Expat In Romania

The first version of this post was published not long after I moved to Romania, when the political battles in the country resembled mafia clan wars - minus the restaurant drive-bys. (You can find it here ). The same types of unscrupulous bosses laying claim to and fighting for fiefdoms while their lieutenants (ministers or deputies in parliament) run the day to day management, right down to the associates (bureaucrats) who may not be 'in' the system, per se , but who facilitate and gladly take favours when they're given. This is not such an original analogy, if you're looking at the situation objectively, but people here don't quite see it because, even if the government is run by a criminal organization, the ordinary citizen is ignorant as to how organized crime works. Many Romanians are are also ignorant about the way democracy works. Or, if you think about it, how business and economics work. Let's just say we're on a learning curve. But, if we're...

A little joke I like to tell people is that the reason there is no organized crime in Romania is because Romanians can't get organized, ha-ha-ha. It's funny because it's true. The reality though is that it's only a half-truth. If you look at many of the issues plaguing this beautiful country, you'll find that most people with any sort of authority couldn't be trusted to watch a two year old sleeping without somehow messing it up. On the other hand, even if they don't gun each other down in the streets, extort shopkeepers, or provide gambling, prostitution, and loan 'services', the mafia here is your traditional parasitical entity; gouging and stripping away at its victim(s) without mercy. This has become no more apparent than in 2012, particularly during the last couple of months where the escalating turf war has been making daily headlines as the rivaling factions battle it out in Parliament, in the Courts, and through their respective media o...