A controversial supplier of electricty from the frozen conflict zone of Transnistria to Moldova has an ownership structure linked to companies involved in a “billion dollar theft” from Moldova’s banking system in 2014 A preliminary investigative report into Moldova’s energy troubles published in The Black Sea and across dozens of the largest news sites in Moldova […]
Category Archives: Black Sea Politics
Reports and analyses on politics in the Black Sea region
Up to 100 recovering drug users have died in Crimea since Russia seized the Ukrainian peninsular and banned their medication A feature published in The Black Sea, The Influence (USA) and Matters of Substance (NZ) magazines Surrounded by seaside resorts, Crimea has been both a magnet for holidaymakers and drug users (picture copyright: Petrut Calinescu) “I had to abandon home, […]
Moldova’s political class is discredited, fragmented and unpopular at home and abroad – but is the opposition too divided to challenge the failed leadership of Europe’s poorest country? A feature – published here in The Black Sea CAMP NUMBER ONE I call the phone number of Ilian Casu, the deputy chairman of Partidul Nostru […]
A profile of Bucharest Mayoral candidate Nicusor Dan, published in CityMetric, part of the New Statesman group Standing behind 45 year-old doctor in maths Nicusor Dan is a wire shelf piled with hundreds of loose leaved files and cardboard folders. These are cases Dan and his team from NGO Save Bucharest! have brought against the […]
A feature published in The Black Sea and co-written with Zeynep Sentek Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is exporting his nation’s brand of Islam to over 30 multi-million mosque projects across five continents – but he risks creating monuments to a leadership in decline We map the mosque plans – from Havana to the Philippines, […]
A version of a feature published in EU Observer Click here for an in-depth story and map of Turkey’s global mega-mosque building plan Resistance is gearing up in Bucharest against a giant mosque proposed for the city and financed by Turkey, as part of its push to build huge religious centres in major global cities. […]
Stepping through the minefield of history to probe the prospect of unity between two countries at the choke point between the EU and Russia. A feature published in The Black Sea, EU Observer and Moldova.Org European empires have spent centuries carving up the territory of today’s Moldova, bartering pieces back and forth, stitching them together, attaching a […]
Bucharest’s State Jewish Theatre is a testament to the survival of the Yiddish culture through the Holocaust, Communism and Romania’s uneasy transition to democracy – yet now is threatened with collapse. A feature published in The Black Sea After the second world war, the theater was a lifeboat for Jewish performers, says Rudi Rosenfeld, actor […]
Racism is widespread through all major Romanian political parties – so there is no need for a far right movement to emerge. A feature written with Stefan Candea and published in EU Observer Snow, wind and sub-zero temperatures descended on Romania in February, gridlocking the roads, isolating villages, killing pensioners and causing panic […]
A report on the EU elections in May 2014, written with Stefan Candea and published in EU Observer Clientism, nepotism and corruption scandals among Romanian MEPs are set to contribute to a predicted record low turnout for the nation’s European elections. Romania’s leading parties are drawing up lists of MEP candidates which, with some exceptions, […]
Michael Bird Writer & Journalist 