Wow and must read.

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http://www.sublimeoblivion.com/2009/04/11/twitter-terror-moldova/

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I was thinking more about the Romania-Moldova reunion issue.

Offhand (will have to check) I don’t think there was much Moldovan opposition to Moldova being part of Romania during that period (between two world wars) – especially when compared to the situation of Ukrainians in Poland and Croats in Yugoslavia, at the same time in question.

Between the yay and nay reunion with Romania points of view among Moldovans, I sense there’s a sort of swing vote that can lean towards either of these two views. The determining factor being how Romania and Moldova each develop over the course of time. Like I said, for now, it’s an interesting topic – but not the lead point in relation to the Moldovan political situation.

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http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@319.pvilfSOaFIf@.7760b692/1429

Apologies to Andy & co. I find subject matter like this one to be of analtyical interest.

For now, the issue of Romanian-Moldovan reunification should be understood as something that’s hypothetically interesting but distant.

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Excerpted from the above linked RFE/RL article:

“Former Moldovan President Petru Lucinski told RFE/RL’s Moldova Service that there is no need to look further to explain the unrest.

‘I see it as an unorganized youth movement,” Lucinski said. “On the 6th, it was OK, but on the 7th there were more people coming and they could not be controlled. They didn’t have any leaders. One part went in one direction, a peaceful one. And another part took a violent turn’.”

****

IMO, this is very plausible. It caught many by surprise. The Moldovan Communists, the organized political parties opposing Voronin, as well as the Western election monitors, who initially were content enough to declare the election as passable.

In the Orange Ukrainian and Rose Georgian situations, the street demonstrators were in sync with the political grouping opposed to the existing status quo. There was also a clearer case of Western based support for the Orange and Rose supporters.

For now, Romania seems to be a factor in terms of the stated political leanings of some of the protesting Moldovan youths and the support they receive from elements in Romania. It’s not out of the realm to believe that Voronin might be embellishing the degree of Romanian involvement. Then again, this issue brings up Romanian government versus non-Romanian government involvement from Romania. The latter is the diplomatically more acceptable. I sense the latter might be more of an actual issue. Then again government versus non-government involvement can get murky. This is sometimes intentional for the reason stated in sentence four of this paragraph.

I’ve caught some increased commentary on the idea of Moldova becoming part of Romania. Besides, the Moldovan Communists, I suspect there’re other Moldovan political elites who are apprehensive of becoming part of a larger entity – where they stand to lose clout. Slovakia’s elites opted out of Czechoslovakia with this in mind. Their Czech counterparts like Klaus agreed because they saw Slovakia as an economic albatross for the Czech Republic. This point might play into why some in Romania might not be so keen on having Moldova as part of Romania.

BTW, if Romania and Moldova were to reunite, Gagauzia can legally separate from Moldova. A Romanian-Moldovan reunification probably lessons the chance of Pridnestrovie coming together with Moldova.

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Well, it is how it was played, certainly in the Ukraine.

And, you are right, it hasn’t stopped. Following the last couple of demos in Moldova and Georgia, it is a large part of the commentary. The promise of joining the cash-strapped West is currently not looking so attractive to some while others are rueing the loss of traditional markets and revenue . . even in terms of money sent home from Georgian expats in Russia.

These small economies need a foot in both camps to survive. You might even argue now that the Baltics and Poland would have fared better if they had been allowed this luxury. But it was all about ’spheres of influence’ and stuff the peasants who actually lived there.

Feel free to shoot me down . . . I don’t understand much about Ukraine . . . but it looks like a country that has got very little out of playing off Mum against Dad. The question is whether it was actually put in this untenable position . . . like Georgia certainly was . . which unravels fairly fast the minute the economy goes south.

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Around the time of the so-called “Orange Revolution” and before Moldova’s last presidential election, Voronin shifted to what’s perceived as a more Westward leaning direction. Pro-Orange supporter Ruslana campaigned for Voronin.

