I call them the “far dumb”. They borrow idiotic propaganda from both left and right. Like: the foreigners are to blame for the state of the country, we’ll kick them out and nationalise the industry and split the profits with everyone. Except for the lazy bums in public administration, which we’re going to fire en masse.
No, ZeroGravitas is just my modest tribute to Iain M. Banks.
And fuck no, they’re appalled by the rise of braindead populism. We have a saying in our business: for every complex problem there’s a solution that’s simple, easy to understand and completely wrong. Can’t remember whose quote that is, but it perfectly captures the populist propaganda.
Came here to say this, the similarities to Erdogan’s voters are striking.
In addition, this is a protest vote, very much against something seen by many Romanians as an unholy alliance between a classical liberal party (on paper) and the spiritual descendants of the old communist party. At least that’s what my Romanian friends are telling me.
This is the keg, and Simion’s brand of nationalistic populism is the powder.
Technically correct. If Ukraine folded to Russian aggression, there would be no war. Just Russian tanks peacefully visiting Europe like it was 1964.
Which is why I’ll close with: Slava Ukraini!
PS: looking purely at impact of military investments (albeit in a foreign military) Joe Biden might be the American leader that managed to inflict the largest Russian military losses since the second World War, at the cost of practically 0 American lives.
Nobody “made” money here . Ask yourself: who was on the other side of the bet? Pension funds? Retail investors? Insurance companies?
This was a brazen act of highway robbery. There’s a reason SEC is supposed to pursue insider trading. Once the trust in the system is lost, the whole thing folds like a wet deck of cards. Supposed to, but they won’t do a damn thing about this.
You can’t park this at the door of a single individual. This is systemic grift. Fuck the party of law and order.
But… the swamp…
Proceeds to elect Darth Shreck for a second term.
That’s Romania saying no to MAGA style populism.