title: Politics of Russia

text: In 2005, Russia started steadily increasing the price it sold heavily subsidized gas to ex-Soviet republics. Russia has recently been accused of using its natural resources as a political weapon. Russia, in turn, accuses the West of applying double standards relating to market principles, pointing out that Russia has been supplying gas to the states in question at prices that were significantly below world market levels, and in most cases remain so even after the increases. Politicians in Russia argued that it is not obligated to effectively subsidize the economies of post-Soviet states by offering them resources at below-market prices. Regardless of alleged political motivation, observers have noted that charging market prices is Russia's legitimate right, and point out that Russia has raised the price even for its close ally, Belarus.


title: Politics of Russia

text: The constitution guarantees citizens the right to choose their place of residence and to travel abroad. Some big-city governments, however, have restricted this right through residential registration rules that closely resemble the Soviet-era "propiska" regulations. Although the rules were touted as a notification device rather than a control system, their implementation has produced many of the same results as the propiska system. The freedom to travel abroad and emigrate is respected although restrictions may apply to those who have had access to state secrets.


title: Joe Gatto

text: Joseph Anthony Gatto Jr. (born June 5, 1976) is an American improvisational comedian, actor, and producer from the New York City borough of Staten Island. He was a member of the Tenderloins, a comedy troupe consisting of Sal Vulcano, James Murray, and Brian Quinn. Along with the other members of the Tenderloins, he starred in the television series "Impractical Jokers", which first aired on December 15, 2011, on TruTV.


title: Joe Gatto

text: Gatto was born in Staten Island and is of Italian descent. Gatto attended Monsignor Farrell High School. Along with Murray, Vulcano, and Quinn, he was a member of his high school's Improvisation Club. He studied at LIU Post, where he received a degree in accounting. Gatto's father died in 1995 from Pancreatic cancer. A popular rumor is that he died of alcoholism, although Gatto has pronounced this claim false.


title: Joe Gatto

text: After being apart for years, Murray, Gatto, and Vulcano reunited after graduating from college and began practicing improvisation at Gatto's house, going on to tour as an improv and sketch comedy troupe in 1998, calling themselves the Tenderloins.


title: Joe Gatto

text: The Tenderloins began producing comedy sketches together, posting them on YouTube, Myspace, and Metacafe, accumulating millions of views online. In 2007, the troupe won the $100,000 grand prize in the NBC "It's Your Show" competition for the sketch "Time Thugs".


title: Joe Gatto

text: "Impractical Jokers" premiered on December 15, 2011 on TruTV. The first season was watched by over 32 million viewers. The show quickly became the most popular series on TruTV and has boosted Gatto into the public eye.


title: Joe Gatto

text: In 2019, Gatto, along with the other members of the Tenderloins, starred in "The Misery Index", which is hosted by Jameela Jamil and is based on Andy Breckman's card game "Shit Happens".


title: Joe Gatto

text: On December 31, 2021, Gatto announced he was stepping away from "Impractical Jokers" and the Tenderloins to focus more on co-parenting his children, after a split with his wife.


title: Joe Gatto

text: The Tenderloins began hosting a podcast in April 2012. It is available on their official website and on iTunes.


title: Joe Gatto

text: Gatto and his former wife, Bessy, have two children, daughter Milana (born 2015) and son Remington (born 2017). Gatto is an advocate for the "Adopt, Don't Shop" movement, encouraging people to adopt pets from shelters rather than purchase them from breeders. They have had multiple dogs.


title: Joe Gatto

text: On December 31, 2021, Gatto announced that he was leaving the Impractical Jokers, and would be focusing on his family issues: "However, due to some issues in my personal life, I have to step away. Bessy and I have decided to amicably part ways, so now I need to focus on being the best father and co-parent to our two incredible kids."


title: Joe Gatto

text: Gatto actively campaigns against bullying, and his content dealing with the issue includes various YouTube segments.


title: Ann Richards

text: Dorothy Ann Richards (née Willis; September 1, 1933 – September 13, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. A Democrat, she first came to national attention as the Texas State Treasurer, when she gave the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Richards was the second female governor of Texas (the first being Miriam A. Ferguson), and was frequently noted in the media for her outspoken feminism and her one-liners.


title: Ann Richards

text: Born in McLennan County, Texas, Richards became a schoolteacher after graduating from Baylor University. She won election to the Travis County Commissioners' Court in 1976, and took office as Texas State Treasurer in 1983. She delivered a nominating speech for Walter Mondale at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, and the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.


title: Ann Richards

text: Richards won the 1990 Texas gubernatorial election, defeating Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox in a Democratic primary run-off election and businessman Clayton Williams in the general election. She was defeated in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election by George W. Bush. She remained active in public life until her death in 2006.


title: Ann Richards

text: Richards was born in Lakeview (now part of Lacy Lakeview), in McLennan County, Texas, the only child of Robert Cecil Willis and Mildred Iona Warren. She grew up in Waco, participated in Girls State, and graduated from Waco High School in 1950. She attended Baylor University on a debate team scholarship, and earned a bachelor's degree. After marrying high school sweetheart David "Dave" Richards, she moved to Austin, where she earned a teaching certificate from the University of Texas. David and Ann Richards had four children: Cecile, Daniel, Clarke, and Ellen. Her first cousin once removed was the art historian Gary Tinterow.


title: Ann Richards

text: Richards taught social studies and history at Fulmore Junior High School (re-named Lively Middle School) in Austin from 1955 to 1956. She campaigned for Texas liberals and progressives, such as Henry B. Gonzalez, Ralph Yarborough, and future U.S. District Judge Sarah T. Hughes.


title: Ann Richards

text: By the 1970s, Richards was an accomplished political worker, having worked to elect Democrats Sarah Weddington and Wilhelmina Delco to the Texas Legislature, and having presented training sessions throughout the state on campaign techniques for women candidates and managers. She supported ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, presenting the amendment to the delegates of the National Women's Conference, held in Houston in 1978, but the amendment was never ratified by enough states to become part of the Constitution.


title: Ann Richards

text: In 1976, Richards ran against and defeated a three-term incumbent on the four-member Travis County Commissioners' Court; she took 81.4 percent of the vote against Libertarian opponent Laurel Freeman to win re-election in 1980. During this time, her marriage ended. Richards' drinking became more pronounced, and she sought and completed treatment for alcoholism in 1980.


title: Ann Richards

text: After incumbent Texas State Treasurer Warren G. Harding (no relation to the U.S. president) became mired in legal troubles in 1982, Richards won the Democratic nomination for that post. Winning election against a Republican opponent in November that year, Richards became the first woman elected to statewide office in more than fifty years. In 1986, she was re-elected treasurer without opposition. Richards was a popular and proactive treasurer who worked to maximize the return of Texas state investments. Richards said that when she took office, the Treasury Department was run something like a 1930s country bank, with deposits that didn't earn interest. At the 1984 Democratic National Convention, Richards delivered one of the nominating speeches for nominee Walter Mondale, and she campaigned actively for the Mondale/Ferraro ticket in Texas, even though President Ronald Reagan enjoyed great popularity in her state.


title: Ann Richards

text: Richards' keynote address to the 1988 Democratic National Convention put her in the national spotlight. The speech was highly critical of the Reagan Administration and then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. Her address was notable for including several humorous remarks displaying her down-home Texas charm such as: "I'm delighted to be here with you this evening, because after listening to George Bush all these years, I figured you needed to know what a real Texas accent sounds like", "Poor George, he can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth", "two women in 160 years is about par for the course. But if you give us a chance, we can perform. After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels", and "When we pay billions for planes that won't fly, billions for tanks that won't fire, and billions for systems that won't work, that old dog won't hunt. And you don't have to be from Waco to know that when the Pentagon makes crooks rich and doesn't make America strong, that it's a bum deal". Richards' convention address has been cited by rhetorical experts as a historically significant speech.


title: Ann Richards

text: The speech set the tone for her political future. In 1989, with co-author Peter Knobler, she wrote her autobiography, "Straight from the Heart: My Life in Politics and Other Places".


title: Ann Richards

text: In 1990, Texas' Republican governor, Bill Clements, decided not to run for re-election to a third nonconsecutive term. Richards painted herself as a sensible progressive, and won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination against Attorney General (and former U.S. representative) Jim Mattox of Dallas and former Governor Mark White of Houston. Mattox ran a particularly abrasive campaign against Richards, accusing her of having had drug problems beyond alcoholism. The Republicans nominated colorful and eccentric multi-millionaire rancher Clayton Williams, of Fort Stockton and Midland. Republican political activist Susan Weddington of San Antonio, a Williams supporter, placed a black wreath that read "Death to the Family" at the door of Richards's campaign headquarters in Austin. After a series of legendary gaffes by Williams (most notably a joke about the crime of rape), Richards narrowly won on November 6, 1990, with 49% of the vote to Williams' 47%. Libertarian Party candidate Jeff Daiell drew 3.3 percent in an effort that included television spots and considerable personal campaigning. Richards was inaugurated governor the following January.


title: Ann Richards

text: Richards became the second woman to hold Texas's top office, since Miriam "Ma" Ferguson, who is widely considered to have been a proxy for impeached governor James E. "Pa" Ferguson, her husband.


