Today, all of the local news stations are buzzing over the latest catastrophe from Romania’s foreign minister, Teodor Melescanu, in which he was caught red-handed in a BBC interview defending corruption:
Ouch!
Of course, it must be remembered that Melescanu is quite literally an old Communist dinosaur (link in Romanian) with a troubling history of supporting dictatorships.
Bedfellows
Melescanu was quite busy in 2018. Here’s how he ended the year:
But who are Romania’s partners?
Cambodia, an Asian dictatorship.
India, with its nationalist strongman leader Mohdi.
Oman, a monarchist Arab dictatorship.
Bahrain, another monarchist Arab dictatorship.
The UAE, yet another monarchist Arab dictatorship.
Kuwait, another monarchist Arab dictatorship.
Qatar, also a monarchist Arab dictatorship.
The warmonger John McCain.
Communist Vietnam.
Turkmenistan, a crazy as hell dictatorship in Central Asia.
Cape Verde of all countries (no clue about this one).
Tanzania, which has a tenuous grasp of democracy.
Burkina Faso, an African dictatorship.
Morocco, a monarchist Arab dictatorship.
https://twitter.com/MAERomania/status/980428899573207041
Algeria, pretty much another Arab dictatorship.
To Be Fair…
Now, to be fair, Melescanu spent most of 2018 meeting with various European Union and American officials, but I did think it was a bit odd that Romania has spent so much time developing new relationships with Gulf Arab dictatorships.
I really have no idea what that’s about other than some possibly shady deals or that kind of thing. Romania doesn’t exactly do a lot of trading with any of those countries.
All I know is that the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait are all massacring children in Yemen using American-made weapons. So who knows? Maybe this is some kind of backdoor way for the US to support the war in Yemen. I really have no idea.
Romania and India also got a lot closer in 2018 with several high-ranking Indian officials making an important visit to Romania. They even got Ana Birchall to dress up in a sari!
All I can say for sure is that, once again, Romania’s government has shown itself to be morally bankrupt and utterly worthless.
All Things Romania 
I am actually impressed that he was so active on the diplomatic side with countries which have been neglected by underfunded Romanian diplomacy but which have significant potential as markets for Romanian products or sources of investment. Name one Western country whose diplomacy and business is run on the kind of holier-than-thou more-catholic-than-the-Pope principles that you seem to be endorsing. So what that Oman is not a Western liberal democracy? It is an important country, important enough for both Iran and Saudi Arabia to rely on it as a go-between. Has France closed or never even opened or never reopened an embassy somewhere because the country does not conform to the Current Year TM best Western practices? Have the Swiss, the Danes etc? It’s a self-defeating attitude on our part and typical of the sort of signalling races we Romanians engage in with each other and others.
We screwed the pooch in relations with the global South and East when we cut funding for embassies or economic attaches in some of the richest countries in the world in our justified dash for the West. But we should have been juggling all of those balls and we lost because of it. Try comparing the number of diplomats and consulates Hungary has in China as compared to Romania. It’s eye opening. In fact, compare us with some of the other countries in Eastern Europe and you will see who has had a rational policy towards pragmatic cooperation with Iran, Central Asia, SE Asia etc. Our embassy in India looks like one of those houses that goes up without authorization in Bucharest, while Poland has an embassy complex. That’s not just for show, although show is an important issue. And, now, we are finally trying to make up for lost time. In a half-assed way I am sure, maybe just photo ops and to cross an item off a list, but still.
Therefore, I disagree with most of your post. The only state that should not have a Romanian embassy and some commercial attaches drumming up business is Kosovo. The rest is just a cost-benefit calculation.
LikeLike
It might be all over the /Romanian/ news, but the BBC here is silent about it. Imagine, a news organisation not screaming from the rooftops about such a scoop! One wonders if the BBC is under some sort of pressure not to carry unfavourable pieces concerning the EU… Maybe not spiked, but definitely buried.
I had to actually enter his name into their search page, it doesn’t even come up under the ‘Countries>Romania’ tab…
LikeLike