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The WSJ is absolutely pay-walled so can only see the headline, but any ideas as to why it used the word "collapsed" in the headline, for what looked to me like one of those confusing-yet-standard occurrences in a parliamentary government?

In the meantime, did you see this regarding NATO? https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/17/world/europe/nato-russia-ukraine-war.html ? That generally looks like good news for Moldova. The part about transport across Poland reminds me of how the U.S. (maybe USAID) was funding road improvements in Moldova, but maybe those dollars were going astray ten years ago. (easy paywall to surmount but I can send a .pdf if necessary.)

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Hi Connie, I'm picking on the WSJ because of the sensationalism in both the headline and article. The BBC also had a similarly ill-informed report but they corrected it later.

The problem in general is that so few media organizations have any representation or even partners in Moldova. This results in simplified takes on complicated processes. It isn't that everyone believes it, or even that every news organization gets it wrong, the problem is that casual observers might find the "Moldova in disarray" theme compelling. That, I believe, is one reason for a show of national unity like the called for assembly. Not the only reason of course - most of the audience is domestic. But a reason.

Thanks for the NYT article. It's a good one for sure. Almost all road repairs in Moldova (Millennium Challenge did one and USAID has been involved in others) are North <> South or center > west. . Because of Transnistria there has never been an economic case for infrastructure connecting across Moldova except at the northern and southern crossing points directly to Ukraine. I suspect that will remain the situation until or "if" the Transnistrian issue is ever resolved.

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