Also Sprach Zamolxis

between 12 and 12-B

2012-05-07T20:17:00.001-04:00

I really don’t have the time for this, but yet again, someone on the internets is wrong.

There were many foreign students in my childhood Bucharest, most studying to become doctors in our University and most speaking Arabic. Everything was cheap in petrodollars and especially Romanian women, who, according to the Arab students were the best looking and cheapest in Europe. Most were willing to have sex even for small gifts, such as coffee, stockings and even cheap chocolate. The foreign students were renting cars and rented cars had plates starting with 12-B, hence Mihai Stanescu’s caricature.

In this internship-like version of “schimb de experienta cu expertii straini” (“cultural exchange”?) Romanian women were not only acquiring small gifts, but(t) also, due to the low availability of contraception methods, a new style of walking.

If you were to ask them after many years about their Arabic paramours, these pitzis would’ve said about each one “and I really loved him, but he broke my heart and colon; and after all this, he really was a Jew: he wanted his bong back” – never mind she never returned it. The following are real comments from “Adevarul” – the paper I wrote about in engrish & 13 to such a story:

You might think that comments don’t make a tabloid; then again, the content is not far off that genre either.

Yet it probably wasn’t the reputation of Romanian women the major factor in forming my ethics, nor was being on my own in my teens in Bucharest with an apartment to take care of, school to go to, a guardian aunt who was cheating on my uncle at my place and also keeping my pension and whatever my father was sending for herself in a crumbling infrastructure and disappearing morals. Let’s just say it was mostly my earlier childhood experiences that informed an oversized sense of fairness. Injustice made me literally sick (I ascribe my childhood asthma – “bronsita astmatiforma” – to such emotions) and it still has an almost paralyzing effect on me.

It’s nearly impossible to discuss issues of fairness or ethics with others as most people assume that you do so from a position of superiority, a “hollier-than-thou” attitude, but I persevere. One such issue is paying for sex.

Paying for sex is something I’ve never been able to bring myself to do – at least, I didn’t think so. I was in such a situation a few times, but nothing much came out of it. For instance, once in Paris, during one of my Euro trips, I had a few hours to kill before leaving, I was too tired of museums so I spent this time roaming the streets. I checked out a few brothels with menus and did strike up a conversation with the girls at reception who got mad when I told them I’m not interested. A while later, a black girl coming from the opposite direction started sticking her tongue out at me (in Paris brothels this seemed the one method of enticing potential clients). I was curious what would came out of it and even though I was actually turned off by this impolite act, I followed her into a seedy apartment where – long story short – I ended up a few hundred francs (yes, it was the year before Euro adoption) lighter and with a knife at my throat. Another time I was in Krakow but that story too is better left for another article.

The point is, giving a woman money, under any so-called “romantic” circumstance, instantly makes her unattractive to me and it completely excludes the possibility of a serious relationship. This is a bitch, because often times, women I have found attractive seemed to expect me to pay for dinner even when they invited me, while I may not find women who go strictly “Dutch” too attractive. I always offer to pay and sometimes even insist on it if I get the feeling that this is what she expects or that my paying will make her happy, but the end result is that she ceases to interest me sexually or otherwise. I find that even women with careers and high-paying jobs, who have their finances together, still take pleasure in having their date (me) pay for dinner; I feel insulted if they offer to pay for mine. I’ve been in situations where women – some older, some younger – treated me a bit like a plaything and wanted to pay for my hotel etc but I did not accept.

I even went as far as conducting an informal survey among my female friends on their attitudes on this sort of thing and it generally went something like:

do you think it’s a man’s obligation to pay for dinner? – no, of course not, but it’s nice if he offers
would you ever pay for dinner? – sure, if I invited him
have you ever paid for dinner? – the answers varied from “no, but I would” to “yes a few times”
for the “yes” I continued: more than he paid? – the answer was invariably NO

Yet that shouldn’t be surprising – if it is, listen to girlwriteswhat / donkey / responsibility.

Why is this important? Well, obviously, it’s not the amount of money. In our society, if I don’t offer to pay, I will be considered “a Jew” as the comments ~~below~~above indicate and nothing further will happen because she will most likely not be interested. If I offer to pay, she will probably accept and nothing further will happen because I lose interest. I tried a few times to pretend I am interested, but the relationship was doomed and never recovered. This is obviously one of the many reasons some of my [potential] relationships fizzled, but it’s a pretty serious one. Chris Rock explains it better.

Furthermore, it never happens that both halves of the couple have the same financial circumstances – usually, one is a have-not. How do you deal with that? Should the couple engage only in activities that are accessible to both? Should the “richer” one fully and unconditionally subsidize the other until running out of money? Hard to answer, eh?!

Let us now move on to the actual story.

Sources / More info: ft, ro-ro-p

asa.zamo.ca, prostitution, prostitutie, anal sex, prostituate, prostituata, Dragoste modernă (Tags)

Made in Romania (2010)

2012-04-05T01:00:00.000-04:00

Much to my surprise, a movie featuring Elisabeth Hurley and filmed ~~entirely~~ partly in Romania has no review that I can find.

The reviews are lacking because, judging by the upload date of the Transilvanius’s trailer, the movie was shown at the Transylvanian TIFF 2009 and then pretty much abandoned in terms of promotion. Although a full review is unavailable, we get “opinions” that can pass as a review on Amazon:

"Made in Romania" is another in a long line of films that self-consciously looks at Hollywood and the film making process. Some of the best of this genre include "Bombshell" (1933), "Sunset Boulevard" (1950; also: 5 min), "The Stuntman" (1980; also director & full), "A Star is Born" (1937 – full, revived, 1954), and "Swimming with Sharks" (1994). A bit off beat, one should also see "Ed Wood" (1994), "Get Shorty" (1995), or "Shadow of the Vampire" (2000).
The current film is a semi-documentary in which Jennifer Tilly tries to make a film based on a Victorian novel. We see her putting the team together in California, entering pre-production in London, and then shooting in Romania where tax advantages will result in a windfall for producer Ronnie Krapner (that's right, KRAPner), played with sufficient sleeze by Joey Slotnick.
But all is not well, starting in London when the Director makes a shameful advance on Tilly and has to be replaced with an unknown whose only real qualification is that he is British and conforms to the tax break requirements. More problems surface in Romania - budget cuts, language problems, threats to close down the production, problems with the local law, too many pigeons in the studio, etc.
Jennifer Tilly (1958) can be sexy, funny, and serious, occasionally all 3 together. She was nominated for an Oscar for "Bullets Over Broadway" (1994) but is perhaps best known for the cult favorite "Chucky" films (1998, 2004) or for the popular "Liar Liar" (1997). She gives an exceptional performance in this film, playing herself.

This movie actually helped me correct a major misunderstanding I used to have: I was convinced that it was Renee Zellweger who appeared in all of Tilly’s movies – I wasn’t aware that these are two different actresses. Only after seeing this did I realize that Jennifer Tilly is the actress speaking in that affected, somewhat annoying voice.

In any event, if you’re not interested in filmmaking, if you’ve never thought about making a movie, if you don’t know or don’t care about what is the difference between a producer and a director then you’re not going to like this, much like this other opinion on Amazon:

This movie is stupid and several of the main characters are completely obnoxious, particularly the director. If you find stupid movies entertaining you may like this. It also gives a false impression that Elizabeth Hurley is a significant part of the movie; she is on the screen for all of about 2 minutes once.

It’s kinda true: Hurley makes more of a cameo appearance, just so that they can sell the movie with her name in the distribution. Also, the mockumentary style makes it “stupid” and that’s not something I like, but it’s entertaining in how it looks at the movie industry and especially indie movie making. Which means, of course, that the opinions on Rotten Tomatoes should be far more favorable, as that site is frequented by movie buffs:

Best fucking movie on the planet right now for me. I love this motherfucking movie, I love films about the process and this is a newest greatest one around right now. Its fucking awesome, everyone in this, is so fucking amazing. I am glad to see Hurley and Tilly back in action in something of a masterpiece in this genre. I wish they both made more films. Tilly should be doing Russ Meyer remakes, she is such a great badass actor, and I love watching her, and should do the Faster Pussycat kill Kill remake, she’s perfect for one of the leads. I am going to watch this movie 1000 times, its never going to get old. This is film is like actually being on set, location, and working on the film. This is one of the best films for anyone to see, who has ever wanted to know what’s its like to be on a film, but has never had a chance too. Love everyone in this film and everyone who made it, thank you for a wonderful film, and for adding more sunshine into my world and everyone else who gets too see the magic you have been on film.

Perhaps this is why there are so few reviews: this is such a whacky commentary on movie making that the recursion destroys the possibility for describing it. If you don’t like movies and search for a review, you might as well go with what Google.ro offers in response to this query: Ion Iliescu.

Sources / More info: imdb, rt, crx, cmg, Amazon [trailer] [start] [full1] [full2]

asa.zamo.ca, movie, review, made in romania, comedy, filmmaking, mockumentary, movie making, movie business, location, filming, producing, indie, indy, independent (Tags)

blowup of blow-up 1966

2012-03-27T01:00:00.000-04:00

Not a great movie. Interesting at most, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.

The movie has all the ingredients to make it a great movie: a young Vanessa Redgrave showing us some perkiness, the Yardbirds with a young Jimmy Page smashing guitars, Gillian Hills of zou bisou fame (see also Megan in Mad Men), as well as sixties model Veruschka. The opening mimes were filmed – guess where? Yep, The Economist building :)

Anyways, you can easily interpret the movie as being just a beautiful stroll through the swinging London. The esthetic is pleasing and one can easily recognize fashion traits that have disappeared only to come back recently. What’s left unchanged is anorexia in the fashion world and drug use.

My preferred interpretation is that the movie is a play on reality vs perception – especially the end with the mime tennis. Incidentally, that’s also ctp’s theme in Cassargoz (sf, joc, realitatea).

Incidentally, this movie is credited with smashing through Holywood’s old production code.

Sources / More info: wiki, imdb, perspectivism, subjectivism, Gillian Hills, Veruschka

asa.zamo.ca, antonioni, movie, film, film making (Tags)

For an European Gypsy Jay Treaty I

2012-02-23T01:00:00.000-05:00

Using recent examples of discrimination against Romanian [most likely] Gypsies, I am arguing that Europe should give Gypsies the same cross-border roaming rights North America has given its First Nations.

As you may have heard, a supermarket in Toulouse – Lindl – is now refusing to serve Romanians:

Ce vendredi 17 février, à 17 h 45, Maria se présente à la caisse n° 1 du supermarché Lidl, avenue d’Atlanta à Toulouse. Elle dépose sur le tapis roulant des bouteilles d’eau, du chocolat et une canette. Le caissier demande à sa collègue la plus proche : «Je l’encaisse ou pas ?» Courte hésitation. Puis le jeune homme saisit les articles et les range sur le côté. Terminé, client suivant. Pas un mot pour Maria, un peu désemparée, qui s’en va lentement sans les marchandises.

«On ne nous laisse pas acheter l’eau, ni à manger»

Maria est roumaine. Comme ses compatriotes installés dans un bidonville à quelques hectomètres du supermarché, elle est refoulée aux caisses de ce supermarché Lidl. Pourtant, vendredi, cette mère de famille avait avec elle l’argent pour payer les articles. À l’extérieur du magasin, elle raconte que, plusieurs fois déjà, on lui a refusé des achats ici, sans plus d’explications. (..)

The funny thing is, less than a month ago a French citizen (O. Bruno) was caught doing the same in a Romanian supermaket, yet nobody is talking about banning the French. Truth be told, they aren’t probably so many, anyways.

Still, our image is suffering almost everywhere else in Europe. From London, where “Romanian” women (because they happen to be whiter, in contrast with the darker Romanians whom the Ro press almost invariably calls “Gypsy”) steal clothes, to Netherlands, where a website launched by a right-wing party invites complaints about Eastern European immigrants:

Ambassadors from 10 central and eastern European countries have written to the Dutch parliament demanding the removal of a website launched a week ago by Geert Wilders’s right-wing Freedom Party (PVV). The website invites complaints about Polish, Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants. (..)

The Netherlands is home to about 125,000 immigrants from central and eastern Europe, about 80 per cent of whom are Poles, and most of whom work in farming and market gardening. Romanians and Bulgarians still require work permits, despite being EU citizens.

Before going further, let us direct our attention to a treaty signed in 1794 between Britain and USA.

jay

A few years after Britain had recognized American independence, the old great power continued to constantly “smack” the emerging new one with every-which occasion it got (cf wikipedia):

The British were still occupying forts on U.S. territory in the Great Lakes region (the Northwest Territory).
The British were continually impressing American sailors into British service
American merchants wanted compensation for 250 merchant ships which the British had confiscated from 1793 through 1794.
Southerners in the United States wanted monetary compensation for the slaves whom the British Army had evacuated with them during the Revolutionary War.
Merchants in both America and in the Caribbean wanted the British West Indies to be reopened to American trade.
The boundary with Canada was vague in many places, and needed to be delineated clearly.
The British were believed to be aggravating Native American attacks on settlers in the Northwest.

Washington sent John Jay, Chief Justice of the USSC to negotiate and he included as part of the treaty the rights of the native populations to roam across the border:

Article III states "It is agreed, that it shall at all times be free to His Majesty's subjects, and to the citizens of the United States, and also to the Indians dwelling on either side of the said boundary line, freely to pass and repass, by land or inland navigation into the respective territories and countries of the two parties on the continent of America, (the country within the limits of the Hudson Bay company only excepted) ... and freely carry on trade and commerce with each other." Article III of the Jay Treaty declared the right of "Indians" ("Native Americans") as well as of American citizens and Canadian subjects to trade and travel between the United States and Canada, which was then a territory of Great Britain.Over the years since, the United States has codified this obligation in the provisions of Section 289 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, and as amended in 1965. As a result of the Jay Treaty, "Native Indians born in Canada are therefore entitled to enter the United States for the purpose of employment, study, retirement, investing, and/or immigration". Article III of the Jay Treaty is the cause of most Indian claims.

This treaty was opposed by the Jeffersionians who preferred to be closer to France than to Britain, but imposed by Hamilton and his allies, who liked stronger ties to Britain and didn’t like the French. Obviously, the “native” clause was added because it was quite obvious that the Native population had been decimated by European diseases and war, were no longer a threat and the entire European claim to Native land was on shoddy moral ground. The “founding fathers” had a guilty conscience w.r.t. to the “First Nations”.

back..

..in Europe, what is it that prevents a similar attitude toward Gypsies from the main powers?

In Romania, there’s no question that there is a prevailing intolerance and racism toward Gypsies – presented mostly in the l3st conjecture – and this is met with a similar attitude in Western Europe, except that there it is less discriminatory, in a sense that they make no difference between ethnic Romanians and Gypsies: to them it’s the same bird.

Sources / More info: hn-lidl, hu-lidl, dep-lidl, hn-bruno, wiki-jay, cn-us, aadnc, uk-family, rferl, inbo, ptla

asa.zamo.ca, france, french, franta, jay treaty, uk, britain, anglia, tigani, gitanes, schengen (Tags)

Romanian origins III–land of confusion

2012-02-13T01:00:00.000-05:00

We finally get to present and hopefully elucidate our argument.

The initial question can be easily answered with “the map is wrong”, end of story. After all, in those times (as late as 1503 and even 1600-1700) cartographers still marked unknown spots with mythical creatures and the shaky handwriting “HIC SVNT DRACONES/LEONES” – here be dragons/lions.

But that offers no explanation and no pleasure of discovery. It’s worth delving into what has caused the error and trying to find a rational explanation and the sources of the error.

