Author: Dr. Constantin CORNEANU

Political and Diplomatic Efforts to Reshape the Soviet Political Landscape (1991)*

Political and Diplomatic Efforts to Reshape the Soviet Political Landscape (1991)*

Posted by | 23 Apr 2026 | , , , , |

The defeat of the coup of 19 – 21 August 1991 would provide an opportunity to strengthen the Russian SFSR, ban the activities of the CPSU and the Communist Party in the union republics, and mark the beginning of the proclamation of independence by the constituent republics of the Soviet Union. On 22 August 1991, President Boris N. Yeltsin signed the Decree on Ensuring the Economic Basis of the RSFSR’s Sovereignty, so that, in accordance with its provisions, all enterprises and institutions under (pan-)Union jurisdiction came under the jurisdiction of the Russian SFSR. The Russian Government ceased funding all-Union...

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The Dismantling of the Securitate and the Emergence of Romania’s New Intelligence Agencies*

The Dismantling of the Securitate and the Emergence of Romania’s New Intelligence Agencies*

Posted by | 6 Feb 2025 | , , , , |

Amid the outbreak of diversionary-terrorist attacks across Romania on the evening of 22 December 1989, the way in which the newly established political authority—the Council of the National Salvation Front (CFSN)—handled relations among the country’s security structures (the Army/Ministry of National Defence, the Securitate/Department of State Security – DSS, and the Ministry of the Interior) constitutes another controversial episode in the history of the December 1989 Romanian Revolution. Examining these fraught, bloody relationships from December 1989 sheds light on how the CFSN and, later on, the National Salvation Front (FSN), together with various military figures, would engage in the...

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Nicolae Ceausescu and the Army. Dissidence and Military Opposition. 1965 – 1989 (II)*

Nicolae Ceausescu and the Army. Dissidence and Military Opposition. 1965 – 1989 (II)*

Posted by | 21 Oct 2024 | , , , , |

Despite all this, the Western media (BBC, The Times and Süddentsche Zeitung) on 7 February 1983 mentioned rumours of a failed military coup against Nicolae Ceausescu which had allegedly taken place at the end of January 1983. “At the beginning of 1983, at a time, therefore, when the Romanian leadership, after the death of Brezhnev, was under increasing pressure from the Moscow leadership, serious reproaches against the defence policy of Ceaușescu could be heard at a conference of the commanders even in the presence of the head of state and of the party”[1, p. 71 – 72], wrote analyst Anneli Ute...

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Nicolae Ceaușescu și Armata. Dizidență și opoziția militară. 1965 – 1989 (II)*

Nicolae Ceaușescu și Armata. Dizidență și opoziția militară. 1965 – 1989 (II)*

Posted by | 21 Oct 2024 |

În pofida acestor lucruri, mass-media occidentală (BBC, The Times și Süddentsche Zeitung), din 7 februarie 1983, menționa existența unor zvonuri despre o lovitură militară eșuată împotriva lui Nicolae Ceaușescu care ar fi avut loc la sfârșitul lui ianuarie 1983. „La începutul anului 1983, într-un mo­ment, deci, când conducerea română se afla după moartea lui Brejnev sub presiuni crescânde din partea conducerii moscovite, au putut fi auzite cu ocazia unei conferințe a comandanților reproșuri serioase la adresa politicii de apărare a lui Ceaușescu, chiar în prezența șefului de stat și de partid”[1], scria analista Anneli Ute Gabanyi. Walter Bacon jr. avea...

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Nicolae Ceausescu and the Army. Dissidence and Military Opposition. 1965 – 1989 (I)*

Nicolae Ceausescu and the Army. Dissidence and Military Opposition. 1965 – 1989 (I)*

Posted by | 5 Oct 2024 | , , , , |

During the communist regime in Romania (1945 – 1989), the Romanian Army was at the centre of the attention of the governmental political factor in order to transform it into an armed and secure arm of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) for the defence of the political, economic and social regime, as well as the independence and sovereignty of the socialist state against foreign intervention, especially by the member states of the Warsaw Treaty. The military institution was “democratised’ after 6 March 1945 and, later on, pushed down the slope of a nationalism with clear anti-Sovietism and anti-Russian accents....

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