Talk:Transnistria/Archive 7

Smuggling company masquerading as a state

For the past year or more, I have been trying to track down the elusive report which "funded by" the British Department for International Development and claims that Transnistria is a "smuggling company masquerading as a state." It is not on the department's website and when I contacted them, they said that they have no knowledge of such a report. I have also done all sorts of web searches, and the only references we get are citations of earlier Wikipedia articles and of the BBC article. One paper included it, but it had obviously gotten the quote from the BBC story and not from the report, and in fact no one to date even knows the title of the report or who wrote it. The fact that BBC published it is not proof of anything. BBC has also published that one of the Smirnov sons own Sheriff, and we now know - thanks to Moldpres, no less - that this is not the case. I would appreciate if anyone could help me track down this report. It has been a quest of mine for a long time to find out if it exists. - Mauco 22:52, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

I'll try to contact the writer of the BBC article, Lucy Ash bogdan 22:59, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

If you don't hear back from her, please let me know. I don't know her but I am touch with one of her colleagues (also from BBC). So maybe I can help with finding out if she still works there, and maybe get a phone number for her. Just email me privately from my email link and I can probably assist you if you reach a dead end. - Mauco 22:13, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

I sent a week ago a message to "Crossing Continents" asking to be forwarded to Lucy Ash, but I got no answer yet, possibly because:

BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents is now off air until 9 November 2006

bogdan 21:55, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

Bogdan, I may have a lead. Someone who's really turning out to be helpful and a good guy after all (he knows who he is) sent me some information that the answer is to be found in a report by Tony Vaux, formerly of Oxfam and now of Humanitarian Initiatives. The title is "Moldova: A Conflict to be Resolved - A Strategic Conflict Assessment of Moldova" and it was published 01/02/2003, ISBN: 0954427904. It doesn't seem to be available on the Internet for download, so I will have to buy it. At least we are getting somewhere now and I will excited about this apparent breakthrough. - Mauco 05:50, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

I have exported to and from many countries and I can tell you that the Transnistrian border is just about the most protected and secure border in Europe, I challange anyone to try and smuggle anything across it.Don't believe the propaganda. MarkStreet Oct 12th

Sure, a lot of it is propaganda (on both sides) but let us also be realistic. There are 800+ kilometers of border. Some of it is on a lake. Some of it has rivers. Some of it is a "green border" with Ukraine. There is even a border which goes through some roads in a residential suburb (Varnitsa). If you want to get things in and out, you probably could. It is harder now and the European Union are spending millions of dollars on the EUBAM program. But where in the world do you find 800 km of truly secured borders? Not even along the Rio Grande. Mexicans come into the US every hour of every day. The key point is not if there is smuggling but whether or not it is statesponsored or encouraged by Transnistria. Moldova claims that it is ("Smuggling company masquerading as a state") but where is the evidence? If it exists, we can publish it. If not, it is propaganda. - Mauco 23:44, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

the EU has this week confirmed the smuggling claims to be false so Its makes sense to delete this section. See Tiraspoltimes.com for full details and other news agencies reporting the same. This should be the end of smuggling claims en-masse . Can I request you to delete this ? MarkStreet oct 19th 2006

MarkStreet, the wilder smuggling claims continue to be defuted, which is a good thing insofar as that reflects reality. However, the smuggling image of Transnistria is a big part of its international "persona" and, right or wrong, we can not simply delete it or ignore. We will continue to update the article to reflect the facts. But it would be a mistake to just delete the whole section. That would be akin to ignoring the elephant in the room. - Mauco 05:50, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Well I would like to stay on the record as not agreeing with you. Nobody believes this to be a serious issue and it looks like the EU is now accepting this and ending or downscaling its monitors because they can find nothing, and if it does the section should go, I hope you agree. MarkStreet Oct 23rd 2006

Sheriff not owned by Smirnov

Sheriff is a company with many stockholders - how do you know that Smirnov's son is not between them?--MariusM 09:18, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

The burden of evidence lies with the editors who have made an edit or wish an edit to remain, so if you want to say that Smirnov owns Sheriff, you just have to prove it. However, having said that, there is currently a trend to still try to smuggle misleading or just plain wrong information into the article by not claiming direct responsibility but by attributing them to a third party source. Example: If you say that Sheriff is owned by the Smirnov family, then someone will ask for verification and the claim (which is wrong) can therefore not be included. But if you say "BBC says that Sheriff is owned by Smirnov", then technically the claim is correct and could stay, which means that you succeeded in falsifying the article. You yourself, MariusM, have used this technique to great success and I will be happy to cite half a dozen examples, with logs, if you deny this. But since you ask about Sheriff, I will stay on topic. The most important principle is to remember that we have no obligation to include information that is factually wrong not even as a minority view or third party quote. This is called perpetuating a falsehood and this is contrary to the most basic Wikipedia policy. If BBC said it, or someone else said it, they now stand corrected by us. More often than not, the collaborative power of the Internet is better at correcting details and fact finding than a journalist working for the established mass media (as even such venerable sources as The New York Times have found out many times, to its chagrin). In the case of Sheriff, this was dealt with before you came here. I believe it is in Archive 4. One of the sources was Moldpres, the stateowned news agency of Moldova. There is also background information in the Talk page for Sheriff, regarding this same subject. - Mauco 14:22, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

History section, proposed sentence for deletion

In order to shorten the history section, I propose removing the following sentence:
"In May 2005, the Ukrainian government of Viktor Yushchenko proposed a seven-point plan for the settlement of the conflict between Transnistria and Moldova."
It will not disappear from Wikipedia because it is already present in History of Transnistria and will stay there. However, in the summary (on the main Transnistria article) we should only include important key points and the Yushchenko plan has turned out to not be one of those. When it was put forward, everyone had great hopes, but now it just fiddled out and has been relegated to a not-very-important part of history. I am posting this proposal here, in case anyone has any objections to this edit, so we can get a chance to discuss it first. - Mauco 23:05, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

It is important. Some state proposing a "X-point plan" concerning your country means they feel quite strong on the issue to intervene in the politics of your contry. Dpotop 09:30, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Minor correction: Not my country. But thanks, and your comment is valued. Anyone else? - Mauco 12:24, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Frankly, I am opposed to the use of the word 'Conflict'. The conflict ended 16 years ago. I suggest using the word 'inter-relations. MarkStreet Oct 12th 2006

That is the Transnistrian "radical" position (shared by Breakthrough, among others). They said that the conflict is artificial, and that life in Transnistria is actually quite normal like in any other country, with the only difference that it is unrecognized. They hold that if only Moldova and the rest of the world would understand that, then there would be no conflict. They state that the conflict is "manufactured" by Moldova's reluctance to give up its claim on Transnistria. This argument has some merit, but as long as the OSCE and the principal negotiatiors (Russia, Ukraine) use the term "conflict" or "frozen conflict", so should we, here in Wikipedia. We can not close our eyes to the fact that this is how much of the world sees the issue, even if many in Transnistria do not agree. But thanks for your input, Mark. I have no problem with letting you give us your thoughts and participate in the discussion, even if I do not always agree with you. - Mauco 14:26, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

The conflict is over so it is misleading to refer to it as such. In Northern Ireland the term used is 'Post Conflict'. I prefer this, as it reflects the situation. However frozen conflict is better than 'conflict on its own. MarkStreet Oct 23rd.

Flag

The flag shown at the Transnistria page is not the current one, just have a look at Transnistria's homepage: http://www.president-pmr.org/english/index_e.htm

See Flag of Transnistria. `'mikka (t)

In fact, that is the correct flag (see the talk page of that article). The discrepancy between descriptions meant for a foreign, English-speaking, audience and the flag's specs as provided for in PMR law are, I have no doubt, intentional. (The legislation--sorry, only in Russian--is available here: http://president-pmr.org/symbol/flag.htm) Jamason 01:19, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Alan, assume good faith. ;-) 99% of all the flags they use don't have the embarrassing "hot symbols" and the flag law is OK with that except for official use. But what really surprised me, though, was that on this particular 2nd of September you didn't have a single hammer and sickle in sight on any of the photos, and I am not just talking about the photos that were released to the West, but everywhere, even private snapshots. In fact, even the huge flag that the folklore dancers carried and then hoisted, it also didn't have it. No red star either. All the official flags, used by state that day, were the civil flags. I thought: "Hmm, these guys surely need to change their flag law now". However: this changed two weeks later, on referendum Sunday. CEC provided flags for all polling stations and some of them (not all) had the hammer and sickly symbols on them... - Mauco 04:12, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

The flag used is indeed correct. Some people inTD drop the hammer and sickle for different reasons, including the fact it can be difficult to incorporate into homemade flags. MarkStreet

From what I have seen, most people drop the hammer and sickle. That even includes the government itself, in four out of five cases. Check out all the photos from the September 2, 2006, independence day celebrations for proof of how the communist symbols are finally on their way out, and good riddance. - Mauco 05:52, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Ukraine-Transnistria border customs conflict

This part needs an update from someone. I looked at the main article Ukraine-Transnistria border customs conflict and it has no news since March. It is now October. I can not update it: I do not know enough about this subject. I have started to do research but it is complex. (+don't speak Russian). I am trying to learn so I can edit here in the future. But not yet ready now. Can someone else update this part? - Pernambuco 13:13, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

Still deadlocked. The latest is a series of tries by Transnistria in various Ukrainian courts of law (first Odessa, then Kiev) to overturn the measures. They have all been turned down. - Mauco 16:51, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

"given proof of involvement by Moldovan police"

That is POV. A Moldovan policeman was caught having drugs. Claiming that the whole institution of Moldovan Police is involved is a bit presumptuous, isn't it? bogdan 22:18, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, it is. The proof was his police ID and his arrest, but there is no indication in the sources that he acted on behalf of the Moldovan government. - Mauco 04:44, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Sadly the Moldovan police are very corrupt. Try driving through Moldova in a car with western plates. You will be stopped and fined at least three times a day for non-existant offences. Ukraine is also poor in this regard. Transdnistria, perhaps because of its small size seems to have control of its police and such petty corruptions are rare. MarkStreet Oct 12th

Some numbers

Mauco, I was just looking over some figures:

• 2000: GDP: $283m; budget:$80m ~28.3% of the GDP (official figures)
• 2005: GDP: $420m; budget, my estimation: $117m
• cost of the Sheriff stadium: $250m

How the hell can one country build a stadium which costs more than half of the GDP and more than double the state budget? Economically, it is impossible, unless:

1. there is a very developed underground economy
2. there is some money laundering involved.

Do you have any logical explanation related to these figures for economy of Transnistria? bogdan 22:54, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

First, you should maybe scratch the "my estimation" parts because I have no idea what hat that came out of unless you explain a bit more, please. Secondly, Sheriff might be financing this over several years so a year-on-year comparison is apples vs oranges. Or they may be overstating the cost of the Stadium just for bragging rights (just like the losses from the "blockade" are overstated by an order of magnitude for other reasons). A lot of normal explanations are possible. Basically, with such a set of loose premises, I think that we are on too shaky ground to even make a guestimate of what the real situation might be. But it would certainly be good to dig into this and get some real numbers. By the way, did you see the new flashy Central Bank premises? They look like a competition to "out-Sheriff" Sheriff. - Mauco 04:52, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

My estimation was just the budget as percentage of GDP. Also, from what I've seen on their page, I don't think their estimate is far off.

Heh, competition:

"Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian and Eurasian organized crime at Keele University in England, said in an interview that the Trans-Dniester Republic maintained an uneasy peace between five to seven international criminal gangs with varying holds on power." (NYTimes)

bogdan 08:44, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Yeah ... Sounds like an Anarcho-capitalism dreamworld. ;-)
:::(Galeotti, by the way, is probably the sloppiest of all Transnistria researchers, as you have no doubt seen if from his original article). - Mauco 12:57, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Hi guys, there is way in this world that stadium cost €250 million. A 90,000 seater stadium was built in the British Isles for that money and salaries and coststhere are many times higher, also they probably borrowed the money. MarkStreet Oct 12

I think that you wanted to say that "there is no way in this world that stadium cost €250 million. I agree, Sounds very high, But I know too little about this subject. - Pernambuco 22:29, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Actually, the stadium in Transnistria would include a sport complex with several smaller football fields and a 5-star hotel. bogdan 22:33, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Good point. You yourself made the error of saying "cost of the Sheriff stadium" above. It should be rephrased to "cost of the total Sheriff sports complex". There are something like five courts, and indoor winter court, training courts. Also living quarters for the foreign players and their families. From Africa, Brazil, Georgia and so on. - Mauco 23:47, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Verifiability, not truth

Wikipedia is not supposed to write the truth. We're just writing just major opinions on what the truth might be. That's the policy. If there were a consensus on what the truth is, then we might write it as if it were the truth. When the BBC, Washington Post and the like are saying something on an issue, you can't just discard because "western press are biased", "they know nothing on this", the POV they present is a notable POV and should be mentioned. bogdan 08:33, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Come on now, these are not the arguments. However, there is such a thing as notability, too, and this applies even more so to cases of presenting fallacies. We are dealing with very specific things here, both of which have been discussed in the past (see archives) and discarded for valid Wikipedia reasons. If we are re-including these two fallacies now - again, after already having been over this ground - we are merely going in circles. In the specific case of Sheriff, there is already a separate page Sheriff (company). This would be the appropriate place to introduce additional context, to avoid text forking. The summary included here (in main Transnistria) should then include a synopsis of the most the pertinent points from that article. You know that this is how it is done. I will assume good faith, as always, so let us hammer this out on this particular Talk page and decide on how we can present, to the readers, an accurate view of the situation. The BBC's statement is not a "point of view" but just a plain journalistic error and we are making an even bigger error if we give it the same time and space as what is now, later, known to be factually true. This does not make Wikipedia better as a resource for its readers; it makes it worse. - Mauco 12:54, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Moreover, it is incorrect to describe BBC's claim that Smirnov owns Sheriff as the "point of view" (POV) of the BBC. This is not BBC's opinion, but just a journalistic screwup and, as we know now, wrong. However, even if it was a "view", then recall that according to WP:NPOV, Wikipedia still aims to present competing views in proportion to their representation among experts on the subject, or among the concerned parties. Here, the concerned parties are Moldova and Transnistria. The available evidence which superceedes that of the BBC article is from official sources on both sides, and they both agree that Sheriff is not owned by Smirnov. - Mauco 13:37, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Let me remind you Mauco that in Sheriff article talk page we agreed that we don't know exactly who the stockholders of Sheriff are. It seems that nobody checked if somebody from Smirnov family is or was in the past stockholder at Sheriff. Until we have clear data we can not conclude that it was a journalistic screwup.--MariusM 14:03, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

This dispute has been amply covered elsewhere (and settled, as any neutral Wikipedian would probably concede after studying the content of that page). Short of changing a couple of the five pillars, I don't see what else we can do at this stage, but anyone is of course welcome to join the discussion here: Talk:Sheriff (company). Let me also remind you, MariusM, that there is such a thing as majority viewpoints, minority viewpoints and plain fallacies. The latter should not be perpetuated if we are all aiming to make Wikipedia a useful research resource rather than a vehicle for personal bias. - Mauco 14:11, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, the dispute was settled: we don't now exactly who owns Sheriff. I never asked for an inclusion of a statement that Sheriff is owned by Smirnov in any Wikipedia article, I just wanted to remind you that, as we don't know the truth, we can not label BBC's article as "plain journalistic error" or "journalistic screwup", as you did.--MariusM 00:32, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Can we call it sloppy journalism, then? The article did not make a guess but stated it categorically, as fact. In reality, it is hearsay (and a wrong one, at that). Now, with the current level of infighting between Sheriff and Smirnov, is there anyone anywhere who still believes the old saw that Sheriff is owned by the Smirnovs? Please name one respected analyst or Moldova-watcher who is willing to go on the record at the current point in time and claim so. - Mauco 23:51, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, but ...

Two days ago, British journalist Shaun Walker just published a report where he points out the danger of relying on sensationalist media reports as the main source of Transnistria info. See http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/10/05/009.html and note that Shaun Walker has actually visited Transnistria (which is more than can be said for 95%+ of the editors of Wikipedia Transnistria-related articles). He wrote:
With my information about the places filtered through the occasional sensationalist Western media report, I turned up in both cases excitedly expecting to find the final frontier; a gangster-ridden epicenter of weapons and human smuggling; a dark and wild version of the Soviet Union. Instead, what I got in both wannabe capitals was a sleepy provincial town, with tree-lined streets and ordinary people going about their business trying to make ends meet.
His onsite research match other recent reports from organizations who have taken the trouble to go there and spend time on doing the needed research, including the British government funded Saferworld in their newly published United Nations study on weapons. - Mauco 13:05, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

The two day old report was published in the Moscow Times. Those familiar with The Moscow Times know that is not considered a Putin mouthpiece. If anything, many in Russia see it as the informal voice of the US State Department. It is often a training ground for Western diplomats and high officials in Western governmental organizations. The current OSCE Ambassador to Moldova, Louis O'Neill, worked at Moscow Times before moving to the State Department. - Mauco 13:09, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure what he expected to see. Weapons smuggling and money laundering are not the kind of crimes that can be seen on the street in broad daylight. bogdan 13:49, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

I concur. Mauco, the fragment you cited is pure propaganda. It contains exactly 0 information, because being a crime hub does not imply that you have to live in some Metropolis-like city with obvious bad guys patrolling the streets and shooting innocent people or creating infernal devices to destroy the world. Dpotop 17:37, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

I agree the snippet is a little over the top nicey-nicey. Still, going by the reports one hear's of Transnistria you would expect guns and smuggling out in the open. We are often given the image that they do little in attempting to hide their actions, so it might be a little suprising to some to find a fairly ordinary-looking city with people acting like they do anywhere else. --Jonathanpops 11:23, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Jonathanpops, what happened to being my meatpuppet? I remember that MariusM was all over you when you agreed with me on something, and wanted to check you as sockpuppet as well, insinuating that you and me were both part of a huge KGB conspiracy? After all that, I would have thought that you'd agree with me and not with Dpotop. Seriously, though, to all: The key message of the Moscow Times article wasn't money laundering or smuggling but a need to be skeptical of "the occasional sensationalist Western media report". Walker, the journalist, actually took the trip and spent time in the place, which is something that most journalist never do. They write about Transnistria as if they are writing a B-movie Hollywood screenplay. I would go as far as to say that the collective efforts of Wikipedia editors provide a better source of combined research than much of what passes for journalism on Transnistria. Remember that we have already, through the efforts of many of us here on these pages, found serious errors in mainstream media reports, have sourced them, and have corrected them, right here. - Mauco 15:08, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't remember when I was "all over" User:Jonathanpops, what I did so bad to this poor guy? 100% sure I didn't accuse him to be a sockpuppet. Mauco, is so difficult for you to avoid telling fake things about me? The only Request for checkuser I did was in MarkStreet - Henco - Gallenweekend case, however I may ask other requests in the future.--MariusM 21:00, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I think you confused MariusM with Greier, Mauco. [1] --Illythr 21:21, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

I hope Mauco will apologize.--MariusM 22:28, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't think I like your tone here either, Marius. It's also impolite to comment in a language the target of the comment isn't supposed to understand. --Illythr 22:20, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Mauco understand Romanian [2]. Anyway the comment was in the talk page of User:TSO1D and I wrote in that user's language (a polite behaviour, I think). My assumption, that Mauco works for both Wikipedia and Tiraspol TImes, was confirmed few days after. As usual, I am right.--MariusM 07:05, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

It is nice to see that you can pat your own back and tell yourself that you are right (as usual). But come on, a mere GUEST column would not qualify as "working for Tiraspol Times", or you would be able to say the same about former U.S. presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, U.S. navy officer Eddie Beaver, or renowned Moldova historian Charles King, all of whom have also had their opinion columns published next to mine in Tiraspol Times, along with many others. What is your point? - Mauco 18:22, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Editor of "Tiraspol Times" engaged in sockpuppetry

I submited a request for checkuser and have the confirmation [3] that Henco, an user who voted for external links in our article [4] is a sockpuppet of MarkStreet, editor of Tiraspol Times (his vote was meantime removed). It seems that MarkStreet learned in Transnistria how to falsify a vote, Transnistrian referendum was a good lesson for him.

I suspected also Gallenweekend to be a sockpuppet, as he registered at Wikipedia in 7 october and the only thing he did was to vote for "Tiraspol Times" [5], no other contribution at Wikipedia. This suspicion was not confirmed, however I still have doubts, as MarkStreet was aware as of 6 October about the fact that he is suspected of sockpuppetry [6] [7] and could take measures to hide his sockpuppetry.

Not surprisingly, User:William Mauco was against investigation about possible sockpuppetry of MarkStreet, trying to accuse the scape goat Bonaparte for such behaviour [8]

"Tiraspol Times" received a narrow vote for inclusion in out article, but I doubt about its merit, as is obvious that his editor is not an onest person. After a request to confirm that he is indeed editor of "Tiraspol Times", MarkStret put a link to his page on Wikipedia at "Tiraspol Times" webpage [9] --MariusM 23:17, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Interesting - and partly false, friend. When speaking of honesty (or "onesty", as you call it), you may want to check your log and post an apology for publicly putting words in my mouth which are not true and mischaracterize me (William Mauco). Both Khokhoi and myself immediately suspected Henco as a sockpuppet right from the start. I posted a notice on this talk page warning about all sockpuppets (and as you know, Marius, there were some on "your" side, too). Then Khokhoi, not me, was the editor who thought that this particular one - Henco - was Bonaparte's puppet. He struck the votes under that assumption. My mention of Bonni was in this context, and I did not confirm this, but merely pointed out to Khoi that it was a nonissue. You state that I was against investigation. Please show how this is true. It is not. You also state that I was accusing Bonaparte. Please show where I do so. I never did. - Mauco 13:38, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

I have serious doubt that "Tiraspol Times" can be used as reliable neutral source, as it is separatist "news agency" and mainly propagates what Tiraspol regime is trying to implement. Also Mr Mauco judging from your comments and edits, I don’t think you have a neutral standing on this topic. I don’t think Wikipedia should be a sister company of “Tiraspol Times” or “Apsny Press.” We should separate political propaganda of Russian sponsored separatist regimes from encyclopedic information about the topic. Thanks for your attention. Ldingley 14:43, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

Completely off topic. Ldingley, I was responding to an editor who was putting words in my mouth and lied in trying to entangle me in something I had no involvement in (and ought to apologize). Did you even read the sentence that you responded to? I didn't mention Tiraspol Times. As for edits of mine which are POV, instead of insinuating, why don't you do something constructively instead: point them out and let us correct them. I stand by my record, which shows that most of my time here is spent on exactly the opposite: Introducing balance into what has previously been a wrong and hopelessly onesided depiction of the issue. In that, I sometimes have to act as the devil's advocate, but don't confuse that with bias. - Mauco

Sorry master Mauco, I will try harder in future. Really though I personally mistrust many news sources simply because if they don't have any facts they will just make something up or copy what someone else has already reported as if it's fact because, as a news source, they have to to please their readers/viewers. I actually find wikipedia a bit dodgy on the information front in a lot of cases, but this particular page seems a bit different to most because it has a few people who suspect everything is propaganda so other people have to go out and try to prove that it isn't, finding real facts along the way. --Jonathanpops 20:02, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't apologize to you, Mauco, but I expect you to apologize from me, as you wrote that I lied. I told that you were trying to accuse Bonaparte as being Henco and I gave the refference [10]. Quote: "In case of User:Henco he may be Bonni or he may be MarkStreet". Bonni is Bonaparte. And telling that "it doesn't matter" is a way to be against investigation of this sockpuppetry case. I don't know about any sockpuppet on "my" side, if you have such suspicions why you didn't ask a RCU?--MariusM 21:27, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

The "doesn't matter" comment was because by that time, it was a non-issue. Immediately after Henco voted, I raised an alert (see Archive 6) and it was a matter of hours before Khoi struck the vote. That was as it should be. He struck it because he thought it was Bonni. The important thing wasn't whose sock it was, but that it was didn't influence the vote. And it didn't. So, case closed, as least as far as I was concerned. However, did you ever stop to ask that maybe Henco was someone who just happened to work in the same office? Many users, especially in a company setting, go out to the Internet with the same IP, as you know. Not trying to defend anything, just trying to assume good faith as often as possible... - Mauco 01:41, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Numbers

For Bogdan and others, a source of numbers can be found here: http://www.cbpmr.net/?id=10&lang=ru (for instance No.6-7, 2006). Detailed. Personally, I would not rely on the Finance Ministry numbers, but the ones from the Republican Bank look OK. Also keep an eye on the press service of the Supreme Soviet. So far, they are off to a good start, at http://www.vspmr.org - Mauco 03:41, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

No, not a good start - a GREAT start is more like it. See http://www.vspmr.org/News/?ID=125 wow. - Mauco 01:42, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Smuggling

Take a look at the main page article on smuggling. What evidence is there that woman are being smuggled. This is a Moldovan problem rather than a TD problem.

