Eh, I wanted to focus on the positive stuff for just a bit.

I think I would, unfortunately. There’s no choice. I’m Romanian and I know plenty of history to know what happened to our military in the last two WWs, but if there’s a demand, then I would go for it.

Peoplle in my country all say that “oh, I wouldn’t join, which corrupt politician do you see me to defend? I’d rather move out of my country” etc. (You usually hear this from the most right wing people out there).

The reality is that you’re not fighting for the asses of the corrupts only. You’re also fighting for the relative freedom that you have, the safety of your land, so that your dear ones don’t have to be forced to learn another language or subject to a culture they don’t want etc.

And no, if there will be any mission involving America, I don’t think there will be a draft. They’re usually just sending a bunch of people in the conflict, mostly sitting on the side and that’s it. It’s mostly Russia that I’m afraid of.

Poland!

As a Romanian, I see this as quite familiar.

better as in tastier? depends on the product. If the product is european, then yes, otherwise no.

better as in healthier? absolutely!

Inside me there are two wolves:

@markz sorry, I thought it was a military hospital ship and I immediately remembered about the F35 kill switch saga

With a firmware totally backdoors free, right?

As an inhabitant from Bucharest, I can definitely tell you that you’re not spending 6 minutes in traffic going to and from work. Take ~1 hour in advance give/take. Keep in mind that you also need to find a parking spot at your destination because while the number of cars increased, the number of parking spots couldn’t keep up.

Many people resort to park in the most illegal places possible, such as sidewalks or pedestrian crossings, and that’s a practice that has been tolerated for a lot of time by the authorities and has only recently started being tackled through fines and bollards.

Bucharest is in a weird position of being a “car-centric-pedestrian-friendly-ish” city - because while you can easily use public transit and walk to where you need, people are using cars to go everywhere and whoever can own and drive a car, does it, sometimes even for short distances. It’s crazy!

But that’s impossible! We all know that cars=economic growth and, as total idiots with internet access like Andrei Caramitru post daily on FB, that the German economy is now in recession because of the actions of ecofascists against the likes of BMW and that these ecofascists riding bikes and e-scooters are coming to our economy too!!! /s

Edit: holly hell, I just noticed the numbers presented in the article by reading the comments that were not federated to my instance. 6 minutes a day?!? That’s just impossible!!!

No, it’s not heaven on earth, they really got it very wrong. No, this is not village level traffic at all, and all the main arteries are congested almost all the time, even in non-working days. The only times when roads are miraculously free are when there’s a big holiday like Easter or New Year’s Eve, when people basically party all night long, some even back in their hometowns, so they no longer do anything the next day, at least in the first part of it. Don’t believe me? Check out the traffic filter at this very hour on Google Maps (it’s Saturday 11:15 PM at the moment of me editing this comment).

If you’re traveling through Bucharest by car, take at least 1 hour to go from one place to another, especially if you’re going from the outskirts to the city center and back. Also take in mind the time you take to find a parking spot since these are hard to find (you’ll find a paid one easily though, those are like kryptonite to most of the drivers, who would rather park their car illegaly, wherever they can).

If you plan to travel by bike, don’t!!! The traffic is terrible and your life is too precious. Outside the bigger parks (Tineretului, Herăstrău/Regele Mihai I, Carol etc.), the areas where it’s safe to cycle are few and spread out. There’s no comprehensive bike lane network like you see in Paris or in big German cities.

If you plan to travel by foot, outside the touristy areas the streets are absolutely filled to the brim by cars, puddles form on pedestrian crossings when it rains (or like now, when the snow melts) and sometimes you have to take the road in order to go through. It’s better now than it was 5 years ago, but it’s still a hit-or-miss. Public transit is decent though, compared to other cities (despite other people in my city hating it). English signage is lacking lots of the times, but it gets you pretty much wherever you want to go (and we even have some night lines). Use Google Maps or InfoTB to get around or, if you love open source, try Bimba or other FOSS apps using the Transitous API.

Beautiful!

Eggs are not that expensive outside the US. I hope the Italians know too well what to do with them.

It must be so exciting to speak about yourself

Gee! I wonder what happened that fresh water became such a commodity. Wasn’t that because of “drill, baby, drill”?

I mean it’s their garbage…

We’re fully aware that international security is only based on orange face people’s feelings

That remains to be seen. I think there are multiple factors that can be put into the equation here. Don’t forget that Europe has the biggest share in supporting Ukraine, and that the Baltics are also at the most vulnerable time in recent history (given the US support is now in question). If Trump decides to strike Greenland at the same time as Putin taking action in the Baltics and taking over the Suwalki corridor, then it will be a huge burden on the European defense resources. I really don’t know what their strategy might be, but I think they do not want to antagonize Trump that much until the primaries, when they hope the US Democrats will make a return. I hope they do build some resilience as a plan B in the meanwhile.

It’s anyway a good diplomatic response imo. I do not have hope that Trump really understands the message (as with anything that cannot be put into a cheap reality show), but I am relieved that at least the European leaders are not on the same page as MAGA in regard to creating a world where might makes right.

I rather interpret this whole thing as sticks and carrots. More like: Hey, US, it’s been so good having you around in our security construction for all these years, we had such a good time. It would be a pity to let you out right now.

Greenland is not 100% part of the EU, but it is an OCT (Overseas Countries and Territories) of it. That means that it gets many of the EU membership benefits, such as free travel for its citizens and the ability to receive EU funds.

Maduro was just as illegitimate as the US invasion of Venezuela, though. However, as I understood, the president-elect of it will not be the one seated.

As for Kallas, I can see a veiled warning (hint: the UN Charter was not respected not in the slightest), but overall the reaction feels weak as hell. Step up your game if you want to be taken seriously!