Owlspotting

Razvan Amariei, a correspondent for Transitions Online in Romania, offers a wonderful and blunt portrait of the Romanian reaction to the news that the American soldier who killed a Romanian singer will go unpunished.

The story, “Friendship and Immunity” tackles the fine line the US must walk when dealing with an ally in times of war. While Romania supports the US campaign in Iraq with troops (and to an extent also supports America’s larger war on terrorism) it won’t stand by and watch its citizens be humiliated.

I particularly enjoyed the historical context Amariei offers at the end — Romania and America have had a love-hate relantionship for a decades and its important to view this latest episode through that prism.

This analysis can lead one either to conclude that an America in need of allies (and airforce bases close to the Middle East) will find a way to punish Christopher VanGoethem or that Romanians fed up with legalistic hypocrisy will enter a phase in which they’ll love Europe a little more.