Moldova: A Neo-Cold-War Battlefield
Recent developments in Moldova have placed the former Soviet republic, strategically placed at the hub of Central and Southeastern Europe’s energy corridors, at the center of Russia’s occasionally tense relations with the West. On February 7, echoing the rhetoric and mindset of half a century ago, Senator Richard Lugar, a leading NATO expansionist and Russophobic hawk, demanded that Obama put pressure on Medvedev to “solve” the issue of the Trans-Dniester region that seceded from Moldova in the early 1990s. It’s as if the Berlin Wall had never fallen . . .
Mr. Lugar’s idea of a solution is to have the region absorbed into Moldova in exchange for limited, pro-forma autonomy. This is opposed by the inhabitants of the breakaway region, who overwhelmingly support independence, and by Moscow. The position of Kiev is ambivalent, however: the supposedly pro-Russian president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, has suggested a solution broadly in line with the preferences of the authorities in Kishinev. At the same time, somewhat surprisingly, the pro-Romanian and “pro-European” interim leadership of Moldova is making conciliatory gestures to Moscow. The acting president Marian Lupu met with Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov over the weekend and expressed his desire for a “strategic relationship” with Russia.
The current political and constitutional deadlock in Moldova is an example of how the “international community’s” meddling in the affairs of former Soviet countries causes instability and tension. Since early 2009, Moldova has been without an elected president and in April of that year endured deadly riots in the failed “Grape Revolution.”
Since becoming independent in 1991, Moldova has struggled with its identity. Moldovans are an ethnic group closely related to Romanians but with a strong Slavic (mostly Ukrainian and Polish) admixture due to the fact that the area now known as Moldova was part of the Russian Empire until 1918 (when it was seized by Romania) and part of the Soviet Union from 1940-1941 and 1944-1991. The Moldovan language is a dialect of Romanian with borrowed Slavic words.
The Soviet authorities were supportive of the development of a distinct Moldovan culture as a matter of state policy. The fruits were considerable, especially in the field of folk music and literature. The government also implemented an affirmative action-style program which made it fairly easy for Moldovans to obtain university degrees and leadership positions, at the expense of Slavs and Jews. For the first time in history, under the Soviet auspices in the decades following the Second World War, Moldovans acquired an indigenous intelligentsia.
With the relaxation of controls on speech and thought under Gorbachev’s glasnost policy, newly risen Moldovan intellectuals began to advocate a Romanian identity for Moldovans and clamor for “reunification” with Romania. They adopted the Greater Romania ideology of Corneliu Codreanu and Ion Antonescu, which called for Moldova and parts of Ukraine with Moldovan minorities or which used to belong to the Greater Romania of 1918-1940 (i.e. Bukovina and southern Bessarabia) to be reabsorbed into Romania. A vociferous Russophobia and disdain of all things Slavic have been a cardinal component of Greater Romanian irredentism. The perestroika proponents of Moldova’s Romanian identity were nevertheless careful to avoid the virulent Jew-hatred which had been the hallmark of the Romanian fascist movement. The pro-Romanian intellectuals knew that they depended on the support and good graces of the “international community” which they were loath to antagonize.
The pro-Romanian agitators seized control of Moldovan politics and journalism in the late 1980s. They began a vociferous campaign for reunification with Romania and the curtailment of the rights of Russian-speakers, who were harangued and assaulted. Ironically, the people who were denouncing and denigrating all things Russian had come to occupy their academic and political positions because of the policies of those hated “Russophone occupiers.” The anti-Russian agitation and threats caused a territorial split in Moldova when the Trans-Dniester region seceded in the early 1990s. Trans-Dniester is the territory between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian border and is mostly populated by Russians and Ukrainians, with a significant Moldovan minority. This area was never part of Romania. The inhabitants of Trans-Dniester declared first autonomy and then complete independence. Their action was very similar to the Krajina Serbs’ attempted secession from Croatia. Like Croatia, Moldova responded with violence.
Starting in 1990, Moldovan paramilitaries infiltrated Trans-Dniester and murdered both officials and ordinary civilians. The skirmishes resulted in relatively few casualties until Moldovan troops, backed by Romanian volunteers, launched a full-fledged attack on the Trans-Dniester city of Bendery, breaking a ceasefire with the Trans-Dniester authorities. The city was indiscriminately shelled, causing the deaths of hundreds of civilians, and then ransacked by the Moldovan forces. Russia’s 14th Army, then led by the famous Gen. Aleksandr Lebed, finally intervened when Moldovans attacked his soldiers. Together, Russian and Trans-Dniester forces beat back the Moldovan advance and a ceasefire was declared later that summer. The uneasy status quo is still in effect; like Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Trans-Dniester is de facto independent but not recognized by the “international community.”
