Watchdog has an interesting governing board that includes representatives of the Soros Foundation (you know, the group that illegally tried to take over the government of Moldova), Romanian citizens, and employees of US-funded organizations.
Tag: plahotniuc
Everyone Is Hopping Mad in Moldova
I’m not going to bother unpacking the election results in Moldova because I doubt there’s a single person with an open mind reading this. Believe what you want.
Romania Perfecting Its Elections Interference Toolkit in Moldova
After all the panic over maybe, kinda, sorta Russian “interference” in the upcoming Moldovan elections, you’d think a story like Romania interfering in Moldova’s elections would be huge news. But it wasn’t, of course, because it didn’t involve Russia.
The Curious Case of the Chisinau Mayoral Race
On May 20, 2018, voters in Chisinau headed to the polls for the first round of what was a very low-key and boring election. Since 2007, Chisinau has been run like a personal fiefdom by Dorin Chirtoaca, a close personal friend of former Romanian President Traian Basescu. Chirtoaca was re-elected in 2015 and should still…
The Man Behind the Curtain Speaks
Although he normally toils away in obscurity, speaking only to his minions and the foreign governments that prop up his regime, Vladimir Plahotnyuk took the opportunity last week to speak to the press. The reason? Well, 2018 is a mandatory election year for parliament. Although people have been protesting (especially in the winter of 2016/17)…
RIP, Democracy in Moldova
Well, today was a very sad and tragic day for the people of the Republic of Moldova, as now this country is officially a regime: A government, especially an authoritarian one. On paper, RM is a democracy, complete with elections, a parliament, and a head of state. But in reality, a single mob boss controls…
The Price of Democracy
Yesterday here in the Republic of Moldova it was Independence Day. I was too busy working to attend any of the celebrations but I did see a rather anemic five-minute firework display from my balcony in the evening. It turns out that the pathetic light show pretty much sums up the state of democracy around…
Nuland Endorses Moldova’s Most Hated Politician
Hmm…. this all sounds very familiar. First, the staid New York Times piece: These days, however, it is a different photograph that is rallying support for Moscow’s allies in Europe’s Poorest Country™. It shows a United States assistant secretary of state, Victoria J. Nuland, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in Washington with Vlad Plahotniuc, Moldova’s most-feared figure, a…
Pot Calling Kettle
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…
The Theft of the Century
The other day, after briefly mentioning how Kroll’s second report is now a month overdue (with no information about when it will ever be released), I remembered that somewhere in my archives I had a copy of the original Kroll report from April 2015. It’s a rather long and “boring” document but it is written…
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…
En Garde, IMF!
It’s no secret that I have almost zero respect for Romanian journalists and bloggers. But I am starting to get a serious writer crush on Moldovan journalist Vitalie Calugareanu, who has been writing (literally!) the only decent analysis I’ve seen anywhere in the Romanian language on what’s going on in the Republic of Moldova. Because…
