.
Who could have imagined that Europe’s poorest country was part of a smuggling ring bent on supplying radioactive materials to jihadists in the Middle East? Despite reading like a B-movie plot hatched out in a damp Hollywood basement, ex-KGB agents operating out of Moldova did indeed try to sell a cache of cesium to undercover FBI agents posing as ISIS representatives, the Associated Press reported on October 7th. And while retired spies fiddling around with bomb-grade materials should strike fear in the hearts of many, Moldovans barely paid attention to the news.
Years of social unrest at the hands of an enfeebled political system have thoroughly weakened the geographically strategic nation of Moldova and its ability to function. Wedged between EU member state Romania and deeply dysfunctional Ukraine, Moldova’s government has been besieged by a growing polarization between pro-European and pro-Russian sentiments, which are socially dividing the impoverished nation to the point of breaking it apart.
While political stagnation is a familiar scenario for anyone living in the West, Moldova’s qualms stem however from yet another scandal worthy of yet another B-movie plot: the theft of what amounts to 12% of the country’s GDP from three banks, a feat apparently masterminded by the country’s richest man, a 28-year old businessman named Ilan Shor after a three-day long scheme. vThe bank fraud is estimated at more than $1 billion and has sent shockwaves throughout the country’s political class This is a staggering loss of a substantial amount of funds for one of Europe’s poorest countries. In Moldova however, even placed under house arrest, Shor ran for public office and was elected mayor of the city of Orhei, showcasing the system’s tendency to reward rather than punish corruption. It openly shows how fractured the accountability standard is for Moldova’s upper echelons.
The public outrage towards the country’s ruling oligarchy is helping to fuel the fire on further unrest, due to the widespread anger over the unequal treatment of different social classes. Andrian Candu, the speaker of parliament, said in an interview with the BBC that the bank theft brought out into the open the Moldovan’s deep resentment of the political class and should act as a “wake up call”.
This lethal mix is now threatening Moldova’s six-year chug to join the EU, already watered down after Juncker’s pledge of “no further EU enlargement”.
September’s pro-Russian, anti-European leadership rally brought together 60,000 protesters, all denouncing the Moldovan Government. This public unrest highlighted the same public anger at the old political status quo, which is permeating through western societies. It is turning Moldovan heads and ears towards far-left candidates; just as with America’s popular Socialist presidential contender Bernie Sanders, and the UK’s Socialist Parliament Member, Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Moldova’s pro-west coalition, though, has been so politically ineffectual, that to this day it still has to continually align itself with, and shamelessly appease the pro-Russia, red-sickle brandishing Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) in order to pass any of its significant political agendas.
There are many similarities between Moldova and pre-Maidan Ukraine. The mass protests are the result of years of dissatisfaction at elites, rampant corruption and decreasing standards of living. In addition, Transnistria, a Moscow-backed breakaway region and frozen conflict dating back to the early 90s that has been flaring up recently make Moldova the next potential European powder-keg to be badgered and bartered over by the Western Powers and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The region held an unrecognized independence referendum in 2006 (97% agreed join the Russian Federation in free association), and, after the annexation of Crimea, its leaders pleaded to join Russia. The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bridget Brink, recently visited the tiny province’s capital of Tiraspol, hoping to sway it somehow towards the west and away from Mother Russia.
It is apparent that without a stronger, more politically convincing push from the European Union, the Moldovan Government has nothing to offer its beleaguered people, other than empty Western ideological promises with no guarantees. If the mounting protesters fulfill their ultimate goals of dismantling the Moldovan Parliament, high-up governmental resignations, and early elections, the present political environment could put the pro-Russian and Socialist parties in the ruling majority for the first time since 2009. Both the pro-Western and the pro-Russian factions will find themselves just as deadlocked as ever before if they continue to cancel each other out politically, prolonging governmental dysfunctions even further into the country’s uncertain social and political future.
Europe, already fraying at the seams over the combined weight of three concurrent crises—Greece, Ukraine and the influx of Syrian refugees—each described as being existential, seems to lack either the spare capacity or the political bandwidth to properly deal with Moldova’s east-west tug of war. However, the mix of Russian gangsters unloading radioactive materials, 20-somethings pulling off what has been called the “heist of the century”, pro-communists marching by the thousands in the streets of a European capital and separatists leaders calling for inclusion in Russia are just the byproducts accompanying the years of political inefficiencies and vacuous European promises.
Unlike most American B-movies, Moldova’s plot doesn’t seem to lead to any happy ending so far.
