The other day, I was talking to a friend of mine from Romania who recently visited the United States. Beyond all the pleasantries, I was shocked when my friend casually dropped a key piece of information that led me to scramble to my computer and start doing research. An hour or so later, I turned my gaze away from the computer and laughed. With Friends … Continue reading A Slight Sting
I’ve been keeping my hands clean of the quagmire of Moldovan politics for a while, but this and this is simply too outrageous to ignore. My translation: The speaker of the Parliament, Andrian Candu, who is the godson of the oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, said that it is the citizens of the Republic of Moldova who are truly to blame for a culture of widespread corruption. … Continue reading Blaming the Victim
From here: A Romanian government institute tasked with investigating communist-era crimes has called for two former prison chiefs to be probed on suspicion of causing the deaths of 204 political prisoners. . Institute chief Radu Preda said Marian Petrescu, 84, commander of several labor colonies and prisons from 1956 to 1966, is suspected of running an abusive regime, leading to 104 deaths. Gheorghe Bostina, 86, … Continue reading Signifying Nothing
Well, well, what do you know? The AP is up to its usual shitty job of reporting about Romania: The CIA paid Romania “millions of dollars” to host secret prisons, a rights lawyer said Wednesday as the European Court of Human Rights heard accusations that Romania allowed the agency to torture terrorism suspects in a secret renditions program under President George W. Bush. . Amrit … Continue reading Implausible Deniability Part 2
Word Count: 2603 I spend the majority of my time here on the blog writing about the colossal failures of the government, and I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that Romania hasn’t really been a democracy since June 1990. But there is one really big issue that has nothing to do with corrupt politicians or stupid leaders. I really don’t like discussing it because … Continue reading Hate Is Hate
All Things Romania 