U.N. plea: "We are not a threat to anyone"

The United Nations General Assembly will take a look at who is really a threat to peace in the region. PMR says: "it ain't us"

NEW YORK (Tiraspol Times / Inner City Press) - How on earth can a tiny, little land-locked country be a threat to anyone? That is the question which Pridnestrovie, also called Transnistria, asks in a formal text filed at the United Nations along with two other unrecognized states, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The threats, say the foreign ministers of the three countries, come from their much larger neighbors: Aggressive states who, says the text, have a history of using force, waging war to impose their sovereignty on people who do not wish to live under their rule. This, argues the ministers, is a remnant of the worst of Stalin's Soviet-era imperalism ... and it must be rejected by peaceful, democratic folks everywhere.

The joint message from the unrecognized states came after Moldova, Azerbaijan and Georgia managed to pass a resolution to put the issue of the so-called "frozen conflicts" in front of the United Nations General Assembly. The United States, which considers itself an interested party with respect to every disagreement and territory, spoke in favor of the resolution. So did Ukraine, on behalf of "the GUAM states": Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova.

The response from the foreign ministers of three unrecognized countries says, in part, that: "We have managed to restore a war-destroyed economy and effectively overcome the economic and social consequences of the aggressive wars which our larger neighbors waged against us. We are a threat to no one, but are simply concerned with the development of the economies of our countries, and with solving social problems that still exists. We are ready to live as peaceful members of the world community and have friendly relations with all states.

It also points out that an attempt to escalate the conflicts and involve other countries, even at the United Nations level, will have unforeseen consequences. Armenia, although not a co-signer, agrees that by bringing in new parties, existing status talks are disrupted. Armenia's Foreign Minister its UN Ambassador publicly stated that if Azerbaijan continues pushing the issue before the United Nations, existing peace talks will stop. Armenian sources privately speak more darkly of an alliance of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, collectively intent on involving the UN in reigning in their breakaway regions including South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Pridnestrovie (Transdniestria).

Strange antics at the United Nations

As a first salvo in this dark alliance, a panel discussion in November in the United Nations Trusteeship Council featured two law professors, Christopher J. Borgen and Mark A. Meyer, arguing against a series of secessionist states. Although supposedly representing the New York City Bar in front of the UN panel, Meyer is also a partner in a private law firm doing a great deal of government related business in Romania, perhaps the closest ally of Moldova in its quest to subdue the will of the people of Pridnestrovie to self-determination.

While the underlying report concerns Moldova and Pridnestrovie, which is referred to in the report as Transnistria, the two professors repeatedly referred to other conflicts, including Kosovo and Montenegro. Their point was to try to distinguish those two from the so-called frozen conflicts, which apart from Pridnestrovie also include Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Ambassadors of Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Georgia (the other members, with Moldova, of the "GUAM" group) all spoke, before the panel deigned to take questions.

A Tiraspol Times' collaborator, New York based journalist Matthew Russell Lee, asked the professors to explain the basis for Abkhazia being dealt with in the UN Security Council, while the other conflicts are before the OSCE, and infrequently the General Assembly.

" - That's a political question," the moderator said. "We're talking about the law."

As if their unconnected, one muttered. "Okay, then - are you saying that the Security Council has or would have no power, under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, to move for Kosovar independence?"

" - Sure there are vast powers under Chapter Seven," said one. "But our report is not about that." Then what is it about, asks Lee? And why did the Bar Association of the City of New York get bought into one side of a two-sided argument? No answer yet ... We'll see.

See also:
» United Nations petitioned by Pridnestrovie, two other unrecognized countries