The way things are.

When it comes to politics Romanians are quite bad at it, and when I say Romanians I mean the people who vote, the ones who are not involved in one way or another in politics. And thats the real problem. When it comes to voting, even if it’s for local elections, parliament elections or presidential elections people don’t really know whats happening.

They have one thing clear in they’re minds and that is they have to vote for someone and so comes the problem. If you ask them who do they have to vote for or who is candidating they will reply with a  simple “I don’t know” and that is what happens in most cases, then we have another category of voters who if you ask the same questions they will respond that they do know who the candidates are, they don’t know which party they are representing and what do they intend to offer if they get elected based on an a political doctrine.  Last but not least we have the category of voters who follow politics on a daily basis and even if they are not members of a political party they still have knowledge of political doctrines and ideologies and as such from the start they know who they are going to vote for.

Unfortunately the last category of voters is quite limited in numbers and that is what makes them, when it comes to elections, not want to go and vote  because they’re vote will not contribute with much because the masses which is composed of the first two categories I’ve mentioned vote recklessly.

The first two category’s of voters tend to vote either if they get bribed by the candidate or the people in its entourage, they tend to vote the image of the candidate, they tend to vote the candidate who has the most influence in the area they live in the hope that this will make they’re life better. Can you then what’s wrong with this picture. Don’t get me wrong, I mean, I’m sure that this happens all over the world but it’s not a mass problem like it is in Romania.

What lead to this mentality? Well I blame it on a number of factors like communism, bad educational system etc. and untill this is fixed I personally don’t see a future for Romanian politics. These days there are numerous gatherings of the lead members of the biggest party’s in Romania so they can talk about reform inside they’re organisations. Sure this is a step forward but untill the mentality of the common Romanian changes I don’t see much future for politics in this country.

War of the roses.

At this time in the Romanian press all you can read about or see on news channels is the current fight of the second largest party in Romania the Social Democrats (PSD). What are they fighting about? Well it’s simple, it’s a competition inside the party because in March there will be a national Congress and elections were the main stake is the presidency of the party.

With the change of the current party leader Mircea Geoana there are also expected changes regarding  ideology of the party and even structural like new positions and eliminating older ones.

Now let’s take a look at who the main candidates are at the present time. We have Mircea Geoana and his influence group, the current party leader and the man who participated in the november- december 2009 presidential elections where he obtained a high number of votes from the population about 5 million votes about 50%, but lets remember he managed to get this percentage with the help of the coalition formed in the second round with PNL against Traian Basescu. Let’s not forget that his adversaries claim that although he brought the 5 million votes he also lost the campaign with the entire political class backing him.

The second person who announced his candidature about a week ago was Miron Mitrea, an old member of the party and a member who at this time has great influence among the party ramifications inside the country due to his union days when he was a union leader.

The third person inside the party who took up the battle flag is ex-minister of foreign affairs and old party member Cristian Diaconescu. When it comes to him he relies on his reputation as one of the most trusted politicians in Romania and also on a superb informational data base wich permits him to manipulate and attract party members to vote for him.

Another leader that wanted to take part in this fight but hasn’t yet declared his candidature is Adrian Nastase, probably one of the most respected and experienced political animals inside the country with a grand political career to back him up. If he decides to candidate then we will see a great political clash inside the party and have the oportunity to see the political qualities of this candidates.

Romania the Land of Choice! NOT

“Romania the land of Choice!” this is the official campaign slogan of the Ministry of Tourism in Romania since the current minister Elena Udrea took over the department. It was lounched at the international tourism fair in France, if I’m not mistaken, where several promotional video clips were shown. The stars? Some of the most important and famous people who Romania offered in the last 20 and something years like Ilie Nastase the great Romanian tennisman, Nadia Comaneci the current record holder for a perfect 10 as a gymnast at the Olympics and last but not least the greatest football player that Romania ever produced Gheorghe Hagi.

You would think that this was a great idea? Well if you look at the clips than it is true. They are quite good and definitely shows the tourist potential that this country has to offer. Let’s really see that has it been offering in the last few months.

Hmm lets start with the overall political and economic crisis. A real disaster that the current government doesn’t even begin to understand and by that fact it’s too much to ask of them to have solutions to the problem.