The pro-Romanian agitators were finally driven out of power in 2001, after their rule made Moldova the poorest country in Europe and one where over a quarter of the adult population lived and worked abroad (mostly in Russia). The Party of the Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) came to power and its leader, Vladimir Voronin, became president (in Moldova, presidents are elected by at least 61 votes of the 120-seat parliament). Belying its name, the PCRM is a social-democratic party that originally advocated a pro-Russian foreign policy free of the infatuation with NATO and the EU.
Voronin soon became antagonistic toward Russia, however, and made overtures to the West, but his belated genuflections did not result in any Western support for him and his party. When he stepped down in 2009 due to term limits, the “international community” backed the newly resurgent pro-Romanian faction. The PCRM won the election, but failed to gain enough seats to elect the new president. At that moment pro-Romanian agitators, egged on by their Western backers, launched a series of riots known as the Grape Revolution. The riots were soon suppressed, but not before the marauding youths succeeded in looting and torching the country’s parliament and the presidential offices. A new election in the summer of 2009 again gave the PCRM the highest number of seats but not enough to choose a president. Ever since, Moldova has been “governed” by a coalition of pro-Romanian parties with the parliamentary speaker in the role of “acting president.”
This present imbroglio is due to endless Western meddling in Moldova’s affairs. By encouraging Romania’s irredentist interference, the “international community” has destabilized the country. The West should recognize that Moldova is dependent on Russia for natural gas, oil, and labor markets—things that Romania cannot provide. By letting Moldova take its rightful place in the Russian sphere, a major point of contention between Russia and the West will be avoided. The last thing the West needs is an armed conflict between Russia and Romania over Moldova and Trans-Dniester.
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"The last thing the West needs is an armed conflict between Russia and Romania over Moldova and Trans-Dniester."
If by the "West" you mean folks like those reading Chronicles I agree with you. On the other hand if the "West" is better represented by, say, neocons and/or Clinton types, then I am quite sure they would love to see armed conflict there in order to create havoc and misery. Divide and conquer...
This article is in the spirit of the analyses of Srdja Trifkovic - penetrating and shedding light on a geopolitical situation that Americans have little knowledge of. Such lack of knowledge is why Americans are so easily duped by the siren-songs of the Lugars of the world. So that instead of minding our own business we butt into places where by our ignorance we increase the volatility of already volatile situations and cause damage to other nations and ultimately to ourselves.
"Those people," the "good" Senator apparently being one of them, simply cannot stand or tolerate secession. It is particularly galling that a Republican mouth piece for our own far reaching Hobbesian state demands that other states do its dirty work in remote places where folks are merely attempting to make their own way in custom, habit and tradition. I suppose that this hubris is based on the will to power - there ain't never enough of it; on some ideological notion that this little "undemocratic" piece of land needs "democracy," even if we impose it through the Russians; and, following the money, on the interest in how oil and gas gets from there to yonder.
Oh, they not merely "tolerate" but actively support secession when it's our KLA allies in Kosovo seceding from Serbia. They would have loved to see Chechnya secede from Russia.
Dr. Trifkovic @ 4
You are, of course, correct. Secession which fits their global strategy is not only fine but is to be encouraged, with force of arms if necessary. Secession which does not fit their global strategy is not fine and is to be resisted, with force of arms if necessary.
Of course -- everything is sui generis, and nothing fits into a pattern, or conforms to a principle. The Man keeps reinventing himself and his history.
Thank you for the responses. What the "international community" didn't know or perhaps knew but chose to ignore was the reign of terror imposed by the pro-Romanian faction in the early 90s on Russian-speakers. I remember a young Russian man was stabbed to death outside a church in the center of Kishinev and the pool of blood was there as a reminder of what to expect; a friend of my parents was pushed off the bus for answering in Russian when a man asked her in "Romanian" what time it was; my grade school teacher of "Romanian" used to insult and harangue us (the school was exclusively Russian-speaking) for not learning the "state language" quickly enough. Overall, a situation reminiscent of the one the Serbs faced when Tudjman's neo-Ustasas came to power in Croatia.
What an excellent piece of Russian propaganda.
It starts early on: "[...] the area now known as Moldova was part of the Russian Empire until 1918 (when it was seized by Romania)". Moldova was never part of the Russian Empire, only a part of it (Bessarabia - present day Republic of Moldova) was seized by the Russians in 1812, after the Russo-Turkish war, a province that rightfully returned to Romania in 1918, since Moldova (the historical principality) became part of Romania in 1859.
Then this:"The Soviet authorities were supportive of the development of a distinct Moldovan culture as a matter of state policy. The fruits were considerable, especially in the field of folk music and literature. The government also implemented an affirmative action-style program which made it fairly easy for Moldovans to obtain university degrees and leadership positions, at the expense of Slavs and Jews. For the first time in history, under the Soviet auspices in the decades following the Second World War, Moldovans acquired an indigenous intelligentsia."
Of course, the Soviet authorities showed their full support for a 'distinctive Moldovan culture' by deporting in the '40s 400,000 Moldovans to Siberia (1/4 of the population, even today there is a 100,000 people with Moldovan roots in Siberia), especially those with intellectual occupations, who pose a threat to the Soviet regime.
