Malina Mindrutescu

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels

About Me

I'm a freelance journalist & political analyst based in Bucharest, Romania. I've written for Foreign Policy, Balkan Insight, FOCUS Magazin & others. Locally, I contribute with foreign policy analyses for a GMF-backed journalistic project, True Story Project & a business media publication, Panorama. 

My pieces range from foreign policy to more social features, and business journalism. 

I have a Master's in Terrorism from University of St Andrews. I also hold a BA in History & Politics from Queen Mary University of London & Boston College.

Big Reads

Foreign Policy •

Oscar-Nominated Documentary “Collective” Details Romania's National Tragedy

The tragedy, which would simply be known as “Colectiv” (the name of the nightclub), became a tipping point for the Eastern European country—a crisis unlike anything seen since the 1989 revolution that ended Communist Party rule.

Soon, those words became a mantra for protesters. That concert would be the last for the relatively unknown band, Goodbye to Gravity. Four of the five bandmates, along with 60 other people, died in the fire that erupted at the club that night. It sparked a political and
Balkan Insight •

Romanian Women Find Work-From-Home Culture a Mixed Blessing

Romania has been no exception to these concerning trends. According to the National Institute of Statistics, INS, no less than two-thirds of the Romanians who have lost their jobs since the pandemic started are women.

While the number of unemployed men over the course of the year has risen to 16 per cent, the percentage of women who have lost their jobs has soared to 50 per cent.

Mirel Banica, a religious anthropologist at the University of Geneva, says the evolving culture of working from hom
True Story Project •

What is the future of liberty in the age of a continuous pandemic?

Last week, President Biden announced that he would require all federal workers to be vaccinated, in order to get back to work, in a latest attempt to pump up the vaccination rates, as the country is falling back, reporting as many as 150,000 cases a day. With little over half the country fully vaccinated, there has been a rise in COVID cases worldwide, as the summer allowed governments and people alike to relax and act as if the global pandemic was over.

However, a year and a half after the ons
Balkan Insight •

Romanian NGOs Condemn Threat to Limit Access to Information

General view on the Romanian parliament in Bucharest, August 31, 2020. Archive photo: EPA-EFE/ROBERT GHEMENT

Five leading NGOs in Romania on Friday in an open letter condemned legislation tabled this week in parliament by an opposition Social Democratic Party MP – initially supported by the chief whip of the ruling National Liberal Party – that would reduce the state’s obligation to supply public information.

The legal amendment would make those requesting information liable to cover the finan
True Story Project •

How Afghanistan damaged US standing abroad

A week after the US evacuation strategy of American troops unravelled, leaving the country’s capital, Kabul to fall under Taliban control in less than a few days, the situation in Afghanistan is still a conundrum for the Biden Administration, military personnel and national security experts alike.

What the rapid developments in Afghanistan have shown was a complete mismanagement of the situation by the Biden Administration, a misstep that will hunt the Democratic president’s future prospects to

My Latest Work (Romania)

Where you can read me

I contribute regularly with analyses on foreign policy, security and geopolitics for True Story Project, a project of the German Marshall Fund. 

You can find my constant obsessions on future of work, diaspora, trends of the future, youth & many more, at Panorama.

I constantly get commissioned and do freelance work for international outlets, so stay tuned!

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