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I'm sorry that the Moldovans had to experience the stress of that "announcement." Has me wondering about different types of learned skepticism when it comes to news, especially from governments and politicians. I have a lifetime of reading a free press and watching stories develop.

(For example, I always knew that there were no WMDs in Iraq because one of my newspapers carefully analyzed the "yellow cake" story rather than just drawing conclusions. On the other hand have watched other speculation gradually evolve into verified facts over years and months. And, of course, many imminent future events that never happened.)

Moldovans have the skepticism they've learned from being the target of Soviet and Russian news, along with actual experience of exchanging fire across that funny border. Hopefully they're taking this news with a grain of salt, given of course, the terrifying things happening quite nearby.

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Hi Connie! Yes, I believe that most people did treat this with a massive heap of salt. Frankly, I didn't hear anyone being concerned in Moldova - more likely people were indignant that their spy chief said something like this. That said, it did get a lot of international English language traction so I felt it was a good idea to go through the situation as a sort of end-of-year wrap up of the state of play.

Happy Holidays!!

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