The Ancient Romanian Art

I was doing some research for something else when I found an old (previously secret) telegram in the archives of the American State Department that made me laugh. In August of 1976, the “Stejar of Scornicesti”, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceasescu made a rare trip to Chisinau, which was then part of the Soviet Union. He then went to Russia to meet the Soviet leader Brezhnev … Continue reading The Ancient Romanian Art

Benefits Street

Right now the number one show in Britain is Channel 4’s “Benefits Street”, which allegedly focuses on people receiving “benefits” or government money. Episode 2 heavily featured immigrant Romanians (often pronounced Rumanians on the show), one a gypsy family from Romania and the second a group of 14 agricultural workers from Romania. Despite the fact that neither the workers nor the gypsy family were receiving … Continue reading Benefits Street

Frozen Tears

Well this week Romanian journalists haven’t had to resort to stealing videos and photos because there’s been non-stop coverage of a domestic incident, the crash of a plane (link in English) in the Apuseni Mountains near Cluj. This story is still ongoing and I’ve been closely monitoring the media but I’ve decided to hold off on a lengthy article because it seems like every hour … Continue reading Frozen Tears

“Neighboring” Ukraine

Last night all hell broke loose in “neighboring” Ukraine, where at least 100 thousand protestors braved a new law prohibiting public demonstrations and clashed with police near the parliament. Instead of writing a lengthy analysis of the news coverage (especially here in Romania), I decided to put in a few hours and assemble a video so you can see for yourself what happened. I have … Continue reading “Neighboring” Ukraine