Tiraspol Relying Too Much on Lucky Star

Lately, it has become obvious that as soon as Romanian politicians start strengthening attacks against the Moldovan statehood, the official Tiraspol is glad to lend a hand. Thus, Romanian Ambassador to Moldova Filip Teodorescu has hardly managed to state that the Moldovan-Romanian border established by the Paris peace agreement from 1947 is outdated, the newspaper of Smirnov's administration published the concerned statements without any critical commentary whatsoever.

In general, the Tiraspol administration hurries to make public any statements saying that Moldova's accession to the European Union through Romania is the best way out for Moldova and its citizens. It could be a dangerous game for Tiraspol. Taking into account Bucharest's attempts to re-establish those three historical dioceses, one of which comprises the left bank of the Dniestre River, we have no reason to believe that Romania will stop on Dniestre. The revanchists, in fact, claim Transnistria, South Bessarabia with North Bucovina and the Island of Snakes (in the Black Sea). And Tiraspol haste to come to Bucharest's aid in its anti-Moldovan game, without noticing the danger and relying much on their lucky star.

Thus, for several months, the Transnistrian official press has been carrying out a vast campaign to rename the breakaway republic. The name "Moldovan" no longer suits the authorities from the left bank of the Dniestre River. We stress that the Tiraspol-based official media is under a rigorous control of the executive authorities, hence, the concerned proposals could not appear without Smirnov's consent. The most exotic proposals have appeared recently: according to one of them, on the left bank of the Dniestre River, there should appear a state called Tiraspoliana. Oh no, another thinker has said, only Sinistria! Or maybe we should proclaim the Transnistrian Republic of Russia! No, another one answers, the Popular Republic would be better...

Maybe it is a mere coincidence, but the dances around the republic's title had been boosted, immediately after it was ascertained that Transnistria's foreign debts increased by 300 million dollars over the last year alone. Now, the region is to return to Russia about 1.6 billion dollars for gas, not to mention other debts. Instead of looking for means to return this money, the Transnistrian administration continues to publish in its subordinated press articles taken over from the Chisinau opposition media, which criticizes the course promoted by Vladimir Voronin's team. And not because this would inefficiently defend the country's statehood. On the contrary. As soon as a newspaperman from Chisinau wrote an article in which he said that Moldova has not asserted itself as a state, and that the country's population would feel better as part of Romania (and this because Romania is a civilized state and a European Union member), the Tiraspol-based press hurried to present this work to the Transnistrian reader. The fact that Transnistria will never manage to reach the European Union by itself was left unsaid...

The Transnistrian leaders go hand in hand with Bucharest, which they were blaming not so long ago. "Some consider that the change of the republic's name will equal the abolition of the Moldovan people as a nation. Transnistria would allegedly be the last place in the world where the true Moldovan nation remained... It is nothing but an attempt to touch the public opinion." Do agree that this reasoning is practically identical with the Romanian authorities' refusal to register the Moldovans' organization in Romania. There is no such nation, those from Bucharest said. Hence, "we should not try to touch the public opinion"...

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