title: Ann Richards

text: The economy of Texas had been in a slump since the mid-1980s, compounded by a downturn in the U.S. economy. Richards responded with a program of economic revitalization, yielding growth in 1991 of 2 percent when the U.S. economy as a whole shrank. Richards also attempted to streamline Texas's government and regulatory institutions for business and the public; her efforts in the former tried but failed to help revitalize Texas's corporate infrastructure for its explosive economic growth later in the decade, and her audits on the state bureaucracy saved $600 million.


title: Ann Richards

text: As governor, Richards reformed the Texas prison system, establishing a substance abuse program for inmates, reducing the number of violent offenders released, and increasing prison space to deal with a growing prison population (from less than 60,000 in 1992 to more than 80,000 in 1994). She backed proposals to reduce the sale of semi-automatic firearms and "cop-killer" bullets in the state.


title: Ann Richards

text: She signed into law the amendment of the Texas Financial Responsibility Law where renewal of a motor vehicle's registration (also covers initial registration of a motor vehicle), safety inspection sticker, driver's license, and/or obtaining new license plates require that a motorist must have a valid auto insurance policy. The law, which passed on September 1, 1991, broadens the 1982 law where a police officer will request a driver's license and proof of insurance during a traffic stop.


title: Ann Richards

text: She appointed then State Representative Lena Guerrero of Austin to a vacancy on the Texas Railroad Commission. The Hispanic Guerrero (1957–2008) was the first non-Anglo to serve on the commission in history. However, problems over falsification of her resume led to her resignation from the commission and defeat by the Republican Barry Williamson in the 1992 general election.


title: Ann Richards

text: The Texas Lottery was also instituted during her governorship—advocated as a means of supplementing school finances; Richards purchased the first lottery ticket on May 29, 1992, in Oak Hill, near Austin.


title: Ann Richards

text: School finance remained one of the key issues of Richards' governorship and of those succeeding hers; the famous Robin Hood plan was launched in the 1992–1993 biennium and attempted to make school funding more equitable across school districts. Richards also sought to decentralize control over education policy to districts and individual campuses; she instituted "site-based management" to this end.


title: Ann Richards

text: In 1993, Richards signed into law the re-codified Texas Penal Code which included anti-homosexual Section 21.06, the state's "Homosexual Conduct" law which states: "(a) A person commits an offense if he engages in deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex.


title: Ann Richards

text: (b) An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.". In 1990, Richards had campaigned in Houston to repeal the law. But, as governor, her signature criminalized same-sex sexual relations in Texas.


title: Ann Richards

text: In 1994, Richards ran for re-election against Republican George W. Bush. Despite outspending his campaign by 23%, she was defeated, with 45.88% of the vote to Bush's 53.48% while Libertarian Keary Ehlers received 0.64%. The Richards campaign had hoped for a misstep from the relatively inexperienced Republican candidate, but none appeared, while Richards created many of her own, including calling Bush "some jerk", "shrub" and "that young Bush boy".


title: Ann Richards

text: Richards was defeated in the 1994 Republican landslide that also unseated New York Governor Mario Cuomo and brought a Republican majority to the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. Richards and Cuomo appeared in a series of humorous television commercials for the snack food Doritos shortly afterward, in which they discussed the ""sweeping changes"" occurring. The changes they are discussing turn out to be the new Doritos packaging.


title: Ann Richards

text: Beginning in 2001, Richards was a senior advisor to the communications firm Public Strategies, Inc. in Austin and New York. From 1995 to 2001, Richards was also a senior advisor with Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand, a Washington, D.C.-based international law firm. Richards sat on the boards of the Aspen Institute, JCPenney, and T.I.G. Holdings.


title: Ann Richards

text: One of her daughters, Cecile Richards, became president of Planned Parenthood in 2006. Ann Richards demonstrated interest in social causes such as equality, abortion, and women's rights.


title: Ann Richards

text: She was a tireless campaigner for Democratic candidates throughout the United States. In the 2004 presidential election, Richards endorsed Howard Dean for the Democratic nomination, and campaigned on his behalf. Richards later stumped for Democratic nominee John Kerry, highlighting the issues of health care and women's rights. Some political pundits mentioned her as a potential running mate to Kerry; however, she did not make his list of top finalists, and he selected North Carolina Senator John Edwards. Richards said that she was "not interested" in a political comeback.


title: Ann Richards

text: Richards taught social studies and history at Fulmore Junior High School (now Lively Middle School) in Austin (1954–1957). She continued teaching in later years.


title: Ann Richards

text: She served at Brandeis University as the Fred and Rita Richman Distinguished Visiting Professor of Politics from 1997 to 1998. In 1998 she was elected as a trustee of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, she was reelected in 2004, and continued to hold the position until her death.


title: Ann Richards

text: Richards was diagnosed with osteoporosis in 1996, having lost  inch in height and broken her hand and ankle. She changed her diet and lifestyle, and then her bone density stabilized. She spoke frequently about this experience, teaching or advocating a healthier lifestyle for women at risk of the disease. In 2004, she authored "I'm Not Slowing Down", with the gynaecologist Richard U. Levine, which describes her own battle with osteoporosis and offers guidance to others with the disease.


title: Ann Richards

text: In Steve Labinski's review, he described the book as inspiring women to fight the disease with various tactics, such as:


title: Ann Richards

text: In the fall of 2005, Richards taught a class called "Women and Leadership" at the University of Texas at Austin; 21 female students were selected for that class.


title: Ann Richards

text: One of her first legislative requests was to move the Texas Music Office (created in 1990 during the administration of Governor Bill Clements) and the Texas Film Commission (created in 1971 during Governor Preston Smith's term) from the Texas Department of Commerce to the Office of the Governor.


title: Ann Richards

text: Her longtime personal interest in Texas film and music greatly raised the public profile of both industries and brought the two programs into the Governor's Office. As a result, these industries were institutionalized as key high-profile parts of Texas' future economic growth plans. Other of her music milestones include publishing the first "Texas Music Industry Directory" (1991) and her "Welcome to Texas" speech to the opening day registrants of the 1993 South By Southwest Music and Media Conference. She was involved with the Texas Film Hall of Fame from the beginning. At the first ceremony, she inducted Liz Smith. She was emcee every subsequent year but had to cancel at the last minute in 2006 because of her diagnosis with cancer.


title: Ann Richards

text: Richards said, "I've been a friend to Texas film since the number of people who cared about Texas film could have fit in a phone booth." She was an advocate for the Texas film industry and traveled to Los Angeles to market her state. Gary Bond, the director of the Austin Film Commission, noted, "She was far from being the first governor to appoint a film commissioner; I think she was the first that really brought the focus of Hollywood to Texas."


title: Ann Richards

text: She was also a mentor to other women. She advised Rebecca Campbell, executive director of the Austin Film Society, "Whenever you speak in public you've got to tell them what you need from them." She put the spotlight on film as a genuine industry, brought more focus to Texas, and had a tremendous network of people in the entertainment industry. She gave more focus to film as a business than had been done before.


title: Ann Richards

text: She was interviewed in the 1996 Ken Burns documentary series "The West" about the history of Texas and the United States in the 1800s. In the film she claims that the colonization of the United States required genocide and dispossession, "But even knowing all of that. And wishing that part of it were not there, cannot take away the spirit and idealism and the excitement that people (settlers) felt that actually did it and that we still feel when we think about them doing it." Richards also appeared in a 2009 documentary film, "Sam Houston: American Statesman, Soldier, and Pioneer".


title: Ann Richards

text: It is believed that her last appearance in film was in a short public announcement used at the Alamo Drafthouse, asking patrons not to be disruptive during the film. The Alamo Drafthouse still uses it today, with an addition at the end in honor of Ann Richards.


title: Ann Richards

text: Richards was active in the Austin City Limits Festivals, and the SXSW festival: the interactive, music, and film festival, held each year in Austin.


title: Ann Richards

text: During her career, Ann Richards received many awards and honors including: Baylor Distinguished Alumna, the Texas NAACP Presidential Award for Outstanding Contributions to Civil Rights, the National Wildlife Federation Conservation Achievement Award, the Orden del Aguila Azteca (Order of the Aztec Eagle) presented by the government of Mexico, the Maurice N. Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award from the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, and the Texas Women's Hall of Fame honoree for Public Service.


title: Ann Richards

text: While the events of 9/11 motivated many New Yorkers to leave the city, Liz Smith wrote that it drove the former governor to that city in which she would spend the last five years of her life. She said that she wanted to convey a message that "just because something tragic and life altering may happen, that doesn't mean we're supposed to turn heel and run away."


title: Ann Richards

text: In March 2006, Richards disclosed that she had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and received treatment at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Alcohol and tobacco exposure are major risk factors for certain types of esophageal cancer; by her own admission, Richards said that she "smoked like a chimney and drank like a fish" in her younger years.


title: Ann Richards

text: Richards died of cancer at her home in Austin on September 13, 2006, at the age of 73. Three memorial services were held. Her remains are interred at Texas State Cemetery in Austin.


title: Ann Richards

text: The City of Austin changed the official name of Congress Avenue Bridge (which opened in 1910) to Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge on November 16, 2006.


title: Ann Richards

text: Her 1988 DNC keynote address was listed as #38 in American Rhetoric's Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century (listed by rank).


