GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Eastern Europe: Where Two Civilizations Collide

Ian Morris

Board of Contributors

Feb 24, 2016 | 09:00 GMT

A transdniestr border police officer from separatist region of Moldova looks at Ukraine border point at Kuchurgan-Pervomaysk, Ukraine-Moldova border point on April 15, 2014. Ukrainian Minister of foreign Affairs, Andrii Dechtchytsia, said was 'very concerned' by Transnistria breakaway pro-Russian entity in Moldova, while Moscow has to proceed to the annexation of Crimea to Russia. 'The situation in Transnistria is a major concern, not only for Ukraine, not only for Moldova' stated Mr. Dechtchytsia during a press conference in the Brussels Forum of the German Marshall Fund. Transnistria, a small strip of land of 500,000 inhabitants in eastern Moldova, has won the support of Russia, a short war of independence after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. It is not recognized by the international community.

(DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty Images)

In his insightful Feb. 20 Global Affairs column, "Why the West Should Pay More Attention to Moldova," Steve Hall asked: "Why risk further conflict -- perhaps armed conflict -- with Russia over a place most Americans and many Europeans cannot locate on a map?" As if on cue, February also saw the publication of Robert D. Kaplan's latest book, In Europe's Shadow: Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond. In it, Kaplan offers a detailed and compelling answer to Hall's question: Moldova is at the heart of one of the defining geostrategic conflicts of the early 21st century....

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