President Zelensky of Ukraine Addressing the United Nations Recently.
A Unranian Flag Flies From a Home on Munjoy Hill Last Year.
“Opportunity. We came to the US for opportunities,” said Dr. Calin Stoicov, who came to the US from Maldova 24 years ago. He and his wife Dr. Diana Vradii, hail from a country that’s northern border is on the southern border of Ukraine.
So the two medical doctors with family members still in Maldova are keeping a close watch on Putin’s illegal war on Ukraine and his despotic effort to reunite the country he rules as it was before the landlocked Maldova declared its independence in 1991; the same year that the Soviet Union dissolved.
Since its independence in 1991, Maldova has been beset with numerous challenges. Learning to govern itself where no tradition of self-governing had existed previously, establishing a suitable constitution, and shifting from a controlled economy to a free market economy was a challenge for this newly independent country made the transition as times a rocky road.
Food for thought as this nation watches the Trump administration’s efforts to establish an authoritarian nation in our democracy. At the same time, Moldova’s srandard of living, its quality and availability of public health and medical facilities have declined since 1991 – lowering life expectancy for its citizens.
The couple’s first stop in the US was in Massachusetts. That’s where they did some post graduate research; he on cancer. Now they are successfully established in the Brunswick area at the highly-regarded “Mid Coast Hospital” in separate private practices.
“Trump and Putin cannot divide the future of Ukranie without Zelensky being at the table,” said Calin as the three of us relaxed at an outdoor watering hole on the Portland waterfront over the weeked. “It’s all about what is right and what is wrong. It is wrong to invade another country without reason. Putin is a KGB trained criminal who wants to rebuild back the Soviet empire. We are always nervous about the Russians. because they are trouble makers,” said Calin, a kind and thoughtful man.. “If Putin were to die, a lot of problems in the world would be solved.”
He holds in high regard Moldova’s president: Maia Sandu, 53, who was educated at Harvard Kennedy School as well as at the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova. Recently President Sandu said: “A just and lasting peace can only be achieved with Ukraine at the table, deciding its own future. Europe is indispensable to this effort. Our shared security depends on it.”
Calin went on to say that he has friends at universities in New England whose research projects will not be funded because of Trump’s dismantlig of research projects. Those friends are at the University of Vermont and the University of Massachusetts – Worcester where he and Diana started their new life in America a few years ago.
“Everything has been good here, accept for when Trump got elected,” Calin emphasized. That as they dipped into another platter of fresh oysters from Damariscotta – this couple from the landlocked country of Maldova.
Late day news reports are that it was Putin who demanded that President Zelensky not be included in the Summit on Friday. Trump has lately downgraded expectations for the Summit calling it a “listening” session. We know that Trump expects some “land swapping” from Ukraine to Russia and that Putin does not want Ukraine to ever join NATO and to disarm itself.