Free Republic

Moldova’s parliament on Thursday (16 March) approved a law on referring to the national language as Romanian in all legislative texts and the constitution, despite opposition from a pro-Moscow communist party. The move is intended to resolve a heated dispute over whether the national language should be referred to as Romanian or Moldovan. The constitution currently refers to the national language as Moldovan, but Moldova’s 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union stipulated that Romanian is the official language. Moldova’s governing PAS party proposed the draft law to bring the constitution into line with a constitutional court ruling in...

A secret plan drawn up by Russia’s security service, the FSB, lays out detailed options to destabilize Moldova – including supporting pro-Russian groups, utilizing the Orthodox Church and threatening to cut off supplies of natural gas. The document appears to have been drawn up to thwart Moldova’s tilt to the West, which includes closer relations with NATO and an application to join the European Union. It repeatedly refers to the importance of preventing Moldova from joining NATO. (snip)The document sets out a 10-year strategy for bringing Moldova, a former Soviet republic sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, within Russia’s sphere of...

Police in Moldova said they foiled a plot by groups of Russia-backed actors who were trained to cause mass unrest during a Sunday protest against the country’s new pro-Western government. The head of Moldova’s police, Viorel Cernauteanu, said in a news conference that an undercover agent had infiltrated groups of “diversionists,” some Russian citizens, who allegedly were promised $10,000 to organize “mass disorder” during the protest in the capital, Chisinau. Seven people were detained, he said. Separately, police said they arrested 54 protesters, including 21 minors, who exhibited “questionable behavior” or were found to be carrying prohibited items, including at...

The US intelligence community believes that individuals with ties to Russian intelligence are planning to stage protests in Moldova to try to foment a manufactured insurrection against the Moldovan government, with the ultimate goal of seeing a more pro-Russia administration installed there, White House officials said Friday. The US believes that Russia is working to weaken the Moldovan government which is seeking closer ties with the European Union, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said, The US is also seeing signs that Russian government-linked actors could provide training to anti-government demonstrators in Moldova. The country’s capital, Chisinau,...

In February, Moldovan president Maia Sandu publicly accused Russia of plotting to overthrow her government — an allegation first made days before by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Russia quickly denied the claim and turned the tables, accusing Ukraine of planning a false flag attack against the separatist Moldovan region of Transnistria. In Moldova, pro-Russian voices dismissed the coup plot as Moldovan propaganda. "They say that this all is a hoax," said Valeriu Paşa, chairman of WatchDog.MD, a think tank based in Moldova's capital, Chisinau. "[They say] President Sandu [is using] these scary stories in order to make people forget about...

The Defense Ministry of the breakaway Transnistria region of Moldova said on Tuesday that the next military exercise by the “peacekeeping contingent” in the region will begin on March 1. "The peacekeeping contingent of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic continues to accept applications for participation in the next three-month training camp from March 1," the ministry said in a statement. The statement came a day after the head of the breakaway Transnistria region, Vadim Krasnoselsky, said there is “no real danger” in the region, amid claims by Russia that Ukraine is preparing an "armed provocation" in the region.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis discussed energy, economic and security issues in Bucharest Thursday with his visiting Moldovan counterpart, as the two neighbors seek to boost ties amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. Iohannis' office said the talks with Moldovan President Maia Sandu would aim to bring her country closer to the 27-nation European Union, to which Romania belongs. Afterwards, Sandu said Moldova’s strategic partnership with NATO-member Romania is yielding "concrete benefits." (snip) Sandu’s visit came a week after she claimed Moscow was allegedly plotting to overthrow Moldova’s government, put the nation "at the disposal of Russia," and derail its aspirations to...

Hunter Biden’s top financial lieutenant Eric Schwerin is expected to “soon” provide documents to the House Oversight Committee’s investigation of the Biden family for nine violations, including money laundering and wire fraud, a spokesperson for the committee told Breitbart News. Schwerin, who shared bank accounts with President Joe Biden and dubbed the family’s “moneyman,” also maintained guest lists for White House functions and negotiated the settlement with Hunter’s first wife, Kathleen. Emails from Hunter’s laptop show Schwerin was deeply embedded in Hunter’s personal life and the Biden family networks for nearly two decades and is even pictured at campaign events...

During a speech in the Romanian parliament on Wednesday, Senator Diana Lovanovici lambasted globalists for their role in a genocidal plot utilizing the “alleged pandemic” and COVID death jabs. She also blamed the West for using “geological weapons” to cause an earthquake in Turkey. “It is very clear to me that at this point, things at the international level have gotten out of hand, the fools are playing as God, and they think they have won the game,” Lovanovici said. “Cause of these demented and psychopathic people who cause wars and cataclysms using unconventional weapons, we, humans, are just numbers...

