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cristiancantir.bsky.social
Associate Professor, Oakland University. Foreign policy analysis, paradiplomacy/sub-state diplomacy, role theory, Romania, Moldova, fiction, and TV. Academic work: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=Vvx23r4AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubda
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A good example of the difficulties of fighting Russian propaganda in Moldova: authorities in Chișinău blocked access to Sputnik Moldova's Telegram channel a few days ago. Shortly thereafter, the channel popped up as Sputnik Moldova 2.0. It'll probably be blocked again, but ...

submitted 2 hours ago • 1 comment

In an amusing attempt to put a positive pro-Russian spin on a decision to hike utilities rates (despite promising repeatedly not to do so), separatist leaders in Transnistria said that at least the new higher rates are comparable to the ones in Russia (novostipmr.com/ru/news/25-0...) ...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

If you needed another reason to read this excellent Guardian article about Moldova: it made Ilan Șor really mad. Șor said, for instance, that the article seeks to convince the Western diaspora to support PAS in the 2025 legislative election and claimed the newspaper ignored ...

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Good to see an English translation of this newsmaker.md article about the Gagauz in Ukraine and their ties to the Gagauz community in Moldova after Russia's invasion (globalvoices.org/2025/02/24/w...). Definitely recommend a read.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

A Russian newspaper is hopeful that the U.S. Presidency's pro-Kremlin turn will have one more outcome: Moldova's federalization via a revived Kozak memorandum (ng.ru/editorial/20...). The memorandum, initially proposed in 2003, gave broad powers to Transnistria ...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

"The tiny former Soviet republic’s determination not to be cowed by the Kremlin could provide a template for the west on how to hold back the tide of subversion and corruption": www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

If you want to learn about human rights in Transnistria, Promo-LEX has published its 2024 report (in Romanian: promolex.md/wp-content/u...). Some highlights in English. First, the incarceration rate in the region is 391.67 inmates/100,000 people, compared to 116.2 in Europe...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

One of the biggest controversies in Moldova's Gagauzia region: a conflict over the local flag, which reveals internal divisions about the EU and pro-Russian fugitive oligarch Ilan Șor's control of local institutions. Șor-affiliated groups have accused the mayor of Vulcănești ...

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

After Trump's absurd claim that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a "dictator," the pro-Russian opposition in Moldova is also using the expression now: PSRM head Igor Dodon said Zelenskyy's "dictatorial regime" keeps Ukrainian men hostage and asked ...

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

Another group excited about the U.S.'s new pro-Kremlin foreign policy: separatist leaders in Transnistria. The region's foreign affairs minister, Vitali Ignatiev, expressed support for Washington's "new approach" to international affairs (tv.pgtrk.com/ru/news/2025...), ...

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

I guess that's one way of describing Russia's invasion of Ukraine: separatist leaders in Transnistria said in their 2024 foreign policy report that ties with Ukraine are limited "по объективным причинам" (for "objective reasons" or for reasons beyond one's control). Meanwhile,...

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

Update here: one of the Alternativa bloc's representatives, Gaik Vartanean (who is a member of Ion Ceban's MAN), said during a legislative session that Chișinău should praise Trump-Putin discussions about Ukraine. Nothing in the statement about Ukraine's participation, so ...

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

A debate about Shakespeare in the Moldovan parliament, for a change: a pro-Russian M.P. went to see "Romeo and Juliet" and said the theater is a "place of debauchery." The ruling party didn't accept her idea to call in the Culture Minister for hearings (agora.md/2025/02/20/s...)

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Some updates relevant to the 2025 legislative elections in Moldova. First, a general observation: Trump's pro-Kremlin foreign policy realignment is making pro-Russian groups in Moldova giddy. Their narratives are converging on the argument that the U.S. no longer supports PAS ...

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

#CPI2024: Over the last 10 years, several countries have significantly improved their scores on the Corruption Perceptions Index. They include: Bahrain ⬆️ +17 points Cote d'Ivoire ⬆️ +13 Moldova ⬆️ +11 Dominican Republic ⬆️ +8 Bhutan ⬆️ +7 Estonia ⬆️ +6 Learn more ⬇️

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

I'm pretty inured to Russian propaganda, but once in a while I'm struck by how surreal it is: a Rossiya 1 report on the gas crisis in Transnistria quotes a guy on the street who says "thank you to Russia for saving us." All this when it was Russia that caused the crisis...

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

If anyone was under any illusions that Russia causing a gas crisis in Transnistria would alter significantly the separatist region's pro-RU position, I'd recommend watching this recent Transnistrian TV report, in which RU is once again the hero ...

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment