romania revealed

"Lost traditions", a poem by Ioana Ieronim.

Lost Traditions

When you keep your frostbitten feet in boots you've outgrown
when you shiver in the same shabby coat from fall to summer
when there's almost nothing on the Kredenz in the pantry for you to
    spread on your black bread-- it means your parents have lost so
    much they've started to lose even their memories
after all, who can remember all those celebrations? Time was different
    for the old folks
There's no more need for all those fancy words, either-- and so you
    forget them. Who cares about words now, anyway? Stop
    pestering us with your questions, child! Go and find your answers
    for yourself.

Bits and pieces are all we have left of the costumes of olden days. But
    you need the whole outfit for confirmation. Luckily the grocer
    has just stocked some flowery ribbon: Edelweiss, on a blue and
    black background-- how perfect! You sew it to the cloth, and
    from a distance it looks embroidered.

That's right. When people lose too much, they lose their traditions too.

Photo taken by Cosmin Bumbut.

Remembering the Romanian anti-communist resistance in memory of a few newly-recovered heroes.

A mass grave containing the bodies of three members of the Romanian anti-communist resistance group, White Guard, turned up on April 27th near the village of Nepos in northern Romania. The grave contained bones and a boot that will undergo forensic analysis, said experts from the Romanian Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes.

The resistance members were identified as Ioan Leonida Bodiu, Ioan Burdet and Toader Dumitru. They were executed and buried by the Securitate, the Communist secret police, in 1949, and will be exhumed at the request of their relatives.

Two years ago, on April 24 and 25, 2007, the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes, in co-operation with the Military Prosecutor’s Office, unearthed the remains of nine men shot on March 9, 1950. They had also been buried in a mass grave near Bistrita-Nasaud. Following inquiries, it was discovered the men were shot by a group of soldiers with the Securitate, sent to capture and punish people for their refusal to be conscripted, which was considered dissention by the Communist regime.

In the postcommunist re-reckoning of Romanian history, the native resistance to communism has received limited attention. In fact, details about what was called “anti-communist armed resistance” were not made public until after Ceausescu's overthrow in 1989. It was only then that the public learnt about the numerous small groups of "haiducs" who had taken refuge in the Carpathian Mountains, where some resisted for ten years against the troops of the Securitate. The last “haiduc” was killed in the mountains of Banat in 1962.

The Romanian resistance was one of the longest lasting armed movement in the former Soviet bloc. Its continued relegation to the realm of historical shadows is partly due to the tendency to conflate resistance to communism and statements of fascist sympathy. Scholars are reluctant to provide historical accounts of Romanian communist resistance for fear of being considered fascist revisionists. The end result is a significant, lamentable lack of scholarly work on the Romanian resistance to communism.

If young Romanians are not educated about this non-fascist resistance to communism, they will be vulnerable to cultural determinists and demagogues who argue that Romanians are not fit for democracy, that their traditions require strong leaders, that their history is a testament of fatalism and defeat, that only a Romanian Putin or a local nationalist can preside over a secure Romanian nation. With the coming presidential election, there is reason to be concerned about the Social Democratic candidate, Mircea Geoana, and his condescending view of Romanian citizens. Needless to say, the confusion in Molodva also provides an excellent political distraction to the current economic crisis-- a distraction which could be mobilized as a resurgent Romanian nationalism should unemployment and social discontent increase. The history of the Romanian resistance to communism offers an empowering, alternate narrative to the helplessness and victimhood emphasized by extremists lining the halls of the Greater Romania Party.

In 1948, non-violent opponents of the Romanian communist regime were arrested. Liberal and social democratic leaders were taken to prison as "enemies of the revolution", since they refused to compromise with the new communist "democracy" as instituted by the "will of the people". The members of the National Peasant Party and the Legionaires, who openly opposed the Sovietization of Romania, were eliminated from public life. Since many were indeed political fascists, their imprisonment was easily justified in the post World War II atmosphere. But most Romanian anti-communist resistance was not related to support for fascism, but rather, to the extreme irrelevance of Marxist ideology to a primarily agrarian, non-industrial nation with the tiniest indigenous Communist party in the Eastern bloc. Communism was truly a Soviet export to Romania; the resistance underlines this important and neglected fact.

Beginning in the summer of 1948, individuals or small groups went underground into the Carpathian mountains, forming various groups of armed resistance in what was a relatively large movement, gathering several thousand people. The rebels came from all social strata and all areas of the country, spreading everywhere the terrain could shield them. The movement is related to the spate of mass arrests hitting the country after the communist power seizure on the eve of 1948, as well as to the political and economical measures which destroyed a large part of the peasantry and the middle class. People sought shelter in the mountains for different reasons-- some to escape imminent arrest, some who fled in fear after being economically ruined. Significantly, entire families took flight in late 1948 and early 1949.

Retreating in the mountains from internal or external oppressors was a spontaneous and ancestral strategy of the Romanian peasantry. Significantly, the members of the armed resistance were not called "partisans" by the population, but haiduci, the word for the generous bandits that had fought the Austrian occupiers and were considered folk heroes. A further major component of the armed resistance consisted of individuals and groups motivated by anti-communist convictions and persuaded that only an armed engagement could contain increasing terror and prevent irrevocable communist takeover. Some of the resistance groups were led by ex-army officers and acted in a more coordinated and planned way. It appears that they put their hope in stirring up a more general armed insurrection, which never came to life. A smaller category of insurgents were Romanian refugees recruited in Europe by the Office of Policy Coordination, trained in France, Italy and Greece and then dropped in the Carpathians. It seems, however, that most of them, not being able to create local contacts imperative for survival, were soon captured.

Ion Gavrilă-Ogoranu led a resistance group in the Făgăraş Mountains from 1948 to 1956, and remained undetected until 1976. Among other haiduci in the anti-communist resistance, one must include the Cross and Sword Organization in the Rodna mountains, Decebal's Guards in Suceava, Fetea in Sibiu, Avram Iancu's Haiduci in Bistrita, the in Dobrogea, Capt. Brancusi Mihai in Gorj, the Haiduks of Mustel in the Southern Fagaras mountains, the Young Partisans of Romania in Bukovina, and many, many more.

The White Army, which I assume is another name for the White Guard, worked from the Apuseni mountains. Sadly, there is little detailed information about its members and its history online. Most searches lead me to information about the Soviet army or football teams. I will do my best to find more information in the coming week so that these men who died in the fight against communism can be properly acknowledged and honored.

Sources: Romanian Times + Wikipedia + Claudia Dobre's article in Memoria + Ionitoiu Cicerone's article for Gindirea Romaneasca + Tripatlas article

The daily top 10 links on Romania.

1. Romanian oil-man Dinu Patriciu prefers Nabucco to South Stream, which is just another way of saying that the Nabucco pipeline will benefit more Romanian oil-men than Russian oil-men.


2. Morning in Moldova compares Russian and Romanian responses to the Moldovan crisis. I like the bias.


3. A report which was debated last night in a special session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe criticizes the Romanian authorities’ response in the context of tensions with the Republic of Moldova, assessing it as “inadequate and leading to even more tension.”


4. Ceausescu tried to kill Romania's vineyards, but Romanian wine seems to be coming back with a vengeance. In the US, you can purchase Romanian wines and "fruity merlots" at Whole Foods Markets.


5. According to a new EU study, Roma (or gypsies) feel least discriminated against in Romania. This is interesting given the EU's continuous warnings to the Romanian government about treatment of the Roma.


6. Mircea Geoana called for a major housing programme to create jobs and "bolster" Romania's flagging economy. I wonder if any construction moguls are financing his presidential campaign. If so, they should be happy with the way the money is talking.


7. David Berke comments on the future of Romanian film and its financing.


8. The swine flu tragedy, or the lack of swine flu as a tragedy, hits Arad. Alas, the immortal Romanian victim complex suffers another setback.


9. On the other hand, Romanians living in Spain can go ahead and panic. It's good for the soul.


10. The twentieth anniversary of International Roma Day is met with concern by Romanian Roma and trepidation by the international progressive community.

The EU's Eastern Partnership strained by Romanian-Moldovan relations.

Pyotr Iskenderov raises a skeptical eyebrow towards the EU's Eastern Partnership, which he describes as "an attempt of the Western world to change the existing geopolitical situation on the territory of the former Soviet Union by spreading its financial and diplomatic control over six states of the CIS and forcing Russia out of this area". The Eastern partnership program suggests the possibility of financial assistance and liberalized visa regies for six countries of the former Soviet Union- Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Belarus. One can imagine the smoke fuming from Pyotr's nostrils as he writes:

They expected Romania to explain its intervention into the internal affairs of Moldova and Romanian president Traian Basescu gave his explanations and did it even in accordance with the rules of drama acting - he was speaking from the scaffold in the national parliament, in a live television broadcast, while the chronicle of rallies and disorder in Chisinau was shown on the background. The picture was intended to form the public opinion that Moldova’s president Vladimir Voronin and his government are trying to suppress the rightful fight of Romanian nationals in Moldova for freedom and happy future as part of Romania and the EU. The speech of Romanian president Traian Basescu deserves memorizing alongside with the famous Fulton speech of British prime-minister Winston Churchill or the words of US president Ronald Reagan, who called USSR “the Evil Empire”.

He expands his comparison to Churchhill's speech without noting, of course, that while Churchill might be considered the leader of a superpower, Basescu has never benefited from such plumage:

“When Moldova is in trouble we cannot stand on the sidelines. Romania and Moldova share the same history, culture, language, they were as one before the fascist Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact separated them”, with these pathetic words he started his speech on the situation in Moldova. Reminding that his country observes the UN Statute and the final act of Helsinki agreement, the Romanian leader promised that his country would “provide help to all citizens of Moldova, who needed it”.

The first step is making urgent amendments in the law on citizenship. According to Basescu, Moldova citizens are the descendants of those who lived on this territory before 1940 (when Moldova was part of Romania) have the right to get the citizenship of Romania. “Everyone who has the right to get the Romanian citizenship should really have such opportunity. These residents on the left bank of the Prut river should be under protection of Romania and the EU”.

The Romanian president rapidly condemned the acts of violence and destruction was surprised with the fact that the Moldovan police which was obliged to prevent such acts did not secure the state institutions’ buildings and let the demonstrators in. But it is also easy to imagine how more emotional the speech of Basescu would be if the Moldova’s authorities had used the whole arsenal of their means against the demonstrators. Anyway even what happened was enough for the Romanian leader to accuse Chisinau authorities of violation of human rights and freedom of speech. “I call for the establishment of the commission under the sponsorship of the European organizations to investigate the events in Moldova”, Basescu said.

While NGO's have expressed concern over the Moldovan government's treatment of protestors, Pyotr rolls his eyes, noting that the Moldovan government could have done a lot worse to the protestors. Granted, there is no doubt that the Eastern Partnership is currently under strain. RFE/RL correspondent Ahto Lobjakas reports on the fissures.

Notably, Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu says he assured EU officials that Romania has no plans to grant mass citizenship to Moldovans. But perception is the better part of politics. What consitutes "reality" or the truth is less influential than what people believe to be reality. If the Eastern partners perceive Romania's position on Moldova as a threat, then a threat it shall be.

A "secret plan" in Romania.

MEP Laszlo Tokes declared that the Romanian government has a secret plan to populate those counties in Harghita and Covasna, dominated by the Hungarian minority with citizens from the Republic of Moldova. Moreover, he accused Romanian politicians like Adrian Severin for using the recent protests in Moldova to legitimize territorial claims, Mediafax informs.

Romania's National Hungarian Council President, Laszlo Tokes finds appalling the fact that several Romanian politicians are trying to use the recent events in the Republic of Moldova to legitimate territorial claims, a press release reads.

Tokes declared that Romanian MEP Adrian Severin spread in the European Parliament, in late March, invitations for the so called historical conference on which Moldova was attached to the Romanian map.

Tokes declared that there is a secret governmental program aimed at populating central  Romania, more precisely those regions where the Hungarian minority dominates with citizens from the Republic of Moldova.

Romanian political sentiment moves against Basescu.

Romania News Watch (via Reuters) posted a bit of information that shows how the political landscape is developing with respect to the coming presidential election in Romania:

Public trust in Romanian President Traian Basescu and his centre-left prime minister has fallen sharply since the start of the year as the deepening economic crisis erodes politicians' popularity across the board. An opinion poll conducted nationwide by INSOMAR from March 26 to April 5 on 2,430 respondents for private television station Realitatea TV, showed that 53 percent of Romanians consider their country is heading in the wrong direction. "This opinion explains the rapid fall in trust," INSOMAR said, adding that 80 percent of respondents believe the new EU member is mired in an economic crisis and 55 percent said their families' financial situation had worsened this year.

The survey showed public trust in Basescu, the country's most popular politician, had fallen about 15 percentage points since January to around 43 percent. Trust in Prime Minister Emil Boc fell 22 points to 28 percent.

The only top politician to become more popular was opposition Liberal Party leader Crin Antonescu, who doubled his rating to 31 percent. Antonescu recently announced he would run for president in elections later this year.

Does this mean Romanian Liberals might be liberal again?

Over the weekend.

There was an earthquake, a shoot-out in Galati, and a sense of Euro-indifference mixing with diesel fuel to pollute the fresh city air. There are two Romanian movies selected for special viewing at Cannes. There are Transylvanian pioneers in psychotherapy. But are there Transylvanian pioneers in psychosis? Are the insane as pioneering as their treatments?

