Hey kids, here’s a question: what happens when you take a Romanian, send him to America for 40 years, and then ask him to write about Transdniestria? The answer is a mishmash of unfounded bullshit: Yet on the face of it, that’s what tiny Transdniester has achieved over the past two years as its pro-Russian leadership in Tiraspol has clung improbably to a steady rate … Continue reading More Propaganda About Transnistria
Looking from the outside, it’s hard to understand why RM is so tolerant of Transnistria. After all, Transnistrian cars circulate freely here (in RM proper), Transnistrian businesses are everywhere, it’s easy to get a bus or train to Transnistria, and there are street signs pointing to destinations in Transnistria. Furthermore, Moldova doesn’t even guard or control its border with Transnistria. But who so lax? Transnistria … Continue reading Power Profits
Word Count: 1743 I say tomato, you say tomato. I say Country X is a real country, you say it isn’t. I keep hearing “experts” throw the idea of Transnistria around quite a lot while at the same time being sure to emphasize its illegitimacy. But if you boil down all the treaties, debate and political maneuvers since the Treaty of Wesphalia into their pure … Continue reading When You Don’t Officially Exist
Sometimes I read things online and I honestly believe someone is spoofing me, playing some kind of prank. This morning everyone is talking about the editorial by George Soros that was printed in the New York Review of Books about how evil Vladimir Putin is and how the European Union (and America, via the IMF) needs to spend untold billions of dollars to “save” Ukraine. … Continue reading In the Land of the Blind
I’m currently restricted to prepay internet, which means that I pay for every byte, so I’ve spent a lot of time offline, plumbing the archives of my computer. As such, I’ve had the time and fortitude to re-read Herodotus, and it reminded me of the first time I went to Moldova. — As a brief historical recap, 665 years ago a minor prince of Maramures … Continue reading Women and War
