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New media control laws
On 5 June 2008, Moldova's Parliament passed a law banning all publications whose content could be construed as a call to "territorial separatism." Journalist and newspaper publisher Des Grant of The Tiraspol Times & Weekly Review warns that this law is in breach of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.Today makes the sad day when censorship and the removal of press freedom has been enshrined by censorship laws in Moldova.
It would wrong to compare the Moldovan government to the Nazi leadership of war-time Germany but it is fair to say that the media control censorship laws introduced this week directly mirror the censorship laws introduced by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister.
It is no exaggeration to say this represents one of the darkest days in Central European journalism. The Moldovan Government's new law outlawing journalists and publications that report the views and opinions of democratically elected politicians and civil leaders in neighbouring Transnistria can only be described as a frightening removal of the basic right of free speech and the freedom of the press.
In many developed countries there are constitutional or statutory protections pertaining to common free speech that are enshrined in law. In such countries, freedom of the press implies that all people should have the right to express themselves in writing or in any other way of expression of personal opinion.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers."
The sort of censorship framework put in place by Moldova on June 5 normally only exists in countries where there is no system of democracy or where there are serious deficiencies in the democratic process.
Today is a dark day for journalists, publishers and others in both Moldova and Transnistria. International organisations dedicated to promoting issues of a free press should raise the flag and campaign for the repeal of this and similar laws.
Des Grant is a founder and co-publisher of The Tiraspol Times & Weekly Review, as well as newspapers in his native Ireland. Here, he is commenting on Moldova's recent law banning pro-independence news coverage about Pridnestrovie.
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It doesn't matter to the West who rules Transdniestria, as long as the territory's future is democratically decided by the people who live there. What matters far more is the future of geopolitical relations and the worldwide partnership with Russia, as U.S. military strategist Thomas P.M. Barnett points out. . . 