title: Ann Richards

text: The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders in Austin, Texas, which Ann Richards helped to create, is named for her. The Ann Richards School, a college preparatory school for girls in grades 6–12, opened in the fall of 2007 in Austin, and continues to celebrate the life and legacy of Governor Richards. She also inaugurated a school in the year 1999 named Ann Richards Middle School in Palmview, Texas.


title: Ann Richards

text: A tribute to Richards was featured during the "HerStory" video tribute to notable women on U2's tour in 2017 for the 30th anniversary of "The Joshua Tree" during a performance of "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" from the band's 1991 album "Achtung Baby".


title: Ann Richards

text: In 2001, Richards guest starred as herself in a fifth-season episode of the Texas-based animated TV series "King of the Hill". In the episode entitled "Hank and the Great Glass Elevator", she gets mooned by Hank Hill and then enters into a brief relationship with Bill Dauterive. She is also seen in the closing credits of "King of the Hill" Season 1 Episode 4, playing tether ball with Willie Nelson's roadie.


title: Ann Richards

text: Richards made a voice cameo in Disney's 2004 animated film "Home on the Range", where she voiced a saloon owner named Annie.


title: Ann Richards

text: Richards was a topic in the film "Bush's Brain" (by Joseph Mealey and Michael Shoob), in a long segment regarding her defeat in the 1994 election for Texas governor. The film presents the case that the defeat of Richards involved a whisper campaign that the governor (mother of four children) was a lesbian because she had allegedly hired many gays and lesbians to work on her re-election campaign.


title: Ann Richards

text: In the 2008 Oliver Stone film "W.", Richards is mentioned during George Bush's campaign as "Ms. Big Mouth, Big Hair".


title: Ann Richards

text: Richards was one of the characters portrayed by Anna Deavere Smith in her play, "Let Me Down Easy," which explores illness, death, and the healthcare system. The show opened in 2008, played in cities around the country, and was featured as part of PBS's "Great Performances" series on January 13, 2012.


title: Ann Richards

text: In 2010, actress Holland Taylor debuted in a one-woman show called "Ann: An Affectionate Portrait of Ann Richards" at the Charline McCombs Empire Theater in San Antonio, Texas. The show was subsequently staged at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York City's Lincoln Center in 2013. PBS "Great Performances" broadcast the premiere of the play, now titled simply "Ann," on June 19, 2020. It had been recorded at the Zach Theater in Austin, Texas, following its national tour and Broadway run. Taylor said of her subject, "She was brave, strong, and funny—Bill Clinton has said the wittiest person he'd ever met!...She ran as a liberal in conservative Texas, so I had to write a play about her four incredible years in Austin... She was ahead of Obama by about 10 years as an 'inclusive' leader."


title: Ann Richards

text: In 2012 a documentary about her political life, "Ann Richards' Texas", was released. On April 28, 2014, HBO released a documentary, "All About Ann: Governor Richards of the Lone Star State."


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina () was a state in Southeastern Europe, existing from 1992 to 1995. It is the direct legal predecessor to the modern-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: Bosnia and Herzegovina seceded from the disintegrating Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 3 March 1992. This led almost immediately to the breakout of the Bosnian War which went on over the entire existence of the republic. Leaders from two of the three main ethnicities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely Serbs and Croats, established separate entities of the Republika Srpska and the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, respectively, which were unrecognized by the Bosnian state and international governments. Informally these events were considered as evidence that the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina represented primarily its Bosniak (mainly Muslim) population, though formally the presidency and government of the republic was still composed of Serbs and Croats along with Bosniaks.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: Under the Washington Agreement of 1994, however, Bosniaks were joined by Croats of Herzeg-Bosnia, which was abolished by this agreement, in support for the Republic by the formation of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a sub-state joint entity. In 1995, the Dayton Peace Accords joined the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Serb entity, the Republika Srpska, from that point onward recognized formally as a political sub-state entity without a right of secession, into the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina existed legally until it co-signed the Annex 4 of the Dayton Agreement, containing the constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 14 December 1995, but official documents reveal that the state existed until the end of 1997 when the implementation of the Dayton Agreement was finished and only then did it fully come into effect.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: The 1990 parliamentary elections led to a national assembly dominated by three ethnically based parties, which had formed a loose coalition to oust the communists from power. Croatia and Slovenia's subsequent declarations of independence and the warfare that ensued placed Bosnia and Herzegovina and its three constituent peoples in an awkward position. A significant split soon developed on the issue of whether to stay with the Yugoslav federation (overwhelmingly favored among Serbs) or seek independence (overwhelmingly favored among Bosniaks and Croats). A declaration of sovereignty in October 1991 was followed by a referendum for independence from Yugoslavia in February and March 1992. The referendum was boycotted by the great majority of Bosnian Serbs, so with a voter turnout of 64%, 99% of which voted in favor of the proposal, Bosnia and Herzegovina became a sovereign state.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: While the first casualty of the war is debated, significant Serb offensives began in March 1992 in Eastern and Northern Bosnia. Following a tense period of escalating tensions and sporadic military incidents, open warfare began in Sarajevo on 6 April.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: International recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina meant that the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) officially withdrew from the republic's territory, although their Bosnian Serb members merely joined the Army of Republika Srpska. Armed and equipped from JNA stockpiles in Bosnia, supported by volunteers, Republika Srpska's offensives in 1992 managed to place much of the country under its control. By 1993, when the Croat-Bosniak conflict erupted between the Sarajevo government and the Croat statelet of Herzeg-Bosnia, about 70% of the country was controlled by the Serbs.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: In 1993 the authorities in Sarajevo adopted a new language law (Službeni list Republike Bosne i Hercegovine, 18/93): "In the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ijekavian standard literary language of the three constitutive nations is officially used, designated by one of the three terms: Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian."


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: In March 1994, the signing of the Washington accords between the Bosniak and ethnic-Croatian leaders led to the creation of a joint Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This, along with international outrage at Serb war crimes and atrocities (most notably the Srebrenica massacre of over 8,000 people in July 1995) helped turn the tide of war. The signing of the Dayton Agreement in Paris by the presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Alija Izetbegović), Croatia (Franjo Tuđman), and Serbia (Slobodan Milošević) brought a halt to the fighting, roughly establishing the basic structure of the present-day state. The three years of war and bloodshed had left between 95,000 and 100,000 people dead and more than 2 million displaced.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: Bosnia and Herzegovina had more demographic variety than most other European countries. According to the 1991 census Bosnia and Herzegovina had 4,364,649 inhabitants. The four largest named nationalities were Bosniaks (1,905,274 inhabitants, or 43.65%), Serbs (1,369,883 inhabitants, or 31.39%), Croats (755,883 inhabitants, or 17.32%), and Yugoslavs (239,857 inhabitants, or 5.5%).


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: In October 1992, a limited number of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina passports were printed and available to its citizens. The document allowed the holders to enter and leave the newly formed country legally as well as other nations traveled to.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: The Republic's official documents and passports were valid until the end of 1997 when the implementation of the Dayton Agreement commenced the modern-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The R. BiH passports were replaced by the Bosnia and Herzegovina passport and the Bosnia and Herzegovina identity card.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: During the Bosnian War, schooling continued primarily in major cities. In besieged Sarajevo, schools operated in dispersed basement classrooms in neighborhoods across the capital city, under the constant threat of enemy guns and mortar fire. Depending on the part of the country, teaching staff needed to adjust to the war circumstances, and classrooms were often held in houses and hallways. In some places, the school buildings were even turned into refugee camps, hospitals or military headquarters.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: For the 1992–93 school year, the subjects and curriculum were closely linked to those from the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina period. However, education during the war had many shortcomings, such as an unstable infrastructure, a lack of teachers, and a severe lack of textbooks.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: The names of many schools in Sarajevo were changed during the R BiH period and remain so in present-day Bosnia. The Ideology of socialist Yugoslavia and achievements of the "National Liberation Struggle" altered many school names, especially those named after predominantly non-Bosniak historical figures. Only 3 schools from roughly sixty in the capital were changed.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) were the armed forces of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ARBiH was established on 15 April 1992, and most of the structure is transferred from the former Territorial Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Army after the Dayton Agreement was defined as the Bosniak component of the Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and after defense, reforms transformed into the Bosnian rangers, one of the three brigades of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: Following the introduction of the Bosnian dinar and replacement of the Yugoslav dinar, the Bosnian dinar was in circulation in most of the territory controlled by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The areas under Croatian control used the Croatian dinar and also kuna, and the Bosnia and Herzegovina territory held by Serb forces, proclaimed "Republika Srpska", dinar was also introduced as a means of payment. Shortly after the introduction of the dinar, the Deutsche Mark was preferred as the new means of payment in the Bosniak and Croat dominated RBiH. In present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina the currency is the convertible mark which replaced the dinar and Deutsche Mark, but many shops and gas stations accept Euro as a currency in practice.


