EU diplomats in Moldova: Protests? What Protests!?!?

Calm down, they did not say exactly this – it is just some irony, describing the behavior of EU ambassadors in Moldova during the youth anti-communists protests in recent days. However the details below are just as interesting.

European Union diplomats are just doing nothing in Moldova – they are the symbol of EU’s impotent foreign policy in that part of the world, the symbol of nothing-doingness. Regardless of the efforts of some EU believers (Nicu Popescu with his very good article on how EU should intervene) everyone to the West seemed bored and uninterested. During the protests days EU ambassadors kept quiet, while Russia has made a number of harsh statements and actions infringing on Moldovan sovereignty (Russia MFA – “elections results are in the interest of the Moldovan and Russian people”, Foreign Minister Lavrov – something like ‘I don’t see any reason for repeated elections’, sending experts and equipment to help the government crackdown on youth protests, using Russian media to dispel the real reasons behind the protests – rigged elections – while promoting the false idea that protests were not numerous and were organized by a bunch of drugged, drunk, and overwhelmed by hatred radicals).

EU ambassadors to Moldova (with a tiny bit of exception) kept quiet when more and more facts about rigged elections came up, as they probably thought if they accept that then this could discredit OSCE and EU. Of course it will discredit if you will wait longer, since at the moment there is still a honorable way out, as the final ODIHR’s conclusions were not yet released. In due time, the OSCE ODIHR election observation mission issued a preliminary statement the first page of which (and the only page the majority reads) was very positive despite the numerous violations that affected the election results. That statement and the press-conference (also very laudatory) were used by Moldovan communists to claim “OSCE recognized and approved our elections”. The latter (EU) was quick

Update on anti-communist protests in Moldova, Friday 10 April 2009

I was not able to access my blog for almost 6 hours in row, I hope my provider is not involved in that. Now it is still inaccessible so I had to use some advice and now I am through hidemyass.com. … did not work. Trying tor… . Tried to access blog from 2 other locations in the city – internet cafe with the same lack of success. Hurrraaaa…. long live Tor!!!!

Disturbing developments:

—- Rodica Mahu, editor at “Jurnal de Chisinau” newspaper was kidnapped today at 11.40 am local time by 4 policemen in civilian clothes, and transported to an unidentified location, reports the Center for Independent Journalism.

Update: Ms. Mahu was freed some 2 hours later, when local media inquired with the Ministry of Interior press-office the reasons behind arresting the journalist. When freed, Rodica Mahu stated the reason for arrest was “collecting information for attacking governmental building”, and that she was threatened but was not physically abused.

—- Twitter seemingly transforms into a sword with two edges. It seems authorities have learned the lesson and are using it to scare and discourage young people from gathering for protests. During yesterday and today I have seen that on #pman Twitter trend (used as a communication channel between protesters, young people, informing the Westerners on the develop

Update10:Security Service Provokers reportedly instigated violence from the crowds

n Twitter (#pman) there are statements saying Moldovan Security Service provocators have instigated violences and vandalism from the youth crowd. Apparently some protesters have recognized employees of that Moldovan only intelligence service turned into “internal police”, dressed in sportive outfits.

Also on Twitter I learned that Moldovan Ministry of Internal Affairs admited the presence of instigators among the young demonstrators. That was repeated by the president Voronin and his aid, Mark Tkaciuk. Ironically, on the Russian blogs (LiveJournal) a Russian-speaking person (snail_md) who was very critical of the demonstrators calling them peasants, scam etc., has suggested Mark Tkaciuk may be behind the provocations and that he deliberately set up that the buildings of Parliament and Presidency are vandalized.

He writes:

Date:	2009-04-07 22:58
Subject:
Security:	Public

меня туту спрашивали – какю многоходовку и какую комбину я имел в виду ??

отвечаю :
есть маза что лицо приближенное к императору Марк Ткачук сотоварищи (ибо АлкоВоронин на это не способен) сами и замутили провокацию с погромами и мародерством …

а сдача двух зданий была шедевром тактики, и гениальным элементом общей стратегии дискредитации оппозиции

а оппозиция в силу своей раздробленности и неуклюжести повелась на эту мульку и ее,оппозицию обули как последних лохов на привозе …

Translation:

I was asked, what kind of a complex strategy I meant?

My answer: I got news that the person close to the Emperor Mark Tkaciuk his comrades (as AlchoVoronin is not able to do this alone) have themselves staged that provocation with pogroms and vandalism…

and allowing the two buildings [Parliament and Presidency] to be taken over by the demonstrators was a brilliant tactical move, and a genial move in a larger strategy aimed at discrediting the opposition

And the opposition, so fragmented and clumsy as it is, has bought that fairy tale, and were conned like the last suckers from the outskirts…

By the way, the Russian bloggers (Moldovan also, but Russian-speaking, and apparently staunch communist supporters) have attacked Natalia Moraru on her livejournal blog. According to the general interpretation of their post, the youth that came to the square to protest for their rights, are retards and uneducated, lacking culture. However they say all this using such dirty words, that there is no doubt, who would need to replenish its cultural level.

Update5: Who instigated the violence?

As I mentioned before that both the ruling Moldovan Communist party and the opposition insisted there were people in the crowd who instigated the violence starting to throw stones and encouraging the agitated young protesters to follow their example (albeit the communists and opposition were blaming it on each other), it is probably necessary to consider these ideas. Especially since even the Russian Embassy in Chisinau, which (rumors say) has the biggest staff among foreign embassies in Moldova, and the highest numbers of intelligence officers among its diplomatic personnel, has stated the same thing, calling the instigators “boeviki” [fighters].

Even though I am not a supporter of conspiracy theories, but that may seem true, as on some pictures I’ve seen on the Internet (provided by AFP and Reuters), it is clear that those throwing stones were not students. While this is not a complete proof, I would still like to share these pictures with the readers of my blog.

Is he a student? – student my a*s!!!

Don’t study too much in the undergrad classes – you might lose your hair!!! Check out these fancy glasses!

That dude seems scared… is he carrying an OSCE flag??? Rescued it from the Moldovan Parliament? He looks soooo foreign-ish…

Moldovan population is so eager to acquire knowledge… they go to university even in their late 40s… that mustache guy must be a passionate student of law… criminal maybe???

Black leather jackets and dark sunglasses to the right….

Gender balance even at stone-throwing. She is obviously not a student, well, at least not in Moldovan universities. Could she be a member of the “Transdniester women” group? She seems well qualified in revolutionary warfare .