Basescu (aka “Petrov”), the Securitate, and the Investigations of December 1989 (II)
(purely personal views as always; not for reproduction or reuse without author’s permission)
ROMANIA: Communist Agents Get the Upper Hand
Claudia Ciobanu
BUCHAREST, Feb 11 2008 (IPS)
CNSAS was created as a political institution during the first centre-right post-revolutionary government (1996-2000). The institution was placed under the control of the parliament and run by a college made up of representatives appointed by the political parties. CNSAS employed 250 people, most of them historians and lawyers. The creation of the institution was hailed by many as an important step in the “moral recovery” of Romanian society.
“What had been missing was a sense of moral clarity. People were perplexed noticing the thriving careers of proven Securitate collaborators,” Vladimir Tismaneanu, director of the Centre for the Study of Post-Communist Societies at the University of Maryland, told IPS. “What was needed was the condemnation of the communist dictatorship and a tribute to the victims, including the anti-totalitarian socialists,” Tismaneanu said.
July 21, 2006 The Graduating Class at the National Police Academy…President Traian Basescu speaking at the lectern…to the back left, second row, with glasses, former head of Ceausescu’s Securitate and a career Securitate officer, General Iulian Vlad, appearing for the first time in public at such an event, since the Romanian Revolution of December 1989 overthrew Nicolae Ceausescu.
According to the official ideology and mythology of the CPADCR Final Report propagated by its Chair, Vladimir Tismaneanu, and his clients and supporters, sometime in early 2006, but certainly by April 2006, Traian Basescu, had undergone a sort of Road to Damascus Saul-to-Paul conversion and became fully and irrevocably committed to the condemnation of communism and of the Securitate as a “criminal and illegitimate” institution.
Such a view is hard to sustain, when one looks at the above Agerpres photo. This event was only brought to light 8 months later, and three months after Basescu’s 18 December 2006 speech in parliament condemning communism and the Securitate, as discussed in the Report. Nor, could it be said that this photo was brought to public knowledge by the villains Tismaneanu loves to trot out for such occasions…but by someone, Andrei Badin, whose work is quoted in the Report and who vigorously supported and defended the Report (to a blind fault, as I know all too well). Neither Tismaneanu, nor any of his clients and supporters, particularly in the academic fields of “memory studies,” “lustration,” “coming to terms with the communist past,” and “post-communist justice” have ever made mention of this photo and the significance of Iulian Vlad at this event. Could it be, that just as Iulian Vlad famously played a “double game” during December 1989, that Traian Basescu did the same when it came to dealing with the former Securitate? After all, Basescu did not object to Vlad’s presence at this event, clearly did not say, hell no, I am not participating with this guy on stage so close to me! But nor did Vlad stay away! One cannot help but look at this photo a bit differently, in light of the now confirmed revelations of Basescu’s Securitate collaboration…(Here is Andrei Badin’s March 2007 article):
Traian Basescu, la parada cu fostul sef al Securitatii
22 Martie 2007 | de Andrei Badin
Foto: Administratia Prezidentiala CEREMONIE SOLEMNA. Depunerea juramantului de credinta de absolventii Academiei de Politie “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Bucuresti, prilej de a-l invita pe fostul sef al Securitatii, generalul Iulian Vlad (in imagine, cu ochelari) alaturi de presedintele Basescu
Generalul Iulian Vlad, fostul sef al Securitatii, a aparut pentru pentru prima data in public dupa 1989, intr-un cadru oficial, alaturi de presedintele Traian Basescu. Evenimentul a avut loc anul trecut la Academia de Politie si este prezentat pe site-ul Administratiei Prezidentiale, unde Iulian Vlad apare la dreapta lui Traian Basescu.
Aparitia publica a presedintelui Traian Basescu alaturi de generalul Iulian Vlad, fostul sef al Securitatii, a avut loc la 21 iulie anul trecut, la ceremonia depunerii juramantului de credinta fata de tara de absolventii Academiei de Politie “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Bucuresti. Cu cateva luni inainte, seful statului infiintase Comisia prezidentiala pentru studierea dictaturii comuniste si deja prof. Vladimir Tismaneanu, presedintele acesteia, precizase public ca una dintre concluziile Raportului va fi ca “Securitatea a fost o institutie criminala de la inceput pana la sfarsit”, adica inclusiv in perioada mandatului ultimului sef al acesteia, Iulian Vlad.
