A nation that doesn´t really exist

Chances are, you never heard of Transnistria. But no, Transnistria is not an imaginary place from some bad Bond movie or Tintin adventure story. The "nation" of Transnistria actually exists!

It's a relatively tiny area at the Moldovan-Ukrainian border, controlled by the Russian army but styling itself an "independent republic". They still use old Soviet Communist symbols, and even issue their own rubles (they are only valid in Transnistria itself). By international right, Transnistria is really part of Moldova, but the Moldovan government doesn't dare attacking it, due to the large contingent of Russian soldiers. NATO intervention would start World War III, so Transnistria stays.

And yes, they sell beautiful silver rubles with White swans and hammer-and-sickle symbols. I guess this somehow adds to their GNP.

The British Trotskyist magazine "Miltant" once expressed support for this wonderful workers' state with its multi-ethnic militia. (I still have that issue of their paper, so they can't deny it.) Which may or may not tell us which side *those* guys were really on during the 1990's.

Or perhaps they just preferred Transnistrian silver to Russian gold?

;-)