More On Moldava
Jonhillr
Moldavia. This should not be so; too many of the same russian factors that the
Baltics face - are also present in Moldava.
Moldavia - just as the Baltics - was included as a target in the infamous
molotov-ribbentrop agreements.
Moldavia has also been the target of russification - even though it was and is
overwhelmingly Romanian in culture and character.
Moldava also has been subject to mass population transfers of russian
colonists.
Moldavia also has had part of its territory annexed by russian machinations.
'Transdiniester' is currently being occupied by the russian army- in violation
of signed OSCE treaties. *Even though russian territory is not contiguous with
Moldava*!
( Does russian foreign policy see the intervening Ukranian state as merely
transitory?)
Just as in the Baltics - especially Estonia and Latvia - so also do we see
russian 'fifth columnists' forming pro-russian political parties in Moldava. In
Moldava's case this effort is extremely noticable due the russians being a
relatively smaller minority than in the Baltics.
Moldava also has been the target of OSCE and EU 'suggested policies' that have
promoted russification instead of Moldavan self-determination. These policies,
I rate as total failures.
Moldava has also been a *non*-recipient of EU largesse and loans. While
billions of EU dollars were pumped into russia proper, very little made its way
to Moldava, where the continuing depressed economy - due to EU neglect -
cleared the way for a communist/russian party to assume power and begin even
more russification attempts.
And this EU and OSCE (van der Stool) neglect and failure has brought this
occupied nation to the brink of civil war!! Even though it is hardly mentioned
in today's press.
If someone would care to write a thesis on news *suppression* by editorial
ommisson - this might be *the* example to choose.
The first quote is from an OSCE site that seeks to portray its efforts in
Moldava as something other than the *pathetic* russian accomodating failure
that it truely is. You judge for yourselves:
"The OSCE has a mission which monitors the human rights situation in both
Moldova and the Dniester republic and assist the parties in the difficult
negotiations. The work consists of easing the dialogue and negotiations,
gathering information, supplying expertise and advice in relation to
legislation and constitutional aspects, making visible the presence of the OSCE
in the area, and establishing contacts with all the parties to the conflict.
The goal is to assist the parties in striving to find a lasting political
solution to the conflict between Dniestria and the Moldovan Republic, on the
basis of the principles and obligations of the OSCE. In December 1993, the
mission presented ‘Report no. 13’, outlining a framework for a future
status of Dniestria. It pointed out that there existed a ‘separate Dniestrian
feeling of identity’ and suggested that the introduction of three levels of
jurisdiction in Moldova – central, regional and mixed. Although both sides
expressed some approval of this document, it has not managed to pull the
negotiations out of the doldrums.
In April 1995, the Moldovan negotiation team presented its Dniestrian
counterpart with a draft law on the special status of the Dniestr region based
on the OSCE recommendations. The stated aim of the law was to ‘secure the
preservation, development and expression of the ethnic, cultural, linguistic,
and religious distinctiveness of the region’s population.’ The meeting
between Snegur and Smirnov on 5 July 1995 was greeted with a certain measure of
optimism, but did not lead to a political breakthrough. Even so, the parties
did agree on a number of important documents, including a banking agreement and
an appeal to Ukraine to participate in the peace-keeping process currently
under the auspices of OSCE and Russia. Most important was the signing of an
‘Agreement on Non-use of Force’. This agreement was proposed by the Dniestr
side, but was immediately denounced by the Dniestr leftist opposition. The
September round of negotiations saw the PMR delegation more entrenched in their
positions than during the summer.
After the aborted breakthrough in September 1995, negotiations were broken off
until January 1996. A new series of meetings in February, March and April
failed to give the talks a new impetus. The PMR leadership clearly wanted to
know the outcome of the presidential elections in Moscow before they made any
significant concessions: if Zyuganov or Zhirinovsky won, the could hope for
more sympathy in the Kremlin than they enjoyed in the Yeltsin administration.
On the opposite side of the fence, Snegur knew that if a reunification of
Moldova and the PMR took place before the Moldovan presidential elections in
November 1996, his chances of re-election might diminish: the left bankers held
him responsible for the 1992 war, and he could not hope for more than a handful
of votes in the region.
