In April of 2009 in the Republic of Moldova, a popular protest culminated in the burning of the parliament building. The protest was largely due to the illegitimacy of the ruling coalition. Seven years later, another illegitimate ruling coalition is worried about protests. My translation: The Parliament building recently got a security upgrade that cost 9 million lei [455 thousand USD]. Anatolie Zoltcov couldn’t give … Continue reading Bunker Mentality
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
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
I think most people are familiar with the ancient Latin aphorism in vino veritas, literally in wine there is truth, usually interpreted to mean that a person drinking (wine) is often prompted to speak a truth. But for me, what happened not too many days ago at a bar at 2:00 in the morning was less about wine prompting the truth to come out of … Continue reading Dong Ma?
With the sun shining and temperatures soaring into the 30s everywhere across Romania, even getting to 33 here in the Ewok Village (Chisinau), I thought it was about time to discuss the weather. After all, schools are out and tourists are strapping on their backpacks and sandals to explore this wide old world, wanting to know what to expect from the weather in Romania. Obviously, … Continue reading ¡Joe, Que Calo!
All Things Romania 