larry l. watts, un patriot americano-roman

With Friends Like These: The Soviet Bloc's  Clandestine War Against Romania, Volume I  by Larry L. Watts Reviewed by Colonel Charles W. Van Bebber, Ph.D., Director of National Security Policy and Strategy, US  Army War College During the Cold War, American diplomats, intelligence specialists, and scholars viewed Romania under the leadership of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu as something of a paradox. On one hand, it was a harsh, Stalinist regime that clearly fell within the Soviet orbit. On the other hand, it behaved internationally as a maverick state that often defied the foreign policy positions of Moscow and even withdrew from the Warsaw Pact command structure after the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Conventional wisdom asserted that such defiance could be tolerated by Moscow because Ceausescu's firm Stalinist control over the country gave the Soviets no expectation that Romania would deviate from communism. With the defection in 1978 of Romanian intelligence chief Ion Mihai Pacepa, the idea that Romania's autonomous foreign and security policy was actually a Moscow-orchestrated conspiracy to deceive the West (known as Red Horizon) became widely circulated and accepted by many. In fact, the idea that Bucharest was not a Warsaw Pact maverick but rather a "Trojan Horse" would become a contentious issue within the US policy community in the 1980s. In 1987, former US ambassador to Romania David Funderburk asserted in his book Pinstripes and Reds that the US Department of State had been deceived into giving Romania Most-Favored-Nation status and that US diplomats had been hoodwinked by Ceausescu to believe the false pretense of Romania's independence from Moscow. In With Friends Like These, historian Larry L. Watts provides the historical "coda" to the question of Romania's geostrategic orientation during the communist era. Using evidence gleaned from recently opened intelligence and defense archives of the Warsaw Pact, Watts examines Romania's strategic behavior during the Cold War and explains why this country earned a reputation from scholars and diplomats of the era as a so-called "maverick" and why some believed Romania's seemingly autonomous behavior was really a sham. By tracing Romania's relationships with Moscow and its Warsaw Pact satellites through the dimensions of intelligence and defense relationships, Watts confirms that Romania was at the very least a reluctant if not defiant member of the Warsaw Pact. Watts demonstrates that Romania never enthusiastically embraced its inclusion in the Soviet bloc and that its relationships with its nominal allies deteriorated from the early 1950s onward. Watts documents the clandestine disinformation campaign (beginning in the 1950s and heightening after the events of 1968) orchestrated by Moscow to discredit and isolate Bucharest. The archival evidence Watts reveals indicates that this premeditated effort to discredit Romania met with a large degree of success and Ceausescu's Romania would consequently become increasingly isolated both from the West as well as from its fellow Soviet bloc "friends." This work is more than just an exposé of Cold War intelligence secrets. The author has written a geopolitical history of Romania and not, as the title implies, simply an examination of Romania's experience as a member of the Warsaw Pact. This lengthy first volume specifically spans a period from the early 19th century to 1978 and highlights the turbulent relationship Bucharest experienced with its allies—particularly its problematic historical relationships with Moscow and Budapest. The author takes the reader through this history in five of the first six chapters which are best skipped if the reader's focus is on the Cold War. Although the background provides an insightful context for Romania's subsequent defiance of Moscow, this book's real merit lies not in the breadth of the author's treatment of Romania's struggle for national autonomy from the region's great powers and irredentist neighbors, but in its particular focus on Romania's status within the Eastern bloc of communist states after World War II. It is Watts's detailed narrative of Romania's experience as a member of the Warsaw Pact that captures the reader's attention and justifies the title. The author is well qualified to examine the topic of Romanian strategic culture and history... Istoricii români elogiaza cartea ACAD. DINU C. GIURESCU: „Larry Watts, un deschizator de drumuri" „…O analiza multipla a serviciilor de informatii ale mai multor tari în acelasi timp, vizând o singura tara, eu nu stiu daca s-a mai facut vreodata! Si, bineînteles, razboiul împotriva României este o realitate, pe care Larry Watts o descifreaza. El stabileste si un nou model: de acum înainte, când trebuie sa studiem materialele pe linia serviciilor de informatii, va trebui sa avem în minte si sa ne asimilam metoda pe care a folosit-o Larry. Care e un deschizator de drumuri – si nu-l laud, pentru ca nu am nimic de câstigat de la el, decât acest schimb intelectual si de informatii pentru care îl felicit si îi multumesc! Deci, pe de o parte e un deschizator de drumuri si al unei noi metode de cercetare. În al doilea rând, a mai adus o inovatie care-l serveste foarte mult pe istoric. În fruntea fiecarei „despartituri" mari a cartii, a pus extrase scurte, de doua – trei rânduri, pentru a ilustra felul în care gîndeau diferitii lideri ai momentului. În acest fel, autorul a deschis un subiect foarte sensibil, sarcina cea mai grea a istoricului fiind tocmai aceea de a reconstitui modul în care gândeau în realitate cei de atunci. Or, când vad astazi atâtia destepti care se extind asupra microfoanelor si-si dau cu parerea, le spun ca nu ma intereseaza parerea lor, ci a celui si celor de atunci! Deci, vrem reconstituirea felului lor de a gîndi de atunci, iar Larry o face cu prisosinta în fata fiecarui capitol al cartii sale!" ACAD. FLORIN CONSTANTINIU: „O contributie exceptionala la istoria contemporana a României!" „… Publicul cititor din tara noastra are acum oportunitatea de a judeca singur cum trebuie scrisa o istorie a trectului recent . Istoricul nici nu elogiaza si nici nu condamna.El explica, pentru ca acesta este rolul sau, sa explice. Eu o spun si o tot repet: cercetarea istorica se desfasoara pe doua paliere: reconstituirea faptelor – ceea ce istoricul Larry Watts a facut cu o baza documentara impresionanta, punându-ne la îndemâna o succesiune de evenimente asa cum sau petrecut ele – si, în al doilea rând, istoricul cauta legaturile cauzale : de ce s-au petrecut acele evenimente în felul în care s-au petrecut. Deci, cercetarea istorica e reductibila la doua elemente – cum si de ce ?- iar Larry Watts a raspuns exact la aceste întrebari. Distanta e enorma între cartea lui si cei care aici, la noi în tara, confunda cercetarea istorica cu un fel de rechizitoriu permanent!" ACAD. DAN BERINDEI: „Sunt impresionat de proportiile si de complexitatea lucrarii!" „… Sunt impresionat în primul rînd de proportiile lucrarii lui Larry Watts, dar când am si parcurs-o, mi-am dat seama si de complexitatea ei! Domnul Watts a avut curajul, dar mai ales priceperea de a se descurca într-un hatis de informatii urias. În acest fel însa, a venit cu o contributie foarte importanta, care ofera o imagine extraordinara a tesaturilor din lumea nevazuta a informatiilor, deschizându-ne drumul prin acest hatis. A facut-o cu competenta, cu seninatate, fara parti-pris-uri, dar în acelasi timp si cu convingerea data de marturiile întâlnite în procesul sau de investigatie, potrivit carora Romania a fost o nedreptatita. Vreau sa-l felicit pe autor, ca si editura, sperând ca aceasta carte va ajunge pe cît mai multe mese, si din aceasta tara, ca si din multe altele!"