There are 50 people deemed to be the most important monde in the Romanian online industry. The short list below. The long list here.

1. Sergiu Biris - Founder of trilulilu.ro
2. Alexis Bonte - Co-Founder and CEO, eRepublik
3. Bogdana Butnar - MD & Head of Strategy, MRM Partners
4. Iulian Comanescu - Media Consultant
5. Marius Deak - Founder & Strategy Director, Green Pixel

There are the names and players competing in the battle over the national branding of Romania. There are many unhappy middle-aged people who purchased AC/DC tickets.

Criticalisms.

Some jokes remain "ungotten", which is why we have recording sessions. And Carpati.

The joke of the ballot box is a longtime laugh in modern representative democracies. Of course, the joke need not be lost on you merely because you are MIA. The generous Romanian Foreign Ministry announced that Romanian citizens who are temporarily out of the country can vote in the European elections in June 7, 2009. Polling sites will be available near embassies and consular offices.

Nicu Buculei is not happy with the results of Redhat's open source report for Romania. I'm just happy that he was kind enough to share it so we can all be a little less happy, if we so desire.

Basescu will push to put the Danuble Delta on the tourist agenda this year. Or perhaps he wishes to have a tete-a-tete with Ukranian President Yushenko, who recently declared that his country will consolidate both its economic and military interests in the Danube Delta.

It appears that some pensioners in Romania are abusing over-the-counter items in search of hallucinogenic heights. On that note, the Romanian Ministry of Health, together with the National Anti-Drug Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture, will "analyze the situation of products with hallucinogenic effect, those not included on the list of controlled substances, since in Romania there are now several shops selling such items". No more poppy-seed muffins....

Who's who in the 2009 Romanian elections: Part 1, The European Parliament.

Mark Percival makes an excellent point about the amorphousness of Romanian political parties. On the ominous side, the more things change, the more they remain the same. Percival laments the return on the National Salvation Front to Romanian politics:

..The PSD and PDL have combined, with members of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) settling for Secretary of State level positions after a standoff with PSD who said they did not want the Hungarian party to be in the government. The clock has effectively been turned back to the early 1990s, and the old National Salvation Front (FSN) has been revived. The Front was the successor of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR), and took over much of the PCR's infrastructure immediately after December 1989. Its leading figures such as Ion Iliescu and others were former second rank communists, and by gaining all the advantages of the old PCR infrastructure, made sure that the leadership change after the fall of the communist regime was limited, and that the positions of former high ranking officials was protected.

The Front used nationalism as a way to protect the position of former top communists, particularly in Transylvania, and the PSD's recent objections to UDMR presence in the government look like a throwback to those times. (Though UDMR is, itself, largely an evolution from ethnic Hungarian members of the Romanian Communist Party who enjoyed influence in the 1950s and early 1960s before Ceausescu embarked on a more nationalist line). In 1991, the Front broke into two factions. The first was the Democratic National Salvation Front (FDSN) led by Iliescu, which became the Romanian Party of Social Democracy (PDSR), the forerunner of today's PSD. The second was the National Salvation Front (FSN), which then became the Democratic Party (PD) and which after fusion with anti-Tariceanu liberals has become today's PDL. So today's PDL-PSD administration is a revival of the pre-1991 National Salvation Front.

It's hard to know who to vote for when no one believes in anything. Or when political pragmatism morphs into opportunism. Putting together a paper on the coming presidential election has been like asking for driving directions in a kindergarten class-- fruitless.

Here is what I have gathered thus far about the players in the coming EP elections:

2009 Elections to European Parliament

The 2009 European elections will take place on 4-7 June 2009, for the first time across all 27 member states of the European Union: including Romania, which joined in 2007. More than 375 million EU citizens will be called to elect 736 members of Parliament. So far, the Romanians candidates will be running for the 33 seats allotted to Romania in the Parliament.

Since a number of the candidates served as MEPs last year, Qvorum's report on the performance of Romanian MEPs in 2008-2009 provides relevant information. I've noted Qvorum's ratings as they apply to candidates listed above in italics. For information on what was considered in the compilation of these ratings, see Kosmopolito.

Social Democratic Party (PSD) is the ruling party. It has 15 candidates on the list so far.

1. Adrian Severin - current Minister of European Parliament, "Outstanding"
2. Rovana Plumb - current Minister of European Parliament, "Medium"
3. Ioan Mircea Pascu
4. Adriana Ticau - current Minister of European Parliament, "Outstanding"
5. Daciana Sarbu - current Minister of European Parliament, "Good"
6. Corina Cretu
7. Victor Bostinaru
8. Sabin Cutas
9. Catalin Sorin Ivan
10. Viorica Dancila
11. Minodora Cliveti
12. Aristide Roibu
13. Viorel Marian Dragomir
14. Marius Oprescu
15. As yet unannounced, some speculate the the PSD's final candidate will be Ioan Enciu.

The Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) is aiming for 14-15 mandates.

1. Theodor Stolojan -  first vice-president of the party and former prime minister
2. Monica Macovei - former Justice Minister
3. Cristian Preda -  known as an advisor to President Basescu and former foreign affairs minister
4. Traian Razvan Unguranu - a journalist and columnist
5. Marian Jean Marinescu - current Minister of European Parliament, "Outstanding"
6. Iosif Matula 
7. Sebastian Bodu 
8. Petru Luhan
9. Rares Niculescu
10. Oana Antonescu
11. Constantin Dumitriu
12. Dragos David
13. Elvira Andronescu
14. Irina Schrotter 
15. Alexandru Nazare

National Liberal Party (PNL) is aiming for 7 to 8 mandates.

1. Norica Nicolai - PNL vice president, confirmed to top the list
2. Adina Valean - current Minister of European Parliament, "Outstanding"
3. Renate Weber - a lawyer
4. Ramona Manescu - current Minister of European Parliament, "Good"
5. Cristian Busoi - current Minister of European Parliament
6. Ben-Oni Ardelean
7. Ovidiu Silaghi
8. Csibi Magor Imre
9. Catalin Turliuc
10. Cristian Cojocaru
11. Ionel Muscalu
12. Radu Surugiu
13. Radu Puscariu
14. Nechita Eduard Hellvig
15. Roberto Dietrich

The Hungarian Democratic Alliance (UDMR) and the national alliance of the Hungarians in Transylvania (CNMT) plan to win three mandates.

1. Laszlo Tokes - (CNMT) current Minister of European Parliament; "Bad"
2. Iuliu Winkler - (UDMR)
3. Sogor Csaba - (UDMR)
4. Szilagyi Zsolt - (CNMT)
5. Kovacs Peter - (UDMR)
6. Horvath Anna - (UDMR)

The Greater Romania Party (PRM) will hopefully not manage to secure any mandates. But Tudor will try anyway.

1. Corneliu Vadim Tudor - president of PRM
2. Gigi Becali - leader of New Generation Party (PNG), has been invited to join Tudor

Independent candidates

1. Elena Basescu - daughter of  president Traian Basescu, announced she managed to gather 200,000 signatures needed to run as an independent candidate for the EP and relinquished the support of PD-L

Source link.

10 for today.

1. Lots of Romanians spent the Easter holidays at Mamaia. Goran Bregovic joined them.
2. Claudia Ciobanu thinks the IMF loans are "dubious" at best.
3. The PSD calls for yadayadayada on citizenship laws because Mircea Geoana needs to get some press.
4. Bucharest Life corrects a plethora of mistakes made by the Independent in its coverage of Romania.
5. While almost 90% of Europeans are pessimistic by nature, only 58% of Europeans are pessimistic about the economic crisis, according to the latest Eurobarometer poll. Is a new European optimism on the rise?
6. The EC formally requested 5 billion euros to help "stabilize" Romania right now.
7. While Basescu refuses to recognize Kosovo's indepedence, Saudi Arabia has become the second Middle Eastern state to do so.
8. With the upcoming election, Basescu can't afford to look soft on corruption. So he tried a face-lift. Chief Inspector Ionel Georgescu has been appointed head of Romania’s General Anticorruption Department (DGA), replacing prosecutor Irinel Paun. 
9. The economic crisis is making Romanian goods "competitive". And those IMF loans are making everyone feel loved and special.
   
10. Romanian construction workers get creative.

Photo taken by Alexandru Florea.

Romanian-Roma relations from the perspective of American regional interests.

In the most recent edition of REEIfication, PhD candidate M. Benjamin Thorne relates his perspective on Romanian-Roma relations. In 2008, he briefed Colleen Graffey, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Policy, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, on her visit to Bucharest as "part of a larger tour of East European states to discuss the application of new information technologies (such as Twitter) as a form of soft diplomacy". Given the recent Twitter-fired protests in Moldova, the US State Department's interest in Twitter late last year should be of interest to those following the events in Moldova.

In his meeting with Graffey, Thorne had intended to offer a basic outline of each minority group and its challenges in Romania. However, " events immediately before the day of our meeting led me to focus solely on Roma, and in particular on articulating why Romania’s treatment of Roma is pertinent to US interests".

Two days earlier, in the Czech city of Litvínov, 500 neo-Nazis were joined by at least as many ordinary local inhabitants in an attack on the Roma community there. While this kind of violent incident has not occurred in Romania for some time, and the particularities of anti-Roma extremism in the Czech Republic differ considerably from those in Romania, it provides an opportunity to pause and reflect on the situation here. In October, for example, human-rights activist István Haller embarked on a hunger strike as a means of calling the world’s attention to Romania’s failure to comply with a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights that requires the government to implement community development projects within Hădăreni, Plaieși de Jos, and Casinul Nou, communities in which anti-Roma violence took place in the early 1990s.

In addition to the humanitarian aspects, the Roma issue is of importance to the United States for several other reasons. The stability and vitality of democratic institutions and civil society in Romania are in the best interests of the United States and the European Union. Romania is located in a key strategic area, if the United States or NATO should require staging operations either in the Balkans or in the broader Black Sea region. The country could potentially play a key role as a logistical support base, transit point, or grounds for conducting exercises. This is only the case if Romania remains firmly in the camp of liberal democracies.

Romania periodically experiences two phenomena relevant to US foreign policy and its efforts to encourage stable democracy. The first involves outbursts of Romani dissatisfaction with the government, often manifested in riots which in the recent past have effectively shut down administration in large portions of the capital. In November 2006, for instance, a decision by Bucharest’s power company to shut off electricity to the largely Romani neighborhood of Rahova in response to arrears in billing sparked a serious riot. The neighborhood was essentially barricaded against city authorities and violence was narrowly averted only after populist politician Gigi Becali paid off the outstanding electricity bill.

The second result of this struggle has been the migration of thousands of Roma to other European nations, where they increase domestic tensions. Indeed, the influx of Roma from Romania has vexed Europe since the fall of Communism. Last year Roma immigrants from Romania living in Italy met with violence in the streets and angry declarations from the government in Rome.

Segregation and mutual mistrust between Roma and Romanians make reconciliation difficult. The current plight of Roma in Europe cannot be understood, much less ameliorated, without recognizing the painful legacy of the Holocaust and the manner in which racist thinking, combined with the rationalizing efforts of the modern nation-state, have continued to shape perceptions of Roma in these regions, and the policies affecting them. As Hungary, Romania, Germany, Austria, and other states come to grips with what it means to belong to a united Europe, the issue of how Roma are treated constitutes a serious challenge to the European Union’s commitment to democracy and human rights. These problems require continued efforts of government organizations working in concert with Roma NGOs. Such macro-level attempts will have little success, I fear, without sustained efforts at dialogue on the local level, where the day-to-day triumphs and challenges of Romanian-Roma relations continue to unfold.

After the briefing, Graffey and I had the opportunity to address Romanian alumni of the US-Romanian Fulbright Exchange and field questions from the audience. Not surprisingly, my presentation met with a certain amount of reserve. After the talk, however, one woman approached me and introduced herself as a journalist from TVR 1, one of the public television stations in Bucharest that focuses on cultural matters. She asked if I would be willing to grant her an interview about my research that would eventually air on her station. Flattered, and grateful that someone approached my topic with an open mind, I agreed. When we met for the interview several weeks later, however, I was a little disappointed by the journalist’s demeanor. Instead of a straightforward interview on my project, the conversation felt more like an argument. I was constantly asked to defend my position that the deportations of Roma merited scholarly study and continued to be a taboo subject that further alienates the Roma community from mainstream Romanian society. The interview has not been scheduled for an air date yet. I have been told that a string of newsworthy events, from the recent parliamentary elections to the fighting in Gaza, are behind the delay. I suspect, however, that the sensitive nature of the topic may be the primary reason.

Romanian intellectuals flirtations with fascism. PART I: THE GENERATION OF 1927.

Martin Schwarz - Comrade Cioran was a revolutionary of the Iron Guard. He followed the Capitan on the march through the Romanian wasteland of the modern age. The Iron Guard’s revolt against the modern world was the only authentic traditional revolution in Europe. The legionaries were not fascists, National Socialists, conservative revolutionaries nor even-contrary to their own misinterpretation-nationalists: they were mystics of the apocalypse, eschatological forerunners. The revolution of the new man found its fulfillment in martyrdom.... Following the day of the martyrs-November 30th, 1938 - Cioran was a reactionary. He betrayed the legionaries in that he distanced himself from them, in that he gave up the Romanian tongue and became a Parisian. From vengeance, from having survived, he became a solitary reactionary in Paris whom visitors the world over came to observe as a sort of curiosity amid the Babel of the metropolis, a foundling fallen out of time.

