this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2025
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Europe

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edit: seems that gif images don't work, so here's the gif:

edit2: another angle from a different TV camera: https://i.imgur.com/Jezrgss.gif (I'm not embedding it because it's larger and one animation is enough)

For context:

Recent https://piefed.social/post/499497

Source video on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Romania/comments/1iyrln3/c%C4%83lin_georgescu_face_salutul_nazist_la_ie%C8%99irea_de/ from a Romanian TV (I wouldn't call it "news", it's like OAN for Trump now)

Broader issue of election meddling:

https://www.sgdsn.gouv.fr/publications/manipulation-dalgorithmes-et-instrumentalisation-dinfluenceurs-enseignements-de

https://www.nato.int/docu/review/articles/2025/02/07/algorithmic-invasions-how-information-warfare-threatens-nato-s-eastern-flank/

Here's the short gif: https://i.imgur.com/OR56MVe.gif

Not sure if this should be NSFW.

top 16 comments
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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I was about to say that he was waving, but he actually stopped for a second during the salute. This guy is mental lol. If I'm not mistaken, there's no first amendment equivalent in Romania that he can get behind to justify this.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

I added another version from a different angle: https://i.imgur.com/Jezrgss.gif

There should be no* debate, but there will be, of course.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Seeing the video makes it clear. To me it looked like a Nazi salutation. Very much like the one Musk did.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think I saw his brain go "Fuck, pretend you were just waving!"

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago

He doesn't say β€˜fuck’ because he's not making a mistake. It's just plausible deniability.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

I guess you could debate whether his shoes matched his outfit, but that salute was crystal clear

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

There's article 30 of the constitution, which warrants the right to free speech. However, there are some provisions related to promoting hatred and the law explicitly forbids fascist and legionary symbols.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Why do all the nazis seem to like Russia so much? Weren't we told that Russia is fighting nazis in Ukraine or could that have been a lie?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Russia was an ally of Germany via their non-aggression pact of 1939 until Germany tried to invade them and ended the alliance in 1941. Not a very long lived alliance, but it tells a little more of the story.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Trying to wrap the current situation around 80-year-old contexts is obviously bound to fail. Then is then, now is now. The people are different, the systems are different, the power axes are different.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 17 hours ago

Sorry, I saw Nazis in the parent post and didn't realize they meant neo-nazis. I was addressing their claim as written, not within the current context. And no, I don't think they should have to differentiate, a Nazi is a Nazi. I just don't pay that much attention sometimes.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It was more of a non aggression pact, to be fair.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Molotov ribbentrop pact is a bit more than non-agression.

They also shared technology for tanks, traded vast amounts of raw materials and split poland in two.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago

Now that Elon's done it it seems to have become a meme and all of the wannabe Elons are doing it πŸ™„

[–] SplashJackson 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I've killed a lot of Nazis in my day (in Wolf3D) but I gotta say that's a bit of a stretch. I don't know anything about this guy, or indeed Romania, so perhaps my Canadian benefit-of-the-doubt is blinding me

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I put some context links in the body of the post, to read.

Georgescu has a platform of autarky, which he calls "sovereigntism". He's also surrounded by fascists ("legion of archangel Michael"), is directly connected to a paramilitary mercenary group, uses dogwhistles regularly. He also believes he's a new messiah who is chosen by God to "save" the People (he may actually be schizophrenic, but the people around him are encouraging it). He's also constantly spewing conspiracy stories and wellness pseudoscience on social media, parroting them and mixing them up with famous speeches from movies.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/trump-populist-conspiracism-autocracy-rfk-jr/681088/

Georgescu is like if Trump and RFK Jr. had a son with Alex Jones as the nanny.