Revolution in Republic of Moldova

[FutureTaoiseach]

I imagine the ones with the Romanian flags would be happy. The existing elite would be unhappy. The elite tend to be Slavic. The non-elite slavic minority may go either way. If Moldova joined Romania they would be in the EU and would benefit from this.

It should be noted that in the census the govt does not allow respondents to give their ethnicity as Romanian, they have to give "Moldovan". Its a bit like telling someone from Crossmaglen that their nationality isn't Irish, its Ulsterman.

Perhaps you think that because the president's name is Vladimir Voronin, but in fact he is of native Moldovan origins, rather than Russian. His name is Russified but he is not an ethnic-Russian. It might be more correct to describe the elite as "pro-Russian", with the Slavic element mostly living in Transnistria.

[marmurr1916]

The two flags are almost identical:





If my memory serves me correctly, Moldovan only differs from Romanian in that it uses the Cyrillic alphabet?

Not any more.

Moldovia is pretty much identical to Bessarabia, a province of the Kingdom of Romania (formerly part of the Russian empire) which Stalin incorporated into the Soviet Union.

Slavs, mostly Ukrainian and Russian, are the majority of the population in Transnistria.

Moldavia is essentially Romanian: about 75% of the population is ethnic Romanian; that proportion is higher if Transnistria is excluded.

The problems in Moldavia seem to stem mainly from an inter-generational clash between older people who value the certainty of the current system, and younger people who want the country to modernise, re-unite with Romania and join the EU.

[HSima]

Voronin (President) is accusing Romania of fomenting the clashes and so are the Russians. The Romanian ambassador is being expelled and the Moldovan envoy in Bucharest has been recalled "for consultations".

I wonder what Moldovans feel about reunification?

At the moment people are biased because of false propaganda on the national TV and papers the always tend to show footage from the WW2 showing disaster that it has caused, basically brainwashing like in the old soviet days, taking in consideration the head of the state was a former general of interior ministry and secret service forces - to normal people a moldovan branch of KGB.

[HSima]

The two flags are almost identical:





If my memory serves me correctly, Moldovan only differs from Romanian in that it uses the Cyrillic alphabet?

Wrong! it uses latin alphabet, Soviet propaganda again created a made up language to distort peoples believes that they originate from romanian descent.

[HSima]

Not any more.

Moldovia is pretty much identical to Bessarabia, a province of the Kingdom of Romania (formerly part of the Russian empire) which Stalin incorporated into the Soviet Union.

Slavs, mostly Ukrainian and Russian, are the majority of the population in Transnistria.

Moldavia is essentially Romanian: about 75% of the population is ethnic Romanian; that proportion is higher if Transnistria is excluded.

The problems in Moldavia seem to stem mainly from an inter-generational clash between older people who value the certainty of the current system, and younger people who want the country to modernise, re-unite with Romania and join the EU.

To be honest I don't want to draw parallels but Northern Ireland annexation by the Brits in some ways seems similar, I heard a lot folks south of border talking about that when generation of catholics prevails over the one unionists they might be unification with Ireland ? therefore if younger generation prevails over the older one that was educated and brainwashed for so many years in soviet style then there might a referendum and unification providing the favorable political parties come to power.

[HSima]

I saw the European flag among the demonstrators.

I just wondered what is our interest in tickling Russia.

Absolutely! thats why EU & US keeping it mum at the moment and Russia is blaring from all directions that it is a sponsored "coup d'etat", unfortunately for Moldovan younger people (I won't vouch for older generation as they still leave in a fantasy land called USSR in their minds anyway) this is russia's sphere of influence as they call it "our ally" ("ally" my arse) lets not forget that we talking eastern EU & NATO Border i think its pretty strategic even in NATO's point of view, this is another russian enclave like the one sandwiched between poland and latvia. Its very simple the one up north has easy access to northern part of EU, the one in the south to southern part of EU because lets be honest they have already lost Bulgaria and in the near future Serbia will be gone too from their sphere of influence.

Russia doesn't sleep to which I can say about NATO is in deep sleep at the moment.

