In 1910, three players on the Chicago Cubs baseball team — shortstop Joe Tinker, second baseman Johnny Evers, and first baseman Frank Chance — employed their famous double play action to bring about a surprising defeat of the New York Giants in their bid for the National League pennant that year. That game even inspired a popular poem of the time, and a couple of copycats as well.

And to this day, the names of that winning combo are still likely to be dredged up to describe any winning trio — particularly for someone like myself, who grew up in a family of baseball fans. Which is how they happened to come to mind today as I read about a political triumvirate that appears to have scored a win — not on a baseball diamond — but in the arena of international politics:

Romania to Russia to China . . . Short to Second to First . . . Tinker to Evers to Chance.

And thereby hangs an election, and the future of a country — a country that is a member of NATO, the European Union, and the Schengen area, yet somehow managed to score a shocking win for the Russia-friendly, far-right Calin Georgescu in the first round of presidential elections on November 24th.

The runoff vote is scheduled for December 8th. Yesterday, December 4th, Romania’s Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT) took the unusual action of declassifying documents that revealed the country had been the target of an “aggressive hybrid Russian action” that had enabled Georgescu’s victory. [RFE/RL, December 5, 2024.] [Bold emphasis is mine.]

According to CSAT, the documents indicated that Romania had been the target of coordinated actions, most likely orchestrated by a “state actor.” [Id.]

One day later (today), the European Commission — the EU’s executive arm — issued a “retention order” to China-owned TikTok under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), requiring the media giant to preserve evidence “related to actual or foreseeable systemic risks its service could pose on electoral processes and civic discourse in the EU,” adding that the move was being taken in the event of a further investigation of TikTok’s “compliance with its obligations under the DSA.” [Id.]

Romania’s intelligence services have stated that the declassified documents show that Georgescu was widely promoted on TikTok with backing from Russia, using multiple accounts, algorithms to enhance his presence on TikTok, and paid promotion by influencers. This is said to explain how Georgescu’s backing surged from one percent shortly before the campaign to 22 percent at election time. [Id.]

In addition, just a week later a parliamentary election resulted in a similar increase in votes for three pro-Russia far right parties, though they did not appear to have garnered sufficient votes to form a coalition government.

The link to Russia was made by noting that certain access data for official Romanian election websites had been published on Russian cybercrime platforms, probably procured by targeting legitimate sources. [Id.]

*. *. *

Once again, despite its continuing, vehement protestations of innocence, Russia’s fine hand is seen interfering in the free elections of nations around the world. On this occasion, the denials come from Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who had this to say:

“The campaign for the Romanian presidential election … is accompanied by an unprecedented outburst of anti-Russian hysteria. More and more absurd accusations are being made by local politicians, officials and media representatives. We firmly reject all hostile attacks, which we consider absolutely groundless.” [Id.]

Deny all you like, Madame Spokeswoman. It has become nearly impossible to avoid leaving a digital footprint, no matter how carefully you tread. In cyberspace, you may still try to run, but you cannot hide for long.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
12/5/24