Just a couple of days before we ventured out on our 3 flights that ended in Romania, we were watching PBS News and listened to a story about Russian drones bound to kill Ukrainians got a bit off course and flew over Romania. Holy shit, I thought, will we be that close to Russian drone attacks? I never thought I would be that close to danger. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a chickenshit. How could this happen? Apparently, they flew over Romania for 12 minutes and could inadvertently have set off World III in the Balkans just as World War I had been set off in the Balkans. After all, Romania is a member of NATO.  And you don’t mess with NATO.

Partly, the war was avoided because Romania just does not have the cash or resources to defend itself against drones. It has an air force that could repel a few traditional forces, but could do nothing about drones over its it’s sovereign territories.  In this case at least, that was a good thing. It was also good that Romania did not call the other NATO countries to defend it. Reminds me a bit about George Bernard Shaw’s play, Arms and the Man, in which a soldier from the Balkans, Serbia I believed, had an ammunition bag filled with chocolates rather than bullets.

It turns out there is a lot more to worry about in the Balkans than I ever realized.