I’ve been quite busy lately dealing with other things, including how to survive World War 3, so I haven’t had much time to get into all the shenanigans the European Union has been up to in this part of the world.

What I really would like to talk about is the actions of Peter Michalko, the EU ambassador to Moldova, who has turned himself into a little dictator these past couple of years, appointing himself as chief judge and executioner of who should win elections in Moldova, which court decisions are legitimate, and which cases should be investigated by prosecutors.

Alas, I don’t have time…

However, an unrelated action that took place a couple of months ago is sufficiently illustrative of just truly stupid and uninformed the European Union is.

You see, since 2003, the EU has imposed travel sanctions against certain “leaders” of Pridnestrovie, otherwise known as “Transnistria” to fascists and the uniformed.

This measure was designed to:

[put] pressure on the leadership to take steps to reach a settlement to the conflict [between Moldova and Pridnestrovie].

And every year since then, the EU has voted to renew the sanctions for one more year. Including this year.

The “only” problem is, the EU has never bothered to update their list.

And what the EU apparently doesn’t know is that at least one person on that list is now dead.

Sheesh…

Let’s Go to the Videotape

Let’s see who is on the EU’s retarded sanctions list:

Igor Smirnov – Currently 79 years old, he was the first president of Pridnestrovie. Now, he is retired and lives in Odessa, Ukraine in a lovely beachfront house, and his favorite activity is boating on the Black Sea.

He has been retired from politics for 10 years.

Vladimir Smirnov – Igor’s son, age 59. Runs some businesses in Pridnestrovie and lives an upscale life but has no political influence.

Oleg Smirnov – Igor’s other son, age 53. Same as his brother.

Valeri Litskai – Age 71, retired. Former Foreign Minister.

Stanlisav Hajeev – Age 79, retired. Former Defense Minister.

Vladimir Antufeyev – Hasn’t been here in years and everyone here thinks he’s a psycho.

Alexander Koroleov – Age 62, lives in Russia. Former Vice President.

Viktor Balala – Age 59. Lives in Russia. Former Justice Minister.

Igor Mazur – Age 53, retired. Lives in Russia. Former county governor.

Yuri Platonov – Age 72, retired. Former county administrator.

Vyaceslav Kogut – Died two years ago at the age of 68. Former mayor.

Viktor Kostirko – Age 72, retired. Former mayor.

And the list goes on and so on and so on…

Twist of Fate

In the EU’s defense, there actually is one name on their sanctions list who isn’t either dead or a pensioner.

That is Vladimir Krasnoselsky, the current president of this country.

The reason his name is on the list is because of the fact that he was the Minister of the Interior at that time, and all the PMR ministers in 2003 were automatically added to the sanctions list.

That leaves Krasnoselsky as the only person left who is affected by EU sanctions.

Mind you, these are just travel sanctions only, meaning he cannot enter an EU member country without prior approval.

He’s never spoken publicly about whether or not he gives a shit about these sanctions, but they’re definitely not cramping his style.

His last vacation was to a lovely seaside resort in Sharm-al-Sheikh.

Double Twist!

As toothless (and now idiotic) as those EU sanctions are, what makes them even more hilarious is that they are supposedly in response to this (my emphasis):

The EU considers the continued obstructionism of the leadership of the Transnistrian region of the Moldovan Republic and its unwillingness to change the status quo to be unacceptable.

The Council has decided to implement targeted sanctions in the form of a travel ban aimed solely at those members of the Transnistrian leadership considered to be primarily responsible for the lack of cooperation to promote a political settlement of the conflict.

Why am I laughing so hard that I am coughing up blood?

Because just a month after those sanctions went into effect, Pridnestrovie formally agreed to the Kozak Plan, a permanent, political settlement of the “conflict.”

You can click on the link to read it for yourself, but the essential element is that Pridnestrovie had agreed to relinquish all claims of sovereignty and become part of Moldova.

Conflict over, man!

Russia had agreed to (Russia wrote it). Pridnestrovie had agreed to it. Ukraine was on board. And Moldova had promised to agree to it as well.

Phone Call from Mr. Pot to Mr. Black

But, at the last minute (literally), the Moldovan president, Vladimir Voronin backed out, without explanation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was inbound to Moldova to be present at the signing ceremony, had to turn around his plane.

Later, it was revealed that high-ranking European Union diplomats had called up Voronin and bullied him into not signing because they disagreed with it.

It didn’t matter that all of the countries that would actually be affected by this settlement had agreed to it.  The EU didn’t like it, and so they blocked it.

Huge protests broke out on the streets of Chisinau the next day, calling for Voronin to resign after breaking his word.

Quite literally, it is the European Union that is both obstructionist and has taken active steps to oppose a political settlement to the “conflict” between Moldova and Pridnestrovie.

But do you think that the EU will ever admit that?

Hell no.

Instead, they prefer to carry on in their high-handed, imperious manner, too stupid and blind to realize that they just voted to impose sanctions against dead people and a handful of doddering old men.