Then, in the 50s the Soviets tried hard to demonstrate that the Moldovan language and culture are of Slavic origin, and concocted a fake Moldovan language and identity, devoid of words of Latin origin and Romanian references. Of course, the experiment failed miserably and was dropped in late 50s by the Khrushchev regime.
This did not make any easier for any white collar Moldovan to get a job in his home country and most had to leave for a better paid job in Moscow or Leningrad. And it is also the reason why the Moldovan cities of today are inhabited by a majority of Russian native speakers like Mr. Girin here, who complain that learning the lowly Moldovan language, official in the state, is below their status.
I will not write a full rebuttal of this article because it will be longer than the article itself. The article is permeated too deep with Russian falsehoods. Though I will say this to Mr. Girin: Bessarabia will be part of Romania, be it in 5 or 25 years, so embrace the change, do not fear it. Romania has a good track of protecting minorities, the Hungarian minority in Romania enjoys broad rights compared to other ethnic minorities in Europe.
Dan, who is an aspiring Rumanian propagandist (the revival of the spelling Romanian is, by the way, a propaganda bid to Westernize a decidedly East-European people of very mixed ethnicity), but he objects to a Moldovan having a different point of view. Mr. Girin did not write in praise of the Soviet regime but only pointed to its support--typical of communist regimes--in promoting divisive ethnic nationalisms. The fact that the Soviets pursued different strategies in different decades is entirely irrelevant to the question, as he would acknowledge if he were not repeating propaganda. Fake identities and fake languages are the imperialists' stock in trade. How any of his misleading or irrelevant arguments detract from Mr. Girin's strictures on idiots like Lugar or American support for anti-Russian movements, I leave it to the experts to say, and by experts, I do not mean historians but experts in propaganda and mass delusion.
Thank you, Dr. Fleming for the response and for pointing out the spelling issue - I noticed that in British English, "Roumanian" is also used.
Dan writes: "This did not make any easier for any white collar Moldovan to get a job in his home country and most had to leave for a better paid job in Moscow or Leningrad. And it is also the reason why the Moldovan cities of today are inhabited by a majority of Russian native speakers like Mr. Girin here, who complain that learning the lowly Moldovan language, official in the state, is below their status."
Also, if Dan thinks Bessarabia will be part of Rumania, does he then admit that Trans-Dniester should be independent or part of Russia? After all, Trans-Dniester was never part of Bessarabia and was never controlled by the Rumanians apart from 1941-1944 when the area was a giant concentration camp/execution ground used by the Rumanians to annihilate Jews and Slavs.
- The real situation was exactly reverse. Russian-speakers (Russians, Ukrainians, and Jews) had to leave Moldova to go to university (as happened to my father who went to Kiev and then St. Petersburg). Also, Moldovan cities today are mostly inhabited by Moldovans, not Russians or Jews. Most of the Russians went back to Russia during the late 1980s and early 1990s while the Jews moved to Israel or America (like my family). Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kishinev was mostly Slavic and Jewish not Moldovan. But the Russian speakers were driven out by pro-Rumanian agitators (their common slogans were: "Russians over the Dniester, Jews into the Dniester" and "Suitcase, Train Station, Russia!").
This is an insightful piece that further outlines the continuing - and seemingly expanding - determination of America's ruling elite to antagonize the Russians to no sane purpose.
I recall from my civics classes that there is an age requirement for one to hold a US Senate seat; I apparently have forgotten that the position also requires one be an ignoramus of all things historical and cultural. I certainly fail, off the top of my head, to think of a current exception.
OK here's the obvious solution: Send the Russians back to Russia, the Romanians back to Romania, then round up the gypsies from all the rest of Europe, and stick them in the region instead. Face it, everybody else detests them, so give them a homeland and then surround the place with a couple of very tall barbed wire fences topped with razor ribbon, and place punji sticks between them and sic rabid rottweilers in there too. The locals won't complain one bit. Guaranteed.
Etienne,
if every ethnicity had its own land, that might just be utopia. It's a shame the powers-that-be aren't served by such an ideology.
I cannot say I'm surprised in the least by the mindless meddling of the Gay Old Party senator from Indiana - whose moniker should be changed to Incitatus Posterior. He's been a globalist advocate of Neo-Trottery for decades. He's the very model of a modern moron senator here in the Bankrupt Banksta Banana Republic.
My jew friend of Moldova, you camed to kill moldovians in 40-th with Soviet terorist red army created by askenaz jew (Dzerjinsky, Lenin, Trotzky...) you still do terror in Transnistria region with russian 14-th army! You strated a war with Moldova in 1992 and you attempt that we love you?!
Shut up with this propaganda!