The "1927 generation", much like the American disciples of Leo Strauss' school, bloomed and flourished in the soil of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at Bucharest University under the tutelage of a certain teacher-- Professor Nae Ionescu. Inspired by Mircea Eliade's experiences in India, the 1927 generation sought new "experiences." They challenged the conventional orthodoxy by explaining the world as reflected by their own experiences and sentiments. Their vehicle was the Criterion journal.

Those 1927ers who stumbled into fame included Mircea Eliade, Mircea Vulcanescu, Petru Comarnescu, Constantin Noica, Mihai Sebastian, Eugen Ionesco, Emil Cioran, Octav Sulutiu, Petre Tutea, Petre Pandrea, Anton Golopentia, Dan Botta, Henri H. Stahl, Mihai Polihroniade, Arsavir Acterian, Haig Acterian, Belu Zilber, Marcel Iancu, Marietta Sadova, Floria Capsali, and Sorana Topa.

In May 1932, a group of young Bucharest intellectuals establishes the Criterion cultural association. Cioran graduates in philosophy with a thesis on Henri Bergson. Petru Comanescu organizes the first Criterion conferences later that year, which turn out to be a tremendous success.

As a member of the "1927 generation", Emil Cioran embraced the apolitical stance unveiled by Mircea Eliade in his "Spiritual Itinerary". The preference for the "purely spiritual" in the world of ideas reinforced Cioran's view that culture and politics were radically opposed. Cioran believed that "the political frenzy" experienced by Romanians only indicated their lack of spiritual concern, their lack of "soul". In The Myth of the Useful, philosopher DD Rosca condemned popular adulation for the politician, the "man of action", at the expense of the pure intellectual.

Yet the year 1933 would leave many of the apolitical 1927 generation under the spell of politics. At the time, Cioran was studying in Berlin as a Humboldt Grant recipient. In December, Cioran sent a letter to Nicloae Tatu revealing his favorable impressions of Hitler's dictatorship:

"As far as I am concerned, only a dictatorial regime is still worthy of attention. People do not deserve to be free. And I am somewhat saddened by the fact that you and others like you pointlessly praise a democracy which really can't do anything good for Romania."

In the same month, Cioran wrote to Petru Comarescu:

"Some of our friends will believe that I have turned Hitlerist out of sheer opportunism. The truth is that I agree with many of the things I've seen here, and I firmly believe that a dictatorship could stifle or even eliminate for good the imposture plaguing our society. Only terror, brutality, and endless anxiety are likely to bring about a change in Romania. All Romanians should be arrested and beaten to a pulp; this is the only way a shallow nation can make a name for itself."

As the political realm began making calls upon the spiritual realm, offering political solutions to spiritual problems of identity and meaning, the 1927 generation reneged on its previous separation of the spiritual and the political. The times called for novel combination; the European and Soviet political experiments made democracy seem too conservative, and behind the spirit of the times. By 1934, the focus on "experience" had been replaced by the new enchantment with politics as the realm of the new.

In a paper cited below, Ioan Scurtu emphasizes the generational struggles in the Romanian interwar period. The young, including the generation of 1927, blamed the older generation for their political failings and inability to envision the future. Scurtu notes that a "real campaign was carried by the young against the old". Already in 1927, Professor Nae Ionescu insisted that the "old were unable to adapt themselves to the new conditions of life" so they had to be replaced by the young:

The old people’s incapacity to adapt themselves to the new conditions of life, their creative incapacity choke our political life and limit the energies of the nation. Today in Romania one can find no person older than 50 who would not stay in the chair of a younger and more capable young man.

The time was ripe for revelation-- for men of prophetic bent and ideological calling. Corneliu Zelea Codreanu stepped into the aura and designated himself leader of the nationalistic youth. Scurtu asserts a distinction between the anti-Seminitism of Cuza's nationalism and the Christian messianism of Codreanu's nationalism.

While A.C. Cuza maintained himself on the line of loyalty and of a more theoretic anti-Semitism, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu was for a more energetic behavior in organizing the youth. On Friday, June 24, 1927, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu decided to make‑up the League of Archangel Michael whose leader he nominated himself. From then on the right‑wing totalitarianism achieved the form of a distinct organization decided to liquidate the democratic regime and to inaugurate a totalitarian form of leadership in the Romanian state.

SOURCES & RESOURCES:

1. Nae Ionescu and Emil Cioran 
2. A Generation "Without Beliefs" and the Idea of Experience in Romania, 1927-1934 by Phillip Vanhaelemeersch 
3. "The Right-Wing Totalitarianism in Romania, 1917-1927" by Ioan Scurtu
4. East European PHD reading list for IU Bloomington

Paste minunat: Easter in Romania.

The Holy Week in Romania is that space where the sacred is manifest in the profane. For those unfamiliar with the wealth of Eastern Orthodox traditions, I've borrowed from Irina-Raluca Ivan's descriptions to provide an introduction:

Great Thursday- Also called Black Thursday, it marks the beginning of the Passion of Christ. Tradition says that on this particular day the doors of heaven and hell open and that the loved ones who passed away come back to celebrate Easter with their families. This is also the time when the Easter eggs are being painted in different colors. Initially, the only color was red, to symbolize the blood of Jesus, but now all colors are used, with different meanings. In rural areas, people paint different images of Christ, angels or a cross on their Easter eggs or use plant imprints; Easter egg painting is an art that is widely recognized in Romania. Housework is absolutely forbidden on Black Thursday.

Great Friday- a day of fasting and remembering the terrible sufferings of Jesus Christ (Passion Friday). Most people go to church to confess their sins to the priest. Tradition says that bread should not be baked and trees should not be planted on this day. The house should be very clean and all the food ready for Easter day.

Easter Eve, Saturday - The traditional cake is usually baked today. It is round, with a cross-shaped middle braid that represents the crucifixicion of Christ. It is made made of cheese, egg yolk and raisins. Some people place coins inside the cake for good luck. The dinner table is set. Lamb and meat pies are traditional dishes. Together with the Easter eggs and the cake, the meat is placed on the dinner table on Saturday evening, before midnight.

Invierea Domnului, Easter- At midnight, everybody goes to church to attend the service. The priest lights his candle first, after which all the people light their own candles from the first one with the "light of Jesus's life".  The congregation walks around the Church singing "Christ is risen". They take these candles at home and give the "light" to the members of the family that did not attend the service. Everybody has dinner after the midnight service, with the lit candles on the table. The candles are kept for the entire year, as they are supposed to protect the house and people's health. The tradition of knocking the eggs must be respected: two people hold eggs in their hands and they break the other's person egg saying Hristos a Inviat. The person that has their egg broken is considered weaker and must give their egg to the "winner".

On Monday and Tuesday people visit their relatives and bring lamb, Easter cake and painted eggs for lunch or dinner to celebrate the Resurrection. There are leftovers aplenty for feasting.

For the next 40 days, people greet each other with Hristos a Inviat instead of the common greetings..

Romanian Orthodox Patriarch Daniel chose a timely topic for his Easter pastoral.  He said that "the lack of  kindness, honesty and generosity proved to be more harmful than the economic crisis itself in the world around.... The world we live in has turned to material wealth more than to the rich spirituality of Christianity and this leads to profound spiritual poverty and reduces the brotherly love among people who do less good". The Patriarch maintained that the main reasons behind the economic crisis are the greed combined with economic speculations and fiscal evasion worldwide. He urged Christians to remember that "racing after profits by any means without any moral measure becomes a tyranny for the soul" and consequences for the poor are horrible, “the poverty forced on the others leads to pain and uncertainty, disorientation and desperation.” The Patriarch hoped Christians would see the crisis as a new beginning-- “This crisis will make us more measured and teach us to never anchor our hopes in material goods, money and wealth, but in the spiritual values of faith, justice, correctness and solidarity with those in need". Victor Roncea has the entire text in Romanian.

And there is always more to fill your basket:

• Mihai Eminescu's poem, "Invieria".
• More on the tradition of Orthodox Easter eggs.
• The menus for the Easter meals served to King Michael and Queen Mother Helen in April 1944.
• "Pe Cruce" by Vasile Voiculescu.
• 8 lovely easter images from Blog Taranesc.
• Romanian coliva recipe. 
• A perfect post on Romanian Easter Traditions.
• "Orthodox Christians mark Easter", BBC.
• "Orthodox celebrate holy fire ritual in Jerusalem", Kiev Post.
• Photo credit.

A Romanian UFO sighting.

According to a report by Michael Cohen, a number of residents in and around the village or Mezoband in the Mures region of Transylvania at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains witnessed a UFO three weeks ago.

The object was described by witnesses as bright, spherical and darting too and forth in a seemingly impossible manner. Shortly after appearing the object shot off. It was reported by local media that photos of the object were taken but none have come to light yet.

The mayor of this town in an area largely populated by Hungarian minority, Mr. Mircea Rusu, is planning on organizing a UFO festival. This is by no means the first UFO seen in the area and the mayor hopes to increase tourism into the area by promoting it as a Romanian "Roswell." The village is only a stone's throw away from the region's main metropolis of Sighisoara, the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler or Count Dracula. Local residents live daily with a very paranormal heritage. Ghosts, Witchcraft, magic and Paganism or remnants are very much a part of the local scene. The entire region is generally regarded as rather spooky with its very Gothic churches and town as well as its dark mist shrouded forests. Visiting Aliens might very well be a 21st century addition to this heritage.

Clearly, the commencement of UFO sightings should demonstrate Romania's democratization and Westernization. UFO sightings have decreased in the US over the past decade. Is the UFO the guardian angel of capitalism? Let's see where this angel is spotted next.

The 7 wonders of communism.

I translated this Romanian joke from Bancuri cu Politice because it illustrates the conflicts in paradise on earth. One can only be speechless with wonder at the "7 wonders of communism":

1. Everyone had a job.

2. Although everyone had a job, no one worked.

3. Although no one worked, the central plans were met at over 100%.

4. Although the central plans were met at over 100%, no one could purchase anything.

5. Although no one could purchase anything, everyone had everything.

6. Although everyone had everything, everyone stole.

7. Although everyone stole, nothing was ever missing.

Worst of all, everything is funny because it means nothing.

Variations on a theme: The sense of humor.

The sense of humor enables the scents of laughter. Humor, after all, is a laughing matter. Sarcasm offers an opportunity for the joyless to participate in the scents of humor. The sense of humor descends, like the Holy Spirit, upon some heads while skipping others.

But laughter leaves scars.

Milan Kundera - I learned the value of humor during the time of Stalinist terror. I was twenty then. I could always recognize a person who was not a Stalinist, a person whom I needn't fear, by the way he smiled. A sense of humor was a trustworthy sign of recognition. Ever since, I have been terrified by a world that is losing its sense of humor.

Modernism's birthmark, located on her inner thigh, can only be described as the humor of heroism. She laughs at her heroes; their mark is no longer mysterious to her. The hero's hunt cannot be a public affair; it cannot become a legend. The glare of the flashbulbs makes even the most soaked tragedy appear as sodden farce. So the heroes must tell their own stories, as beggars on the streets of Prague or ad-men in American corporations.

Eastern Europe Travel Guide - Foreign visitors consider Romanians among the friendliest and most hospitable people on earth. Romanians are by nature fun loving, warm, hospitable, playful, with an innate sense of humor.

The glories of Greece and Rome are gone, and the Romanians "innate sense of humor" is sullied by contact with the West. Kurt Treptow, perhaps a Socrates, is unveiled as a mere pedophile. In 2002, Treptow angered the gods and was convicted of having sex with two underage girls. It might require a sense of humor to appreciate his conviction on possession of child pornography. Possession of someone else's dark, evil deed is less legally permissible than inventing a dark, evil deed of your own. All those possessing the movie Schindler's List must ask themselves if they are not perhaps making light of the dark.

Treptow directed the Centre for Romanian Studies in Iasi with a velveteen glove. Since the Centre was housed in a building belonging to the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE), those with a sense of humor have wondered if perhaps Treptow's sense of humor did not undermine the logic of his scholarship. For Treptow had lived in Romania prior to the 1989 revolution. He was a Fulbright scholar. He wrote a less-than-comdemning book about Romanian Nazi Antonescu. He got close to the glam-rock socialism of the Iliescu regime. He got even closer to Ioan Talpes, a former head of the SIE and a presidential adviser to Iliescu. He got disgustingly close to little girls. And he was born in that capital of kitsch and Cuban insurrection known as Miami. So far, his profile fits that of professional Romanian spy like a martisor in March.

Laurence Weinbaum - One of the most steadfast whitewashers was an American, Kurt Treptow, who in the early 1990s settled in Iasi and eventually became director of the Romanian Culture Institute there. Treptow kept company with "scholars" whose revisionist tendencies and enmity toward Jews were no secret. Among them was the Iasi "historian" Gheorghe Buzatu, a Ceausescu hagiographer and persistent apologist for the Antonescu regime, and a Romania Mare legislator since 2000.

It is a hard scent of humor that hovers over Mr. Treptow, who is now free from prison and probably up to his old pranks. But we cannot give Treptow credit for this scent. The true credit belongs to the legal and prison authorities, who released him five years in advance because he published a book about Dracula. It is the law who secures the last laugh.

