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Futuristic reflections. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin


https://www.ipn.md/en/futuristic-reflections-op-ed-by-victor-pelin-7978_1082289.html

“Irina Vlah’s article about the fates of the world and mankind written from a futuristic platform is unordinary for the Moldovan journalism...”

Threats to mankind

There is no doubt that the Republic of Moldova has remarkable scientists and writers. Regrettably, most of these locked themselves up in the world of own creations, ignoring the public space dominated by vulgarity. The politicians are the main source of vulgarity. They often make deceitful promises, switch parties and change doctrines and ideologies as hygienic accessories.

In such gloomy circumstances, a Moldovan politician – Irina Vlah, governor of Gagauzia - publishes an article entitled “Opportunities and threats of the period of transition – development in conditions of deficiency of balance and predictability”, which does not match the style of Moldovan journalism. It refers to the fate of the world and future of mankind, evidently in the context of the pandemic crisis.

Irina Vlah’s courage to address global issues is laudable, but her conclusions are somehow pessimistic – “the humans, in general, cannot create something perfect”. That’s why the imperfection of the sociopolitical systems is manifested through social inequality, while the impetuous development of technologies generally makes the development of the word and human species unpredictable

To be convincing, Irina Vlah gives conclusive examples about social inequality: “The unequal distribution of riches becomes an increasingly serious problem even in the developed states. For example, in the U.S. 10% of the people own 80% of the country’s wealth, while 80% of the people own only 10% of the country’s wealth”. The general conclusion is that we should build a better and more equitable word.

Problem of predictability

Rising to the level of global problems, Irina Vlah somehow singularizes herself in the Moldovan political sphere. But any singularity becomes the preferred subject of researches. Evidently, the question about the predictability of Irina Vlah’s actions moves to the forefront. For example, in February 2014, as an MP of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM), Irina Vlah was among the animators of the referendum in Gagauzia concerning non-admission of the association of the Republic of Moldova with the European Union (EU), pleading particularly for the entry into the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union and, in general, into the Eurasian area.

First of all, the pleading in favor of the integration into the Eurasian area holds interest from the viewpoint of social inequality. This way, in a post-communist society, like that in Russia, the richest 10% of the citizens represent 83% of the country’s wealth, which is more than in the United States (76%). Even in a Communist society like the Chinese one, the riches 10% of the citizens constitute already 60% of the country’s wealth. Secondly, it should be noted that the given information was accessible even before the start of the pandemic crisis in 2019, when Irina Vlah, as the governor of Gagauzia, offered the then President of the Republic of Moldova Igor Dodon the award “Five years of the Gagauz referendum”, for promoting this, which was an unpredictable action because it was illegal. 

Another aspect of the unpredictability is that it is now not known if governor Irina Vlah still pleads for the scraping of the Association Agreement of the Republic of Moldova with the EU and entry into the Eurasian area. The question is not senseless in the context of the undenied rumors about sudden deterioration of the relations between the governor of Gagauzia Irina Vlah and the leader of the PSRM – the main promoter of Moldova’s entry into the Eurasian area. There are serious reasons to believe that Irina Vlah – a promoter of technological development – would change her attitude to the Eurasian integration. The truth is the recent hearings in the State Duma of Russia revealed that the sanctions against this pillar of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) will have long-lasting negative effects and this thing condemns Russia to technological decline and even to the impossibility of developing its space industry.

It does not go to abstract things. The consequences for Russia are very negative. The last poll carried out by the company Levada-tsentr  shows that 22% of the citizens of Russia would like to leave the country for good, while among the young people aged between 18 and 24 this figure stands at 48%! In such circumstances, Irina Vlah can wonder – why should the Republic of Moldova tend to join the Eurasian area if this lacks future? Because she invested hope in the development of the Eurasian area, Irina Vlah has the right to wonder – who prevented the Russian authorities from seeing the predictability of the sanctions for the violation of the international law norms when they decided to annex Crimea and to inspire the war in Donbas? In fact, Irina Vlah’s article offers us a response to this question – the imperfection of the projects generated by human beings.

Certainly, initially President Vladimir Putin was sure the sanctions for the violation of the international law were useful to Russia and a number of Moldovan politicians allowed to be lured by his projects. Moreover, the leader of the PSRM Igor Dodon even tried to claim Moldovan historical territories from Ukraine. This way we see that the unpredictability of the actions of the strategic partner from Russia generated unpredictability in the behavior of some of the political leaders from the Republic of Moldova. The danger of the foreign influence on the sovereign actions of Moldovan politicians can be seen here.

Conclusions

Irina Vlah’s article about the fates of the world and mankind written from a futuristic platform is unordinary for the Moldovan journalism. It represents the result of reflections on politicians’ actions that most of the times are unpredictable and generate serious dangers to social development. Irina Vlah knows what she talks about as she, alongside Igor Dodon, as MPs elected on the PCRM’s ticket in the parliamentary elections of 2010, signed a statement without a period of validity by which they pledged to be faithful to the party. However, owing to unpredictable circumstances, they booth left the PCRM’s parliamentary group successively.    

Also, unpredictable circumstances made social equity in the Eurasian space, especially in the Russian Federation, to dramatically worsen in quality, much more than in the U.S. Consequently, the social optimism of the Russian citizens, especially of the young people, reached a critical point, when almost half of those from this category that represents the future prefer to leave the country for good. In such circumstances, the Eurasian integration of the Republic of Moldova, promoted by Irina Vlah, including through an illegal referendum, becomes senseless, especially because social equity in the EU member states is at a higher level than in communist China and post-communist Russia. So, the reorientation to the EU makes sense not only from the viewpoint of social equity, but also from the viewpoint of technological development.

Finally, until the end of the mandate of the governor of Gagauzia, during the next two years, Irina Vlah is to build an international airport in Ceadîr-Lunga and an electric power plant in Vulcănești so as to fulfill her electoral promises. The futuristic reflections are an excellent exercise for the eventual justification of the impossibility of delivering the promises, evidently owing to the unpredictability of circumstances and the imperfection of any plans designed by human beings.