The Emperor has no Clothes

by Eduardo del Buey

The Emperor has no Clothes

On December 7th, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the first-round results of the country’s presidential election just hours before last weekend’s scheduled runoff vote.

The court decided after evidence emerged suggesting that the shock winner, hard-right Călin Georgescu, had benefitted from a Russian influence operation. Georgescu and other opposition figures have criticized the decision, describing it as an attack on Romania’s democracy.

According to Reuters, prosecutors have not named the candidate whose campaign is being investigated. Still, documents declassified by the National Security Council this week focused on the campaign of Calin Georgescu - a far-right, pro-Russian critic of NATO.

Georgescu - who wants to end Romanian support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion, had attracted only single-digit support in opinion polls before the Nov. 24 first-round vote but surged to first place in that round, raising questions about the validity of the election.

Romania, a NATO ally for two decades with a record of democratic integrity, almost had a presidential election stolen by foreign intervention. The good news is that Romania’s democracy proved itself to be sufficiently robust and resilient to prevent this interference from having a decisive impact—though the final outcome of the rescheduled elections will ultimately determine that.

According to DW, the maas anti-government demonstrations continue apace in Georgia.

Protesters have two main demands: a fresh election after the contested October 26 parliamentary vote and a return to the European path enshrined in their country's constitution. The ruling party, Georgian Dream, has accused the opposition of "staging the Maidan Revolution" — a reference to Ukraine's 2014 uprising against its pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych — with the help of "foreign patrons." (my article of December 6th refers https://eduardodelbuey.substack.com/p/georgia)

The Moscow-aligned government's announcement in late November that it planned to suspend EU accession talks until 2028 and reject further EU funding sparked public outrage. Most demonstrators believe Russia—Georgia's neighbor to the north—is pulling the strings behind the scenes.

On December 14th, parliament elected Mikheil Kavelashvili, an extreme right-wing president who will follow the government’s lead in moving closer to Russia. However, current pro-EU President Salome Zourabichvili plans to remain in office after her term expires on December 31st, creating a constitutional crisis and further challenges to Putin’s plans.

Former Soviet satellites Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, and Poland have all announced robust measures to counter any Russian moves against their political freedoms. They no longer fear Putin and are ready to call his bluff.

Elsewhere, the Syrian government fell on December 8th, and the butcher of Damascus, Bashir al Assad, fled to Russia along with his Russian support troops. Russia could well lose its twenty-one bases in Syria, including the all-important Tartus naval base – Russia’s only Mediterranean naval base.

Añ Assad’s proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, have been destroyed by Israel, and his ally Iran’s crescent of influence from Teheran to the Mediterranean has disappeared.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin appears to be the emperor with no clothes.

Once universally feared, his empire is falling apart as people he would subjugate fight back against his cronies.

His Ukrainian adventure has weakened his military and economy significantly, and one only has to look at how he had to deplete Russia’s forces in Syria and thus deal al Assad a mortal wound.

He depends on Iran and North Korea for military equipment and on Pyongyang for fighting troops. China seems to be underwriting Russia’s economy and supplying goods embargoed from other sources.

India, a fellow BRICS member, announced this past weekend that it would not participate in Putin’s scheme to create a new currency to bypass the U.S. dollar. This came after President-elect Donald Trump announced massive tariffs against any participating country.

Until recently, Putin’s reliance on local dictators to do his bidding has held firm.

Now, the emperor appears to have no clothes.

Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro may be next to fall since the incoming Trump administration has it out for him, as it does his other allies in the region Nicaragua and Cuba.

Like all bullies, will he fade away as his targets call his bluff and fight back?

How long will Russians stand for defeat after defeat on the global stage? Are they fed up enough to fight back and overthrow the emperor? Are his allies, the oligarchs who are currently sanctioned to the hilt, desert him as he is deserting his erstwhile allies around the world?

Stay tuned!