Each country is unique.
But some countries are more unique than others.
Take, for example, Moldova.
How many states do you know, a significant part of whose political elite wants their countries to be eliminated?
Perhaps there is something wrong with my regional outlook.
However, apart from the country with its capital in Chisinau, nothing comes to my mind - especially against the background of the fact that the chances of those who want to liquidate the Moldovan statehood have increased dramatically today.
Many years ago I was on a business trip in Chisinau and actively met with representatives of the local political class there.
Among other things, I was offered to get acquainted with the then Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova, Iurie Leanca.
Naturally, I agreed.
But the minister, through intermediaries, suggested that I take his public speech, convert it into a text with questions and answers, and publish it as an exclusive interview.
Marveling at the "generosity and business ethics" of the head of the Chisinau Foreign Ministry, I refused the "great chance" given to me.
However, today Yuri Leanca's "dream" of getting free PR with my help is close to being realized.
I readily quote an excerpt from an interview with the Romanian television channel Antena 3, who has been in the position of Prime Minister of Moldova since we never met: “Chisinau can do little to protect itself in the event of an armed conflict on the left bank of the Dniester ... In my opinion, the only scenario is unification with Romania.
We immediately fall under the security umbrella of NATO and the European Union.”
Frail I did Yuri Leanca "free PR"?
Wait, that was only half of it.
The other half is that I fully agree with one of his thesis.
I will quote this thesis again: "Chisinau can do little to protect itself in the event of an armed conflict on the left bank of the Dniester."
That's right, not just little, but very little.
But who is to blame for this?
Those same political forces, whose brightest supporter and representative is Iurie Leanca himself.
Some of my favorite jokes include this one.
A certain old woman went to the river for water, accidentally caught a goldfish and got the opportunity to make three wishes: “I want my lopsided house to turn into a palace!
I want to be young and beautiful again!
And most importantly, I want my beloved cat Vasenka to take on a human form and turn into a good fellow!”
Everything is done.
The former grandmother returns to her luxurious palace and meets her at the entrance of the coolest-looking young hero.
The former grandmother is delighted: “Vasily, how beautiful you are!”
And the former cat replies to her: “Handsome is beautiful, but don’t you regret now, grandmother, that you castrated me two years ago?”
What does this have to do with Moldova?
Such that in 2003 the official Chisinau had more than a real chance to finally resolve the Transnistrian conflict.
The document, which remained in history as the Kozak memorandum, was agreed upon by all interested parties.
The then leadership of Moldova knew all its conditions and considered them beneficial for the country.
The contract remains to be signed.
However, at the last moment, the US Ambassador to Chisinau, Heather Hodges, intervened.
Having run to the President of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin, directly with a fax from the State Department in his hands, the American diplomat, with the help of hard pressure, forced the country's leader to refuse to sign.
The Transnistrian conflict remained unresolved.
Having received the opportunity to eliminate its zone of vulnerability, Moldova rejected this opportunity.
I will quote Tyutchev's famous lines: "It is not given to us to predict how our word will respond."
Usually it really isn't.
But in this case, one did not have to be Einstein in order to guess: the voluntary preservation of the zone of one's vulnerability creates additional large-scale risks.
In official Chisinau, no one guessed about it or did not want to guess.
And here is the finale (I'm afraid that it's only an interim): Moldova risks being drawn into a conflict in neighboring Ukraine.
Advisor Aleksey Arestovich from the office of Vladimir Zelensky has already explicitly expressed his readiness to seize Transnistria.
Of course, at the same time, he made a reservation: they say that official Kyiv will only agree to this if there is a request from official Chisinau.
However, the price of the words of Volodymyr Zelensky's advisers (and Zelensky himself) is well known.
Iurie Leanca understands this very well and therefore rolls out his favorite thesis about the need for unification with Romania.
“Unification” is a word that usually has a purely positive meaning.
However, things are not very usual in Moldovan politics.
“Unification” in this case means for Chisinau not only the liquidation of its own statehood, but also the abandonment of a significant part of the territory of its country.
Transnistria, as I suspect, will definitely not find a place in “united Romania”.
By choosing their own “shade of uniqueness” many years ago, the Moldovan political elite clearly chose something completely different.
Harakiri of the state scale - is this what we should strive for?
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.