This is CBS, I on the world.

I'm John Batchel.

Romania, member of the EU, member of NATO, front line of Ukraine war sharing a border with both Ukraine and Moldova,

another part of the old Soviet empire that is said to be threatened.

But democracy is an antidote. And I welcome my

longtime colleague Greg Scarlato of the human rights for North Korea, but this takes us back to

his hometown, Bucharest, and his home country, Romania, to help me understand a surprising development,

an election for president, the second round soon in these next hours, in which a man who

speaks very, very roughly of the EU and of NATO and of Ukraine and of Romania's commitment to be a member of the community of

NATO, very roughly. His name is Kalan Jorgescu. He's a surprise candidate. He's been campaigning on

TikTok. I know it sounds odd. Everything's odd here, which is why I need Greg's help. Greg, a very good evening to you. The headline, most recently, within hours, this is Reuters.

Presidential frontrunner, Georgescu, says he'll bar Ukrainian grain exports via Romania.

That's the least of it. He'll also no longer commit to defense spending commitments to NATO. And he says that the

EU is very suspect. He regards the effectiveness of European Union funding and said Romania's

interests should come first. What do we need to know about Mr. Georgescu and this presidential

contest? Good evening to you, Greg. John, a very good evening to you. Romania and the people of Romania made very big sacrifices.

They worked very hard on joining the European Union and NATO. This is in the very interest of Romania. So if one is a true Romanian nationalist, that person has

to understand that EU membership, NATO membership, you know, this is the key to safeguarding

the national security of Romania and the prosperity of the Romanian

state moving forward. Who is this guy? You know, he is very popular with anti-establishment

voters. And we're witnessing this all over the world. Romanians are voting anti-establishment.

They are under the impression that this guy, Kalin Jogesko, is an anti-establishment candidate.

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