Is there a smuggling section on Moldova's page. I think not. So lets remove it. Otherwise it goes on BOTH sites

Feedback please MarkStreet Oct 12th

There certainly is evidence for trafficking of human beings for Transnistria, but I agree, the same goes for Moldova. If you wish to add that information to the Moldova article, feel free to do so, as long as you stay within Wikipedia guidelines. TSO1D 21:47, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't think it should be on Moldova's page or Transniestria's page. It is akin to asking for a big crack cocaine section to being put on the USA page. It's not fair representation of the respective countries ans purely represents mud slinging. For example the claims of Gun smuggling were today wiped out when President Putindent his generals in to check. They reported that everything was stillthere and accounted for in the arms dumps. So that section needs to be changed too. see ::: http://www.tiraspoltimes.com ::: for full details MarkStreet oct 11th 2006

It can be mentioned. Some other country pages do it. This is from Guatemala: "However, corruption is still rampant at all levels of government. A huge cache of National Police files discovered in December 2005 revealed methods of public security officials to quell unrest of citizens during the Civil War." - Pernambuco 22:25, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Right or wrong, it is a big part of how the world currently sees Transnistria. Do not omit it, just deal with it fairly, truthfully and adhere to Wikipedia NPOV. - Mauco 23:53, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

The EU has given TD a clean bill of health for its border controls just yesterday, see Tiraspoltimes.com. . It is time to delete this historical item. Lets remember even the great USA cannot control its Mexican border. Every border has leakage so the section is redundant and misleading. MarkStreet Oct 19 2006

The UN has now added its voice to state that there is no evidence to back the weapons smuggling claim. This surely is the end of this propaganda based slur. Time to delete this section MarkStreet oct 18

I have to oppose to the deletion of this section. However it must be rewritten along the lines that it was a massive campaign of defamation of the separatists, nothing was confirmed and even EU cleared the accusations. And it must be moved into the History of Transnistria. `'mikkanarxi 21:46, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

A "massive campaign of defamation"? Says who? WP:OR? :-) bogdan 21:56, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

What's your problem, man? I didn't write this into the article for you to throw WP-ORs around. And if you don't know who says, I don't know what you are doing here. `'mikkanarxi 22:01, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Editor of "Tiraspol Times" told that UN and EU cleared accusation of smuggling against Transnistria and Mikka imediatelly believed him. Are we going to transform Wikipedia in a section of "Tiraspol Times"?--MariusM 22:05, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

That is a misrepresentation of Mikka's statement. Not a helpful contribution. I assume that we are all here to make a better article. Or not? - Mauco 01:43, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

BTW, from an article on NYTimes written a few months ago:

In a recent six months, more than 40,000 tons of chicken was shipped, legally, into Transnistria through Black Sea ports in Ukraine, said experts sent by the European Union this year to monitor the border. Because that amounted to 146 pounds for each Transnistrian, something was clearly amiss. The chicken is reloaded into smaller trucks, often with makeshift refrigeration, and smuggled back into Ukraine. There it is sold below market rates, because it evaded customs duties and Ukrainian sanitary inspections, turning hefty profit -- for whom, exactly, is not clear -- of nearly $1,000 a ton.

Of course, it's a defamation! The Transnistrians really love to eat a lot of chicken. ;-) bogdan 22:03, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

How can you pay attention to "New York Times" when we have "Tiraspol Times"?--MariusM 22:07, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Sarcasm is not helpful, both of you. mikkanarxi made a suggestion. You can debate it. Do not make fun of it. Look how I answered the other MarkStreet comment which I did not agree with. To convince him I did not make fun of him. I used an example from Guatemala. To show how that such a section is OK. - Pernambuco 22:17, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

We are different persons, we have different styles. Diversity is what makes this talk page usefull to read.--MariusM 22:34, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

You call it "diversity", I call it "trolling". I expressed my opinion. I am aware I am not an expert here, therefore I did not edit the article. But the bunch of dogs is nevertheless right on my leg. As for chicken example, excuse me, it is idiotism (either of NYTimes or of myself): to smuggle chicken from Ukraine, then to smuggle them back into Ukraine to sell with lower prices??? This reminds me an old Russian joke about "Russian way of doing business": "to steal a crate of vodka, to sell bottles to recycler's, to buy two bottles of vodka for the recycling money and to drink thyem right away". Or am I missing something here? `'mikkanarxi 23:11, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Oh, just noticed: your favorite "Tiraspol Times" writes that chickens were smuggled from moldova and then out to Ukraine. this makes more sense. and it also says that tiraspol cracked this down. `'mikkanarxi 23:25, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

On a further notice, your beacon of NPOV, the NYTimes, down the article writes: Tyson Foods, based in Springdale, Ark., said it shipped a "limited amount" of chicken to Moldova through Ukrainian ports. Did you happen to notice the "M"-named country here? This happens to nicely confirm this communist propaganda from Tiraspol Times. How about putting chicken-smuggling into the article about this country as well? `'mikkanarxi 00:00, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

I actually did a lot of reference checking and fact running on a particularly contested Tiraspol Times article a while back, and posted my findings here. It is in Archive 6. To my knowledge, I am the only one who ever took the time, and I can report that everything checked out, whereas a much larger news organization (RFE/RL) was caught in fibbing or, at the very least, misleading its readers (it is a shame that we are currently linking to that article, knowing, as we do know, that part of has been demonstrated to be wrong). In my book, based on a lot of really in-depth factrunning, I can vouch for the factual accuracy of Tiraspol Times. I believe that they have are not as "objective" as they claim to be, but they are not wrong either. Based on just comparing the facts, BBC happens to get Transnistria wrong more often than Tiraspol Times does. - Mauco 01:43, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Mikka has a point. If we focus on weapons smuggling (which all credible experts now discard) then we ought to also focus on the frozen chicken smuggling (which exists and has been brought up in OSCE and EUBAM press conferences). - Mauco 01:43, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Who are those credible experts? No "Tiraspol Times", please.--MariusM 06:27, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Would the United Nations Development Programme be credible to you? Or Ambassador William Hill, speaking in an official capacity on behalf of OSCE? Or British NGO's funded by the government of the United Kingdom? EUBAM, the European Union working on border control as requested by Moldova and Ukraine? The list can go on, and also includes a number of historians and foreign policy analysts as well (in Washington, Moscow, elsewhere.) - Mauco 14:36, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

The European Union confirmed the absence of weapons smuggling. After almost a year of monitoring the border. See these 3 sources, reporting on a press conference held by General Banfi, head of EUBAM: [11], [12], [13] - Mauco 21:40, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Tiraspol Times IS the credible source for western news orgs to 'feed' from regardless of Marius' views. MarkStreet Oct 23rd

I am probably the only person here who took the time to do background checking, reference running, fact checking, the whole nine yards. I found Tiraspol Times to be entirely accurate. MariusM doesn't like it (he has said as much) and EvilAlex thinks it has zero credibility, but if we can look at it objectively, there is really nothing wrong with the contents of the stories. They are mildly critical at times, and positive at other times, but the content is factually correct whether or not you agree with their conclusions. I have not found it to be anything else than a reliable source. - Mauco 01:45, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Vandalism

I hope more vandals will follow this shining example and will mark their edits as such. :D

Still, I wonder if the page should be semiprotected again? --Illythr 20:47, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Bogdan, was that really you? --Illythr 20:54, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

No, it wasn't me. :-) bogdan 21:31, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

I blocked Bonaparte and his little friend and sprotected the page. bogdan 21:28, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Okays. My first experience with people vandalizing my own user page, there. :-)

I kind of wonder who this Blurb sock guy was, though.

Our friend Boni has a few friends who follow him and troll against him. :-) bogdan 22:42, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Hm, technically, Blurb didn't do anything bad... --Illythr 23:51, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Well, it was just a sock-puppet. Its owner simply went back to his original account. :-) I have a few suspects (no, Boni, it's not Khoikhoi), but no real evidence. bogdan 14:54, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Yikes, they're at it again! --Illythr 15:21, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Ok now to my edit on the page, that Independence entry looks weird... --Illythr 21:55, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

User:Blurb sock is Khoikhoi (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)....

Tyras

I understand that Tyras is the first recorded settlement in the area. Where does the information on prior inhabitants come from? --Illythr 19:06, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

There are archeological sites and one can identify which culture inhabited them. Ancient Greeks believed that Scythia region started at the Dniester, but Ptolemy names a few Dacian placenames (with the characteristic "-dava" ending) which were beyond the Dnister. The Dacian town of "Clepidava" was on the right bank and "Setidava" and "Susudava" between Dniester and Dnieper. bogdan 19:38, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Kievan Rus

At Kievan Rus article we have a map of this country [14], from where is not clear if Transnistria was part of it (maybe the northern area). Which historical refferences we have about the exact borders of Kievan Rus? Also, where Romanians part of the population of this country? Is possible, as at that time Romanian was not a written language, Slavonic was the language used in writing by all Romanians, the differences between Romanians and Slavs were not considered important as those people were both orthodox (and religion, not language was important in Middle Age). I heard about an Ukrainian hatman with a Romanian name: Dănilă Apostol.--MariusM 20:04, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

That one: Danylo Apostol?--Illythr

Yes. I didn't knew that he already has a page at Wikipedia. In Middle Age Romanians and Slavs (no difference was at that time between Russians and Ukrainians) were considered orthodox brothers, Slavonic was the literary and "official" language for all Romanians (not only in Transnistria, but also in Moldavia, Walachia and Transylvania). This is why I believe that the borders in Middle Age does not necesarry match with etnolinguistic borders.--MariusM 20:32, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

This map shows the Kievan Rus in the 11th century: [15]. Here it expands even into the region of Bessarabia. --Illythr 20:13, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

I would like to know the source of this map, and which are the proofs about Southern borders of Kievan Rus.--MariusM 20:35, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Of course, it would be ideal if these maps had some sources. I'd prefer some contemporary documents, but archeological research would be great, too. :-) bogdan 20:42, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

You'll have to ask the author, User:PANONIAN himself on that one. I'm no historian myself.

Yes, no problem, here is source for my map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Russia_0900.gif I found that map somewhere on Internet and draw new one based on it. I cannot tell you more about its accuracy. PANONIAN (talk) 14:04, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Could you at least drop a link to where you found it? An orphan map is no good on Wikipedia, especially if its contents is contested. --Illythr 14:16, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Oops, seen it. Checking... --Illythr 14:17, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, www.ostu.ru and thanks to both of you. - Mauco 14:18, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Ok, checked it. This guy is the original author of the digital map. --Illythr 15:12, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

He did a good work for a mechanical engineer and physicist.--MariusM 15:26, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm glad you appreciate him. "Comparative history of states" is one of his main research interests, after all. :-) --Illythr 16:22, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

I also checked with a reference from one of top Moldova historians in the West, Charles King. He confirms it. Transnistria (but not Moldova) was part of Kievan Rus. The border was the River Dniester for most of that time. There is a section called Territory and History on page 179 of his book "The Moldovans" where he writes the following: "Unlike the rest of the Republic of Moldova, Transnistria was never considered part of the traditional lands of Romanian settlement. The territory east of the Dnestr River belonged to Kievan Rus' and the kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia from the ninth to the fourteenth centuries." Published by Hoover Press, Studies of Nationalities series (Stanford University, the year 2000). - Mauco 14:28, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Galicia-Volhynia was upriver from Moldavia, the Dniester bisected Galicia, Volhynia was to Galicia's north/east. Absolutely nothing to do with Transnistria. See my response to yours below. —Pēters J. Vecrumba 03:09, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Want another reference which also states that Transnistria belonged to Kievan Rus at the time? Andrew Wilson, "The Ukrainians: Engaging the Eastern Diaspora", published in Nations Abroad: Diaspora Politics and International Relations in the Former Soviet Union. (Boulder, Colorada: Westview Press, 1998), page 116. So MariusM can safely remove his fact tag now. - Mauco 14:28, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

As mentioned below, Kievan Rus extended to, and beyond, the Dniester, but much farther inland, in "central" east central Europe. They did not control the territory of the current PMR except for a small sliver (as in, a sliver pointing in to, not a sliver along) which came to a point at the Dniester, considerably upriver. The map above vastly overstates the maximum extent of Kievan Rus in east central Europe, not only along the Black Sea but toward the Baltic Sea as well (that is, in all directions). Historical Moldavia (Panonian map) most definitely did not belong to Kievan Rus. Source is Magocsi. So, with reference to the question below from Mauco, yes, I would/do dispute sources indicating Transnistria belonging to Kievan Rus. —Pēters J. Vecrumba 16:48, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

If we look at the map revealed by User:PANONIAN not only Transnistria but also the entire Moldova belonged to Kievan Rus. The problem is like User:bogdangiusca told: there are plenty of modern-day nationalist claims but few original documents. Crimean Khanate should be mentioned: Dabija's book also mention the Tatars and Edisan article --MariusM 14:44, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Are you questioning just the map from Panonian and the ostu.ru reference? Or are you also questioning the accuracy of the references to Stanford University's Hoover Press and from Andrew Wilson's Ukrainian diaspora study? If so, on which grounds? - Mauco 14:52, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

---

I also think that MaGioZal was rather too quick to remove the reference only half an hour after you inserted the tags. Aren't we to wait a while, until someone knowledgeable has a chance to react?
Way too fast: Grand Duchy of Lithuania. --Illythr 20:47, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

I agree we can keep the sentence for a while with a fact tag, until somebody will provide proper sources. The source of the map of Grand Duchy of Lithuania is the Lituanian Wikipedia (we need a better source). Anyhow, it doesn't show the population of Transnistria (I don't believe it was Lithuanian) at that time. From what I remember from school, the Eastern neighbours of Moldavia were the Tatars (Crimean Khanate), who often attacked it for robbery.--MariusM 20:59, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

AFAIK, the Crimean Khanate was in south, so it probably held only the southern part of Transnistria. bogdan 21:11, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

There's a pic on Crimean Khanate: Image:1600.gif. bogdan 21:12, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Well, yes, although that specific part of the Duchy article is sourced itself. Besides, the place was quite a contested area at the time, changing owners rather often. I also didn't understand the part about population. It doesn't have to have a Lithuanian population (an army is enough) to formally belong to the Lithuanian Duchy, don't you think? --Illythr 21:13, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Of course, the population was not Lithuanian, that Duchy was an empire, afterall. :-) bogdan 21:24, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Anyway, there's a problem with the borders in those times, as there are few contemporary sources, but many more claims by modern-days nationalists. :-) bogdan 21:24, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Agree, a Lithuanian Army was enough. From Crimean khanate map we can see that Transnistria was a disputed teritory even at that time (and no Lithuania around, only Poland). I believe is a general agreement to keep the fact tag now and to look for more informations. Or maybe we should vote at what country to asign Transnistria (Lithuania, Poland, Crimean Khanate, Kievan Rus)? :-) I read that in the time of Moldavian king Duca Vodă this area belonged also to Moldavia, I will check my sources.--MariusM 21:30, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Crimean Khanate was the north end of the Black Sea and did not extend to the Dneister, just a tiny sliver just about making it to the left bank about 150km inland.

See m:voting is evil. ;-) —Khoikhoi 21:38, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Heh, sure, let's vote on who was the owner of Transnistria in the middle ages! :D

Seriously, though, I think it belonged to them all for various periods of time. I mean, we're talking about a period of about thousand years! :-P --Illythr 21:41, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Exactly. Voting for whether a territory was part of a country is quite silly. :-) We'd better look for references instead. bogdan 21:43, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Great minds think alike, eh? ;-) Illythr

Well, on Wikipedia, great minds get edit conflicts. :-) bogdan 21:44, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

I guess it's okay, as long as it's not "twitchy fingers". :-) --Illythr 21:50, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

---

MaGioZal probably meant this map:[16] --Illythr 22:15, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

That map ([17]) it shows Bessarabia separate color from Podolia and Kherson. The river Nistru in as the border. The earliest I could find: Scythia. Shows the Sarmathia/Dacia border on the Nistru river. [18]. The one for the fact tag in fifteen century is (Part of Grand Duchy of Lithuania on 15th century) is this [19] - Pernambuco 02:18, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

The different color means that the percentage of Jews in the Bessarabian Govt was 10-12 at the time. ;) --Illythr 11:46, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

---

"Trans-Dniester," or "Trans-Dnjester," or "Transdniestria" would be more appropriate than using "Transniestria." The historical territory of Transniestria is all the territory between the Dniester and the Bug, not just the Dniester's left bank. Furthermore, the PMR's north-eastern boundary matches closely to the historical ethnic boundary of the Romanians, that is: Transylvania, Walachia, Moldavia, and in particular, Bessarabia on the right bank of the Dniester and then extending beyond Bessarabia on to the left bank of the Dniester to essentially the same boundary as the PMR. Reference is "Historical Atlas of East Central Europe," by Magocsi. Regarding Kievan Rus, it did extend to the Dniester and beyond (1000's), that being Galicia-Volhynia, however that was far inland, not where the PMR is: if you divided the territory between the Black and Baltic Seas into thirds, Galicia would have been the "middle" third. Galician (Kievan Rus) influence extended to the Black Sea only for a relatively short period from 1160 to 1240, mainly south of the Dniester to the Siret. (The "swath" along the Black Sea was Pechenegs, later the Golden Horde.) By 1480, that territory was part of Lithuania, with the Ottoman empire displacing Lithuania along the Black Sea coast a century later. —Pēters J. Vecrumba 23:37, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

P.S. Kievan Rus did not include Moldova (Moldavia). I should add Magocsi's work on Central Europe has been hailed as the finest scholarship ever published on this area, so I would regard it as a definitive reference. —Pēters J. Vecrumba 00:04, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

P.P.S. Circa 1480, all of the left bank of the Dniester belonged to Lithuania (from the Black Sea coast) or to Poland (starting from around 400km upriver). If you're going to compare "historical" claims of control along the left bank of the Dneister, Lithuania/Poland versus Kievan Rus, it's no contest in favor of Lithuania/Poland. (During which time Moldavia held the entire right bank.) —Pēters J. Vecrumba 00:20, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, the Dniester river indeed marked the boundary between the two sides. Thanks for all this input. I don't know how many of the other editors are familiar with Magocsi, but I hold his work in great esteem too. We try never to use just one reference, but in his case it is not a problem because the salient points coincice with what we can find from other sources as well. - Mauco 01:05, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't have Magocsi's work but, if both of you trust it, it seems is a reliable source. It seems for me that is an agreement to mention that the historical ethnic border of Romanians include Transnistria (maybe not the entire teritory between Dniester and Bug, but at least actual Transnistria; I believe, based on Moldavian ASSR borders of 1924 that ethnic border of Romanians was further East, but for this article is enough to mention that it include actual Transnistria).--MariusM 20:22, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Borders change over time. What year (or period of years) are you referring to, in that you want to say that the border of Romania went East of the Dniester and included current, actual Transnistria? - Mauco 22:39, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

I was not saying that the administrative "border" of a state of Moldavia/Romania crossed the Dniester, what I said was that the territory of the PMR closely follows the historical boundary of the extent of Romanian settlement on--they being the primary inhabitants of--the left bank of the Dniester. Claims of "Russian" affiliation based on Kievan Rus are invalid. Claims of Russian/Ukranian affiliation based on historical inhabitation of the left bank by those ethnicities are equally invalid. ("Transnistria" from the Dniester to the Bug was only a WWII artifact, from 1941-44 as I recall, no books handy.) —Pēters J. Vecrumba 14:45, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Reputable sources "point/counter-point" # 1

No one is disputing that Transnistria had Romanian settlements at various times throughout history. This is an inevitable feature of being a borderland. Who was there first? Does it even matter? Well, it matters to some Romanians (like perma-banned Bonaparte and often-banned User:Greier) who want to make Romania appear larger than it ever was, and want to show that half of the world was Dacia. But to put some balance into the overall interpretation of history, I would - once again - like to call attention to the following historic notes, written from a Romanian point of view and generally accepted by all mainstream Romanian historians:

1. "The eastern boundary of Moldavia as well as the extent of the Romanian mass settlements remained, however, along the Dnestr river."

2. "During the fourteenth century, Prince Bogdan and his successors established their sovereignty over most of the land between the Carpathian mountains and the Dnestr river already populated by Romanians."

3. "Then, Prince Alexandre the Good (1400- 1432) drove the Tatars (remnants of the last great Asian invasion into Europe) beyond the Dnestr and established his boundary along the river. At the beginning, however, in the course of repopulating the new lands and extending state authority, the region between the Prut and Dnestr rivers adjacent to the Danube and the Black Sea, belonged to the Wallachian dynasty Basarab, after whom the entire province was later named."

4. "As a matter of fact, the northern and eastern boundaries of the Principality were fixed by the Prince of Moldavia and the King of Poland as early as 1433. The boundary followed the Ceremus river in the north and the Dnestr in the east, unquestionably including within Moldavia what later came to be known as Bukovina and Bessarabia. Soon after, the Moldavian princes began to fortify the Dnestr against the Tatars and built several fortresses which stand to this day. No fortress was ever built along the Prut River which flowed through the middle of the country."

5. "advancing from the west beyond Dnestr, the Romanian natural expansion encountered the Slavic colonization and the two cultures collided."

