Margaret Thatcher had some kind of a faith… [Margaret Thatcher avea un soi de credinţă…]

Floods of bytes and pixels are being dedicated these moments to the death of Margaret Thatcher, undoubtedly an outstanding personality of the past century.

It would be a futile attempt from my part to write an obituary, as long as countless other political analysts and historians (as a lousy blogger, I can’t pretend to be any of these) have already published good articles about the Iron Lady who helped tear down the Iron Curtain, bring the USSR on its knees, and end the Cold War.

What I would like to do is draw attention to some of her religious beliefs. Although by no means in accordance with the Orthodox Church’s doctrine, her ideas were quite unparalleled in our secular EU and in stark contrast with the concoction of politically correct clichés that current leaders hold as paramount beliefs.

She probably was the last (or among the last) genuine political personalities of human history, which seems to have entered a decrepit phase of copycat leaders, of pathetic strawmen like Tony Bliar, Gordon Clown, David Chameleon, Barack Obama, Traian Băsescu or... Victor Ponta.

Brainwashed by nihilistic ideologies, trailing their twisted moral backbones and crippled ambitions on the world scene, these statesmen (and women – let’s not forget feminine versions, like Angela Merkel or Hillary Clinton, of the above antiheroes!) are but ethically eviscerated puppets.

Like all great historical heroes (including her favourite Winston Churchill) Margaret Thatcher remains a controversial character. However, unlike most leaders of our troubled times, she had some form of faith.

A faith as staunchly followed as probably only great characters of yore did, perhaps Oliver Cromwell or John Knox. Here are some of her beliefs about Christianity (taken from here): 

“Methodism isn’t just a religion for Sundays – no faith is only a faith for Sundays. There were a lot of things during the week which one attended. Methodism is a pretty practical faith; there were the mothers’ sewing meetings and the guilds for young people.”

“If you are faced with the real problems of poverty and ignorance and people don’t know how best to grow crops, you’ve got a pretty simple, straightforward task because you’ve got to help, and help in practical terms. 

Because while you’re teaching them religion you’ve got to recognise that they are not very likely to receive it or understand it unless it does mean something and enables them to do things for themselves.

“So you replace poverty by a better standard of living out of people’s own efforts, because everyone’s got talent and ability, and you teach them what we regard as necessary to life, and you teach them religion as well.” 

“So when you’ve relieved poverty and ignorance and disease, if you are not a Christian you think that sorts out the problems of the world. You and I know it doesn’t, because there is still the real religious problem in the choice between good and evil. Choice is the essence of ethics.

If you deny that personal responsibility you are denying the religious basis of life – that’s the difference between me and a Marxist. The values by which you and I live are not values given by the State.” 

“Christianity is about more than doing good works. It is a deep faith which expresses itself in your relationship to God. It is a sanctity, and no politician is entitled to take that away from you or to have what I call corporate State activities which only look at interests as a whole.

So, you’ve got this double thing which you must aim for in religion, to work to really know your faith and to work it out in everyday life. You can’t separate one from the other. 

Good works are not enough because it would be like trying to cut a flower from its root; the flower would soon die because there would be nothing to revive it.” 

[For all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

[EN] No comment / [RO] Fără comentarii (14) – Dreadful Septembers / Cumplite septembrii

[EN] This is where the mess started four years ago, although the dirt had been swept under the carpet for long before. [RO] De aici a pornit mizeria acum patru ani, deşi gunoiul era ascuns sub preş cu mult înainte.

[EN] In September 2007, Northern Rock (pictured here in Brighton), one of the top five British mortgage lenders, reached the brink of bankruptcy. [RO] În septembrie 2007, Northern Rock (pozată aici în Brighton), unul dintre primii cinci creditori ipotecari britanici) a ajuns la un pas de faliment.

[EN] G. Clown’s Government saved the bank by nationalisation, a process finalised in early 2008. [RO] Guvernul lui G. Clown a salvat banca prin naţionalizare, un proces finalizat la începutul lui 2008.

[EN] The same solution would be applied a year later (October 2008), to prevent the downfall of the entire British banking system. [RO] Aceeaşi soluţie a fost aplicată un an mai târziu (octombrie 2008), pentru a preveni căderea întregului sistem bancar britanic.

[EN] The nationalisation in the UK had been precipitated by the eruption of the biggest crisis of our times on Wall Street (in September 2008). [RO] Naţionalizarea din UK fusese precipitată de erupţia celei mai mari crize din vremea noastră pe Wall Street (în septembrie 2008).

[EN] Then, the fourth American investment bank (Lehman Brothers) was not not propped up but left to die… [RO] Atunci, cea de-a patra bancă de investiţii americană (Lehman Brothers) nu a fost susţinută, ci lăsată să moară…

[EN] These days, more and more economic ‘soothsayers’ foresee a worsening of the ongoing crisis (+ here, here, here). [RO] În aceste zile, tot mai mulţi ‘ghicitori’ economici prevăd o înrăutăţire a crizei în desfăşurare (+ aici, aici, aici).

[EN] Some go as far as naming name the next big victim: Bank of America (pictured here in California) – an alleged ‘target’ of WikiLeaks. [RO] Unii merg până într-acolo, încât numesc următoarea mare victimă: Bank of America (pozată aici în California) – o presupusă ‘ţintă’ a WikiLeaks.