In more recent times, he took a noticeably different route, as the Orange Ukrainian and Rose Georgian experiences have waned a bit.

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@Chris – I admit it, I was lazy to call them pro-Western, and shouldn’t have done it. A little bit of me curls up and dies every time I use shorthand like that. Mostly because it’s usually inaccurate (at least partially) and often distracts from the real issues.

@ Aleks – Interestingly Baroness Nicholson (who was one of the OSCE observers, by the look of things) is saying that the OSCE had a “very, very strong feeling” that the election had been manipulated, but that they couldn’t prove it. Sounds like damage control to me…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7989360.stm

Normally both the protestors and european observers would be in step on this particular propaganda front. This leads to several questions such as is this a cocked up OrangyBuggery revolution? If so, someone either screwed up the coordination or the european election observers were caught out by the protests and thus failed to capitalize on them (this seems to me what Baroness Nicholson was moaning about, they blew the opportunity). Or, maybe it was a case of “if we start it, everything will fall into place” plan by the opposition or just an opportunistic action by the demonstrators only made possible by a fairly massive failure in intelligence and policing? The only thing I can predict is that several people (from the latter services) will loose their jobs over this.

Matters pertaining to former Soviet space shouldn’t be exclusively seen in the manner of choosing between either Russia or the West. This point reminds me a bit of the Cold War era created non-aligned movement.

It’s incorrect to suggest that Moldova is “pro-West” in terms of automatically being against Russia. In the lead up to the just completed Moldovan election, Voronin made pointed comments that could be seen as critical of some mainstream Western attitudes, while being Soviet nostalgic. A counter spin to that view would say that he’s pursuing a balanced policy that takes into primary consideration the best interests of Moldova (whether one completely agrees with his views is another thing).

As an EU and NATO member, Romania is considered part of the West. Of late, the Communist led government of Moldova shows signs of being on better terms with Russia than Romania. At the same time, the Moldovan government isn’t against Moldova becoming an EU member – as it remains in the CIS. Moldovan enthusiasm for joining NATO isn’t as great as seeking EU membership.

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This psychological need on the part of Western and Eastern commentators to see every upheaval in the post-Soviet space as part of a West vs. East struggle must stop.

As to be expected, some salient points from you.

Soviet mismanagement aside, Moldova hasn’t fared particularly well since independence.

Your observation of pro-union with Romania sentiment in Moldova differs from the pro-Russian sentiment to be found in the disputed former Moldavian SSR territory of Pridnestrovie. This relates in part to the historical differences between the two (this includes Pridnestrovie having a more lengthier time in affiliation with Russia and Ukraine – when they were part of a single entity – as opposed to Moldova’s period as part of Romania).

As reported in the mass media at large, the Western monitoring of the just completed Moldovan vote expresses the view that although problematical, the process was acceptable in overall terms.

Moldova is of varied minds. A recent RFE/RL commentary from a Moldovan non-Communist source acknowledges the relatively high popularity of Putin in Moldova.

Seeking full EU membership versus receiving it aren’t necessarily the same. Meantime, life goes on with Moldovans having to consider the best available options.

Michael Averko´s last blog post..Gov. David A. Paterson: An Embarrassment To New York

Or more. Going back to Soviet times, it was horribly exploited in agricultural terms, resulting in fairy terminal land use strategies and soil pollution. More recently, Moldova was subjected to the same kind of wine embargoes as Georgia.

When the US was into buying new friends in Eastern Europe, Moldova believed it would be one of the number. I notice today there are many EU flags flying and Moldovans claiming to be part of Romania. Trouble is, Romania is one of those countries queuing at the IMF for a handout and the last thing the EU Central Bank or IMF wants is another destitute country.

There’s a lot of uncertainty for all the East European countries but certainly Moldova has been cut adrift in the modern version of the Great Game by East and West. All rather sad.

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