On occasion, mariner has opined that bullet wars are passé. The term ‘bullet wars’ means using explosives and physical destruction even to the point of genocide. In today’s headline news (https://www.politico.com/newsletters/digital-future-daily/2024/12/03/romania-tiktok-and-the-future-of-democracy-00192427 ), a very clear example of a ‘modern’ war is occurring in Romania where the voting population has been swamped by political misinformation via TikTok. The result is that an anti European Union, anti NATO candidate likely will receive a winning vote in the upcoming election. That candidate is virtually unknown Călin Georgescu who, by the way, is a friend of Vladimir Putin. He may win the election despite the protests both of liberal and conservative parties in Romania. The weapon: social media – not bullets and not even much campaign cash.

The ramifications if Georgescu wins are troublesome. The map of the European Union below tells the story:

Note that Ukraine is sandwiched between Russia and Romania. Further, the EU and its military arm NATO are growing old and disruptions to that union could swing the general western world into a difficult situation.

In the United States, while Constitutional processes barely survived, there is no question that it was social media that undercut the liberal block of voters. What is different about the US is that this nation is much richer than Romania so big money had to play a role.

1. War is hell     2. Democracy starts in the local community, not on the smartphone.

Armageddon proceeds.

Ancient Mariner