The scents of humor, like the smell of burning lard, contaminate bystanders. Michael Guest, a career Foreign Service officer, became the nation’s second openly gay ambassador, serving in Romania under the Clinton administration. Clinton liked young girls as well, but not too young to be conniving. Michael Guest didn't really like girls at all. But he may have appreciated pedophiles. Bucharest Business Week found the scent of burning lard on Guest, so BBW alleged that the US Embassy, run by Guest, appointed a convicted pedophile to an embassy-sponsored board that selects Romanian students for U.S. Fulbright scholarships.

Lou Chibarro, Jr. - The embassy said it removed the appointee, U.S. citizen and historian Kurt Treptow, from the board after learning about his conviction in a Romanian court for allegedly engaging in sex with juveniles and videotaping the encounters. Neither the newspaper nor the embassy disclosed whether the juveniles were males or females.The newspaper charged that the embassy failed to adequately vet Treptow before making the appointment. It also charged that Guest and other embassy officials gave Treptow favorable treatment in the selection process over other candidates for the Fulbright board, in part, to provide cover for Treptow alleged work as a CIA agent. Squire called the newspaper’s claim that Guest gave Treptow favorable treatment “preposterous.” But State Department policy prevents comments on matters relating to the CIA or U.S. intelligence activities, she said. Guest could not be reached by press time for comment. Bucharest Business Week is published by AmeriCelt Publishing SRL, described on its Web site as the Bucharest branch of Romanian Ventures Inc., the “only wholly American-owned news media company in Romania.” The Web site says the English-language weekly newspaper specializes in business coverage, including news about American and European companies doing business in Romania. Corina Mica, the paper’s editorial director and the author of most of the articles about Guest, did not respond to an e-mail by press time.

It remains a mystery as to whether Corina Mica, whose surname means "little", has a sense of humor. Ioan Talpes, who has moved from Iliescu to Romania Mare to the PDL, is one of the funniest men alive. He is what one might call “a barrel of laughs”, a modern connisseur of scents of humor. The echoes of laughter destroy the skyline.

Reading history in the stars: The charm of horoscopes in the post-communist literary landscape.

When I visited Romania at the beginning of 1990, I scoured the newsstands for any and every shard of information about Romanian culture, the revolution, recipes, history, commi-nostalgia, concerts, life as lived and dreamed in the immediate post-1989 period. Imagine my surprise to discover that almost every newspaper or magazine boasted of its horoscope section. There was a horoscope available for every month, day, decade, and period. Horoscopes littered the dusty sidewalks of Bucharest, promising answers and explanations. My university-educated Romanian relatives would ask me quite seriously if I had consulted my horoscope before x and y.

In the post-communist period, the horoscope had become a reference guide in an unsure world and a source of revisionist history. Before the Romanian intellectuals settled into their desks to revisit the history of Romanian communism, the horoscopes had already published definitive guides to the truth about each and every important Romanian. The horoscopes were not burdened by Securitate files or ties to former leaders-- their information was pure as the night sky and powerful as the sun. Before Romanians could read revisionist history in the libraries, they could read it in the stars.

Does Romania's notorious and legendary fatalism explain why horoscopes gained such a following in the immediate post-communist period? Only for those who prefer the cosmos of cultural stereotypes to the cosmos of stars. In fact, Romanian fatalism is a facet of literary culture more than a facet of general culture (though one might argue that Romanians tend to be more Stoic, a philosophy which has its roots in fatalism). Romanian horoscopes, like Romanian legends, have the texture of a rich tapestry in which disparate colors and elements bind together as revelation.

Rather than the pithy American-style two-liner, Ceausescu's horoscope reads like an intimate portrait, a legend harvested from the stars. Among other salient details, the horoscope asserts that Ceausescu was supported by the US. I've heard this position expressed by a number of Romanians in hushed tones, but the horoscope sets it above rumor by relegating it to the realm of the stars.

It is alleged that Ceauşescu was supported overtly and covertly by the United States throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Romania gained "most favored nation" trading status in 1975, six years after a favourable visit by President Nixon. According to Noam Chomsky, it was partially due to Ceauşescu's divergent views on policy (such as the invasion of Afghanistan, opposition to Molotov-Ribbentrop, etc.), Ceauşescu garnered support from the Bush Administration, particularly George Herbert Walker Bush himself and then-Secretary of State George P. Schultz . There were negative comments regarding Romania during this time by both Schultz and Bush, but the former also called Ceauşescu a "good Communist" and the latter praised Ceauşescu's "respect for human rights" . This support, it is argued, was a major obstacle to the overthrow of Ceauşescu.

The horoscope is a superb historical vehicle in the dusk of the absurd. When unemployed dissidents would find work writing horoscopes for various journals, they were engaging in another form of dissent. Astrology, like religion, was not acceptable to the communist regimes grounded upon the predictive value of historical materialism and scientific socialism. In this environment, authoring a horoscope offered a subtle way in which to criticize communist leaders (for example, by predicting negative events in their future due to character traits like 'egoism'). When Czech writer Milan Kundera's work was banned in 1969, Kundera made a living by writing an astrology column under a fictitious name, which eventually got him and his friends in even more trouble.

It is no secret that Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, and Adolf Hitler relied on astrology in making political decisions. The Kremlin seems to have star-gazed quite frequently. The stars, like palms, books, and coffee grounds, must be read as life is lived, with a smile to illuminate the darkness. To explore Poland's national horoscope, venture here. For more on the absurdist humour of communism.

Elena Surdu Stanescu's golden humans.

Elena Surdu Stanescu loves the human body in all its hues, contortions, and pieces. Her sculptures usually emerge from the stiff flatness of a background, and there is little one can do to disguise the life she sculpts into them. Known primarily for her work in "arte plastice", Stanescu's sculptures embrace the human being in all its convulted entanglements, loves, and interactions. It is easy to describe her work as a romantic modern sojourn for the attention she gives to love and sexuality.

Stanescu's work is currently on display in Jakarta. The local Jakarta press describes Stanescu's art as a game played with "universal symbols of love, affection and spirituality through the form and material": 

Her use of birds symbolizes the departure from the real world into a spiritual dimension; windows also symbolize communication or transcending to another dimension, while man and woman symbolize love.

"Nudity is a universal symbol of beauty; birds are general symbols of departure throughout the whole history of art. Birds are also symbols of silence and purity," Elena says, citing Pablo Picasso's Dove of Peace as an example.

"Woman and man are natural representations of love. It's easy to observe, which makes my art more accessible. Audiences will easily realize men and women mean love. Of course, there are other symbols of love but you can't make it any more obvious than men and women.

"If we symbolized love with man and man that would not necessarily be a symbol of love. It could be a symbol of sexual freedom, or of human rights, but it would not focus on love as a general symbol and as a normal way of perpetuating the species."

Stanescu's human figures never have complete bodies. The removal of some volume in sculpture is influenced by Greek sculptural elements.

Having studied under her, Romanian Art Gallery offers a few personal details and images. For more on Stanescu:

• Article in Curierul National, October 2007.
• Her work at Romanian Art Gallery.
• Her work at the Enescu Festival.
• Her exposition at the Museum of Art.
• A joint exhibition sponsored by the Elena Surdu Stanescu Cultural Foundation and Gallerya della Mostra in Italy.

The latest from Romania.

• 1 million Moldovans
• EP members affirm solidarity with Romania over Moldovan crisis 
• Boc says the liberals spent all the money
• US conservative lobby The Family Research Council urges Romania to keep incest & prostitution in dark rooms
• AIG goes neo-Romanian 
• Romania is supporting Serbia against Kosovo's independence in the world court 
• Cyprus is 5th among foreign investors in Romania 
• Three Romanians are arrested for double homicide in Italy 
• The EU is not happy with Romania's citizenship promise to Moldovans
• Neither is lawyer Ralf Grahn. 
• Princess Margarita celebrates her 60th birthday.
• Lebanese politician urges Romania to help reign in Israel.

A collection of non-culturally deterministic explanations of the Romanian transition.

I am wary of the overly-simplistic, culturally-determined arguments for the harshness and depth of the Romanian communist experiment. Those familiar with Romanian history know that the Orthodox Church plays a minor role in communism's ascent and maintenance of power in Romania. What really kept the communists in power was their ability to harness nationalism and the forces of history in the creation of a novel, indigenous, national-greatness communism whose vestiges pollute political discourse to the current day. Smug commentaries on Romanian political culture do not offer new frameworks for understanding the Romanian transition; they serve only to cement existing stereotypes and offer excuses for truly liberal scholarship.

What follows is a collection of resources which locate the challenges of the Romanian post-communist transition in something more sound than Samuel P. Huntington's overgeneralized framework.

I'll begin with Cheng Chen’s notable paper, “The Roots of Illiberal Nationalism in Romania: A Historical Institutionalist Analysis of the Leninist Legacy”, which traces the post-communist problems of resurgent Romanian nationalism to the period of Leninist nation-building in Romania. A number of the resources which follow reaffirm Chen's historical institutionalist approach. He notes:

The initial condition for Leninist nation-building in Romania could not be more ominous. Not only was there no indigenous revolution, but also nowhere in Eastern Europe, with the exception of Poland, was the Soviet role in imposing Leninism more open… Paradoxically, the regime’s inflexibility in adopting Leninism was intrinsically related to its extremely weak starting point and its non-Romanian and even anti-Romanian origin.

Chen chronicles the communist leadership's attempt to indigenize communism through appeals to Romanian nationalism.

J.F. Brown's Eastern Europe and Communist Rule examines the history of East European communism, distinguishing the foreignness of communist ideology to Romanian political movements.

Stefan Auer's paper, "Nationalism in Central Europe-- A Chance or a Threat for the Emerging Liberal Democratic Order?", critiques the assumption that Eastern Orthodoxy is inherently more illiberal than Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Auer observers that Croatia, a predominantly Catholic country, has more serious and divisive problems with illiberal nationalism than Romania.

Katherine Verdery's National Ideology Under Socialism examines the "modes of control" implemented by the Ceausescu regime to keep internal dissent at bay.

Vladimir Tismaneanu's Reinventing Politics: Eastern Europe from Stalin to Havel is a wonderful example of thoughtful and thought-promoting scholarship on the postcommunist transitions.

Romanian anti-Semitism was encouraged and promoted by the Ceausescu cult's emphasis on the purely Romanian communism which replaced the foreign, Russian, and Jewish communism of the Pauker days. Contrary to its universalist creed, Romanian communism reinforced existing anti-Semitic impulses. Given that communist ideology lacked an indigenous following in Romania, many Romanians were able to blame "Others" for communism, particularly Russians and Jews. For an interesting perspective on Romanian anti-Semitism, read "Anti-Semitic Propaganda and Official Rhetoric Concerning the Judeo-Bolshevik Danger: Romanian Jews and Communism Between 1938-1944".

Juliana Geran Pilon's book, The Bloody Flag Post-Communist Nationalism in Eastern Europe, invokes a personal, incisive view of postcommunist nationalism in Eastern Europe with a special focus on Romania. As a Romanian Jewish emigre, Geran Pilon is particularly well-equipped to analyze social trends in Romania.

Daniel Fehrer's paper, "Long Lasting Legacy Dangerous Games and Dangerous Consequences, The Impact of Romanian National History Writing Under Ceausescu on Politics in Post-Communist Romania" is delightful and on-pointe.

Odds & Ends - The webpage dedicated to transdisciplinarity in science and religion provides a wealth of resources on Romanian transdisciplinary studies. The discussion of Daco-Roman theory as instituted by Gheorghiu-Dej at the Ancient Roman Forum is quite rich. The photo, Galati 2006, was taken by Jana Cavojska. I welcome any more suggestions to add to this list.

The year of 1938 in Romania.

In 1938, John Phillips took a photo of the lady to the right as she stood in the doorway of a Romanian brothel and picked up a customer.

In 1938, Constantin Bratianu urged the creation of a government composed of leading political figures and technical experts, appointed by the king, which would temporaily suspend constitutional rights and govern by decree until political life had returned to normal. King Carol accepted, and Iuliu Maniu, leader of the National Peasant Party, refused to participate in such a government but agreed not to "cause difficulties" when the National Peasants were not called upon to form a government. All three men wanted to prevent a fascist coup which they believed would subordinate their country to Nazi Germany.

In 1938, when he called for suspension of the constitution, Bratianu was the leader of the old Liberal Party.

In February of 1938, King Carol inaugurated his royal dictatorship under a constitutional cover. He replaced the Goga government with an "advisory government" headed by the Patriarch Miron Cristea, including seven former Prime Ministers and Ion Antonescu as Minister of National Defense. King Carol went on to abolish the Constitution of 1923, replacing it with a new one based on corporatist principles and concentrating power in the hands of the king.

In 1938, John Phillips took a photo of Romanians marching in procession and giving the national salute.

In March 1938, King Carol decreed the dissolution of all political parties and groups, while promising that after a period of "calm" and "adaptation to the new circumstances", a law would be created setting forth the conditions under which political "associations" could form and operate. This effectively removed the Romanian Parliament from the political arena.

In April 1938, King Carol passed a on "the maintenance of order", which provided him with legal leeway to take action against the Iron Guard. The leaders of the Guard were arrested and given long terms in prison. Codreanu was sentened to 10 years hard labor for high treason, and large numbers of Guardists and sympathizers were rounded up and interned in concentration camps established for this purpose.

