Expat In Romania

Dear Leaders, Do you ever wonder, if only fleetingly, what your legacy will be? Will school children learn your names, will your statues stand on pedestals in parks? Will you be remembered as wise, enlightened, leaders who made Romania better? In case you ever do wonder, the answer to these questions is, of course, 'No'.  You will be remembered as 'The Post-Communism Communists', 'The Incompetents', 'The Corrupt' , 'The New Phanariotes' - though that is a generous comparison, the Phanariotes were at least educated and, at times, capable governors, patriots even.  You, on the other hand, will have done nothing more than govern, speak, and behave like the communists you replaced in 1989, though with a touch less patriotism and a lot more incompetence. How does it feel to know you cannot point to any one single nation-building accomplishment? No crowning achievements. No names to stand out and go down in history, except maybe with the l...

"Jos Comunistii!" "PSD, Ciuma Rosie!" Why are there now, as I'm writing, protesters out in the streets chanting, "down with the communists" and "PSD is the Red Plague"? Hasn't it been nearly thirty years since a bloody revolution rid us of the Red Plague? It had poisoned our minds and imprisoned our souls for nearly fifty years. Globally, Communism has killed more people and lasted longer than any historical plague. Yet here we are, still fighting this insidious disease, as if it never went away. Judging by much of the Romania around me, it hasn't. Without a doubt, the Romania of '89 and the Romania of today are two different countries - at least on the surface. Cars are not all Dacias, people aren't toting worn-out raffia bags wherever they go (even if Luis Vuiton has made them fashionable in the West ), there is more colour, more glass alongside the concrete, more neon, more music. Roads are flatter, (some) sidewalks w...