American ambassador's Tiraspol visit seen as public diplomacy win

Going native? Ambassador Kirby won over a pro-independence youth group by wearing their party colors in front of PMR's flag

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - It wasn't quite the ecstatic reception that George W. Bush received when he went to Albania and promised instant independence for Kosovo. But it was close.

Ambassador Michael Kirby, a U.S. State Department veteran, was well received in his latest visit to Tiraspol and managed to engage a staunch pro-independence youth group and political party in a debate which was highly rated as successful by both sides.

In a frank two-hour talk, Michael Kirby engaged members and leaders of Breakthrough ("Proriv", in Russian), a youth group and registered political party which like most of the rest of Pridnestrovie's population is strongly in favor of independence for the unrecognized country.

The meeting, which took place at Breakthrough's Che Guevara School of Political Leadership, was considered a success for American public diplomacy. The youth organization, which in the recent past engaged in protest actions using anti-NATO and anti-American slogans, welcomed Ambassador Kirby with flowers and a huge American flag proudly on display next to the red and green flag of Pridnestrovie.

Michael Kirby stressed the American opposition to independence for Pridnestrovie and did not budge in his demand for so-called "territorial integrity" of the Republic of Moldova, which maintains a 17 year old territorial claim but no actual sovereignty over Pridnestrovie.

U.S. Ambassador Michael Kirby is given a yellow scarf which is worn by members of Pridnestrovie's youth group "Breakthrough" as a symbol of party affiliation. To the right, Breakthrough-leader Alena Arshinova.

At the same time, Kirby also emphasized Pridnestrovie has a right to be heard.

" - Today we have different opinion on different political themes, but the main thing is that we respect the opinion of each other," said Michael Kirby to the participants in the meeting.

" - Diplomacy consists of combining honesty and politeness. Both are objectively valuable moral principles," added Petru Gladchi, a human rights activist who is not affiliated with Breakthrough but supports their pro-independence stance. "Be honest with me, but don't be mean to me. Don't misrepresent my views for your own political ends, and I'll treat you the same way."

Small price to pay?

Posing for photos under the watchful eye of anti-imperialist Che Guevara, Michael Kirby was given a yellow scarf by Breakthrough youth leader Alena Arshinova and presented with flowers.

" - Breakthrough will never give up its fight for Pridnestrovie’s independence," said Arshinova, "but we are open to dialogue and friendship with all international institutions and foreign organizations."

" - The meeting with Michael Kirby made a positive impression on us. He is a real diplomat and intellectual person who can protect the interests of his country even in a difficult situation," she added.

His outreach effort was immediately criticized by nationalists in Moldova, where hardliners routinely resort to slurs and name-calling against any activity which aims to find common ground with Pridnestrovie (or Transnistria, as it is called in the Romanian language.)

Choosing to meet with Breakthrough, which is one of the most influential youth groups in the unrecognized country, did not earn Kirby any fans in Moldova either. Chisinau based Oazu Nantoi, a former presidential advisor who is now an anti-independence lobbyist, already bestowed the epithet "Hitlerjugend" on the Breakthrough activists. The term has been given wide media distribution by Moldovan agencies and by the OSCE-funded Conflict.md, a website operated by funds which in the majority come from the United States.

The slur appears to be based on a superficial reference to the use of yellow scarves by members of the group. Breakthrough does not have any racist political position and its members don't march in uniforms or engage in any other politics or activities similar to the Nazi era youth organization which Moldova compares it to. Apart from normal political activism, its members also frequently go clubbing together.

Experience from Korea

Michael Kirby was sworn in as Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova on August 30, 2006. He is a career Foreign Service Consular Officer and has served in the State Department for nearly 26 years. His non-political background is seen as an asset in dealing with conflict areas where flexibility is not seen as a sign of weakness but as diplomatic skill.

Prior to being named Ambassador to Moldova, he served as Consul General in the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Korea. From his posting in Korea he is familiar with prolonged territorial disputes. North Korea, an unreformed Communist-led dictatorship, has long been engaged in a struggle with its neighbors and with the United States about ceasing and dismantling their fledgling nuclear weapons program.

After a period of increasing confrontation, both American and North Korean negotiators have reached progress after each side softened its demands.

The money shot: Under the gazing eye of "El Che", U.S. Ambassador Michael Kirby (center, with flowers) poses for a family snapshot with members of the "Breakthrough" youth organization in Tiraspol, capital of Pridnestrovie. Smiles abound and the visit was seen as a success, following several recent failures of public diplomacy by Washington in the region (Photo: PMR News).

" - As a result, there’s now very good news for Americans on the North Korea nuclear reactor front. All it took was a change in US policy and people that resulted from the departure of obstructionists John Bolton, Robert Joseph and Donald Rumsfeld and the arrival of the realist Bob Gates," Patricia Lee Sharpe, a communications specialist with 22 years in the U.S. foreign service.

Patricia Lee Sharpe advocates "Michael Kirby-style" diplomacy of compromise and realism in conflict situations.

" - Let Bolton and Joseph fulminate at AEI as well as on the pages of the Weekly Standard and the Wall Street Journal – better than allowing them to continue to play block and tackle in sensitive government posts," says Patricia Lee Sharpe who has personal experience in conflict situations. Familiar with Russia and the Soviet Union, she lived in Moscow during a critical period in the Cold War in the 1970's.

In Tiraspol, youth activists now hope to engage the United States and other nations in a meaningful debate over how to improve human rights and democracy in the new and emerging country. A fair hearing will be possible when responsible diplomats realize the futility of obstructionists policies and realistically review Pridnestrovie's claim to statehood on its merits. (With information from PMR News)

See also:
» US charm tour to Tiraspol fails to impress locals
» U.S. Embassy holds free bluegrass concert in Bender
» American diplomats grilled by Tiraspol media, civil society