Only Yeltsin had a clear incentive to act. If he could broker a resolution to
the Dniester impasse on the eve of the Russian presidential elections, it might
boost his re-election chances. On 27 June 1996, he felt confident enough that a
solution was imminent to send invitations to Snegur, Smirnov and the Ukrainian
president, Leonid Kuchma, to attend a signing ceremony in Moscow. But two days
before the presidential run-offs, the signing was called off, either as a
result of Yeltsin’s heart attack or because of a failure to secure the
consent of all parties. As it had the year before, a hectic and upbeat summer
season fizzled out without any enduring results. However, the change of
leadership in Chisinau in December 1996, when pro-Russian candidate Petru
Lucinschi beat the incumbent Snegur, once again rekindled expectations that the
parties might soon draw closer together.
The negotiation process between Moldova and the PMR continues. Both parties
have agreed to retain the integrity and unity of Moldova, and that Dniestria
shall be granted a special status within that state. The Moldovan and PMR
negotiation teams have been taken by international human rights organizations
on guided tours of various zones of conflict and harmony around the world –
Northern Ireland, Cyprus, South Tyrol, Åland – to study the experiences of
others. The PMR secretary of State, Valerii Litskai, claims that the travels
have not been in vain: the optimal model has been found. It is called
‘associate membership’, embodied in the relationship of Puerto Rico to USA,
Liechtenstein to Switzerland, and Åland to Finland. In particular, the latter
arrangement is favoured by the PMR leadership. While an integral part of the
Finnish state, Åland is at the same time free to conclude international
agreements. It remains to be seen whether the new Moldovan leadership will be
equally intrigued by the Åland model.
Leading Moldovan officials concede that the left bank has distinctive features
that must be recognized in any agreement. The economic problems, which neither
the left nor the right bank can cope with alone, pull the parties slowly
towards each other. There is no insuperable ethnic antagonism between the
protagonists, and multifarious social and economic contacts between Moldova and
Dniestria have been retained all along.
Nevertheless, the negotiators face formidable psychological and practical
hurdles. The PMR and Moldova have disparate economic systems and separate armed
forces and security systems. An integration will require a radical
reorganization of these structures. Deep-seated mutual distrust reigns. In the
PMR, many careers depend on continued separation, and many Moldovan officials
oppose reunification with Romania for similar reasons. When and if the left
bank becomes merely an autonomous region, they will lose their impressive
titles and become redundant.
Overcoming these problems will require the active participation of
international organizations such as the OSCE, but also of Russia, whose
prestige in Dniestria is very high. No long-term implementation programme can
be elaborated before the principal issues are settled. Probably, the resolution
to the Dniestr conflict will have to proceed as a step-by-step process rather
than as a single act."
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:glj_7jcvG8MC:www.prio.no/publications
/reports/osce/osce-moldova.asp+moldava+news&hl=en
Charming, isn't it?
OSCE efforts at conflict resolution simply provide a legal basis for russian
colonization. Or am I missing something?
jonhill
more to follow...
Jonhillr
Friday 1st:
"The Moldovan President, Vladimir Voronin, has dismissed the Education
Minister, Ilie Vancea, over a plan to force schoolchildren to learn Russian as
a compulsory second language.
The president said Mr Vancea would be assigned other duties.
Mr Vancea has already apologised for the language plan, saying it had been a
mistake.
There have been weeks of demonstrations in Moldova against moves to forge
closer ties with Russia.
[Wow! Can you imagine the audicity of mr. Vanacea - to go ahead - *on his own*
decision - to force the russian language onto Moldava students? Neither can
I]
Voronin's communists want closer ties with Russia
A BBC Correspondent in Moscow says that many Moldovans see closer ties with
Russia as a throwback to the Soviet era.
Mr Voronin also appointed a professional financier, Zinaida Grecianyi as the
new finance minister to replace Mikhail Manoli, who resigned last month in a
dispute with other cabinet members over tax issues.
Correspondents said the appointment was angled at the International Monetary
Fund which has just sent a monitoring mission to begin work in Moldova.
The IMF froze its $142 million three-year loan to Moldova last year due to
concern over the slow pace of reform and the government has failed to get the
IMF to relent.
[Wow! All that money! (not) I womder what kind of reform the IMF wanted to
see?]
On Tuesday, about 3,000 students and nationalists picketed the building of the
state television station, which had previously exhorted parents and teachers to
prevent student protests against Mr Vancea's language plans.
As protests grew outside the building, TV staff staged a surprise on-air
protest against state censorship of its programmes - splashing a "No to
Censorship" slogan across the screen after a truncated news broadcast.
Normal broadcasting resumed after a half-hour blackout when staff reportedly
won assurances that officials would stop dictating editorial policies.
