Vladimir Lorchenkov: Moldova, the 51st state?
CHISINAU, Moldova — Here in Moldova, we’re not much impressed by the news from Ukraine. The citizens of Kiev smashed a statue of Lenin to protest their president’s reluctance to cuddle up to the European Union. This brings a flutter to freedom-loving American hearts, but here, in one of Europe’s most impoverished nations, we wonder: Why would Ukrainians take out their rage on a statue of the person they have to thank for Ukraine’s appearing on the political map in the first place — in 1922, as a member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics? It was as if the Americans were to topple a statue of Washington.