The “illegal state” of Transdniestria appears to be doing a better job of nation building than “legal” Moldova. That is according to a group of visitors from Romania who arrived with lots of preconceptions and left very surprised.
Their false premises are evident from their travel report, published in blogformat here, but so are their surprises when not everything corresponds to the false and deliberately misleading picture that its enemies have painted of Transdniestria outside its borders.
On religion -
The proud presence of a new church, defiantly placed at the crossroads, made me question the anti-religious policy of communist Transnistria.
Duh. Of course, Transdniestria is not communist. Current PMR President Igor Smirnov has repeatedly defeated his communist challengers ever since he first stood as a candidate. If they have decided to keep their Lenin statues, this is more out of a respect for its history than out of any heart-felt Communist fervor. There are also Suvorov and Pushkin statues in Transdniestria. Neither of these men were Communists.
And, says the eye-witness from Romania,
[…]there were quite a few crosses, troikas, and renovated churches around.
Arrival in the capital Tiraspol was another eye-opener:
Great surprise. Nice socialist-realist buildings, even some older buildings, all renovated, well kept, flowers everywhere, well dressed people. Stores, bars, restaurants, a general impression of prosperity. Big surprise.
Golly. Not at all what someone would have expected if their take on Transdniestria had only been shaped by Vladimir Socor and Edward Lucas style propaganda.
The place looked too well though. Much better than any town I’ve seen in Moldova, better than even Chisinau. No sign of garbage.
Yes, Dorothy. The garbage, insofar that it exists, confines itself to column inches in Western publications pretending to “analyze” the black hole, frozen conflict, communist dictatorship, blah blah blah.
Maybe someone intellectually honest, for a change, ought to follow the advice of a respected analyst who says:
To debunk myths about Transdnestr, you need only to make a couple of trips to the region and regularly read publications on the subject.
More here: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070731/70039794.html