NEWS: “The key message launched by Liviu Dragnea – “Romania must regain its national dignity, its national pride, access to its own resources” – has been extremely well received.
The echoes of Liviu Dragnea’s interview went beyond Romania’s borders, and the reputed Romanian journalist working for Radio China International, Daniel Tomozei Dimian, has conveyed a strong reaction from Beijing.
In his article, “THE LAST GENTLEMAN!”, Dan Tomozei highlights the crux of Liviu Dragnea’s message as underlying his new political agenda: “Who else, before Dragnea, but more importantly after him, has pointed out so firmly that Romania “must regain its national dignity, its national pride, must regain access to its own resources and the chance to create prosperity for its citizens!”
“All of us, who’ve had our brains washed and souls embittered, are witnessing “the destruction of our nation through everything that’s happening right now and with everything that’s going to happen!””, Dan Tomozei goes on to say.
Furthermore, Dan Tomozei underlines Dragnea’s argument: “There’s a risk this people will no longer represent a nation, a fatherland, because without the idea of fatherland, people have nothing to relate to” […]
“Those who rule Romania today, from Iohannis, USRPLUS to the leadership of services carrying out the orders and observing Euro-Atlantic interests, are afraid of just that: living and breathing people, Romanians, whom they seek to re-educate in the spirit of forgetfulness and hatred towards their own country!”, Dan Tomozei writes”, Sputnik notes.
NARRATIVES: 1. Romania needs leaders who should restore its national pride and disregard its Western partners. 2. Romania needs patriots, since plans are in motion outside our borders to destroy the Romanian nation. 3. Liviu Dragnea is the politician Romania needs.
BACKGROUND: At the end of last week, Liviu Dragnea gave an interview to Realitatea Plus TV station, where he revealed the fact that he will be coordinating a new party – the Alliance for the Fatherland, without holding a formal position.
The Alliance for the Fatherland was officially registered in May, 2021, by four people close to Liviu Dragnea and Codrin Ștefănescu, a former PSRM and PSD MP and a close friend and supporter of Liviu Dragnea.
Although upon his prison release on July 15, Liviu Dragnea said he was not considering a comeback to Romanian politics, two months later he announced publicly he would be investing his experience and expertise in the new political project.
The new party will most likely try to mobilize anti-establishment, nationalist and Euroskeptic voters who also oppose anti-COVID-19 health restrictions. It is the same segment of the population AUR addresses. It remains to be seen whether the two parties will work together or compete in elections.
The programme of the Alliance for the Fatherland contains populist themes, such as “reinventing national pride”, elements of nationalism steeped in xenophobia and economic protectionism.
Sovereigntist narratives are promoted by means of fake news and anti-Western Russian propaganda, including in Romania. They are aimed at inducing the idea that Romania is a colony of the West, where Romanians are treated as second-rate citizens.
Sputnik, a Russian propaganda dissemination tool, coordinates with Chinese propaganda for this article. In fact, Dragnea and PSD have always showed openness towards China. Additionally, Romania was one of the few countries in the region that resisted China’s offers, whose negative effects are already visible in countries such as Montenegro.
Dan Tomozei is a Romanian journalist who moved to China nearly a decade ago and who often criticizes Romania using typically Russian and Chinese propaganda themes, such as Romania being a Western colony or xenophobic and nationalist themes, like saving the Romanian people.
He focuses on topics aimed at bringing Bucharest closer to Beijing and is often cited by Euroskeptic news portals in Romania, but also by Russian propaganda, especially Sputnik, whenever the articles on his blog fit Moscow’s propagandistic narratives.
PURPOSE: To awaken a nationalist and anti-European sentiment among Romanian citizens.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: Romania is well anchored in Euro-Atlantic space by means of its membership to the European Union and NATO’s security umbrella. Romania’s borders and integrity are today secure by means of its political and military status, and Romania is not just a beneficiary, but also a provider of security in the region. Romania is a key NATO ally on the Black Sea, which should make every Romanian proud, all the more so considering Russia’s revanchist actions in the Black Sea region in the last decade and more specifically after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Moreover, in recent years the United States has invested a great deal in anti-ballistic missile systems, such as the one deployed in Deveselu and in military bases such as those in Kogălniceanu or Câmpia Turzii.
Furthermore, Dragnea was proved to be an extremely corrupt politician and was actually sentenced to prison on May 27, 2019. He tried to undermine the judiciary in order to defend himself and continue his acts of corruption. In addition, it was Dragnea and his associates who ordered the Gendarmerie to violently and unprecedentedly suppress a peaceful protest staged in August 2018 against the corruption of his regime.
Dragnea’s nationalism is but a populist ruse that has nothing to do with national pride. Besides, Liviu Dragnea could very well return to prison, as he is being investigated in other corruption cases which might put him again behind bars.
