Well this is certainly interesting:

Romania plans to counteract Russian mass media in Moldova. Dan Stojanescu, the head of the ministry’s department for politics towards and communications with fellow-Romanians abroad said at the first session of the board the time was ripe for supporting Moldova in the sphere of European values through the creation of a common space for communications and joint investments. He said the board would be an important element in handing the European norms down to Moldova and for exploring the opportunities of bilateral cooperation.

Pretty hilarious, even with that odd translation. So Romania wants to broadcast propaganda into Moldova to inform their little brown brothers of the “truth”?

Mind you, Romanian state radio has already been broadcasting here for years, Romanian state TV (TVR) is available via satellite, over the air and cable, and there are plenty of pro-Romania media channels broadcasting in Moldova. So what more needs to be done?

Stojanescu voiced the aspirations of the Council members to embrace the Russian-speaking audiences with this activity as that way the Russian-speakers living in Moldova would have access to information in their native tongue.

Oh! It’s not for their “fellow Romanians abroad” (pretutindeni) but for Russian speakers who live in Moldova. A-ha!

Well, it’s true isn’t it, that Russian media has complete control over Moldova? And the Russians are constantly broadcasting their evil propaganda to the simple minded folks who live here, right? Oh wait:

Earlier, Russian journalists of VGTRK, LifeNews, and First Channel were forbidden from visiting Moldova. The Russian Foreign Ministry considered this “another serious violation of the international law on human rights, freedom of speech, fundamental principles of a democratic society by Chisinau.”

Yep, as I’ve reported several times before, America and Romania’s favorite oligarch, Vladimir Plahotniuc, is rapidly consolidating his dictatorial grip on this country and he is most definitely anti-Russian to the point where he’s not even letting Russian journalists in the country.

So what propaganda exactly does Romania hope to counteract with this new project?

Well, to learn that answer you’ve literally got to speak Russian because it’s definitely not included in the press release from Romanian state media or any commercial Romanian-language media articles in either Romania or RM, nor is it to be found in English anywhere.

My translation:

Attending the event, Moldovan Ambassador to Bucharest, Mihai Gribincea said, “I think this [decision to broadcast pro-Romanian propaganda in the Russian language] is important because Moldova is dominated by the Russian media. They are engaged in blatant propaganda, which is no less dangerous for the security of the state than the Russian armed forces stationed in Transnistria.”

BTW, in case you think the Russians are just inventing things, here is the video of the press conference (in Romanian).

Yep, good old Gribincea, representing a dictatorship which has routinely barred foreign journalists from entering the country, an illegitimate government that arrests its own (Romanian speaking!) citizens for peacefully protesting, is the guest of honor of the Romanian government at the launch of a propaganda vehicle to counteract a segment of the media that he equates as being as dangerous as actual soldiers? Seriously? And all this is to fucking “hand down” European values from Romania to Moldova?

Hmm, obviously the end game here is to simulate Ukraine, where ALL Russian-langage media is banned. And on the same day as this lovely Gribincea-Stojalescu press conference, the Ukrainian government passed a new law making it illegal to criticize the government or any of its actions. Nice!

People always call me pro-Russian but I am definitely not. What I am though is vehemently opposed to the Romanian government and their relentless determination to repress democracy on every level.

I’ll add here that there’s already plenty of options for Russian speakers who want to hear a different view, including Radio “Free” Europe, Voice of America (TV), the BBC (radio), Euronews (TV and radio), Deutsche Welle (online print and video) and “Dozhd” TV (Rain), all of which are freely accessible right here in poor old benighted Moldova. And there are half a dozen Moldovan newspapers in the Russian language with articles written by Moldovan journalists trained at Moldovan universities.

When will it ever be enough for all these outsiders to leave Moldova alone? Oh right, I forgot. The answer is never. It’s never enough when there’s a power out there that dares to say the shit that you don’t want them to say and protects the people who have the courage to say it.