Second in line we have in the last few Romania made the front pages of the international press with the decalration of Viorel Hrebeciuc, the campaign leader of Mircea Geoana, candidate for the presidential elections in november – december last year who stated that Mircea Geoana lost the election because his adversary the current president Traian Basescu used special people with paranormal and mind control capabilities in order to destroy his candidates mind in the debates. Well people really took at as a real lough at first but now we come to the third thing that Romania has to offer.

An incredibly stupid and moronic press that took the subject on a histeric level and practically made Romania and Romanians feel like they are a bunch of idiots living in the LAND OF CHOICE!

So if you are ever in the neighbourhood please come to Romania because i guarantee you that you will have a real good time. Ohh and thank good that the Vaccine hysteria passed and you missed that show but in the end it is still worth coming here because there is more to come as lead director Traian Basescu and his actors are bound to put up a hell of a good show.

Ohh and I forgot to offer you todays scene as Romania is now paralysed because of the current snow storms that have plagued the country for the last few days so do come and enjoy our WHITE HELL.

Hope I made you all interested so untill next time, Cheers!

The next step for CSTP.

Four days have passed since we have gotten the OK for the launch of our Center for the study of Political Theories (CSTP) and in this time we have tried to organise the way this center will work and what is going to be the first activity that the center will have. So why the update you ask? Well because in these four days we have found the time to start the fabrication of this brand and what better way to start a brand than with a logo. For this I would publicly like to give thanks to our colleague Ionut Cucu who showed a great artistic eye as he drew up the logo with just a few ideas I passed on to him a few days ago.

But don’t let me keep you in suspense. So here it is!

Vaccine fever.

What am I talking about? I’ talking about the current situation of our national Capital who is facing a real hysteria from its residents who, after the death of actor Toni Tecuceanu, who died a few day’s ago because after being diagnosed with AH1N1 fever. People literally formed long lines in front of the two hospitals who are vaccinating the population against the dreaded flu. Hospitals like Colentina and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases have been overcrowded and the personnel have been working in shifts 24/7 in order to assure as many vaccines as possible.

Although the vaccines have been given by the government since the 26th of November 2009  the population did not want to make it because they felt  it has a great risk of side effects. After the death of  Toni Tecuceanu and the current growth of AH1N1 cases all over the state people have decided to make the vaccine.

Starting tomorrow more centers will be oppened in Bucharest and authorities say that every personal physician will have the obligation to have vaccine dozes for every patient they have under care. I, personally did not make the vaccine and I hope that I have the time this week to go and get me some protection. All in all I don’t think that the situation is as bad as the media wants us to believe.

A proud and important day.

Today has been a great day for me. As Romanians were celebrating were celebrating one of the most important saints in the orthodox calendar, me and two friends of mine finally managed to get the approval of the faculty board to start the first center in our College that will deal with the study of current political theories and they way they are applied in current day Romania. We will have many debates, conferences, study groups and much more in order for the students to understand the importance of politics and how it affects they’re lives.

I would like to mention that we have a coordinator in the person of the Prof. Dr. Adrian Mihai Cioroianu who is the ex-minister of foreign affairs of Romania and a professor at our College. I would also like to mention the two other founders of this Center and they are: Mr. Bogdan Varsan and Mr. Marius Balos.

I do hope that the center will have great success and it will grow in popularity in the shortest time possible.  I will keep you posted on the matter as many times as I can write about it. Cheers!

For my Romanian viewers here is a link with our blog http://studiipolitice.wordpress.com/.

The BUDGET for 2010.

The BUDGET. What budget? The state budget that Romania has been given by the IMF (they drew up the law) for the year 2010 has been placed in parliament in order for it to be debated and to give the opposition the chance to place amendments and hopefully rectify the budget where it needs be rectified.

Through this week, as the budget must be adopted untill the 11th of January, I shall post, hopefully every day, most of the problems that the current budget law has and if I can maybe I shall offer solutions.

