The Romanian army's crisis

Following last week's reshuffle in the Romanian government, for the third time in seven months the country has a new defence minister. Journalist Bogdan Chirieac is less than optimistic about the Romanian army, which recently purchased overpriced and outdated military technology from abroad and can't even put it to good use: "Teodor Melescanus was appointed in the presence of the prime minister but in the absence of the president. This means the country's defence policy will continue to be the lonely child of a broken family. The Romanian army has been mired in a serious crisis for decades. The army has suffered from a continuous lack of funding. However, what's worse is that when it did have money it was spent on 'glittery trinkets', in the manner of African dictatorships. Romania is the second poorest NATO member after Bulgaria, yet over the past decade it has spent billions of euros on unsuitable military equipment that hasn't increased its defence capabilities one iota... Although Romanian soldiers are held in high esteem by our American and British allies, the army leadership still has a Third-World mentality, buying useless old iron and paying its weight in gold."

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