 | PMR OR BUST? It is not the first name that comes to mind as a holiday spot. So why would anyone even consider spending a holiday in "the country that is not yet a country"... [more] |  | | |  | TOGETHER FOREVER? Transdniestria agreed to a 2003 plan for becoming part of a common state with Moldova. But Moldova surprisingly turned it down, for reasons that were never fully explained. [more] |
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What resurrecting Cold War with Russia costs us
It doesn't matter to the West who rules Transdniestria, as long as the territory's future is democratically decided by the people who live there. What matters far more is the future of geopolitical relations and the worldwide partnership with Russia, as U.S. military strategist Thomas P.M. Barnett points out.
The West is strategically wrong on Russia
One of Singapore's foremost political strategists says that the West needs to recognize reality. This means accommodating Russia in a win-win partnership as well as taking into account the number of new nations, such as Pridnestrovie, who want to become “responsible stakeholders” within the international community.
Who Started Cold War II?
Let the people of Abkhazia and South Ossetia decide their own future in plebiscites conducted by the United Nations or the OSCE. That is the opinion of former White House insider Pat Buchanan who also says that "who rules Abkhazia and South Ossetia is none of our business."
Blowback from bear-baiting
Former US presidential candidate Pat Buchanan doesn't understand why some show indignation over the fact that Abkhazia and South Ossetia need independence. If anything, he argues that support for the independence and sovereignty of "breakaway provinces" would be in line with Western foreign policy.
New media control laws
On 5 June 2008, Moldova's Parliament passed a law banning all publications whose content could be construed as a call to "territorial separatism." Journalist and newspaper publisher Des Grant of The Tiraspol Times & Weekly Review warns that this law is in breach of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Transdniestria looks to Europe for support
Disappointed with what it sees as too little support from Russia, Transdniestria is showing itself to be increasingly more independent and is adopting a "multi-vector" foreign policy which includes closer ties with the European Union. Here, renowned American analyst Paul Goble says that makes Transdniestria less subject to Moscow’s diktat.
As democracy spreads, new countries will be born
Borders are not written in stone and as history has shown, they evolve along with human evolution, says Eddie Beaver of the US Navy's 7th fleet. In this guest opinion, he asks if we are to suspend reality and operate on the false belief that artificial nations are going to be permanent?
Why not a referendum to decide the issue?
Wouldn’t consulting the people offer a way out? That's the question asked in this analysis, published by BHHRG, the British Helsinki Human Rights Group, after an extensive visit to Tiraspol.
Pat Buchanan: "Are freelancers running America's foreign policy?"
Former US presidential candidate Pat Buchanan has harsh words for a knee-jerk Cold War mentality which hurts US interest rather than helping the world become a safer place. When countries show that they want more democracy and integration with the international community (which is the case for Pridnestrovie, ed.) they should be supported, not shunned. Such efforts should be recognized and helped in the right direction.
Where's the "Mafyia"?
A repeat visitor from Scandinavia falls in love with Pridnestrovie and finds it to be quiet and almost crime free. In this guest column, Rune Hansson wants to know: Where are the gangsters that he was warned about before he arrived?