title: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

text: The country produced its first stamps since independence in 1993 under the command of the Sarajevo government and began inscribing them as "Republika Bosna i Hercegovina". Prior to 1993, newly formed Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina used SFR Yugoslav stamps but with words "sovereign Bosnia" over the face of stamp.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Developmental coordination disorder (DCD), also known as developmental motor coordination disorder, developmental dyspraxia or simply dyspraxia from the word 'praxis' meaning to do or act, is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired coordination of physical movements as a result of brain messages not being accurately transmitted to the body. Deficits in fine or gross motor skills movements interfere with activities of daily living. It is often described as disorder in skill acquisition, where the learning and execution of coordinated motor skills is substantially below that expected given the individual's chronological age. Difficulties may present as clumsiness, slowness and inaccuracy of performance of motor skills (e.g., catching objects, using cutlery, handwriting, riding a bike, use of tools or participating in team sports or swimming). It is also often accompanied by difficulty with organisation and/or problems with attention, working memory and time management.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: A diagnosis of DCD is reached only in the absence of other neurological impairments such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, or Parkinson's disease. Onset of the condition is in early childhood and is lifelong. It is thought to affect about 5% of the population.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: The World Health Organisation (WHO) recognise DCD as a condition, and have published their definition in the International Classification of Diseases. This describes DCD as:


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: The American Psychiatric Association (APA)'s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, DSM-5 classifies Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) as a discrete motor disorder under the broader heading of neurodevelopmental disorders. It is often described as a disorder in skill acquisition or motor learning, where the learning and execution of coordinated motor skills is substantially below that expected given the individual's chronological age. Various areas of development can be affected by DCD and these may persist into adulthood.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: In children, DCD may exhibit as delays in early development of sitting, crawling, walking; poor ability or difficulties with childhood activities such as running, jumping, hopping, catching, sports and swimming; slowness; frequent tripping and bruising; poor handwriting skills; difficulties with self care; difficulties with skills such as using cutlery or tying shoelaces; poor spatial understanding; difficulty following instructions; poor time management; and often losing objects.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: In adulthood, in addition to a childhood history as above, the condition may manifest as a difficulty learning new motor skills or applying skills in a different or busy environment, poor organisation and time management skills, missed deadlines and lateness for appointments (or earliness as a coping strategy), and awkward pauses before answering in conversation. There is often a history of underachievement in education or the workplace. Although skills can be acquired, such as neat handwriting, handwriting speed will then be much lower than expected.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: DCD has no cure. Often various coping strategies are developed, and these can be enhanced through occupational therapy, psychomotor therapy, physiotherapy, speech therapy, or psychological training.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Evidence from research and clinical practice indicates that DCD is not just a physical disorder, and there may be deficits in executive functions, behavioural organisation and emotional regulation that extend beyond the motor impairments and which are independent of diagnoses of co-morbidities. In addition to the physical or motor impairments, developmental coordination disorder is associated with problems with memory, especially working memory. This typically results in difficulty remembering instructions, difficulty organizing one's time and remembering deadlines, increased propensity to lose things or problems carrying out tasks which require remembering several steps in sequence (such as cooking). Whilst most of the general population experience these problems to some extent, they have a much more significant impact on the lives of dyspraxic people. However, many dyspraxics have excellent long-term memories, despite poor short-term memory. Many dyspraxics benefit from working in a structured environment, as repeating the same routine minimises difficulty with time-management and allows them to commit procedures to long-term memory.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: People with developmental coordination disorder sometimes have difficulty moderating the amount of sensory information that their body is constantly sending them, so as a result these dyspraxics may be prone to sensory overload and panic attacks.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Moderate to extreme difficulty doing physical tasks is experienced by some people with dyspraxia, and fatigue is common because so much energy is expended trying to execute physical movements correctly. Some dyspraxics have hypotonia, low muscle tone, which can also detrimentally affect balance.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Whole body movement and motor coordination issues mean that major developmental targets including walking, running, climbing and jumping can be affected. The difficulties vary from person to person and can include the following:


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Fine-motor problems can cause difficulty with a wide variety of other tasks such as using a knife and fork, fastening buttons and shoelaces, cooking, brushing teeth, styling hair, shaving, applying cosmetics, opening jars and packets, locking and unlocking doors, and doing housework.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Developmental verbal dyspraxia (DVD) is a type of ideational dyspraxia, causing speech and language impairments. This is the favoured term in the UK; however, it is also sometimes referred to as articulatory dyspraxia, and in the United States the usual term is childhood apraxia of speech (CAS).


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: People who have developmental coordination disorder may also have one or more of these co-morbid conditions:


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: However, a person with DCD is unlikely to have all of these conditions. The pattern of difficulty varies widely from person to person; an area of major weakness for one dyspraxic can be an area of strength or gift for another. For example, while some dyspraxics have difficulty with reading and spelling due to dyslexia, or with numeracy due to dyscalculia, others may have brilliant reading and spelling or mathematical abilities. Co-morbidity between ADHD and DCD is particularly high; the overlap between the two disorders is believed to be about 50% (approximately half of people with DCD have ADHD, and approximately half of people with ADHD have DCD).


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Sensory processing disorder (SPD) concerns having oversensitivity or undersensitivity to physical stimuli, such as touch, light, sound, and smell. This may manifest itself as an inability to tolerate certain textures such as sandpaper or certain fabrics such as wool, oral intolerance of excessively textured food (commonly known as picky eating), being touched by another individual (in the case of touch oversensitivity) or it may require the consistent use of sunglasses outdoors since sunlight may be intense enough to cause discomfort to a dyspraxic person (in the case of light oversensitivity). An aversion to loud music and naturally loud environments (such as clubs and bars) is typical behavior of individuals with dyspraxia who have auditory oversensitivity, while only being comfortable in unusually warm or cold environments is typical of a dyspraxic with temperature oversensitivity. Undersensitivity to stimuli may also cause problems, as individuals do not receive the sensory input they need to understand where their bodies are in space. This can make it even more challenging to complete tasks. Dyspraxics who are undersensitive to pain may injure themselves without realising it. Some dyspraxics may be oversensitive to some stimuli and undersensitive to others.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) research has found that students with developmental coordination disorder and normal language skills still experience learning difficulties despite relative strengths in language. This means that, for students with developmental coordination disorder, their working memory abilities determine their learning difficulties. Any strength in language that they have is not able to sufficiently support their learning.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Students with developmental coordination disorder struggle most in visual-spatial memory. When compared to their peers without motor difficulties, students with developmental coordination disorder are seven times more likely than typically developing students to achieve very poor scores in visual-spatial memory. As a result of this working memory impairment, students with developmental coordination disorder have learning deficits as well.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Psychological domain: Children with DCD may struggle with lower self-efficacy and lower self-perceived competence in peer and social relations. Some demonstrate greater aggressiveness and hyperactivity.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Social domain: Children may be more vulnerable to social rejection and bullying, possibly resulting in higher levels of loneliness.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Assessments for developmental coordination disorder typically require a developmental history, detailing ages at which significant developmental milestones, such as crawling and walking, occurred. Motor skills screening includes activities designed to indicate developmental coordination disorder, including balancing, physical sequencing, touch sensitivity, and variations on walking activities.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: The American Psychiatric Association has four primary inclusive diagnostic criteria for determining if a child has developmental coordination disorder.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Currently there is no single "gold standard" assessment test for DCD. Various screening tests may be used, including the following.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: A baseline motor assessment establishes the starting point for developmental intervention programs. Comparing children to normal rates of development may help to establish areas of significant difficulty.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: However, research in the "British Journal of Special Education" has shown that knowledge is severely limited in many who should be trained to recognise and respond to various difficulties, including developmental coordination disorder, dyslexia and deficits in attention, motor control and perception (DAMP). The earlier that difficulties are noted and timely assessments occur, the quicker intervention can begin. A teacher or GP could miss a diagnosis if they are only applying a cursory knowledge.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: A diagnosis of DCD is reached only in the absence of other neurological impairments such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, or Parkinson's disease.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Developmental coordination disorder is classified in the fifth revision of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM-5) as a motor disorder, in the category of neurodevelopmental disorders.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: The exact proportion of people with the disorder is unknown since the disorder can be difficult to detect due to a lack of specific laboratory tests, thus making diagnosis of the condition one of elimination of all other possible causes/diseases. Approximately 5–6% of children and adults are affected by this condition. and approximately 2% are severely affected.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: DCD is a lifelong neurological condition that is expected to be as common in males as it is in females. Currently however, the diagnosis criteria favours males which results in over 80% of males being diagnosed before the age of 16 compared to only 22% for females.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: There is no cure for the condition. Instead, it is managed through therapy. Physical therapy or occupational therapy can help those living with the condition.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Some people with the condition find it helpful to find alternative ways of carrying out tasks or organizing themselves, such as typing on a laptop instead of writing by hand, or using diaries and calendars to keep organized. A review completed in 2017 by Cochrane of task-oriented interventions for DCD resulted in inconsistent findings and a call for further research and randomized controlled trials.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: DCD is know to co-occur with other Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Most commonly, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) co-occurs in an estimated 50% of cases, but other co-occurring conditions are Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Developmental Speech and Language Disorder and Developmental Learning Disorder.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Collier first described developmental coordination disorder as "congenital maladroitness". A. Jean Ayres referred to developmental coordination disorder as a disorder of sensory integration in 1972, while in 1975 Sasson Gubbay, MD, called it the "clumsy child syndrome". Developmental coordination disorder has also been called "minimal brain dysfunction", although the two latter names are no longer in use.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: Other names include developmental apraxia, disorder of attention and motor perception (DAMP) dyspraxia, developmental dyspraxia, "motor learning difficulties", perceptuo-motor dysfunction, and sensorimotor dysfunction.


