The situation here in Moldova has spawned about a million articles, including now this one from the wise elves of The Economist entitled “A republic, if you can steal it”. Nice title, eh? That’s the Economist’s way of being smart asses. In 1918 the then three-month-old Moldovan republic gave up the struggle for survival and united with neighbouring Romania. It is a sign of how … Continue reading All Eyes on Moldova
Word Count: 3337 Over the past month or so, I’ve been catching some flak for my supposed lack of patriotism, a lack of enough love for Romania and/or America, which then gets translated into love for Russia. I tried defusing this with some humor but I realize that it may have sailed over a few heads, so let’s try using some basic, plain talk. Samuel … Continue reading Extending the Blessings of Civilization to our Brother who Sits in Darkness
So far it’s only in Romanian, but two tourists were arrested in Sibiu yesterday for taking selfies on a public sidewalk near President Johannis Klaus’s house. My translation: A man and a woman were arrested and taken to the Sibiu Municipal Police station last night at 7:00pm by a team of gendarmes. The personal information on the two individuals was entered into our database to … Continue reading Cops Arrest Tourists for Taking Selfies in Front of Klaus House
I almost completely disagree with the majority of this article from a Romanian author describing Moldova’s current problems. But I do note that the author is absolutely right about one thing: Russia has another considerable advantage, namely that Romania lacks focus and expertise on Moldova. Romania has in the past years been Moldova’s closest partner in support of its European trajectory. Currently, however, there are … Continue reading A Well-Kept Secret
I was quite interested in seeing this rather even-handed but somewhat superficial investigation into corruption in Romania by British channel ITV, focusing on the fallout from the November 2015 Collectiv fire. A choice quote from a Romanian interviewed for the story: “This”, one of the survivors of the fire told me, “is what happens when as a people you don’t pay attention for a very … Continue reading 2 Articles on Corruption
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