Marketing, Advertising and Propaganda, Nistrenia

KGB shoots down a Ukrainian drone

Gosh, I sure picked the right year to learn Russian! Last night, I saw Russian news channel L!feNews report that the Transnistrian KGB shot down a Ukrainian drone (literally bezpilotnik or “without pilot”). Since then I’ve seen several other Russian-language media outlets reporting the same thing. Unfortunately, scaremongering Ukrainian news sources (in Russian) have been showing pictures of unmanned drones similar to the kind that … Continue reading KGB shoots down a Ukrainian drone

Unknown's avatarSam Cel Roman3 Comments
Money, probability and predicting the future

Once and for all, what REALLY happened in Crimea

I know most Americans and a lot of “westerners”, particularly at high levels of governments, are currently thinking Putin got away with murder. Somehow he “stole” Crimea in the blink of an eye and now there’s nothing we can do about it. He outfoxed us and now we’re flaring our nostrils and trying to drown our sorrows. But in reality that’s not how our grandchildren … Continue reading Once and for all, what REALLY happened in Crimea

Unknown's avatarSam Cel Roman15 Comments
Aurelia Cristea, Romania Fail Whale

The State of the Press

If you’ve been with me for a long time, you’ll know that as far back as three years ago I was writing about how much I appreciate Romania’s democratic tradition of giving ample time and space for the public to debate the important issues of the day. Last week, I was watching such a program, a 78-minute interview with Aurelia Cristea, a local politician who … Continue reading The State of the Press

Unknown's avatarSam Cel Roman2 Comments
Marketing, Advertising and Propaganda, Nistrenia, Politics

The Battle of Tiraspol

Over the weekend I’ve watched with growing dismay as the propaganda war over Transnistria has been heating up. As Hiram Johnson once (allegedly) said, “The first casualty of war is the truth” and during this latest buildup of tensions between Russia and “the West” that’s certainly been the case so I figured I’d do my humble part to set the record straight. Background For centuries … Continue reading The Battle of Tiraspol

Unknown's avatarSam Cel Roman15 Comments