[EN] Ten years after September 11, 2001, it’s apparently the best time for the death of another financial dinosaur, for another dreadful September. [RO] La zece ani după 11 septembrie 2001, se pare că este cel mai bun timp pentru moartea altui dinozaur financiar, pentru alt septembrie de groază.

[EN] Sept 15 (1992) was the Black Wednesday of the pound sterling (GBP), Sept 14 (2007) – the liquidity crisis of Northtern Rock, Sept 15-16 (2008) – the end of Lehman Brothers… [RO] Sept 15 (1992) a fost Miercurea Neagră a lirei sterline (GBP), sept 14 (2007) – criza de lichidităţi a Northern Rock, sept 15-16 (2008) – sfârşitul Lehman Brothers...

[EN] Were all these coincidences? Could we add  Sept 1-3 (1939), Sept 12 (1944), Sept 11 (1973) or even Sept 2-7 (1792) ? [RO] Au fost toate acestea coincidenţe? Am putea adăuga sept 1-3 (1939), sept 12 (1944), sept 11 (1973) sau chiar sept 2-7 (1792)?

[EN] According to Orthodox Tradition, September was the month when the Holy Trinity created the world. [RO] Potrivit Tradiţiei ortodoxe, septembrie a fost luna când Preasfânta Treime a creat lumea.

[EN] In our times, September seems to be the month when someone is trying to re-create the world for the worse. [RO] În vremurile noastre, septembrie pare luna când cineva încearcă să re-creeze lumea în mai rău.

[EN] We can’t be sure if and what exactly will happen; let’s not fool ourselves that anyting to come is undeserved! [RO] Nu putem fi siguri dacă şi ce anume se va întâmpla; să nu ne amăgim că orice stă să vină este nemeritat!

[EN] And if it won’t be Bank of America, could it be the worst (so far) or the last September of the Eurozone?  [RO] Şi dacă n-o fi să fie Bank of America, ar putea fi cel mai rău (de până acum) sau ultimul septembrie al Eurozonei?
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[EN] And if it’s not another ‘financial blow’, could it be another terrorist attack? Or a war? Which of our idols,  prosperity or peace, be hit this time? [RO] Şi dacă nu este o altă ‘lovitură financiară’, ar putea fi un alt atac terorist? Sau un război? Care dintre idolii noştri, pacea sau prosperitatea va fi lovit de data aceasta?

[EN] Politically speaking, we should be aware that the death of the certitudes mankind has been resting on since the end of the Cold War is unavoidable. [RO] Din punct de vedere politic, ar trebui să fim conştienţi că moartea certitudinilor pe care a stat lumea de la sfârşitul Războiului Rece este inevitabilă.

[EN] States, economies, businesses and people’s lives are no longer based on realities (work, innovation, entrepreneurship etc) but on a big lie – the world of credit. [RO] Statele, economiile, afacerile şi vieţile oamenilor nu se mai bazează pe realităţi (muncă, inovaţie, antreprenoriat etc), ci pe o mare minciună – lumea creditului.

[EN] On spiritual terms, we are haversting the fruits of the ‘paradise on earth’ we dreamed of, turning our backs to our Maker and denying Him copyrights for His Creation. [RO] În termeni spirituali, culegem fructele ‘paradisului pe pământ’ la care am visat, întorcând spatele Creatorului nostru şi negându-I drepturile de autor asupra Creaţiei Sale.

[EN] Let’s see how or science, humanist values, hedonist goals, and moral relativism will save us now! [RO] Să vedem cum ştiinţa, valorile umaniste, scopurile hedoniste şi relativismul moral ne vor mântui acum!

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

Witty bits from what I learned in the UK (1) [Vorbe de duh din ce am învăţat în UK]

I guess it's high time I started a series of blog posts exclusively in English about what I am learning here, hoping that both my colleagues, and our lovely SEI hosts would enjoy reading them. Obviously, it would be pointless to reproduce here lecture notes.

Moreover (to be completely honest to everyone :-), even if I learned by heart all the theories that we're being familiarized with these days, I'll probably forget them sooner or later. But I'll definitely not forget quite a few memorable phrases or ideas.

For the beginning, here's why (put in a nutshell) Communism and planned economy were doomed to fail. As they applied 20th century technologies to a 19th century economy (whose main assets were the hordes of cheap, unskilled labourers), those governments increased productivity up to a point, and even launched the first satellite (1957).

Only that in 20 years from then, much of the technology used to take Yuri Gagarin into space would be available in toy stores, and the Communist regimes simply couldn't make that essential swift from the age of electro-mechanics to the age of electronics.

Basically, many industrial secrets that Soviet spies were stealing from the West remained locked in archives. Information was useless in the absence of people trained to know what to do with it!

An infinity of other (political, economical, social, moral, and so forth) reasons would explain the collapse of Communism, but to put it simply - even to those born after 1989-1991 - here is a brilliant (and unacademic :-) explanation from our Course Director.

His words seem to be as carefully distilled as Scotch whisky: "You find it hard to believe that a Soviet planner could come up with the idea of an iPod." It really is as simple as that...

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]