I approved "Moldovian" to give a sample of what Rumanian nationalism can be like. It is one of many and by no means the most stupid and ungrammatical. I suppose it will do no good, but I shall point out any way that this is an American website, whose foreign policy angle is the American Interest, not the Rumanian, Moldovan, or Russian interest. We publish articles from a variety of points of view with an eye toward enlightening our readers. As every ragtag ethnicity in the world tries to drag in the US, whining out the familiar tale of every suppressed minority and bleating its litany of complaints against all the outrages against human rights etc they have suffered, in the hope of attracting US support for a nationalist campaign whose end results are chaos and violence, we think it useful to show the counter-story. What Moldovian has done is to prove our point in spades. Given the chance, he will exterminate first the Jews and then the Russians, and what is next? Hungarians? Do what you will--if the big bad Russian bear will let you--but leave us out of your smelly nationalist mania.
Here is another one, and if anyone knows what he is trying to say, I wish you'd let me know: Note the easy familiarity with which he addresses a stranger, the assumption that we are all Russian propagandists. Just another wild and crazy guy. I remember visiting a friend in Novi Sad, and my wife remarked that we were close enough to the border to visit Rumania. "Why," asked the friend, would anyone go to Rumania?" We put her remark down to traditional ethnic hostility, since the only Rumanians I have known were very nice people. Now, I am not so sure my friend did not know something. An interesting fact, when disgruntled Rumanians brutally murdered the ugly communist dictator, they quickly proceeded to throw off the shackles of servitude, especially Ceacescu's law against abortion. In 1990 they killed more than 992,000 of their babies. Now that's democratic revolution with a vengeance. The rate has fallen over the years down to just 638 per 1000 live births, roughly twice the American rate, and our society is one vast abortion mill. The poor devils are infanticiding themselves out of existence. Abortion is nature's way of telling a people it is time to exit the stage, first the Rumanians and then us.
@ Thomas.
I see you have censured some comments, yet posted “others”, such as this “Moldovan” commen whom you picked up immediately as “Romanian” proof of “nationalism”.
For you information, your guy (if there is one like Eugene) is a lame one. Is this the Russian best? C’mon! LOL
From Russia with love!
What a disgusting, ridiculous and biased article! How can an educated person be so incoherent in what he is saying?!
I will give up some of my time to enlighten the author (if there is any left space for enlightenment).
First of all, Bessarabia (which always was a part of Moldova, one of three Romanian principalities) was occupied by Russian Empire in 1812. In 1918 it gained its independence and re-united with Romania. More than 75% of Moldova’s inhabitants are Romanians and the language is also Romanian, with some peculiarities, due to Russian colonization. After the II WW, 2/3 of Bessarabia was forced to join Soviet Union due to Soviet Union ultimatum. Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic was formed with 2/3 of Bessarabia territory. The rest (1/3) was incorporated in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, because it was a strategic territory for Soviet Union, due to its access to Danube and Black Sea.
“The Soviet authorities were supportive of the development of a distinct Moldovan culture as a matter of state policy. The fruits were considerable, especially in the field of folk music and literature. The government also implemented an affirmative action-style program which made it fairly easy for Moldovans to obtain university degrees and leadership positions, at the expense of Slavs and Jews.”
What a rough disinformation! Dear Evghenii, which are the “considerable fruits” in folk music and literature during Soviet Union? I would like to see some examples …. During Soviet Union everything was in Russian, my parents studied in their high-school in so-called Moldovan language (Stalin’s diabolic mind formed a new language out of Romanian words and Cyrillic alphabet), and were obliged to study in Russian at University. Until now in Moldovan Parliament there are deputies that do not know Romanian language and talk only in Russian. This you call ”action-style program which made it fairly easy for Moldovans to obtain university degrees and leadership positions”? “At the expense of Slavs and Jews”, shouldn’t it be on merit and not on nationality? I don’t understand your frustration and it seems you have a long-term one… You emigrated to US and you are writing articles in English, right? What about a big majority of Russians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians who did not left Moldova, are they able to write an article in Romanian language, in the language of the country where they live for 20, 30 or even 40 years? And of course there are some exceptions, and I apologize in advance for my good Russian, Ukrainian friends who live in Moldova and speak Romanian fluently, but a big majority of Russian minority can’t say one word in Romanian.
“For the first time in history, under the Soviet auspices in the decades following the Second World War, Moldovans acquired an indigenous intelligentsia.” Really? Soviet Union deported all the poets, doctors, engineers, teachers, etc. to Siberia and after that they formed” an indigenous intelligentsia”, don’t be ridiculous!!
You make a Moldovan phenomenon out of the fact the Jews were leaving Moldova after 1990 and it is not true, Jews from all over Soviet Union were leaving. I have friends (Jews) from Chechnia who left in early ‘90s for Canada. Your family left for US, because Moldova was poor as the rest of Soviet Union was, everyone was looking for better conditions, regardless of their nationality: Romanian, Jew, Russian, etc.