As stated in part II (Dacia) as well as in genetic origin, I favour a linguistic model, for it is the language people speak that determines their culture and nationality and not the political structure imposed upon them. (This is in contrast to what most people prefer: delimitations by race and / or nationality which are generally impossible to make.) After all, Romania has found itself at the confluence of 3 major Empires – Russian, Ottoman (Turkish) and Austro-Hungarian, each keeping a piece of it for most of its history. It was only around 1848, in the revolutionary wave which engulfed Europe, that the Romanian national spirit and drive for independence and reunification found a coherent, emergent voice in all 3 principalities.

beowulf

To pick up where we left off, medieval historians seem to have confused even Swedish Götaland (Geatland) with Getae (cf. wikipedia):

Geats should not be confused with the Thracian Getae, a connection long made by some, such as the authors of the medieval Swedish Chronicle or early-modern Swedish historian Carolus Lundius.

Beowulf, a hero of an ancient epic poem, was a warrior of the Geats. A beautiful “Shrek-animated” adaptation can now be seen starring Angelina Jolie. (He’s also given name to the cluster of inexpensive computers.) Still, I see it as another possible reincarnation of Zalmoxis: the Dacians’ flag was made of a wolf head that made a bee-like sound when running:

The Romans called it Draco (meaning Dragon) and it terrified them.

Now, the above may be a coincidence, but there are other interesting similarities between the Calusari and Morris / Ceili dance (see also Nightlosers mention) or between Miorita and an Indian story. Such “coincidences” lend credence to the “universal myth” theory of people like Campbell.

language

Before jumping to the conclusion that Romania is a disturbing land of confusion it’s worth noting that the linguistic model I favour actually seems to provide a valid, congruent explanation. Here it is, in point form:

Even the Wikipedia quote you present seems to favour a lingustic model. This may be because empires and principalities were in a state of constant flux in those times, whereas populations were more stable, making the map likely to be valid longer if going by ethnonyms.
A direct quote from the article seems to directly validate my “1848 statement”:
- The name "România" as common homeland of the Romanians is documented in the early 19th century. –>
- footnote: The first known mention of the term "Romania" in its modern denotation dates from 1816, as the Greek scholar Dimitrie Daniel Philippide published in Leipzig his work "The History of Romania", followed by "The Geography of Romania". On the tombstone of Gheorghe Lazăr in Avrig (built in 1823) there is the inscription: "Precum Hristos pe Lazăr din morţi a înviat/Aşa tu România din somn ai deşteptat."
- The name "Romania" (România) was first brought to Paris by young Romanian intellectuals in the 1840s, where it was spelled "Roumanie" in order to differentiate Romanians (fr.: Roumains) from Romans (fr.: Romains).
  - It has been an alternative name for the Byzantine Empire (also known as the Eastern Roman Empire,Ρωμανία Rōmanía in Greek - compare with the name Ρουμανία Roumanía for Romania). The name was also kept by non-Latin peoples, such as the Byzantines, who used to call themselves "Romaioi" (Ρωμαίοι, also the origin of the first name Romeo). In the Arabic and Ottoman Turkish languages, it came to mean further Eastward regions of the empire, like Rûm and Rumelia in Asia. Rumi was also an Arabic word for Christian.
  - It has been an alternative name for the Latin Empire, centred on Byzantium, set up by Roman Catholic Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade with the intention of replacing the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire with a Roman Catholic empire. In the Balkans there are Romanic people that have an ethnonym derived from "Romanus", including Aromanians (armâni, arumâni or rămăni) and Istro-Romanians (rumâri). The Megleno-Romanians originally used the form rămâni, but it was lost by the 19th century and used the word Vlaşi borrowed from Bulgarian/Macedonian.
There were 4 Eastern Romance languages that had evolved from Vulgar Latin: Aromanian, Istro-Romanian (an endangered language spoken by only 500 people, the smallest ethno-group in Europe), Megleno-Romanian (1200 people) and what we call today Daco-Romanian or simply Romanian. Aromanian = Proto-Romanian (Vulgar Latin) + Greek, whereas Daco-Romanian = Proto-Romanian + Slavic influences.
Although we have some disparate and limited occurrences of the name “Romanian” used in connection with the people living in the 3 principalities Moldova, Wallachia and Transylvania, it is unlikely that this was widely used, because the 3 empires were interested in presenting their dominions as separate entities as to not foment the nationalist spirit, reunification fervour and ultimately revolt. The name Vlach and/or Wallachia were probably predominant at that time.
As it should be obvious from the map, there were clusters of mostly Aromanians living all the way to Greece (present-day Republic of Macedonia), below the Jirecek line (separating the Latin from Greek influence). The Aromanian population managed to keep its language and customs despite a strong drive to assimilation by Greek nationalists and its language is now official in the aforementioned republic.
The cartographers who made the map have thus mistakenly considered only the Aromanians as being “Romanians”, while the Daco-Romanians from today’s “Romania proper” were designated as “Vlachs”, “Moldovans” and “Transylvanians”.

So if that’s true, why is it that so few know / admit to the “Vlachs” / “Wallachian” name history?

why

The more specific question is why doesn’t Romania rebrand itself as Dacia?

Back when Romanians were still subjugated by the 3 empires (and let me tell you, their situation was dire), they were only united by their language – a Romance / Latin language – and, to a lesser extent, their customs. They needed a name (a brand, if you will) that would contain the story of their origins. Vlachs or Wallachs wasn’t it, while Dacians had little connection to the Western powers they were trying to sweet-talk into allowing and supporting unification and independence. “Romanians” was a natural choice as it suggested a clear connection to the Roman empire and it was easier to grasp than a tedious analysis of the Daco-Romanian language.

Since then, the large Gypsy minority living in most of Eastern Europe, subjected to incredible persecutions and fighting hard for emancipation much like Daco-Romanians did only a few centuries ago, have chosen (or had it chosen for them) a very similar etnonym. Apart from adding several layers to the previously mentioned confusion, this should be a great opportunity to rediscover the glorious past (without falling into fascist or racist rhetoric) and embrace the Dacian name. This is not happening for three main reasons:

Most Romanians are unaware of their own history as this is not the official line and it is not emphasized in school. The education system has suffered tremendously in the past couple of decades.
There is still a certain irredentist, chauvinistic undercurrent in Hungary which seeks to rebuild the “Great Hungary”. Hungarian people have never really adapted to going from one of the founding nations of a major empire to rather small country. Beset by Soviet crushing occupation in 1956, Hungary has long recorded the highest suicide rate in Europe. The brand “Romania” is seen as a stronger juxtaposition to this “threat”.
The drive to recover this glorious past is often mixed with racist and xenophobic rhetoric and other weird and grandiose theories that could never be mainstream. Furthermore, redefining one’s identity is hard even without all the above.

Besides, from the same article you’ve quoted, the name “român” had started in the XVII century to have negative connotations:

In the Middle Ages the ethno-linguistical designation rumân/român also denoted common people. During the 17th century, as serfdom becomes a widespread institution, common people increasingly turns into bondsman. In a process of semantic differentiation in 17th-18th centuries the form rumân, presumably usual among lower classes, got merely the meaning of bondsman, while the form "român" kept an ethno-linguistic meaning. After the abolition of the serfage by Prince Constantine Mavrocordato in 1746, the form "rumân" gradually disappears and the spelling definitively stabilises to the form "român", "românesc".

I hope this answers your question. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to blabber on a dear subject!

LE: Toma Caragiu, the god with curly hair, was also aromanian.

Sources / More info: wiki-proto, wiki-calusari, wiki-Jirecek line, draco-flag, ro-consul [disturbing]

zamo, genesis, land of confusion, calusari, beowulf, morris, dacia, branding, map, cartography, harta, brandul de tara (Tags)

Romanian origins II–Dacia revival

2012-02-12T01:00:00.000-05:00

In trying to answer the map question, it might be a good idea to stat with some Dacian history. Presumably, after Trajan conquered Dacia, the men were massacred or enslaved and the Dacian state including its capital, Sarmizegetusa, obliterated then rebuilt in Roman fashion.

Dacia’s conquest (2, 3, 4, 5) was years in the making and it helped restore a stagnating (or already declining) Roman empire to its former glory. Dacia’s huge gold reserves helped finance further conquest. So important was this conquest for Rome that it was commemorated with “Trajan’s Column” (Wikipedia, simulation, details, genocide). Within the next decade, the Roman empire reached its largest extent and soon thereafter started to decline rapidly, collapsing (the Western, mother lode part) within the next 3-4 centuries.

Most of the disputed facts refer to what has happened after the Roman retreat and until the 10th century. There is however a theory that involves what has happened long before.

protochronism

Known in Romania as Dacology, this theory posits that the Roman empire was founded and created by Dacian immigrants. Here’s Wikipedia's overview:

Also noted are the exploitation of the Tărtăria tablets as certain proof that writing originated on proto-Dacian territory, and the belief that the Dacian language survived all the way to the Middle Ages.

There are even connections made to Stonehenge via the astronomic observatory and the calendar.

An additional - but not universal - feature is the attempted connection between the supposed monotheism [aka henotheism] of the Zalmoxis cult and Christianity, in the belief that Dacians easily adopted and subsequently influenced the religion. Also, Christianity is argued to have been preached to the Daco-Romans by Saint Andrew, who is considered, doubtfully, as the clear origin of modern-day Romanian Orthodoxy. Despite the lack of evidence [0, 1, 2] to support this, it is the official church stance, being found in history textbooks used in Romanian Orthodox seminaries and theology institutes.

LE: It should be noted that this "universal myth ofl resurrection / Sun worship" view is also expressed and explained in Zeitgeist, and it really isn't that far-fetched. This Wikipedia article seems unduly harsh in criticizing and rejecting a theory.

My view is that this theory, espoused among others by Dr. Napoleon Savescu and Dr. G. D. Iscru, has a low chance of being true and furthermore of being accepted by other historians.

zalmoxis

There are those who doubt even Herodotus (the “father of history”), but his record is generally accepted for lack of a better one:

in book 4 of his Histories: 93. ...the Getae are the bravest of the Thracians and the justest. 94. They believe they are immortal in the following sense: they think they do not die and that the one who dies joins Zalmoxis, a divine being; some call this same divine being Gebeleizis. Every four years, they send a messenger to Zalmoxis, who is chosen by chance. They ask him to tell Zalmoxis what they want on that occasion. The sending is done in the following way: men standing there for that purpose hold three spears; other people take the one who is sent to Zalmoxis by his hands and feet and fling him and throw him in the air on the spears. If he dies pierced, the think that the divinity is going to help them; if he does not die, it is him who is accused and they declare that he is a bad person. And, after he has been charged, they send another one. The messenger is told the requests while he is still alive. The same Thracians, on other occasions, when he thunders and lightens, shoot with arrows up in the air against the sky and menace the divinity because they think there is no other god than theirs.

Such customs are hardly “enlightened”, yet in those times the Romans, not to mention other “barbarians” had similarly disturbing practices. Even in medieval times, it seems that upon election, a cardinal would check that the Pope’s testicles have descended.

According to Herodotus, the Greeks of the Hellespont and the Black Sea tell that Zalmoxis was a slave on Samos of Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchos. After being liberated, he gathered a huge wealth and once rich, went back to his homeland. Thracians lived simple hard lives. Zalmoxis having lived amongst the wisest of Greeks - Pythagoras and had been initiated to the Ionian life and Eleusinian Mysteries. Building a banquet hall, he received the chiefs and his fellow countrymen throwing a banquet, he taught that none of his guests nor their descendants would ever die, but instead they would go to a place where they would live forever in a complete happiness. He then dug an underground residence and, once finished, he disappeared from the Thracians going down to his underground residence and lived there for three years. The Thracians missed him and wept fearing him dead. The fourth year, he came back amongst them and thus they believed what Zalmoxis had told them.

There are some obvious parallels to Christ’s resurrection, but that’s not the only possible interpretation, there are others (cf. Wikipedia):

Some authors consider Herodotus is just making fun about the Getae's barbarian beliefs;

Some take the passage seriously, and consider Zalmoxis has created a ritual of passage; this theory is mainly supported by Mircea Eliade, who was the first to write a coherent interpretation about Zalmoxis;

Some authors insist on Zalmoxis' relation with Pythagoras, stating that he has founded a mystical cult; partly this theory may be found in Eliade's work;

Some see in Zalmoxis a Christ figure who dies and resurrects; this position was also defended by Jean (Ioan) Coman, a professor of patristics and orthodox priest, who was a friend of Eliade and published in Eliade's journal "Zalmoxis", which appeared in the 1930.

Apart from Herodotus’ possibly disparaging view of Zalmoxis, others make some interesting connections.

It is difficult to define the time when a cult to Zalmoxis may have existed. It is just sure that it must be anterior to Herodotus' work. It seems that some people have considered that the archaism of Zalmoxis's doctrine points out to an heritage from before the times of Indo-Europeans, which is nevertheless quite difficult, if not impossible, to demonstrate.

Plato says in the Charmides dialogue 156 D - 157 B that Zalmoxis was also a great physician who took a holistic approach to healing body and soul (psyche).

As interesting and controversial as Zalmoxis’ cult is, it does not shine much light over where did the Romanians form as a people. The Greek connection nonetheless seems to suggest that if the people did not form in today’s Romania, it may have formed further South.

So to start answering the map question we started from, have look at this “ethnic map evolution of Romanians” as well as Timelapse of Europe changing borders and the Roman Empire Decline.

A more direct answer might be found in the first part of “Haploid M170” and, to a lesser extent, the neutr(aliz)ed history of Romanians. Let us now proceed to the gist of our (geo-linguistic) argument.

Sources / More info: Protochronism

zamo, istorie, history, origins, origini, protocronism, dacologie, dacomania, dacia (Tags)

Romanian origins I–a question

2012-02-11T01:00:00.000-05:00

Recently, on tumblr, FuckYeahEasternEurope asked me to explain my remark that the name "Romania" is relatively recent. I don't have much time for documentation, so this post will mostly be a braindump. Which, of course, does not mean that corrections and constructive criticism are not welcome.

Though, like I said in Georgeasca, I didn’t like history much when I was little, things are different now and wish I had more time to write this article.

Here’s the map published by fyeaheasterneurope and the comment:

A map from 1601 that intriguingly places Romania in a place I’m pretty sure Romania has never been.

I responded with Actually, Romania was a name adopted only around 1848, to which he replied:

This comment caused me to do some (very brief) research, and this is what our friends at Wikipedia say:

The earliest preserved document written in the Romanian language is a 1521 letter that notifies the mayor of Braşov about an imminent attack by the Turks. This document is also notable for having the first occurrence of “Romanian” in a Romanian text, Wallachia being called here the Romanian Land—Ţeara Rumânească (Ţeara < Latin Terra = land). As in the case of the ethnonym “român/rumân”, Romanian documents use both forms, Ţara Românească and Ţara Rumânească, for the country name.

A common Romanian area embracing Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania is mentioned by the chronicler Miron Costin in the 17th century.

In the first half of the 18th century the erudite prince Dimitrie Cantemir systematically used the name Ţara Românească for designating all three Principalities inhabited by Romanians.

The name “România” as common homeland of the Romanians is documented in the early 19th century.

Any ideas for what the map could have been referring to? Wikipedia also says that Romania was sometimes used as the name for the Latin Empire of Constantinople which would fit the labeled spot on the map pretty well, but it would be about 400 years out of date.

As I told him, this is making me work and I don’t really have the time..