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: The World Health Organization currently lists developmental coordination disorder as "Specific Developmental Disorder of Motor Function".


title: Developmental coordination disorder

text: People who have publicly stated they have been diagnosed with developmental coordination disorder include:


title: Oil platform

text: An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platforms will also have facilities to accommodate the workers, although it is also common to have a separate accommodation platform bridge linked to the production platform. Most commonly, oil platforms engage in activities on the continental shelf, though they can also be used in lakes, inshore waters, and inland seas. Depending on the circumstances, the platform may be fixed to the ocean floor, consist of an artificial island, or float. In some arrangements the main facility may have storage facilities for the processed oil. Remote subsea wells may also be connected to a platform by flow lines and by umbilical connections. These sub-sea facilities may include of one or more subsea wells or manifold centres for multiple wells.


title: Oil platform

text: Offshore drilling presents environmental challenges, both from the produced hydrocarbons and the materials used during the drilling operation. Controversies include the ongoing US offshore drilling debate.


title: Oil platform

text: There are many different types of facilities from which offshore drilling operations take place. These include bottom-founded drilling rigs (jackup barges and swamp barges), combined drilling and production facilities, either bottom-founded or floating platforms, and deepwater mobile offshore drilling units (MODU), including semi-submersibles and drillships. These are capable of operating in water depths up to . In shallower waters, the mobile units are anchored to the seabed. However, in deeper water (more than ), the semisubmersibles or drillships are maintained at the required drilling location using dynamic positioning.


title: Oil platform

text: Around 1891, the first submerged oil wells were drilled from platforms built on piles in the fresh waters of the Grand Lake St. Marys (a.k.a. Mercer County Reservoir) in Ohio. The wide but shallow reservoir was built from 1837 to 1845 to provide water to the Miami and Erie Canal.


title: Oil platform

text: Around 1896, the first submerged oil wells in salt water were drilled in the portion of the Summerland field extending under the Santa Barbara Channel in California. The wells were drilled from piers extending from land out into the channel.


title: Oil platform

text: Other notable early submerged drilling activities occurred on the Canadian side of Lake Erie since 1913 and Caddo Lake in Louisiana in the 1910s. Shortly thereafter, wells were drilled in tidal zones along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana. The Goose Creek field near Baytown, Texas is one such example. In the 1920s, drilling was done from concrete platforms in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela.


title: Oil platform

text: The oldest offshore well recorded in Infield's offshore database is the Bibi Eibat well which came on stream in 1923 in Azerbaijan. Landfill was used to raise shallow portions of the Caspian Sea.


title: Oil platform

text: In the early 1930s, the Texas Company developed the first mobile steel barges for drilling in the brackish coastal areas of the gulf.


title: Oil platform

text: In 1937, Pure Oil Company (now Chevron Corporation) and its partner Superior Oil Company (now part of ExxonMobil Corporation) used a fixed platform to develop a field in of water, one mile (1.6 km) offshore of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana.


title: Oil platform

text: In 1938, Humble Oil built a mile-long wooden trestle with railway tracks into the sea at McFadden Beach on the Gulf of Mexico, placing a derrick at its end – this was later destroyed by a hurricane.


title: Oil platform

text: In 1945, concern for American control of its offshore oil reserves caused President Harry Truman to issue an Executive Order unilaterally extending American territory to the edge of its continental shelf, an act that effectively ended the 3-mile limit "freedom of the seas" regime.


title: Oil platform

text: In 1946, Magnolia Petroleum (now ExxonMobil) drilled at a site off the coast, erecting a platform in of water off St. Mary Parish, Louisiana.


title: Oil platform

text: In early 1947, Superior Oil erected a drilling/production platform in of water some 18 miles off Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. But it was Kerr-McGee Oil Industries (now part of Occidental Petroleum), as operator for partners Phillips Petroleum (ConocoPhillips) and Stanolind Oil & Gas (BP), that completed its historic Ship Shoal Block 32 well in October 1947, months before Superior actually drilled a discovery from their Vermilion platform farther offshore. In any case, that made Kerr-McGee's well the first oil discovery drilled out of sight of land.


title: Oil platform

text: The British Maunsell Forts constructed during World War II are considered the direct predecessors of modern offshore platforms. Having been pre-constructed in a very short time, they were then floated to their location and placed on the shallow bottom of the Thames and the Mersey estuary.


title: Oil platform

text: In 1954, the first jackup oil rig was ordered by Zapata Oil. It was designed by R. G. LeTourneau and featured three electro-mechanically operated lattice-type legs. Built on the shores of the Mississippi river by the LeTourneau Company, it was launched in December 1955, and christened "Scorpion". The Scorpion was put into operation in May 1956 off Port Aransas, Texas. It was lost in 1969.


title: Oil platform

text: When offshore drilling moved into deeper waters of up to , fixed platform rigs were built, until demands for drilling equipment was needed in the to depth of the Gulf of Mexico, the first jack-up rigs began appearing from specialized offshore drilling contractors such as forerunners of ENSCO International.


title: Oil platform

text: The first semi-submersible resulted from an unexpected observation in 1961. Blue Water Drilling Company owned and operated the four-column submersible Blue Water Rig No.1 in the Gulf of Mexico for Shell Oil Company. As the pontoons were not sufficiently buoyant to support the weight of the rig and its consumables, it was towed between locations at a draught midway between the top of the pontoons and the underside of the deck. It was noticed that the motions at this draught were very small, and Blue Water Drilling and Shell jointly decided to try operating the rig in its floating mode. The concept of an anchored, stable floating deep-sea platform had been designed and tested back in the 1920s by Edward Robert Armstrong for the purpose of operating aircraft with an invention known as the "seadrome". The first purpose-built drilling semi-submersible "Ocean Driller" was launched in 1963. Since then, many semi-submersibles have been purpose-designed for the drilling industry mobile offshore fleet.


title: Oil platform

text: The first offshore drillship was the "CUSS 1" developed for the Mohole project to drill into the Earth's crust.


title: Oil platform

text: As of June, 2010, there were over 620 mobile offshore drilling rigs (Jackups, semisubs, drillships, barges) available for service in the competitive rig fleet.


title: Oil platform

text: One of the world's deepest hubs is currently the Perdido in the Gulf of Mexico, floating in 2,438 meters of water. It is operated by Royal Dutch Shell and was built at a cost of $3 billion. The deepest operational platform is the Petrobras America Cascade FPSO in the Walker Ridge 249 field in 2,600 meters of water.


title: Oil platform

text: These platforms are built on concrete or steel legs, or both, anchored directly onto the seabed, supporting the deck with space for drilling rigs, production facilities and crew quarters. Such platforms are, by virtue of their immobility, designed for very long term use (for instance the Hibernia platform). Various types of structure are used: steel jacket, concrete caisson, floating steel, and even floating concrete. Steel jackets are structural sections made of tubular steel members, and are usually piled into the seabed. To see more details regarding Design, construction and installation of such platforms refer to: and.


title: Oil platform

text: Concrete caisson structures, pioneered by the Condeep concept, often have in-built oil storage in tanks below the sea surface and these tanks were often used as a flotation capability, allowing them to be built close to shore (Norwegian fjords and Scottish firths are popular because they are sheltered and deep enough) and then floated to their final position where they are sunk to the seabed. Fixed platforms are economically feasible for installation in water depths up to about .


title: Oil platform

text: These platforms consist of slender, flexible towers and a pile foundation supporting a conventional deck for drilling and production operations. Compliant towers are designed to sustain significant lateral deflections and forces, and are typically used in water depths ranging from .


title: Oil platform

text: These platforms have hulls (columns and pontoons) of sufficient buoyancy to cause the structure to float, but of weight sufficient to keep the structure upright. Semi-submersible platforms can be moved from place to place and can be ballasted up or down by altering the amount of flooding in buoyancy tanks. They are generally anchored by combinations of chain, wire rope or polyester rope, or both, during drilling and/or production operations, though they can also be kept in place by the use of dynamic positioning. Semi-submersibles can be used in water depths from .


title: Oil platform

text: Jack-up Mobile Drilling Units (or jack-ups), as the name suggests, are rigs that can be jacked up above the sea using legs that can be lowered, much like jacks. These MODUs (Mobile Offshore Drilling Units) are typically used in water depths up to , although some designs can go to depth. They are designed to move from place to place, and then anchor themselves by deploying their legs to the ocean bottom using a rack and pinion gear system on each leg.


title: Oil platform

text: A drillship is a maritime vessel that has been fitted with drilling apparatus. It is most often used for exploratory drilling of new oil or gas wells in deep water but can also be used for scientific drilling. Early versions were built on a modified tanker hull, but purpose-built designs are used today. Most drillships are outfitted with a dynamic positioning system to maintain position over the well. They can drill in water depths up to .


title: Oil platform

text: The main types of floating production systems are FPSO (floating production, storage, and offloading system). FPSOs consist of large monohull structures, generally (but not always) shipshaped, equipped with processing facilities. These platforms are moored to a location for extended periods, and do not actually drill for oil or gas. Some variants of these applications, called FSO (floating storage and offloading system) or FSU (floating storage unit), are used exclusively for storage purposes, and host very little process equipment. This is one of the best sources for having floating production.


