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Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Russia Loves Corruption

I hope Romania is able to combat corruption. As Ukraine shows, corruption allows avenues for Russia to wield influence and all on its own wrecks a country's military that could resist a Russian invasion.

Let's hope this kind of work succeeds:

SINCE taking over as director of Romania's National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) in 2013, Laura Codruta Kovesi has been prosecuting officials at ever-higher levels, putting a steady stream of former ministers and even an ex-prime minister behind bars. The DNA has become the poster child for the European Union's drive to tame corruption in its new eastern members, particularly Romania and Bulgaria. But it is safe to say that Ms Kovesi's latest target is her biggest yet. On June 5th, the DNA announced it is investigating Romania's sitting prime minister, Victor Ponta (pictured above), for forgery, money laundering, tax evasion and conflict of interest.

If corruption reaches the top, that's pretty bad. Or is Romania counting on Ukraine to always be a buffer state between them and Russia?