The origin of Romanians is not so much a matter of history as it is of politics. I suspect that this is a common theme with most Balkanic people (why else is that area called “Europe’s gunpowder barrel?” ), but here I’ll discuss only Romanians. The official Romanian history, as taught in Romanian schools, teaches that the Romanian people formed out of intermarriage of the Roman soldiers (conquerers) and Dacian women (surviving population). We’re not interested here with Ancient Western Civilizations; the linked clip should be sufficiently informative.

When following the formation of the Romanian people, it makes sense to trace the language formation, as language is the cultural repository of a people’s inner soul (see Sapir Whorf). Attempts to follow the “genetic origin” tend to fail rapidly.

Let’s start with facts that are generally accepted: first, Dacia and Zamolxis.

Sources / More info: inbo

zamo, history, istorie, romania, dacia, etnonym, origins, etnogeneza, ethnogenesis (Tags)

base S BS I

2011-12-13T11:00:00.001-05:00

I was going to let this one pass, but the stink is still with me days after I got wind of it.

If you haven’t heard about this latest attack of the Romanian president on Holland, let’s read 9oc’s summary:

Bulgaria and Romania were certified in June as having met all entry requirements for entry into the Schengen area. But The Netherlands has led opposition to their entry out of concern about their insufficient progress on tackling corruption and organised crime.

“All legal conditions have been met for the decision on Bulgaria and Romania’s accession to the Schengen area to be taken,” the summit declaration said, calling on interior ministers to adopt this decision as soon as possible. The Council also said that if necessary, it will discuss the issue again at its March 2012 meeting. (..)

Meanwhile, President Traian Basescu said the Dutch opposition to Schengen enlargement is “abusive” and underlined that it was not Romania that legalised prostitution and drug consumption, but The Netherlands. “It’s not Albita (e.n. a border check-point in Romania) that’s the gateway for contraband cigarettes, alcohol and drugs and it’s not Romania that legalised prostitution and drug consumption out of helplessness,” the head of state said after the EU summit in Brussels, quoted by Mediafax.

He continued his attack on The Netherlands this weekend. While shopping in a Bucharest supermarket, Basescu advised Romanians not to buy Dutch vegetables. “There are no Romanian vegetables on sale. I must admit that I avoided Dutch ones. I preferred to buy Turkish and Spanish vegetables (…). And I think we should not buy Dutch vegetables,” the president said.

This isn’t the first time when a Romanian official has a weird reaction to European refusal to accept the return of its Eastern runaways to the continental mass. In 2004, a Romanian official made a remarkably idiotic remark when faced with the Finns’ opposition:

Romania and Bulgaria have successfully completed their negotiations for membership in the European Union. This means that both countries could become members of the EU in 2007.
      The negotiations were nevertheless overshadowed by disagreements over Romania’s readiness for membership.
Last week Finland succeeded in getting support from the old EU member states for its demand to allow a postponement of Romania’s EU membership by one year, if the country does not meet EU membership requirements, and if a qualified majority of member states agree to the delay.
      Normally, such a decision would require unanimity, which means that a single country could block the move. The purpose of the change is to prevent the acceptance of new members for purely political reasons, and to make sure that the applicant really is fit to join the EU.
      The Finnish demand has caused anger in Romania.
      "This is a Calvinist conspiracy, which is carrying out an inquisition in Europe", complained one high-ranking Romanian diplomat.
Calvinism is a branch of Protestantism known for its rigid doctrines on many issues. There are hardly any Calvinists in Finland, which is an overwhelmingly Lutheran country.

Commenting on this accusation, prime minister Matti Vanhanen said that labels used for domestic consumption spread quickly around the world... This is not new in politics. Don’t you wish your leader was cool like dat?

Unfortunately, as it should be obvious from besoareca feudala si pre-crestina, most Romanian “practising Christians” are unaware of a difference between basic concepts such as Easter and Christmas, Adam and Eve or Heaven and Hell. Centuries of rigid hierarchy of their Orthodox Churches and mediation / interposition between believers and God have resulted in mass confusion even among those who count themselves as Believers. In contrast, the Protestants believe that everyone has a duty to study the Bible and interpret it for themselves and should strive to develop a personal relationship with God, cutting out the middleman, with or without their Maserati. Romanians are scared of neo-protestant sects and have no idea what they are about which is not surprising, as those belonging to these splinter Christian groups are often uneducated and their message is often much louder than it is coherent.

The average Romanian’s beliefs is such a murky amalgam of unexamined axioms and primitive views. I see this short article a continuation of the more general takes on religion in Part I, Part II and all holidays. If not, then if there are no Calvinists in Finland, why the confusion? Perhaps that’s because many people confuse Luther with Calvin. The time is ripe for a crash course on Protestantism.

Sources / More info: hn-base-olanda, hn-base-netherlands, cbs-boycott, eurot-ro-bg, 9oc-eu, fi-sanomat,

zamo, imagine, externe, schengen, olanda, holland, netherlands, conspiracy, conspiratie, eu, ue (Tags)

confirmations, affirmations

2011-11-23T01:00:00.000-05:00

It's hard to determine when you are the source of events or when you are simply part of the current. If you're a blogger in a minor blogosphere, you might start accusing others of "stealing" from you. Me, I'm just glad that I'm being validated.

Trying the find where I was copied or cheated on the ‘net takes me back ages.

1. usenet

Perhaps the first such example dates back to the 90s, when I was doing some consulting for a management firm during the summer holiday and a colleague wrote a document using the construction its’ (yes, with an apostrophe to symbolize possession). I was floored and just had to correct him – yet he maintained that he’s right and I, as an ESL dude, didn’t know WTF I was talking about. So we took the bet to USEnet, where I posted it in a relevant newsgroup (alt.language, if I remember correctly), and we then waited. We got about 6 replies, of which 2 were clearly on my side, while the other 4 did not seem to understand what the question was about. I’m quite sure at least 2 of the 4 were friends he had asked to jump in on his side, and I would link to it, but ever since Google took over DejaNews I cannot find any of my old postings on USENET. If you can, let me know – I had signed it “Captain Grammar”, at his request :)

2. slashdot

Also in the 90s, Slashdot was one of the sites I used to comment on – a lot! I was not actively seeking “online friendships” and did not have a “voting mob”, so my comments were seldom voted up in its meta-moderation scheme. I do remember however how once somebody took my comment, changed a few words around, capitalized my sentences (I hadn’t bothered), basically rewrote my comment and got modded up to +5. Since then, I started to have a healthy dose of scepticism in respect to The Wisdom of Crowds [Paperback] by James Surowiecki

The Wisdom of Crowds (.FR, .DE, .JP, .cn) and online voting. (I’ll add a reference when I have time to look for it.)

3. popelu

Ever since starting this blog (and implicitly, involuntarily becoming a part of blogo.ro-oaie), it happened a few times that my articles were re-written by others, once even in Adevarul by some dude whose name starts with B, but I never bothered with it: after all, I was making it too easy with full feeds and writing in Romanian, like a paduchios. I was nonetheless surprised when a feisty newcomer, whom I tried to unsuccessfully enlighten for a while “quoted” me in a similar manner and not once, but on several occasions. Just as above, I cannot find all these examples, except for one. In an otherwise well-written text, he found himself falling down a version of “the American is the dumbest” path, perhaps without even realizing it:

Nu toate popoarele (in sensul de locuitorii unei tari) sunt si natiuni, exemplul cel mai important fiind Statele Unite ale Americii. (..) Nu neg ca in diverse locuri din SU exista manifestari quas-nationale specifice, dar o natiune nu e locul unde oamenii se bad cu pumnu-n chept, ca toti oamenii se bat. O natiune e locul unde toti se bat la fel. De-aia zic ca nu-i, pentru ca nu exista asa o comunitate, niste trasaturi universale.

In short, he claims that USA is not a nation because there are insufficient commonalities, despite being a number of “local quasi-national specific manifestations”. I commented that there is a common set of ideas and ideals more so than in Canada and then I listed a few at his request: manifest destiny, exceptionalismul descris de Tocqueville, the pursuit of.., credinta ca orice problema poate fi rezolvata aruncand cu bani in ea (aka “metoda americana”), ideea ca ceva este cu atat mai bun cu cat este mai mare / supersizing - japonezii traiesc cu ideea opusa, de pilda, etc. Translating and expanding:

manifest destiny – from the 19th century belief that USA was destined to expand across the continent it evolved in Lincoln’s and Wilson’s idea that it’s their mission to promote and defend democracy throughout the world; interpreted by Noam Chomsky and others as a mission to make all economies compatible (trade-wise)
exceptionalism – (from wikipedia:) “refers to the theory that the United States is qualitatively different from other countries. In this view, America's exceptionalism stems from its emergence from a revolution, becoming "the first new nation," and developing a uniquely American ideology, based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism and laissez-faire. This observation can be traced to Alexis de Tocqueville, the first writer to describe the United States as "exceptional" in 1831 and 1840. Historian Gordon Wood has argued, "Our beliefs in liberty, equality, constitutionalism, and the well-being of ordinary people came out of the Revolutionary era. So too did our idea that we Americans are a special people with a special destiny to lead the world toward liberty and democracy."” I purposely left in the entire fragment because it is probably the most revealing when it comes to American nationalism. Most of these can be found in his Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II [Mass Market Paperback] by Alexis De Tocqueville (.FR, .DE, .JP, .cn).
american solution: The belief that any problem can be resolved by throwing money at it. More on motivation and why that’s flawed in this RSA Animation.
supersizing: more and bigger is always better (not so in Japan, for instance)

Near the end, he conceded it was a matter of “feeling”, then offered some really silly arguments, so I said goodbye and decided I’ll avoid discussing issues with him (didn’t do a good job of that). And then, many months later, this jewel:

Ei da, am pe undeva in vre-un cufar o hartie pe care scrie langa numele meu ca-i diploma si de antropologie, nu-i clar la ce calitate, chit ca tot acolo scrie noua si trei firtale. Dar sa trecem si sa intram in subiect : Zice candva pe undeva un oarecare Tocqueville (ca de exemplu Alexis de, in L’Ancien régime et la Révolution, Michel Lévy Frères, 1856).

Now, as before, I did not really mind. Maybe he did know about it and had forgotten. And even if he didn’t, why else was I commenting there other than to shepherd the non-descript masses out of the valley of weakness? That’s also why I wrote about bitcoin, now an important part of the cyberlife of many.

4. hungary

In Romanistan II, I was reluctantly writing:

Dac-ar fi sa mergem pe drumul teoriilor conspirationale, etnonimul “romi” a fost inventat si impus de catre Soros, care a avut si pastreaza sensibilitati maghiare.

So I was somewhat happy to learn that the Economist has a way of sort of admitting to it:

Mr Orbán's dire public image abroad is a source of mystification and outright resentment among his fans. They blame everything from anti-Hungarian bias to the supposedly unhealthy links between the liberal elite in Hungary (which detests him) and the foreign media.

It’s very easy to fall into loony conspiracy territory here, but can YOU find a reasonable explanation for the underreporting of Gypsy numbers only for Hungary in the Economist, as shown in the Romanistan article?

5. prostitution

I wrote elsewhere about a famous economist who may have used one of my ideas. But maybe his inspiration comes from “patalama” even though, unlike Popelu’ before him, he has never confessed he actually lacks ideas and perhaps has to use others for inspiration (if he did, I missed it).

6. natalie

When presenting Wordsworth’s Ode I showed a clip with Natalie Wood and wrote:

Natalie Woods a murit in circumstante neclare, inecata, in anii ‘80, lasand in urma filmul “Brainstorm” in care juca cu Christopher Walken neterminat.

Her murder investigation has been reopened.

Sources / More info: eco-orban, dm-wood1, dm-wood2, wiki-wood

zamo, validation, validare, confirmare, afirmare, arrive, arrival, plagiat, plagiarizing, stealing, popelu, quoting, copyright, citat, citate, citare, quote, ip (Tags)

romanii sunt tigani prosti si paduchiosi

2011-11-19T01:00:00.000-05:00

Fiindca, pare-se, e nevoie de o campanie ROM pentru a afla ce spune Google. How "lice-laced" must you be to hear in a TV commercial about Google?!

For those who don’t know, ROM is some sweet thingie made in Romania. It has the dubious advantage of having its first 3 letters equivalent to the ethnonym that is now generally used for Gypsies. The problem is that Romanians, while strongly resenting being badmouthed are also viciously prejudiced toward this ethnic minority which had been enslaved in medieval times (an era that lasted there until XIX or 2007, depending on how you count). Enslaving a race / tribe is something done since the dawn of our species, but other nations have made amends, one way or another.

I might have the chronology wrong but here it is..

This deeply seated aversion that overwhelms logic even in my educated friends is a problem for the manufacturer. First, they played on the “Party tradition” – this is a brand that’s been around since 1964 (though I’ve never heard of it before). Eventually, the racist aversion to Gypsies was confronted head-on: senzatii tari was a big hit especially with those who don’t like Romania much and dream of immigrating. McCann Erickson had found a reflex ripe for exploitation in the knee-jerk reaction to nationalist causes so they proceeded with an elaborate hoax, replacing the Romanian flag with the American one and winning 2 Grand Prix of the 2011 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity—in the Promo & Activation and Direct contests. That second part involved revealing the hoax and letting “patriotic juices” run free. The anthem was born with a flag which apparently was “reintroduced” on the packaging. Thusly we get to today’s topic, brought to you by the letters R, O and M:

So, according to Google.ca search suggestions, romanii sunt paduchiosi, prosti dar nu tigani. Likewise, Romanians are rude, scum, ugly but not gypsies. But how are Canadians or Americans “treated”?

Obviously, Canadians are simultaneously [whaaa?], afraid of the dark, weird and awesome. Americans are fat, dumb, brainwashed, but aren’t stupid.

Some great advertising brain noticed that Google “calls” Romanians “stupid and lice-laden”. So they started the campaign below to Google bomb for better search suggestions. This is incredibly silly: Google can easily identify and nullify such attempts (if they want to – or maybe they’ll let it go). It’s only the brand that achieves higher recognition on the backs of dumb, web illiterate but “patriotic” Romanians.

If one bothers to look, one might find that other ethnicities are similarly treated by Google:

Prior to this campaign there may have been doubts on Romanians intelligence or lack thereof. This success (or, more to the point, failure) will remove them.

LE: If we want to improve our image as a nation / nationality, we need to first start calling ourselves Dacians. In an ideal world this would not be necessary, but in ours it is – others still like to divide the world by ethnicity and / or race and allowing the current prejudices to exist unchecked negatively affects many people who had nothing to do with creating them in the first place. The image problems of the Roma and Romanians, combined, make tackling them very difficult and the message confusing. Clearly distinguishing between the two could help in tackling the problems (real or imaginary) of both as it allows better identifying them and customizing solutions.

Having different names is not tantamount to apartheid: Dacia would still have a duty to ensure that all its citizens and particularly minorities are fairly treated and have the same chance of success as the majority. But different names is simply a recognition and celebration of different roots and customs. Gypsies can’t and mustn’t be assimilated and they also have the right to choose to be called whichever way they want (even though it seems to me that the name “Roma” was chosen for them and not by them). They are definitely unique and have an original culture unlike any other European people. It is about time we try to understand and celebrate them and stop deporting them to the margins of the Empire.

Sources / More info: romanii-ROM, adwk-mccann

zamo, stupidity, patriotism, idiocy, idiocracy, rom, ciocolata, junk food, advertising, marketing, mob, guerilla (Tags)

a question of lust

2011-11-18T01:00:00.000-05:00

Although I've been preparing this blog for a conversion to English for quite some time, there are still those who refuse to accept reality. Such as Blegoo.

Blegoo is a nice guy. He thought I’ve decided to write in English as a protest to the lack of interaction on this blog or as a poorly disguised plot to squeeze out more comments. We talked a great deal in constiinta a2m – apparently, he thinks that there are people who read this blog or that by telling me this I’ll get such a boner that I’ll write with it in Ro.