“The anti-Russian agitation and threats caused a territorial split in Moldova when the Trans-Dniester region seceded in the early 1990s.” A complete false statement. It was Russian army who provoked the conflict and took the part of secessionists. It was a Moldovan-Russian war and since 1992 Russian soldiers did not leave the territory of Republic of Moldova, despite Russian international engagement to do so. The European Court of Human Rights pronounced itself on this issue in Ilasco case.
“The uneasy status quo is still in effect; like Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Trans-Dniester is de facto independent but not recognized by the “international community.” De facto independent? Maybe that is why Moldova pays for Trans-Dniester debts? What kind of independence is this, when they had the same criminal president for 20 years? What kind of independence when they are asking to split the grants given by international community to Moldova in 2010? This is how you understand the independence? Again, don’t be ridiculous, and document yourself before writing such articles!
Evhenii, why are you so frustrated that Moldova potentially could become a member of EU and/or part of Romania? Had you ever heard about the right of auto - determination of nations? Scary, ah? Why is this call to international community to leave Moldova under Russian zone of influence if we DO NOT want to be a Russian colony never again. You should be very naive to talk about a military conflict between Romania and Russia. I assure you there are plenty of other methods to solve Transdneistr conflict. Regarding the question, you addressed to Dan , “if Dan thinks Bessarabia will be part of Rumania, does he then admit that Trans-Dniester should be independent or part of Russia? After all, Trans-Dniester was never part of Bessarabia and was never controlled by the Rumanians...” Dear Evhenii, had ever Bukovina and southern Bessarabia been a part of Ukraine before 1945? The answer is NO. Mainly inhabited by Romanian, they are still part of Ukraine. You see, everything is much simpler than it seems.
Therefore, do not lose your time writing useless articles in the areas where you have neither the necessary competence, nor the necessary objectivism.
@ 16 Comment by Thomas Fleming on 11 February 2011
Romania is one of the most pro-Israel country in Eastern Europe. For example, as far as I remember, Israel's military was allowed to conduct training in Romania after the late political split with Turkey.
Saying that Romanians would exterminate the Jews, or any other people, is nothing but stupid. Sorry, as plain as it sounds, but it's true.
Other than that, Moldova should join the EU if it is to get rid of poverty. Romania for example has now a GDP/capita roughly 4 times bigger than Moldova (whereas in 1990 things were pretty even in between the 2 countries) and a lot of Moldovans work in Romania as a result.
Konstantin
I thought this was a relatively unknown website on a small corner of the internet.
How incredible is it that when ethnonationalist issues relating to tiny countries of the former Soviet bloc come up, so many new posters suddenly appear.
It's as if a tiger prowls, just waiting for that lone article on Romania, Moldova, Belarus, Serbia, or whatever one of those regions, to fight back national glory.
PS: Dr. Fleming, what do you feel about the two famous epic Slavic manuscripts written in the early 1800s by a few Czechs who forged them as documents of medieval antiquity and proof of Czech identity? It goes well with your point about fake identities and languages.
I most certainly did not say that Rumanians wanted to kill Jews. What I did imply was that the poster's not so subtle attack on Mr. Girin's Jewishness was a sign of the nationalist hatred that targets minorities. The nationalist rhetoric of Czechs, Croats, Hungarians all comes down to Lebensraum for my people and death to the others. And what welcome news to the poor taxpayers of the EU. Now they will have Moldovans to take care of. Konstantin, once again, is the typical nationalist who sifts patiently for bits of evidence. I frankly don't care much whether people are anti-Semtic or not, but a deal with Israel--or rather with the US--is supposed to make up for the atrocities committed by the Iron Guard? What I don't understand is why these people think we Americans are supposed to care that much about the Hell they have made of their countries and why we are supposed to protect them from each other. I am very proud to have spent an hour, along with Dr. Trifkovic, listening to and questioning general Lebed, a man who know how to deal with Rumanian-Moldovan nationalists on the rampage.
Of course, the nationalist rhetoric (and actions) of Russians also give pause to all those peoples with the misfortune of bordering land that is Russian or that Russians think should be Russian.
Thomas, you stated that Romanians would be exterminating the Jews, starting from a post made by a person who calls himself "Moldovan". I think that's quite too much of a statement and I hope you see why you are wrong.
Romania doesn't have only a "deal" with Israel, and I believe its purpose is not to account for Romania's past mistakes. Romania was a very strong friend of Israel during communism and after. The fact that it offered to help Israel to train its military after Turkey refused to do that is a tiny part of that friendship relationship.
The same as Greece.
As for the hell you imply Romania is, you are wrong. Romania is a pretty good place to live and do business, very much similar to Greece. It's certainly no heaven, but a good place to live in Europe.
@ 21 Comment by Thomas Fleming
In my view, being a nationalist does not imply you hate other nations. And EU will not have to take care of Moldovans, what a disinformation! There are many minorities living in peace in Moldova, they have all their rights guaranteed by laws and International Conventions which were signed by Moldovan Government, and even an autonomous region in South of Moldova for descendants of orthodox Turks (Gagauz-ery. There are schools and universities in Russian language in Moldova.
