Happy, For Now

A two-month long nightmare came to a close yesterday, when the three Romanian journalists held hostage in Iraq arrived safely home.This was a testing time for those back home too, be they journalists, authorities or public opinion. The hostage crisis revealed Romania was not up to the task.

We will all ponder and analyze all things connected with this case in the weeks to come. Until then, however, there are a lot of questions we should first get some answers to.

I believe the most salient one is related to the identity of the kidnappers. Did Omar Haysam organize the kidnapping, as Romanian authorities had us believe? On a different note, I have to say that President Traian Basescu scored his biggest political gain since taking office late last year. He was the one who assumed all the responsibility with directly coordinating the efforts for releasing the hostages, hence he stands now to take all the credit, as he stood to take all the heat, had the outcome been tragic. What exactly Basescu’s contribution was we stand to find out in the following days. Truth is Basescu proved all through his professional life that he is tailor-made for crisis management. He actually basks in crisis situations which turn him into a winner.

Therefore the capital gain he made now he is likely to spend in settling all sorts of contentious issues, from his recently tensed relationship with PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu to the new elections to take place in the Democrat Party [Basescu headed until taking the presidential office]. Time will tell it all.

In the mean time, the most important thing is that the Romanian journalists are back home, and that brought tears of happiness into our eyes.