6. "1792: For the first time in history, Russia established its boundary along the Dnestr in the immediate vicinity of Moldavia. At that time, Moldavia had been in existence for almost five hundred years and her eastern boundary had been the Dnestr for all this time."

All quotes are from NICHOLAS DIMA 1991: East European Monographs, Boulder, Distributed by Columbia University Press, New York, and can be seen online at http://ivantoc.org/moldova.htm This is a Romanian source. Other historians and sources (which I can also quote) are even more clear on the matter, and emphasize that the role of the Romanians in Transnistria has always been relatively limited and always as a minority compared to other groups. - Mauco 17:04, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

---

In response to the above by Mauco: I have scrupulously re-read Magocsi's maps and all pertinent text. The Kievan Rus province of Galicia extended west to Hungary but did not extend any further downriver, speaking of the Dniester, than the furthest upriver border of present-day Moldova. With respect to your quotes:

1. "The eastern boundary of Moldavia as well as the extent of the Romanian mass settlements remained, however, along the Dnestr river."

This only indicates Moldavia did not cross the Dniester and does not imply Kievan Rus east of the Dniester opposite, facing, Moldavia. Sources not in conflict.

2. "During the fourteenth century, Prince Bogdan and his successors established their sovereignty over most of the land between the Carpathian mountains and the Dnestr river already populated by Romanians."

In the 14th-15th centuries, Moldavia occupied the entire west/right bank of the Dniester all the way to the Black Sea and was not under Kievan Rus, it was a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. The Carpathian mountains were already the western border of Kievan Rus, in central east central Europe. Your reference speaks of the Dniester upriver beyond Moldavia's border. Sources not in conflict.

3. "Then, Prince Alexandre the Good (1400- 1432) drove the Tatars (remnants of the last great Asian invasion into Europe) beyond the Dnestr and established his boundary along the river. At the beginning, however, in the course of repopulating the new lands and extending state authority, the region between the Prut and Dnestr rivers adjacent to the Danube and the Black Sea, belonged to the Wallachian dynasty Basarab, after whom the entire province was later named."

Moldavia remained in control of its territory through to the Dniester as part of the Ottoman Empire through to the end of the 18th century (1792), after which Bessarabia was split off from Moldavia in the Napoleonic era (by 1795). Bessarabia, the territory between the Prut and the Dniester is not the same territory as Walachia (Basaraba being the oligarch circa 1308). Walachia lay along the western border of Moldavia, as part of Hungary, and did not reach to the Black Sea (that territory being controlled by Bulgaria. I repeat: Walachia/Besaraba and Bessarabia are two completely different territories. Subsequently, Walachia became a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire (as did Moldavia). Prince Alexandru I (the Good) was a prince of Walachia (not Bessarabia); during his reign Moldova, nevertheless, had its own ruler, and, most importantly, Alexandru had absolutely nothing to do with Kievan Rus, as he was a Romanian coming from the opposite direction!! A total, and grossly inaccurate, misinterpretation.

4. "As a matter of fact, the northern and eastern boundaries of the Principality were fixed by the Prince of Moldavia and the King of Poland as early as 1433. The boundary followed the Ceremus river in the north and the Dnestr in the east, unquestionably including within Moldavia what later came to be known as Bukovina and Bessarabia. Soon after, the Moldavian princes began to fortify the Dnestr against the Tatars and built several fortresses which stand to this day. No fortress was ever built along the Prut River which flowed through the middle of the country."

I am unclear as to if the source stated "unquestionably" or it's your interpretation. Your geography is still wrong, thinking that Basaraba/Walachia is Bessarabia. Of course it would be silly to build a fortress along a river flowing right through the middle of a country and for no reason! Yes, the Dniester was the border between Poland/Lithuania and Moldavia, as I've already stated.

5. "advancing from the west beyond Dnestr, the Romanian natural expansion encountered the Slavic colonization and the two cultures collided."

That is, after the Romanians crossed the Dniester, inhabited the left bank, and moved further east then, and only then, did they encounter the Slavs. My earlier point on ethnic settlement of the left bank (and beyond) by Romanians, exactly. And no change in the border of Moldavia, which remained along the Dniester while the left bank administratively now belonged to Poland/Lithuania. My earlier point about "if anyone has historical claim, it's Poland/Lithuania." Kievan Rus was never in the territory of the current PMR.

6. "1792: For the first time in history, Russia established its boundary along the Dnestr in the immediate vicinity of Moldavia. At that time, Moldavia had been in existence for almost five hundred years and her eastern boundary had been the Dnestr for all this time."

Actually, Russia established that boundary along the left bank of the Dniester for the very first time in 1793 as part of the partitions of Poland (the first of which was in 1772). This only represented the carving up of Poland (Austria trying to insure its own safety by "giving" Poland to Russia), so a change in political administration, nothing more—and this is the first Russian presence. Again, proving my point exactly, since Romanians remained on the left bank and eastward of the Dniester.

There's nothing worse than making a case by spewing a mountain of seemingly incontrovertible facts driving them home with bolded sledgehammers and having it all totally wrong. I suppose that now you realize what you're quoting not only totally invalidates your position but proves that of the "opposition," you'll dismiss Romanian historians as "biased." You have just proven that Kievan Rus never controlled Transnistria/PMR; that Romanians have been the primary inhabitants of left bank of the Dniester and eastward, i.e., the territory of the current PMR and beyond, since at least the 1400's; and that Russian influence only arrived with the partition of Poland and did not affect the ethnic demographics of the Romanian population on the Dniester's left bank and beyond. So-called "historical Russian claims to the territory of the PMR" completely (and thank you for your emphasis) disproven.

Oops! Feeling the need to quote some other sources? —Pēters J. Vecrumba 02:12, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

As I responded in Talk:History of Transnistria, the issue at hand is not the sources, they agree. It is your interpretation which is wrong, and it is wrong based an incomplete understanding of Balkan geopolitics and then jumping to conclusions which the sources plainly do not state. There's no "disagreement among reputable sources" that would require "both viewpoints to be noted." —Pēters J. Vecrumba 13:23, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Reputable sources point/counter-point #2

Let's make sure that the interpretations of words match the realities of maps. Confusing the territory of the ruler Besaraba with the later territory of Bessarabia is quite understandable if you don't have a map showing Besaraba ruled Walachia (some place completely different) in 1308. I sectioned this off so it can be edited/commented without needing to sift through endless screens of text. I invite Mauco (or anyone else, obviously!) to post another source for discussion. (One source at a time, please!) —Pēters J. Vecrumba 13:15, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Congratulations for Tiraspol Times columnist User:William Mauco

We should congratulate wikipedian User:William Mauco (William Maurice) who just wrote an article for "Tiraspol Times" [20] (see end of article). His wikibreak was fruitfull. I allways believed that "Tiraspol Times" is the right place for Mauco's opinions.--MariusM 14:57, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Ooh boy, gotta read it! :-) --Illythr 15:13, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

It's a nice article, I like it. --Jonathanpops 16:32, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

What a mess ,have a look at this one :http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6062044.stm BBC (published today) EvilAlex 18:26, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

What does that have to do with this? --Jonathanpops 18:52, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Russia is an EVIL DEVIL (like Mauco said) and BBC confirms !!! Honestlly i think that when Mauco wrote this atricle he was on drogs :) EvilAlex 19:03, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Heh, Putin really looks like he's going on a chainsaw rampage on that one. :-) Both the Moldovan and Transnistrain authorities have something to learn in the ways of refining their (currently very rough) propaganda methods from the author of that BBC article. Only the picture spoils that fine masterpiece. The reaction (comments) to it was quite healthy, though. No hateful flaming (almost)...

Alex, you're not helping your reputation (what little is left of it) on Wikipedia with such statements.

William, you don't even have to reply to this, Alex has hurt himself with that statement more than anyone else could. --Illythr 19:51, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Well what can i say.. i don't think that if a persone uses word EVIL seven times and word DEVIL three times in an article are in a good state of mind. :( If you disagree then in this case whatever u think about my reputation doesn't influence me very much. Only criticism from a person with reliable reputation will influence me.
My philosophy is simple to say the true, only true even if you don't like it. EvilAlex 20:19, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I have to disagree. When passing judgement to an article, I try to analyse it's contents and message, not count the words in it. And I'm not even remotely trying to influence you in any way. I merely pointed out that your point of view is going to have less and less support from other Wikipedians when they see it in its full glory of your own blatant statements. --Illythr 21:47, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Regarding the EVILS and the DEVILS, are you familiar with the word CONTEXT?--Jonathanpops 20:27, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Whatever context is. If a person sees too much EVIL and too many DEVILS then he is in need of immediate medical attention. We shouldn't laugh at Mauco we should help him :)) EvilAlex 20:37, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, did you know that the "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was nearly banned for racism, because the word "nigger" is used 215 times there? :-) --Illythr 20:40, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

You compared article written by Mauco to a masterpiece. Are you trying to make a martyr from him? Why not to compare it to a Bible...EvilAlex 21:03, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I called the BBC article a masterpiece, I'm afraid you misread me. The irony was probably lost as well... --Illythr 21:09, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

And you yourself just used those words three times already, Alex! :-P --Illythr 20:42, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Because im laughing...EvilAlex 21:06, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

See, context is everything... ;-) --Illythr 21:09, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

The way haw you see the world is everything, and that is what he wrote EvilAlex 21:19, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Well, the context is all the facts around an issue, whereas your perception is what you think you know of it. Always strive to expand your perception to cover as much of the context as possible! :-) --Illythr 21:47, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Now, I suggest we cease with this flooding, as it is quite irrelevant to THIS article. --Illythr 21:47, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

“Well, the context is all the facts around an issue”
wrong:
context is a perception of what you think to be a reality and because human senses are not perfect you get a wrong cognitive representation of a reality which you call “facts”
Always try to get a picture of reality from as many perspective as possible and only in this way you will get the most complet cognitive representation ant the “facts” that will be much closer to the ULTIMATE TRUE
EvilAlex 22:22, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

By "Context" I meant all the surrounding facts (objective), and by "Perception" - human perspectives on those facts (subjective). It's really impossible to achieve true objectivity on any topic, but we can at least try. Nevertheless, an excellent piece of advice on your part that I hope everyone present will follow. :-)

Oh, and: The Ultimate Truth? There is none. For everyone, at least. But that's a tale for another time and place... --Illythr 22:47, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

We going around in circles “surrounding facts“ how can there be a “facts” is there is no true (“There is none “) ???? EvilAlex 23:14, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Alex, you're not helping this article by calling Russia "evil". Russia is just following their own goals using their official imperialist policies. (note that the Russians have a different kind of imperialism than the Americans) Russia simply does not care about the people of Transnistria or Moldova, but it just tries to keep as much as possible an influence, as the influence might be useful in the future. They lost their influence in the Baltic countries, but in Moldova/Transnistria and Georgia, there is still a fight. For some reason, Putin still sees the world as "us" vs. "them" (US/EU)... bogdan 22:39, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Putin is not the only one who feels that way. There's still a fair share of that "us vs them" cold war mentality among Russia-watchers in the States as well. Interesting subject, but Wikipedia is not the venue. Concentrate on what will further our collaborative editing. - Mauco 01:10, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

I agree with u, I don't glorify neither America or Russia. I called Russia as EVIL in context of Mauco article. That was the perceptions which I've got from reading it.EvilAlex 22:52, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Denigrating one side is actually worse that glorifying it, when the other involved parties are ignored. There's "PR" and there's "black PR". Russia is protecting its interests just like the other players. Ukraine, Romania and of course Moldova play a significant part in this issue as well as Russia and Transnistria, so casting the blame entirely upon one side while "tactfully" forgetting about all the others is... well, wrong IMO. And Alex, I don't think you need a context to call Russia "EVIL"(caps). Not anymore... :-( --Illythr 23:23, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks to all for letting me bask in my 5 seconds of "fame". It was just a guest column and I have not been asked to be a regular contributor. I don't know if they like it but I was allowed to write it with no censorship of any kind. I already announced it previously, here on this page.[21]. Now, I suggest that we cease with this flooding, like Illythr says. Wikipedia is not a discussion forum. From WP:NOT: "Please try to stay on the task of creating an encyclopedia" and that the focus should "not be social networking, but rather providing a foundation for effective collaboration." - Mauco 01:21, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Bolohovenians

What is a Bolohovenian? Did they exist? Never heard of them. Neither has Google[22] or Yahoo[23] The article said that they inhabited this land. - Pernambuco 22:02, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Those guys? Apparently, that how the old Russian chroniclers called the Vlachs. It's worth making a "bypass" here, methinks. --Illythr 22:13, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Correct name is Bolohoveni, Bogdan corrected the article.--MariusM 22:15, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Excellent, and by the way there is probable no need to "bypass" to Vlachs because the Bolohoveni already has a wikilink to there. - Pernambuco 22:33, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Not so excellent. The article is a bullshit. There is no "bolohoveni" in Russian chronicles. This is a Romanian mutation of the Old Slavic word: "vlach" in Old Slavonic is "voloch". "Volochove" is plural from "voloch". volohoveni is a brainless Romanian coinage similar to "moldoveni". And "bolohovenians" is double brainless iteration into English. In summary: there were no separate "bolohoveni" people, and at best this article must be a redirect to Vlachs, which must have a section about their historical names in various contemporary languages.

I am sorry. I thought it was fixed. This was why I said "excellent" . . . . Thank you for explaining. I agree to change the "bolohoveni" word to Vlachs. - Pernambuco 05:47, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

It it is interesting to mention that a similar confusion happened with Ingrians, and quite very recently, too. There was land of Ingria. A person from Ingria was called by Teutons "Ingerman", and their land is "Ingermanland". The latter was borroved into Russian during the times of Russian Empire and Russifies into "Ingermanlandia" And finally, some English smartass coined "Ingermanlandians" ! If you don't beieve me, check google.

In summary, internet is much more efficient in spreading of ignorance than of wisdom. `'mikkanarxi 23:41, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Would everyone agree that we spread more wisdom than ignorance if, in this particular article (Transnistria) we simply change 'Bolohoveni' to 'Vlachs'? Seems like an easy fix... - Mauco 01:26, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

No.--MariusM 06:24, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Would you let us know why? Mikka seems to say that they are one and the same. - Mauco 18:26, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't believe Mikka read Russian chronicles first hand. We have already in Wikipedia an article about Bolohoveni, this is why is better to keep this name.--MariusM 10:04, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Haha very funny. I am not only reading them. I am writing them :-) `'mikkanarxi 17:28, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, but: This article itself is an error. You ignore Mikka's explanation why, at best, this article must be a redirect to Vlachs. - Mauco 14:08, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Well, I scanned the original chronicle here and in doesn't contain any "Болоховень"(or anything similar). There is a mention of "Волохове"(Volohove) in the list of "western peoples" there, though. --Illythr 16:57, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Lithuania and Poland

It seems that Transnistria was indeed nominally part of Lithuania and later Poland, but nobody actually enforced the rule over the region, presumably because it was underpopulated and not valuable enough to worth it. bogdan 22:52, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Râşcov in the north of Transnistria had a little bit of Polish rule. As the name shows, however, it was not founded by the Polish. - Mauco 01:06, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Transnistria Should be called a country (territory)

I would like to voice my objection to Transnistria being refered to as a 'region'. Wikipedia has its own definition of what it determines a region's status as a country to be..

A country ought to have all or most of the following;

1 Its own government 2 Its own administration 3 Its own consitution 4 Its own Police force 5 Its own Military 6 Its own tax 7 its own laws,

obvious additions I could include would be

8 its own unique curremcy ( bank notes and coins)) and central bank 9 Its oen state symbols / flag etc. 10 customs posts 11 patroled borders 12 own airforce. 13. Prime minister/President/ Ministers. Parliment buildings.

Transnistria has every single one of the above. Therefore it MUST be termed a country.

I accept there is a dispute and Moldova claims this territory , this however does not take away from the de-facto independence that exists.

It is also wrong to say she is not internationally recognised. There is not a single country in the world that has full interrnational recognition. Whether you have mass recognition or not does not determine whether you exist as a country. As it happens there are several countries that recognise Transnistria and Russia is included.

I suggest that the wording in describing Transnistria be changed to state it is an independent country yet to be recognised by the vast majority of western countries and whose territory is claimed by neighbouring country of Moldova . This the most apt description. To merely discribe it as a region is innacurate and political. Lets try to be scientific about this and call it exactly what it is.

MarkStreet Mark Street . Editor Tiraspol Times News, Transnistria, October 20th 2006

There is a slight discrepancy between the state PMR and the region Transnistria/Pridnestrovie. I think that part should be clarified. I rememer making a distinction between the two in the past, but I guess somebody removed it.

Russia doesn't recognise Transnistria, AFAIK. There is also a difference between not being recognised by every country in the world and having no international recognition at all. :-)

PS: Do they really have their own airforce? --Illythr 13:23, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

It is not an airforce by name, but an airborne division which is part of the army. It consists of eight helicopters and five airplanes.[24] - Mauco 18:30, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

I agree , can you re-insert that to clarify things, Russian recently recognised the results of the referendum and its ministry of foriegn affairs refers to Igor Smirnov as "President Smirnov'. It also makes a distinction between Moldova and Transnistria in all press breifings. It does accept Moldova has the right to enter negotionations for TD and persents a nuetral position on the conflict. There are four other 'countries' that recognise TD but it does not matter if not a single one does as this does not not make it a country. For example, a sheep is a sheep even if others refuse to accept it de-facto reality. MarkStreet Oct 20 2006

The "President Smirnov" comment is not an argument. I can be "President of the Dog Catchers Association" and, in certain contexts, it would then be correct to address me as "President". Likewise, the word "government" does not imply country status. There are local governments, city governments, so on. Russia can, if they want, recognize someone as the president of a local government board, and this does not imply country recognition. While it is true that Russia has recognized certain aspects of PMR, they most notably have not yet recognized PMR as a separate sovereign and independent state or established formal diplomatic relations which would imply such recognition. - Mauco 15:03, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

On the rest, technically speaking, Mark is correct in that under international law a country can (depending on certain criteria) be a country even if no one else recognizes it. However, this is a "technicality" and as Wikipedia editors we have to not get too hung up on technicalities if that means we miss the big picture. I personally think it would be "correct but also misleading" if we consistently begin to refer to Transnistria as a country. We can put in qualifiers (such as "unrecognized country") but then we have to do that everywhere, and have a huge edit task ahead of us when/if the status changes. To avoid controversy, try to not call it a region too much and not a country either. It is quite easy to construct sentences where the whole thing can be avoided and the meaning of the sentence still is clear. - Mauco 15:00, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

The point is this, For example, imagine the entire world broke diplomatic relations with the old South Africa ( whuch nearly happened) and a ecomonic and diplomatic blockade took place. Would this mean South Africa could no longer be refered to as a country?. Clearly it would remain as one. albeit unrecognised diplomatically internationally. So in effect TD is the same it is a country unrecognised diplomatically by everyone bar a few 'countries in a similar situation. Notwithstanding that it is a country and noboby can dispute that. Therefore Wikipedia should refrain from calling it what it is not. Its not proper for Mauco to push this vital point off on a 'technicality'.It is the very essence of the entire TD page. It is vital to get 'hung up' on this, as this point is of the most paramount importance to this entire page, This is not a huge task. It just needs to be changed in the main introduction paragraphs on the main article page to begin with. I suggest it never be refered to as a region as this is confusing . Remember South Africa in diplomatic blockade and non recognition would NOT be a region but STILL a country. It is highly offensive to the 97% of TD pro-independence votes to be refered to as a regiion. Call it was it is , a country as of yet unrecognised. It is time to be precise and work under the very guidelines Wikipedia uses itself and not political agendas and wishes. MarkStreet Mark Street Oct 20 2006

In Abkhazia and Kosovo articles also, the word "country" is not used. In my opinion the involvement of bias user as MarkStreet, editor of Tiraspol Times, in this article will affect the credibility of Wikipedia.--MariusM 17:58, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

MarkStreet has a right to his opinion, and I am glad to see that he is limiting himself to debating it with us here in Talk and not making edits in mainspace. He has a conflict of interest. If you check the encyclopedia's guidelines on this, you will see that his current behavior is appropriate. I am personally glad to have him around, in case we have any questions. However, it seems that most of us here (myself included) disagree with some of his points and suggestions. - Mauco 18:40, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

We can read "Tiraspol Times" if we want his opinion, and I am sure you will bring here any relevant information from it.--MariusM 18:43, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

So his opinion is not allowed in this Talk page? - Mauco 18:47, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

The correct way Transnistria should be referenced is "territory". Territory makes no value judgement on the political status of a piece of land. A territory can be either a region or a country. Furthermore, it would be more correct to call it "disputed territory", due to its lack of international recognition and the ongoing disputes over it. Abkhazia and other breakaway regions should also be referred to in this way. "Breakaway region" is POV towards those who are against Transnistrian independence, while "unrecognised country" is POV towards those who support Transnistrian independence. "Disputed territory" is thus the preferred term. Ronline ✉ 10:03, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the input. I made some edits yesterday and today, and basically solved it to a status which is as neutral as can be possibly be. I doubt we will have any complaints (from either side) over this particular detail in the future, as the text stands now. - Mauco 14:20, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Ahem... I see now that my edits were reverted by EvilAlex, as part of some kind of pointless edit war thing of his. It would have been better if he could have participated in this discussion (like Ronline, MariusM, myself, Illythr, and MarkStreet) instead of simply just reverting me. My edits in this matter were absolutely uncontroversial and a truly Solomonic solution. - Mauco 16:07, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

I know its quite upseting for some people to consider the reality that TD is in fact a country. It may even offend pro Moldovan/Romanian people but we cannot ignore the fact that it is a c de-facto country , albeit one whose international standing is in sharp dispute. . Once again I advise Mauco against trying to satisfy everyone because that is wrong.. Its about that accurate descrption and information. . I may not approve of Mauco and his actions but I repect the effort to be even handed , as for Evilalex, clearly he is behaving like a menace and I doubt he will change and I propose he be limited to these talk pages MarkStreet Oct 22nd

Yes, we have a few people here who are basically being disruptive and not providing anything constructive to the editing of the article. But having said that, we would also prefer that you (MarkStreet) try to limit yourself to the Talk pages, please. It is not because of any disruptive edits or reverts, because you haven't made any, but merely because of the potential for a conflict of interest which runs counter to the spirit of the work that we do here. I am sorry that you don't approve of me, but I really appreciated the chance that your newspaper gave me to write the guest column[25] and have my views printed without any censorship. I was actually surprised that you didn't even change the name of the country when I wrote my column, because I know that "Transnistria" is a bit offensive to the locals, due to the Romanian and Nazi abuses and the oppressive origin of the name. In retrospect, I should have been more sensitive. - Mauco 15:22, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

There is a difference between editing a newspaper and censoring reports, There was never a question of us doing that so why mention it even ?. In your case neither were needed. I just wish you would be even handed here and not anti TD/PMR as you can be very Moldovan leaning even if you don't realise it.. Also, spelling Transnistria is offensive but not in this forum as it is internationally known noun. . MarkStreet Oct 23

To answer Marius , Kosovo does not qualify as a country under any of Wikipedia guidlines but TD does qualify under every one of them. Kosova is administrated by the UN, TD is completely independent. Now can we please have TD listed as a country. Perhaps Internationally unrecognised country would keep everyone happy . MarkStreet Oct 23 2006.

