Today the Eye brought me this report from the “Economist Intelligence Unit” (that’s really the name), a lot of jibber jabber about the economies of the “Balkans”, of which Romania is supposedly one (Hungary isn’t though). Click on the link to read the entire thing but you’ll be glad to know that the only reason Romania isn’t suffering more is because of how backwards it … Continue reading Widespread Apathy
Today I find myself in an unusual position. To begin with, if anyone ever tells you that I plagiarized a paper or doctoral dissertation, you can be sure they are lying simply because I’ve never authored one. I don’t have a university degree of any kind and there are no academic papers with my name on them. But that doesn’t mean that I’ve never written … Continue reading Papers, Please
Oh shit: Prime Minister Victor Ponta has been accused of copying large sections of his 2003 PhD thesis in law from previous publications, without proper reference. Nature has seen documents compiled by an anonymous whistle-blower indicating that more than half of Ponta’s 432-page, Romanian-language thesis on the functioning of the International Criminal Court consists of duplicated text. Moreover, the thesis was republished with very minor … Continue reading Skeletor Gets Pinched
In an article I otherwise more or less agree with, the Unsleeping Eye picked up something interesting that’s worth discussing. Craig Turp, probably the only professional foreign resident writer in Romania whom I respect, added this throwaway line to his piece on the ICR scandal: Has civil society ever issued a statement demanding something be done about the fact that 42 per cent of homes … Continue reading Go With The Flow
Well it is summertime pe bune (for real) now, with long, hot sunny days and everyone from cats to people outdoors most of the day enjoying the weather. This also means that the tourists are out in force, both foreigners as well as Romanians from other parts of the country, and over the past few weeks I’ve met quite a lot of them. One thing … Continue reading The Narrative
All Things Romania 