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Dominance in the scientific establishment within Romania was only one step on Elena's path to prestige. She routinely sought international recognition from other scientists. When the Ceausescus traveled abroad for state visits, ceremonies had to be negotiated prior to the trip in which Elena would receive honorary degrees and other rewards for her scientific work. Not a single scientist in either the West or the East ever wondered why she never participated in scientific debates. Die Traumkarriere Der Elena Ceausescu.” Mdr.De, 5 Mar. 2018, https://www.mdr.de/geschichte/elena-ceausescu-100.html. This is a brilliant novel, in my opinion, and anyone who has an interest in reading novels about the Cold War, post Cold War, and life in Eastern Europe when it was part of the USSR, should seek this one out. The author may have used a fictious country as her setting, but the experiences and circumstances have been based on actual former Eastern Bloc countries and the people who lived there. Outstanding. It is an intriguing prism through which to consider Melania Knauss, a Slovenian model who came to America married Donald Trump in 2005. With his election a decade later, she became only the second foreign-born first lady in American history – and one of the most divisive.
Elena Ceausescu: Greatest Scientist Ever — except she was a Elena Ceausescu: Greatest Scientist Ever — except she was a
She was also effective. “It was surprising how many times she said ‘I’d like something to happen’, and it happened,” said someone who worked for her in Damascus for six years. Her staff kept to the punishing schedule she’d grown accustomed to at J.P. Morgan: the office opened at 6am and work continued into the evening. Officials knew to consult Asma, not the culture minister, on major questions. Bashar had never needed his allies more: his British wife might help placate Western governments. He promised Asma that he would muzzle the in-laws and agreed to designate her “First Lady” (Syria’s state media started using the term only after Anisa died in 2016). Asma had finally won a seat at the table. Asma soon found a new way to extend her influence. She had toyed with charity work early in her marriage, and now sought to unify her projects within a single organisation, the Syria Trust for Development. She aimed to make the trust the primary conduit through which Syria encountered the world, recruiting Anglophone Syrians living abroad, former United Nations officials, strategists from the Monitor Group, a Boston-based management consultancy, even a German diplomat’s daughter. “It was licensed to engage with foreigners when other bodies weren’t,” recalls a diplomat then in Damascus.The Dictator’s Wife is published by Headline Review, and is available on Book Depository from 17 February.
Dictators From Around the World - TheClever Women Who Married Dictators From Around the World - TheClever
Wafic Said says he pleaded with Bashar to pursue a moderate course. “They love you and your wife, you’re not like Mubarak,” he told them. “Don’t miss this opportunity to become the greatest leader in the Arab world. Just give them some rights, a bit of dignity and you could be loved for ever.” But Bashar’s course was set. In a second speech, in June, he likened protesters to “germs”. A dark chapter was about to begin. She wanted to be called Professor Doctor Engineer, and she found no opposition at the Romanian Academy, since resistance was both futile and dangerous. Those few people who dared to resist her demands were removed from their positions. Forced international "recognition"Berry quit the newsroom and travelled to eastern Europe for three months of research. She began in Romania and immediately found herself in the midst of a street protest with hundreds of thousands of people calling for the government’s resignation. In his inaugural speech, Bashar vowed to fight corruption and allow genuine multi-party elections. Soon after, he closed one of the country’s biggest prisons. In the cafés of Damascus, people cautiously began to discuss politics. Her colleagues saw a different side. On a good day she was “enormously curious” and “amazingly accommodating”, according to a former employee. But another consultant remembered her “princess-like temper. She would shout and vent”. (He resigned after eight months.) “She’s a control freak, a scary person,” said the consultant.
Freya Berry - Watson Little
A visit to the grand Ceausescu Palace in Bucharest conjured ghosts of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu and what was known as a “conjugal dictatorship” before their unceremoniously swift trial and execution. If you think that people who deliberately engage in dubious scientific practices like plagiarism, falsification of results, or attendance at fake conferences represent the worst of scientific misconduct—then you have clearly never heard of Elena Ceausescu. When the Ceausescus set out for a state visit to the United States in 1978, Elena was offered an honorary membership at the Illinois Academy of Sciences (IAS). However, nothing less than recognition from a Washington-based institute would satisfy her. According to Ion Mihai Pacepa, a former chief of Romania's foreign intelligence service and author of the book Red Horizons: The True Story of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescus' Crimes, Lifestyle, and Corruption, Elena was livid:Among those who did well out of Asma’s rise was her own father, Fawaz Akhras. Soon after Asma married Bashar, Akhras established the British-Syrian Society, an organisation in London that drummed up political and financial support for Syria. He co-ordinated the society’s activities with Asma’s organisation, attracting a crowd of rich Syrians. The mesmerised narrator wonders aloud about the impact of these women, raising issues not too detached from ones we might ask about our own, real-life dictators’ wives. Why does the media fawn over their closets and philanthropic habits? And does the fixation on the glamour help disguise the darkness of their husbands’ deeds? Asma’s parents arrived in London in the 1970s in search of better opportunities. The family remained religious in exile: her father attended Friday prayers and her mother discarded her hijab only after Asma married. Friends describe the family as culturally conservative but eager for their children to assimilate. At her local Church of England primary school Asma was known as Emma. “You’d be hard-pressed to recognise her as a Syrian,” a neighbour recalled. Asma’s mergers and acquisitions continue apace. Syria’s second-biggest mobile-phone firm has also gone into receivership; last month Asma’s cronies were appointed to its board. Emmatel – the phone company with her name – now has branches countrywide (even in areas her husband doesn’t control). The petitions were turned down and Elena had to settle for an honorary degree from the Central London Polytechnic and an honorary fellowship from the Royal Institute of Chemistry. According to Behr, the chancellor of London University, Professor Sir Philip Norman, publicly praised Elena's work, despite the fact that she never wrote a single word of any of her publications.
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