The Republic of Moldova has a very modest potential to manage the situation in the Near East. It should have a balanced attitude given its potential. The Moldova – EU action plan provided that Moldova within the international forum should endorse and abide by the EU’s position, the IPN project’s standing expert Igor Boţan stated in a public debate entitled “Military and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East: impact on the Republic of Moldova and position of the Republic of Moldova” that was organized by IPN News Agency.
However, Igor Boţan does not think that someone could use Moldova’s services given its limited potential. If it is requested, Moldova will act appropriately and will honor its obligations to the intentional partners. On the other hand, there is the international law and there are international institutions. “The President not only once said that the U.S. is a strategic partner for the Republic of Moldova. Given the support we enjoy from the U.S., there is this obligation, at least moral, to be near those who help us,” stated the expert.
According to him, after the Iranian authorities admitted to accidentally having downed the passenger plane of a Ukrainian airline, everyone realizes that this incident is a consequence of the heat-up, a dramatic result of the witnessed eruption. The situation remains very tense. “Even if things calmed down, the main players most probably took a break and wait to see the further developments. The calming down is deceitful. We can only hope that the great powers – the EU, the U.S. and China – will remain composed and will keep the situation under control.”
Igor Boţan noted there are many problems and the situation can any time escalate. “I refer to the nuclear program of Iran, the new policy pursued by Turkey and the role it assumes in the region, etc. Also, both Turkey and Iran invoke their earlier imperialist power and this is manifested in all the areas,” stated Igor Boţan.
Commenting on Russia’s reaction to the situation in the Middle East, Igor Boţan said he saw only the intervention of the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Russia took no other actions to pronounce. He yet saw dissatisfaction with the fact that Russia took sides with Iran in the patriotic Russian media outlets. “This is explainable as the Russian Federation has a very specific attitude to this corner of the world. We should not forget that a Russian diplomat in the Middle East was sequestrated and another one was even killed there. That’s why the Russian Federation probably behaves so restrainedly, if we can say so. The situation anyway remains very difficult,” he stated.
Igor Boţan noted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova is competent to manage the situation. It is the specialized institution and its experts can give balanced pieces of advice to the senior administration, the political class. Everyone wants peace to be restored in this region and the economies of those countries to prosper so that we could benefit from the stability in the region.
The debate “Military and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East: impact on the Republic of Moldova and position of the Republic of Moldova” was the 123rd installment of the series “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the German foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