Link to Tiraspol Times

This link obtained a narrow "for" vote when we voted for external links, but the vote was poisoned through proved sockpuppetry. There were plenty of proofs in this talk page (moved in archive) that this is not a real newspaper, only a propaganda tool of Tiraspol regime, it was not proved that this newspaper is available in the streets of Tiraspol, has no address, is pretending "100% truth and accuracy", claim that "Tiraspol Times reports straight from Tiraspol: Not from Chisinau, Moscow, Brussels, Kiev, Washington or Cairo. So you get the news about Tiraspol fresh, first-hand and unfiltered" [26] but it is a lie, as MarkStreet recognized "We don't publicise our address and phone numbers becaise we operate online and to be frank we simply are not there a lot of the time" [27]. I see that his editor, MarkStreet, is not busy with his newspaper but with Wikipedia. Wikipedia should not be the place for self-promotion and plain falacities, the credibility of this resource will suffer if we allow this.--MariusM 18:27, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

So would you like to have a new vote on the links? I support that, as I agree with you that the prior vote was less than satisfactory. I called it "poisoned" at the time. - Mauco 18:38, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

A vote only about "Tiraspol Times" can be usefull, however, with sockpuppetry a vote can easy be poisoned again.--MariusM 18:43, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

It passed the vote. If the voting was bad, debate that, but don't remove it. If you do, you are making an even bigger mockery of the process than you already did. In that case, what will stop someone else from removing OTHER sites that also passed the vote? - Mauco 18:49, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

The only proved case of sockpuppetry on that vote was that of MarkStreet, editor of Tiraspol Times.--MariusM 21:13, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Not so fast, check Archive 6. I spotted several, on both sides. Called attention to it, too, including some no-no's of your own. Now, I suggest that we add the link back in since it passed the vote. Otherwise, other links who passed the vote can easily be removed too and then what is the point... - Mauco 21:27, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Can you prove any of this bizarre allegations ? EvilAlex 22:45, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

It is all in Archives 6 if you care to dig in. Meanwhile, I have another "bizarro" stunt from the two of you: A little tandem, orchestrated to circumvent WP:3RR but unfortunately in violation of WP:SOCK, complete with request, action, cover-up, deletion and misleading log statements, all within the span of half an hour.[28] [29] [30] You are not doing Wikipedia a favor by gaming the system in that way. Full details here. - Mauco 03:10, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Are you trying to say that we not allowed to discuss what is wrong and what is right. Are you trying to deny the right of a free speech. Are you trying to silence everyone who is not on your side? Mauco stop this!
EvilAlex 12:57, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Please be civil. I provided links. MariusM knows what he did, and a detached observer knows that the concerted action by the two of you is in violation of at two Wikipedia rules. - Mauco 14:18, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

On the "other side" you didn't show any fraudulent vote, you just make misleading comments.--MariusM 21:35, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Like I said, it is all in Archives 6 for anyone who wants to look it up. But the point is really a bit moot now, since the vote is over. I merely note that Tiraspol Times passed the vote, and that it should stay, regardless of what I think of the vote (I think it smells, and said so at the time). - Mauco 03:10, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

“Tiraspol Times” have passed the vote true fraud. And in any normal society the should be consequences of any illegal activities. We cant allow FRAUD to rule on Wikipedia.
If you agree that vote on “Tiraspol Times” was “smelly” then you shouldnt have any problem with removing link to “Tiraspol Times”. EvilAlex 12:58, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Sigh. My position is not on this link in particular, but on the way that vote was conducted overall. Archives 6, like I said. - Mauco 14:18, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

The allegations of fraud are false, remember evilalex went so far to describe TiraspolTimes as Kremlin Propaganda. So clearly his opinion is already madly tainted and he should only be listened to with his own clear bias tatooed on his forehead. Marius is cut from a similar cloth. A vote was carried free and fair and the two guys are crying sur grapes because they didn't manage to vote it off. Mauco is barely nuetral . MarkStreet Oct 22nd.

Your views on “free and fair” slightly different from my, well probably that is why referendum was “free and fair” too :( EvilAlex 11:24, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't agree with MarkStreet (who calls me "barely neutral") and I don't agree with EvilAlex (who calls me much worse things). Both of you are extremists. I have been falsely accused by MariusM in public of being a "supporter of separatist government of Transnistria" just because I won't let him re-write history. Untrue. If anything, as my edit record shows, I try hard to keep both extremes out of Wikipedia and find a middleground which is consistent with the facts and with Wikipedia's policies on NPOV and verifiability. - Mauco 18:13, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Calling me an extremist and putting me in the same basket as Evilalex is a bit over the top. I have never edited the main page or unedited others work like he does and boasts about it. Look at his website. Look at our TT site. MarkStreet Oct 22nd 2006

I realize this, MarkStreet. I am sorry if offended. I do find http://www.tiraspoltimes.com to be useful, especially because it has information which otherwise is not available in English (but only in Russian, from other sources). The behavior of EvilAlex runs counter to everything that Wikipedia stands for. We have a rule that on controversial topics, new edits should be discussed first. This is what I see that you are doing, and why you haven't touched the article with as much as a single edit. EvilAlex, of course, just has a history of disrupting, reverting, and generally being uncivil. He has told us that he likes it, and that life is boring for him without these "small wars" as he calls them. - Mauco 19:09, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Pointless edit war - why?

Are we on the verge of a new and pointless edit war? If so, how about some civility and self-control, guys?

We are dealing with a self-confessed edit warrior, User:EvilAlex, who says that it is "fun" to edit war, and that it would be "boring without those small wars".[31] He has a history of being rude and using misleading edit comments. Today, he has wholesale reverted twice [32], [33] for some fairly simple edits which I made: 1. Removal of a contested statement until a second source is found, due to another editor not considering the single source reliable in itself. 2. Phrasing on "region/country", discussed here and solved. 3. Tiraspol Times link, which passed the vote like several other links who are there too, and which are not removed (despite my concerns in general about the vote).

We are also dealing with User:Greier who has an extensive history of being blocked for disruptive behavior on nationalist Romanian topics.[34] and who likes to add large chunks of contested statements to controversial articles without raising the issues first with any other editors on the Talk pages. He did this again today.[35] Both of them have shown troll-like behavior in the past, so I am reluctant to engage them and would hope that someone else has the patience to do so.... - Mauco 16:05, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes yes yes everyone is EVIL and only you Mauco are perfect. Try to make a pretty innocent picture of yourself once again. EvilAlex 16:13, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

I was actually hoping that you would reply to the 3 items which you reverted me on, point by point, which was why I enumerated them. Putting words in my mouth is not a constructive and helpful way to solve a content dispute. I never said that you were evil, I merely referred to you by your username, which you yourself have picked (for whatever reason which escapes me to speculate on). - Mauco 16:21, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

I see only one real question here: regarding “Tiraspol Times” link.
Mauco do you support FRAUD?
For each illegal actions there should be consequences otherwise Wiki will be ruled be FRAUD. You said it yourself that voting was smelly. And we have one proven casse. Shouldn't we do the right thing and punish Fraudsters by removing link that passed the votes by Fraud? EvilAlex 17:22, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

I can see from your answer that you didn't reach Archive 6 and have no understanding of why I questioned the vote. However, like I said, that voting is over, and the point is now moot. We can of course still discuss the Tiraspol Times link. If you said that this is the "only real question here", then why did you wholesale remove my other edits, which were benigh and unrelated to Tiraspol Times link? I will now restore those, and in the interest of seeking consensus, I shall NOT restore the Tiraspol Times link for now.

However, while I am at it, I will restore the article from Greier's POV-biased version of history, for which there is currently no consensus. There is an open invitation to him to debate it with us on this Talk page, which I the reason why I opened this thread. He has chosen, so far, to not argue his case. - Mauco 17:34, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Done. In the interest of collaboration, I would urge Greier and EvilAlex to please not revert me further, but debate any futher changes here with me and others so we can avoid a flare-up of another pointless edit war. - Mauco 17:49, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Greier reverted my restore.[36] I have now specifically asked him to participate in this discussion.[37] - Mauco 18:04, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Mauco stop this nonsens, link should be removed for breaking rules of fare vote! I knew exactly what in Archive 6 – i participated in creation of it. What exactly you wont me to see there? And You shold be banned for breaking the rules of 3RR :( EvilAlex 18:44, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Excluding the two anon and Mark Street's votes(two keeps and one delete), the voting finished with 4 to 3 for keeping the TT link.

We can make a new vote on it, I guess... --Illythr 18:59, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

It is too time consuming ..EvilAlex 11:25, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

We can also discuss whether or not it is appropriate to include it, and please keep Wikipedia's guidelines on external links in mind, as we do so. I have opened a thread below where I state why I think that the link ought to be included. - Mauco 19:09, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

I guess that EvilAlex means "blocked", not "banned", right? On the link issue, we seem to be going in circles. It is good to know that EvilAlex objects to only 1 of my 3 items, however, he still did not explain, then, why he reverted all 3 of them wholesale as if none of them were valid. - Mauco 18:51, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

I object to all of your items..
I reverted because your edit had removed few interesting points. Without proper discussion EvilAlex 11:30, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

That is a bit over the top, if you see the actual edit. Anyway, EvilAlex is a self-confessed edit warrior who likes these kind of "small wars", as he calls them, or otherwise it would be boring, as he has said in the past. It is just too bad that he disrupts the work of others in his quest to get a war on. - Mauco 15:11, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Agreed ' the work here should soon come to an end, an edit war has not place here MarkStreet 23rd Oct

Soljeniţîn - indirect confirmation of Dabija

Well known Russian disident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in his book "Rossiia v obvale" (I used the Romanian translation, Humanitas, Bucharest 2000), in the part "The slav tragedia" is writing against Ukrainian nationalist pretentions: "Ukraine obtained teritories which never belonged to it before Lenin: 2 regions on Don, the entire Sudic Novorosia (Melitopol - Herson - Odesa) and Krimeea". The opinion of Soljeniţîn is that Ukraine has no right to those lands (including Odesa - that show that Transnistria is one of non-Ukrainian land considered by Soljeniţîn). He has a valid point of view, as Transnistria and other teritories were conquered with Russian blood through Russian-Turkish/Tatar wars, without being previously inhabited by Slavs. No mention in Soljeniţîn that Transnistria was inhabited by Ukrainians before Russian-Turkish wars. Slav colonization started in those region after Russian conquer (1792 for Transnistria). It was mainly an Ukrainian colonization (we know from historical demographic data that Russians came here mainly in Soviet times and established themselves in cities; countriside was and still is Ukrainian/Moldovan; everywhere in the world people from cities are more likely newcomers in a region). In Soljeniţîn's reckoning, as the right to colonize this region was granted to ukrainians by Russia, is not fair that those regions are now part of Ukraine. "When Hmelniţki united Ukraine to Russia, Ukraine was a fifth of today Ukraine", Soljeniţîn wrote.--MariusM 16:48, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Solzhenitsyn is not a historian. No one denies his enormous contribution in destalinization with his Gulag Archipelago and other dissident things. But unfortunately, what happens with many, he gradually acquired a delusion of grandeur and self-assumed the right to be right in many areas where he is nothing but a dilettante. He may give correct facts, but his reasoning and interpretations are very often childish (senility, probably).

Yes, references related to confirmation of this non-neutral source on history should ideally be from historians. - Mauco 18:00, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Soljenitsyn is well known for his detailed research in the problems of Russian history.--MariusM 19:51, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

As for colonization, , througout the history Russia gave right for colonisation of vast empty lands it the area to various peoples, such as Germans (History of Germans in Russia) or Serbs (Slavo-Serbia Nova Serbia, in Ukraine!) and others. And there is nothing special that some empty steppes were colonized by Ukrainians as well. `'mikkanarxi 17:38, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Good point, Mikka. Transnistria (not only the subject of our article but the entire teritory between Dniester and Bug) was conquered by Russia in 1792. Only after that date it was colonized with Slavs and others, who received colonisation rights from Russia. Tatar population fled but Moldovan population, which was orthodox, was tolerated by the new masters. This is history and this is what we should write in the article.--MariusM 19:51, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Ahem. Slavs did not appear by colonizers who drove the previous population out. A large part (most scholars say the majority) were already Slavs, mostly Ukranians by that time. However, this work is best done in more detail at History of Transnistria. The main Transnistria article, in its history section, then only includes a summary of the most important points of the more detailed history article - Mauco 20:23, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

To put some balance into the overall interpretation of history, I would like to call attention to the following historic notes, written from a Romanian point of view and generally accepted by all mainstream Romanian historians:

1. "The eastern boundary of Moldavia as well as the extent of the Romanian mass settlements remained, however, along the Dnestr river."

2. "During the fourteenth century, Prince Bogdan and his successors established their sovereignty over most of the land between the Carpathian mountains and the Dnestr river already populated by Romanians."

3. "Then, Prince Alexandre the Good (1400- 1432) drove the Tatars (remnants of the last great Asian invasion into Europe) beyond the Dnestr and established his boundary along the river. At the beginning, however, in the course of repopulating the new lands and extending state authority, the region between the Prut and Dnestr rivers adjacent to the Danube and the Black Sea, belonged to the Wallachian dynasty Basarab, after whom the entire province was later named."

4. "As a matter of fact, the northern and eastern boundaries of the Principality were fixed by the Prince of Moldavia and the King of Poland as early as 1433. The boundary followed the Ceremus river in the north and the Dnestr in the east, unquestionably including within Moldavia what later came to be known as Bukovina and Bessarabia. Soon after, the Moldavian princes began to fortify the Dnestr against the Tatars and built several fortresses which stand to this day. No fortress was ever built along the Prut River which flowed through the middle of the country."

5. "advancing from the west beyond Dnestr, the Romanian natural expansion encountered the Slavic colonization and the two cultures collided."

6. "1792: For the first time in history, Russia established its boundary along the Dnestr in the immediate vicinity of Moldavia. At that time, Moldavia had been in existence for almost five hundred years and her eastern boundary had been the Dnestr for all this time."

All quotes are from NICHOLAS DIMA 1991: East European Monographs, Boulder, Distributed by Columbia University Press, New York, and can be seen online at http://ivantoc.org/moldova.htm In light of the above, and all the other data from other historians that suppport this, I don't see how we can claim (at least not with a straight face) that there was ever any serious "Moldovan rule in Transnistria" in the time periods mentioned. - Mauco 03:32, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

External link to Tiraspol Times

I propose the inclusion of a link to Tiraspol Times[38] in the external links section, specificially in the part labelled "Transnistrian side" in order to show its POV.

Tiraspol Times is worthy of inclusion because it is the only news source with a Transnistrian viewpoint which appears in English. We are currently including several links to Moldovan news sources in the same article, under "Moldovan side". For balance, it is fair to have at least one similar link on the Transnistrian side.

Since the article deals with Transnistria (and not Moldova, per se) the link is more relevant than the Moldovan news sources. However, I am not proposing that they be deleted. This suggestion merely deals with the relevancy and usefulness of inclusion of http://www.tiraspoltimes.com/

I may add that in the course of research, I have often found a bits of information which was reported elsewhere in Russian, in several places, but which was never reported anywhere in English except for Tiraspol Times. As such, it fills a unique niche and is a "must" in an English language article dealing with Transnistria. - Mauco 17:58, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't know why people are making such a big deal about these external links, it's not like they affect the article itself. To me the whole voting thing is a silly idea anyway, a lot of people seemed to have treated it like a competition and taken sides. It shouldn't matter what you personally feel about a particular site, if it's solely related to the subject I think it should be there anyway. Especially as there's so few sites related to this in the first place, it's not like there's hundreds to choose from like there is for San Marino or somewhere like that.

There are some really biased attitudes when it comes to this page, and there's bound to be some people who'll re-add or re-delete all the links that have been here again and again because of how they feel - mostly because no one has come up with any good arguments why most of them shouldn't be here, or should be here in some cases. Or because some new person will come along and see that there's hardly any links about Transnistria on a Transnistria page and add a couple that they've seen, thinking they're helping out, only to have some 'activists' from one faction or another remove the link quick sharp because it doesn't feit with the way they 'feel' about Transnistria.

If it was up to me I'd add nearly all the Transnistria links that were in that list, apart from the accomodation ad, and a few more besides - heck I'd even stick that awful site in that Evil Alex has made. At least we'd get a variety of opinions. As it is now, if I was lording it over this page, I'd be tempted to have a no-links-at-all policy and have done with it. --Jonathanpops 23:12, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Either of your two proposals ("free for all" and "no links at all") run counter to the Wikipedia guidelines on external links. Links can be included when they are useful and relevant, and I am amazed that we even have to discuss this. It is obvious that Tiraspol Times has to be in the article. In this case, Tiraspol Times is an obvious "must" since it is the only English language news site on the Transnistrian side, and much more relevant than some of the Moldovan news organizations which are currently included. - Mauco 15:10, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

A link to Tiraspol Times should definitely be included, provided that it is located under a category which indicated a Transnistrian or pro-independence POV. I also wonder why we don't have an article on this publication at Tiraspol Times. Ronline ✉ 00:44, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

It's only a few months old and a lot of stuff about it (like permanent office whereabouts, staff identities, etc) is still somewhat unclear. --Illythr 01:43, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, and there is WP:NN to keep in mind as well. Besides, we already have Media in Transnistria with a brief mention of it. - Mauco 02:30, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Does anyone know if the Tiraspol Times is actually a publication yet, I mean do they print paper copies and distribute them to an audience? I know it doesn't make too much difference to them if it doesn't, it does not make it any less a news source in my opinion anyway - for instance the BBC don't print papers, they publish their news on TV - but I was thinking it should definately have it's own page if it is more than a website, and just maybe have it's own page if it keeps going for a year or so and grows into something bigger.--Jonathanpops 10:29, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Well, according to this letter they sent me, it was at the time limited to only 900 copies a month and is not openly available for sale yet. --Illythr 10:49, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

I never saw i single printed copy. My sister studied in Tiraspol State University. She never heard about any Tiraspol Times  :( EvilAlex 12:15, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Even if it was only an online newspaper, then that does not dis-qualify it from being included in the external links. We also link to conflict.md (online only, and no original content - just reprints) and elsewhere in Wikipedia we link to SETimes.com in dozens of places. SETimes.com is a purely online newspaper, no print version. - Mauco 15:10, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes many of then just online newspaper, but REPUTATION is everything. Behind conflict.md is a strong organization such as OSCE. If conflict.md will publish some kind of bizarre stories then reputation of conflict.md and reputation of any party that supported them will be on the line. In case of Tiraspol Times – no one is on the line, they doesn’t even have a real address.EvilAlex 15:57, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Conflict.md has a biased reputation. For instance, when they selected which article to include on the recent UNDP report, the selectively picked one which mentioned a small detail (not even mentioned in the summary of the UNDP) and omitted all the articles which reported accurately on the UNDP findings. Why? Because they were favorable to Transnistria. They concluded that Transnistria has a high level of openness and transparency in the field of weapons control. They also concluded that there were no weapons production or weapons smuggling. This was being covered up by conflict.md, however. In my opinion, their reputation is close to zero. But nevertheless, I supported the inclusion of the link with the proviso that it be labelled as the Moldovan side. This is the same standard which we must now apply to Tiraspol Times. Include the link, and stop fighting it on flimsy grounds. It would be nuts not do it. - Mauco 18:13, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Tiraspoltimes is a modern news org like many others. Its reporters work in a disputed territory and live with threats on a daily basis. mainly Moldovan and Romanian. Modern news orgs like this operate on a tight budget and the days of large fancy offices are long gone. Most NA in such regions operate from Hotel rooms. 100s of reporters are murdered every year. The journalists of TT have vast experience of conflict zome reporting hence we like to keep our heads out of the limelight, We are quite happy to meet with our own fellow reporters but people that endanger us no thanks. People with names like Evilalex are clearly not on our to meet list. However just about everyone knows us. MarkStreet 22 Oct.

Bogus. Why should they murder your reporters if you glorify TD?
Tiraspol Times should write more about real problem That matter to Transnistrian residence:
Lack of hot water. unemployment, decaying social security system.
Not a single word :(. instead lets tell few fairy tales, Bravo “Tiraspol Times”. You are truly ,truly ,truly ,truly ,truly ,truly independent newspaper. EvilAlex 12:26, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Try to get back on topic. Discuss if the link is appropriate for the article or not. Not talk about the risk of being a jorunalist in a conflict zone. For that, you can see their site. I found on one page a comment. It is here and it has a link to "JOURNALISM SAFETY". It is from an independent third source in London. It confirms what MarkStreet says. Now back to topic. - Pernambuco 13:19, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes journalist safety can be an issue if you write articles controversial to Transnistrian government. But this doesn’t apply to Tiraspol Times they glorify it. EvilAlex 16:03, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Don't know if "glorify" is the right word. You are obviously not a frequent reader of http://www.tiraspoltimes.com or you would know that they give voice to the opposition, too. There was one article which said "Resign, Igor Smirnov!" and another one, earlier this week, which had a quote from someone who said "Get rid of Smirnov!" and then went on to explain why. - Mauco 18:13, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

OK. Imagin that we all agreed and added link to “Tiraspol Times”, then few month later an article appears with a headings:
'Since independence in 1990, Transnistria has a free market economy, 200% growth, and a multi-party democracy with the opposition in control of parliament.
And then one of the wikipedians, hrrrr lets say User:William_Mauco decidet to rewrite Transnistrian article based on article in “Tiraspol Times”,yes he will give you all of the references to “Tiraspol Times” Did you get the picture? Where is the line between just placing a link and referencing to it? How reliable is “Tiraspol Times” to be in Wikipedia? Answers are here: [39]
Reputation -0. Do we need a site like that here?
EvilAlex 12:08, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Just label it POV. Problem solved. Then deal with edits as they happen. No need to anticipate "ifs". The link is about Transnistria, it is the only one of its kind so it should be part of the article. You have four already from Moldova. Nuff said. - Pernambuco 13:15, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, it is always bad to start an argument with the sentence " Imagine that ... " and then highlight a quote which never appeared anywhere in Tiraspol Times, as "proof" of why a link to http://www.tiraspoltimes.com/ should not be included. If anything, EvilAlex merely proves my case for why we should respect the vote and respect Wikipedia's external links guidelines, and put the link back in there immmediately. - Mauco 15:25, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

I gave you that example just to show that with 0 credibility and 0 reputations anything can be taken as facts, just by referencing to Tiraspol Times, no matter how incredible it is. EvilAlex 15:48, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Ok, thanks for clarifying. That is actually a valid argument (although put in strong terms). But actual edits in namespace are dealt with as they happen, based on the sources, and we apply the same rigid standards to Tiraspol Times as we would to any other POV sources. So let us be careful to not confuse apples with oranges. Right now, we are discussing the inclusion of a link, and not any article edits. - Mauco 15:57, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks to all for your input. I think we have settled it now. Mauco, Jonathanpops, Pernambuco, Ronline, MarkStreet in favor (but don't count MarkStreet, due to conflict of interest.) Illythr, no clear opinion expressed. EvilAlex against. - Mauco 03:52, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

On behalf of TT I want to thank those that voted to keep the link, There are countless articles In Tiraspol Times that take angles that upset the government there but we also show both sides of the dispute. . There is not a single news agency in the world that claims TT is biased in any way in fact our reporters are well repected by the EU and UN as the voice of reason beneath the shouting. However being in the middle in Transnistria means we end up being disliked by both sides. The TD goverment sees TT as an absolute thorn in its side but they do allow us to write what we want and do not censor us. MarkStreet Oct 23 2006

Useless EU reference

We can NOT use the EU list as reference. It is full of errors and is NOT a reliable source. There are only 17 names on the list, so any inferences to the "leadership" must take into account that the list is not representative.