"What I don’t understand is why these people think we Americans are supposed to care that much about the Hell they have made of their countries and why we are supposed to protect them from each other"
I guess when US invaded Iraq, you did it in the name of democratic values/ OIL - Operation Iraq Liberation, right?
As for your belief that the alleged EU financial contribution to the development of its new members, well it's mostly untrue and shows a poor knowledge of the EU. Most of the EU budget goes back to its big members, while the development in the former communist countries came from foreign investors like me and others who put money into these countries. The EU money is just a tiny fraction of the foreign investments the stability and standards of EU membership drove to these countries.
Just to make myself better understood on the Moldova joining the EU comment: Romania and Moldova were on a par in 1990 in terms of development. 20 years after, Romania is 4 times more developed than Moldova. Certainly the communist party and the isolation of the country, there didn't help Moldova develop. Russia was of not much help either and Russia's resources oriented economy in general cannot help Moldova's economy develop.
The new pro-EU orientation will help her though because of the removal of trade barriers in between the EU and Moldova which means Moldova will be able to export more into the EU (Moldova's economy has shifted already towards the EU over 70%) and companies from EU will want to produce there and export into the EU. This is very good news and will make Moldova more attractive. You guys sound too negativistic here. I see good news for Moldova joining the EU including for the stability in Transnistria. People in Transnistria will be happy to become EU members too.
As a final note, I just noticed that Mr. Eugene Girin is fundamentally contradicting himself. He first regrets the so-caled "new Berlin wall", and then he proposes that Moldova should be in the Russian sphere of influence. I think this is pretty confusing as is the entire article.
To propose spheres of influence in the 21st century is a sad idea. Even more sad when it comes from young people.
I wonder if wiser men around agree to it. That would be even more disturbing.
I don't wish to be hard on Ana, who is intelligent, and apparently sincere and dedicated, but it would help her case a bit if she would read and study more. As the editor of the leading conservative publication that opposed the invasion of the Iraq, I can answer easily, Yes, we waged a war of illegal and unjustified aggression in the name of democratic values but for purely selfish interests. As for the EU supporting Moldova, it was not I who made that argument, but Konstantin above. And if you will but study the history of nationalism (as opposed to mere love of country or patriotism) you will see that it is an ideology that emerged from the French Revolution and you will understand how it was manipulated by Austria-Hungary (among other powers) as a means of keeping the little ethnic groups at each others' throats. As for Moldova's humanitarian laws on minority rights, I would have to spend time in Moldova to evaluate them. Both Israel and Turkey guarantee democracy, human rights, and religious freedom while actively persecuting Christians. The old Soviet and Yugoslav constitutions, to take just two examples, were filled with warm humanitarian professions about defense of human rights and minorities.
I know it is hard for people from East-European ethnicities to understand but the whole world is not really concerned with your country. I have spent some time in the Balkans and in Eastern Europe, and I try, to the extent I can, to sympathize with the point of view of each people I spend time with, but I have seen too often how, for example, the Croats, Albanians, Bosnian Muslims and Turks of Thrace have influenced US opinion or allowed themselves to be used by a government (ours) with imperial ambitions. The dozen Moldovans who have written in their violent and illiterate screeds are after the same thing. We have a simple policy here: a policy of national interest tempered by justice. East European stories are usually too complicated to be reduced to morality plays. For example, the Baltic states complain--quite correctly--that they were colonized by Russians in the Soviet era, while the Russians complain--quite correctly--that they are being discriminated against, to which the Baltic governments reply that the Russians have it coming, but what about the Russians? Should they complain that there were more Latvians and Estonians in the socialist parties that installed communism than there were Russians?
I am sure that both I and Mr. Girin would be delighted to engage you, a rational and educated person, in a discussion, but not one carried out in a language of ethnic revanchisme and personal insult. And, by the way, I am only referring to you by your first name, which I would otherwise regard as bad manners, because it is the only name I have.
Konstantin needs to bone up on his logic. One cannot equate spheres of influence--a universal political phenomenon--with the Soviet Empire. The US has a sphere of influence, Russia has a sphere of influence, even Iran has a sphere of influence. Whether it is a good thing for a particular nation or a bad thing is another question, but it is universal. When in history have even small states not attempted to project force beyond their borders or exert influence over neighbors? The Peloponnesian League, the Delian Confederacy, the Latin League, Rome's semi-protectorate over Armenia. Anyone who thinks that we live in a humanitarian age that has escaped the libido dominandi is only carrying water for the would-be masters of the universe. If not Russia, then the EU; if neither, then world government.
