US Defense chief hails self-determination and "the right to choose their own destiny"

Donald Rumsfeld advocates democracy, self-determination (file photo)

MANAGUA (Tiraspol Times) - Coming out swinging in defense of "the democratic sweep of history", United States Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld hailed self-determination in a forceful speech at a conference of military leaders in Nicaragua's capital Managua, Monday.

In a reference to Cuba, he said that he hoped that one day soon "the final holdout in our hemisphere against the democratic sweep of history will give its citizens the right to choose their own destiny."

Military leaders participating in the event took the democracy advocate's words as a policy which should apply not just to Cuba but also to other parts of the world where citizens want to have the right to choose their own future, in a free and democratic vote.

The hopes nourished by Rumsfeld are shared by the people of Pridnestrovie - also known as Transnistria or Transdniester - who just two weeks ago succesfully organized an independence referendum. On 17 September, more than 300,000 voters went to the polls to participate in the democratic sweep of history and choose their own destiny. 94% of the voters rejected unification with Moldova, with 97% supporting a continuation of the unrecognized country's quest for independence and closer fraternal ties with Russia.

Moldova, like Cuba, is under Communist leadership, albeit one with a Western bent. Unlike Cuba and Moldova, Pridnestrovie - although retaining some Communist symbols for historic reasons - has no Communists in power. When elected, president Igor Smirnov beat his Communist challenger two to one, and the Communist Party of Pridnestrovie no longer has any representation in parliament.

Building on an American tradition

Speaking out in favor of the right to self-determination, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is building upon a venerable American tradition. The United States of America was founded on the sovereign right of the people to choose their own destiny, free from the rule of a power which they did not recognize as being legitimate.

US president Woodrow Wilson underscored this American tradition when he proclaimed, in 1921, that "no people must be forced under a sovereignty under which it does not wish to live." This gave rise to a number of new, democratic states and started a trend which became even stronger after World War II, with the founding of the United Nations. Since the UN was created, some 70 new countries have come into being: On average, one new country per year.

The mostly Slav population of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica declared independence in 1990 but the United States Department of State has not yet recognized the country and considers it part of Moldova. This, say some in Tiraspol, is an error, wishing that hopefully soon, the U.S. will give democracy a chance:

" - With the top gun at the Pentagon defending self-determination and democracy, there is hope that his colleagues at the State Department will take note," says Petru Gladchi, a civil society activist in Tiraspol. "Otherwise, how can the US promote democracy all over the world and not take the voice of the people of Transdniester into account? We are twice the population of Iceland and we, too, have a right to choose our own destiny."

Donald H. Rumsfeld was sworn in as the 21st Secretary of Defense on January 20, 2001. Before assuming his present post, the former Navy pilot had also served as the 13th Secretary of Defense, White House Chief of Staff, U.S. Ambassador to NATO, U.S. Congressman and chief executive officer of two Fortune 500 companies.

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