USA MAY APPLY “GENERAL GOVERNMENTAL APPROACH” TO MOLDOVA – OPINION

To set Moldova onto a correct track, as it is seen by Washington, a “general governmental approach – politics, intelligence, economy etc.” may be applied to the republic, Dr. James Jatras, Deputy Director of the American Institute in Ukraine, stated at the roundtable conference “Ethnic and Language Question in Moldova in the Light of the Association Agreement”, being held in Chisinau on Thursday.

Jatras said that this is a quotation from the article “Why Moldova has Urgently Become Important?” published by American analyst Robert Kaplan in Stratfor last July 16. In that article, Kaplan described Moldova by opposing the Central European heritage of the Habsburgs (good) with the Russian heritage (bad).

In that analysis, whole ethnic groups residing in Moldova, such as Gagauzes and Russian-speakers, were described as (!) “The 5th column”. Finally, Kaplan criticizes the inactivity of the West (i.e. the USA) and calls to apply the “general governmental approach – politics, intelligence, economy” to place Moldova onto the right track, as he sees it, said the Deputy Director of the American Institute in Ukraine.

James Jatras believes that with an account of what is happening in Ukraine, this would be a very dangerous and provocative way.

He reminded at the conference that support for Moldova's unambiguous adherence to Europe is being rendered in conditions when the Moldovan population have been far from unanimous concerning the need for the already signed Association Agreement.

Nevertheless, he said, pro-Europeans do not pay whatever attention to objections or other opinions. For them, the Association Agreement is not only a trade agreement or a compromise between expenditures and advantages. Rather, the AA for them is a ‘civilization choice’, concerning which there may be only one opinion – a correct one.

James Jatras said that “In the eyes of Europe supporters, the opponents to the Association Agreement may not be equal-right citizens because they appear to have a different opinion, and their non-acceptance of the European course is something illegitimate, and their opinions are erroneous. As for their being doubtful about the inevitability and desirability of the Association Agreement – this is something reprehensible at all, particularly from behalf of people belonging to ethnic communities, whose languages (Russian, Ukrainian, Gagauz, Bulgarian) or alphabet (Cyrillic, still used in Transnistria) are defective, and that these communities consist of second-grade citizens, or even of the 5th column”.

The expert makes a conclusion that such an atmosphere does not create an impression of a healthy method of holding nation-wide debates in such a multinational country as Moldova.
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