Some of the job titles and names are wrong, with some not in leadership positions. Only 10 of them can be considered leadership. Of those ten, there is wrong information on 40% of them, such as wrong birth places and birth dates, among other things. Overall, if we include all 17 names, there is wrong information on the list in the case of 10 out of 17, or an error rate of 59%.

To make matters even worse, there is NO consistent standard for why a name was included in the list. Parliament has 43 deputies, but only some of them were included. Why? There are also more than a dozen ministries, but only a handful of ministers were included. Why? In contrast, the list includes some names which are out of office, and even one who no longer lives in Transnistria. Why?

It is sloppy list and useless as a source or reference to prove anything. If we had to do a serious, professional list, we could include people such as -

• Anatoliy Blashku, Minister of Industry, born in Moldova, moved to Transnistria as a minor
• Oxana Ionova, president of the tax service, born in Transnistria
• Alexander Karaman, former vice-president and influential political leader. Born in Transnistria.
• Valeriy Panasenko, deputy minister of industry. Born in Transnistria.
• Vladimir Beliaev, communications minister. Born in Transnistria.
• Yury Cheban, minister of ecology. Born in Transnistria.
• Stepan Beril, rector of TSU. Born in Transnistria.
• Viktor Kostyrko, mayor of Tiraspol. Born in Tiraspol.
• Other mayors (such as Platonov, Runkovsky, Tishenko and all the rest), also native born.
• Valerian Tulgara, member of parliament, head of Union of Moldovans. Born in Transnistria.
• Ivan Tkachenko, minister of health and social services. Born in Transnistria. - Mauco 19:37, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Mauco, you showed only one mistake about birth place in this list (Shevchuk case). The list is representative, as EU considered those persons as leadership of Transnistria. You should not come with YOUR own definition about who is the leadership of Transnistria, and pick only what you want from the list, to pretend big representation of native transnistrians in separatist regime leadership, which is simply not true. If you don't trust EU list, what about official biographies of the members of the parlament? I didn't check them all, only first 10 as shown in our refference (probably they showed first the most important people), and only 2 were born in Transnistria. 20%. This is what an official separatist source is saying. Don't hide the truth - Transnistrian separatism is not a movement of native born transnistrians, but mostly of newcomers in Transnistria.--MariusM 19:50, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

That is a weird definition of "truth", and the numbers and the facts do not correspond with this version of reality. Let me put it this way, in terms that everyone can understand:

Political leadership can be defined as either 1. Government ministries, 2. Mayors of the towns and cities, or 3. Members of Parliament. This is not my own definition, as you claim. It is an objective, valid definition which for some reason is not applied in the EU list.

The majority of government ministries are headed by ministers from Transnistria.

The majority of the mayors of the towns and cities are from Transnistria.

The majority of the members of parliament are from Transnistria.

Just do your research and stop all of the edit reverting until you have the right facts. The EU list has a 59% error rate, but I will be glad to help you find better sources and get to the bottom of this. - Mauco 20:07, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

To get even more to the bottom of this, I can help by actually finding the right percentages. In all three of these cases, they constitute a majority (in other words, more than 50%). However, in order to give a precise figure, I need to know what our threshold should be for defining "newcomers in Transnistria" because among the MP's there are several borderline cases. For instance, we have a few who were born elsewhere (like Germany or Russia) and then came to Transnistria when they were still kids. A normal person would probably not claim that they are "newcomers" or that they were imported by Russia in order to quell the popular will and subjugate the poor native Transnistrians. In fact, someone who came as a minor and has lived most of his lived in Transnistria would qualify as a Transnistrian, and would certainly not be consider a "newcomer to Transnistria" by any reasonable set of standards. - Mauco 20:26, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Which way you go you are wrong
EU list or list from vspmr.org (official Transnistrian site which you used)
Both prove that majority of government are not native.
EvilAlex 20:36, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

In our article we use the wordings: "Most of the members of parliament also are not native-born Transnistrians". Native-born is quite clear, and is more easy to check, as in biographies and documents is more often mentioned the place of birth. Instead of pretending that EU list has 59% errors, you should show the errors (with refferences). Until now, you claimed 1 error out of 17 cases (Shevchuk)--MariusM 20:47, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

There are errors in 10 out of 17 cases, and that is putting it mildly. The errors are gross. In some cases (and Shevchuk is not the only one of these), they are compound errors. All in all, to anyone who seriously knows anything about this subject, the whole list is laughable.
1. SMIRNOV, Igor. Born in Russia.
2. SMIRNOV, Vladimir. His son. Not a political leader. Born in Ukraine.
3. SMIRNOV, Oleg. Another son. Head of a bank. Not a political leader. NOT "Adviser to the State Customs Committee", as the list claims. Born in Ukraine.
4. LEONTIYEV, Serghey Fedorovich. Born in Ukraine.
5. MARAKUTSA, Grigory. Born in Transnistria.
6. KAMINSKY, Anatoly. Ukrainian, born in Russia. Moved to Transnistria when he was 7 years old. NOT "Vice-Chairman of the Supreme Soviet", as the list claims.
7. SHEVCHUK, Yevgeny. Born in Transnistria (in 1968). NOT born in 1946. NOT born in Russia, as the list claims.
8. LITSKAI, Valery. Born in Russia.
9. KHAZHEYEV, Stanislav. NOT his correct name, as the list claims. (It is Hazheev). Born in Russia.
10. ANTYUFEYEV, Vladimir. Born in Russia.
11. KOROLYOV, Alexandr. Born in Poland. NOT born in Russia, as the list claims (and his name is Korolev)
12. BALALA, Viktor. NOT part of the leadership, as the list claims. Was fired last year (for corruption), and left Transnistria. Not a political leader.
13. AKULOV, Boris. NOT the "Representative of Transnistria in Ukraine", as the list claims. (That post is held by Vladimir Bodnar, born in Transnistria). Not a political leader either.
14. ZAKHAROV, Viktor. Born in Transnistria. However, the list is wrong. He is NOT the "Prosecutor of Transnistria", as the list claims. That job is held now by Anatoliy Guretskiy (also born in Transnistria). Not a political leader.
15. LIPOVTSEV, Alexey. Born in Tighina (Transnistria). However, NOT "Deputy Chairman of State Customs Service", as the list claims. Not a political leader.
16. GUDYMO, Oleg. Born in Kazakhstan.
17. KOSOVSKY, Eduard. Not a political leader. Born in Moldova.
For any kind of research, it is useless. The definition of political leadership should not be what the EU says (and especially not the sloppy way they picked these names), but should be objective criteria: The cabinet (president and government ministers), the mayors, and the members of parliament. If you do that, you will see that the majority are NOT newcomers to Transnistria and the majority are native-born Transnistrians. That holds true even if you want to exclude those who arrived as babies, when they were just a few months old or two years old. Hardly newcomers, but if you want to make a point, then go ahead and twist it. It still won't stand. - Mauco 20:57, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Regarding their birth place, you claim that from this list issued by EU with 17 names, there are 4 born in Transnistria, not 2 as EU list claimed. You didn't give any refference. Anyway, is not important, the fact remain: the majority are NOT native born Transnistrians. EU list was issued some time ago, meantime some persons from the list changed their job, but this doesn't mean a mistake in EU list. Some difference in names are not mistakes, but spelling in Ukrainian/Russian versions and transliterations in Latin script (Korolyov/Korolev; Khazeyev/Hazeev).--MariusM 21:22, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Sorry. I specifically said that the EU list is not representative of the leadership of Transnistria. I repeated that. You can not use it. 7 of them are not political leaders. Of those who are (the other 10), most have errors. Apart from the errors, it does NOT include a representative section of the leadership. It does not include all the government ministers, all the mayors or all the MPs. If you can see past this faulty list, you must look at full picture of the leadership. When you do that, you will discover that the majority of the leadership does not consist of newcomers to Transnistria or "foreigners" in any sort of way. The native-born Transnistrians represent the majority of the leadership of Transnistria. - Mauco 21:26, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

As I know, EU included in the list persons who were involved in Human Rights abuses. Probabily not all MPs and government ministers made Human rights abuses. I don't agree that a mayor in a village is part of Transnistrian leadership. You want to put a mayor from a village at the same level with Smirnov in order to achieve a majority of native born transnistrians?--MariusM 22:12, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

No EU denied entry to TOP GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS EvilAlex 22:26, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for confirming that the EU list is not representative of the leadership, and that it was compiled selectively (who defines "human rights abuses" anyway, and was there ever any proof against all of these 17 unlucky individuals?) Now, if we can discuss the leadership, it is a fact that leadership consists of the president and his cabinet, and all the MPs, and the mayors. Not village mayors. There are seven major towns and cities, and while we can both agree that these seven mayors do not rank at the same level as Mr Smirnov, they are certainly part of the political leadership nevertheless. In fact, they have more claim to leadership status than some of the names on the useless EU list (where 7 out of 10 are not political leaders). - Mauco 22:18, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

EU list
vspmr.org list
EU have listed top Transnistrian offisials, that is why there is only 17, we could say that great majority of top Transnistrian officials are not native born
Vladimir Smirnov is the president of the customs, having the rank of a minister.
Oleg Smirnov is his councillor.[40]

Not true. The same "source" also says: "Besides being a councilor, Oleg Smirnov is also the manager of the most important company in the country, Sheriff." Absolutely false, and even a casual observer of Transnistria knows that. - Mauco 22:50, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

We had some talks on Sheriff (company) talk page, and you didn't proved that Smirnov is not owning Sheriff.--MariusM 23:05, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

In contradiction to your clime that they are ” Not a political leader”
Also according to EU list
Vladimir SMIRNOV - Chairman of the State Customs Committee
Oleg SMIRNOV - Adviser to the State Customs Committee
I think that EU knew better who is in charge of the country.

I thought so, too. Until I saw the sloppy, useless list. I have no idea who made it, but it is utterly wrong. - Mauco 22:50, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

You are utterly wrong, Mauco.--MariusM 23:05, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Also there is not a single reference to back you clime.
Credibility of EU is much bigger than credibility of Mauco.
EvilAlex 22:20, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Mauco, you are the only one who consider EU list useless.--MariusM 22:26, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

It isn't really a personal opinion. Just check the facts. 2 + 2 can never equal 5. - Mauco 22:50, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

It would be silly if EU decided to block entry to a brigadier of local КОЛХОЗ, they are top government OFFICIALS EvilAlex 22:31, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Evading the argument. I have demonstrated the errors of the EU list, and it is 59% faulty. Besides, leadership is not 17 people handpicked by some weird criteria which no one is aware of (MariusM says it is for human rights violations, who knows). They leave out most of the government cabinet, most of the MPs of parliament, and all of the top mayors. If we talk about political leadership, they must be included. Period. - Mauco 22:44, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

You didn't demonstrate anything as you didn't provide any refferences. In fact, you demonstrate only your bad faith labeling as "mistakes in EU list" facts like people changing their job after EU list was released or different transliteration of cyrillic script in latin script or differences between Russian and Ukrainian version of some names.--MariusM 23:05, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

You have proven nothing we have EU source, Moldova azi against words of Mauco. I don’t believe you. No references - no prove, just words. EvilAlex 23:09, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

If you want to hang yourself with a faulty EU source, go ahead. I listed the errors, and if you have time to do the required reference running, you will see that I am right (you may ignore the names. What matters are where people are born and what jobs they do). Besides, who on earth would think that a limited list of 17 (only 10 of whom are political leaders) would ever constitute the leadership of Transnistria. That ignores most of the cabinet, all of the mayors, and the vast majority of the MPs and it is wrong beyond words. - Mauco 23:15, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

And I listed errors of your errors :)
Do the EU have to include brigadiers from local kolhoz to? Or maybe just top corrupt elite? EvilAlex 23:22, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

How so? By claiming Oleg Smirnov to be a councillor, from a "source" which in the next sentence calls him a manager of Sheriff? That is not a refutation. If you really know so little about the subject, I don't know what you are doing on this page. - Mauco 23:39, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Both of you: The list is irrevelant if it is not a complete list of the leadership. It seems that you are fighting over who represents the leadership. Well, the president and his cabinet certainly should be counted .... and the parliament. Maybe not the mayors, however. They are local leaders ... but not national. - Pernambuco 23:28, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Sure, there are different ways to count the leadership. Either way we do it, the EU list of merely 17 (only 10 of which are political leaders) is not the way to do it. The list is hopelessly wrong. - Mauco 23:39, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

If its wrong change it to what is accurate or what we can agree is accurate. If no agreement is reached lets chat about how we can get around it MarkStreet Oct 23rd 2006

Fallacies?

The majority of the members of parliament are from Transnistria. is what Mauco wrote. This is plain fallacy. From official site with biographies of PMR deputies we can find (I copied first part of their biography, is in Russian - cyrillic, I added with Latin script the country where they were born)--MariusM 00:41, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

• АНТЮФЕЕВА Галина Михайловна Родилась 6 января 1960 года в г.Белогорске Амурской области Российской Федерации Russia
• БАБЕНКО Сергей Иванович Родился 18 мая 1963 года в г. Пугачев Саратовской области Russia
• БАЕВ Олег Маркович Родился 23 ноября 1948 года в пгт. Велико-Михайловка Велико-Михайловского района Одесской области в крестьянской семье. Ukraine
• БЕЛИТЧЕНКО Анатолий Константинович Родился 30 января 1938 года в рабочем поселке Елань, Еланского района, Волгоградской области в семье рабочих. Русский. Образование высшее. Russia
• БОДНАР Владимир Лукич Родился 26 декабря 1942 года в поселке Старая Ушица, Каменец-Подольского района, Хмельницкой области.Гражданин Приднестровской Молдавской Республики и Украины. Ukraine
• БУРЛА Михаил Порфирович Родился 22 ноября 1957 г. в с. Междуречье Сторожинецкого района Черновицкой области Украинской ССР. Ukraine
• ВАСИЛЬЕВ Илья Иванович Родился 8 августа 1957 года в с. Спея Григориопольского района МССР. Transnistria
• ГЕРВАЗЮК Юрий Витальевич Родился в 1959 году.
• ГУДЫМО Олег Андреевич Родился 11 сентября 1944 года в г. Алма-Ата в семье военнослужащего. Русский. Kazahstan
• ГУЗУН Виктор Михайлович родился 22 августа 1979 года в Днестровске. Transnistria
• ГУКАЛЕНКО Ольга Владимировна родилась 9 апреля 1956 года в с. Марьевка Одесской области в семье учителей Ukraine
• ДИРУН Анатолий Викторович Родился в 1977 году в селе Незавертайловка, в семье служащих. Transnistria
• ДЬЯЧЕНКО Григорий Иванович Родился 26 мая 1965 года в селе Андреяшевка Балтского района Одесской области в семье сельского ветеринарного врача Ukraine
• ЕВСТРАТИЙ Григорий Николаевич Родился 27 августа 1947 года в селе Хрустовая Каменского района в семье колхозников Transnistria
• КАЗМАЛЫ Илья Михайлович Родился 7 апреля 1962 года в селе Авдарма Комратского района МССР. Образование высшее. Национальность – гагауз. Basarabia
• КАМИНСКИЙ Анатолий Владимирович Родился 15 марта 1950 года в г. Балей Читинской области РФ, образование высшее. Украинец. Russia
• КОВАЛЬ Ефимий Михайлович Родился в с. Василиуцы, Рышканского района МССР в семье крестьян. Basarabia
• КУЗЬМЕНКО Юрий Иванович Родился 15 мая 1970 года.
• ЛЕОНТЬЕВ Олег Сергеевич Родился 15 октября 1967 года в семье учителей. В 1974 году пошел в первый класс Кармановской средней школы Григориопольского района.
• МАРАКУЦА Григорий Степанович Родился 15 октября 1942 года в с. Тея Григориопольского района. Transnistria
• МОРАРУ Василий Николаевич Родился 9 мая 1957 года, в с. Карагаш Слободзейского района МССР. Национальность – молдаванин. Transnistria
• ОНУФРИЕНКО Антон Николаевич Родился 8 мая 1978 году в г. Свердловск, РСФСР Russia
• ОРДИН Вилор Николаевич Родился 12 декабря 1939 года в селе Тимковичи Копыльского района Минской области Belarus
• ПАСАТ Петр Семенович Родился 31.03.65 г. в г. Дубоссары МССР, молдаванин. Transnistria
• ПАСЮТИН Владимир Евгеньевич Родился в 03.09.1957 г. в поселке Левиха Кировоградского района Свердловской области в семье рабочих. Русский. Ukraine
• ПОТОЛЯ Анатолий Михайлович Родился 18 февраля 1956 году в с. Кицканы, Слободзейского района, МССР. По национальности - молдаванин. Transnistria
• РЫБЯК Любомир Мирославович Родился 24 мая 1944 года в городе Борислав (Украина) в семье служащих. По национальности – украинец. Ukraine
• САПРЫГИН Александр Николаевич Родился 1 ноября 1948 года в г. Новокузнецке Кемеровской области. Russia or Ukraine (don’t know where Novokuznetsk is)
• СИПЧЕНКО Андрей Викторович Родился 16 ноября 1958 года в г. Новокузнецк Кемеровской области. Russia or Ukraine (don’t know where Novokuznetsk is)
• СМИРНОВ Олег Игоревич Родился 8 августа 1967 года в г. Новая Каховка, Херсонской области, Украина, в семье служащих. Русский. Ukraine
• СПОРИШ Юрий Григорьевич Родился 2 января 1962 года в городе Бендеры Transnistria
• СТЕПАНОВ Петр П. Родился 2 января 1959 года в деревне Санкино, Красночетайского района, Чувашской АССР, по национальности чуваш. Russia
• ТОБУХ Вячеслав Васильевич Родился 19 августа 1974 года в с. Рашков Каменского района в семье служащих. Украинец. Transnistria
• ТОМАЙЛЫ Петр Иванович Родился 21 октября 1965 года в селе Чок-Майдан Комратского района. По национальности гагауз. Образование высшее. Basarabia
• ТРЕСКОВА Клавдия Михайловна Родилась 28 февраля 1960 года в селе Белочи Рыбницкого района МССР. Transnistria
• ТУЛГАРА Валериан Андреевич Родился 27 ноября 1956 года. Выходец из крестьянской семьи. Родом из Теленешского района, село Старые Саратены. Молдаванин. Basarabia
• ТЮРЯЕВА Илона Петровна Родилась 15 августа 1968 года, в г. Тирасполь, в семье потомственных врачей и военных моряков. Transnistria
• УСАНОВ Николай Васильевич Родился 6 марта 1951 года в с. Никольское Володарского района Кокчетовской области Казахской ССР. По национальности русский Kazakhstan
• ХОХЛОВ Алексей Валентинович Родился в 1977 году в г. Лейпциг, ГДР, в семье военнослужащего. Germany
• ЧЕБАН Сергей Федорович Родился 4 января 1969г. в с. Коротное Слободзейского района МССР, в семье крестьян. Transnistria
• ЧЕРВОНООКИЙ Валерий Владимирович Родился 4 августа 1964 года в г. Бендеры, в семье служащих. Украинец. Transnistria
• ШЕВЧУК Евгений Васильевич Родился 19 июня 1968 (г.Рыбница МССР). Transnistria
• ЮДИН Андрей Васильевич Родился 1 сентября 1957 года в г.Москве в семье военнослужащего. Русский. Образование высшее. Transnistria

Only 16 out of 43 members of Transnistrian parliament were born in Transnistria. In 2 cases the place of birth is not clearly mentioned, in one of this cases is mentioned that he went to school in Transnistria. I may made some mistakes with my poor understanding of Russian, please Russian speakers correct me if I'm wrong and let's do a statistic of those 43 members of parliament, based on the country they were born.--MariusM 00:52, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Oleg Smirnov (president son) is not a political leader. Other falacy. He is member of the parliament.--MariusM 00:41, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Not according to your beloved EU list. But it is nice to see that you recognize that your EU list is wrong. - Mauco 00:46, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

An other fallacy. I didn't recognized EU list is wrong. He became member of parliament after EU list was released.--MariusM 00:52, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Did he, really? Let us see. The election was in 2005. The list was released in 2006. Again: The EU list is useless. If you use it as a reference for edits in mainspace, I am sure that not only myself but others will quickly revert you. Please find better sources. - Mauco 00:55, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Just for the record (since I know that MariusM has some shortcomings when it comes to Russian), the following MPs are born in Transnistria:
CHEBAN Sergey, CHERVONOOKIY Valerie, SHEVCHUK Yevgeny, TYURYAEVA Ilona, TULGARA Valerianus NOT TRUE, TRESKOVA Klavdiy, POTOLYA Anatoliy, SPORISH Yuri, TOBUKH Vyacheslav, KUZMENKO Yuri PLACE OF BIRTH NOT MENTIONED (Rybnitsa, Transnistria), LEONTYEV Oleg PLACE OF BIRTH NOT MENTIONED (Grigoriopol, Transnistria), MARAKUTSA Grigoriy, MORARU Vasiliy, PASAT Peter, BODNAR Vladimir NOT TRUE (well - - actually, to be specific: года в поселке Старая Ушица, Каменец-Подольского района, Хмельницкой области.Гражданин Приднестровской Молдавской Республики и Украины), VASILYEV Ilya, GERVAZYUK Yuri PLACE OF BIRTH NOT MENTIONED (just Google him, he is the head of one of the top 10 largest companies and very well known), DIRUN Anatoliy, EVSTRAT Grigoriy, KOVAL Efimiy NOT TRUE(Родился в с. Василиуцы, Рышканского района)

I made some correction on your list:

• Tulgara Valerian, born in Bassarabia (Teleneşti disctrict)
• Kuzmenko Yuri, place of birth not mentioned
• Leontyev Oleg, place of birth not mentioned (is mentioned that he went to school in Transnistria)
• Gervazyuk Yuri, place of birth not mentioned
• Koval Efimyi, born in Basarabia (Rîşcani district)
• Bodnar Vladymir, born in Ukraine (Kameneţ-Podolskogo district)--MariusM 01:55, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

These are also certainly NOT newcomers -
ONUFRIYENKO Anton Nikolayevich: Born in Sverdlovsk, came to Transnistria when he was not even a year old.
CRESTS Aleksey valentinovich: Born in Leipzig, came to Transnistria when he was 2 years old.
KAMINSKY, Anatoly: Born in Ukraine, came to Transnistria when he was just 7 years old.
BEYS Oleg Markovich: Born in Odessa, came to Transnistria as a teenager.
BABENKO Sergey Ivanovich: Born in Saratov, came to Transnistria as a teenager.
GUZUN Victor Mikhaylovich: Born in Dnestrovske, came to Transnistria as a teenager
All of these were minors. This is hardly a "Russian-installed dictatorship" or the case of a leadership which is stage managed from the outside. They have lived in Transnistria most of their lives, for God's sake.