title: Oil platform

text: The world's first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility is in production. See the section on particularly large examples below.


title: Oil platform

text: TLPs are floating platforms tethered to the seabed in a manner that eliminates most vertical movement of the structure. TLPs are used in water depths up to about . The "conventional" TLP is a 4-column design that looks similar to a semisubmersible. Proprietary versions include the Seastar and MOSES mini TLPs; they are relatively low cost, used in water depths between . Mini TLPs can also be used as utility, satellite or early production platforms for larger deepwater discoveries.


title: Oil platform

text: A GBS can either be steel or concrete and is usually anchored directly onto the seabed. Steel GBS are predominantly used when there is no or limited availability of crane barges to install a conventional fixed offshore platform, for example in the Caspian Sea. There are several steel GBS's in the world today (e.g. offshore Turkmenistan Waters (Caspian Sea) and offshore New Zealand). Steel GBS do not usually provide hydrocarbon storage capability. It is mainly installed by pulling it off the yard, by either wet-tow or/and dry-tow, and self-installing by controlled ballasting of the compartments with sea water. To position the GBS during installation, the GBS may be connected to either a transportation barge or any other barge (provided it is large enough to support the GBS) using strand jacks. The jacks shall be released gradually whilst the GBS is ballasted to ensure that the GBS does not sway too much from target location.


title: Oil platform

text: Spars are moored to the seabed like TLPs, but whereas a TLP has vertical tension tethers, a spar has more conventional mooring lines. Spars have to-date been designed in three configurations: the "conventional" one-piece cylindrical hull; the "truss spar", in which the midsection is composed of truss elements connecting the upper buoyant hull (called a hard tank) with the bottom soft tank containing permanent ballast; and the "cell spar", which is built from multiple vertical cylinders. The spar has more inherent stability than a TLP since it has a large counterweight at the bottom and does not depend on the mooring to hold it upright. It also has the ability, by adjusting the mooring line tensions (using chain-jacks attached to the mooring lines), to move horizontally and to position itself over wells at some distance from the main platform location. The first production spar was Kerr-McGee's Neptune, anchored in in the Gulf of Mexico; however, spars (such as Brent Spar) were previously used as FSOs.


title: Oil platform

text: Eni's Devil's Tower located in of water in the Gulf of Mexico, was the world's deepest spar until 2010. The world's deepest platform as of 2011 was the Perdido spar in the Gulf of Mexico, floating in 2,438 metres of water. It is operated by Royal Dutch Shell and was built at a cost of $3 billion.


title: Oil platform

text: These installations, sometimes called toadstools, are small platforms, consisting of little more than a well bay, helipad and emergency shelter. They are designed to be operated remotely under normal conditions, only to be visited occasionally for routine maintenance or well work.


title: Oil platform

text: These installations, also known as satellite platforms, are small unmanned platforms consisting of little more than a well bay and a small process plant. They are designed to operate in conjunction with a static production platform which is connected to the platform by flow lines or by umbilical cable, or both.


title: Oil platform

text: The Petronius Platform is a compliant tower in the Gulf of Mexico modeled after the Hess Baldpate platform, which stands above the ocean floor. It is one of the world's tallest structures.


title: Oil platform

text: The Hibernia platform in Canada is the world's heaviest offshore platform, located on the Jeanne D'Arc Basin, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland. This "gravity base structure" (GBS), which sits on the ocean floor, is high and has storage capacity for of crude oil in its high caisson. The platform acts as a small concrete island with serrated outer edges designed to withstand the impact of an iceberg. The GBS contains production storage tanks and the remainder of the void space is filled with ballast with the entire structure weighing in at 1.2 million tons.


title: Oil platform

text: Royal Dutch Shell has developed the first Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facility, which is situated approximately 200 km off the coast of Western Australia. It is the largest floating offshore facility. It is approximately 488m long and 74m wide with displacement of around 600,000t when fully ballasted.


title: Oil platform

text: A typical oil production platform is self-sufficient in energy and water needs, housing electrical generation, water desalinators and all of the equipment necessary to process oil and gas such that it can be either delivered directly onshore by pipeline or to a floating platform or tanker loading facility, or both. Elements in the oil/gas production process include wellhead, production manifold, production separator, glycol process to dry gas, gas compressors, water injection pumps, oil/gas export metering and main oil line pumps.


title: Oil platform

text: Larger platforms are assisted by smaller ESVs (emergency support vessels) like the British Iolair that are summoned when something has gone wrong, "e.g." when a search and rescue operation is required. During normal operations, PSVs (platform supply vessels) keep the platforms provisioned and supplied, and AHTS vessels can also supply them, as well as tow them to location and serve as standby rescue and firefighting vessels.


title: Oil platform

text: Not all of the following personnel are present on every platform. On smaller platforms, one worker can perform a number of different jobs. The following also are not names officially recognized in the industry:


title: Oil platform

text: Drill crew will be on board if the installation is performing drilling operations. A drill crew will normally comprise:


title: Oil platform

text: The nature of their operation—extraction of volatile substances sometimes under extreme pressure in a hostile environment—means risk; accidents and tragedies occur regularly. The U.S. Minerals Management Service reported 69 offshore deaths, 1,349 injuries, and 858 fires and explosions on offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico from 2001 to 2010. On July 6, 1988, 167 people died when Occidental Petroleum's Piper Alpha offshore production platform, on the Piper field in the UK sector of the North Sea, exploded after a gas leak. The resulting investigation conducted by Lord Cullen and publicized in the first Cullen Report was highly critical of a number of areas, including, but not limited to, management within the company, the design of the structure, and the Permit to Work System. The report was commissioned in 1988, and was delivered in November 1990. The accident greatly accelerated the practice of providing living accommodations on separate platforms, away from those used for extraction.


title: Oil platform

text: The offshore can be in itself a hazardous environment. In March 1980, the 'flotel' (floating hotel) platform "Alexander L. Kielland" capsized in a storm in the North Sea with the loss of 123 lives.


title: Oil platform

text: Given the number of grievances and conspiracy theories that involve the oil business, and the importance of gas/oil platforms to the economy, platforms in the United States are believed to be potential terrorist targets. Agencies and military units responsible for maritime counter-terrorism in the US (Coast Guard, Navy SEALs, Marine Recon) often train for platform raids.


title: Oil platform

text: On April 21, 2010, the "Deepwater Horizon" platform, 52 miles off-shore of Venice, Louisiana, (property of Transocean and leased to BP) exploded, killing 11 people, and sank two days later. The resulting undersea gusher, conservatively estimated to exceed as of early June 2010, became the worst oil spill in US history, eclipsing the Exxon Valdez oil spill.


title: Oil platform

text: In British waters, the cost of removing all platform rig structures entirely was estimated in 2013 at £30 billion.


title: Oil platform

text: Aquatic organisms invariably attach themselves to the undersea portions of oil platforms, turning them into artificial reefs. In the Gulf of Mexico and offshore California, the waters around oil platforms are popular destinations for sports and commercial fishermen, because of the greater numbers of fish near the platforms. The United States and Brunei have active Rigs-to-Reefs programs, in which former oil platforms are left in the sea, either in place or towed to new locations, as permanent artificial reefs. In the US Gulf of Mexico, as of September 2012, 420 former oil platforms, about 10 percent of decommissioned platforms, have been converted to permanent reefs.


title: Oil platform

text: On the US Pacific coast, marine biologist Milton Love has proposed that oil platforms off California be retained as artificial reefs, instead of being dismantled (at great cost), because he has found them to be havens for many of the species of fish which are otherwise declining in the region, in the course of 11 years of research. Love is funded mainly by government agencies, but also in small part by the California Artificial Reef Enhancement Program. Divers have been used to assess the fish populations surrounding the platforms.


title: Oil platform

text: Offshore oil production involves environmental risks, most notably oil spills from oil tankers or pipelines transporting oil from the platform to onshore facilities, and from leaks and accidents on the platform. Produced water is also generated, which is water brought to the surface along with the oil and gas; it is usually highly saline and may include dissolved or unseparated hydrocarbons.


title: Oil platform

text: Offshore rigs are shut down during hurricanes. In the Gulf of Mexico hurricanes are increasing because of the increasing number of oil platforms that heat surrounding air with methane, it is estimated that U.S. Gulf of Mexico, oil and gas facilities emit approximately 500000 tons of methane each year, corresponding to a loss of produced gas of 2.9 percent. The increasing number of oil rigs also increase movement of oil tankers which also increases levels which directly warm water in the zone, warm waters are a key factor for hurricanes to form.


title: Oil platform

text: To reduce the amount of carbon emissions otherwise released into the atmosphere, methane pyrolysis of natural gas pumped up by oil platforms is a possible alternative to flaring for consideration. Methane pyrolysis produces non-polluting hydrogen in high volume from this natural gas at low cost. This process operates at around 1000 °C and removes carbon in a solid form from the methane, producing hydrogen. The carbon can then be pumped underground and is not released into the atmosphere.


title: Oil platform

text: It is being evaluated in such research laboratories as Karlsruhe Liquid-metal Laboratory (KALLA). and the chemical engineering team at University of California – Santa Barbara


title: Oil platform

text: If not decommissioned, old platforms can be repurposed to pump into rocks below the seabed. Others have been converted to launch rockets into space, and more are being redesigned for use with heavy-lift launch vehicles.