It is known that this yer there will be great job cutbacks in administration, transports, pensions, educations, social services and many other but some things never change. What things you ask? Well the unimportant ones, in my opinion, like the secret services (SRI, SIE, SPP) who have unusually gotten a rise in their normal budget. Why do they need this significant increase in budget? Does Romania have problems that these services need to get even better payments? For God’s sake this is a time of crisis. These kind of areas need to remain the same as far as money is concerned.

Where do they strike with the job cutbacks? In all important sectors of a society.Can’t they see that Romania is a country that still depends off the state’s budget. Millions of people depend on it and what do they do they kill’em one by one. But hey the people wanted this government and this president and now they should see what this has gotten them. Keep in touch with more on this subject. Cheers!

A modern problem.

Tigani, rromi (as they are called in Romanian), gipsy’s, pike’s, whatever you want to call them they are one of the most controversial population that has ever entered the european continent. The largest population of gipsy’s we fin in Romania as they number about 500.000 heads officially but in truth there are about 1.500.000 gipsy’s in Romania.

They are the second group of ethnic minorities in Romania after the Magyars. But let’s get back to the fact that they are a controversial population. Why? Although the matter is much more complex than offering a simple answer my guess is that they’re lifestyle determines the way they seem to view society. Although they have been present on Romanian soil since the XIV century it seems that they have failed to integrate as a group in the Romanian society. They like to keep old habits and resort to having a lifestyle that affects the rest of the population. They tend to migrate from place to place and as a direct result they resort to stealing (food, money, possessions etc.) when the government refuses to give them social aid. They refuse to integrate and the criminal rate of the country is high because of them. Call me rasist but these are just known stats.

And the Romanian example has extended in European country’s in the Vest like Italy, Spain, France, most recently the UK. They have the same lifestyle as in Romania and they resort to the same occupations as in Romania (stealing, begging, even organised crime). At first I thought that it’s the government’s fault because they don’t do anything to try to integrate them in the society but now when I see that most of the country’s they go to have the same problems I must say that my theory has changed an I strongly believe that they cannot be integrated as they absolutely refuse to.

Don’t get me wrong there are numerous persons of gypsy blood who are cultural icons or have had great careers in numerous professions but the general population is, and I am not putting it harshly, considered a plague.

Change is good!

A new year has come and with it a time for change. Much needed change for me, the way I live and the way I used to see things. I believe it’s going to be a good year and hopefully a succesful year.

I have been accused by some of the people who read my blog that I tend to write only serious stuff and that is why I have decided to change the theme of my blog. It is a more serious appearance and I hope that this year I will make more time to write more on my blog and even promote it more amongst the community.

I will not write too much in this post and I hope that my readers will welcome the change I have brought to the blog. Cheers!

Virtue! Do they have it?!?

The Romanian political class. What does the Romanian political class don’t have and ultimately need to have in order for this country to advance both in a material nature and in a spiritual nature, the spiritual nature of ultimate freedom? Let’s start from the beginning.

Romania as a country since the bloody revolution of 1989 consider ourselves a free and democratic country, even if the first years after the revolution I would call it a democratic country just a country of post communism transition with the main word describing the political class would be corruption. Over the years like any other ex communist country we have developed the current political democratic feel, it has developed so slow until Romania finally was accepted in the EU. Since our entrance in the European community we can say that things have developed quite good, that is until the recent international crisis fell upon the country and all that we worked for in the last couple of years will surely fall in just two years 2009 – 2010.

Why is that? Well as I wrote in the second paragraph we have developed a democratic fell and the fell that we live in an established de republic like the constitution presents. But as political members in a republic what do our current politicians need, because it is clear that they do not have it. I’ tell you what. They need VIRTUE. Yes, that’s right. They need political virtue, they need to fell that when they choose the path of politics they do it in order to make this country a better place, they need to show love for this country in the form of patriotism, they need to have a correct moral code in which nothing or no one can control them and that will give them the protection to stay away from the pitfall of corruption.

But I am a fool to think that the current generation of politicians can develop such a basic principle of government as they have been born and lived, most of them, all they’re lives in communism where such a word as political virtue wouldn’t have been neither accepted nor cultivated. I look at country’s who have lived for centuries under the rule of democracy and they’re politicians have but a small notion of what this word needs to represent. I just hope that in time and future generations will learn and develop the political virtue needed to take this country forward.