It is incredible to me to swear to defend the country, doing everything in your power to destabilize it and to try to take it back 90 years towards authoritarianism. 8/

Still, they think they are engaged in a sort of holy war for the protection of the country from the corrupt political elite and globalist intervention. 7/

This comes from the far right propaganda that Romanian politicians want to participate directly in the War in Ukraine, not only a lie, but an idea that was never on the public agenda. 6/

Secondly, it is important because the protesters constantly scream at the top of their lungs that they do not want to go to war, that they are people of peace. 5/

They are disregarding this second part of the oath, not only because it is less catchy, but also because they are trying to destabilize the constitutional order, and threaten to destroy Romania's liberal democratic statehood. 4/

First of all, because they choose only what suits them, the oath continuing with: "I swear to respect the Constitution, the laws of the land and the military regulations". 3/

Besides this militarization of the discourse, because the PMC mercenaries and fascist paramilitaries that backed him were not enough, I believe this chant is not only important to understand but pretty ironic. 2/

Blimey. Asked about Trump, Merz says he’s in close contact with European leaders about becoming “independent” from US (and confesses “I never thought I’d say that on TV show”). Casts doubt on value of NATO summit in June.

This from a die-hard Atlanticist. Things are moving fast.