........
jonhill
Jonhillr
The communist party in Moldava won elections a few months ago receiving 52% of
the popular vote due to Moldava's abject economy.
All quotes from BBC for educational purposes:
"(Vladimir Voronin)... favours making Russian an official language, along with
Romanian which was adopted as the state language after independence.
About one-third of Moldova's 4.3m people speak Russian as their mother tongue,
and most people are bilingual.
Asked whether he would consider joining a union with Russia and Belarus, Mr
Voronin said he had not ruled out the idea.
The union has been seen as a recreation of the direct ties to Moscow which
existed during the Soviet period.
IMF role
After independence in Moldova, the Communist Party was banned for three years.
The Communists promised hope in bleak surroundings
After a decade of half-hearted privatisation, the Communists advocate state
ownership of key industries, including the potentially lucrative wine business.
The Communists promised higher salaries and a return to the order and jobs for
life of the Soviet era."
Going forward in time..
"Wednesday, 23 January, 2002, 12:20 GMT
Protesters say Moldova is becoming a Russian province
The main opposition party in Moldova plans to appeal against a government
decision to suspend its activities.
The ban followed street protests over the authorities' move to make Russian an
official language alongside Moldovan and to make it a compulsory subject in
schools.
This decision is the fruit of the Communist Party's political intolerance
Iurie Rosca, CDPP leader
The leader of the Christian Democratic Popular Party (CDPP), Iurie Rosca, said
the ban was an attempt by the Communist-dominated government to suppress the
opposition.
"This decision is the fruit of the Communist Party's political intolerance. It
does not have any legal grounds, a fact that we will try to prove in the
[Moldova's] Supreme Justice Court in coming days."
Mr Rosca also said his party intended to appeal to the European Court of Human
Rights if the Supreme Court's decision was negative.
Street protests
The Justice Minister, Ion Morei, suspended the CDPP's activities for a month,
saying the party had been staging illegal street protests and disrupting
traffic in the capital, Chisinau (formerly Kishinev).
Protesters urged schools to boycott Russian lessons
The ban means the CDPP can no longer use its bank accounts, publish newspapers
or take part in electoral campaigns.
Mr Morei did not rule out a complete ban if the party, which advocates
unification of Moldova and neighbouring Romania, continued its demonstrations.
Around 3,000 people have been taking part in daily demonstrations against what
they perceive as the government's intentions to push the former Soviet republic
closer to Russia and away from the rest of Europe.
Romanian leaders also criticised the ban, saying that for Moldova it was a step
back from the European norms and democratic values.
Russian orbit
Earlier this month Moldova made Russian a compulsory language in schools.
Communists are pressing for closer ties with Russia
It was one of the pre-election promises of the Communist Party, which was swept
to power last year amid mass disillusionment in one of Europe's poorest
countries.
Moldova's Communist President Vladimir Voronin is a strong advocate of the
country joining the political union of Russia and Belarus.
Last month the government ratified a friendship treaty with Russia, defining it
as Moldova's strategic partner.
Around 75% of Moldovans are of Romanian descent and speak Moldovan, which is
virtually identical to Romanian.
However, the country has a large Russian-speaking minority, and Russian is
widely spoken in the cities."
Does this sound familiar?
Colonists + socialists = neo-matushka?
jonhill
more to follow..
Jonhillr
"Monday, 25 February, 2002, 05:06 GMT
Big anti-government protest in Moldova
Thousands joined the protest
Tens of thousands of protesters took part in a demonstration in the Moldovan
capital, Chisinau, on Sunday calling on the country's communist government to
resign.
[Smart people!]
Anti-government demonstrations - which started last month in response to
government plans to make Russian compulsory in schools and rewrite history
textbooks - have continued despite the authorities backing down last week.
Opposition groups say they fear the government wants to bring Moldova back
within Russia's sphere of influence."
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1838000/1838782.stm
I wish the Moldavans all the luck possible in redefining their nation. I hope
they expell the traitorous communist party from their government.
Quite obviously, a nation is *not* defined by economics alone. Somewhere in the
OSCE and EU equation, someone forgot to factor in citizens' their love for
their nation, language and culture.
I also think it is pathetic that all of the EU's socialist 'lokomotiv'
engineers have been working as stooges for russia. They have bcome so jaded in
their valuation of statecraft that they have forgotten the basis of their own
acquired power; their fellow citizens.
I can only hope that the EU, belatedly, assists the Moldovans to build their
nation - rather than persist in attempting to apply its marxist indoctrination
upon people who do not wish it.
jonhill