We are talking about native or not in Transnistria. A native is a person who was born in that region. You didn't provide refferences for your claim about the date those persons came in Transnistria, anyway.--MariusM 01:55, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

We can also argue a borderline case -
DYACHENKO Grigoriy Ivanovich: Born in Odessa, came to Transnistria when he was 25 years old. Whether or not he should be included, that gives you a total of either 27 or 28 locals, which is a majority (out of 43). I certainly fail to see what the problem is, but I wouldn't be surprised to see you or your Evil friend start to split hairs now... - Mauco 01:01, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

We should also add the ones who were born in Moldova proper. After all, the viewpoint of MariusM and EvilAlex is that Transnistria is part of Moldova, right? And that, too, is what the article itself says. When we add these, the majority becomes even bigger. - Mauco 01:22, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Your view is that Transnistria don't belong to Moldova, then why you want to add those persons in the "Natives" list? Anyway, you added them, falsifying your first list of transnistrian-born MP.--MariusM 01:55, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

How so? I most certainly did not. But I would certainly like to. There are also a couple of MPs from Komrat who object to being called Moldovan, but I did not count them at all. The point is that even without them, there is a majority, and if we add them, the majority just becomes bigger. Oh, and please read WP:CIVIL - Mauco 01:59, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

You added basarabians Tulgara and Koval at Transnistrian-born MP. Is difficult to assume good faith with a person like you.--MariusM 02:06, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

By your standards, Vladimir Voronin has no right to be president of Moldova. He was born in Transnistria. However, I suggest that since the list has some omissions, we contact the VS PMR press service and ask them to update us. There are also differences of interpretation in some cases, such as Bodnar. - Mauco 02:14, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Straw man argument. Voronin was born in Transnistria, contrary to the majority of actual Transnistrian leadershipp. He is an example of Transnistrians not accepting the separatist regime of Tiraspol. You want to ask VS PMR press service to remove the information that they already have on their site, in order to hide the fact that PMR leadership is composed by non-natives?--MariusM 02:35, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

No, I want to ask them to add information to the biographies in some of the cases where they are not complete. The issue of Voronin is valid, too. He was born someone else than where he is now president. If we accept that this is OK, then at the very minimum, we must count the ones from Komrat, too, alongside all the ones who arrived when they were minors and grew up in Transnistria. Some of them were babies when they came, you know. They can hardly be considered outsiders or newcomers by any stretch of the definition. - Mauco 02:39, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

I agree with Mauco, My brother was born in Malta but left there when he was 2 years old and never ever returned. My parents were only there three years. Is he Matease?. He is not at all. If you were born in a stable would you be a horse ? Anyhow, none of the Moldovan government were born in Moldova ,not a single minister, but does that matter ? Not to me they are elected by the people there. .MarkStreet Oct 23rd.

Touche: "If you were born in a stable, would you be a horse?" - Mauco 16:15, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Of course you agree with Mauco, POV of both of you is well known here. Regarding "none of the Moldovan government were born in Moldova ,not a single minister" this is an other plain falacy of "Tiraspol Times".--MariusM 11:49, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Be kindly corrected my friend. Moldova didn't exist as a republic when they were born. That happened in the early 1990s. . If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask, MarkStreet Oct 23rd 2006

I believe even Mauco will be ashamed for such an argument. Moldova existed as a republic before, it was called "Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic". According Soviet Constitution, it had the right to declare independence. It used its right in 1991 and then it slighty changed its name.--MariusM 13:15, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

You concede the point debated graciously, good for you Marius. MarkStreet Oct 23rd

Actually, the creation of the Republic of Moldova in 1991 was not a mere "name change", as MariusM wants to have it. It was the creation of a state under international law. If he doesn't know this basic fact about Moldova then I have no idea what he is doing on this page, but we can of course help him learn more, and I will be pleased to assist in his learning process. Here is a link which is good to start with: Moldova's declaration of independence as well as books by historians on this matter, which I can recommend. - Mauco 16:14, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

We are getting away from the point, we all make errors and Marius accepted it in his own way. Lets get on with it MarkStreet Oct 23rd 2006

Native leadership

With the exception of Smirnov, we can not ignore that much of the Transnistrian leadership has been composed of Transnistrians (not newcomers) right from the start. I quote from a couple of well-esteemed Western sources -

1. Stefan Troebst: "We Are Transnistrians! Post-Soviet Identity Management in the Dniester Valley": "Ethnic Moldovans from the left bank figure prominently among today’s TMR leadership, such as the former chairman of the Union of Moldovans of Transnistria Vasilii N. Jakovlev; the speaker of the TMR Supreme Soviet, Grigorii S. Maracuta; or TMR Vice-President, Aleksandr A. Karaman."

2. John O’Loughlin: "National Construction, Territorial Separatism and Post-Soviet Geopolitics": "The president, Smirnov, is Russian; the president of the Supreme Soviet, Marakutsa, vice-president Karaman, and the president of the Defense Council, General Kitsak are Moldovans, as are the majority of the other leaders of the TMR and the personnel of the armed forces"

What was that? Oh, just that little word "majority". - Mauco 00:46, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Mauco, stop trolling. You want to hide relevant info in a flood of trolling. We have official biographies of the members of PMR parliament, we don't need other second or third-hand sources.--MariusM 00:54, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

You are missing my point, and please be civil. I am not a troll. You could start by moderating your tone of voice, please. Now, having said, my point is that right from the start the leadership has been predominantly native. In other words, the references are for a period prior to the current 2005-elected parliament. This is important to understand for historical reasons, in order to put the article in context and understand, clearly, that the charges of a Russian-installed leadership which was imposed from the outside are not based in fact but just part of a larger information war aimed at discrediting Transnistria's own efforts at leadership. I am also amazed that you are so glib and quick to discard these two very highly cited and respected sources, yet at the same time you cling to the useless EU list which is full of errors. - Mauco 00:58, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Contrary. Right from the start the leadership was non-native. Don't make ethnic cleansing in the history of Transnistrian leadership, in order to push your POV that Moldovans were well represented in the leadership.--MariusM 02:00, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Instead of useless accusations of ethnic cleansing, why not just concentrate on the facts: Would you care to explain what, is anything, is factually incorrect in the two statements which I have quoted from highly esteemed scholars in the matter? They know their area of research. I may add that others (like Charles King, in his book The Moldovans, confirm the same thing. These two are merely examples). - Mauco 02:17, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

We have the official list of the 43 members of Transnistrian parlament. I don't have time to check what those scholars wrote, anyhow the list is more relevant.--MariusM 02:37, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Both are relevant. This is why we have two threads. One deals with the historical record, from 2 September 1990 and all throughout the nineties. That is listed here, and it shows clearly that the majority of the leadership was composed by locals and by ethnic Moldovans. The other, which is a separate thread, deals with the composition of the current parliament. There should also be a review and analysis of the cabinet ministers, since they - too - are an important part of the top political leadership. All of these, both historical and current, will prove that the EU list is completely and utterly useless as an indicator of anything representative. - Mauco 02:41, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

It is quite amazing why anyone thinks this issue is of such importance when other issues mentioned below need sorting first. Does it really matter where the leadership is born. Histroy is full of foriegn born leaders Hitler being one, even Tony Blairs Mother is Irish, Napolean's wife Austrian ( one of ). MarkStreet Oct 23 3006

Mauco and MarkStreet, you are trolling here. Indeed. From the official biographies it is obvious that most of the Transnistrian leadership comes from elsewhere. Dpotop 10:26, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Dpotop, there is no need to accuse anything of trolling. If that was the case, however, the best remedy for a troll is to not bait him. I will be glad to answer MarkStreet. I do not always agree with him, but he does raise a valid argument and it is PARTICULARLY relevant in relation to Transnistria where the issue of birthplace is also politically charged. - Mauco 16:37, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Not so, we can only deal with facts and the fact is it did not exist when they were born. It a silly issue for us to be even debating MarkStreet Oct 23rd

I would like to debate it, but only to refute that it is a concern. Remember, these people were democratically elected. Maybe not in a perfect democracy, granted. But enough to ensure that the opposition is now solidly in control of parliament (something which would not have happened if there was no democracy).

Now, knowing that they were elected - and not placed there by fiat - what we must take away, as the lesson, is that the voters trusted them and liked them enough to want to choose them as their representatives REGARDLESS OF BIRTHPLACE.

The same thing happened in California, with the current governor. What is the lesson? That the will of the voters is sovereign, and that it can not be overruled or disqualified by where someone was born. I was also born in a country different from the one which I know live in. How does that make me less of a patriot? - Mauco 16:37, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Not a region of Moldova

The opening lines on the main page state Transnistria is a region of Moldova'.

This is incorrect and needs to be changed as soon as possible with agreement of all.

As a nuetral foreign reporter with expertise in this area I suggest the following .

Transnistria is an internationally unrecognised independent state created in 1990 before the formation of Moldova, however its sovereignty is disputed by the Republic of Moldova and currently peacekeeping forces line the border that divides the Transnistria and Moldova'.

This should be inserted and locked.

Also it is not a 'separist' government . They are seperate not serparist. They never serparated from anyone given their country existed before Moldova existed. This word should be changed.

Lets see how nuetral Mauco is now ?

MarkStreet oct 23 2006

Are you baiting me? First of all, I wouldn't call you neutral, but that is OK. We welcome all sides of the argument. Bogdan said something very wise a while back. He said, and I paraphrase him, that anyone who knows enough about this particular issue and has enough knowledge to be an expert or at least contribute with valuable edits has some prior knowledge and has inevitably formed an opinion of the issue, one way or the other. There is no way around that, and no need to get upset or even worried about that. Wikipedia has policies in place to deal with points of views, and steer the articles towards neutrality. - Mauco 16:37, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

In answer to your question, the issue of "region" or "part of" is a complex. Moldova does not agree with your definition, for instance. But the intro section is NOT the place to deal with that. The best thing we can do is to simply remove loaded words from the initial sentence, and then cover the question (all sides) in detail in a separate section elsewhere. - Mauco 16:37, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

They unilaterally separated themslves from the MSSR, an action disapproved be the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, AFAIK. This makes them separatists alright. Of course, as Mauco said, the situation is rather complicated, but technically, it's true. --Illythr 17:39, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, "separatist" does not really need to be a slur. We should avoid usage of words like "rebels", but I don't think that separatists is a word which is too far from the truth. - Mauco 18:44, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Okay i was trying to get your attention Mauco, Firstly I am neutral, You are not in my view , that's okay because I believe you try to be. Moldova has an aspiration to integrate TD and we should hold their right to say so. We should not just remove loaded words but also insert factual words. The 'separatists' is a slur to imply the separated from Moldova. That is why I object to it and insist it be removed. Given the TD declared its independence the previous year to MD declaring its. It is factually wrong and should be removed now please If we use your agrument then the Moldova page should also say its a seperatist state. Clearly this is not the case for either TD or MD. MarkStreet Oct 23rd 2006

As a Soviet Socialist Republic MSSR had a constitutional right to declare independence from USSR. Transnistria had no such right. --Illythr 18:26, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes and no. Technically speaking: Neither had that right. The right existed (for MSSR but not for PMR) but it was conditional on a number of factors, including on USSR approval. It was one of those sneaky Communist laws that, on the surface, everything looked good but in reality, no one could do anything without the approval of the higher-ups. In the end, since the USSR fell apart, everyone just ignored the law. In doing so, Republic of Moldova was not "more legal" or "less legal" than PMR in declaring independence. They were BOTH in breach. - Mauco 18:42, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Illythr, the law in question can be seen here: "Concerning the procedure of secession of a Soviet Republic from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" and as you can see, the title specifically refers to a Soviet Republic (which MSSR was, but which the Transnistrian part of MSSR was not). To apply it to PMR would require a leap of faith, but in retrospect, they can be excused and their actions can possibly be justified or least somewhat understood because Republic of Moldova also did not follow this law. - Mauco 18:48, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Weapons Trade

The paragrapgh on the main page regarding Weapons Trade MUST now be removed completely. The EUropean Unions border monitors have today confirmed at an international press conference in Odessa that they have spent one year monitoring the border of Transnistria snd have not found a single occurence of weapons smuggling. The allegations have be firmly investigated and found to be false.

The United Nations observers have added their voice to this and even the Moldovan supporting OSCE always never really fully accepted the claims.

Also the Russian Generals have conformed they have not lost a single bullet from there arms stores there.

The rumours have been proven to be untrue.

Delete now please.

MarkStreet Oct 23 2006

If I delete it, or if you do, I can guarantee you that someone will revert us. The best thing we can do is to discuss the issue here, in Talk. As I have stated, I personally think that a mention should be made of the whole weapons/smuggling thing, but that it should also reflect the facts: That on one side, we have a whole disinformation campaign with wild claims and accusations but not a single piece of proof. And on the other side, we have the European Union, the OSCE, and the United Nations, as well as Western diplomats, making it clear that the claims are bogus and that there is no weapons trade or smuggling. We can also mention the Russian audit ordered directly by Putin, at the request of Voronin (and who else could audit it, since it is THEIR store of weapons and they are the only ones who knew how much they had to begin with) and we can mention the international group of arms inspectors who toured the factories in February. There is no reason to leave out this, if we are trying to present a true picture of the situation. - Mauco 16:37, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

It should be deleted but if its stays , then insert the comments you made above please MarkStreet Oct23rd 2006.

Who Represents Transnistria on these pages ?

I wish to point out that there appears to be not a single pro-transdniestrian advocate on these pages and the TD viewpoint is barely represented. . If there is such a person will they please identify themselves.

I am not , cannot, nor wish to be their advocate, as a westerner nor would they want me to be.

I can say this The main page is completely biased against the TDians.

Also there is hardly any control over the main page and edits. Its an anti TD site laced with propaganda, All the parts about smuggling, Terrorism, Crime. Sheer nonsense!. Mauco has admited it and EU reports UN reports all ignored/

To be frank I'm considering withdrawing from these pages unless there is some progress and real balance.

If the real editors of Wikipedia ever consider establishing a proper page I am happy to try and present TD in a balanced and scientific manner and we can use journalists from other conflict zones accross the globe to assist. Meanwhile the page is really a Moldovan propaganda front. Its a pity because it does little to help illuminate the interesting territory/country that is Transnistria.

MarkStreet Oct 23rd

EvilAlex represent Transnistria. He is the only person, AFAIK, from Wikipedians who were involved in this article, who was born in Transnistria (and his family is still living there). Regarding propaganda of separatist Transnistrian government, this is well represented by you and Mauco.--MariusM 12:32, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Please, be serious. EvilAlex as an advocate for the Transnistrian point of view...? The insistence on "nativeborn" as the ONLY criteria for legitimacy is wrong. - Mauco 16:37, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

God help us !!!!! Evilalex do you hear this,? You the man that voted to eliminate EVERY single TD link have just been proposed as their peoples voice here. Sorry Marius thats not funny. Also as a foreign newspaper reporter paid by a foriegn news org in western europe I hardly represnt the TD Government. As for Mauco, he at least tries to sit on the fence but does nothing to balance things in practice. He is Pro Moldovan too. How are we ever going to advance things and get this important work finished. I just wish it was taken in a serious manner and not game playing. MarkStreet Oct 23 06

In your opinion, the right to represent (a part of) the voice of Transnistrian people is not done by the fact that you were born in that region and your family is living there, but by political convictions. People born outside Transnistria represent Transnistrian people if they support separatist government, but people born in Transnistria have no right their voice to be heard. This is Transnistrian democracy that MarkStreet want to promote. Of course, MarkStreet consider himself entitled to represent the voice of Transnistrian people.--MariusM 12:53, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Actually, in every democracy, those who represent a country do so on the basis of the majority of the will of the voters. In this sense, knowing what we do about the preferences of the people of Transnistria, it would be very accurate to say that the positions of MarkStreet is much, much closer than the positions of EvilAlex. - Mauco 16:37, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks MarkStreet for your clear picture of Transnistrian democracy. There is a pro-separatist side, and there is a "pro-moldovan" side with people like Mauco, which are free to express their opinions. See your talk page, Mauco asked you to write an article [41], write it and then he will asked to include this refference in Wikipedia. So is the world moving: Tiraspol Ties publish articles from Wikipedia source and Wikipedia publish article sourced from Tiraspol Times. Keep up the good job!--MariusM 13:00, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Actually, that was not my motivation (if you read what I wrote). And "Transnistrian democracy" is probably like democracy in most other places of the world: The voters have an opinion. Their leaders should accurately represent that opinion, as the opinion which is shared by the majority. In the case of Transnistria, the majority of the people want an independent country, want closer ties to Russia, and do not want any unification with Moldova. This is what their leaders represent, quite accurately. Those who do not share this view can not be said to adequately represent the Transnistrian side. MarkStreet is right that there is no Transnistrian representative here, and we must all (myself included) try to make up for that shortfall by attempting to present a fair and balanced portrayal of reality in the article itself. - Mauco 16:37, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

I will quote Ukrainian foreign affaires ministry, recently (after transnistrian referendum, we discussed in that article): "The conditions in Transnistria don't allow the free expression of the will of the people". Is not an isolate opinion, in fact is the mainstream opinion of the international comunity--MariusM 20:48, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Indeed, and we can discuss democracy if you want, BUT the article already says that "There is disagreement as to whether elections in Transnistria are free and fair" and NO ONE is proposing the deletion of that sentence. The whole point is that if it was as bad as you say it is (and as Ukraine seems to think) then it is a bit strange that the opposition is in control of parliament. And it is not a toothless opposition either. They are angry and critical. Olvia Press won't report on it, of course. No one else reports on it either. Why do you think VS PMR started its own website three weeks ago? It has a very active press office that would put many other parliaments to shame. And it has a lot of bite. Hopefully one day MarkStreet will pick up on it, so that some of this will filter out into English and the opposition can get their views heard. - Mauco 21:25, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Indeed that is so true, given that Wiki has very little TD input the main article could be worse .I will try and find some Pro Moldovan things that should be inserted or negatives changed. We owe it to ourselves to try and create an invaluable and accurate information source. Without Marius this could not be, Lets keep working things through MarkStreet Oct23rd 2006.

Statistic of Transnistrian MPs

Based on data official data from separatist site, this is the statistic:

• Born in Russia (9): IUDIN Andrei Vasilievici, STEPANOV Petr, SIPCENKO Andrei Victorovici, SAPRÎGHIN Aleksandr Nikolaievici, ONUFRIENKO Anton Nikolaievici, KAMINSKII Anatoli Vladimirovici, BELITCENKO Anatoli Constantinovici, BABENKO Serguey Ivanovici, ANTIUFEEVNA Galina Mihailovna
• Born in Transnistria (12): SHEVCHUK Evgueny Vasilievici, CEBAN Serguey Fedorovici, TIURIAEVA Ilona Petrovna, TRESKOVA Clavdia Mikhailovna, TOBUH Viaceslav Vasilievici, PASAT Petr Semenovici, MORARU Vasili Nikolaievici, MARACUTSA Grigory Stepanovici, EVSTRATII Grigoryi Nikolaievici, DIRUN Anatoli Viktorovici, GUZUN Viktor Mihailovici (? – Mauco didn’t mentioned him as transnistrian), VASILIEV Ilia Ivanovici
• Born in basarabian part of Transnistria (3): CERNOVOOKYI Valeri Vladimirovici, SPORIŞ Iury Grigorievici, POTOLEA Anatol Mihailovici,
• Born in Basarabia (part never claimed by Transnistria) (4): TULGARA Valerian Andrievici, TOMAILÎ Petr Ivanovici, KOVAL Efimii Mihailovici, KAZMALÎ Ilia Mihailovici,
• Born in Ukraine (8): SMIRNOV Oleg Igorevici, RÎBEAK Liubomir Miroslavievici, PASIUTIN Vladimir Evguenevici, DIACENKO Grigoryi Ivanovici, GUKALENKO Olga Vladimirovna, BURLA Mihail Porfirovici, BODNAR Vladymyr Lukici, BAEV Oleg Markovici
• Born in Belarus (1): ORDIN Vilor Nikolaievici
• Born in Germany (1): HOHLOV Aleksey Valentinovici
• Born in Kazakhstan (2): USANOV Nikolai Vasilievici, GUDÎMO Oleg Andreevici
• Born place not mentioned (3): LEONTYEV Oleg Sergueyevici, KUZMENKO Yury Ivanovici, GERVAZIUK Yury Vitalievici

As natives, will qualify those born in Transnistria and those born in the part of Basarabia which is controlled by separatist government of Transnistria (Bender - Tighina, Chiţcani). That mean 12 + 3 = 15. 15 out of 43. Even if we add the 3 with birth place not mentioned, we have 18, which is a minority. The majority of transnistrian separatist leaders are not natives in the area. This is a fact. MarkStreet claim that is not important. Maybe he is right, but then why such opposition to include in the article the 100% "truth and accurate" (I'm quoting Tiraspol Times) fact?--MariusM 12:53, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Technically none of them were born in TD given TD did not exist when they were born, so what's your point Marius / MarkStreet Oct 23rd 2006

Don't be silly. I am talking about the actual teritorry controlled by Transnistrian government.--MariusM 13:04, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Not being silly, it's a fact and we only deal with facts. Regardless I think its pointless pointing out the place of birth of any of these people. unless you are trying to present a case that claims they don't cate about TD because they were born in a region outside it. Surely thats a matter for the electorate and as long as they are elected who cares MarkStreet Oct 23

Also its really a minor point but none of the Moldovan ministers were born in Moldova because Moldova MR did not exists and to start getting into minor matters is streching things and is really pointless. I proppose we just ignore the place of births because itsMarkStreet Oct 23 2006

Yes, MariusM is being silly. His whole point with this exercise is to try to imply, through innuendo and only showing part of the truth, that somehow Transnistria is a dictatorship which is ruled by outside forces who were sent by Russia to impose a foreign rule on the poor innocent Moldovan natives. I am exaggerating here, in order to illustrate my point, but this is basically what the argument boils down to.

The problem with this argument is that only 9 of them are Russians. This means that the Transnistrians outnumber the Russians. In fact, huge enormous Russia has only nine, in comparison with 4 (or 7, depending on how you count them) from tiny Moldova.

And what about the slew of MPs who came to Transnistria when they were kids? Some of them still in diapers. They learned to walk and talk in Transnistria. How on earth can then be called "newcomers" or "not native to Transnistria"? It is a contrived argument which picks and chooses only a few of the facts, and persists in spreading half-truths disguised as facts, based on a selective interpretation of the numbers. - Mauco 16:09, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for that, that explains where he is at , lets move on MarkStreet Oct 23rd.

