Bunker Mentality

In April of 2009 in the Republic of Moldova, a popular protest culminated in the burning of the parliament building. The protest was largely due to the illegitimacy of the ruling coalition. Seven years later, another illegitimate ruling coalition is worried about protests. My translation: The Parliament building recently got a security upgrade that cost 9 million lei [455 thousand USD]. Anatolie Zoltcov couldn’t give … Continue reading Bunker Mentality

Implausible Deniability Part 2

Well, well, what do you know? The AP is up to its usual shitty job of reporting about Romania: The CIA paid Romania “millions of dollars” to host secret prisons, a rights lawyer said Wednesday as the European Court of Human Rights heard accusations that Romania allowed the agency to torture terrorism suspects in a secret renditions program under President George W. Bush. . Amrit … Continue reading Implausible Deniability Part 2

High and Deep in Moldova

With the IMF in town and the majority of the country against them, the sinister coalition led by Pavel “Mr. Midnight” Filip is putting a brave face on things. Yesterday the parliament published yet another piece of worthless paper. My translation: The document laid out by the Moldovan legislature states their intention to promote reforms demanded by their development partners [foreign financiers], to consolidate the … Continue reading High and Deep in Moldova

Petras Auštrevičius Loses His Cool

You know, in the diplomatic world, you’re always supposed to discuss even the most contentious issues with poise and equanimity. But earlier this week, special rapporteur to the Republic of Moldova, one Lithuanian politician named Petras Austrevicius, couldn’t control himself. The European official hinted in this context that Brussels monitors the situation from the Republic of Moldova and is not influenced by the cases and … Continue reading Petras Auštrevičius Loses His Cool

Dark Comedy Continues in Moldova

I never expected Deutsche Welle (German state media) and their Romanian-language edition to provide such insightful analysis on the situation in Moldova but they’ve continued to surprise me in recent days. My translation: The impression is that Moldova’s foreign friends have, over the past three years, agreed to “sacrifice” democracy for a while in favor of a toxic stability founded on a coalition of greedy, … Continue reading Dark Comedy Continues in Moldova