In November 1938, King Carol visited Germany. Hitler urged him to free the Guardists and form a Codreanu cabinet. When King Carol returned to Romania, Codreanu and 13 other Guardists were killed while "trying to escape".

In December 1938, the Front of National Renaissance was created as an means of involving the Romanian population in the government. The FNR operated on the principle of bureaucratic centralism, later popularized by the Romanian communist governments, in which policy decisions were made at the top and then passed down to the local units of the front. It promulgated "social harmony" and "national solidarity".

In 1938, the beloved Queen Marie died.

Basescu offers Romanian citizenship to Moldovans.

Euractiv posted a great article about Basescu's plan to simplify citizenship procedures for Moldovans:

The latest development since Moldova's elections earlier this month saw Romanian President Traian Basescu yesterday (14 April) order the simplification of procedures for granting citizenship to ethnic Romanians living in Moldova, saying a million requests were waiting in his country's embassy in Chisinau.

Speaking before both chambers of the Romanian parliament on 14 April, Basescu dropped a political bomb by asking legislators to simplify the procedures. 

As the press in Bucharest reported, the move, which is likely to please nationalists in Romania, could "leave [Moldovan communist president] Vladimir Voronin without citizens". 

"I remind that the Romanian legislation foresees restoring Romanian citizenship to former citizens of our country and to their successors, who have been stripped of this statute against their will," Basescu said. 

"I notice that the bureaucratic procedure [...] limits drastically the number of people able to benefit from it in real terms. Consequently, I have asked the government to adopt, in a procedure of urgency, the amendment of this legislation, so that we can speed up and facilitate the process of restoring Romanian citizenship to those who have lost it, and to their families, until the third degree," he stated. 

The Romanian president also suggested that all Moldovans whose ancestors had been living there since 1939 could qualify for Romanian citizenship. "The territory east of the River Prut was amputated from the body of our country by the Fascist-Communist Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, declared by the Romanian parliament to be illegal and arbitrary." 

Later, speaking to the press, Basescu disclosed that 650,000 envelopes containing requests for Romanian citizenship had been lying in the Romanian embassy in Chisinau. He added that since some requests concerned several members of the same families, about a million of Moldova's four-million-strong population had already filed for Romanian citizenship. 

The Romanian press notes, however, that Basescu's move is likely to raise eyebrows in EU capitals, which would end up with another emigration wave of "millions of hungry, new EU citizens". Italy, for one, is reportedly considering closing its borders to Romanian citizens after a wave of crime allegedly by Romanian Roma.

A Commission spokesperson told EurActiv that the EU executive would not comment at this stage. He would only say that the Romanian president's move was obviously a "very sensitive issue" with "a lot of consequences" on migration within the EU's borders.

A new banner.

After looking at Ciprian Dinica's photos for a few hours, I wanted to see them everywhere. Since that is not a viable option, I figured I could create a new blog banner using two of his photos. That way, if anyone liked the photos in the banner, they would know who to seek. Multumesc Ciprian...

Romanian photographers to watch.

 The best photographers, like masseurs, have an inimitable, signature touch that leaves a mark on your skin, a small impression altering the skin-scape. The Romanian photographers who follow take photos hot enough to burn the image in my mind; I return to them in line at the grocery store, while stuck in traffic, searching for a new roll of toilet tissue, or trying to sleep at night. I wish them all the best-- fame, if that is their deadly desire, and enough money to continue developing their art.

Tudor Manolache - b+w with all the edges buffed away

Voicu Bojan - every moment lives on a fault line (first photo)

Petrut Calinescu - motion & movement you can taste

Cosmin Bumbut - sublime

Marius Grozea - warm, buttered localisms

Bogdan Croitoru - visions of the clean and clear

Alex Galmeanu - all flesh is destined for decay

Silviu Ghetie - like diamonds in coal asleep

Alexandru Paul - raw and graceful (1st photo)

Alin Ciortea - nudes soft as a velvet blanket

Vasile Dorolti - life read in wrinkles

George Hreniuc - language games

Ciprian Dinica - the sacred and profane (3rd photo)

Adrian Leonte - airbrushed like a summer vacation

Laurentiu Dinca - light is a paintbrush

The 7Zile Project features the photos and musings of a few talented Romanian photographers. Andrei Pandele's blog frequently features the best of Romanian photo. Explore Fotoblogs.

Norman Manea is honored by Romanians.

The Observer Translation Project is devoting this month to the work of Romanian writer Norman Manea, who recently won the 2009 Gheorghe Crăciun Lifetime Achievement Award. Critic Carmen Musat describes Manea's work:

A witness to the paired totalitarianisms of the 20th century, Norman Manea is a writer of survivals. His medium is Romanian. He belongs to the world. With Gogol he shares the ability to express life’s absurdity while rendering—while constituting—overwhelming humanity. This in the face of the nullity and mediocrity essential to vast tracts of the human condition. His prose offers a deep insight into the abnormal essence of a totalitarian society where the political factor exerts overwhelming control over daily existence, down to the finest details of personal life. His work focuses on the dissolution of identity, intimacy and inner life under the dreadful pressures that force people to hide their true selves behind masks. Preoccupied with personae, the sensitivity of  Norman Manea’s prose goes beyond the stance, style and  technique of which it is made  and materializes as the willingness and necessity to live inner truth—by all means.

Manea offers a simple self-portrait in his own words:

In the public arena, Augustus the Fool faces, unavoidably, the Clown of Power. All human tragicomedy may be seen in this encounter, in the history of the Circus as History. In the world-circus the writer - and I see myself as one- seems ill equipped for everyday life in which his fellow men offer and receive their share of credible reality. And yet his weakness may be also be seen as an unconventional and devious strength, his solitude as a deeper kind of solidarity, his imagination as a shortcut to reality. I may fit the portrait of such an adventurer trying to humanize his shipwreck wherever he may be.

Among other precious stones, Jean Harris translates "Sentimental Education", a short by Manea. Her translation is actually quite good-- it captures his rhythm and restlessness on the page, without mooring him to cliche. An excerpt:

The young gentleman attracted to philosophy not to commerce hesitated to make short of the shameless smarting in his pants at a doctor’s. There were no private medical offices anymore. He had no one to whom he could talk about scandalous secrets. He resigned himself to living together in fear with the viruses of the damned. The newspapers and the radio and books and conferences and mass meetings didn’t address such hidden bourgeois anxieties. “The greater the moral depravity, the more severe public opinion.” Ever less revolutionary, reality was confirming the sayings of the revolutionary, Saint-Juste, who didn’t live long enough to witness socialism.

For more, read the entire translation here. Manea made the list of top 100 books on totalitarianism for his novel, The Black Envelope (review forthcoming).

A video history of Vlachs in Romania.

The ozone layer over Romania remains pristine.

Rita Cook describes the pleasures of roaming around Romania.

The Moldovan Secret Service planned the Chisinau protests. NSF, anyone?

What happened in Moldova according to the wise men of World Socialism.

Romanians in Boston hate to miss out on the fun.

Can a prince be a president?

A cinematic caravan leads to Transylvania.

AC/DC May 31st.

"Romania is not aware that it is a member of the EU and that it needs to respect some rules", Voronin declared. He underlined that Bucharest officials cannot give up their expansionist dreams and refuse to sign the borders treaty and the one related to the two countries' relations.

The EC is still working on it.

Student Valeriu Boboc died from police beatings on Sunday after taking part in the Chisinau protests.

Dan Dungaciu is a sociologist and for him, the protest is driven by individualism. "Moldova isn't ready to join the EU. Young people want to join it individually, by getting Romanian nationality."

Romanian government is losing the popularity contest.

Public trust in Romanian President Traian Basescu and his centre-left prime minister has fallen sharply since the start of the year as the deepening economic crisis erodes politicians' popularity across the board.

An opinion poll conducted nationwide by INSOMAR from March 26 to April 5 on 2,430 respondents for private television station Realitatea TV, showed that 53 percent of Romanians consider their country is heading in the wrong direction.

"This opinion explains the rapid fall in trust," INSOMAR said, adding that 80 percent of respondents believe the new EU member is mired in an economic crisis and 55 percent said their families' financial situation had worsened this year.

The survey showed public trust in Basescu, the country's most popular politician, had fallen about 15 percentage points since January to around 43 percent. Trust in Prime Minister Emil Boc fell 22 points to 28 percent.

The only top politician to become more popular was opposition Liberal Party leader Crin Antonescu, who doubled his rating to 31 percent. Antonescu recently announced he would run for president in elections later this year.

As the global crisis engulfs Europe, Romania has swung from being the fastest-growing EU economy to one of its most fragile, its private foreign-currency debt and a growing budget deficit exacerbating big external debts amid sour market sentiment.

For the rest, see Kiev Post.

The best blog on Moldova protests.

PMAN's blog devoted entirely to the 2009 Chisinau protests is the best source I've found so far on information about the Moldovan protests. The video below was borrowed from his lovely blog.

France still loves Romania.

The European Union, and France in particular, wish to reassure Romania of their support over the situation in neighboring Republic of Moldova, spokesman of the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a press conference Friday. More here...

Nicolae Ceausescu looks so sweet on a vase.

The Romanian Museum of National History just added images of Ceausescu porcelain to its online collection. For those who miss seeing Ceausescu's smug smile in the front pages of every Romanian book, this porcelain is sure to set the scene for any fine dinner or coup that you might be planning.

St. Antipas Day in Romania.

April the 11th is traditionally known as the day of St. Antipas in Romania. St. Antipas was martyred in 92 AD. He was burnt to death in a bull-shaped altar used for casting out demons worshiped by the local population.

On this saints day, St. Antipas can cure even the most morbid of toothaches.

More on St. Antipas' martyrdom.
Antipas in the dictionary of the Bible.
A Troparion and an icon.

Rolling around Romania.

Romanian lawmakers decided Wednesday to eliminate the article regarding harm to the fetus from the Criminal Code, but another article states that a 24-week old fetus is considered a person. + The euthanasia of a patient, on request, will be punishable by one to five years imprisonment, as the members of the Parliament subcommittee analyzing the legal codes reduced the prison terms proposed by the Romanian Ministry of Justice. +  Curtea de Arges Cathedral + Construction of the EU-supported gas pipeline project Nabucco will begin in 2011, according to Reinhard Mitschek, managing director of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International. In an interview with Dnevnik, Mitschek gave more details of the consortium's plans. +  Letea Forest ecosystem +  Romanian Foreign Minister's visit to Azerbaijan has been delayed by the Moldovan crisis. + Romanian industrial output is down. + Univelever wants to develop an ice cream market in Romania. + The second reactor of Romania's sole nuclear plant in southern Cernavoda was restarted Thursday and reached its nominal power at around GMT 1300, the state-owned nuclear energy producer Nuclearelectrica said. + Comments on corruption and catwalks.

Prince Radu is running for President.

According to Mediafax, Prince Radu Duda of Romania officially announced his candidacy for the presidency of Romania in a speech delivered Thursday evening at the Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest. He said he does not plan to restore monarchy and stressed he will run independently. I found a nice list of biographical info, which I've shared below.

Born the 7th of June 1960 in Iasi , Romania , as Radu Duda ; Husband of HRH The Princess Margarita of Romania ; Created Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen (1999)

Graduate from the University of Drama and Film in Bucharest, 1984
Graduate from the National College of Defence in Romania, class of 2002
George C. Marshall College in Garmisch, Germany, 2003
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2004 Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security

PhD candidate in Military Science, National Defence University in Bucharest
Romanian Army Lieutenant-Colonel (r)

Special Representative of the Romanian Government for Integration, Co-operation and Sustainable Development
Advisor to His Majesty King Michael I of Romania
Patron of the British-Romanian Chamber of Commerce
Member of the Board of Directors of "House of NATO" Association in Bucharest
Honorary Member of the Senate of "Aurel Vlaicu" University in Arad and of the University in Oradea (Romania)

Over 25 years of artistic career in Romania and in Europe , America , Asia and Africa . He was the Artistic Director of the first project in Romania of art therapy for abandoned children in orphanages. The project, founded in 1993, was developed in eight cities over six years.Prince Radu played a major role in the concept, planning and organisation of the official tours undertaken by His Majesty King Michael I in 1997 and 2002 for the integration of Romania in NATO. The King visited the United Kingdom , Norway , Belgium , Denmark , Spain , Luxembourg and The Netherlands, meeting with heads of state and government.
The Prince accompanied The King on most of these visits.

 Since 1997, Prince Radu has regularly accompanied The King on his visits and created the concept of the King's "Millennium Tour" in his country for the year 2000. In the company of his wife, Crown Princess Margarita, the Prince represents the Royal Family of Romania on various occasions.

The Prince is the author of "Dincolo de masca" - Bucharest 1997, "L'Âme du masque" - Brussels 1998, "Anne of Romania - A War, an Exile, a Life" - Bucharest 2000 (in Romanian) and 2002 (in English), "Michael of Romania - A Tribute" , San Francisco and Bucharest 2001, "Kildine" (translation into Romanian of the Fairy-tales book of Queen Marie of Romania), Bucharest 2003, "Seven" , Nemira Bucharest 2003, The Royal Family of Romania , Humanitas 2004. He lectures and makes speeches in Romania , Sweden , Finland , Austria , Japan , India , Lithuania , Hungary , Switzerland , Belgium , France , Ireland , Canada , Poland , the United States , Italy and the United Kingdom . Prince Radu appears regularly on TV and publishes articles in the written press in Romania , as well as in Europe and the United States .