Mr Fleming, Moldova is fortunately a francophone country so my English is not excellent
1 If you like the criminal general Lebedi, shame on you, he was killed by your Russian "democratic" regime becaose of his incontrollable extremism and loose of war in Chechnya! You say that he controlled Moldavians “ugly nationalism”, but think of the fact that Moldavians are still 32% in Transnistria, Russians 27% (estimated of occupational regime)
2. Look at the skin-hads in Moskow thet kill civilians workers from Kaukaz,and middle Asia...that future you thinc for us, and for EU?!
Why the Baltic countries are so succesiful in politics and economicfield? A tell you because they kicked out the Russians!
3. Moldavians never was racists, US is the last country who abolished the slavery! We have schools in Russian and gagauz, in US is no schools in Spanish!
Si vous préférez écrire vos réponses en français, je vous en prie.
I do not believe it has been established whether General Lebed's crash was an accident or an act of murder carried out at Yeltsin's orders. Why you would say something so silly as 1) to imply that I am pro-Russian or think their regime is democratic, or 2) to pretend that Lebed, acclaimed for his combination of toughness and restraint, was a criminal for putting down an Islamic terrorist movement. If "Moldovians" are so fond of Chechyns, perhaps you should give refuge to a few million and see how nicely they behave. While you are at it, send a similar invitation to the Taliban. I am unaware of any brlliant success among the Baltic nations. Estonia is desperate to go on the Euro in order to salvage its economic disaster. If I were an Estonian, I should cheerfully give Russian colonists their walking papers, but I might not be so quick to pretend that Estonians are staunch advocates of minority rights. Tell me when there was a "Moldovian" country in the past 500 years with the power to persecute, and I'll be prepared to examine its record. Moldova is not even a geographical expression: it is a mirage. It may be a country some day, but right now it is a temporary border adjustment in the history of Russian and Ottoman imperialism. As for Spanish schools in the US, this is really a hoot. Anglo students all over the US are being forced to study Spanish in order to accommodate people who have illegally entered our country. You know nothing about the US, very little about Russia, though I am sure you are well as informed about that former Ottoman province of Moldavia as the average American is. I am beginning to think the Neo-Ottomans are not completely offbase in arguing that some nations were better off under the Turks. Good bye.
I would like to respond to a couple of Ana's points:
"Dear Evghenii, which are the “considerable fruits” in folk music and literature during Soviet Union? I would like to see some examples"
Here are some examples: the late Serghei Lunchevici who was a violinist, conductor, composer, and actor; Maria Biesu (an opera singer); Joc (a folk dance company); Ion Druta (author and playwright). These are just the ones I can name off the top of my head and I haven't lived in Moldova since August 1994.
"It was Russian army who provoked the conflict and took the part of secessionists. It was a Moldovan-Russian war and since 1992 Russian soldiers did not leave the territory of Republic of Moldova, despite Russian international engagement to do so. The European Court of Human Rights pronounced itself on this issue in Ilasco case."
The conflict was provoked by the pro-Romanian nationalists starting with their attacks on Trans-Dniester deputies in the Moldovan parliament and the murder of three Trans-Dniester residents by Moldovan special police (OPON) in the fall of 1990 in the city of Dubossary. At least one of the victims was a Moldovan, which goes to show that most Moldovans did not want to be part of Rumania and didn't consider themselves Rumanian. Lebed only interfered after Moldovan forces shot rockets into the Russian garrison in the city of Bendery in 1992. Prior to that, Trans-Dniester begged the 14th Army to interfere, but the Yeltsin government was afraid to offend the "international community" and held the soldiers back.
As to Konstantin's points about Moldova being less developed than Rumania, the economic collapse of Moldova was the result of the uncontrolled privatization (read: legalized looting) of the pro-Rumanian politicians that were in power before 2001.
I find "moldovian"'s ugly vitriol typical of the level of discourse of pro-Rumanian nationalists. What he doesn't realize is that privately, most Rumanians consider Moldovans to be lowly, uneducated peasants, which they freely admit to non-Rumanians.
27 Comment by Thomas Fleming on 11 February 2011
With all respect to you, Mr. Fleming, I do not need your bonuses. I can stand up for my ideas and opinions. I am glad you have spent time in Eastern Europe and Balkans, but apparently this was not enough to understand the complexity of the CEE issues.
First of all, I do not see any similarities between the nationalism promoted but Austro-Hungarian empire and the nationalism in Moldova, if they used it for hidden reasons, we use our it to protect what Russian Empire/Soviet Union/Russian Federation tried and is still is trying to destroy: our language, traditions, cultures and whatnot.
Also, I do not see any sense in comparing the Moldovan laws on minority rights with those of Soviet Union. SU was an empire, and as an historian you should know that the last thing protected in an Empire are the rights of minorities. Have you ever been in Moldova? If yes, I am very disappointed of such comparisons. If no, than you should visit and see how are the rights of minorities respected (sometime, more than those of the majority). Transnistria never was an ethnic conflict, but a political one. Moldovans never had any issues with minorities, it was an artificial conflict to keep Moldova in Russian influence. It is a widely known fact, and as 'moldavian' said, Moldovans never were racist.
