Is independent statehood really the most important thing for PMR?

The Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica, or PMR for short, declared independence in 1990. Since then, the government has increasingly been seeking international recognition of its statehood. But there is a question which no one ever asked: Where does the government of an independent PMR get he money from to pay for their obligations to the international community?

Truth be told, neither the PMR nor Moldova are rich countries. When the independence of PMR is recognized, there will one more poor country will be added to the international community.

To represent itself internationally as a country, the PMR will need to establish representations in New York, Washington, Moscow (said to be the most expensive city in the world), and a couple of other places around the globe. For each embassy, it will need to pay ambassadors, secretaries, housing, cars, travel expenses, etc etc etc. Where will this money come from?

Today, the infrastructure of PMR, like in many other other post-Soviet countries, is crumbling. Hospitals lack modern equipment. Roads need to be repaired. Pensions for old people barely keep them alive. Are these immediate concerns not more important than a set of embassies abroad?

Before spending on embassies and membership dues in international organizations, let the government buy modern equipment for the hospitals. Build operating rooms. Pay better wages and higher pensions. But PMR does not have money for that today, so how will it have money for even more tomorrow? Or will independence be paid for by higher taxes, lower wages and less spending on pensions? That will just bring more poverty to an already poor-off population.

Maybe the international community will chip in and pay for some of the costs related to independence. This will make PMR into someone who can not pay its own expenses, in other words a beggar. And as the saying goes, beggars can't be choosers. PMR will have to dance to the music of who pays the piper; the music of the rich nations of the world. Is this really independence?

The PMR is an easy target for Russian "gas blackmail" and cheap gas can one day become very expensive. The price is set politically, so Russia already has half a foot in the door. With winter just starting, this amounts to Russian influence.

Moldova is even worse off. Its people are only able to survive because expatriate Moldovan guestworkers send part of their earnings back home. As a country, it survives on loans and handouts from the West. Its president, Vladimir Voronin, is already a willing puppet of Mr Bush and Mrs Merkel, following their orders and doing whatever the West tells him to. Moldova holds out hope that one day there could be a moratorium on their many loans, but when this happens, who in the right mind will lend them more money? The country has lost its dignity and can best be considered a "paria" of the international community.

That is something which I never wish for PMR, and to the friendly people of the PMR. Instead, I just hope that the president of PMR will have the wisdom to make the right decision.

German citizen Jochen Kissly is an IT industry specialist in SQL database implementation for Apple Macintosh. He is a frequent visitor to both Moldova and PMR, and states that he has "always felt welcomed by the Transnistrian people."

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