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Romania to investigate foreign interference after far-right vote surge (www.voanews.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Romania’s top security agency said Thursday it is investigating possible foreign interference in Sunday’s first round of the nation’s presidential election. The far-right candidate, Calin Georgescu, topped all other candidates with almost 23% of the vote, despite polling in single digits before the election.

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[–] dotdi 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Problem with this reasoning is that he was huge on social media while claiming he didn’t spent any money on it. This stinks like Russia all the way, and wouldn’t it be convenient for Putin if another NATO critic were to assume power in the EU, especially one as close to Ukraine as Romania.

[–] lath 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I have multiple thoughts on this and it may come out disjointed. Apologies in advance.

If you look closer at Romania, you'll find it akin to a mini-US election situation. The rich getting richer and patting each other on the back while the working class is down in the dumps. Then this guy shows up and hits where it hurts.

A problem some people aren't getting is that the undercurrent was already there in plain sight. The discontent already existed and needed a fuse. This guy happened to be it. It's not that the shadow campaign had foreign backers such as Russia, but more that it didn't really need them all that much. Something like this would have happened eventually because it already did somewhere else. And multiple times in the past as well.

And really, is it that unbelievable that a blitzkrieg would successfully change the tides if played at the right moment? Hello? WW2 anyone? Butterfly flapping wings ending up as a hurricane. Reddit wrongly identifying people as terrorists after the Boston marathon bombing? There is precedent of things wildly spiraling out of control, people! Get a grip.

There's no doubt in my mind Russia interfered in this election and that they had a part in this guy's campaign. But also in most of the others. No way they would've stopped to only this one candidate. It's just that this one worked beyond their expectations likely.

The rise of Trump isn't unfounded. There are people willing to give in to mascots such as him all over the world. But as long as the problems pushing them towards these candidates aren't solved, we'll never be able to prevent their rise.

Edit: Right. Forgot about TikTok influencers. Remember Tate brothers? That daddy McPherson dude who went all religious with Russel what's his face? Joe Rogan? Alex Jones? Social media can make something go viral instantly if it has the right people spreading the message to those who want to hear it.

So this guy's campaign doesn't necessarily need foreign backers as long as the right local backers shared his message to their own followers and they agreed with it