Actually, as someone who was born in a different country, and have kids who were born elsewhere, too, this is a matter which I just happen to know quite a bit about, personally. For instance, I can tell you that citizenship rules in lots of countries have special rules for minors. For instance, even if citizenship is hard to get, then most countries make exceptions for those who arrived before a certain age (usually 18 or 21). If they came as kids, they are considered "natives" even if they were not born there. This means that they can claim the citizenship and passport just by requesting it - which is often as simple as just filling out a form. In stark contrast to others, who must live there for a number of years, then pass a language test, or meet a points system, and so on, depending on the nation. What I am getting at is this: The rules differ, and those who arrive as kids are treated as natives, regardless of where they are born. Why should we apply a stricter standard to Transnistria than we do to the rest of the world? At the very minimum, we must use the SAME set of values and the same rule-set. Which means that we must add 5 more MPs to the list of Transnistrians, no if's, and's, or but's. - Mauco 16:44, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Mauco you yourself included this link this [42] with words “Most of the members of parliament are native-born Transnistrians” now when we proved the opposite. You try to remove this link. How interesting! Don’t you see double standards? No more trolling majority of them are not native born that is the fact. Any serious contra argument? No? lets move to the next topic. EvilAlex 17:53, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

And by the rules applied worldwide, this is indeed the case, as I have explained. Or do you want to claim that the majority are newcomers? They have been there since before the PMR or the Republic of Moldova even existed! - Mauco 17:58, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

No Transnistrian representation

It is now clear that there is not a single person represnting TD sentiment editing these pages. The best offer by Marius was Evilalex,

Mauco is not in the least bit acceptable.

My interests is clearly pro-democracy and scientific fact.

I am going to suggest some proper changes to the main page and I am asking for all perspectives to support these and I will take into account everyones positions.

Firstly, do I have agreement that TD is ' an unrecognised country whose sovereignty is under dispute'. Lets change that.

Also to remove that it is part of Moldova because technically it is not even though there is a Moldovan aspriration for this to happen by reintegration

MarkStreet Oct 23rd 2006

Yes, I agree that with the sentence that it is "an unrecognised country whose sovereignty is under dispute." Technically speaking, you could even cut the word "reintegration" because they were only together in MSSR. PMR was created before the Republic of Moldova. If PMR joins Moldova, they will join something new which they have never been part of before. This is integration, not reintegration. - Mauco 16:00, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

I share your concern that there is not a single person from Transnistria here. EvilAlex does not live in Transnistria, and can certainly not be said to be representative of the views of Transnistria. I sometimes try to bring some balance to the table. Unfortunately, this means that I often get stuck with the role of being the devil's advocate. But better that, than to have a Wikipedia which does not adhere to NPOV. - Mauco 16:00, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

O yes you can be seen as representative of Transnistrian people. Tell as how to live, install puppet government. Old Soviet mentality. EvilAlex 21:32, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Okay lets do this by step. If you agree can we alter the opening sentence to make it lets offensive and more accurate.

Secondly, I concede the reintegration point as its not a fact and we must base it around fact. Evil alex is a self confessed edit warrior and if he continues we have options to deal with that then, for now he has his view and as long as he behaves he should be encouraged to debate the facts before us. Mauco you claim to be nuetral, sometimes you are and I accept that, but the main page is badly warped. If you want I can get a panel of journalists for the European Parliment media room to offer a suggested approach of wording and get it endorsed by the independent conflict experts. This is not the ideal approach but it's just about the only way I can see forward.

MarkStreet oct 23

Stop trolling. As long as you two behave in civilize way there will be no wars. Play by rules. EvilAlex 21:29, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

The panel from the European Parliament is not needed, but thanks. Wikipedia has its own procedures for expert review, third opinions, and so on. Hopefully we will not need that either, as long as all of us try to get along and work out everything via the Talk pages, first. - Mauco 16:59, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

About the intro sentence. This is about as neutral as I can conceivably make it:

"Transnistria (officially Pridnestrovie) is an unrecognized country in Southeastern Europe which declared its independence in September 2, 1990. Its de facto independence has not been recognized and the sovereignty of Transnistria is an issue of contention."

More on the status HAS to be dealt with, to show the complexity of the situation and adequately present the various views, but just not in the intro paragraph for reasons of style. - Mauco

No so fast guys. Officially Transnistria recognised as a region of the Republic of Moldova. the same EU list. I see that you two decided to give birth to a new country? Who is going to be mama? EvilAlex 17:34, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Of course. And like I said, the whole issue has to be dealt with in full detail. Just not in the intro paragraph. Besides, no one is giving birth to a new country. Are you familiar, in the least, with the Montevideo Convention? Under international law, Transnistria already exists, regardless of whether you or me, or the EU, recognize it or not. This is why the article must say unrecognized country which is far more precise than any other designation. - Mauco 17:55, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Let’s not confuse simple Wikipedian readers with Montevideo Convention. We here not for invention of new but for citation of already existed. And that is why when everybody call Transnistria a region – we will do the same and will call it region too? When every body will start calling TD a country we will do the same and call it a country or whatever it will be…EvilAlex 18:25, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

I am in agreement that the most accurate intro is 'Transnistria ( Officially Pridnestrovie) is an unrecognised country in South Eastern Europe that declared its independence on September 2nd 1990. Its de-facto independence has not been recognised and the sovereignty of Transnistria is an issue of contention with neighbouring Moldova . We need links to both sides of the dispute so that readers can get the indepth details of this complex issue with maxi sensitivity to both sides. It has already been accepted that Transnistria must be described under international law as a country and also Wikipedia guidlines on countries and regions, but in order to illuminate its disputed sovereignty it is of paramount importance to term it as an 'unrecognised' country. MarkStreet Oct23rd 2006

No, we do not want to call it a "country" but an "unrecognized country". Huge difference. And pretty much everyone DOES already call it an "unrecognized country", too - in fact, this phrasing is certainly more commonly used than "Region of Moldova", as a simple Google Test will show.

Now, can you agree to the fact that the 'whole issue should be explained, including the full relationship to Moldova? If so, common sense dictates that the intro paragraph is NOT the place for that level of detail. I don't say so. Just check out other Wikipedia articles for style guidance. - Mauco 18:30, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Officially TD recognised as a part or the Republic of Moldova. And that is why it is a region. We can’t have a country inside of a country? Or can we? Do you guys know any international laws that support country inside of country? If yes then I would be interested in read it EvilAlex 18:58, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

I have to side with Mauco here, it makes sense to be scientific about it. There is no getting away from the fact it is recognised as a country but not diplomatically recognised while the dispute remains unresolved MarkStreet 23 Oct

>It has already been accepted that Transnistria must be described under international law as a country..
By whom?
And what law are you talking about?
EvilAlex 18:53, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

This one: The Montevideo Convention sets out four criteria for statehood: "The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states." On this measure, Transnistria is already a country, but of course an unrecognized one. Does lack of recognition invalidate the statehood qualification? International law says no, since article 3 explicitly states that "The political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states."

Transnistria is listed on List of countries, and, get this, on the List of sovereign states.

However, in the interest of neutrality, we can agree to not call it a "country" but merely an "unrecognized country". Transnistria is also listed on List of unrecognized countries.

Will anyone here, except for the edit warrior (who says that he loves to get his war on), please explain how in any way, shape or form it would be factually incorrect to call Transnistria an unrecognized country? Comments, please. - Mauco 18:37, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Re: (b) a defined territory ;
There is a territorial dispute! TD climes territory of Moldova. A case of a country inside of a country. There is no laws that will support that!EvilAlex 19:18, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Read history. Read about the creation of states. A territorial dispute does not invalidate Montevideo. In fact, all it requires is that the territory is "defined" and NOT that there is 100% agreement with the rest of the world. This is why article 3 exists, and why a country can be a country under international law even if no one else recognizes it. - Mauco 19:25, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

List of territorial disputes shows hundreds of cases. The presence of a territorial dispute does not invalidate the statehood claims of neither of the sides in the dispute. There is no need to invent novel concepts of international law, EvilAlex, just to make sure that your edit war lasts longer and becomes less boring for you. Facts are facts. - Mauco 19:30, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Unreliable source

The EU list the same EU list here is completely unreliable, and must not be used here if we are to follow WP:RS.

First of all, it includes people who are not part of the political leadership: Vladimir Smirnov, Viktor Balala, Boris Akulov, Viktor Zakharov, Alexey Lipovtsev, Eduard Kosovsky.

Secondly, it is full of other errors as well. Some of the worst errors are - 1. Oleg Smirnov is head of Gazprombank. He is NOT an "Adviser to the State Customs Committee". 2. Anatoly Kamninsky is NOT "Vice-Chairman of the Supreme Soviet". 3. Yevgeny Shevchuk was born in Transnistria in 1968. He was not born in 1946 in Russia, as the list claims. 4. Alexandr Korolev was born in Poland, not in Russia, as the list claims. 5. Viktor Balala is not in power. Was fired last year, and left Transnistria. 6. Boris Akulov is not the "Representative of Transnistria in Ukraine". 7. Viktor Zakharov is not "Prosecutor of Transnistria". 8. Alexey Lipovtsev is not "Deputy Chairman of State Customs Service".

In a list of 17 people, that is 14 errors. Please find a secondary source if you want to keep referring to this list as proof of anything. - Mauco 18:10, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Says you, buddy. I'm not editing here a lot, but all your edits of the last few days look more like Transnistrean propaganda, than decent editing.

First, official EU publications are quite a reliable source, compared to the regular ICDISS rubbish that's cited here.

Second, do you provide any credible source on your affirmations? There are two things to check before qualifying EU publications as "lies":

• Is there any source that is more recent than the EU one and which says otherwise.
• Is there any source on the status quo in february 2006, when the EU document was adopted?

Dpotop 18:39, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't agree with the edit record assesment, but if there are any specific examples which you think are substandard, please link to them and we can have a talk about it (either here or on my talk page). Yes, I am forced to be the "devil's advocate" in Talk, unfortunately, but I am much more careful with my mainspace edits. They are sourced fully and if I have doubts about a source, I give two independent citations. - Mauco 18:59, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Any reference to back your statement, or... should I believe you again? Re: Vladimir Smirnov is the president of the customs, having the rank of a minister.[43] 1 proven error in your listed errors, how can I believe that you didn’t make other errors to prove your position? Re: Wrong birth places; many of them hold 2 or 3 passports if not more. How do you know which passport was submitted for EU entry visa? And how do you know which birth place was written in each? Ref? EvilAlex 18:42, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

The birthdates are taken from official biographies (such as the president-pmr.org website, the Yearbook publications, vspmr.org and so on). As for the 8 errors: Local press. For instance, how do we know that Balala is not in power? Because he was fired, and it was reported all over the place, even in Moldova. How do we know that Boris Aklulov doesn't represent Transnistria in Ukraine? Because Bodnar is on record for that job. How do we know about Viktor Zakharov? Because of press reports and official statements on the Parliament's website appointing a different person to be Prosecutor. It doesn't really take a lot of time, or any specific Sherlock Holmes skills to determine that the EU list is hopeless and full of errors. Shevchuk, the leader of the opposition, is 38 and from Rybnitsa (in Transnistria). He is an ethnic Ukrainian. Not a 60-year old Russian, as the EU says... See source: http://www.vspmr.org/Deputy/?ID=46 - Mauco 18:59, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

He does not look like someone who is 60 years old. If that is wrong, what else is wrong ..... Can I make a suggestion? It is: Remove the disputed statement until it is settled. That will make sure that there is no "Edit War". Just move it here and then agree to add it when you come to an understanding. - Pernambuco 19:46, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Again, bad suggestion, Pernambuco. Even with Mauco's correction, from the 17 persons considered by EU as main people in Transnistrian leadership, only 4 are born in Transnistria (original EU list data show 2). The fact that the majority of separatist Transnistrian leadership is composed by non-natives remained. In the paragraph that we put, we don't specify that are 15 out of 17 or 13 out of 17 are non-natives. We just tell the indeniable fact that the majority of Transnistrian leadership is composed by non-natives.--MariusM 19:57, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Marius, I don't think that the user was commenting on the content dispute itself. He/she was merely saying that while it is being disputed, it should not be part of the main article. How can that be a bad suggestion? Less than 24 hours ago, you yourself said the exact same thing.[44] You said: "keep disputed sentence out, until agreement is reached" - Mauco 21:31, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

And you ignored the principle and reverted me [45]. You like this principle only when it fits your interest.--MariusM 21:52, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Pot calling the kettle black, are we now? - Mauco 22:51, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

OK!Look many in TD have 2 or more Passports :
1. Transnistrian
2. And any other such as Russian, Moldavian, Ukrainian or others, usually for travelling abroad.
Example of confused data:
How can EU source be wrong if EU source references for example to the data from Russian Passport and TD governmental website references to the data from Transnistrian passport?
Is it possible? Yes!
Why? Because TD passport is unrecognized around the word and that is why the government officials uses second passport for abroad travelling.
EvilAlex 20:01, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

It all boils down to how you want to define "political leadership". If you go by the EU list, you would be superficially correct, but no one can seriously claim that the EU list is representative as an indicator of Transnistria's political leadership. Even MariusM said that the inclusion of the names was based on other criteria (non-objective, and not merely political leadership). The normal way to do it would be to include president, cabinet ministers, MPs and leading mayors of the largest cities. Can we at least agree to do that? And then accept, all of us, the conclusion of whatever result that gives us? - Mauco 21:31, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Brigadier from a local Kolkhoz will be local political lieder too, but with what power? Let’s compare his power with the power of Smirnov sons, or with any on the EU list. It would be silly if EU decided to ban entry visa to ALL leaders in TD regardless of the power. The most rational approach is to ban entry visa to a TOP government officials!
We could say that:
According to EU source great majority of TOP government officials are not native born Transnistrians. EvilAlex 22:00, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Don't know why you keep bringing up some weird "Brigadier from a local Kolkhoz" when I specifically mentioned: president, cabinet ministers, MPs and leading mayors of the largest cities. However, you are finally giving a constructive suggestion by providing an alternative phrasing. However, your phrasing could flow better with some wording corrections. For instance: "A list published by the EU indicates that a majority of officials were not born in Transnistria." - Mauco 22:13, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

this one sound much better: A list published by the EU indicates that a majority of government officials were not native – born Transnistrians. EvilAlex 22:32, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Well, it is almost the same thing. I omitted the word "government" because it wasn't included in the EU list and lots of people on the list are not government officials. They use the word "leadership". Perhaps a better phrasing should be:

A list published by the EU indicates that a majority of the leadership were not born in Transnistria. - Mauco 22:51, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Cool! see you tomorrow.. EvilAlex 23:00, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Personally, I am not going to add it. I still think that the EU list is useless. But at least I won't revert whoever decides to add it with the current latest phrasing. What I agree with is that we attribute the statement to the EU, as the above sentence does, and that does not necessary mean that the statement is correct or that we agree with what the EU says. (Their list is still junk, and I have given my reasons for why I think so). - Mauco 23:33, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

In a nutshell: Mauco says that official EU data is unreliable because some "official" Prednistrovian web site gives different data. I'm sorry, but I profoundly distrust all Prednistrovian data, be it official or not. It's coming from some very devious leaders whose recent "free elections" are recognized by nobody. Moreover, this regime has set up an intoxication campaign that almost had us all here. I changed it in text, and I'm going to revert it until Mauco brings some credible sources.

I also presume the vast majority of Wikipedia editors and admins will accept this position: Pridnestrovian data is not trustworthy. Moreover, EU data generally is, so that if you want to contest it, you should come with better sources. Dpotop 06:10, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Read above: We have agreement with EvilAlex already. The text will be: "A list published by the EU indicates that a majority of the leadership were not born in Transnistria", not more, not less. This does not claim that EU is trustworthy (or that PMR data is not), it merely claims that EU says something. Then the readers can decide for themselves whether they want to believe the EU. By the way, your usage of the word "regime" indicates Romanian bias. Please do not introduce loaded words like that into mainspace. - Mauco 08:38, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

This formulation seems O.K. for me, also.--MariusM 14:02, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

First PMR Supreme Soviet

From User:Jamason, a person who was recomended by Mauco, I received the complete list of the members of first PMR Supreme Soviet: N. Shestakov; A. Efanov; V. Sheremetenko; G. Pologov; Iu. Svishchev; I. Mil’man; O. Zapol’skii; V. Kogut; Iu. Levitskii; V. Kharchenko; F. Dobrov; O. Orlov; V. Finagin; V. Diukarev; S. Pokotilo; A. Belitchenko; N. Chegurko; B. Akulov; V. Voevodin; N. Bogdanov; V. Arestov; V. Emelianov; A. Morozov; An. Bol’shakov; V. Volkova; A. Saidakov; S. Moroz; V. Ordin; V. Zagriadskii; A. Manoilov; V. Potashev; Al. Bol’shakov; V. Iakovlev; V. Charyev; V. Ryliakov; P. Zalozhkov; I. Smirnov; A. Donnik; S. Leont’ev; B. Bodnar; I. Tsynnik; V. Peretiatko; V. Kozhukhar’; S. Sokolov; G. Marakutsa; V. Khlystal; G. Evstratii; G. Podgorodetskii; V. Gonchar; M. Malai; Iu. Zatyka; A. Salamandik; V. Baboi; N. Ostapenko; V. Balyka; M. Kirichenko; A. Bulychev; V. Labunskii; V. Karamanutsa; A. Karaman; N. Mitish; V. Efimets; V. Zadir. (Viktor Emel’ianov, Za rodinu i prava cheloveka: desiat’ let bor’by pridnestrovtsev za svobodu pod znamenem OSTK, 1989-1999 gg. (Tiraspol’: Tipar, 1999), 10.

I reproduced this list only because we have an argument on this talk page, User:William Mauco pretended that ethnic Moldovans are well represented in the leadership of PMR (he gave refferences as John O'Loughin etc). While ethnicity is not mentioned, from the names we can have a hint. I guess Moldovans were: V. Iakovlev, V. Kozhuhar, G. Marakutsa, G. Evstratii, M. Malai, Iu. Zatyka, V. Baboi, V. Karamanutsa, A. Karaman, V. Efimets. 10 out of 63. 15.8% while the proportion of Moldovans in Transnistrian teritory (including Tighina) was 38%. Same trend of underrepresentation of ethnic Moldovans can be seen in actual PMR Soviet. Just for clarification - John O'Loughin and others are writing bullshits.--MariusM 09:21, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Please Marius no foul language, it does not become your excellent vocabulary. You make your point well but why is Mauco so determined to mark the ethnic birth places. Does it really matter? MarkStreet 25th Oct

It matter when you make edits like this [46].--MariusM 09:40, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, please, no foul language. MariusM, please read WP:CIVIL. Besides, birth places really don't matter. The governor of California is from Austria. What matters is what the voters decide. Someone who claims to be in favour of democracy must first of all realize that the voters can elect MPs who come from Mars if they want to. The voters will always have the final say, what they decide is what goes. - Mauco 15:48, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

In this section I didn't put the issue of birth place but of ethnicity, as you claimed that Moldovans are well represented in Transnistrian leadership. Governor of California didn't try to separate California from USA. (and in USA, to take this example, voters are not allowed to elect as president somebody who was not born in USA)--MariusM 16:02, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Marius, I really am trying to work with you and Mauco on this . You clearly are putting a lot of effort into it and its important to you. Mauco seems to think its important too. Do you think you two guys can reach agreement ? MarkStreet 25Oct 2006

Nay, you can tell nothing from names. Yakovlev can very well be Jewish (I have a friend with this name). How about Mihail Eminovici? Is he russian? As for the other names you cite, ethnicity can never be discussed based on names. The only info we have is the one they provide on the official page of their "supreme soviet". I did the counting on birth place. Another interesting thing I did not do is to count how many of the Moldovan-born declare themselves Russians or Ukrainians. Some of them do give ethnicity information. Also, we could use passport info: how many have Russian passport. We cannot go beyond this with the information we have. Dpotop 12:02, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm inclined to agree with you, but will wait to see what Marius and Mauco think MarkStreet 25th Oct 2006.