I don’t wanna gild the lily around the bush (sic, biatch), but such “munca de lamurire” reminds me of an old song by Depeche Mode (also covered by A-HA). Check out the lyrics:

Fragile
Like a baby in your arms
Be gentle with me
I'd never willingly
Do you harm

Apologies
Are all you seem to get from me
But just like a child
You make me smile
When you care for me

(Chorus)
And you know
It's a question of lust
It's a question of trust
It's a question of not letting
What we've built up
Crumble to dust
It is all of these things and more
That keep us together

Independence
Is still important for us though (we realise)
It's easy to make
The stupid mistake
Of letting go (do you know what I mean)

My weaknesses
You know each and every one (it frightens me)
But I need to drink
More than you seem to think
Before I'm anyone's [ho]

And you know
It's a question of lust
It's a question of trust
It's a question of not letting
What we've built up
Crumble to dust
It is all of these things and more
That keep us together

Kiss me goodbye
When I'm on my own
But you know that I'd
Rather be home
It's a question of lust
---
"A Question of Lust" as written by Martin Lee Gore
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

As you know, the song is about an older gay blogger (papa bear) who fell in love with what he thought was a younger blogger. He took a pederastic (i.e., love and pedagogy) interest in his writing. Meanwhile, the younger blogger did his thing.

In the anticlimactic climax, the older blogger pleads with the younger one to keep the past alive, but the young one just wants to go to America. Sadly, he was to die of TBC in the transatlantic boat, near the bottom, with the feces of the other monkeys cascading over his face.

He’s right about one thing though: I need to change the navigation and the template customizations; I just don’t care enough to do it yet.

The moral of the story is an old fart always knows better. Now go walk with the Sheppard.

Sources / More info: wiki, sm

zamo, weaknesses, separation anxiety, new beginnings, new age, new wave, romgleza, engrish, patriotism, decision, decizia, decizie, decider (Tags)

Romanistan IV - Moldova

2011-11-08T08:34:00.001-05:00

The ink on the Romanistan series (I, II, III) had yet to dry when news that the Russians are blaming Roma migration on Romania has, verisimilarly, sprung up from Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

As you may recall, we reported not long ago on a Russian plan to populate Bessarabia with Roma. It seems that the Russians have somehow managed to convince Moldovans that this was Romanians’ doing. Here’s a report from Focus News, quoting a Russian daily (Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Romanian Roma eye Russia, November 8):

Chisinau. There might soon be Romanian Roma in Russia, if their move to Moldavia is not restricted by the local authorities, said Viktor Shelin, leader of the Moldovan Social Democrats, cited by the Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
He also said his party asked the EU to influence Romania’s leadership, which, according to the Moldovan politician, finances the program for moving the Romanian Roma into the neighboring country.
Viktor Shelin commented that in the past month 1,200 Roma arrived from Romania into Moldova. 3,500 more people asked the Romanian authorities for a permit, which will allow them to move freely in Moldova’s border regions.
“Romanian Roma are being moved to our republic and there are 1,9 million Roma in Romania,” said Shelin.
Asked why they arrived in Moldova, Roma said they wanted to find a job, but nobody believes them, as Moldovans themselves go to Russia or Italy to make a living, the newspaper comments.

Another one on November 4 (Romania sent Roma expelled from France to Moldova):

Chisinau. It seems as if Europe is about to face the latest scandal around the ‘Roma issue’. Representatives of the Moldovan Social-Democratic Party said that Romanian authorities are purposively sending away the Roma people to Moldova. Speaking with EU Representative to Moldova Dirk Lorenz, they said there was some ‘secret gipsy migration’ from Romania to Bessarabia, Rosbalt writes.
The party said further that big number of Romanian citizens – ethnic Roma people, have arrived in Moldova and have settled in villages and small towns.
In 2010 Europe was seized with the scandal around the deportation of Bulgarian and Romanian Roma citizens from France to their home countries. Back then Romanian President Traian Basescu asked French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy to stop the deportation.

Russian PR, long seen as rather backward by Western standards, seems to be coming of age.. Ours, OTOH, can’t go too far when everywhere in the world, even in Australia, we get the following news:

Two Romanian fraudsters, who installed skimming devices on Gold Coast ATMs, did so in order to earn money for their impoverished mothers in their homeland, a court has heard.

Alexandru Stroia, 27, and Mircea Flutur, 30, managed to wire a total of $302,405 from Australia to Romania and the United Kingdom after they copied account details from credit cards with skimming devices they made and attached to ATMs.

Something bugs me about this news report signed by Marissa Calligeros. If the perpetrators were Greeks, would the reporter have called it “Greek racket”, or is that title given only to heists that involve some sort of “leading from behind”? Is this some sort of a trademark that perpetrators need to license? Is it a profession that needs Royal assent?

Alas, let’s skip to the end:

It is not known how much money the operation netted in total.

In her judgment delivered today, Court of Appeal president Margaret McMurdo said Stroia's sentence adequately reflected the need for public deterrence.

"Whilst he may have been a lowly foot soldier in that sinister cartel, if the criminal masterminds were unable to recruit people like him their unlawful schemes would flounder," she said.

"Stroia's offending struck at the integrity of and public confidence in the use of ATMs ...

"People like Stroia and Flutur, who are tempted to make easy money through sophisticated criminal enterprises like this one, even if only to help family members in straightened circumstances, must appreciate that they are likely to be caught ...

"A substantial penalty involving a significant period of actual custody had to be imposed to deter him and others."

Stroia and Flutur will both be deported after their release.

If these guys go to Moldova Republic after being deported, will they also be “unmasked” as being part of a Romanian government conspiracy? Did you remember to set back your clock? Should I be asking you any more questions?

Romania I left behind is very much different, mostly because Romanians have seriously changed. Just watch the following soccer match.

Sources / More info: NG-Romanian Roma, au-q-cardari

zamo, roma, tigani, gitanes, zigeuner, gypsy, gypsi, gypsies, gypsyes, gypsys, dezinformare (Tags)

Eggplant Salad Vinetta

2011-10-12T01:00:00.000-04:00

Vinettou is back with a vengeance, this time with his superhero S.O., Vinetta. I feel like having an eggplant salad, especially since the two eggplants I bought a while back have started to turn bad in my fridge, so I decided to investigate easy recipes.

Here’s what wikipedia tells us:

Salată de vinete (Eggplant salad) or Vinetta is both a Romanian and Hungarian mashed eggplant salad made of grilled, peeled and finely chopped eggplants, sunflower oil and chopped onions. The eggplants are grilled until they are covered with black ash crust. The crust is cleaned off and the remaining cooked eggplant is mashed with a blunt, thick wooden knife on a wooden platter (popular belief has it that using a metal knife will turn the eggplant flesh black). The eggplant mash is mixed in a bowl, stirring continuously, with sunflower oil, chopped onions and salt. The mix is beaten vigorously. Crushed garlic and ground pepper may be added too. Instead of oil, mayonnaise can be used.

In Bulgaria a typical eggplant appetizer is kyopolou, it is made with roasted aubergines and red peppers.

In Russia and Ukraine, a category of similar dishes is known as baklažannaja ikra (Russian: баклажанная икра, literally "eggplant pâté" (Note that "ikra" in this context means "puree", mashed "ragout" or "pâté" rather than the homonym "caviar") and some versions add chopped tomatoes to the basic recipe. Another eggplant salad popular in Russia is called he iz baklažanov (Russian: хе из баклажанов, and it is probably influenced by Korean cuisine). Eggplant he is based on julienned (instead of mashed) cooked aubergines and other vegetables, prepared with concentrated vinegar. After adding the vinegar, it is set aside for several hours to cure before eating.

Elsewhere,

Baba ghanoush is a popular Levantine dish of eggplant (aubergine) mashed and mixed with various seasonings. Frequently the eggplant is baked or broiled over an open flame before peeling, so that the pulp is soft and has a smoky taste. Baba ghanoush is usually eaten as a dip with pita bread, and is sometimes added to other dishes. It is usually of an earthy light brown color.

The Greeks call it melitzanosalata. Anyway, after watching the videos above and researching some more, a few other “additives” seem to be used:

onions, garlic, tomatoes
roasted peppers, especially in Bulgaria
lemon, sometimes tahini and cumin (the latter in Armenia)
either mayonnaise or olive oil in Mediterranean as well as elsewhere
capers in Sicily
India: cilantro, chilli pepper, mustard oil

Here’s the traditional Romanian recipe:

1 kg / about 2-3 medium to large eggplants
1 large onion
50 mL / 3 tbsp of olive oil (sunflower in original)
salt & peppa

The eggplants are grilled usually on a hot plate on the gas oven, turning them on each side untile they are black. The crust is then peeled off (one way to do this is to cut longitudinally and the inside razed off inside a bowl) and the juice is pressed off for 2-3 hours as it is sour and thus undesirable. The eggplants are then mashed with a thick wooden knife on a wooden platter to prevent oxidation and then mixed in a bowl, stirring continuously, with sunflower oil, chopped onions and salt. If that’s your poison, here are a few tips:

if you want it creamier and whiter add milk or sour cream before mashing it
their juice has a sour taste, so you must remove as much as possible
adding an egg yellow may further mask that sour taste
consider adding zucchini and garlic for better taste
instead of hot platter they can be placed in the oven for about 45 min at 200C
add the juice of half a lemon or 2 tbsp of vinegar to better prevent oxidation

If you would rather do this fast, you might want to peel them off when raw, cut them in little cubes, spray them with the lemon juice and sprinkle a tsp of salt. Brown them in oil for 4-5 min then add 100 mL of water and boil on medium heat, covered, until the water is gone. Mix them up in a blender with oil and the onion and you’re done!

LE: A recipe I meant to include but forgot is the so-called icra or aubergine caviar mentioned in harald si dorel. It takes 35 min and contains:

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds eggplant
2 yellow peppers
2 tomatoes
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoons ground coriander
2 ounces olive oil
2/3 cup yogurt
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons flat leaf parsley

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Oil the eggplant, peppers and tomatoes. Place them on a baking sheet and place them in the oven. Roast until soft, about 20 minutes. Peel eggplant, peppers and tomatoes. Saute minced onions and garlic. Put mixture in food processor and add garlic-onion mixture, vinegar, orange juice, coriander, olive oil, yogurt and salt and pepper. Fold in chopped parsley.

And if you would want a similarly creamy and refreshing drink when you’re done with the “Vinetta”, I’d recommend the Avocado-Citrus smoothie. Yes, it will make you fat with 1 avocado, one orange, some milk and honey – to which I add lots of ice cubes – but it’s the “good” kind of fat!

Sources / More info: wiki-eggplant, nicuvar-doina, ele, e-retete, fn-aubergine-caviar

zamo, reteta, retete, recipe, recipes, culinar, culinare, gourmet, food, diet, health, gastronomie, gastronomic, salata, salad, vegan, veggie, vegetarian (Tags)

Google = DMV online

2011-10-05T13:48:00.001-04:00

Google thinks that my article on Kegel Exercises makes the Also Sprach Zamolxis blog unsuitable for AdSense because of mature / adult / pornographic content. I am mad as hell.

BlogIdol explains mostly why this makes (again!) no sense and why having ads on sites like mine should be good for Google. I thought I explain here why I display AdSense even though I am making very little or no money.

After all, AdSense pays next to nothing, especially when considering that a man has to have choices, as Woody Harrelson told us in Natural Born Killers (Unrated Director's Cut Blu-ray). Alright, the clip doesn’t match the quote because I could not find it, but I talked about paid articles si prostii AdSense and the (ir)relevance of the Romanian online market; I even gave an example of ad offer for another blog which should clearly spell out why, but Google is not helping me to find it right now.

As stated on numerous occasions (mare-concurs-mare), I’d rather have others’ ads. (I even tried to encourage good, likeable comments.) Since I have yet to receive an acceptable proposal, I keep AdSense with my own ID. Here’s why:

I’d rather not have purist-communist readers, who believe that No Ads is a sign of noblesse / superiority. Having even a few ads is symbolic in that if I ever really decide to “go pro”, I’m not going to have major changes in readership just because of ads.
Ads send a positive signal to potential serious advertisers giving them an idea of what this would look like and are proof that I myself am not part of the crowd mentioned at 1).
Being part of AdSense gives me valuable information on how this works should I ever need to use AdWords (i.e., advertise) myself.
I honestly think it’s a way of repaying Google. I use their free services and I think they are a market leader. Since ads (and not NSA, apparently ) are their primary money maker, by running ads on my sites I contribute to the variety of their network and give them additional opportunities to make money – a win-win situation. Though my contribution to their revenue stream is hardly significant in aggregate, it is commensurate to my use of their resources they make available for free and I consider it a qui pro quo. In particular, if my site would suddenly become popular (it’s not that impossible, really), it would cause an undue use of bandwidth and CPU which would be freeloading, unless I am also running AdSense, which would allow Google to benefit along with me and in tandem with my use of their resources.

In short, I don’t run AdSense ads to help Google but more so to satisfy my ethical qualms of nothing is free, nor should it be. What would really make me (and probably Google and others) happy would be the ability to run AdSense and to donate all profits to a charity of my choice (such as EFF, EPIC or Kiva). Google would display a logo on my site – AdSense donor of x% to EFF and that would be a badge of honour that would help to

eliminate suspicions that I would (or ever had) clicked on my own ads or tried to defraud them in any way
make me happy because I would finally have a stronger motivator than making $10/month
would probably make visitors less likely to use ad blocking, more likely to click on ads they find interesting and less likely to mass click on ads for competitive reasons (i.e., to get me banned)
give soul to the morally empty, commercial endeavour of making money through advertising

So what is there to do? If ads were displayed only on the site, I could easily block them for the particular article with a bit of JavaScript/CSS in the template. Unfortunately, the link they sent me is for the mobile version of the page (and, by the way, that was refused by their “you’re wrong” page).

Din pacate, par a fi ramas prea putini inovatori la Google. N-ai cu cine, ba, n-ai cu cine..

LE: I've decided. Unless I hear from Big Baby G in Da Haus that my content is fine by the end of today (highly unlikely, I know), I'll be removing AdSense from all my sites. There really is no point in playing this cat & mouse game. Even if I were to password protect that article, they'd find another one similar, as they threatened in the letter. As we say in Romanian: dragoste cu de-a sula nu se poate. So goodbye, AdSense, it's been nice knowing you. If there's anyone interested in placing free ads here, you have the rules explained in the FAQ. I’ve already contacted Chitika, as hopefully they are more free-speech-friendly.

Sources / More info: biro

zamo, advertising, censorship, freedom, free speech, censored, cenzura, interdit, verbotten, interdiction, interzis (Tags)

Romanistan III–raspunsul

2011-09-16T01:00:00.000-04:00

Ministrul Justitiei are un raspuns balansat si inteligent.

Replica romaneasca este de obicei slaba sau inadecvata (vezi scrisoarea lui Dan Voiculescu). De pilda,

N-am mai vazut pe nimeni sa semnaleze discrepanta intre cifrele Ungariei si ale Romaniei din Economist, iar cand reactioneaza la confuzia intre romani si romi, reactie de indignare corecta si motivata, majoritatea romanilor o fac de pe pozitii rasiste, care fac mesajul lor atat necomestibil cat si nepalatabil pentru un observator neutru. Calea de mijloc nu apare nici in randurile crescande ale protocronistilor si “dacologilor”: acolo cei care vor o pondere mai mare din istoria neamului pentru “mostenirea daca” (ce cam lipseste, fiind stearsa de romanii lui Traian si cei ce le-au urmat) tind sa-i respinga pe romani si benefica lor influenta. Cam ca Monty Python in Life of Brian: [What Have the Romans Done for Us?] si [Romans, Go Home!].

Altii propun, precum guvernul Slovak, sa le forteze copiii in internate. Asta insa a fost incercat in Canada cu copiii amerindienilor (asa-numitul residential school system) rezultand intr-o rata de mortalitate de peste 60% si numeroase abuzuri. Suedia, Cehia si mai recent Slovacia au purces de asemenea la sterilizare fortata; CEDO a audiat recent (eclj-cedo-sk) un astfel de caz.

Politica fata de Tigani contrasteaza in USA [VoA1, VoA2, WtD, Dh] fata de Europa [CNN-ro, Fr, Fr2, Fr24It1, Fr24It2]. Guvernele europene sunt incapabile de a respecta spiritul legilor si intelegerilor precedente cand este vorba de tigani. Ei pretind Romaniei si Bulgariei sa accepte tigani si sa le creeze conditii in ciuda refuzului de a face asijderea. Din pacate noi nu prea avem marja de miscare, obsesia noastra populara de a fi asimilati de federatia europeana nelasand prea mult loc, la vremea respectiva, pentru negocieri cinstite de aderare.

Schimbarea numelui in Dacia ne-ar pune macar la egalitate cu Bulgaria si ar asigura ca vom primi romii Europei in mod egal. Principalul obstacol este insa uriasa inertie nationala si paradigm shift-ul la nivel identitar pe care schimbarea numelui il presupune; acest seism pare catastrofic iar romanul mediu nu se simte in putere sa treaca pragul. Sarcina ii revine unui politician mesianic care inca nu s-a nascut si care probabil nu se va naste, dat fiind ca demografic, tarisoara noastra va fi in curand parasita si pustie (de romani cel putin)

In ce ma priveste, consider oportuna educarea serioasa nu numai a romanilor ci si a puradeilor, chit ca acesta este, in conditiile prabusirii sustinute a sistemului educational romanesc, un deziderat utopic.

Docomente: [First Meeting of the Roma Decade Steering Committee: Minutes] [MONITORING FRAMEWORK FOR THE DECADE OF ROMA] [Education and Employment Opportunities for the Roma by N O’HIGGINS - 2006] [Poverty and the Determinants of Welfare for Roma by S MILCHER - 2006] [Development Opportunities for the Roma in Central and Southeast Europe by K Mizsei - 2006] [Microlending to the Roma in Central and Southeastern Europe by A IVANOV - 2006] [the Roma community in Republic of Moldova] [2002 census data, based on Population by ethnicity, gives a total of 535,250 Roma in Romania] [Many Roms not recorded] [Holocaust] [Public_policies_for_Roma_in_Romania_2000_2005] [Romii din Romania] [Rites of Passage and Oral Storytelling in Romanian Epic and the New Testament 2002 Margaret H. Beissinger] [EU-midis-Roma] [The Situation of Roma in an Enlarged European Union - EC] [Romii din România] [romaweb.hu] [Open Society - Equal access to quality education for Roma, Hungary. Open Society Institute, EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program (EUMAP). 2007] [Bulgarian census] [Acton, T., ed (2000). 'Myth as Process', Scholarship and the Gypsy Struggle. Commitment in Romani Studies. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press] [Pamporov, Alexei (2006) (in Bulgarian). Ромското всекидневие в България (Romani Daily Life in Bulgaria). Sofia: Международен център за изследване на малцинствата и културните взаимодействия] [Equal access to quality education for Roma, Bulgaria. Open Society Institute - EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program (EUMAP).] [START Roma Rights Bulletin, overview of Roma issues in Bulgaria] [The Gypsy Minority in Bulgaria – Policy and Community Development by Elena Marushiakova and Vesselin Popov] [ECSR decision on the complaint no. 31/2005] [ECSR decision on the complaint no. 46/2007] [lshtm-roma]

Sources / More info: hn-cp-fr, eclj-cedo-sk,
rss - wiki, gc, cbc, cbca, gcac

zamo, tigani, romi, rromi, rromani, romani, romaniy, romanyi, gypsy, gipsy, zigeuner, tigan, tiganie (Tags)

112 nervi cu francezii

2011-09-13T07:36:00.001-04:00

Chiar daca ministrul de externe s-a aratat matur si a reactionat potrivit functiei sale, iata ca totusi exista suficienti porcusori isterici in plutocratia romaneasca (vezi la sfarsit). Prilej pentru a ne aminti de o brosura publicata de americani pentru a evita “frecarea” cu parizienii eliberati.

Dreptul si pasiunea de “rigoler” a francezilor, de cele mai multe ori cu umor ofensiv si arogant, n-ar trebui sa fie ceva nou. Cu atat mai mult cu cat inaintea expulzarilor fortate (si probabil si dupa) aveau motive conlocuitoare. Ce este mai putin cunoscut este ca frictiunile dintre americani si francezi (care au culminat cu adoptarea recenta a titulaturii de “cartofii libertatii” in loc de vechea “cartofi francezi” pentru “cartofi prajiti”) au inceput imediat dupa eliberarea Parisului de catre americani. Pentru a evita conflicte de proportii, oficialii comandamentului armatei americane au tiparit o brosura pentru soldati: 112 Gripes about the French sau, pe limba noastra, 112 nemulţumiri cu privire la francezi. Iata cateva extrase:

Q6: Ne pierdem timpul scotandu-i pe francezi din mizerie. Au facut ei ceva pentru noi vreodata?
- Sigur c-au facut. Ne-au ajutat la o ananghie si mai crunta. In timpul Revolutiei Americane, cand aproape toata lumea ne era impotriva sau indiferenta, Franta ne-a sarit in ajutor si ne-a fost cel mai mare benefactor.
Q7: Ne-ntelegem mult mai bine cu nemtii fiindca nemtii respecta legea.
- Da, nemtii respecta legea – chiar si cand e barbara. Ei isi asculta conducatorii – chiar si cand acestia sunt corupti, cruzi sau obsceni. I-au ascultat pe Bismarck, Kaiser William and Hitler. Oare francezii i-ar fi urmat asijderea?
Q21: De ce ne pasa de francezi? N-au insemnatate in lumea postbelica.
- Dincolo de probleme de onoare si simpla decenta, ar fi stupid diplomatic si politic sa abandonam o natiune de 40 de milioane de aliati. Intr-o zi sau alta, s-ar putea sa avem nevoie de ajutorul lor din nou.
Q42: De ce nu exista canalizare ca lumea in casele lor? WC-urile sunt groaznice.
- Cam sunt. Ce pot ei sa faca? Costa sa ai canalizare ca lumea. De-asta multi oameni in Franta n-au. Nici in Statele Unite nu are toata lumea. Germanii au canalizare mai buna decat francezii fiindca si-au putut permite. Majoritatea cladirilor frantuzesti sunt foarte vechi. Este mult mai dificil si mai scump sa instalezi canalizare intr-o casa veche decat intr-una noua. Intamplator, 9400000 de case in US n-au electricitate. 80% din ferme nu au baie sau apa curenta. Cam 3607724 din case nu au WC-uri private. (seamana cu Romania, nu?)
Q46: In metrou pute a usturoi, transpiratie si parfum.
- Metroul parizian azi este aglomerat, imbacsit si pute. Metroul duce si tot traficul ce era absorbit de autobuze. Mirosi usturoi fiindca francezii, care sunt bucatari excelenti, folosesc mai mult decat noi. Mirosi transpiratie fiinca francezii n-au sapun – nemtii l-au luat pe tot de vreo 4 ani si acum primesc unul prost de abia 4 bucati (20 g) la 2 luni. Pe piata neagra 310 grame costa 125 de franci. Mirosi parfum fiindca frantuzoaicele prefera sa miroasa a parfum decat a nespalare. Cand n-ai sapun, parfumul este un substitut. Intamplator, chinezii iti vor spune daca le esti prieten ca mirosul albilor, indiferent cat se spala, este neplacut chinezilor. Mirosul intim se coreleaza cu ce mananci. Schimba mancarea si schimbi mirosul.
Q62: Se saruta in vazul lumii, pe strada.
- Asta-i surprinde pe americani intotdeauna la inceput. Sarutul pe ambii obraji este o traditie franceza. Pentru cordeala ei prefera sa fie singuri daca e posibil, ca si noi.
Q63: Mi-ar place mai mult francezii daca ar fi mai curati.
- Este de inteles.
Q108: Toti politicienii francezi sunt corupti.
- Asta-i la fel de stupid cu a spune ca toti politicienii americani iau spaga. Unii politicieni (francezi si americani) sunt corupti.

Alte asemenea intrebari, in brosura din link-ul din surse: Q 55-58 au de-a face cu femeile, care in viziunea americanilor sunt toate curve si prea ieftine pe deasupra, 49 cu siesta, 29 cu critica si 96 cu uniformele. Intre timp, americanii i-au botezat pe francezi cheese eating surrender monkeys, adica maimute defetiste mancatoare de branza.

Dan Voiculescu adauga la lista nemultumirilor scriind Consiliului Audiovizualului din Franta pe seama emisiunii o scrisoare pe care n-o va citi nimeni (Consiliul cu pricina deserveste cetatenii francezi) si in care cei doi comentatori rasisti sunt satirizati:

Va scriu in calitate de european responsabil, care cunoaste istoria incarcata si sensibila a acestui continent in materie de rasism, xenofobie sau agresivitate inter-etnica.
Faptul ca in Franta zilelor noastre - Franta, o tara care a infruntat direct agresiunea hitlerista! - sunt posibile, in cadrul unor emisiuni de larga audienta, jigniri desprinse parca din repertoriul miscarii naziste la adresa unui popor european mi se pare incredibil si incalificabil.
"Glumele" si ofensele gazduite de emisiunea "Les Guignols de l'Info", din data de 6.09.2011, reproduc cu fidelitate cliseele proferate in anii 30-40 de miscarile anti-semite la adresa evreilor: "hoti", "paduchiosi", "nespalati", care traiau in "ghetto-uri mizerabile". Incadrarea unor astfel de ofense in cadrul "satirei" justifica si legitimeaza - pastrand logica scuzei invocate - fecunda activitate "satirica" a unui personaj precum Joseph Goebbels.
Marea problema ridicata de ofensele proferate in cadrul emisiunii "Les Guignols de l'Info" nu consta in jignirea sensibilitatii unui popor european, ci in posibilitatea reactivarii - in inima Europei civilizate - a unui discurs de o agresivitate simbolica care frizeaza nazismul.
Va adresez solicitarea de a analiza oportunitatea sanctionarii emisiunii "Les Guignols de l'Info", mergandu-se pana la suspendarea acesteia pana la stabilirea unui cod deontologic aflat in concordanta cu valorile elementare ale Uniunii Europene - valori pe care realizatorii emisiunii le sfideaza in mod asumat.

Pe langa ca-i sforaitor si deplasat, Voiculescu mai face si comparatii cu nazismul. Evident, el spera sa castige puncte cu electoratul lobotomizat. Includ intreaga emisiune dedesubt.

Sources / More info: wiki-112, ercps-112, 112g, bbc-plus, hn-dv

zamo, rigoler, papusi, marionete, divertisment, franta, francezi, francezii, france, french, americaines, americanii, soldati, paris, parizian (Tags)

doctorii romglezi

2011-09-10T01:00:00.000-04:00

Imboldit de intrebari cum ar fi cea a Dianei Coman, am decis sa sparg tacerea asternuta pe acest blog cu o stire din UK. Aflu dintr-un recent articol in Daily Mail ca britanicii sunt pe cale sa interzica sau sa restrictioneze accesul doctorilor si asistentelor medicale din Romania la piata muncii, urmand exemplul spaniol, francez si italian, violand spiritul normelor UE.

Lordul Winston, un bulibasa de doctori britanici cu mustata de porn star al anilor ‘70 si coincidental “professor of fertility studies at Imperial College London” declara ca doctorii si asistentele medicale din Romania si Bulgaria pun pacientii in pericol fiindca nu sunt in stare sa vorbeasca engleza, ca nu sunt obsinuiti sa comunice cu pacientii si ca nu sunt capabili sa comunice nici macar in propria limba:

Nurses from Eastern Europe put NHS patients in danger because they can’t speak proper English, one of Britain’s top doctors has warned. Lord Winston said yesterday that he was particularly worried about those from Romania and Bulgaria who had limited communication skills ‘even in their own language’. He told the House of Lords they had been trained in a ‘completely different way’ to British nurses, and were not used to speaking to doctors or their own patients.

Mai departe, aflam ca britanicilor nu le este permis sa testeze cadrele medicale pregatite in alte tari din Zona Economica Europeana din pricina unor reguli antidiscriminare, dar ca francezii fenteaza regula facand testarea la nivel local, ceea ce-i permis:

Under strict EU laws, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) watchdog is banned from testing nurses coming in from European countries on either their language or clinical skills. Such tests are deemed to restrict the ‘free movement of labour’ – the same rules apply to doctors. Some countries, however, including France, get round the rules by ensuring candidates are tested by local health boards rather than a national watchdog.

Lordul Kakka(na)r, chirurg, este insa si mai meserias decat colegul sau mustetat:

He told peers the situation was ‘intolerable’.

‘It is not right for fellow practitioners to have to work with these individuals,’ he said.

‘But most of all it is not right for citizens of our country, who at times when they are unwell and becoming patients in our healthcare systems need to be absolutely certain that the practitioners to whom they are exposed are competent, meet the standards required of medical practitioners in our country and therefore can with certainty provide the quality of care that citizens in our country deserve.’

Hearing evidence at the Lords’ inquiry into free EU movement of medical workers, the peers were told that patients were being put at risk by incompetent doctors and nurses who cannot speak English or understand basic medical terms such as ‘nil by mouth’.

“nil” inseamna “nema” adica zero, zilch, nada – chiar daca suna ciudat, greu imi vine-a crede ca vreun roman n-a priceput-o.

Lord Winston said his own experience working abroad had shown him that nurses from Eastern Europe were not used to communicating with doctors or patients. (..) In one case, a GMC spokesman said, a foreign doctor’s husband contacted the council to register her because she could not speak English herself.

Scriam inca din 2007 despre migratia masiva a celor educati si bine-pregatiti. Taierile salariale recente nu au putut decat sa sporeasca migratia medicilor care, cum spuneam in nesanatatea rumuneasca, erau deja cu 40% sub media europeana in 2008 (222 la 100000 de locuitori). Oare cat o mai fi acum? Pe baza datelor furnizate de britanici si stiind cati erau in 2008 putem calcula, ca in clasa a II-a din lumea a III-a:

The number of European nurses registering to work in Britain has doubled since strict checks on their competence – including language skills – were scrapped last October. In the first five months alone, almost 1,500 new nurses arrived.

The General Medical Council said that 22,060 – around 10 per cent – of doctors licensed to work in the UK were from the European Economic Area, including 1,862 doctors who qualified in Romania and 722 with Bulgarian qualifications.

UK va urma asadar exemplul francez de misculatii:

'But we want to go further, working with the GMC, to strengthen the whole system of local checks on the suitability of doctors, including their communication skills. Responsible officers will have a key role to play in this.'

Cam asta fu articolu’ mama. Ian sa videm in continoari daca-i broblem real.

Sources / More info: dm-winston-xenophobia

zamo, imigratie, doctori, xenofobie, xenophobia, medicina, doctor, pacient, pacienti, sanatate, interactie (Tags)

delta-i vama noua

2011-08-12T15:02:00.001-04:00

Citeam in blogul unui faimos neohipster (nu spui cine, da' dau link in surse) cum s-a aia el in Delta (nu zic ce, da' te prinzi tu). Si m-a traznit un filon adanc de intelegere: Delta-i noua Vama Veche sau, pe scurt, tot aia!