-Moldovan government resigns, economy in turmoil. -Tensions with Russia fuelled by war in Ukraine. -President to hold consultations on next prime minister.CHISINAU, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Moldova's pro-Western government resigned on Friday after a turbulent 18 months in power marked by economic turmoil and the spillover effects of Russia's war in neighbouring Ukraine. In the latest tensions with Moscow over the war, the government said shortly before Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita announced her resignation that a Russian missile had violated Moldovan airspace, and summoned Russia's ambassador to protest. President Maia Sandu accepted Gavrilita's decision and said she would consult with...

The Taliban is requesting updates on the arrest of Andrew Tate and is 'worried' about the influencer following his detainment in Romania, one of his biggest supporters has claimed. Sameera Khan, a former beauty queen based in the US, claimed on Twitter last night that she was hosting a meeting with the ruling powers of Afghanistan via the social media app. The ex-Miss New Jersey, who was once branded 'wifey' by Tate following her unwavering support of him, said the Taliban believes the West 'needs' him. Tate, 36, his brother Tristan, 34 and two women - one a former police...

A Romanian court late Friday extended the detention of internet personality and ex-UFC kickboxer Andrew Tate on charges of human sex trafficking, Reuters reports. According to Reuters, Tate and his brother Tristan were arrested Thursday on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized crime group. The pair were taken into custody along with two other Romanian suspects during a raid of their properties on Thursday, and were to be detained for 24 hours, according to the report. "The four suspects appear to have created an organized crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by...

Alexandru Musteata, head of the Information and Security Service, has warned that there is a "very high" risk of a new Russian offensive to take his country's eastern territories next year He added that Moscow seeks to create a land corridor to the breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestria through Ukraine Musteata's comments follow the recent statements of Ukrainian army generals warning of the threat of a major new Russian offensive early next year CHISNAU, Moldova: Alexandru Musteata, head of the Information and Security Service, has warned that there is a "very high" risk of a new Russian offensive to take...

In January 2023, Kazakhstan will try to transport oil to Germany through the “Dostyk” pipeline as a test. This was stated in the press release of “Kazmunaigaz” company dated December 21. “The raw materials of KMG’s oil producing organizations are sent to domestic oil refineries to fulfill the obligations to deliver oil products to the domestic market of Kazakhstan. And the volume of KMG’s oil for export is delivered to a single system trader – KMG Trading, which first meets the needs of oil refineries of “KazMunayGas” in Romania. The rest of the oil for export will be sold under...

Discovered in what’s now western Romania, the Transylvanosaurus platycephalus (flatheaded reptile from Transylvania) was 2 meters (6 feet) long — a relatively small size for a dinosaur, according to a new study. Its skull bones were unearthed in 2007 in a riverbed of the Haţeg Basin. In the Cretaceous Period, this region of Romania was a tropical archipelago. Dinosaurs living there were smaller than their relatives elsewhere; paleontologists think these dinosaurs were an example of what biologists call “island rule,” where large animals isolated on islands become dwarfed or stunted in their growth over time and small animals become larger....

The United Nations General Assembly's first committee, which deals with disarmament, global challenges, and threats to peace that affect the international community, voted 152-5, on Friday, on a resolution concerning "the risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East". The resolution states that Israel must dispose of all its nuclear weapons and place its nuclear sites under the International Atomic Energy Agency's purview. The resolution, which is submitted every year to the UNGA in New York, was submitted by Egypt and sponsored by the Palestinian Authority and 19 counties including Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates. Canada, Israel,...

The leaders of nine NATO nations from Central and Eastern Europe issued a joint statement on Sunday in support of Ukraine's path to membership in the alliance. "We firmly stand behind the 2008 Bucharest NATO Summit decision concerning Ukraine’s future membership," the presidents of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Czechia, Romania, North Macedonia, and Slovakia said on Sunday. At that 2008 summit, NATO allies said they "welcomed" Ukraine and Georgia's aspirations to the join the alliance, though no clear timetable has ever been announced.

U.S. military forces are "fully prepared" to cross into Ukraine at a moment's notice to fight a war against Russia.The Army's 101st Airborne Division, which boasts the "Screaming Eagles" moniker, has been deployed to Europe for the first time since World War II, practicing with live tank and artillery rounds not far from the Black Sea, across which Russia has taken territory from Ukraine, including Crimea, at a forward operating site on NATO's eastern flank, according to CBS News.Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the division's deputy commander, stressed this is "not a training deployment" but rather a "combat deployment" from which...

[AP, so no excerpt]

== THE HISTORICAL DRACULA: VLAD III TEPES, 1431-1476 == == I. Historical Background == M ost of you ("the members of this list", R.P.'92, -Ed.) are probably aware of the fact that when Bram Stoker penned his immortal classic, Dracula, he based his vampire villian on an actual historical figure. Stoker's model was Vlad III Dracula (called Tepes, pronounced tse-pesh); a fifteenth century viovode, or prince, of Wallachia of the princely House of Basarab. Wallachia is a provence of Romania bordered to the north by Transylvania and Moldavia, to the east by the Black Sea and to the south by...