title: Oil platform

text: Offshore oil and gas production is more challenging than land-based installations due to the remote and harsher environment. Much of the innovation in the offshore petroleum sector concerns overcoming these challenges, including the need to provide very large production facilities. Production and drilling facilities may be very large and a large investment, such as the Troll A platform standing on a depth of 300 meters.


title: Oil platform

text: Another type of offshore platform may float with a mooring system to maintain it on location. While a floating system may be lower cost in deeper waters than a fixed platform, the dynamic nature of the platforms introduces many challenges for the drilling and production facilities.


title: Oil platform

text: The ocean can add several thousand meters or more to the fluid column. The addition increases the equivalent circulating density and downhole pressures in drilling wells, as well as the energy needed to lift produced fluids for separation on the platform.


title: Oil platform

text: The trend today is to conduct more of the production operations subsea, by separating water from oil and re-injecting it rather than pumping it up to a platform, or by flowing to onshore, with no installations visible above the sea. Subsea installations help to exploit resources at progressively deeper waters—locations that had been inaccessible—and overcome challenges posed by sea ice such as in the Barents Sea. One such challenge in shallower environments is seabed gouging by drifting ice features (means of protecting offshore installations against ice action includes burial in the seabed).


title: Oil platform

text: Offshore manned facilities also present logistics and human resources challenges. An offshore oil platform is a small community in itself with cafeteria, sleeping quarters, management and other support functions. In the North Sea, staff members are transported by helicopter for a two-week shift. They usually receive higher salaries than onshore workers do. Supplies and waste are transported by ship, and the supply deliveries need to be carefully planned because storage space on the platform is limited. Today, much effort goes into relocating as many of the personnel as possible onshore, where management and technical experts are in touch with the platform by video conferencing. An onshore job is also more attractive for the aging workforce in the petroleum industry, at least in the western world. These efforts among others are contained in the established term integrated operations. The increased use of subsea facilities helps achieve the objective of keeping more workers onshore. Subsea facilities are also easier to expand, with new separators or different modules for different oil types, and are not limited by the fixed floor space of an above-water installation.


title: Oil platform

text: The world's deepest oil platform is the floating Perdido, which is a spar platform in the Gulf of Mexico in a water depth of .


title: Carol II of Romania

text: Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. The eldest son of Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I in 1914. He was the first of the Hohenzollern kings of Romania to be born in the country; both of his predecessors had been born in Germany and came to Romania only as adults. As such, he was the first member of the Romanian branch of the Hohenzollerns who spoke Romanian as his first language, and was also the first member of the royal family to be raised in the Orthodox faith.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: Carol was also a fan of football, being the Romanian Football Federation's president for almost one year from 1924 until 1925.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: Carol's first controversy was his desertion from the army during World War I, followed by his marriage to Zizi Lambrino, which resulted in two attempts to give up the rights of succession to the royal crown of Romania, refused by King Ferdinand.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: After the dissolution of his marriage, he traveled the world, culminating in a meeting with Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark, daughter of King Constantine I of Greece. They married in March 1921, having a child in the same year, Prince Michael. His continued affairs with Elena Lupescu obliged him to renounce his succession rights in 1925 and leave the country. His name was removed from the royal house of Romania by King Ferdinand. Carol moved to France with Lupescu, under the name Carol Caraiman. Michael, aged 5, inherited the throne on the death of King Ferdinand in 1927. Princess Helen eventually divorced Carol in 1928.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: In the political crisis created by the deaths of Ferdinand I and Ion I. C. Brătianu, as well as the ineffective regency of Prince Nicholas of Romania, Miron Cristea, and Gheorghe Buzdugan, Carol was allowed to return to Romania in 1930 and his name was restored by the royal house of Romania, dethroning his own son. His reign was marked at the beginning by the effects of the Great Depression. Carol II weakened the party system, often appointing minority factions of historical parties to the government and attempting to form nationally concentrated governments, such as the Iorga-Argetoianu government. He also allowed the formation of a corrupt chamber around him, under the patronage of Elena Lupescu. Taking advantage of the political crisis of the December 1937 elections, where no party achieved an absolute majority and a coalition could not be formed due to disagreements between the National Liberal Party and those that could have formed a majority with them, the National Peasants Party and the Iron Guard, Carol established a royal dictatorship in 1938 by removing the 1923 constitution and abolishing the political parties, replaced by a single party, the National Renaissance Front, mostly composed of former members of the National Peasants Party and National Christian Party patronized by the king. The National Renaissance Front was the last of several attempts to counter the popularity of the fascist Iron Guard.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: Following the start of World War II, Carol II reaffirmed the Polish–Romanian alliance; the military assistance was however declined by Poland, who wished to follow the Romanian Bridgehead plan that required a neutral Romania. Following the fall of Poland and the involvement of the USSR, Carol II maintained a neutrality policy. After the fall of France, Carol II's policy changed towards re-alignment with Nazi Germany in hopes of gaining a German guarantee. He was however not aware of the secret clauses of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact that would see Romania lose significant parts of its territory. The year 1940 marked the fragmentation of Greater Romania by the loss of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to USSR, Northern Transylvania to Hungary and Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria. Although a German guarantee was finally achieved, the situation had a disastrous effect on the reputation of Carol II. The reorientation of Romania's foreign policy towards Nazi Germany could not save his regime and he was forced to abdicate by General Ion Antonescu, newly appointed prime minister, and was succeeded by his son Michael. He was allowed to leave the country with a special train loaded with fortunes, an assassination attempt was made by the Iron Guard, who fired on the train. After World War II, Carol II wanted to return to the helm of the country and dethrone his son again, but was stopped by the Western Allies. He eventually married Elena Lupescu and died in exile.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: Carol was born in Peleș Castle, and grew up under the thumb of his dominating grand-uncle, King Carol I. King Carol I largely excluded Carol's parents, the German-born Crown Prince Ferdinand and the British-born Crown Princess Marie, from any role in bringing him up. Romania in the early 20th century had a famously relaxed "Latin" sexual morality, and the British Princess Marie of Edinburgh despite or perhaps because of her Victorian upbringing ended up "going native", having a long series of affairs with various Romanian men with whom she could obtain more emotional and sexual satisfaction than she could with Ferdinand, who fiercely resented being cuckolded. The stern Carol I felt that Marie was unqualified to raise Prince Carol because of her affairs and her young age, as she was only seventeen when Carol was born, while Marie regarded the King as a cold, overbearing tyrant who would crush the life out of her son.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: Additionally, the childless Carol I, who had always wanted a son, treated Prince Carol as his surrogate son and thoroughly spoiled him, indulging his every whim. Ferdinand was a rather shy and weak man who was easily overshadowed by the charismatic Marie, who became the most loved member of the Romanian royal family. Growing up, Carol felt ashamed of his father, whom both his grand-uncle and mother pushed around. Carol's childhood was spent being caught up in an emotional tug-of-war between Carol I and Marie, who had very different ideas about how to raise him. The Romanian historian Marie Bucur described the battle between Carol I and Princess Marie as one between traditional 19th-century Prussian conservatism as personified by Carol I versus the 20th-century liberal, modernist, and sexually deviant values of the "New Woman" as personified by Princess Marie. Aspects of both Marie's and Carol I's personalities were present in Carol II. Largely because of the battle between the King and Marie, Carol ended being both spoiled and deprived of love.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: During his teenage years, Carol acquired the "playboy" image that was to become his defining persona for the rest of his life. Carol, I expressed some concern at the direction that Prince Carol was taking, as the young Prince's only serious interest was stamp collecting and he spent an inordinate amount of time drinking, partying, and chasing after women; young Carol fathered at least two illegitimate children by the teenage schoolgirl Maria Martini by the time that he was 19. Carol rapidly become a favorite of gossip columnists around the world owing to the frequent photographs that appeared in the newspapers showing him at various parties with him holding a drink in one hand and a woman in the other.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: In order to teach the Prince the value of the Prussian virtues, the King had the Prince commissioned as an officer into a Prussian guards regiment in 1913. His time with the 1st Prussian Guards regiment did not achieve the desired results, and Carol remained the "playboy prince". Romania in the early 20th century was an intensely Francophile nation, indeed perhaps the most Francophile nation in the entire world as the Romanian elite obsessively went about embracing all things French as the model for perfection in everything. To a certain extent, Carol was influenced by the prevailing Francophilia, but at the same time, he inherited from Carol I, in the words of the American historian Margaret Sankey, a "profound love of German militarism" and the idea that all democratic governments were weak governments.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: In November 1914, Carol joined the Romanian Senate, as the 1866 Constitution guaranteed him a seat there upon reaching maturity. Known more for his romantic misadventures than for any leadership skills, Carol (Romanian for "Charles") was first married in the Cathedral Church of Odessa, Ukraine, 31 August 1918 (under the occupation of the Central Powers at that time), to Joanna Marie Valentina Lambrino (1898–1953), known as "Zizi", the daughter of a Romanian general, Constantin Lambino. The fact that Carol technically had deserted as he left his post at the Army without permission to marry Zizi Lambrino caused immense controversy at the time. The marriage was annulled on 29 March 1919 by the Ilfov County Court. Carol and Zizi continued to live together after the annulment. Their only child, Mircea Gregor Carol Lambrino, was born on 8 January 1920.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: Carol next married Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark, who was known in Romania as Crown Princess Elena, on 10 March 1921 in Athens, Greece. They were second cousins, both of them great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria, as well as third cousins in descent from Nicholas I of Russia. Helen had known Carol's dissolute behavior and previous marriage, but was undeterred, being in love with Carol. The intention behind this arranged marriage was to help organize a dynastic alliance between Greece and Romania. Bulgaria had territorial disputes with Greece, Romania, and Yugoslavia and all three of the latter states tended to be close during the interwar period owing to their shared fears of the Bulgarians. Helen and Carol's only child, Michael, was born seven months after their marriage, sparking rumors that Michael was conceived out of wedlock. Apparently close at first, Carol and Helen drifted apart. Carol's marriage with Princess Helen was an unhappy one, and he frequently engaged in extramarital affairs. The elegant wallflower Helen found the bohemian Carol, with his love of heavy drinking and constant partying, rather too wild for her tastes. Carol disliked royal and aristocratic women, whom he found too stiff and formal for his tastes, and had an extremely marked preference for commoners, much to the chagrin of his parents. Carol found low-born women to have the qualities that he sought in a woman, such as informality, spontaneity, humor, and passion.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: The marriage soon collapsed in the wake of Carol's affair with Elena "Magda" Lupescu (1895?–1977), the Roman Catholic daughter of Jewish parents who had converted to Christianity. Magda Lupescu had formerly been the wife of Army officer Ion Tâmpeanu. The National Liberal Party, which dominated Romania's politics, made much of Carol's relationship with Lupescu argue that he was unqualified to be king. One of the leading figures of the National Liberals was Prince Barbu Știrbey—who was also Queen Marie's lover—and Carol had a strong dislike of Știrbey, who had humiliated his father via his indiscreetly disguised relationship with Marie, and hence of the National Liberals. Knowing that Carol was ill-disposed towards them, the National Liberals waged a sustained campaign to keep him from the throne. The campaign waged by the National Liberals had less to do with disgust with Carol's relationship with Madame Lupescu than with an effort to remove a potential "loose cannon", as Carol made it clear when he succeeded to the throne that he would not be content to let the National Liberals dominate politics in the way that the previous Hohenzollern kings had.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: As a result of the scandal, Carol renounced his right to the throne on 28 December 1925 in favor of his son by Crown Princess Helen, Michael (Mihai), who became king in July 1927 upon the death of his paternal grandfather King Ferdinand I. Helen divorced Carol in 1928. After renouncing his right to the throne, Carol moved to Paris, where he lived openly in a common-law relationship with Madame Lupescu. The National Liberal Party was largely a vehicle for the powerful Brătianu family to exercise power and, after the National Liberal Prime Minister Ion I. C. Brătianu died in 1927, the Brătianus were unable to agree upon a successor, causing the fortunes of the National Liberals to go into decline. In the 1928 elections, the National Peasant Party under Iuliu Maniu won a resounding victory, taking 78% of the vote. As Prince Nicolae, the chief of the Regency Council that governed for King Michael, was known to be friendly with the National Liberals, the new prime minister was determined to dispose of the regency council by bringing back Carol.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: Returning to the country on 7 June 1930, in a coup d'état engineered by National Peasant Prime Minister Iuliu Maniu, Carol was recognized by the Parliament as king of Romania the following day. For the next decade, he sought to influence the course of Romanian political life, first through manipulation of the rival Peasant and Liberal parties and anti-Semitic factions, and subsequently (January 1938) through a ministry of his own choosing. Carol also sought to build up his own personality cult against the growing influence of the Iron Guard, for instance by setting up a paramilitary youth organization known as "Straja Țării" in 1935. The American historian Stanley G. Payne described Carol as "the most cynical, corrupt and power-hungry monarch who ever disgraced a throne anywhere in twentieth-century Europe". A colorful character, Carol was in the words of the British historian Richard Cavendish:"Dashing, wilful and reckless, a lover of women, champagne and speed, Carol drove racing cars and piloted planes, and on state, occasions appeared in operetta uniforms with enough ribbons, chains, and orders to sink a small destroyer." The Romanian historian Maria Bucur wrote about Carol: "Of course, he loved luxury; being born to privilege he expected nothing less than the grand lifestyle he saw in the other courts of Europe. Yet his style was not outlandish or grotesque like Nicolae Ceaușescu's a unique brand of kitsch. He liked things large but the relatively simple-his royal palace testifies to that trait. Carol’s true passions were Lupescu, hunting, and cars and he spared no expense on them.Carol liked to present an impressive and populist persona to the public, wearing garish military uniforms adorned with medals, and being the benefactor of every philanthropic endeavor in the land. He loved parades and grandiose festivals and watched them closely, but he was not taken in by these events as more than shows of his power; he did not take them as a show of sincere popularity as Ceaușescu did during his later years. Carol had a populist style, depicting himself as the defender of the common man against the corrupt Francophile elites (especially the National Liberals) mixed in with generous elements of nationalism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Carol's tendency to throw together populism, authoritarianism, vaguely xenophobic nationalism, and Orthodoxy superficially resembled the style of the Iron Guard, albeit Carol's message was far less passionate than that of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, "the Captain" who preached a message of ferociously xenophobic ultra-nationalism, intense Orthodox mysticism, extremely violent anti-Semitism, a populist disdain for all the elites and a glorification of death in the service of the cause as the most beautiful, glorious, noble and erotic experience in the entire world. Codreanu, a man with a death fetish had made the Iron Guard into a macabre death cult and often sent his followers out on what were clearly suicidal missions. After committing murders, Iron Guardsmen rarely attempted to flee and instead waited to be arrested as they wanted to be executed for their crimes. Many found the way that Legionaries went to their executions positively giddy and joyful about the prospect of their own deaths, happily proclaiming their deaths were the happiest moment of their life a deeply eerie experience. Carol regarded Codreanu's death fetish together with his claim that the Archangel Michael had told him that God had chosen him to save Romania as evidence that Codreanu was "crazy".