He is currently the Special Representative of the Romanian Government for Integration, Co-operation and Sustainable Development.

• The Government of Romania took the decision to appoint Radu, Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen as a Special Representative of the Government for Integration, Co-operation and Sustainable Development.
• In this capacity, HSH Prince Radu holds a Ministerial rank.
• This function does not mean any political involvement and has no political consequences, but has connection with the major interests of Romania . As a Special Representative of the Government for Integration, Co-operation and Sustainable Development, Radu, Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen will undertake missions such as: to promote the image of Romania to the public opinion, mass media, intellectual and business milieu and to the politicians of the NATO countries, whose Parliaments should ratify Romania's membership into the Alliance; to promote Romania's integration into the European Union; to encourage foreign investment in Romania; to promote Romania's economic, commercial and business interests; to promote Romania's culture and history in a European context; steps to modernise Romanian educational system and to connect it to the European values; to promote projects of Sustainable Development; to promote democratic values to the Romanian public opinion;
• Radu, Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen will keep his quality of Advisor to His Majesty Michael I and will continue to take part in his initiatives and actions supporting Romania's integration into NATO and the UE, as well as in all the others public engagements of the Royal Family.
• His activity will join the efforts of the Ministry of Integration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other central institutions working in the same field.
• The Office of the Special Representative of the Government for Integration, Co-operation and Sustainable Development will be established at Elisabeth Palace . The budget necessary to cover the exercise of his attributions will be provided from the Fund for the Promotion of Romania's Outside Image, on the base of the projects submitted to the approval of the Government, according to the legal regulations.

For more:

• Diana Mandache has the video of Prince Radu making his announcement.
• More on the announcement here.
• Prince Radu in California here.
• Prince Radu's blog is a great way to keep up with him.
• Prince Radu's libel case against British magazine.
• Wedding photos for Radu and Margarita.
• Accusations that Prince Radu has ties to former Securitate.
• Romerican on the royals.

A Moldova update: Conspiracies, Ukranian police, nationalism, and a little fun with flags.

The angles on the protests in Moldova are multiplying. The usual suspects, of course, receive prime billing.

The Ukranian angle: A close and cooperative relationship with Russia has made the Ukrainian government a mouthpiece for Moscow during this crisis.

• Two Moldovan citizens were arrested today at an airport in the Ukraine. The press service said that Gabriel Stati and Auren Marinescu are wanted by Moldovan police officers for "their actions aimed at seizing and holding state power, violating the Constitution of Moldova."
• The Moldovan Prosecutor General's Office has asked Ukraine to extradite Moldovan businessman Gabriel Stati, who has been accused of funding the recent protests in Chisinau, Moldovan Prosecutor General Valeriu Gurbulea told the media on Thursday
• Ukrainian police have increased patrols along the state border with Moldova.

The Russian angle: Russian interests are threatened by civil unrest in its obedient neighbors. The Moldovan example comes at a time when Georgia needs no inspiration to buck the Russian relation.

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is blaming civil unrest in Moldova on foreign interference and is calling for the European Union and Romania to take action to protect the country's sovereignty.
  Lavrov told Russian media that rioters in Chisinau on Tuesday waved Romanian and EU flags. The rioters ransacked Moldova's parliament building and took over presidential offices to protest what they say was a rigged parliamentary election on Sunday.
• Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on the EU to intervene."We hope that the EU and the Romanian leadership, which publicly condemned the violence, will take action to ensure that Romanian flags and Romanian slogans are not used as the cover for undermining Moldovan statehood," he told Russia's RIA Novosti news agency.
• Russia warns over Romanian slogans and flags in Moldova, which they believe were "used to undermine Moldovan sovereignty".
• Moldova`s former Soviet master Russia backed Voronin`s allegation of foreign interference.
• Russia is furious with the EU over the so-called Twitter revolution.
• The role played by “the Romanian factor” in the Moldovan protests, announced by Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin, determined breakaway region Transdniester to demand guarantees regarding its own sovereignty.
  

The European angle: The EU is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Europeans do not wish to isolate Russia by taking a strongly-democratic position, but they also want to support (albeit lightly) their fellow EU nation, Romania. This will be an interesting balance.

• The head of the parliamentary committee on European integration, Borys Tarasiuk, has said he is concerned about the use of other countries symbols during the riots in Moldova. "I am concerned by the fact that the protesters used other countries' symbols. This either means local provocation or interference in the internal affairs [of Moldova]", he told the press today.
• The European Union called Wednesday for calm in Moldova and underlined that any solution to the post-election crisis could only come through talks and by respecting the law.
• Western diplomats quoted by Reuters say it is too early to judge whether street anger at alleged vote-rigging in a weekend election won by the incumbents will lead to a change of power, as seen in Georgia, Ukraine and other ex-Soviet states. "The EU should go and it should go now," said Andrew Wilson at London's European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), urging EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to go to Moldova and act as a mediator between the government and opposition. "But, yes, that would annoy the hell out of Russia," he added. The European reaction to events in Moldova has been cautious so far.
• The European Union on Thursday called on Moldovan authorities to resume normal relations with Romania, a EU member since 2007, and to respect all constitutional freedoms.

The Romanian angle: Social Democrats try to use the Moldovan government's accusations as leverage to unnseat Basescu's party in the coming election. Their flamboyant accusations are unprofessional, to say the least. Looks like all the politicians are aiming for the Romanian nationalist vote right now.

• A reporter and a camera operator of Romanian TV station Antena 3 were expelled from the Republic of Moldova Wednesday night after they had reached the airport in Chisinau and were told they required a visa.
• Romanian journalist Dragos Bota, of Romanian daily Gandul, was kept Wednesday night in a room on the airport in the Moldovan capital Chisinau and expelled to Romania.
• Romania names a new ambassador to Moldova.
• Hundreds of Moldovan students left Saturday night for Bucharest in order to vote in the Moldovan Republic Parliament elections held Sunday.
• Romanian foreign minister Cristian Diaconescu said Thursday the Republic of Moldova’s decision to reintroduce visas for Romanians breaches the country’s agreement with the European Union and recommended Romanian citizens to avoid trips to the neighboring country.
• Romanian senate chairman Mircea Geoana said Wednesday that Romania should take quick action at the level of the European Union and other structures it is part of to stop the “pathetic attempt” of Moldovan authorities to provoke Romania.
• Romania’s opposition Liberal Party (PNL) vice-president, Varujan Vosganian, Thursday blasted President Traian Basescu for his indifference with respect to the situation in the Republic of Moldova and urged the latter to take an official stand as soon as possible.
• Romania has notified the representative for freedom of the media within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) regarding the situation in Moldova, urging the investigation of all cases where freedom of expression was breached, foreign minister Cristian Diaconescu said.
• Romanian foreign minister Cristian Diaconescu said also that Romania notified Moldovan authorities and firmly asked them to communicate officially the number of Romanians arrested to allow them to get consular help.
• The Romanian government slammed Moldova's sanctions against Romania and Romanians.

The Moldovan angle: Moldova is in trouble.

• The Moldovan opposition has started checking voter lists. They have also requested an international investigation into the Chisinau riots.
• The Moldovan government accused Romania of instigating and playing a role in the riots.
• Police arrested 193 people, including eight minors, on charges of "hooliganism and robbery" following the protests, Interior Ministry spokeswoman Ala Meleca said. Some were suspected of looting shops in Chisinau as the unrest continued into the night. She said 96 police had been injured in the unrest.
• Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin required Romanian ambassador to Chisinau Filip Teodorescu to leave Moldova in 24 hours, after he was declare persona non grata.
• Moldovan authorities also reopened Wednesday Leuseni customs, after the crossing point in Sculeni, and only heavy weight vehicles are allowed to cross into the Republic of Moldova via Giurgiulesti and Cahul.
• Moldovan special police forces removed security lines around the presidency and government buildings in capital Chisinau.
• Andrei Neguta, the Moldovan ambassador to Moscow, declared on Thursday that "authorities in Chisinau are in possession of clear evidence that the protests were financed from abroad, but there is no prove that the Opposition parties in Moldova received financing from Romania".

The NGO angle: Most NGO's have come out against the Moldovan government's anti-democratic response to the protests.

• Reporters without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists have spoken out against the Moldovan government's treatment of journalists covering the protests.
• Amnesty International seems to think peaceful demonstrators are being unfairly blamed.

The opinions: Across the board, of course.

• Moldova is torn between communism and the far right.
• The riots in Moldova underscore Russia's failed policy in the region.
• Romania to blame again.

Romanian news as the broken part of sunlight in a bright room.

Over 500 students have gathered in Cluj to burn things and torch road-blocks to their favorite future. The soft, warm scent of civil war and scorched flags is today's best import from neighbor, Moldova.

With every Mocanu arrested, a baba makes the sign of the cross and promises never to do laundry on Sunday again.

Romanian diplomatic goals are tossed, like the hair of a girl who wakes next to her lover, and tangled. Sunlight seeps through a screened window, the shadows motion in sign language. Batranete, haine grele because cotton is heavier than polyester, and now the grandchildren know more about technology and utopia than the gods.

Ambassadors are floated, the Danes wink your way, debates on education fill the forecast, and nobody wears sunglasses in bed although the light makes it hard to see the lover. And the lover makes it hard to see the light. So you focus on her hair, on the tangles somehow softer than her perfect skin. The morning sun bleaches the room, turns the lover into a saint, and tastes like a provocation.

Moldova updates, and news in Romania.

Moldovan Ambassador to Romania Lidia Gutu has been summoned back to Chisinau for "discussions". Meanwhile, President Voronin openly blames Romania for the riots.

“We know certain forces in Romania are behind this. It is evidenced by Romanian flags, which had been raised over official buildings in Chisinau,” Vladimir Voronin said Wednesday.

He announced that more than a hundred ‘organizers of the riots and their sponsors’ have been arrested.

Cross border travel between Moldova and Romania has been restricted. Voronin also said a visa regime will be put in place.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry has called President Voronin’s statement about its involvement in organizing protests a ‘provocation’ but stated however, that Romania is not going to introduce restrictions for Moldovan citizens entering the country.

Voronin also declared persona non grata the Romanian ambassador to Chisinau, Philip Teodorescu, and Counsellor Ioan Gaboryan. They now have to leave the country within a day.

Israeli insurance company Clal Insurance is cutting its losses and scaling back activity in Romania.

HotNews.ro is clearly pushing the Moldova-wants-to-reunite-with-Romania envelope a bit forcefully in its coverage of the Moldovan protests.

Operation Black Sea Harmony = Romania + Turkey ~ Operation Active Endeavor

Moody's predicts a rough economic ride for Romania. It estimates that the country’s economy will fall by 4% this year, but will recover in 2010, when it will register a 0.3% growth.

More on Voronin's blame game here, here, and here. More on the Romanian government's reaction here, here, and Geoana here.

One eyewitness in Moldova gave an interview claiming that "troublemakers marred the protests". Voronin's government has expelled another Romanian diplomat. Romanians are now persona non grata in Moldova.

What is going on in Moldova?

Moldovan "democratic-communist" President Voronin has called the protests in Moldova a "fascist coup d'etat", and he insists that the Moldovan government will defend the "integrity of the state" against this fascist ploy. To cease the moral highground, Voronin keeps barking that the protestors are not true "patriots". His statements remind me of President Iliescu and the National Salvation Front's statements before the miners were brought to town (not to mention the blather of President Bush after September 11th).

So far, there has been one death and at least 200 injuries as a result of the protests. Grenades, stones, tear gas, and storming of public buildings makes it clear that this revolution is the real deal. All websites in Moldova are currently inaccessible, and the television programs alternate between jazz and culture rather than providing any coverage on the protests. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has backed the EU's call for an end to violent in Moldova. The UN has also expressed concern. The Council of Europe is irked.

Reconstructing the course of events is complicated by the Moldovan government's shut-down of communications and broadcasting. Here is what has emerged so far (subject to future revisions, for sure):

The leaders of the Opposition in Chisinau negotiated on Tuesday afternoon with the head of Government, Zenaida Greciani, and with the president of the Communist Party, said the Unimedia.md executive manager, Dumitru Ciorici, for HotNews.ro. The Opposition is represented by Serafim Urecheanu, Vlad Filat and Mihai Ghimpu, leaders of the main parties - Liberals, Democrat Liberals and the "Our Moldova Alliance. The Opposition leaders repeatedly called for a new scrutiny. The Government also hosts several members of the foreign diplomacy in Moldova, the officials of foreign states expecting to discuss with the Opposition leaders as well.

The first round of negotiations between the Opposition and Vladimir Voronin ended in failure, without any clear understanding. The speaker of the Parliament, Marian Lupu, insisted that the protests are an attempted coup d’état, and he suggested that it may be inspired fueled by Romania. As a prove, he referred to the Romanian and the EU flags raised above the Parliament’s building earlier today.

AFP and Reuters reported that negotiations led to a decision to recount the votes, but Parliament speaker Marian Lupu says that the recount is a competence of the Electoral Commission, not of political parties. Vlad Filat, one of the leaders of the opposition in the Republic of Moldova, denied on Tuesday that a deal has been reached with the communist authorities regarding a recount of the votes in the Sunday general elections, according to AFP. He said authorities had yet to respond to opposition demands. Previously, an official of the Electoral Commission quoted by AFP said the Government and the Opposition reached a deal on Tuesday evening on a recount of the vote, but that it all depended on technical means.