[baiet frumos]

The two flags are almost identical:





If my memory serves me correctly, Moldovan only differs from Romanian in that it uses the Cyrillic alphabet?

there's no significant difference in the two countries. Since around the time of the breakup of the USSR, Moldovan is now also in the Latin alphabet. No real difference in the language.

The vast majority of the Moldovans do not want reunification with Romania. All they want is a democatic country free of corruption.

But they're stuck between the extremists on either side who either want to reunite with Romania or kiss Russian ass. And of course both sides of the centre are as corrupt as hell

[Gadjodilo]

Wrong! it uses latin alphabet, Soviet propaganda again created a made up language to distort peoples believes that they originate from romanian descent.

But it did use the Cyrillic alphabet, no? I know the languages are the same and I know it was just a Soviet ploy to create a false identity.

[FutureTaoiseach]

On the Russian offer to partition Moldova with Romania:

In [COLOR=#0066cc]2004[/COLOR], the Romanian newspaper [COLOR=#0066cc]Ziua[/COLOR] published a series of articles claiming that a senior Russian diplomat proposed to the Romanian government a plan that he claimed "came from president [COLOR=#0066cc]Putin[/COLOR] himself", which would leave the west bank of Moldova in Romania in exchange for a Romanian recognition of [COLOR=#0066cc]Transnistrian[/COLOR] independence. Russian president Putin has neither confirmed nor denied the statements of the Romanian newspaper. Nevertheless, Romanian journalists and scholars immediately dismissed the plan since it would not address the question of the city of [COLOR=#0066cc]Tighina[/COLOR] which is under [COLOR=#0066cc]Transnistrian[/COLOR] control yet in [COLOR=#0066cc]Moldova[/COLOR] proper, nor would address the question of how Russia would manage to convince Moldova, a sovereign and independent state, to join a political union with Romania.

Polls on reunification in Romania and Moldova:

According to a March 2006 poll in Romania, 51% of Romanians support a union with Moldova, 27% are against, and another 10% declined to answer[COLOR=#0066cc][17][/COLOR]. Also, of those supporting the union, 28% support a union with Moldova, including [COLOR=#0066cc]Transnistria[/COLOR], while the rest of 16% support a union without Transnistria.[COLOR=#0066cc][18][/COLOR]
In July 2006, the Romanian president, Traian Băsescu, said that he had made a proposal of union to the Moldovan president, [COLOR=#800080]Vladimir Voronin[/COLOR], enabling Romania and Moldova to join the EU together. The offer, however, had been refused and Băsescu said that he would respect this decision and that Romania would help Moldova find its own way to integrate with the EU. [COLOR=#0066cc][19][/COLOR]

Following independence, declared on [COLOR=#0066cc]27 August[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0066cc]1991[/COLOR], the Romanian tricolor, with a Moldovan coat-of-arms, was adopted as the national flag. In addition, [COLOR=#0066cc]Deşteaptă-te, române![/COLOR], the Romanian national anthem, also became that of Moldova. [COLOR=#0066cc][9][/COLOR]
However, soon afterward, within the [COLOR=#0066cc]Moldovan Popular Front[/COLOR], there was a disagreement over the issue of the union with Romania,[COLOR=#0066cc][12][/COLOR] which resulted in a separation of Mircea Snegur's group in October 1991.
While many Moldovan writers and intellectuals supported the union and wanted a "reunion with the Romanian motherland",[COLOR=#0066cc][13][/COLOR] there was little popular support, with more than 70% of the Moldovans rejecting it, according to some 1992 polls.[COLOR=#0066cc][14][/COLOR] Nevertheless, [COLOR=#0066cc]Transnistria[/COLOR] used the movement for unification with Romania as a pretext for declaring its independence.[COLOR=#0066cc][14][/COLOR]

[HSima]

But it did use the Cyrillic alphabet, no? I know the languages are the same and I know it was just a Soviet ploy to create a false identity.

It did you are right, but again it was enforced upon, so russian speaking population could easily learn local language. Think english with cyrillic alphabet it sounds crazy doesn't it ?