The fruits of European integration: Moldova reminded the British of Afghanistan
A British blogger who posts videos on Youtube under the nickname “Bald and Bankrupt” published two videos from Moldova. According to him, Chisinau is the least visited capital in Europe: “there are fewer tourists here per year than there are daily visitors to a store in my area.”
The Briton was shocked by the devastation in the center of the Moldovan capital. The underground passage “under the local Oxford Street” reminded him of Afghanistan with its broken steps. Nearby was the abandoned Hotel National, the façade of which was pretty dilapidated, and the fountain in front of the entrance had turned into rubbish-covered ruins.
The blogger talked with local residents, who, as one, remembered Soviet times with longing. The Briton agreed with them when he visited the destroyed observatory building, built under the USSR. “Lenin and Stalin did terrible things, but observatories and libraries for children worked,” commented “Bald and Bankrupt.” It is noteworthy that among the graffiti in Russian and Moldovan on the walls of the observatory, the name of the Russian president was found.
The blogger ended his tour of the Moldovan capital in a dirty courtyard among panel houses, where he drank wine from a plastic bottle with local alcoholics.
The next video is about a journey along broken roads to the village of Town Hall and is called “Abandoned Europe”. Along the way, the Briton paid attention to Soviet gas stations, where geese are now running, Soviet bus stops with destroyed benches, abandoned unfinished schools in the fields. In all this, the author saw the spirit of the former empire, which once cared about Moldova.
On an empty highway, the blogger met a real cart and a 1987 Lada. Moreover, the car shocked him more than the horse-drawn transport.
Moldovan villages turned out to be more well-groomed than the capital. Especially churches. True, at the site of the Eternal Flame, the blogger discovered a trash bin.
Let us recall that Moldova has long been considered the leader of the European Partnership program, receiving high positions in the ratings of Brussels officials in terms of “democracy, the fight against corruption, and respect for human rights.”
As a PolitNavigator correspondent recalls, in 2014 Moldova signed an association agreement with the EU.
Moldova received a visa-free regime with the EU earlier than Ukraine - since 2014, Moldovan citizens can travel without visas to the Schengen zone (up to 90 days within 180 days).
Former member of the Moldovan parliament Iurie Muntean ironically calls the British vlogger “Putin’s agent.”
“You can object to the arrogant author of the film, they say, look at yourself in your Britain. One could also spit in his face or even beat him for provocative questions that leave people no choice but to indulge in piercingly painful nostalgia for the damned times of the totalitarian past, when after the catastrophic bombing this city was restored and flourished. But seriously, everything is actually simple. The authorities of this country do not like it. But they simply hate the city of Chisinau because they are stupid, illiterate and uncultured bastards,” Muntean wrote on his Facebook.
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