FILMUL CEREMONIEI. In filmul ceremoniei publicat pe site-ul Administratiei Prezidentiale, generalul Iulian Vlad se plimba nestingherit in jurul presedintelui si al ministrului de Interne. Pentru inceput sta la dreapta ministrului de Interne, Vasile Blaga. Se muta in spatele acestuia atunci cand soseste ministrul Mediului, Sulfina Barbu. Iar momentul paradei militare a absolventilor il prinde pe Vlad exact in spatele lui Basescu, care saluta militar promotia 2006 a Academiei. Alaturi de fostul sef al Securitatii, in preajma presedintelui apar cadre din conducerea Academiei si generali de frunte din Interne, printre care Dan Fatuloiu, seful Politiei Romane. Singurul personaj prezent la ceremonie care este legat de trecutul comunist al Academiei de Politie, Dumitru Mazilu, se afla undeva in planul doi. Mazilu a fost seful scolii de la Baneasa. In mod evident prin locul ocupat la ceremonie, generalul Vlad este considerat un personaj foarte important. Oficial, fostul sef a l Securitatii este pensionar.
Fotografiile pot fi vazute pe site-ul Administratiei Prezidentiale la adresa: www.presidency.ro …
One should not hold one’s breath expecting Tismaneanu and his network to address this undeniable fact, now in light of Basescu’s demonstrated Securitate collaboration. Why make such an assumption? Because Tismaneanu has so much invested in the mythology he has created surrounding Basescu and The Report, that he is unable to process anything that might contradict the reified reality he has constructed, as the following made clear, several years ago:
Comisia pentru condamnarea comunismului a fost proponerea lui Claudiu Saftoiu. Numirea lui Vladimir Tismaneanu a fost tot propunerea lui Claudiu. Traian Basescu le-a acceptat cu indiferenta. Nu s-a mai opus, cum se intimplase in faza initiala, dar ar fi o minciuna sfruntata sa sustina cineva ca Traian Basescu a facut cu mult entuziasm si implicare acest demers. Comisia era pentru el o tragere de timp. In perioada aceea, intalnirile cu Tismaneanu erau scurte si fara prea multe efuziuni. Cand era anuntat de revederea cu acesta (Tismaneanu nu statea permanent in tara), ii cerea lui Claudiu sa managerieze el relatia.
https://books.google.com/books?id=P_CqCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT96&lpg=PT96&dq=saftoiu+basescu+tismaneanu&source=bl&ots=zDkMoxVLhy&sig=vReeBZiIXdofFoRhB1jqkZFrpQ0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQx4ur8JHLAhWJ2R4KHcnvBe8Q6AEIbTAO#v=onepage&q=saftoiu%20basescu%20tismaneanu&f=false
Intr-o conferinta tinuta marti la Universitatea de Vest din Timisoara, profesorul Vladimir Tismaneanu a declarat ca ipoteza lipsei de interes a fostului presedinte Traian Basescu fata de condamnarea comunismului de care vorbeste de fostul consilier prezidential Adriana Saftoiu in Cronica de Cotroceni, “nu corespunde adevarului”. “Traian Basescu a fost direct si total implicat in demersul de condamnare a crimelor comunismului” – scrie Timpolis.
Vladimir Tismaneanu a relatat spre ilustrare un episod in care Traian Basescu l-a intrebat privitor la “experimentul Pitesti”: “Indracita asta de securitate si-a facut mendrele de la sine sau a executat ordinele partidului?”. Tismaneanu i-a raspuns ca, din punct de vedere strategic, structurile fostei securitati din tarile foste comuniste nu aveau autonomie de actiune, ele actionand “sub scutul si sabia partidului”, sub imperiul atributiilor trasate de catre Sectia Administrativa a Comitetului Central. “Asta nu ii exonereaza, fireste, de raspundere”.
https://timpolis.ro/vladimir-tismaneanu-la-timisoara-traian-basescu-a-fost-direct-si-total-implicat-in-demersul-de-condamnare-a-crimelor-comunismului/
In other words, pay no attention to what Basescu’s former advisor has to say–which is more plausible here, that Saftoiu intentionally wanted to rob Basescu and in particular Tismaneanu of credit for the condemnation of communism?…or that she was merely repeating a rather banal fact, unconnected to the content of the report, that Basescu was simply using The Report and the intellectuals involved in its production for his own transitory political purposes, and that he wasn’t really invested in the Report’s content or implications? That’s right, pay no attention to the fact of Basescu’s collaboration, pay no attention to Iulian Vlad’s presence with Basescu in the above photo, pay no attention to the clearly ill-willed former presidential advisor…only pay attention to Professor Tismaneanu’s presentation and interpretation of these things…
The Archive of the Romanian Revolution of December 1989 