Why Are the Brits Pessimistic about Moldova?
Monday started with two articles on Moldova in the British The Economist and Sunday Telegraph .
The Telegraph article is a variation on the same old topic: Transnistria and its role in the East-West relations, while The Economist deals with the Romanian-Moldovan relations. Perhaps the British media’s increased interest in this conflict zone is due to Moldova’s recently becoming an immediate Eastern neighbor of EU. Or, more realistically, the most recent Russian actions vis-à-vis Estonia put the decade-long Transnistrian conflict into a new perspective: Russia’s continuous interference into the internal affairs of an equally sovereign albeit much smaller and vulnerable country turned Transnistria into "an authoritarian regime under Russian occupation", "irritant to the US and the EU", "one of the worst thorns in the side of Europe and NATO", "serious political obstacle to Moldova's joining the EU". This historically-rooted mess aimed to strategically position Moscow in “some future East-West conflict”. Too bad for the half-million people living in Transnistria who are being manipulated in the worst possible way, …too bad for the other 3.5 million Moldovans who are viewed by the West as a “chunk of dirt-poor, ill-run, ex-communist nuisance”…
Although I wish something intelligent could be said to dilute the pessimistic image created by these two articles, no arguments seem to rush to mind.
Later addition It looks like The Economist is going to publish an entire series of diary-type-articles about Moldova. So much attention is really flattering :) Here you can read Tuesday part, or directly on the author's - Edward Lucas - blog .
Comments:
An interview with Nicu Popescu sheds more light on the West-East relations and their implications on smaller, in-between countries like Armenia or Moldova.
"Because there is no consensus in Europe as to what should be done with EU’s Eastern neighbors. When there is no consensus, the issue is usually deferred in the EU. It has to be tackled at a later stage when the situation is clearer. We all like to postpone important decision until the last moment."
Lucia, interesting you should mention this. I just came back from attending a conference in Hull. The only thing widely known among the conference participants about Moldova was that there are many Moldovan asylum seekers in the UK (seeking asylum after having been identified as victims of trafficking), and that some amazing number of Moldovans is currently abroad working.
Unfortunately, I would have to say that the British working class people (the readers of the Sunday papers) are less concerned about things happening outside the "cuppa tea" and the game.
As an example, David Lammy MP, Minister of Culture, had to leave the conference early today because of his commitment at the FA Cup Final(Chelsea won by the way - or as a guy next to me on the train said "the wrong ones won" :)). By leaving, he was "unable" to take questions about the treatment of legal and illegal migrants are subject to in the UK. If such "domestic" questions are increasingly avoided, then one can only imagine what happens to matters taking place thousands of miles away.
I am afraid I have to agree with Cezara on this. As a British person, it often seems impossible to rouse interest in anything but shopping, soap operas and house prices here. People's lack of curiosity about the world which surrounds them never fails to astonish me (Moldova, is hardly remote)- particularly as the same people will openly sneer at Americans for being "dumb", oblivious to their own lack of knowledge.
If it is any consolation, British people react with the same torpid indifference to the unprecedented erosion of basic freedoms here since 1997 (who would think we would now need police permission to demonstrate on Parliament Square, that people would be arrested for reading the names of those killed in Iraq war, that people's DNA profiles would be quietly collected, without even a caution being needed, that Jury trials should be systematically eroded, described as "something out of Dickens" by Tony Blair, and that Muslim terror suspects should be detained indefinately without trial in Belmarsh Maximum security prison. We are now the most watched nation on earth - even the village in which I live is bristling with cameras - and no one cares about that either.)
Some are interested in what happens in Moldova though, so you are not "shouting into the void." I enjoy this blog and find MD facinating. I note Lucia has had a significant number of "clicks" from the UK - and while I visit regularly they're not all me!!
As for the government minister, they seem to have a Mccavity policy - they seem only willing to put out statements, never to appear on live TV or radio, which are difficult to stage manage.
This particular minister is so invisible that even though I have some interest in politics, I did not know he was Minister of Culture and cannot put a face to his name!!
Are the Brits pessimistic about Moldova? I tend towards pessimism sometimes myself, but this never seems to shake my belief that Moldova is a country with significant potential - one which I would like in time to see in the EU.
Cezara and David, thank you for the interesting and insightful comments. Most likely, the Economist's articles about Moldova are read by a small segment of international readers, including British. I'm aware of the way I myself read the media: I scan through the titles, and read only those that interest me the most. How many people in Europe are interested (more exactly, concerned) in Moldova, and what exactly sparks their interest/concern? I don't know... Lucas is definitely interested, and David as well. Given that the Moldovan Government is not doing enough to promote this country internationally, the Economist is doing a big favor to Moldova by writing about its problems, even if Moldovans don't seem to like being exposed like this to the entire world... it has to do with the Moldovan status that Lucas referred to :)