Names are not an 100% accurate indicator of ethnicity, but can be an 80% accurate indicator. I counted 10 moldovans, the real number can be something between 8 and 12. Anyhow, the general picture is what it matters, I believe some don't see the forest because of the trees. The general picture is saying that Moldovans are (and were from the begining of PMR) under-represented in the leadership of PMR. Is important to establish this fact as long as some other editors wanted to include in the article that "Ethnic moldovans are well represented in PMR leadership" [47] and there are some newspapers like "Tiraspol Times" who claims that Moldovans are very happy with PMR [48] [49] (in fact, it reports a true statement of the Union of Moldavians of Pridnestrovie, what I would challenge is the representativeness of this organisation created by PMR regime). Yakovlev, Maracutsa, Karaman are self-declared Moldavians, the other I counted based on their names.--MariusM 13:53, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Almost every name in Transnistria has at least two versions. This is true for people AND place names. The list is really not accurate unless we know if it was written in Russian or in Moldovan, originally. Maybe Jamason can tell us. The same is true for placenames. Except for Tiraspol, all places have different names. If I give you a list of the ten major towns and cities (starting with Tighina/Bendery) in the way that it is most commonly used in Transnistria itself, then you will conclude that Transnistria is heavily Ukrainian and heavily Russian. However, if I give you the same list with the Moldovan names, you will conclude that it is heavily Romanian/Moldovan. It really depends on the origin of the list, so I would caution everyone against drawing any quick conclusions without getting a more complete source. - Mauco 15:48, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

I am also surprised that MariusM presents this list (from Jamason) without including Jamason's very important disclaimer: "Of course, I clearly don't agree with you that large numbers of non-natives would necessarily make the PMR itself illegitimate (not that I necessarily think it is legitimate, either, though)." - Mauco 15:48, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

I presented only the relevant parts of Jamason message. Relevant are facts, not POV. I informed him about our discussion, if he want to join he can.--MariusM 16:02, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

For the record, 'smirnov and co', as you call them are in the opposition in parliment for nearly a year there has been a democratic take-over so to speak. . MarkStreet 25 Oct

Yes, if the December 2005 was so "undemocratic", why did Smirnov's party lose? Why is his son currently an MP of the minority faction? And every week, he gets outvoted and outnumbered. There is a lot of anti-Smirnov activity in VS PMR right now (the parliament). For some of it, it is necessary to read between the lines, but some of it is also very open. Today they announced a new law against corruption. Guess who that is targeted against? - Mauco 15:39, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Second comment: organizations and countries who say that there is no democracy in Transnistria are using second hand knowledge. They were invited to become observers but they didn't show up, so they can not really say if something was conducted freely or fairly. I personally think that Transnistria has a deeply flawed democracy. I don't even want to be an apologist for them by saying that democracy in Moldova is deeply flawed as well. I merely want to point out that it would be more helpful if Ukraine and other countries would actually become involved. Instead of just criticizing, send some observers. See it first hand. Participate. Suggest ways to make it better. Help organize the election. Whatever. But it really takes the prize to say that something is not democratic when you weren't there in the first place to see it. They got an invitation. They could have showed up. Otherwise, seriously, how credible is their claim? - Mauco 15:39, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

OSCE has observed the situation in Transnistria for long time. They know well the situation.--MariusM 16:02, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

They would know it even better if they sent observers to watch and see how the elections were conducted. If there was then any signs of irregularities or fraud, then I am sure that the OSCE would be quick to report it. Remember that an observer is not under any obligation to report favourably on an election. The OSCE has often made critical reports after having sent observers elsewhere, and they would no doubt do the same in Transnistria if they saw (with their own eyes) that something was wrong. - Mauco 16:11, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Of all the observers who actually went to the elections (from various parliaments in EU and CIS) they all declared that the elections met democratic criteria. I am not saying that they are right, because I was not there. But I am merely reporting that they went there, they saw the whole thing first hand, and this is what they publicly said afterwards. If it was a court of law, a credible witness is an eye witness. A credible witness is NOT someone who was not even present, and only gets his information from third hand sources. - Mauco 16:11, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I am not convinced that all observers reported favourably. You gave only sources as Tiraspol Times, and even there, I remember they talked about 130 observers, while the total official number of observers was 174. There are some standards for free and fair elections, and is good that OSCE don't make compromise on them. One problem: Many people in Transnistria have many passports (Transnistria, Moldovan, Ukrainian, Russian, Old Soviet). How can anybody check if a person didn't vote more than once, using his different passports?--MariusM 16:32, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

OSCE and the European Union would be much more credible if they would send someone to actually observe before they start giving out opinions. But what are we debating here? Anything that is for inclusion in the article? Or are we just using Wikipedia as a social discussion forum? - Mauco 16:51, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

For you OSCE and European Union is not credible, only Tiraspol Times and Kremlin is credibile. Same old story.--MariusM 16:59, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

And since you seem determined to have the last word, with this personal attack I will gladly concede it to you. You hereby officially have the last word. End of discussion. Now get back on topic. - Mauco 17:06, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Revert

I reverted to my last version because:

• Someone deleted teh references to ICDISS, which are essential

That was me. For several reasons: In at least one of the three cases, they are incorrect. Even in the cases where they are correct, what is the relevance? Every side is allowed to have its bias. See Wikipedia guidelines for external links. Link summary should be descriptive. For this, you can also see the Wikipedia guidelines for external links and how to handle descriptions. This does not include mentioning the sponsoring organization (which we also don't do on the Moldovan-biased links). Greier, who originally added the childish ICDISS comment, has a long history of being blocked for disruptive behavior.[50] If the inclusion of the comment is meant to infer bias, this is better handled by listing the links under the heading "Transnistrian side" which we already do, and that solves the problem solved the same way Wikipedia always solves bias in links. Finally, recall that the links and their phrasing was already voted on. I was not happy with the vote (for other reasons), but I respect the results and you should do likewise. - Mauco 15:32, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

• There is not more controversy about Transnistria than there is about North Korea or Turkmenistan. Western countries (and not only) agree that there's a problem with the so-called "free elections" and "democracy" of Transnistria. So, the current formulation is NPOV (all POV are presented with due weight).

Dpotop 12:12, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Of course there is a dispute over this. Transnistria itself says its elections are free and fair. Some Western organizations and foreign observers (including MPs from the European Union) say that too. Others (including OSCE) disagree. Some countries (USA, Moldova, others) say there can be no free and free elections under current circumstances. But the largest country in the world says that the elections are free. State Duma recognized the latest vote results in 419 to 0 resolution. Clearly, the issue has its supporters and its detractors. It is wrong to call the supporters criminals and paint them with one brush. There is a legitimate disagreement on the issue. We portray that in Wikipedia with the following sentence: "There is disagreement as to whether elections in Transnistria are free and fair." It is an accurate portrayal of the situation. Please do not remove it. It is part of a version of the article which has been in place for many, many months now and has not seen any controversy from anyone until you suddenly removed it (without any prior discussion among the other editors about this). - Mauco

This is interesting, I have not seem anything from a western country questioning the elections in TD. In fact there is broad agreement that they are indeed conducted in a free and fair manner with the noted acception of one objector the OSCE . However, The OSCE has refused to attend the latest referendum as an observer , which was a pity because they ruled themselves out objective commentary sine then If I recall there were over 160 international observers monitoring the last referendum and the each had to file a report. There were no reports of problems at all. The one thing the Transnistrians are good at is holding elections that conform to western standards, the OSCE know that and that may explain partly why they don't want to monitor them as observers because if and when they find nothing wrong they would be obliged to rubber stamp them. Also it may legitimise them in some way. I can assure you if the OSCE though they were in any way 'hookey' they would be in like a flash demanding to oversee everything. The western press covered the referenum and were in agreement that they were held in a proper manner. If required I'm sure the list of 166 international observers and human rights groups. can be added to any article we do. MarkStreet Oct 25th 2006

Well, nobody except the EU. Also, there was not a single well-recognized ONG to support the regime. Just our famous ICDISS-sponsored phantom web sites. Frankly, the ICDISS manipulation attempt uncovered earlier this month was dirty. Dpotop 13:38, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

A second note: the current formulation is still too favourable to the Transnistrean part, consider it as a push for reconciliation from my part. You cannot start by saying "multi-party system, elections, a.s.o". Maybe Smirnov&co are just innocent democratic people, but here we report the NPOV, which depends on the average worldwide public perception. This average worldwide public perception is clearly that Transnistria is a non-democratic heaven for criminals. And the oppinion is quite widespread, it includes NGOs, government circles, etc. Dpotop 13:38, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Third note: All this "free elections" jibberish reminds me very well of Communist Romania. We also had a "popular democracy" with "free elections", where one could choose between various candidates. Dpotop 13:43, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

There is a legitimate disrepancy on just how free these elections are. Some say they are free, others say that they are not. Maybe the truth is somewhere in between. We can not decide, but we can and should' mention that there is disagreement as to whether elections in Transnistria are free and fair. There is no clear study on just what the definition of "average worldwide perception" is. In fact, if we go by that indicator, most countries in the world (a majority of 118 out of 192, in a resolution passed at the NAM summit in September) have taken the position that the U.S. and the European Union must not be the sole arbiters of what constitutes democracy, as in: "you still do not have democracy? Then our bombers fly to you..." - Mauco 15:56, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

When 'Dpotop' did his revert, he also overwrote some of my changes.[51] Probably unintentional. The things that he point out can be discussed with the person he reverted (Mauco). But in my case, I had made a change by removing a repetitive statement. It was about O.S.C.E. and that it had not recognized/monitored. It was said in two paragraphs, one right after the other. I spliced this into one. Please, I ask, When you revert someone, you should be careful to not overwrite the edits of other people that were done in the meantime. - Pernambuco 13:26, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm frankly sorry. Dpotop 13:38, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Like I said it looked like it was unintentional. I am still learning about this subject so I am not ready to take sides in the content disputes that some people have. I do not want to. But I want to say: the article is in badly need of copy-editing in many places. - Pernambuco 13:46, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Please no describing others peoples contributions as 'jibberish' Please base everything on fact and not POV . Now, the elections in TD are not really a subject of dispute in themselves. Recognising the TDians right to have them recognised as legitimate is another thing and is the stand the EU takes. Nobody wanting to be taken seriously is questioning the elections in there own right, . MarkStreet 25th

Yes, this Talk page would be much better if we could refrain from using heated language and chracterize the opinions of our opinions as "jibberish". I have personally been harsh on the EU list, calling it useless, but I was also quick to point out the errors. Errors in 10 out of 17 names is not good and I firmly hold that it is junk. A deeply held personal opinion by someone should never be characterized that way, however. - Mauco 15:32, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, I should have said "utter nonsense". "Free elections" in relation with a rogue regime (whose leaders are banned from travelling and whose elections non-recognized) is nonsensical. And don't take it personally: I'm not talking here about you, but about your sources. You only rely this sort of information from non-reputable sources, which may be simply naive. Dpotop 15:54, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

I explained it before: The Communist countries claimed they had free elections, but people or democratic countries didn't believe or recognize it. The situation is similar here. You have a regime that claims to be multi-party and democratic. Well, when this happens, then the EU will lift its ban, and the OSCE recognize election results, just like it happened in Hungary, Romania, etc. It's not yet the case. However, I believe it's fair to also report the position of the Nistrean leadership. But not in the first position. Dpotop 15:54, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

I understand completely what you are saying. But the argument is not on whether the elections are free or fair, or if they aren't. As this debate shows, there is clearly some room for disagreement on the issue. We have a stable version of the page where, for many months, we have included a sentence to the effect that "There is disagreement as to whether elections in Transnistria are free and fair". It is factually correct. Do not dismiss the Duma 419-0 resolution, for instance, just because EU says otherwise. They both have a right to their opinion, and we merely state that by including the sentence that "There is disagreement as to whether elections in Transnistria are free and fair" - Mauco 16:04, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

I start to believe that you don't want to understand. Le me try it otherwise:

Yes, there is disagreement: A government says it's democratic, and everybody else (all the sources it doesn't pay) say it isn't. Dpotop 06:42, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Doptop may be interested to hear that the EU is very very carefully examining the result of the blockade and subsequent referendum and a policy change is happening. The blockade has failed and pushed TD closer to Russia. Its been a disaster. Nobody could have guessed this was going to happen but it has . now its change of plans time. It's time easier to examine alternatives. . Last week in Moscow the EU comissioner stated that the EU and Russia had to draw closer together on the issue. Everyone knew what she was getting at. Its either a 'deal' or its 'lets talk' For now lets get this done MarkStreet 25

Dpotop has his own sources, and he calls the others "non-reputable". But please don't let this debate get out of hand. Discussion must be focused on edits to the article. He, correctly, explained his reasons for reverting. I then explained my reasons for undoing his revert and why he was wrong (which we all are, sometimes). Leave it at that. - Mauco 16:54, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Mauco, why is there a heading on the main page titled Crime ? Crime is an issue in every country in the world and other countries don't have Crime as a headline title . I think it should be removed completely. TD has very little crime. Also you never edited the Terrorism part. We have already concluded that the grenade attack on the buses were not acts or terrorism. There has not been a single incident claimed by a Terrorist organisation in TD in 15 years and some would even dispute what happened in the past wasn't really terrorism either. Terrorism is the wrong word. Can we all agree to remove it. MarkStreet 23rd 2006

The whole smuggling/crime section is a mess. Mikka has given his input, and suggested some fixed. You (MarkStreet) have asked for it to be removed before, and I have tried to tell you why I think that it is a wrong idea. I don't think that we will delete it, However, we will try make some sense of it and present all sides better in true NPOV. I have teamed up with a Romanian to help me edit it, so please be patient. We won't be working in mainspace until we have something that will make everyone happy, or at least almost everyone. I don't think that we can make you happy, Mark, unless we remove it altogether and I don't really see that as a realistic option. But we can certainly improve on it and present the latest developments better. - Mauco 23:20, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Having said that, all places have crime and all places have smuggling. There is no "smuggling" or "crime" section in other country pages, like USA or Finland, to just name two out of over 200. - Mauco 23:20, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

MarkStreet, Your POV-pushing and manipulation on behalf of your employer is a scandal. Dpotop 06:42, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Dpotop, enough already. Mark has a right to his opinion. You show up here with your Romanophile bias, out of nowhere (well, actually wrong - your increased activity here is because of a request in Romanian by MariusM) and all of a sudden you want to be the sole arbiter of truth? I have been trying to be civil to you, in spite of your personal attacks, but there comes a time when we must draw a line in the sand. NPOV includes not trying to push your own POV on the rest of the world and disqualifying all the sources that don't agree with your POV as being "government sources" or "paid sources". Unlike you, Mark has not done a single edit in mainspace. We have requested him not to, and he has respected that. Unlike you. You have made edits in the main article for which there was no consensus and for which you have been reverted. The next time you want to make controversial edits, please discuss them first. - Mauco 16:26, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

I am objective am represent myself not my employer. I am not asking for POV . I am the one pushing for factual information only. MarkStreet 26th 2006

No one here is completely neutral. That is why it is so ridiculous to see a Romanian, Dpotop, accuse others of POV-pushing. To date, MarkStreet has not made one single edit to the article. He is participating in the discussion about how he thinks that the article could be improved, in his eyes. Does User:Dpotop now want to censor him all of a sudden? Does Mark not have a right to an opinion? What happened to the highbrow Romanian "democracy" ... and this from a person (dpotop) who has said, over and over again, that there is no democracy in Transnistria... Jeeesh... - Mauco 16:26, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Political status

On the main page under the policy of accuracy I request the following changes be made and invite opinion on the matters. Firstly, I believe that date of independence 2nd Sept 1990 should be inserted. Secondly, it should be clearly stated that the Transnistrian government is in full command and control of Transnistria. Thirdly, i request the incorrect POV that the country is under 'the effective authority of Russia' be removed. There is no basis of truth let alone evidence that this is the case. Clearly the TD government is completely independent from Russian authority and enact their own laws in their own parliment without interference. 25th Oct 2006. —Preceding unsigned comment added by MarkStreet (talk • contribs)

The territory under control of the PMR is not independent (though obviously you can indicate that something was declared). The "Transnistrian government" is not in full control of Transnistria, if it were, the (what you term) "peace-keeping" force would not be required. There's no basis in truth the "country" is under Russian control? Viz:

• SMIRNOV, Igor Nikolayevich — “President”, born on 23 October 1941 in Khabarovsk, Russian Federation, Russian passport No 50 NO. 0337530
• SMIRNOV, Vladimir Igorevich, son of SMIRNOV, Igor Nikolayevich — Chairman of the “State” Customs Committee, born on 3 April 1961 in Kupiansk (?), Kharkovskaya Oblast, Ukraine, Russian passport No 50 NO. 00337016
• SMIRNOV, Oleg Igorevich, son of SMIRNOV, Igor Nikolayevich — Adviser to the “State” Customs Committee, born on 8 August 1967 in Novaya Kakhovka, Khersonskaya Oblast, Ukraine, Russian passport No 60 NO. 1907537
• ANTYUFEYEV, Vladimir Yuryevich, alias SHEVTSOV, Vadim — “Minister for State Security”, born in 1951 in Novosibirsk, Russian Federation, Russian passport
• KOROLYOV, Alexandr Ivanovich, “Minister for Internal Affairs”, born in 1951 in Briansk, Russian Federation, Russian passport.

The Russian government does not need to force anyone to do anything, the whole operation is run by Russians (who pop up periodically in Moscow for regular consultations). And let's not forget the Russian troops were supposed to withdraw, when was it, in 1999? The entire so-called "peackeeping force" is there in direct violation of an international agreement that Russia signed and now refuses to comply with because its co-opting of sovereign Moldavian territory has not gone as smoothly as it hoped it would. Instead of Russia honoring its international obligations, the Russian Duma passes unanimous resolution hailing its Transdniestrian breathren. Russia not controlling events? Please! You can state the PMR position all you like, noting it as such, but making that the entire sense of the article would make it into nothing but PMR/Russian propaganda. —Pēters J. Vecrumba 00:35, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Emotional language is not needed to state your case. Nor do you need to put the peacekeeping force in sarcastic quotes. It is a peacekeeping force. It is keeping the peace. It is keeping the peace very succesfully. Since it started operating, not a single person has died. It is also not made up of Russians exclusively. Four different sides are involved. Three of them provide soldiers, and one (Ukraine) provides military observers. Moldova provides MORE soldiers to the peacekeeping force than Russia does. It was established by an agreement with Moldova. Moldova is a party to this agreement. It has not withdrawn or ended the agreement. The agreement is still in force. This is not PMR/Russian propaganda, but the opposite. - Mauco 00:58, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Also, just as the links section is divided into PMR and Moldova, the same should be done to annotate the footnotes, that is, —Moldova or —PMR. That will stop argument about who is citing what/whose "side." —Pēters J. Vecrumba 00:35, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Oppose. It would be unwieldly, and a "first" for Wikipedia. Whenever a source is mentioned which is biased, we make note of that in the article. For instance, I consider the EU list (which you quote) as useless and worse than bad. It is full of errors, as I have documented. This is why I only agreed to include it with the disclaimer that this is the EU's opinion. Then readers can decide for themselves if they will take it at face value. - Mauco 00:58, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Mark, the date of the independence proclamation is already mentioned 3 times in the article: In the intro sentence, in the infobox (right hand side) and in the history section. Isn't that enough? Remember that the idea here is to present the information in an easy format, but not to repeat things that we like at every turn. - Mauco 23:44, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

About Russia's involvement, yes, the section can be improved. First, we have this sentence:
The Russian authorities contributed both militarily and politically to the creation of a separatist government in Transnistria. Militarily, this is debatable. You have heard the old saw that "winners write history", right? Well, in this case, there are no clear winners ... and as a result, there are two different versions of history. The Moldovan side overstates Russia's role. The Russian side tries to minimize it. ECHR was divided between a majority opinion and some fairly substantial minority arguments of a good segment of their judges. Jamason has started to work on some indepth research, and it has been covered by some German scholars in the recent past too. As regards our sentence, the word "contributed" is a bit imprecise but it wouldn't necessarily be inaccurate.
Next sentence:
The PMR remained under the effective authority, or at the very least under the decisive influence, of Russia, and in any event it survived by virtue of the military, economic, financial and political support that Russia gave it.
This is crapola. Even the author of the sentence knew the problem. "PMR is under Russian authority" .. erm.... "Well, maybe not, but at the very least under decisive Russian influence" ... wait, hold on, maybe not that either ... "well, at least at any event, then it survives because of Russian help..."
So what is it? If we are not sure, it shouldn't be included. If we are sure, then that should be included and it should be accurate. Russia has certainly given aid to PMR, but so has Ireland, and the United States' State Department, and several other countries within the last year alone. - Mauco 23:44, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

I strongly object to the use of the word 'serparatist'. It could be argued that Moldova is the Separatist state too. As a compromise the word should be dropped for both TD and MD, Please note that Ukraine also provodes peace keepers. .MarkStreet 25 oct.2006.

May I add that smuggling issue has been dismissed as bogus by the EU monitors. It should now go tooMarkStreet oct 26

All the different spelling variations

I don't know if this is worth including in the article anywhere or not, but I for one have wondered about all the different spelling variations of Transnistria. I must have seen at least half a dozen. Would it be useful to list them all and their origins, or isn't that possible because they are often made up willy nilly? Does the spelling give any indication of the writer's origins? Is the spelling sometimes used to make a point? —Preceding unsigned comment added by jonathanpops (talk • contribs)

We covered this earlier this year. I believe it was in April. There is some of this in the archives. It was mostly myself and TSO1D who worked on it, although if memory serves me well, Bogdan also helped. It is similar to the whole Burma/Myanmar situation, with the added conundrum that there are a bunch of other names, too. We decided to stick with Transnistria, mention Pridnestrovie prominently, and have redirects for all the rest. In the infobox and in the intro, only Transnistria and Pridnestrovie are to be used (in that order of importance). Early in the article, we then have the subsection called "Names" where we focus on explaining this some more. Then, for even deeper detail, we have a whole article just devoted to this subject. It is called Names for Transnistria which I made. This approach is very good for other subjects, like internal politics, history, the referendum, the disputed status, and so. Quick overview first, then a bit more detail in a paragraph of the key points, and finally a whole separate article where it is fleshed out in detail. - Mauco 23:29, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I never saw that before. I'm still none the wiser as to the whys and wherefors of the names though. Is it that there really is no reasoning behind it, that just different people decide to spell it or say it differently as they feel like it? I should probably put this in the discussion for the names page really I guess. --Jonathanpops 11:45, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

"I've been there"

We've had people indicate "I was there...," that the PMR is just fine, they're people just like us, etc., etc. I post this link to another ["I was there"] experience. —Pēters J. Vecrumba 17:04, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for linking to an old article. "Vanity Fair" is one of those magazines that girls read at the beauty parlor while they are waiting to get their hair cut. This is from a freelancer. People like him have a better chance of getting their stories accepted by glossy magazines if they can make it sound as scary/dangerous/sensationalist as possible. Check out these quotes from some fresh and more recent first hand reports from others: http://visitpmr.com/travelreports.html - Mauco 17:12, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Mauco is correct, the days of freelancers selling that type of reporting are gone. Go to Tiraspoltimes or any other news source . Find them in Pridnestrovie.net links page, New Region is good. MarkStreet 26 Oct

Yes, yes go to the Tiraspol Times, the free-speech newspaper that thrives in a free country where political parties are dissolved by decision of the government, and where NGOs and journalists are "unwilling and unable" to investigate arms smuggling. Dpotop 20:43, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Now you might get a heap of abuse about "Kremlin propaganda" from the Romanophiles. But the funny thing is that I (as the only person here) has actually done some really indepth fact-checking on the accuracy of the sources and http://www.TiraspolTimes.com publishes information which matches what we can find elsewhere. They are very biased (in my opinion), but they are reliable. Their facts check out. You can have an opinion and still be right. I personally followed up on research for the RFE/RL story, and in turned out that they were wrong and that Tiraspol Times was right, in that particular case. See Archive 6. Big surprise. Yet we still link to RFE/RL as if it was correct. It is not. If anyone wants to critize the sources which you quote, they should do that by pointing to specific areas where something is factually incorrect. It is too easy to just use words like KGB, Kremlin, and so on, to discredit the source. - Mauco 17:26, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Oh thanks Mauco, the sound of silence is bliss. Tiraspol Times is internationally recognsed is the impartial voice in Tiraspol. Now spare me your compliments and can we make the argeed changes to the main page MarkStreet 27tg

MarkStreet, Wikipedia is not the place for advertising your own newspaper. Please read WP:NOT.--MariusM 10:38, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Only replying to previous comment, anyhow Marius you never stop plugging Tiraspol Times and promoting it. Keep it up MarkStreet 27th Oct 2006

This page is getting long

Let us archive it, but keep summaries of the topics open where we still need discussion: Intro para, the Ilascu sentence, referendum summary, and so on. - Mauco 17:12, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Hold it Mauco, First some editing needs to be done. Lets get down to what was agreed on this page and move on then. Firstly after a long debate the wording for the opening paragrapgh was to be changed. to read. 'Transnistria ( Officaly Pridnestrovie) is a disputed territory (unrecognised country) in Southeastern Europe that declared its independence on September 2nd 1990. Its de-facto independence has not been recognised and its sovereigty is an issue of contention. Also it was agreed the Smuggling article was to be removed or called Chicken Smuggling Article. Also the Terrorism article to be deleted. Can we request these changes plaese. MarkStreet 26th 2006

I will only archive the dormant topics. Items that still need editing attention will be kept. Sorry if I was not clear on that. - Mauco 17:36, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Correction, the Weapons Smuggling was negotiated into the History xection, Frankly given there is not a scrap of evidence to prove it and plenty to suggest there was none it should have been deleted. However even the compromise to put it into the History section never happened.. No terrorist org has carried out attacks in TD, it is widely accepted the bus incident was not MarkStreet 26th 2006