Conspiracy theories abound, and true facts are in short supply. Valeriu Vulcan's report from the scene offers a play-by-play of what is happening outside the Parliament. A better play-by-play can be found in Romanian here. Also try Scraps of Moscow's post. If you didn't love Twitter before, you will heart it now.

Among the interesting, provocative, and disturbing things / theories being reported:

#1    The head of the CSI Relation commission in the Russian Duma, Aleksey Ostrovsky, believes that Moldovan authorities must end the protests in Chisinau, while still respecting the legal means, Interfax informs. The official claimed that the events in Chisinau are directly connected to the influence of foreign forces, including American ones, but mostly of Western specialized intelligence services. On his opinion, the Western states are unhappy with the neutrality status adopted by president Vladimir Voronin and intend to "cause changes, so that Moldova joins the Euro-Atlantic alliance". "An important aid comes from Romania, which intends to swallow Moldova and create a new state in the region", said Ostrovsky.

#2    Sociologist Dan Dugaciu lists the elements required for a succesful revolution in Moldova. He notes that the population is divided between the young, Western-minded thinkers and the older, Russo-leaning folks.

#3    Official Moldovan radio and TV stations have condemned the "hooligans". Boy, did they read straight from Iliescu's script or what?!

#4    The Romanian government, while supporting the EU position, added a few comments about the recent visa problems for Romanians trying to enter Moldova. The heat is on.

#5    Rumors abound that the Moldovan army is preparing to enter the fray. Seems like Romanians and Moldovans are brothers after all-- even their revolutions share the same script.

#6     On hand to observe and certify the elections, the OSCE has urged restraint and an end to the violence. The OSCE's preliminary findings on the process and legality of the Moldovan election are available here.

#7    Voronin has called on the West to restore order in Moldova. Always better to have the global democrats on your side.

#8    Russia congratulated Voronin on his election win. In a clear message of support, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged the country to stick to election law and to its constitution to solve the latest crisis. Yes, Moscow is still the master.

#9    The opposition was expected to win the Moldovan elections by many Moldovans.

#10   The Moldovan government has been guarding its borders in what almost seemed to be anticipation of such protests. Voronin suspects that the hand of the Romanian government is involved in this "fascist coup".

Why I make the sign of the cross when I see a dead cat on the road.

I was baptized in a secret night-time ceremony in my grandparents' Bucharest apartment. Not even photos of a baby with dark curls, white ribbons, and pudgy fingers grasping a candle can ignite a spark of memory. The moment is lost to me.

I chose God before I knew what such choosing entailed. Those who loved me chose Him for me. As a result, I grew up in a world surrounded and imbued with the sacred. His hands turned the seasons, groomed the landscapes, explained the sparkle in my mother's eyes.

Mircea Eliade describes the purpose of The Sacred and Profane: The Nature of Religion as follows:

....to show in what ways religious man attempts to remain as long as possible in a sacred universe, and hence what his total experience of life proves to be in comparison with the experience of the man without religious feeling, of the man who lives, or wishes to live, in a desacralized world... [T]he completely profane world, the wholly desacralized cosmos, is a recent discovery in the history of the human spirit.

Like many recent discoveries, the profane world promises freedom in the name of science and rationalism. We can use our minds to imagine (and then prove) alternatives to hierophany. These alternatives are attractive because they put the reigns in human hands, the limits existing only in human minds. But the texture of this profane world does not tempt one to run his fingers through it in wonder and awe.

The world has been sacred for so long that I am jarred by the Protestant fetishization of the profane. By jettisoning the crosses, the icons, the sacred kiss, the traditions, the special meals, the golden ceremonies, the candles and incense, the sensual side of sacredness, Protestantism has left us with nothing to call sacred except our own bodies. The only beauty to capture the Christian's imagination in a Protestant church is the beauty of the women, adorned like Christmas trees with flashing teeth and bright colors. The only sublimity lies in distraction. We go to find God and leave with a stacked social calendar. The sublime is relegated to the taste of a meal or a shopping spree-- we lose the ability to locate God in the wonders of nature, life, and love.

Eliade understands my weakness:

Religious man's desire to live in the sacred is in fact equivalent to his desire to take up his abode in objective reality, not to let himself be paralyzed by the never-ceasing relativity of purely subjective experiences, to live in a real and effective world, and not in an illusion.

My American friends will smirk and giggle, or ask me why I persist in my pagan ways, when I make the sign of the cross at the sight of an amazing sunset or to mark this body as a servant of God. I understand their misgivings. After all, it looks so funny and out-of-the-ordinary in our iphone-laden daily lives. But I will continue to cross myself because the sacred is not important when compartmentalized-- it thrives and blossoms in the everyday, if one only has eyes to see it and the reverence to acknowledge it.

[Photo taken by DM Mladin.]

More on Moldova: Blogs, brains, and photos.

More coverage of the events and scene in Moldova from the indy-media:
Moldovarious
Gallery of images on Moldovan election fever
Moscovici
Law in Molodva blog
The PMFU blog
Comically Partisan blog
News.Yam.Ro
Fake Badea
Nicu Popescu's blog at EU Observer
Tudor Napasta's blog
RoBreaking News blog

Moldovan students fight for more than their rights to party.

Protests against the Communist parliamentary victory turned violent as students took to the streets. According to the BBC:

Tear gas and jets of water were blasted at protesters by security forces defending the parliament building. The presidential office was also attacked.

Representatives of the opposition parties, are among the thousands of mainly young people protesting in the centre of the capital, Chisinau.

They believe the elections result was fraudulent.

The mayor of Chisinau, Dorin Chirtoaca, who is deputy head of the opposition Liberal Party, said the protests were justified "because people did not vote for the Communists in such large numbers".

Meanwhile, Romanian member of  the European Parliament, Marian Jean Marinescu, participating as observer in the Moldova elections, declared that there are strong suspicions regarding the number of electors who participated in the scrutiny on Sunday:

"The number announced by the Central Office was 2,540,000 people, some 150,000 more than those who participated last year at the local elections. The figure is important because the scrutiny would have been annulled in case the turnout was under 50%."

More than 240 Romanians have been denied entry at the Moldovan border over the past three days. Hotnews.ro reports that all news websites in Moldova are blocked, while the Moldovan TV stations are not broadcasting any of the events in Chisinau. The revolution, however, can be followed live on the internet, as Moldova is the hottest tag on Twitter. Get twitter updates via Tweetscoop.

I have enormous respect for all the courageous Moldovan students out there right now. Viva la revolution!

Flowers for Moldovan liberals.

Basescu hopes for a "strong EU-US relationship", the emphasis being on channeling Romania's interests through the EU and NATO, rather than continuing the unilateral relationships encouraged by the Bush administration. +  Nabucco is back on the map, much to Gazprom's chagrin. + Social Democratic leader Geoana reaffirms his commitment to playing dirty during in the presidential election as he launches into Basescu's family. + The Romanian press and the Japanese press, a lover's comparison. +  The Romanian government institutes a profit tax on losses-- not the best way to make the Romanian economy attractive to international investors in times of economic sluggishness. + Scholar Michael S. Radu passed away at 61. + A Romanian company, MBTechnology, won the most important award at the Geneva exhibition of inventions with its ROBOSCAN, a vehicle capable of scanning large lorries and trailers with no human intervention. + The three main opposition parties in Moldova are asking for a recount and accusing Voronin's government of fraud in the recent election which claimed victory fot the communists. Although pre-election polls seemed to predict a win for the communists, I confess to being suspicious, given Voronin's track record and the articulated feelings of young Moldovans who were sure the communists would not survive this election.

"Portents", a poem by Marin Sorescu.

PORTENTS

If you meet a chair,
That's a good sign, you'll go to heaven.
If you meet a mountain,
That's a bad sign, you'll be put in the chair.
If you meet the Greater Bear,
That's a good sign, you'll go to heaven.
If you meet a snail,
It's a bad sign, you'll be inside the snail.
If you meet a woman,
It's a good sign, you'll go to heaven.
If you meet a tablecloth,
It's a bad sign, you'll end up in the drawer.
If you meet a serpent,
It's a good sign, it'll die and you'll go to heaven.
If the serpent meets you,
It's a bad sign, you'll die and he'll go to heaven.
If you die,
It's a bad sign.

Beware that sign,
And all the others.

Translated by Andrei Bantas.
Photo credit.

Lovely linkage.

• President Basescu declared that Romania "fully reached its goals" at the NATO summit. Whether he is saying this to avert a crisis of confidence or due to final negotiations is not yet clear.
• A Romanian ambassador visits a school in the United Kingdom.
• Romanian trade union are not happy with IMF loan condictions on labor. I'd be willing to bet a few chips that Geoana is taking note, as he attempts to secure labor unions in for his electoral constituency in the coming presidential election.
• Romania's political parties finished their lists of candidates for the European Parliament elections scheduled on June 7 and will hand them in to the Central Election Bureau now.
• Never stop the Europop? Elena Gheorghe and the Balkan Girls on video.
• A list of ethnic minorities currently residing in Romania.
• Hope about a non-Communist victory in the Moldovan elections no longer seems so strong. It looks like the new Molodvan government will have to choose between closer ties with Russia or the West.
• A Transylvanian student will represent Romania at the cartoon competition on EU and citizenship issues.
• Romania and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding in Istanbul on April 3rd regarding Romania's participation in the Black Sea naval operation Harmony. The two countries will take part in the exercises, along with Ukraine and Russia.

10 from today.

1. The latest on the upcoming Moldovan elections that could push the Communists from power.
2. The second nuclear plant in Romania will probably be located somewhere in Transylvania.
3. A Romanian citizen was arrested for smuggling cocaine in Ireland.
4. Free For Life Ministries honors Romanian human trafficking expert, Iana Matei, for her work in the nonprofit sector.
5. Romanian film industry holds Gopo Awards Gala.
6. Alexxius' beautiful flickr set on Romania.
7. NATO reconfirms its position on Moldovan territorial integrity.
8. A video fragment from The Lost World of Communism (2009).
9. Communist-era architectural ornaments in Bucharest.
10. Tomis, the oldest living city in Romania.

[Photo taken by Andreea Moldovan.]

What Romania wants from NATO and why they might not get it.

President Basescu is pushing for a NATO missile shield, which puts him at loggerheads with Russian leader Medvedev, who will try to convince Obama later this month that a NATO missile shield would be a mistake. It appears that Obama is already inclined to cut the defense spending budget; Gates is expected to announce major cuts in missile spending later this week.

As a particularly active member of the 25-nation NATO Alliance, the Romanian government played a significant role in the American war on terrorism under the Bush administration.Unfortunately, the Obama administration will not be impressed by Romania's willingness to do Bush's bidding in the Balkans. In fact, it might even make the current administration more skeptical of congruence between US and Romanian security interests.

Recently, Basescu's courtship of the Serbian government dove-tailed with statements made yesterday calling on NATO to maintain "political neutrality towards Kosovo". According to an article in Financiarul, Basescu stressed that Romania wants that the anniversary NATO summit "to continue to mention the Black Sea area as a region of interest and a strategic element of security within NATO security policies, keeping in this way the message sent in 2008, in Bucharest". Basescu admitted that security in the  Black Sea region is not possible without Russian cooperation:

"The cooperation with the Russian Federation, following the conflict with Georgia has been questioned. Our point of view is that the cooperation between NATO and the Russian Federation has to be resumed, and Romania is one of the most interested countries that this cooperation be unfolded on the basis of principles set previously, on pragmatic bases, but starting from the reality that the security of  the  Black Sea is  not possible  without the  commitment of  the  Russian Federation," explained president Basescu.

Basescu should be aware of the Obama administration's desire for rapprochement and cooperation with Russia. The Romanian government will need to weigh this desire against its security interests in a missile shield and a Black Sea security corridor. In order to influence US policy in the Balkans, the Romanian government will need to assume a larger role in the EU and cultivate a strong relationship with NATO's new chief, Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen.

To recap, Romania's strategic and economic interests in the NATO Alliance currently include (in no particular order):

1. Re-commitment to the Black Sea region as a strategic security interest (possibly involving energy security via the Nabucco pipeline).
2. Maintaining the commitment to protect energy infrastructure.
3. Maintaining commitments made by NATO on full coverage of the NATO territory by the anti-missile shield (including Romania and the Balkan area).
4. Encouragement of Montenegro and Bosnia in their attempts to join the Alliance.
5. Political neutrality with military engagement on the question of Kosovo's status.
6. Negotiation with Russia on a peripheral role in the Alliance.

For more on NATO, Romania, and the strategic playing field:

• "US-Russia ties on a new trajectory", Asia Times
• "Medvedev: Russia and US still have differences", Boston Globe
• "NATO allies pledge 5,000 troops to Afghanistan", CNN
• "In US, Europe a delicate political topic", AP
• "Obama, Medvedev agreed to disagree only on Georgia in G20" , New Europe
• "Obama: Threats to security, economy worldwide", Boston Herald

Good news from Moldova + the usual suspects in Romania.

Meanwhile, heroes and thugs continue emerge. Romanian Capt. Petre Tiberius was killed in Afghanistan. Gigi Becali is going to jail. Traian Bujduveanu pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy count to export US military airplane parts to Iran. He acted as his own lawyer and faces up to five years in federal prison when sentenced June 11. He's a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Romania. Former Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu resigned from the Liberal Party. He used the word "sad".

