A Romanian surprise

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Everybody is giddy. In Bucharest, that is. Basescu is the new president of Romania. As a result, the marriage of PSD and PUR suddenly went sour and PUR announced that for “the good of the country” they would consider a coalition with other partners too.

A-ha.

The next days should be interesting.

The voter turnout seemed huge yesterday. It didn’t look much like a Sunday on the streets, and Bucharest is strongly pro-Basescu. (Basescu is the mayor of Bucharest.) So I’m surprised, but not very surprised.

I’ve hardly ever seen so many happy faces on the streets like today. Nice.

Rock & Roll Rabbis

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Strolling back home from the Christmas Market last night, we noticed bouncy pop music and an enthusiastic crowd in front of the Old Opera House. As we came closer, we could see the musicians, jamming on electric guitar and synthesiser. As rockers, they were (you will pardon the expression, given what follows) a little unorthodox. Oh, the beards would have gone down well back in the hippy days, and the black clothes were pure goth. But those snappy fedoras?
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Understanding Turkey and the US

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… through the lens of daily newspapers. Shamelessly stolen in its entirety from Turkish Torque, whose sharp commentary deserves a huge audience. (Not that we can provide one, but that does not make the Torquester any less deserving.)

Who reads what?

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country. (Yeni Safak?)
2. The New York Times is read by people who think they run the country. (H?rriyet & Milliyet?)
3. The Washington Post is read by people who think they ought to run the country. (Milli Gazete, Radikal & D.B. Terc?man?)
4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don’t understand the Washington Post.
5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn’t mind running the country, if they could spare the time.
6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country. (Cumhuriyet?)
7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren’t too sure who’s running the country. (Fanatik & Pas Fotomac?)
8. The New York Post is read by people who don’t care who’s running the country, as long as they do something scandalous.
9. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren’t sure there is a country, or that anyone is running it.
10. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country.

(Sinancigim, tesekk?rler.)

Doctors: Yuschenko was poisoned

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Via the BBC:

Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko’s mystery illness was caused by poisoning, his Vienna doctors say.

The doctors said extensive tests showed a form of dioxin had been used, leaving Mr Yushchenko’s face disfigured.

They described the poisoning as serious and said that if left untreated it could have killed him.
[…]
“There is no doubt about the fact that the disease has been caused by a case of poisoning by dioxin,” Michael Zimpfer, the head doctor of the Rudolfinerhaus clinic where Mr Yushchenko is undergoing treatment, said.

“There were high concentrations of dioxin, most likely orally administered.”
[…]
Mr Yushchenko’s blood and tissue registered concentrations of dioxin 1,000 times above normal levels.

There appeared to be little lasting damage to Mr Yushchenko’s internal organs, though experts say it could take more than two years for his skin to return to normal.

Interfax reports that the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office has reopened its investigation into the poisoning.