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fter driving all night across Trans-Dniester and Moldova we reached Kishinev, capital of Moldova. It is an elegent city with wide roads and imposing government and institutional buildings. We passed a counterfeit McDonalds, identical in every way except that the M is a W in the same style.At 9.0 am we arrived at the 7th floor flat of John and Lydia Bauer--Victor Kubik's sister. John is a writer and Lydia an accountant organising American investment in dairy farms of Moldova.
Buildings of the Soviet Union seem to be made of more concrete than structurally necessary. There is a saying, if one cannot build it good, then build it big. This flat is a tiny enclave of the American way of life has all the modern conveniencees, except that the city water supply is switched off.
We sit and chat.
To understand where we are it is necessary to know the complex history of Moldova, the effects of which British and Americans with their stable and secure borders could not possibly understand.
The Moldova of the present is a small country nestling nervously between two large countries, Ukraine to the east with the river Dniester forming an approximate natural border and Rumania to the west with the river Prut forming a border. Moldova today has no direct access to the Black Sea. Moldova has an area of 13,000 square miles or about 60 miles wide and 200 miles long of gentle undulating fields, vineyards and grassland and far fewer forests than its neighbours. Its four million people speak Rumanian, a Latin language. (Russian and Ukrainian are Slavic written in Cyrillic).
The Roman Empire extended to the Dniester River and it is reported that the Romans having massacred most of the men then settled with the women giving rise to Moldavians.
The region became a principality united by Prince Stephan Cel Mare
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and stretched from the Carpathian mountains to the river Dniester and a coastline on the Black Sea almost three times its present area. The western half from the Carpathians to the river Prut became Rumanian territory and then the region became part of the Ottoman Empire. The remaining area between the rivers Prut and Dniester, once known as Bessarabia, became the Republic of Moldova in 1812, From 1918 Moldova was a part of Rumania and in 1940 Moldova was part of the Soviet Union. In 1941 the Hitler-Stalin nonaggression pact resulted in a wide strip of coastal Moldova being given to the Ukrainians and in exchange Ukrainian land to the east of Dniester was given to Moldova. At the same time Stalin ensured that the strip was populated by Slavic Russians and Ukrainians instead of Moldavians and it was industrialised. The present remnant of Moldova is Rumanian in art and language, but psychologically Russian. A very broad generalisation is that Moldovians are dark and swarthy while the Russians and Ukrainians are fair.
Independence from the Soviet Union was declared in 1991. A two month war broke out in 1992 between the Russian army commanded by the Minister of Defence of Russia, General Lebed. The Russian military base is in a fortress next to the an important bridge spanning the river Dniester and united Tarispol in the land east of the Dniester River know as Trans-Dniester to Bendery, a commercial center in Moldova proper. The fighting around the bridge was intense and savage, the evidence of which can still be seen--the bullet pock marks on the buildings and mounds covering thousands bulldozed into mass graves.
A compromise was reached. That part of Moldova east of the Dniester river became an autonomous region of Moldova and ethnically Russian with its own capitol Tarispol. This is the present position.
This brief account contains huge leaps in history and is obtained from several viewpoints through interpretation, but it shows the crucible giving rise to attitudes which will cause Victor and me considerable difficulty tomorrow.
The present Moldova is the consequence of crushing adjacent powers. As Ukraine has been squeezed by Russian, Poland and Hungary, so Moldova has been squeezed by Rumania, Russian and Ukraine.
Fleas have fleas as infinitum,
Upon their backs to bite 'em.
A major effect of overwhelming centralised government as practised by the Soviet Union is on the mind and behaviour. In their struggle for survival the people appear to have no sense of mutual benefit. The economic pie is so small that if one has a big slice then other other has none. They do not appear to comprehend that if they work together to make a bigger economic pie then they could all have a slice. Also, there is no sense of individual social responsibility because government always provided the safety net. Visible suffering is the responsibility of officialdom -- under the old system individuals are not their brother's keeper. The people appear to be weary and socially depressed, unable to enjoy leisure. The few rich unused to wealth are unable to handle it in a modest manner and many are ostentatious. Anything is available if one is prepare to pay at least 50% more. As usual, nature or our genetics combined with nurture or our environment to produce the people we are, but the foundation of any society lies in its spiritual values.
This evening John and Lydia Bauer invited Victor Pavliy, Victor and me to dinner at the Old City Restaurant. The candle lit
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atmosphere was mysterious and welcoming, violin and tsembale (stringed xylophone) play in one half while in our dark corner sat a man in his twenties passionately playing "Hava Nagila" followed by "Take Five" with base clarinet.
Lydia is a dynamo, cerebrating at the speed of light. She is a female replica of her brother Victor Kubik. Also present was Dennis Gablenko a business colleague of Lydia, a 24 year old American educated Russian. His father was a MIG fighter test pilot.
Dennis had a problem. Fluent in both languages, by nurture a reasoning American, by nature an emotional Russian and he knew it. From him I obtained a deeper understanding of the Russian mind.
Here it is.
For centuries the Slavic principalities of Russia were commerce and European-oriented. In 1240 there occurred the most defining event in the history of Rus, the fall of Kiev, now in Ukraine, to the combined Tartar and Mongol hordes. These were nomadic tribes of superb horsemen from Kazakhstan and Mongolia in Central Asia. The Russian princes were killed and for the next 240 years Tartar-Mongolian influence was to become deeply rooted in the Russian psychology. Russians became isolated from Europe and xenophobic, cruel, brutal and indifferent to suffering.
As a result Russia never kept up with development in Europe. Russia only had a partial Renaissance; in literature and art, but not in philosophy and religion so that Russia has been opposed to Western ideals. Gradually the Russian states unified to defeat the Khans (rulers) at the battle of Kulikova, southeast of Moscow, in 1480. The battle was not decisive, but the invaders left, leaving a profoundly changed Russia behind. Today the Russian mind is inconsistent, irrational and emotional and yet at the same time it can be logical and goal-oriented, witness its politics versus its great achievements.
Russian words are not always translated well. "Dobre" or "good," we use as in "Good morning." is more than just "good," but spiritually good, even holy. We get the wrong impression from a title such as "Ivan the Terrible." It should more correctly be translated as "Ivan the Formidable." It is 1.0 am -- time to sleep.