Ulwe Klussman writes exciting news from Moldova. It seems the Moldovans are increasgly dissatisfied with the Communists and have begun to express hopes for reunification with Romania. No small wonder that Moldovan authorities have limited freedom of movement recently. Klussman observes:

The party most keen to keep Moldova independent is the Communist Party, which has ruled the country for eight years. It draws strength from the fact that the poor region enjoyed a significant boom during the Soviet era. For years, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin, who leads the Communist Party, spurred the electorate with hopes for a "rebirth of the socialist community." Now he's taking a more pro-Europe stance.

The graying party functionary still lays Soviet-style wreaths at Lenin monuments on holidays and the Communist Party program still invokes the "volcano of social creativity, born in the revolution." The Communist Party is popular with their German comrades in the far-left Left Party, whose delegations get driven through the country's sunny wine country in Russian Volga cars. The Left Party members rave about their "friendly" and "warm" Moldovan counterparts.

Those affable Communists, though, are becoming less and less popular among their own people. The only people who listen obediently to Voronin's monotonous speeches are pensioners in worn coats. Speaking in a cultural center in Ustia, a village in the east of the country, he promises that they will soon "be no worse off than the people in the cities."

A Communist election poster, glued to the door of a grocery store, shows a beautiful young woman with impeccable teeth and the slogan: "We are building a European Moldova together." But there is little sign of young beauties with perfect smiles in the village. The customers coming into the store are mainly long-term unemployed with missing teeth. "The young people have gone to Russia or Europe," says Mikhail, a villager in his late fifties. "They are building their futures there."

Among those who are left behind, there are frequent outbursts of rage at the corrupt Communist Party regime, which has helped the president's son Oleg become one of the richest "biznesmen" in the country. The average monthly wage is €175 ($232). "We have no fear" is the slogan at a rally of liberal and right-wing opposition parties in the capital Chisinau, attended by some 30,000 people.

Alexandru Eftode backs Klussman's observations with his own views on the failure and consequent fade of communism in Moldova. He notes that Voronin's ideological loyalties have distorted his assessment of PR lately, leading to odd speeches and uncomfortable moments:

It wasn’t the first time that the Communist leader had invoked Leninist ideals of a “social state,” which his party has arguably been building in Moldova for the past eight years in power. But this time he seemed more confident, as governments from Washington to Moscow were intervening to bail out their capitalist or quasi-capitalist economies in times of economic crisis. “The teachings of the classics of Marxism-Leninism are still relevant and can become a road map for solving the problems of our days,” Voronin declared.

Wouldn't it be awesome to celebrate the funeral of another communist regime? Metaphorically, of course.

[The photo of industrial Craiova was taken by Bogdan Panait.]

100 things to do in Romania this summer.

1. Start the summer with music at the EuropaFest in Bucharest (May 7th-13th).
2. Then get your life in order at Business Summer School.
3. Linger streetside for the Bucharest Street Music Festival.
4. Or see who / what is playing at Green Hours.
5. Or Revenge.
6. Or maybe even Big Mamou.
7. Get a view of the city and cheap beer at Laptaria lui Enache.I don't care if the service is bad-- some of my favorite Bucharest conversations took place on that roof.
8. Visit the ancient Greek colony of Histria, or Itros.
9. Pack a tent, food, music, friends, and instruments to spend a weekend on the beaches at Vama Veche. If you like live music, plan this trip to coincide with the Stufstock Festival (August).
10. See a few films in the line-up at the International Film Festival in Bucharest.
11. Pick visine and make visinata in Bran.
12. Buy a hand-made carpet in Oltenia.
13. Visit St. Anne's Lake, where there is a cabana popular with students, as well as rare peat bogs. The lake occupies a volcanic crater on Mount Ciumatu and is the site for a festival on St. Anne's Day (July 26).
14. Camp out at the Sighisoara Medieval Festival (July). Don't forget to brew some mead and don your best medieval frocks.
15. Perfect your hora at the Hora at Prislop (first or second Sunday in August) behind the inn just before the Prislop Pass, linking Maramures with Moldavia.
16. Visit the 14th century stone Orthodox Church in Sandulesti, rare because the Orthodox were then forbidden to build in stone.
17. Take your lover to Putna for the weekend. Visit the tomb of Stefan cel Mare and the legendary cell of Daniil the Hermit.
18. Draft a Romanian historic monument list based on this website and try to check off as many as possible.
19. See The Tree of Jesse painted on the south wall at Sucevita monastery. As a literal depiction of the Isaiah's prophecy that the Messiah will spring "from the stem of Jesse", It is meant to symbolize the continuity between the Old and New Testament.
20. Find a husband or wife at the Gaina Mountain Maidens' Fair. Enjoy the ladies and maidens from Avram Iancu dressed in traditional clothing playing the unique mountain instrument also known as the alpenhorn. And barter with fairies for the golden egg.
21. Hunt for gold in Hunedoara.
22. Celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Sighet Memorial with a visit.
23. Visit the old Jewish bathhouse and the Memorial for WWII victims at Moisei.
24. Try to score an interview with a Naver in Sibiu.
25. Take a trip organized by the Doina Foundation with a focus on folk music and dance.
26. Camp near Orheiul Vechi and explore the cave-church dug by monks in the 13th century. Lovers of ruins will love these ruins.
27. See the Bears Cave near Bihor, considered to be the world's second largest ice cave.
28. Rent a motorcycle or just strap an engine to your bike and head to Turda for the Eastern European Vintage Bike Rally (4th weekend of July). Look for my aunt and cousin in the biker gang, "Red Storm".
29. Take photos of The Merry Cemetery.
30. Play poker on the rocks near the Casino in Constanta.
31. Backpack to Babele and Caraiman.
32. Watch an artist paint icons.
33. Spend a day at the National Museum of the Peasant in Bucharest.
34. See the salt mines in Turda.
35. Spend a weekend at Slanic Prahova.
36. Explore the magnificent fortress of Deva Castle.
37. Camp out in August at Calimanesti in Wallachia to get an earful of Oltenian folk music.
38. Check out the Polovragi Fair in Oltenia (July 15th or 20th).
39. Build or attend the biggest possible bonfire for the Feast of John the Baptist (June 24th).
40. Celebrate Dragaica, the pagan pre-harvest celebration, in some fields with local peasants on Midsummer Day.
41. Get tickets for BestFest.
42. Drink Red Bull and watch the maniacs compete at Romaniacs (August).
43. Spend a night at Piatra Alba.
44. See Tara Motilor.
    
45. Go to Brincovenesti, founded on a Roman site, to see the five-towered castle dating from the 14th century and to celebrate the Cherry Fair (on the first Sunday of June).
46. Hunt for ghosts at the notoriously-haunted Hasdeu Castle.
47. Attend one of the Measurement of Milk festivals held in the villages around Ciucea, on the slopes of Magura Priei.
48. Buy some burduf from sheperds (make sure the rind is scented like pine) and feast upon it. Sometimes you can find burduf for sale on the road-side in Transylvania, but the best is usually fetched by hiking up to a stina in the mountains and bartering porn magazines with the sheperds.
49. Explore the folk-tale of Manole, the master-builder of Curtea de Arges, by visiting the well which is his namesake. You can also see the graves of the first kings and queens of Romania here.
50. See the tremendous Iron Gates holding back the Danube. Learn more about the two islands, Ada Kaleh and Orsova, which were completely submerged by the hydroelectric dam project between Romanian and Yugoslavia.
51. See the ruined fortress of Golubac, where St. George killed the dragon, supposedly accounting for the large number of insects still feeding off the carcass.
52. Dress like royalty and spend the day wandering around the Peles castle, pinkies upturned.
53. See Brasov from atop Mount Timpa-- you can hike it or cable car it.
54. Ride a camel on the beach at Mamaia. Topless.
55. Catch the International Theatre Festival in Sibiu.
56. Visit the Greater Romania party headquarters and tell them that you are a gay Romanian nationalist who was born abroad but has returned to the homeland to fight for the Greater Romania. Also let them you know that you agree on their positions about women staying home and having babies. Intolerance at its finest. Methinks the worst you can do for such groups is to take them seriously.
57. See what the Ministry of Culture suggests.
58. Picnic at Risnov, where the beautiful ruins of the 14th century castle crowns Brasov. You can get there by taking the steps from the courtyard of Casa de Cultura, through an archway by the bus stop.
59. Learn about the history and culture of the Swabian minority at the Swabian Museum in Petresti.
60. Visit Fundata, one of the highest villages in Romania, situated at the top of the Giulava Pass.
61. Try to spot the famous Carpathian stag around Mount Omu or in the vicinity of Bran. If you spot him, take a photo and sell it to the Japanese tourists as they clamber off their buses.
62. Consider summer school in Romania with Arizona State University.
63. Take photos of Brancusi’s four sculptures created in the late 1930’s as a memorial for Targu Jiu, the town of his youth.
64. Explore Romanian archaeology at the Parvan Archaeological Institute.
65. Find out which day at the beginning of summer the townsfolk of Fagaras will stand on a hill and hurl ritual insults at their opponents below. Be there.
66. Buy sheet music for traditional Romanian folk tunes and learn to play them.
67. See the icons painted on glass at Simbata Monastery.
68. Read some poetry on the island where Ovid was exiled.
69. Ask around villages and towns for Strada Lautari to find local Gypsy musicians. See if you can afford to pay a troupe to play for you as you dine near a local stream.
70. Bask in a therapeutic mud bath scooped from Lake Techirghiol.
71. Visit the legendary cave of Ialomicioara.
72. See the head of Michael the Brave at Dealu Monastery.
73. Read Adrian Olaru's story about Brancusi's sculpture, The Table of Silence, and then see it for yourself.
74. Make tracings of the old defense walls of Sibiu
75. Sample Romanian wines and wander around the vineyards in Focsani.
76. Learn about the fiercely conservative, religious Csango groups who live in the towns of Ghimes and Frumoasa.
77. Paint watercolor still lifes and portraits in the spectacular Olt Valley.
78. Explore the ruins of a large 14th century church at Slimnic.
79. Bring a bottle of wine to enjoy at the Orwellian Museum in Bucharest.
80. Take a road trip to see all the paintings of Parvu the Mute.
81. Find a worthwhile rock at the National Museum of Geology.
82. Learn how to make tuica from one of the old men sitting on the benches in Cismigiu.
83. Hike the Seven Ladders Canyon near Brasov.
84. Stroll through the Vasile Grigore Museum and learn more about one of Romania's contemporary masters.
85. Read Buchurestian's post on arts and culture and see where it takes you.
86. Try the student menu at Caru cu Bere.
87. Visit the fishing village of Sfintu Gheorghe and enjoy the floating disco-bar, camping in the wild, or a boat trip to Lacu Rosu.
88. Hunt for the forced labor camps of the Danube. Just ask people in Constanta or the surrounding villages.
89. Ask the first 50 Romanians you see a simple question-- "Leonard Cohen? Love him or hate him?". I have my theories.
90. Explore the romantic architecture of Kos Karoly in Timisoara.
91. Unwind in the Roman-style baths at Baile Herculane.
92. Hunt for a Lipovani boatman near Mila 23, Jurilovca, or Sarichioi and pay them to guide you through the girla of the Danube Delta.
93. Explore Romanian cinema at the National Center of Cinematography.
94. Roam through the Aziezie Mosque in Tulcea.
95. See the ruins in Bontida.
96. Talk to the ladies and gentlemen on the staff of Idea in Clij.
97. Enjoy Eminescu's favorite haunt, Copou Gardens, in Iasi.
98. Try to spend the night in the Bran Castle. Hide and wait until all the security guards have closed down, then uncork it.
99. Video-tape or just visit Bucharest's Old Quarter off Lipscani before it becomes recent history.
100. Befriend the Dacian god, Zalmoxis, by leaving offerings at his abode, the Polovragi cave.

Romania's oldest prisoner receives a presidential pardon.

The oldest prisoner from the maximum security prison of Iasi (north-east of Bucharest), octogenarian Constantin Dima has been pardoned on Wednesday by Romania's president Traian Basescu. The head of the Romanian state signed the decree of pardon for Constantin Dima, the 80-year old man from the locality of Mosna, who was imprisoned for disturbance of possession.

The decree of pardon mentions that because of humanitarian reasons and allowing for the age and the health condition of the prisoner, as well as for his family situation, on Wednesday, April 1, Romania's President Traian Basescu signed the decree of pardon for Constantin Dima for the remainder of sentence which was not served, applied for the crime of non-observance of judicial decisions stipulated by article 271, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code.

'It's good news that Constantin Dima will spend the Easter with his family. I consider that in such cases, as it is the one of Constantin Dima, although judges were fair in the implementation of the law, they should take into account the human aspect of the case before ruling a final verdict,' said deputy Petru Movila, who endorsed the pardon decree before the state institutions. The 80-year old Dima was sent to prison in February after having been given a 6-month probation in 2006 because of disturbance of possession.

The 80-year old Constantin Dima wanted to take the law into his own hands after judges compelled him to share 3.5 ha of land with his sister. As a consequence, magistrates decided to send him behind bars for 2 years, after he tore once again the stakes which marked the boundaries of the plot of land.

[Source: Agerpress. Article cut and pasted from Roumanie.com.]

In Bucharest on April 9th...

You could head over the the Hardcomics #9 Launch Party and enjoy illustrations, music, and the company of other people. Logistics available at link.