I began wondering exactly how incompetent Ponta’s reign as prime minister (April 2012 to the present) has been and so began compiling a brief list, which led me to the creation of the video you can see below. I have to warn you, it’s quite staggering when you see it laid out all at once. The video is entirely in Romanian but if you’re watching … Continue reading Supradoza de Prostamol
If you want to know why there are so many stupid and corrupt politicians in Romania, the first thing you have to understand is that there are a lot of politicians. Romania has a surplus of judete (counties), each of which has its own prefect (governor) and legislative council. Other countries in Europe which are far bigger manage with far fewer administrative divisions. Using data … Continue reading A Profusion of Politicians
As I described in exhaustive detail in The Black Hole of Romania, it doesn’t take a shadowy cabal to censor the news, only a virulent form of cultural blindness. I lost half an hour of my life on Sunday (January 26) watching the 7:00 pm news broadcast of ProTV, which devoted their entire coverage to a single story: snow fell in Romania. It’s currently far … Continue reading The Lonesome Death of Cicerone Ionitoiu
On Friday night my windows were rattled in their frames by a series of loud booms. My initial thought was that for some foolish reason the army was firing off their AA batteries and I ran outside on my balcony to scan the sky for tracer fire. It turned out that the local government was firing off high-grade fireworks in commemoration of the “Little Union”, … Continue reading Out here 1000 miles from their home
Twenty years ago, during the first, raw years of Bill Clinton’s presidency, the world was a vastly different place. The “Iron Curtain” had fallen and a dozen countries (including Romania) were now free to follow their own path. A German musical band was singing about the winds of change and millions of people were speaking in hopeful terms about a peace dividend. With the long … Continue reading The Black Hole of Romania
All Things Romania 