say Redding and Nuland. Your clown of a leader is not complaining about nothing: Have you not noticed that politicians dream, not only of amnesty, but also of constantly abusing the courts? Unfortunately, everyone keeps forgetting the essential — there is no rule of law behind the shield!