You dirty, poor, evil transnistrians should be hidden away from the eyes of civilized world...." "...Have you ever thought that some day they don't need you for anything and then you are all alone in this cold world.
Go ahead export some more illegal weapons. Mjötööh
Well I guess they've been already hidden away - in the dirtiest puny corner of Moldova. Not really any civilized eye in there, right?
http://www.jpgmag.com/stories/8593Igor Smirnov, born in Russia and sent here two years by soviet government, was elected President. After 17 years, he holds the office yet, and Transnistria, once one of the most industrialized region in USSR, is the poorest area in Europe.
Tiraspol is a ghost city: 1/3 of the population is escaped. In the center some men are building a little stage for the celebration of the new republics. Portraits of Lenin, monuments of the independence war and the local Coat of arms, the well known red star with an hammer and sickle surmounting a sun over a stylized river, are the only attractions.
International media supposes that here weapons are producted and sold too: Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraq, Iran, Palestina, Cecenia and Nagorno Karabakh the most famous clients1. The smuggling is hidden between products exported by Sheriff, the most important company of the country: according to an article in Kommersant the Sheriff has received a reduction on taxes and import duties when the customs service was headed by Vladimir Smirnov and Oleg Smirnov, sons of the president2.
The company owns a chain of petrol stations, a chain of supermarkets, a TV channel, a publishing house, a construction company, a Mercedes-Benz dealer, an advertising agency, a spirits factory, two bread factories, a mobile phone network and the football club FC Sheriff Tiraspol.
A modern white building rounded by green grass and protected by soldiers introduces visitors into the city: it's the Sheriff Stadium, estimated cost of $200 million. I ask to my guide if he is a supporter: "How? Noone can go there. People earn no more than 100 � per month here. That's only for propaganda." All around complexes of old and ruined cement palaces testify about the poorly conditions of the inhabitants.
I meet some young guys handing out politic fliers. Behind a large poster with the portraits of Putin and Che Guevara. Strange connection: the new Zar and the hero who died for freedom. I stare at the standing monument of Lenin, in front of the Parliament where the Smirnov family perpetuates its criminal activity, then at the Korda's "Guerrillero Heroico" image: "What have they made here in your name?"
It's just sad...so sad. I feel sorry for you If you really live in that shithole.