In Delta n-am mai fost de cand eram mic – si din pacate, nu-mi amintesc sa fi vazut cai atunci. Asta s-a-ntamplat cu-asa mult timp in urma incat amintirile mi se-ntretaie cu filmul lui Daneliuc, Croaziera, cat si cu Tom si Jerry sau Nu zaitez, nu pagadi..

Si-n Vama mergeam cand eram mic, inainte sa devina simbol hipsterist. Am mers si mai apoi, in anul de gratie 200x, cand, desi purtam doliu sub unghii si drapelul in Geneva, nu era totul chiar asa de negru.

Cat de negru?

Nush cum sa zic ca i-au venit lu’ Goagal mintile la cap si mi-a reinstaurat contul de plus (http://j.mp/GPinbo) dar parca nu-mi vine sa celebrez.

The thrill is gone, baby, mi-o fugit mojo-ul.

LE: Iata si Hipster Ipsum, via swiss-miss/bltd:

Sources / More info: pg-drumul, llt-vama

zamo, delta dunarii, delta, vama, vama veche, hipster, hipsteri, hipsterism, pitong, pitongi, pitongie, pitongism, pitongisme (Tags)

ctp, lo-gicu si tvr2

2011-07-30T01:00:00.000-04:00

In prima parte vorbeam de tvr2, standardele duble fata de televiziunile publice si superbia ambasadorului britanic. Aici vorbim de o superbie mai neaosa.

Revenind la ctp.eu, sunt silit sa ma declar iar profund nemultumit de jurnalismul domniei sale. Sigur, este mult mai dificil sa fii un jurnalist bun fara sa cazi in tabloidie, intrucat spre deosebire de SF, unde-i rege, intr-un editorial oferi o opinie predigerata, in timp ce intr-o creatie artistica ii oferi consumatorului posibilitatea sa ajunga la propria concluzie. Iar ce faci cu mana ta..

LE: Abia am aflat din WP ca intre victimele lui Breivik se afla si o norvegianca a carei mama este romanca: Karin Elena Holst.

Asta-i motivul pentru care gasim oameni mult mai satisfututi de home schooling vs scoala publica si self-employment vs “servici”, chit ca rezultatele obiective sunt de obicei nu tocmai stralucitoare. Si totusi, ca fan, am pretentii de la el.

Voi lua ca “serioasa” argumentatia lui (cum am facut sau incepusem sa fac si cu cea a lui pg) si voi asuma asadar ca nu-i scrisa in doru’ lelii, ca “asta vrea trogloditul cetitor sa ceteasca”. Iata-i sumarul:

Norvegia, societate imunodeficitara – legi prea blande
Moartea lui bin Laden = nu justitie, ci dreptate; gaudeamus igitur
Bestie spanzurat nu impuscat (streang lung?!? si purgatoriu?)
moartea ca suprimare a criminalului (e.g. antibiotic vs bacterie), nu pedeapsa care nu reduce statistic crimele
pare sa puna egalitate intre ucigasul recidivist (zeci) si violatorul in serie (1-2-3)
Dar să zicem că ar fi condamnat un nevinovat - puteţi să-mi spuneţi câte cazuri de infractori notorii, aflaţi în libertate în clipa de faţă, după îndelungi judecăţi, cunoaşteţi şi câte cazuri de nevinovaţi condamnaţi la pedepse mari în România ultimilor 20 de ani? Filosofia "Decât să fie executat un nevinovat, mai bine să scape o sută de ucigaşi" mi se pare o prostie inutil de comentat. Bunătatea fără margini poate face tot atâta rău societăţii umane ca răutatea fără margini.

Am lasat ultimul fragment in intregime intrucat e-atat de eronat incat nu-i pot face “dreptate” scurtandu-l. Ca impresie generala, ctp incearca sa negocieze instinctul primar de “oki pt oki” cu nevoia de rationalizare – si esueaza. Nu voi zabovi asupra erorilor de logica evidente – streangul lung este mai “uman” decat cel scurt si faptul ca putini “nevinovati condamnati la pedepse mari” sunt cunoscuti nu inseamna nimic – nici n-am avea cum sa-i stim sau sa-i numaram pe acestia.

Trebuie de asemenea remarcat ca ideea pe care nu reuseste ctp s-o argumenteze poate fi prezentata mai bine. Ce-ncerc sa spun e ca he’s doin’ it wrong.

Constructiv, voi remarca simplul fapt ca exista anumite crime, anumite rele care sunt inevitabile, indiferent de sistemul de guvernare sau cate de blande sau aspre sunt legile unei societati. Motivatia aparenta a lui Breivik si dorinta sa de a apare in instanta in uniforma sunt pur si simplu demente – nu cred ca poate incape indoiala ca-i dus. CTP nu aduce nici o dovada in sprijinul ideii ca Breivik ar fi un produs al legilor blande – din contra, admite ca exista studii care demonstreaza ca pedeapsa capitala nu scade criminalitatea. Asa cum e demonstrat de sociologi care provin din societati mai putin primitive, un regim mai sever de incarcerare creste criminalitatea si este mai costisitor chiar si numai strict financiar vorbind – vezi ce se-ntampla-n USA.

Legile blande, bazate pe reeducare, politistii dezarmati, investitia masiva in capitalul uman prin educatie, egalitarianismul scandinav si puternicul spirit de comunitate fac societatea norvegiana un superb concert armonic, pe care nu-l poti patrunde (si care nu are cum sa te patrunda) decat daca incerci s-o respiri o vreme, la fata locului. Norvegia e stabila si functionala la un nivel la care o societate bazata pe suturi in coaie si streang lung, scurt sau mediu n-are cum ajunge.

Aceasta “suprimare” de care vorbeste ctp este inspirata din acelasi filon din care a fost avortata si eugenics (eugenism?) – credinta ca poti starpi raul sterilizand “inferiorii genetic”. Evident, si acolo ne izbim de realitatea practica – sporul demografic al aproape oricarei societati vine din saracime, fix aceia care au sansele cele mai mari sa nu se poata apara de cruciadele unui functionar mult prea zelos, iar astfel de “defecte” sunt mai degraba de ordin circumstantial si educational decat genetic. In plus, crimele pe care le gaseste ctp pasabile de o astfel de pedeapsa sunt teribil de subiectiv alese: exista oare echivalenta intre “un ins care omoară cu zâmbetul pe buze zeci de inşi” si altul “care violează o dată, de două ori, de trei ori”, chiar si scrasnind din dinti? Oare nu-i si crima de a viola institutia prezidentiala prin critica si injurii repetate un delict nu taman grav dar agravat de recidivare si daca da, cat de lung ar trebui sa fie streangul ctp-ului?

In plus, pentru ce-si doreste CTP ar trebui facute facilitati care sa poate “suprima” in masa – ori asta parca s-a mai incercat in istoria relativ recenta, cu rezultate cutremuratoare. Dincolo de monstruozitatea unui astfel de demers, tintele efortului de suprimare n-au disparut, ba din contra, au fost reinmugurit mai vii, mai unite, mai puternice.

Sources / More info: libTO.com, trombon, wiki-eugenics

zamo, congruenta, hellsongs, bastard fairies, scandinavia, scandinav, lege, law, crima si pedeapsa, crime and punishment (Tags)

ctp-u, logik si tvr

2011-07-29T17:12:00.001-04:00

In aceasta prima parte ne-aplecam mai mult asupra TVR decat a ctp-ului. Pe-acesta din urma il luam in poala in partea a II-a, da’ nu-i bai, fiin’ca e scris undeva ca cei din urma vor fi, cumva, cei dintai.

O-ntrebare m-a pornit pe scris. Sa luam 2 citate, la-ntamplare. Mi se par ele asemanatoare numai mie? Primul ii apartine ctp-ului:

Consternare, nu ură, asta se citeşte pe feţele norvegienilor după măcelul asupra Norvegiei comis de Bestie - nu-i scriu numele, pentru că el asta îşi doreşte.

Al doilea, Chinezului:

Vă scriu această scrisoare deschisă pentru simplul motiv că dacă nu aș scrie-o m-aș simți nu știu cum. Și, firește, pentru trafic, căci puteți să îi întrebați pe cei care mă cunosc deja că sunt ahtiat după trafic.

Diferenta ar fi ca in timp ce Chinezul este nitel mai modest, el reuseste chiar sa initieze o schimbare, mai precis schimbarea din post a celui vizat. Refuzul lui ctp de a scrie numele norvegianului nu are aceiasi sorti de izbanda. “Succesul” Chinezului este cu atat mai surprinzator cu cat cel “pedepsit” nu-mi pare cu nimic diferit in stil, limbaj si substanta / profesionalism (sau, mai precis, lipsa acestora), decat majoritatea covarsitoare a “jurnalistilor” romani – si nu numai, dar parca la noi sunt mai multi, mai galagiosi, mai inculti si mai mizeri-codosi.

Sunt surprins si ca nimeni n-a remarcat ca Martin Harris, Ambasadorul Britanic, pe langa ca e un tip super, vorbeste o romana mai buna decat engleza lui Ilievici si-a lui Base pusi cap in cap si combinati intr-un fel de superEngrishman in Bucale. Spun asta ca unul care, dupa cum m-am mai laudat, am invatat engleza la British Council. Probabil din cauza ca daca un om bogat merge la tigani si face un pas de intampinare, e un tampit – nu asta-i reflexul romanului mediu, rasist si antiziganist? Cand Salome Blaser a lasat Elvetia pentru a trai intr-o groapa de gunoi cu romi, nu tot de “proasta” o fo “luata”?

Este evident ca Lucian Pîrvoiu, pe langa ca este antipatic, arogant, unprofessional atat cu invitatii sai cat si cu Ambasadorul absent, exprima o opinie rasista, dar astfel de opinii sunt exprimate in mod frecvent pe bloguri si pe alte posturi de televiziune (Mircea Badea este primule exemplu care-mi vine in minte). Pentru asa ceva Mircea Badea primeste o amenda CNA (si nici nu cred c-a primit-o pentru rasism, dar in fine); mi se pare ca in mass-media romaneasca exista standarde duble.

Asta ar putea fi inceputul unei frumoase dezbateri: trebuie o televiziune nationala sa se ridice la standarde mai ridicate decat una privata si daca da, care ar fi acelea? Poate o institutie multumi pe toata lumea si daca nu, merita sa-ncerce? Este asta rolul televiziunii publice? Trebuie ingradita in cate reclame arata sau in tematica?

Peste tot in lume, televiziunile publice sunt sub asediu din pricina unui complex de factori: pe de o parte, efectul direct al recesiei si revenirii anemice care au cam secat banii alocati campaniilor publicitare si de PR. Televiziunile private se simte fortate sa le-ngroape intr-o retorica de jind si ura in competitia pentru o bucata de placinta mai mica pe cele publice. Pe de alta, indirect, recesia impinge publicul catre dreapta, extremism si intoleranta si “strunirea” manifestarilor stangii. “Bietul” Rupert Murdoch, “asediat” de liberal bias, tinea abia cu cateva luni inainte o cuvantare in Londra cum ca BBC-ul este mult prea puternic si ar trebui slabit pentru a incuraja concurenta. In USA, Fox News, avanpostul indoctrinarii prostimii mentine o gramada de politicieni cu leafa in calitate de “consultanti”. In UK asta nu-i posibil asa ca politicienii trebuie santajati cu acordul unui Scotland Yard corupt si uite-asa s-a ajuns la scandalul cu News World. In Canada, bugetul CBC a fost taiat cu 5% in timp ce Quebecor (proprietara ziarelor “Sun” de dreapta) a lansat ceea ce se vrea Fox News North – Sun News Media, while the latest budget cuts once again CBC’s numbers.

Sa spermam insa ca o astfel de actiune (chit ca putini au auzit de ea) va duce catre o agora mai salubra si mai putin jegoasa, lipsita de imbecilismul si incongruenta rasismului.

Partea a II-a-i cu ctp.

Sources / More info: ctp-bestie, chinez-tvr2, fere-tvr2, awr-susp, tvr-susp, fb-cbc, Salome Blaser

zamo, rant, pr, piar, public relations, relatii cu publicul, customer service, televiziune, televiziuni, mass-medii, public, publica, reporteri, reporter, jurnalism (Tags)

italienii, Miss USA si stiinta

2011-06-30T10:33:00.001-04:00

Acum mai bine de 2 ani, scriam despre cutremurul din l’Aquila, Italia. Acum cateva zile, scriam in pistolul cu pasarica despre cutremurul ce va sa vie in Vancouver. Ei bine, italienii au decis sa aduca in instanta 6 seismologi care au spus cu putin timp inainte de cutremur ca nu exista suficiente dovezi pentru a concluziona ca un cutremur este iminent si aflu despre asta din articolul unei vancou(ve)verite care mai si repeta ce ziceam cu V.

Acest eveniment (acuzarea seismologilor ca n-au prezis cutremurul in Italia) imi pare inspaimantator de asemanatoare cu proiectele “alesilor” romani de a face ghicitoarele responsabile penal pentru “preziceri” gresite sau meteorolgii ca n-au prezis inundatii.

Tot la capitolul asemanari, aflu ca nu numai politicienii romani ar fi corupti, ci si 85% din cei care scriu reviews pe Amazon (si care contribuie peste 90% din opinii) si ca nu numai drumurile noastre toate sunt prea scumpe si inexistente ci si cele din UK, unde cateva drumuri scurte costa £86,500/metru si £155,000/metru.

At a time of austerity, the idea of spending more than half a billion pounds on a five-mile stretch of road might seem strange to some. But the M74 extension is about to open in Glasgow at a cost of £692m, which works out at £138.4m per mile or £78,000 a yard (£86,500 a metre). (..) But in July its silver-medal status will be trumped by the even more costly A3 tunnel at Hindhead in Surrey. A four-mile section of dual carriageway is being added, but the vast bulk of the £371m cost is concentrated on the 1.2 mile (1.9km) tunnel. It is the longest road, under land rather than a river, in the UK, costing around £300m, equivalent to £142,000 per yard (£155,000 per metre).

Vreau sa-ncep cu Miss USA si cat de cretine sunt majoritatea.. N-am reusit sa ma uit pana la sfarsit, dar din ce-am vazut, cel mai mult mi-au placut Miss California si mi-a pocnit un ochi la Miss ~~Idaho~~ Hawaii si-al sau “creationITism”. Inca un motiv sa prefer o insuratoare alternativa.

Ce reiese din aceste asemanari clare?

semanam teribil cu italienii, in special in dorinta si abilitatea de a gasi un vinovat pentru toate; acestia sunt de obicei tiganii si / sau intelectualii
dorinta de a pedepsi este, zic eu, mai pronuntata in “societatile de onoare”

Chestia cu evolutia si predarea acestei teorii in scoli (intrebarea pusa “Miss-elor” pare stupida la prima vedere, dar nu este. Sigur, controversa intre “evolutionism” si “creationism” este mult mai acerba in USA decat in restul lumii. Miscarea “adeveriei” este practic un ecou al “luptei” intre logica si simtire care-a fost dezbaterea dominanta a Iluminismului si care a sta la baza lui Faust si a Pastafarianismului .

Intre cei care resping orice idee stiintifica fiindca nu o “simt” adevarata si cei care au facut din metoda stiintifica si ateism o religie exista o cale de mijloc si pentru mine nu-i “stiinta crestina”.

