[vr46]

I rode around Romania on my motorbike about six years ago. Jeepers. I also remember the revolution and the execution of the Ceaușescus. Possibly for the only time in my life can I reasonably say that they absolutely had it coming.

[ChuckNorris89]

Their execution, although deserved, was done too swiftly by a sham trial so that their accomplices in the 'Securitatea' (the Romanian KGB) could quickly bury and cover their involvement into the atrocities of the regime and then go into politics as the "good guys".

Even today in Romania, the police, military and security services, collectively known here as the 'state police apparatus', have a huge amount of power and government influence. No political party dares touch their over bloated pensions and benefits or curb their influence.

They're pretty much above the law and untouchable. The old guard did not die with the Ceaușescus but lives on in modern clothes.

[vr46]

No kidding, this was so publicly obvious on our ride with ostentatious displays of power and wealth that I still think about it years later.