An associate of mine is out of town at the moment and asked me to go to the bank and pay off a small debt that they had, and promised to repay me upon their return. I said, “Sure, no problem.” [[Fast forward to inside bank]] “Hello, friendly lady at the teller window,” I said. “I came to give you money to put in blah-blah-blah’s … Continue reading Romania, where not even the banks understand capitalism
If you ask most Romanians what they think of Moldova, you’ll get the impression that they consider their smaller neighbor to be a beloved but backwards member of the family, the bucktoothed cousin who is awkward and unsophisticated but still loved and accepted because they’re kin. The other day I was speaking to someone about some of the themes covered in Incompetence on Every Level … Continue reading Un mare pas înainte
I was innocently minding my own business when I saw this tweet flash across one of my screens last night: Good consultation in Bucharest with old friend Titus Corlăţean on the eve of Athens informal meeting of EU MFAs. Transnistria on our minds. — Radosław Sikorski MEP 🇵🇱🇪🇺 (@sikorskiradek) April 3, 2014 On the face of it, there’s nothing unusual about Raduslaw Sikorski meeting with … Continue reading Old friends in low places
On Sunday morning, one Romanian soldier was killed and five others were injured in Afghanistan. I suppose that’s a “normal” piece of news, as soldiers do die while on missions in hostile countries, including some 23 total Romanians (1990-present) but the more I thought about it, the stranger this became. First, Duane Butcher, the charge d’affairs at the American Embassy in Bucharest (the head diplomat … Continue reading Kak Obichna
Last night I had the misfortune of reading this poorly written and edited piece in Adevarul, an article that includes misspellings and is mostly just a rehash of a government report plus a couple of long quotes from two people in Cluj. The “meat” of the piece however is that a handful of political cronies from the Emil Boc (national) government received plum assignments at … Continue reading Robert Mugabescu
All Things Romania 