My Career at the State Department Archives - Page 5 of 8

Posted by Nolan Dalla on Dec 4, 2018 in Blog, Personal, Politics | 2 comments

One Degree of Separation: Remembering George H.W. Bush

Sometime in early February 1990, on the upper floor of the United States Embassy in Bucharest, a telephone rang. It was President George H.W. Bush.

Posted by Nolan Dalla on May 23, 2016 in Blog, General Poker, Personal, Politics, Travel | 0 comments

Daniel Negreanu’s Romania Now vs. My Romania Then

Nolan Dalla 1990 Bucharest Romania

Daniel Negreanu played in a major poker tournament last week, which was on the Eureka Poker Tour.

Such an occurrence normally wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary. This is especially true for Daniel — who travels all over the world playing poker and speaking out as the game’s premier ambassador. The news from Europe probably wouldn’t have caught my attention at all, except for one rather significant fact.

The poker tournament was held in Bucharest, Romania — a fascinating city where Daniel and I share some common bonds and a very different set of roots. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that, in contrasting ways, Romania was and shall always be an impressionable part of our lives. To some degree, that faraway place in Eastern Europe made us into what we are today.

Posted by Nolan Dalla on Dec 22, 2015 in Blog, Personal | 0 comments

My Drunken Party With Romanian Army Officers

Yours truly with Romanian Army officers, Spring 1990

Today marks the 26th anniversary of the Romanian Revolution. Continuing with a series of articles from my time spent stationed at the United States Embassy in Bucharest, Romania from 1989-1900, what follows is a post-revolution story which occurred a few months after the fall of dictator Nicolea Ceausescu and the end of Communism in Eastern Europe. READ PREVIOUS EXCERPTS HERE

Posted by Nolan Dalla on Apr 9, 2015 in Blog, Politics | 3 comments

American Hypocrisy at Its Worst in the Middle East

saudi-arabia-corruption

The United States has a peculiar way of defending and promoting freedom and democracy abroad, particularly in the increasingly turbulent Middle East.

To illustrate American foreign policy’s glaring double standard, let us compare two predominantly Muslim, oil-rich nations. These two nations are treated differently by the United States and most of its closest allies.