 RFE/RL Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova Report 7/28/2009 5:34:54 PM A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova. For more stories on Eastern Europe, please visit and bookmark our Eastern Europe page . |
| Moldova  Bracing For Another Contentious Election Moldovans are set to go to the polls in snap elections that may determine their country's future. But critics say the Communists rigged the first vote in April, and are continuing to commit violations in order to stay in power. More  EU Watches As Moldova Prepares For 'Crucial' Poll EU officials describe Moldova's election as a "crucial test," but the bloc is struggling for leverage. The EU faces a number of challenges as it tries to come to grips with developments in its tiniest "Eastern Partner." More According to our RFE/RL's Ukrainian and Moldovan services, international election observers traveling to Moldova have been detained and others expelled. More  Election Observers Detained International election observers traveling to Moldova have been detained and others expelled, RFE/RL's Ukrainian and Moldovan services report. More  How It Ought To Be What's the point of this story? One of my readers left a comment asking me to explain "what is democracy and what do you eat it with." More  The Evidence Mounts It's difficult to imagine the patience and fortitude it must demand from Moldovan democracy activists to meticulously catalogue violations of the internationally accepted norms of electoral conduct, from the most minor to the grossest. More  #moldovavotes We're blogging Moldova's crucial parliamentary elections on July 29. More  'A National Psychosis' RFE/RL's Russian Service correspondent in Chisinau, Irina Severin, outlined the Moldovan elections in a Q&A More  Moldova's Far-Flung Voters Moldova is bracing for potentially decisive elections that could lift it out of political deadlock or plunge it into fresh chaos. But the country's large -- and deep-pocketed -- diaspora complains it's being excluded. More  Moldovan Parties Trade Accusations Ahead Of Vote Moldova's ruling Communist Party and the opposition parties have exchanged accusations of manipulation and unfair competition on the last day of official campaigning. More  Moldovan NGOs Cite Pre-Election Problems Two Moldovan NGOs have released their final reports on the election campaign ahead of the July 29 parliamentary elections, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports. More  Wagging the Dog Do you remember the first statements made by President Vladimir Voronin following the events of April 7? He spoke about how Romania was behind all the protests and had virtually organized a coup d'etat in Moldova. Similar statements were repeated again and again -- at least until the accusations were withdrawn the other day. More Will tit-for-tat sex tapes be the level of discourse in the upcoming Moldovan parliamentary elections? More  Necessary, But Not Sufficient There are those who are sure that if new politicians like Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca or Liberal Democratic Party leader Vlad Filat take over, we'll be living in a land of milk and honey. On the other side, there are those who think that switching the nameplates on government offices is about as useful as putting a cold compress on a corpse. More  Russian Patriarch Visits Kyiv, But Motives Questioned Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has begun a 10-day visit to Ukraine. But some in Ukraine suspect the visit is not so much pastoral as aimed at boosting Russian political influence in their country. More  Post-Soviet Musicians Hit U.S. Mainstream The U.S. pop music scene owes a certain debt of gratitude to post-Soviet musicians like Regina Spektor, Eugene Hutz of the band Gogol Bordello, and other acts that are steadily climbing into the American musical mainstream and bringing, in varying degrees, their ethnic heritage with them. More  It's Time To Get Serious On The Southern Corridor Looking at media coverage of Nabucco, one would think the strategic project to bring Caspian gas to European markets while bypassing Russia was already under construction. But competing visions are still on track to eclipse EU and U.S.-backed ambitions. More  The Orange And Rose Reset The message U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was sending to both the Georgian and Ukrainian leadership was that the Rose and Orange revolutions were works in progress, that they were still incomplete, and that their promise was yet to be fulfilled. But a deeper signal Biden appeared to be sending was that institutions are more important than individuals and that Washington would structure its policies toward these two allies accordingly. More  Reset-Phobia In Tbilisi The message the Georgians wanted to send to Vice President Joe Biden was clear almost from the minute Air Force Two landed in Tbilisi. And it was not subtle. More  Hand-Holding And Tough Love In Kyiv There is a lot more to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Ukraine and Georgia than just soothing nerves. In addition to the obligatory hand holding, Biden is offering more than a little bit of tough love as well. More  Balkans Among Sweden's Top Foreign Policy Challenges The Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, briefed the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee on his country's priorities as the current holder of the EU's rotating six-month presidency. Bildt offered a panoramic list of challenges that Sweden faces through the end of its tenure on December 31. More  Biden, Yushchenko Discuss Women, Churches Politics and energy apparently weren't the only topics of conversation between Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who paid an official visit to Kyiv today. More  CEE Region Welcomes Open Letter To Obama There has been praise across the region for an open letter that was sent to U.S. President Barack Obama this week from a distinguished group of Central and Eastern European thinkers. More |