title: Carol II of Romania

text: Carol had sworn in his coronation oath to uphold the constitution of 1923, a promise he had no intention of keeping, and right from the start of his reign, the king meddled in politics to increase his own power. Carol was an opportunist with no real principles or values other than the belief he was the right man to rule Romania and that what his kingdom needed was a modernizing dictatorship. Carol ruled via an informal body known as the "camarilla" comprising courtiers together with senior diplomats, army officers, politicians, and industrialists who were all in some way dependent upon royal favor to advance their careers. The most important member of the "camarilla" was Carol's mistress Madame Lupescu whose political advice Carol greatly valued. Maniu had brought Carol to the throne out of the fear that the Regency for Michael I was dominated by National Liberals who would ensure that their party would always win the elections. Madame Lupescu was deeply unpopular with the Romanian people, and Maniu had demanded that Carol returns to his wife, Princess Helen of Greece as part of the price of being given the throne. When Carol broke his own word and continued to live with Madame Lupescu, Maniu resigned in protest in October 1930 and was to emerge as one of Carol's leading enemies. At the same time, Carol's return had prompted a break in the National Liberals with Gheorghe I. Brătianu breaking away to found a new party, the National Liberal Party-Brătianu that was willing to work with the new king. Despite his dislike of the National Liberals, Maniu's enmity towards Carol left the king with little choice, but to enlist as his allies the break-away factions of the National Liberals against the National Peasants who demanded that Carol banish Lupescu and return to Princess Helen of Greece.


title: Carol II of Romania

text: The "Red Queen", as Lupescu was known to the Romanian people on the account of the color of her hair, was the most hated woman in 1930s Romania. She was a woman whom ordinary Romanians saw as "the embodiment of evil", in the words of the British historian Rebecca Haynes. Princess Helen was widely viewed as the wronged woman while Lupescu was seen as the "femme fatale" who had stolen Carol away from the loving arms of Helen. Lupescu was Roman Catholic, but because of her parents' background, she was widely viewed as Jewish. Lupescu's personality did not win her many friends as she was arrogant, pushy, manipulative and extremely greedy with an insatiable taste for buying the most expensive French clothes, cosmetics, and jewelry. At a time when many Romanians were suffering from the Great Depression in Romania, Carol's habit of indulging Lupescu's expensive tastes caused much resentment with many of Carol's subjects grumbling that the money would have been better spent on alleviating poverty in the kingdom. Further adding to Lupescu's immense unpopularity, she was a businesswoman who used her connections to the Crown to engage in dubious transactions that usually involved large sums of public money going into her pocket. However the contemporary viewpoint that Carol was a mere puppet of Lupescu is incorrect and Lupescu's influence on political decision-making was much exaggerated at the time. Lupescu was primarily interested in enriching herself to support her extravagant lifestyle and had no real interest in politics beyond protecting her ability to engage in corruption., Unlike Carol, Lupescu had utterly no interest in social policy or foreign affairs and was such a self-absorbed narcissist that she was unaware of just how unpopular she was with ordinary people. Carol by contrast was interested in the affairs of the state, and though he never sought to deny his relationship with Lupescu, he was careful not to display her too much in public as he knew that this would bring him unpopularity.