Photo from www.moldova.org
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
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Moldova’s Political Paralysis and Social Unrest: Why it threatens Europe
October 16, 2015
Who could have imagined that Europe’s poorest country was part of a smuggling ring bent on supplying radioactive materials to jihadists in the Middle East? Despite reading like a B-movie plot hatched out in a damp Hollywood basement, ex-KGB agents operating out of Moldova did indeed try to sell a cache of cesium to undercover FBI agents posing as ISIS representatives, the Associated Press reported on October 7th. And while retired spies fiddling around with bomb-grade materials should strike fear in the hearts of many, Moldovans barely paid attention to the news.
Years of social unrest at the hands of an enfeebled political system have thoroughly weakened the geographically strategic nation of Moldova and its ability to function. Wedged between EU member state Romania and deeply dysfunctional Ukraine, Moldova’s government has been besieged by a growing polarization between pro-European and pro-Russian sentiments, which are socially dividing the impoverished nation to the point of breaking it apart.
While political stagnation is a familiar scenario for anyone living in the West, Moldova’s qualms stem however from yet another scandal worthy of yet another B-movie plot: the theft of what amounts to 12% of the country’s GDP from three banks, a feat apparently masterminded by the country’s richest man, a 28-year old businessman named Ilan Shor after a three-day long scheme. vThe bank fraud is estimated at more than $1 billion and has sent shockwaves throughout the country’s political class This is a staggering loss of a substantial amount of funds for one of Europe’s poorest countries. In Moldova however, even placed under house arrest, Shor ran for public office and was elected mayor of the city of Orhei, showcasing the system’s tendency to reward rather than punish corruption. It openly shows how fractured the accountability standard is for Moldova’s upper echelons.
The public outrage towards the country’s ruling oligarchy is helping to fuel the fire on further unrest, due to the widespread anger over the unequal treatment of different social classes. Andrian Candu, the speaker of parliament, said in an interview with the BBC that the bank theft brought out into the open the Moldovan’s deep resentment of the political class and should act as a “wake up call”.
This lethal mix is now threatening Moldova’s six-year chug to join the EU, already watered down after Juncker’s pledge of “no further EU enlargement”.
September’s pro-Russian, anti-European leadership rally brought together 60,000 protesters, all denouncing the Moldovan Government. This public unrest highlighted the same public anger at the old political status quo, which is permeating through western societies. It is turning Moldovan heads and ears towards far-left candidates; just as with America’s popular Socialist presidential contender Bernie Sanders, and the UK’s Socialist Parliament Member, Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Moldova’s pro-west coalition, though, has been so politically ineffectual, that to this day it still has to continually align itself with, and shamelessly appease the pro-Russia, red-sickle brandishing Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) in order to pass any of its significant political agendas.
There are many similarities between Moldova and pre-Maidan Ukraine. The mass protests are the result of years of dissatisfaction at elites, rampant corruption and decreasing standards of living. In addition, Transnistria, a Moscow-backed breakaway region and frozen conflict dating back to the early 90s that has been flaring up recently make Moldova the next potential European powder-keg to be badgered and bartered over by the Western Powers and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The region held an unrecognized independence referendum in 2006 (97% agreed join the Russian Federation in free association), and, after the annexation of Crimea, its leaders pleaded to join Russia. The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bridget Brink, recently visited the tiny province’s capital of Tiraspol, hoping to sway it somehow towards the west and away from Mother Russia.
It is apparent that without a stronger, more politically convincing push from the European Union, the Moldovan Government has nothing to offer its beleaguered people, other than empty Western ideological promises with no guarantees. If the mounting protesters fulfill their ultimate goals of dismantling the Moldovan Parliament, high-up governmental resignations, and early elections, the present political environment could put the pro-Russian and Socialist parties in the ruling majority for the first time since 2009. Both the pro-Western and the pro-Russian factions will find themselves just as deadlocked as ever before if they continue to cancel each other out politically, prolonging governmental dysfunctions even further into the country’s uncertain social and political future.
Europe, already fraying at the seams over the combined weight of three concurrent crises—Greece, Ukraine and the influx of Syrian refugees—each described as being existential, seems to lack either the spare capacity or the political bandwidth to properly deal with Moldova’s east-west tug of war. However, the mix of Russian gangsters unloading radioactive materials, 20-somethings pulling off what has been called the “heist of the century”, pro-communists marching by the thousands in the streets of a European capital and separatists leaders calling for inclusion in Russia are just the byproducts accompanying the years of political inefficiencies and vacuous European promises.
Unlike most American B-movies, Moldova’s plot doesn’t seem to lead to any happy ending so far.
Photo from www.moldova.org
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