Demult de tot am incercat un comentariu pe tlp.ro (inainte sa aiba domeniu propriu) cum ca nu putem afirma cu siguranta ca NU exista Dumnezeu si mi s-a spus ca-s prost si ca a fost deja demonstrat (n-am reusit sa gasesc o astfel de demonstratie nici pe blog si-apoi nu mi-am mai gasit nici comentariul). Pe de alta parte, vehementa ateilor romani este mai justificata poate decat a celor din alte parti, date fiind accentele mai extremiste ale “credintei” romanesti si ponderea acesteia in cultura romaneasca.

Sunt mai multe de zis despre scienticism dar mai degraba pe Edutarian.com, cand ‘oi ave timp. Iara de vrei sa vezi o dezbatere intre un filozof ateu si un psiholog catolic in care ateul nu-i un ticalos iar religiosul este persuasiv si rational incearca Jordan Peterson vs Ronald de Sousa. Vezi si Is Faith Inevitable? (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).

Sources / More info: guard-6geo, 5-movies, clopo-crim, rea-vraji, hn-pearson, rol-meteo, yt-futuro, wiki-cre-evo, pcmag-corr (/.), bbc-roads, ev-god, wiki-chrsci, 100-sci, scara pacatelor, wo-dum-urc, [4]

zamo, geosphere, earthquake, geoscience, atheism, religion, scienticism, obscurantism, bigot, prozelitism, religie, ateism, agnosticism, agnostic (Tags)

stiri de sub Pres II: coruptia

2011-06-26T01:00:00.000-04:00

Este greu de evitat scandalul Severin, cu atat mai mult cu cat nu demult vorbeam despre Nastase si in episodul anterior despre Malaxa. Nu cred ca Severin este mai corupt decat alti politicieni europeni; este insa mai prostut si mai naiv si, ca si diplomatul din Singapore si in general oamenii proveniti din societati in deriva, cam fara busola etica.

Povestea este interesanta nu atat datorita domnului Severin ci in principal pentru ca de cate ori Romania este conectata cu un scandal de coruptie, toti suntem manjiti. Propozitia “Romania este corupta” este echivalenta cu “tiganii sunt inferiori” in aceea ca are mai mult a face cu prejudecati si predispozitia noastra de a nu ne pasa si a accepta astfel de etichete decat cu realitatea. Coruptie si incompetenta birocratica si / sau guvernamentala exista peste tot; diferenta consta in cat de departe se merge si cat de bine se musamalizeaza astfel de afaceri. Romanii stau mai prost la capitolul musamalizare si “ochii lumii”. Un ministru al agriculturii britanic n-ar accepta in vecii vecilor spaga sub forma de oi, porci si gaini, precum omologul sau roman; acesta are metode mai sigure, testate si cimentate de colegii de partid de ani de zile.

Sa incepem cu reactia lui Adrian Severin la ridicarea imunitatii sale de catre colegii sai din Parlamentul European:

Ridicarea imunitatii face posibila cercetarea. Faptul ca aceasta cercetare abia acum urmeaza sa inceapa este in sine o dovada ca tot ceea ce s-a afirmat pana acum este expresia unui justitiarism rau si mincinos. Din pacate, el nu m-a lovit doar pe mine, ci si Romania care, prin mine, in ultimele luni, a pierdut importante pozitii de influenta deloc usor de recuperat. De aceea, bucuria multor romani este absurda.

Severin si-a inceput cariera politica la Stefan Gheorghiu, trecand apoi prin FSN, PD si in final PSD. Dupa cum Tom Gallagher scria in Revista 22 in 2005, el ar fi fost printre cei mai influenti romani din Parlamentul European:

Prea putin conteaza ca Severin vine din Academia “Stefan Gheorghiu” sau ca Geoana provine dintr-o familie bine ancorata in vechea nomenclatura. Eurocratii, mai ales cei de stanga, cred ca e de prost gust sa zabovesti prea mult asupra evenimentelor de dinainte de 1989. Social-democratii, precum danezul Poul Rasmussen, sunt foarte dispusi sa accepte ideea ca vechiul regim s-a stins odata cu Ceausescu. Asa se face ca Geoana are intrare deschisa la baronii de la Bruxelles, de exemplu la conservatorul german Elmer Brock, pe cand un biet ministru al Justitiei, ca Monica Macovei, trebuie sa se consoleze cu doar cateva minute din pretiosul timp al acestuia pentru a discuta reforma sistemului romanesc de justitie.

Dl Gallagher vorbeste chiar de un “profesionalism politic”:

Din pacate, rolul lor este aproape identic cu cel jucat de Iliescu si Nastase: aplicarea de schimbari artificiale care sa menajeze retelele care au apucat parghiile puterii in 1990-’91. Dar cei doi o fac intrucatva mai profesionist, ascunzandu-si alura postcomunista sub o spoiala progresista. In primavara, cand facea campanie impotriva planurilor de reforma in justitie ale Monicai Macovei, Severin chiar se mandrea: “PSD ca partid nu trezeste pretutindeni simpatia democratiilor occidentale. Multi dintre oamenii sai se bucura insa de mai multa incredere si au mai multe contacte utile decat actuala guvernare”.

Europenii prefera coruptia tacuta:

..utilizarea de catre Iliescu a trupelor muncitoresti de soc s-a tradus prin trantirea usilor diplomatice in nasul emisarilor ca Severin, cand acestia voiajau in Occident prin 1990-’91. Iliescu parea atunci un anacronism, cineva incapabil sa prezideze o tranzitie lina unde matrapazlacurile se pot consuma eventual in umbra, nu in plina lumina. Pe 29 martie 1991, Severin l-a infruntat pe Iliescu: “Din pacate, domnule presedinte, dumneavoastra inca mai credeti ca stalinismul si ceausismul au fost niste erori in aplicarea marxism-leninismului. Noi suntem de parere ca singurii care au aplicat in mod corect tezele lui Marx si ale lui Lenin au fost Stalin si Ceausescu”

Severin se remarca oferind o alternativa mai moderata la nationalismul generalizat al liderilor romani:

Probabil ca inclinatia periodica a lui Roman de a face pe placul nationalistilor si de a tolera interesele acestora a impiedicat dezvoltarea unei relatii oficiale normale intre liderul PD si ministrul de Externe al Romaniei, functie detinuta de Severin pentru exact un an, intre 1996-’97. Intre timp, Severin se reinventase in calitate de avocat al post-nationalismului, insistand ca reconcilierea franco-germana de dupa 1945 ar constitui modelul necesar pentru emanciparea Europei de Sud-Est. Asta i-a adus o oarecare recunoastere pe scena internationala si a ajutat la stergerea imaginii Romaniei ca fortareata a nationalismului intolerant.

Ca raportor ONU cu drepturile omului in Belarus, a produs 3 rapoarte: 2005, 2006, 2007.

In urma scandalului, cand liderul socialistilor i-a cerut sa demisioneze, a refuzat, cauzand exact genul de hoopla pe care politicienii europeni incearca sa-l evite cu orice pret. Refuzul de a demisiona este o idee stupida si a “ars mai multe poduri” decat insusi scandalul cu coruptia, care oricum vine la un moment foarte prost pentru stanga europeana, ceea ce probabil explica si ridicarea imunitatii sale:

(Publicatia britanica sugereaza ca economia afecteaza preferintele electorale mai mult decat invers si ca stanga are probleme cand economia pica.)

Este oarecum remarcabil ca dupa 20 Martie, pagina wikipedia romaneasca a dlui Severin (care ii este destul de favorabila) a fost modificata de pe IP-uri multiple, apartinand de SanosConsulting.ro, OpenSys.ro si chiar Boston U, pe langa utilizatori cu cont.

Cat despre Romania, consemnez un articol remarcabil in Evenimentul Zilei, despre profesorii care pretind sex ca spaga, aparut sub semnatura lui Mihai Şoica si Georgeta Petrovici. Genul asta de “activitate” e vechi de cand lumea si se-ntampla bine-merci si la case mai mari.

LE: Pentru comparatie, iata ce apare in Wikipedia la rubrica de "controverse" din articolul lui Boehner: In June 1995, Boehner distributed campaign contributions from tobacco industry lobbyists on the House floor as House members were weighing how to vote on tobacco subsidies. In a 1996 documentary by PBS called The People and the Power Game, Boehner said "They asked me to give out a half dozen checks quickly before we got to the end of the month and I complied. And I did it on the House floor, which I regret. I should not have done. It's not a violation of the House rules, but it's a practice that‘s gone on here for a long time that we're trying to stop and I know I'll never do it again.” Boehner eventually led the effort to change House rules and prohibit campaign contributions from being distributed on the House floor. A September 2010 New York Times story said Boehner was "Tightly Bound to Lobbyists" and "He maintains especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of the nation’s biggest businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R.J. Reynolds, MillerCoors and UPS."

Sources / More info: hn-severin, cr2020-as, r22-asvechi, wiki-severin, ec-leftout, evz-spaga-sex

zamo, severin, corruption, coruptie, mep, imunitate, dizgratie, reputatie, renume, corupt, corrupt, currupt, oua, psd (Tags)

cainii latra, basesciana trece

2011-06-24T11:28:00.001-04:00

Dupa ce-am prezentat izvorul marelui rahat prezidential si primele cateva reactii, iata-le si pe urmatoarele.

Cum spuneam, ma deranjeaza multe-n legatura cu scandalul. Toata povestea pare a fi o inventie menita sa ocupe titlurile de senzationalism ieftin intr-o vara ce pare a avea prea putine. De pilda, Antonescu (Crin, nu Ion) zice:

“Declaraţia preşedintelui seamănă până la identitate cu declaraţiile lui Adolf Hitler din 25 august 1944. Atunci, Adolf Hitler a declarat la radioul Reich-ului "Regele Mihai a trădat România" şi "Regele Mihai a predat România puterii sovietice". Ca declaraţia aceasta a lui Adolf Hitler din 1944 să fie reluată de şeful statului român în 2011 este absolut inacceptabil", a afirmat azi Crin Antonescu într-o conferință de presă.

Președintele PNL a afirmat că "este extraordinar de grav şi dureros şi ruşinos că Traian Băsescu este primul şef de stat al României dintre toţi, cu comunişti cu tot, care-şi permite să discute momente esenţiale din istoria României într-o astfel de manieră".

"Niciun şef al statului român, de la Alexandru Ioan Cuza şi până la Ion Iliescu şi Emil Constantinescu, nu şi-au permis să discute ca la cârciumă despre istoria României. Deci nu te poţi duce ca un beţiv la cârciumă când eşti şeful statului să-ţi dai părerea tu asupra istoriei naţionale şi asupra simbolurilor naţionale”

Comparatia cu Hitler imi pare nitel cam hazardata – vezi legea lui Godwin. Mai mult, asa cum am mai spus in comentarii (1, 2), o gramada de afaceri conectate si scorneli de-ale lui Hitler continua sa existe si azi. Si mai hazardata este scrisoarea trimisa Regelui cat si cea trimisa Ambasadorului SUA:

"Nu ar fi prima dată când, în calitate de ambasador, v-aţi exprima un punct de vedere în legătură cu un subiect important de pe agenda publică internă. Şi, în acest caz, este foarte necesar să aflăm cu toţii poziţia Ambasadei SUA despre acest episod din istorie şi în legătură cu acuzaţiile pe care Traian Băsescu le aduce Regelui Mihai", i-au scris Ponta și Antonescu ambasadorului.

Co-poreşedinţii USL i-au cerut ambasadorului să facă o asemenea clarificare pentru a vedea “în ce măsura Ambasada SUA se solidarizează cu proiectele şi declaraţiile lui Traian Băsescu şi în aceasta privință, în special pentru că este vorba de "o perioadă de tristă amintire, în care România a pierdut pentru zeci de ani legătura cu Occidentul democratic, către care n-a încetat să aspire".

Daca declaratia lui Base este un gest care vadeste o surprinzatoare apropiere de legionari si / sau atitudini de extrema dreapta (sigur, populismul se-apropie de fascism, dar pan-acum Base a evitat partile gretoase), reactiile USL-asilor par sa sugereze un oarecare infantilism politic si dorinta de a se afla sub reflectorul mass-mediei cu orice pret, chiar si cel de a fi ridicol. Ce treaba are ambasadorul SUA cu puliticienii? Tocmai, mandatul sau il impiedica sa se amestece in politica interna a unui stat. Cei doi par a-l vedea pe ambasador ca pe un profesor cu dreptul de a trage de urechi Presedintele cand acesta nu-si face temele si dau fuga sa-l parasca.

Scrisoarea USLasilor mai are o hiba majora: combina doua mesaje intr-o singura scrisoare, facand-o incomprehensibila romanului mediu. Pe de o parte, incearca sa-l plezneasca peste bot pe ambasador ca si-a dat cu parerea in constitutionalitatea clauzei averii ilicite si-n acelasi timp incearca sa-l plezneasca si pe Base. Mesajul se vrea a fi “Eshjmeker? Crezi ca Base-i tare? Ia Base si suge!”.

Sigur, si eu fac astfel de “combinatii” care-mi fac articolele mai greu de parcurs, dar eu nu-ncerc sa conving pe nimeni, I’ve no stake in the political process. Nu incerc sa-mi creez capital politic. Vorba lui Andries: “n-am nimic de cerut, nimic de castigat / nu vreau portofolii sau functii de stat”. Daca insa incerci sa obtii voturi, mesajul tau trebuie sa fie simplu si direct. A incerca astfel sa-i dai palme ambasadorului nu te-ajuta cu absolut nimic, ba din contra: te face sa pari ineficient.

Problema constitutionalitatii sus-amintita este insa importanta. Se regaseste in actualitatea multor tari si merge in inima statului de drept. In orice stat mai mult sau mai putin functional, daca esti “audited” pentru neplata taxelor esti considerat vinovat si-i treaba ta sa demonstrezi ca nu esti (cam asa functioneaza si “justitia”, dar acolo, de ochii lumii macar, exista prezumtia de nevinovatie – cu exceptia Japoniei si a altor democratii asiatice unde procentul prosecutiilor cu succes e mai mare de 90%). Este importanta in acest context “opinia separata” a Iuliei Motoc din care (articolul hn) citez numai cateva idei:

prezumtia trebuie inlaturata deoarece nu aduce atingere securitatii juridice a dreptului de proprietate, acesta fiind in continuare garantat si ocrotit prin Legea fundamentala, de vreme ce opereaza interdictia confiscarii averii dobandite licit.
principiul securitatii juridice nu se refera la protectia bunurilor sau a persoanelor potrivit unei conceptii traditionale asupra securitatii, ci se refera la protectia drepturilor fundamentale prin stabilitate legislativa.
prezumtia caracterului licit al dobandirii averii contravine tratatelor internationale pe care Romania le-a ratificat, respectiv Conventia din 8 noiembrie 1990 a Consiliului Europei privind spalarea, descoperirea, sechestrarea si confiscarea produselor avand legatura cu infractiunea si Conventia ONU din 12 decembrie 2000 impotriva criminalitatii organizate transnationale.
astfel, in conformitate cu art.12 din Conventia ONU, statele parti pot analiza posibilitatea de a solicita autorului unei infractiuni sa demonstreze originea licita a unor produse presupuse avand legatura cu infractiunea sau a altor bunuri care ar putea face obiectul unei confiscari, in masura in care aceasta solicitate este conforma cu principiile dreptului lor intern si cu natura procedurii judiciare.

