I was wracking my brain for a subject that I felt strongly enough about to merit bashing at a keyboard for 30 minutes before my Thursday deadline. The recent truly terrible Bucharest traffic (saying something in this town), the appearance of Christmas beggars at many traffic lights and the rush by everyone to blow their savings on an overpriced short holiday over the New Year, which seems to be the latest Bucharest fashion accessory.
All these stories merit a standard monologue of moan but somehow all fall into the list of clichés that one talks about in relation to Bucharest, particular with short term visitors, who still arrive asking questions about orphans and Ceausescu.
Speaking of the former Genius of the Carpathians (how may other intellectuals have you seen wondering around the Prahova peaks?) he must be turning in his grave at Romania''s shameless enthusiasm to offer up the country to become a forwarding base for America''s exploits in connection with the "war on terror".
I couldn''t care less about whether Ceausescu is spinning in his box or not as he certainly offered nothing in the way of a decent life for Romanians, but the move by the Government to welcome the ever expanding worldwide web of US bases (currently in 132 countries) seems to have been accepted by everyone as a good thing without any analysis of what this may mean for the future of Romania.
The security umbrella once supplied by membership to NATO becomes more of a homing beacon for would-be terrorist cells by dint of the implied support of the US, particularly when linked to support for the war in Iraq.
Romania is now a NATO member with troops in Iraq and soon to host American servicemen within its borders. I spend part of my time in another country that ticks these three boxes, the United Kingdom, and we have already become the unwelcome recipient of the attentions of terrorists whose hatred for us is, in part, driven by our closeness to the US and our involvement in Iraq.
Romania is clearly not on the same part of the radar screen as the UK but it is also no longer off it. Due to the issues with unprofessional and potential corrupt border security, Romania is also a soft target that may also raise its profile in the same way that targets in Turkey and Egypt have been attacked after repeated failures in Western Europe (there have been numerous never mentioned plots in the UK that were foiled before 7 July this year).
Without going into the merits of the current direction of US foreign policy, it appears that, like the UK, Romania simply shouts "how high" when asked to jump by the US. In a recent autobiography by the UK''s former Ambassador to Washington, he quotes the instruction he received from 10 Downing Street when first appointed to this position, namely "get up the arse of the White House and stay there". Putting aside the unpleasantness of the comment, it shows a level of over-simplicity and focus on support at any price for a country who has recently taken a number of divisive decisions that is helping to polarise worldwide opinion and feed the equally over-simplistic justifications used by Al-Qaeda and its offshoots.
Clearly there will be a financial boost to Romania in hosting these US bases and no doubt this fact was used by the US to extract a variety of favours in exchange. One can only speculate on the extent to which US terror suspects were transited or held in Romania on the basis that this would curry enough favour to swing things Romania''s way.
This is just politics the way that the Romanian Government has played it for 150 years and it is the lack of political courage and foresight that is so sorely missed in Romanian political life (i.e. the ability to take a tough decision) that has led the country into the embrace of the US at such a pace that it is the first Ex-Soviet Bloc country to agree to host American bases on its territory without questioning whether this is really in the best long-term interests of Romania.
Condi Rice''s visit to Romania was clearly part of the reward package offered and her lack of willingness to speak about the terrorist suspects issue was not surprising. Supportive total silence from the Romanian Government on this issue shows the extent of the collusion on this issue.
Save for the influx of money into the country, I have not seen or read much discussion in what is in it for Romania. The much-touted security that these bases bring is meaningless as NATO rules already guarantee Romania''s integrity against invasion - but then who is going to invade? The likelihood of a neighbouring country sending in the tanks a la Soviet times is zero whilst the increase in awareness of Romania as a fully paid up member of the US fan club increases.
There is nothing wrong with nailing Romania''s colours to the US''s mast but it would be more reassuring if this was done after some form of public debates with at least an appreciation of what this will mean for Romania down the line.
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