June 2004
As if things couldn't get any worse in Moldova, Donald Rumsfeld paid Chisinau a visit this month to thank the country for being part of the "Coalition of the Willing" in Iraq, according to the US Department of Defense.
The DoD also notes that Rumsfeld addressed the most pressing threat facing Moldova: the presence of Russian troops, weapons and munitions in the eastern Transnistria region. Russia pledged to pull out of the region by 2001 at the 1999 Istanbul Accord, but has not kept that promise. Maybe it's just me, but maybe the fact that Moldova is facing a massive population loss due to emigration,is perhaps more of a pressing problem than this seemingly intractable problem: fighting did end more than 10 years ago.
Nonetheless, Spacewar.com notes that Russia has not fully withdrawn from neither Transniestr nor Georgia and records the NATO Secretary General's concern over this. If anyone's still paying attention, Interfax reports that any agreement reached over Transniestr will have to be voted on by people in Moldova as a whole.
On a slightly happier note, a Moldovan has won the Miss Bikini Queen Beauty pageant in Malta. Sadly, the report does not say if the newly crowned queen wanted to spend her year bringing a political solution to her country, and work with animals.
Seanne Hanke, the Peace Corps volunteer currently in Moldova whose jottings I follow, has had a busy month..check her report here. |
