Major General James G. Blunt

The Romania Portal

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to the east, and the Black Sea to the southeast. It has a predominantly continental climate, and an area of 238,397 km2 (92,046 sq mi) with a population of 19 million people (2023). Romania is the twelfth-largest country in Europe and the sixth-most populous member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, followed by Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Timișoara, Constanța, Craiova, Brașov, and Galați.

Settlement in what is now Romania began in the Lower Paleolithic followed by written records attesting the kingdom of Dacia, its conquest, and subsequent Romanisation by the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The modern Romanian state was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. During World War I, after declaring its neutrality in 1914, Romania fought together with the Allied Powers from 1916. In the aftermath of the war, Bukovina, Bessarabia, Transylvania, and parts of Banat, Crișana, and Maramureș became part of the Kingdom of Romania. In June–August 1940, as a consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and Second Vienna Award, Romania was compelled to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union and Northern Transylvania to Hungary. In November 1940, Romania signed the Tripartite Pact and, consequently, in June 1941 entered World War II on the Axis side, fighting against the Soviet Union until August 1944, when it joined the Allies and recovered Northern Transylvania. Following the war and occupation by the Red Army, Romania became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition towards democracy and a market economy.

Romania is a high-income country, with a very high Human Development Index and a highly complex economy, that is emerging to be a middle power in international affairs. Romania ranked 47th in the Global Innovation Index in 2023. Its economy ranks among the fastest growing in the European Union, being the world's 44th largest by nominal GDP, and the 36th largest by PPP. Romanian citizens enjoy one of the fastest and cheapest internet speeds in the world. Romania experienced rapid economic growth in the early 2000s; its economy is now based predominantly on services. It is a producer and net exporter of cars and electric energy through companies like Automobile Dacia and OMV Petrom. The majority of Romania's population are ethnic Romanians and religiously identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians, speaking Romanian, a Romance language (more specifically Eastern Romance). Romania is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, the Schengen Area, NATO, the Council of Europe, BSEC and WTO. (Full article...)

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The National Liberal Party (Romanian: Partidul Național Liberal, PNL) is a social-conservative political party in Romania (and the second largest overall political party in the country as of mid 2023). Re-founded in mid January 1990, shortly after the Revolution of 1989 which culminated in the fall of communism in Romania, it claims the legacy of the major political party of the same name, active between 1875 and 1947 in the Kingdom of Romania (Romanian: Regatul României). Based on this historical legacy, it often presents itself as the first formally constituted political party in the country and the oldest of its kind from the family of European liberal parties as well. (Full article...)
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Diaconu in 2014

Andreea Diaconu (Romanian pronunciation: [anˈdreja ˈdjakonu]; born 28 March 1991) is a Romanian model. She is one of the most popular models from Romania. She has been featured on the covers of magazines from France, Romania, Russia, Spain, and Switzerland. Diaconu posed for Vogue magazine for the first time at age 21, for the February 2013 issue. She is the face of Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and Belstaff. In 2014, she was part of the spring campaign for Belstaff, featuring David Beckham.

Diaconu is notably the second Romanian, after Diana Moldovan, to pose for the famous Victoria's Secret catalog. Moldovan and Diaconu have also opened three health food restaurants called Moo Moo near Bucharest. (Full article...)
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  • ... that film critic and censor D. I. Suchianu wanted Romanian moviegoers to cease "falling asleep whenever they're not shown a naked breast [or] a hip that's getting some action"?
  • ... that Romanian-born Helen O'Brien escaped advancing Russians on the King's horse, opened Eve, and worked as a spy for MI5 and MI6?
  • ... that Matei Donici, a general in the Imperial Russian Army, secretly wrote poetry with Romanian-nationalist and anti-Russian messages?
  • ... that Caloian, a ritual once practiced in southern and eastern Romania, involved the burial of a figurine by young girls, one of whom acted as a priest?
  • ... that Bessarabian legislator Anton Novakov, who was absent when his colleagues voted on union with Romania, sued the Romanian state for land benefits they had received for voting in favor?
  • ... that Moldavian rebel Teodor Boldur-Lățescu was twice beaten up on circus grounds: once for insulting Wallachian officers of the Romanian Army, and a second time for cruelty to animals?

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