Unde a dat Crin, dau si altii. CTP nu pierde nici el ocazia sa-l ia la palme, comparandu-l cu grecul care a incendiat Templul din Efes pentru a intra in istorie:

Spuneam încă de la azvârlirea pe piaţă de către T. Băsescu a reconstituţionalizării şi regionalizării României că aceste acte, produse peste noapte în stilul Elenei Ceauşescu, definit popular în anii '80: "Şade Leana pe closet / Şi mai face un decret", nu are rost să fie interpretate politic, economic, social, căci ele ţin de domeniul psihopatologiei. "Complexul Cuza", cum numeam afecţiunea lui T. Băsescu, îl face să se dea de ceasul morţii ca să lase o urmă în istorie, fie şi cea a şarpelui pe asfalt. Fiind un iresponsabil egolatru, care a jucat poker la cacealma cu ţara pe masă încă din 2004, nu se dă în lături pentru asta de la a zdruncina stabilitatea statului român, a crea din nimic tensiuni interetnice, tensiuni între Budapesta şi Bucureşti, insultând geografia României ca să poată trece acum la înjurături adresate Istoriei.

De fapt, nu Cuza, ci Erostrat e numele cel mai potrivit faciesului lui Băsescu în vreme ce scandează scrâşnit: "vor fi confiscate averile bogaţilor şi date cetăţenilor", "regionalizarea? - cert e că se va face!", "regele Mihai - slugă la ruşi". Erostrat a fost grecul care a dat foc unei minuni a lumii antice, templul zeiţei Artemis din Efes, doar pentru că, incapabil să creeze ceva, să construiască, era ros de ambiţia ca numele lui să rămână cumva în posteritate. Mi-e tot mai teamă că T. Băsescu poate şi el să reuşească asta.

Daca CTP il compara cu Erostrat, Cartarescu il considera frustrat:

Partea proastă cu acest fel de ieşiri nu e că ele dau apă la moară celor care oricum îl critică pe preşedinte şi pentru eclipsele de lună, ci că-i pun în mare dificultate pe aliaţii săi. Nu poţi susţine la nesfârşit diferenţa dintre omul Băsescu şi politicianul Băsescu, pentru că faptele unuia se contaminează de cele ale celuilalt, imaginea unuia devine oglinda celuilalt. (..) Băsescu vorbeşte mult, din ce în ce mai mult, prea mult, de parcă perioada (pe care eu i-am lăudat-o) de acum vreo şase luni, când nu se mai arăta pe nicăieri, l-ar fi lăsat cu mari frustrări. Nu e zi în care să nu scoată tot soiul de cărţi de joc din mânecă, de la aşi până la cele mai mărunte. Nu ştiu dacă-şi mai înţelege jocurile el însuşi, că eu, mărturisesc, nu le mai pot urmări, aşa cum nu mai poţi ghici sub care ceşcuţă e bila după învârtitul celor trei ceşti de la alba-neagra. Prea multe învârtiri, prea multe ricoşeuri de biliard.

Acum, c-am trecut in revista cam toate “reactiile”, sa ne aplecam nitel si-asupra istoriei..

Sources / More info: evz-antonescu, rol-cartarescu, hn-motoc, ctp-erostrat, trilulilu-andries, andries-scrisoare

zamo, politica, politichie, ecouri, reactii, reactiunea, raspunsuri, atitudini, atitudine, cine seamana vant, furtuna, critica, criticism (Tags)

tradarea, painea si sarea

2011-06-24T08:58:00.001-04:00

Sunt iritat ca din putinul timp pe care-l am spre a fi petrecut cu stirile romanesti, o bucata asa de mare trebuie acum petrecuta cu baseniile presedintiei.

Stirea de ieri cu acuzatiile lui Base contra Regelui a fost diseminata de AP si preluata de mai multe publicatii, intre care Forbes.

Intr-un interviu din 2005 gasit pe presidency.ro, Base spunea:

Întrebare: Care este relatia dumneavoastra cu Regele Mihai?

Traian Basescu: Amicala. Este un fost sef de stat si ii voi acorda tot respectul cuvenit. Nici mai mult, nici mai putin.

Pe 8 mai 2006, gasim:

In cadrul manifestarilor dedicate “Anului Carol I”, luni, 8 mai a.c., ora 19.00, va avea loc la Sala de Teatru a Palatului Cotroceni avanpremiera filmului Nihil Sine Deo, in onoarea Majestatii Sale Regele Mihai I si a Majestatii Sale Regina Ana.

Evenimentul este organizat de Administratia Prezidentiala si Televiziunea Romana cu prilejul aniversarii a 140 de ani de la fondarea Dinastiei Regale Romane si a 125 de ani de la proclamarea Regatului Roman.

Pe 8 decembrie 2006, la lansarea Raportului Tismaneanu, spunea:

Principalele acţiuni criminale menţionate în Raport şi pe care ţin să le amintesc aici, ca argument pentru această prea-mult amânată condamnare sunt următoarele: [...] (3) distrugerea partidelor politice şi a continuităţii constituţionale a statului român, prin abdicarea forţată a Regelui Mihai.

Distrugerea continuitatii constitutionale a statului roman prin abdicarea fortata a Regelui Mihai in decembrie 1947 ramane unul din marile abuzuri ale comunismului in Romania" (Comisia Prezidentiala pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste in Romania, Raport final, Editura Humanitas, Bucuresti, 2007, p. 32).

Intelectualii evrei si comisia Wiesel il absolva pe Regele Mihai de vinovatie in privinta Holocaustului romanesc, dar il acuza pe Carol ca l-a inlesnit prin instaurarea dictaturii regale:

"Statul de tip nazist nu a fost creat in Romania de Regele Mihai, care nu avea puterea de a face acest lucru, chiar daca si-ar fi dorit. Acesta a fost creatia generalului (mai apoi maresal) Ion Antonescu si a aliatilor sai, Garda de Fier, cu toate ca radacinile sale dateaza din timpul Regelui Carol al II-lea. Regele Carol este cel care, in 1938, a infiintat o dictatura de tip monarhic, sub care au inceput sa fie promulgate legi antievreiesti. [...]

Nu cunoastem nici un document care sa ateste ca Regele Mihai ar fi profitat in vreun fel de pe urma persecutiilor din timpul razboiului, a deportarii si uciderii evreilor si/sau a romilor. Dimpotriva, suntem la curent cu existenta unor dovezi circumstantiale care demonstreaza ca fostul monarh a aratat compasiune pentru drama evreilor si a celorlalte minoritati persecutate si ca, actionand sub influenta mamei sale, Regina Elena (careia i-a fost acordat post-mortem titlul de Drept al popoarelor de catre Yad Vashem), a incercat sa amelioreze situatia celor persecutati.[...] Semnatura Regelui Mihai pe decrete nu poate constitui o astfel de dovada, intrucat el nu avea nici macar puterea de a refuza sa le semneze, aceasta prerogativa apartinand “Conducatorului”.

In timp ce exista indicatii cum ca, in tinerete si sub influenta tatalui sau (Regele Carol sperand sa isi subordoneze Miscarea legionara), printul mostenitor din acea vreme ar fi avut simpatii pentru organizatia fascista, raman faptele care atesta ca, inca din 1943, fostul monarh a incercat sa scoata tara din Axa si ca el a fost organizatorul loviturii de stat din 23 august 1944, care a dus la arestarea lui Antonescu si trecerea Romaniei de partea Aliatilor. Daca nu ar fi fost faptele sale curajoase, soarta multor evrei ar fi fost probabil similara cu cea a evreilor unguri, la sfarsitul anului 1944.

Nu exista nici o dovada potrivit careia “Mihai a facut o alianta cu Antonescu” si sunt o multime de dovezi care atesta ca Antonescu a sustinut ca “nu se va lasa condus de un copil”.

Iliescu, cel care nu i-a dat viza, i-a luat apararea in timp ce Sergiu Nicolaescu, regizorul si actorul unor nenumarate filme proslavind rolul “Partidului” in “intoarcerea armelor” declara:

"Nu cred ca trebuia ca un presedinte de stat sa comenteze acest subiect, dar ii dau dreptate, in sensul ca a spus ca este o tradare. Sunt direct amestecat in treaba asta. Pana acum, am tinut-o pentru mine. Acuma, cand se tulbura lucrurile, vreau sa spun adevarul", a spus Sergiu Nicolaescu.

Regizorul a povestit ca familia sa ar fi putut pleca cu trenul regal, in momentul in care Regele Mihai a parasit tara, tren care a plecat de la Sinaia. Astfel, Sergiu Nicolaescu si-a amintit ca tatal sau a primit un telefon pentru a o transporta pe logodnica unui apropiat al regelui.

Va dati seama, cata vitejie pe Sergiu Nicolaescu: de mic copil era conectat cu regele, precum Iulian Urban cu Papa de la Roma, prin descalecare.

"A plecat tata cu masina si, la un moment dat, a vrut sa ia si familia, ca sa ne urcam in tren cu regele. Mama n-a vrut", a povestit Nicolaescu.

"Eu vreau sa spun ca urmarile plecarii regelui sunt mii si zeci de mii de arestari si de morti in inchisori. Bun, nu e de vina regele pentru treaba asta. Eu va spun adevarul, ca regele a plecat din tara cu un tren, cu prieteni. S-a casatorit, are fete, sa fie sanatos si sa traiasca", a continuat regizorul. Nicolaescu a povestit si despre alte aspecte ale activitatii regelui.

"Dar, daca asta voi vreti sa o considerati vitejie, spuneti-i cum vreti voi, dar pentru mine este o tradare. Mai mult decat atata, pe 23 august 1944, regele, asa cum am aratat si in filmul "Oglinda", i-a arestat pe cei doi Antonesti si a anuntat seara la radio romanilor ca e pace. (...) Ca sa inchei o capitulare fara conditii care s-a iscalit pe 14 septembrie la Moscova, ca sa iscalesti un astfel de document, in primul rand trebuie sa anunti cu gura ta si pe urma sa faci, pentru ca armata era pe front cu rusii. In conditiile respective, intre 130.000 si 150.000 de soldati romani si ofiteri au cazut prizonieri. Din acestia, s-or mai fi intors 70- 80.000 de oameni vii", a spus regizorul.

"Considerati ca si acest lucru este un act de vitejie? Spuneti-i cum vreti voi. Dar eu consider ca si 23 august este un act iresponsabil facut de Regele Mihai. Are scuza ca era tanar. Are o scuza, fara doar si poate, ca a fost parasit de politicieni, dar, in acelasi timp, si politicienii care s-au rupt de el stiau de ce se rup. Pentru ca nu puteti sa-mi spuneti mie ca Maniu a fost un prost. Maniu a fost un om politic de mare clasa. Maniu s-a ascuns si parerea lui Maniu era aceeasi despre actiunea facuta de rege. Dar are o scuza, inca o data, era tanar. Aceste lucruri eu le stiu si l-am cunoscut si pe rege, cand eram in '43-'44-'45", a continuat el.

La respectabila sa varsta, Sergiu Nicolaescu a fost probabil amestecat si in nasterea Maicii Domnului precum si a bunicii acesteia, a dat noroc cu Mihai Viteazul si-i spunea lui Stefan cel Mare unde sa construiasca besoareci.

Ce ma seaca este ca exista o multime de alte stiri, mult mai importante, care merita discutate, dar eu tre’ sa pierd timp cu prostiile lu’ Base. De pilda, Amnesty International a scos un raport [ai-pdf] cum ca Romania nu garanteaza dreptul la locuinta, dar nimeni nu pare interesat in asa ceva. Continuam deci cu reactiile USL-asilor cat si al lui CTP si Cartarescu.

Sources / More info: forbes-base, hn-sn-rege, pres-2005, pres-tismaneanu, hn-tismaneanu-rege, hn-aligica, 22-holocaust, dw-ai, evz-iliescu, evz-crin, hn-cfr2000

zamo, stiri, tigani, antiziganism, rege, reactii, ecouri, reactiunea, presa, scandal, base, basescu, politic, politica, politichie, pulitica, polemica, puterea (Tags)

Presedintii si Regele

2011-06-23T09:30:00.000-04:00

Nu sunt monarhist / regalist / restaurationist. Totusi, zau daca nu-mi vine sa exploatez drama regelui Mihai intr-o piesa de teatru, ca prea-i de tot haiu’.

Iliescu l-a mursecat si el cum a putut.

Ideea cu tradarea Regelui Mihai nu-i noua si vine din ambele parti ale spectrului politic.. Regele Mihai ramane totusi prezent in actualitate in mod surprinzator, fie prin mesajul de la inmormantarea lui Coposu, fie construind case.

Nu-mi amintesc exact, dar cred ca Base a fost (sau ar fi trebuit sa fie) printre cei care l-au criticat pe Iliescu pentru porcaria cu viza Regelui. A-l ataca acum pe Regele Mihai care probabil are inca priza la o parte din populatie pare sa sugereze ca ideea monarhica are sanse de reinviere (si nu ma refer la Paul).

Recent, cand Regele a rupt oficial legatura cu casa de Hohenzollern,

Începând cu data de 10 mai 2011, nici un membru al familiei regale a României nu va mai purta şi nu va mai avea dreptul să poarte vreun titlu conferit de orice şef al casei princiare de Hohenzollern", a anunţat ieri, de Ziua Monarhiei, Regele Mihai, printr-un comunicat de presă. În acest fel se respectă decizia din 1921 a Regelui Ferdinand I de a conferi un caracter naţional şi independent Dinastiei şi Casei Regale a României, explică documentul transmis de Casa Regală.
„Casa Regală nu va mai purta numele de «Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen». Casa Regală română va fi cunoscută de acum înainte numai sub numele de «Casa Regală a României». (cf comunicat de presa al Casei Regale)

..unii comentatori au vazut in asta fie o incercare de a-i deschide drumul Principesei Margareta,

“Probabil că în felul acesta a vrut să întărească o dată în plus numirea fiicei sale ca moştenitor a tronului din România, contrazicând legea salică sub care până acum se găsea monarhia din România. Potrivit legii salice, nu există decât continuitate monarhică pe cale masculină, nu şi feminină", spune istoricul. Anunţul Regelui Mihai nu are nicio valoare juridică nici pentru istoricul Adrian Ciupală, şeful catedrei de Istoria Românilor din Facultatea de Istorie din Bucureşti: „Este o simplă mişcare publicitară. Formal, legăturile nu mai existau din 1916 şi gestul Regelui Mihai, pentru care am tot respectul, nu-l pot înţelege, altfel decât ca o încercare de imagine. Probabil că se gândeşte că are o vârstă înaintată, împlineşte anul acesta, în octombrie, 90 de ani, şi încearcă să-i deschidă drum Principesei Margareta, să transmită ideea că ea este o principesă a românilor şi nu mai este un element străin. (cf prof. Ion Bulei)

.. mergand chiar mai departe cu speculatiile –> partid de opozitie monarhist:

„Un astfel de partid va lua voturi de la opoziţie. În condiţiile în care PDL s-a prăbuşit în toate sondajele de opinie din cauza măsurilor catastrofale luate, e posibil ca cineva să încerce să facă tot posibilul, să facă orice, pentru a dinamita actuala opoziţie", spune Alin Ciupală.

Gestul lui Base de a-l ataca astfel pe Rege, imprumutand din ideile extremistilor codreanofili este un gest cam urat, dar poate acceptabil in conditiile nivelului scazut al discursului politic romanesc.

LE: Sa fie din cauza ca n-a mers bine vizita la Londra?! Iata si o oarecare cronologie a evenimentelor.

Sources / More info: hn-base-rege, zc-iliescu-mihai, familiaregala, rol-dist, rel-dist

zamo, monarhie, presedintie, presedentie, presedinte, semiprezidential, semiprezidentiala, samizdat, rege, regal, regala, monarhic, abdicare, tradare, tradator, legionari, antonescu, istorie, politica, politichie, pulitica, politic (Tags)