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US Elections

Why Hillary lost

Have a look at this excellent article from the  Economist. It takes apart, bit by bit, the Hillary campaign machine, and points to all of its malfunctioning parts that led to the biggest upset in recent American elections history.

To sum it up, Hillary lost because she was slow to grasp the formidable power of change versus the diminishing perceived relevane of experience, and because she lacked Obama’s vision in terms of using new media and the internet to connect, galvanize and rally supporters, and raise money.

Bucharest, Romania, Romanian Politics

Guerrilla Campaigning in Bucharest

We are interrupting our normal coverage of foreign events for a piece of breaking news. According to highly reliable sources,  Bucharest’s Second District is the site of some serious guerrilla warfare. The two camps are, on the one side, the local government, led by General Neculai Ontanu [incumbent mayor running for re-election], and a group of unidentified rebels fighting for his overturn [which may actually be linked to Al Qaeda, although Osama Ben Laden has yet to release a tape confirming this].

Here are the events so far:

1. the rebels stage a surprise attack on the unsuspecting mayor, using stencils and black spray cans. The images depict Mr. Ontanu, with HONTANU [in Romanian, 'hot' means thief - if you don't get, please stop reading now] written underneath them.

2. after having recovered from the initial shock, Gen. Ontanu swiftly deploy a troop contingent in the conflict zone, and engages the rebels using black spray cans:

3. encouraged by the success of the initial counterinsurgency operation, government forces intensify attacks, this time using unconventional weaponry, in the form of glue and posters of Mr. Ontanu:

According to unconfirmed sources, the valiant government-led response to the rebel threat has been able to restore some order in the district. Even so, the situation remains tense. Eyewitnesses have reported seeing the rebels fleeing into caves labelled with a capital ‘M’, which are presumably used to stage a counterattack.

For the time being, we encourage all foreign residents to refrain from travelling to the Second District of Bucharest, as the security situation remains dire. Of course, we will keep you informed of any major developments as they unfold. In the meantime, PLEASE check BBC News, as there is some seriously disturbing stuff going on out there!