I never intended to make a big issue out of my country and I am aware that the whole world does not spin around Moldova. Nevertheless, I will never tolerate the biased articles such as Evghenii's article, they spread false information and statements about my country and its history. If this is called nationalism, I am fine with it.
I am afraid your information about Baltic countries is collected from media controlled by Russia. Check the macroeconomic data of the last 20 years of the so-called "Baltic tigers" and see where you are mistaken. I would agree about Estonia's recent situation, but lets not forget that all the countries had negative GDP growth last year (except China, Turkey and some others).
Moldova is "a temporary border adjustment in the history of Russian and Ottoman imperialism". Well, this is certainly true. It is a mirage - absolutely. Almost 200 years of Russian occupation and we still speak Romanian language, thousands of deportations and we still know who we are. It is definitely a miracle.
"Neo-Ottomans are not completely offbase in arguing that some nations were better off under the Turks". At least Turks did not change our language and did not close our churches to made clubs out of them. We even had a will of a Moldovan King (Stephen the Great 1457- 1504) saying: if you ever have to choose between Russian and Ottoman occupation, you will be better off choosing the Ottoman. What can I say, clever man!!!
You really made my day by saying that Americans are forced to study Spanish. I had been living in US for one year and I can tell you 99% of Americans know 2 languages: English and English. They barely know 5 words in Spanish thanks to Dora cartoon.
P.S. I hope it would not be regarded as a bad manner if you would call me Miss Ana.
Miss Ana, I suppose it is a question of point of view. What is an economic tiger in the former Soviet block is a mouse insofar as North America is concerned. I wish them well. I wish Moldovans well. I have never been there and will probably never go there. It is not up to me to make decisions for them or even to pretend to have much of an opinion. My point was not to denigrate Moldova as racist but simply to say that there is often a gap between an official policy and how a government and its people actually behave. Statements are made on paper and mean about as much as the Constitution of the United States, which means nothing. Greeks in Constantinople, particularly Admiral Lucas Notaras, took the same position as your King Stephen. The day of Mehmed's entrance, the good admiral refused to send his son to be raped by the Sultan and the whole family was slaughtered as party entertainment for the Turks. I believe you must have some familiarity with the history of your Wallachian cousins and what they suffered under the same sultan, whose predations and destructions so enraged Prince Vlad that he was led to commit what are now regarded as atrocities. There is an old Balkan saying, "He would not be slave of the Turk, must be as savage as the Turk." Your poor people, if they share your perverse ignorance of Islamic rule.
I never suggested that Americans actually learned Spanish. I merely pointed out that they were, in many districts across the country, forced to study it. Americans also study math, English, and history, none of which they know much about. Something few EAst Europeans do not understand about the British tradition is our willingness to permit diversity of opinion. Say it is hypocrisy, as perhaps it is, but we do pretend to permit the other fellow to have his say. From what I have read of the Moldovans writing in, that is not at all a tradition in your region. So long as you people adopt this tone and attitude, you lose every argument in the West. These Moldovans are second only to Albanians, and at least the Albanians have the excuse of being Muslims. And, when we do bend over backwards to accommodate you politely, you throw it back in our teeth. What good purpose do you think you are serving? Are you people really Russian agents employed to make Moldovans look like rude illiterate barbarians?
Finally, there is no point in your sounding off on the subject of nationalism until you actually know something about the subject. I am signing off on this discussion, so please address future comments to Mr. Girin. Comments addressed to me will be deleted.
PS to all our "Moldavian friends." This is our website. We put up whatever we, that is what I, like. We own it as we own our magazine. In a society that values private property and free enterprise, we get to set the rules of engagement on our own property. Illiterate vituperations have no place in a forum for civilized discussion. No, it is not "democratic," if by democratic you mean that every arrogant yahoo gets to bust into a lecture hall or church and shout down the lecturer or preacher and make a bloody fool of himself. If you are living in Moldova, which apparently tolerates and encourages this behavior, I hope you will stay there. If you are in America, please do us all a favor and go back home to the paradise of democracy and human rights you so foolishly abandoned.
Evghenii,
I am very glad you decided to answer at least to some of the points I made.
the artists you mentioned did not evolve because Moldova was under Soviet Union legacy. The Moldovan folk music is absolutely the same as Romanian, so I don't see any contribution of Soviet Union to Moldovan culture, unless you would be so kind to mention the deportation of Pan Halippa, Paul Goma, Nistor Cabac and many others to Siberia.
Regarding the Transnistria conflict, I do not want to get into long details, because I do not see any point to continue this discussion further. Me and other Moldovans were blamed of being arrogant,rude and illiterate when we just wanted to point out a different opinion than the author's opinion. I guess, on this website, the British tradition of diversity of opinions finished before it started.
Good news is that the private property and free enterprise only cover this website and America is not yet "privatized".
"Good news is that the private property and free enterprise only cover this website and America is not yet 'privatized'."
Was that hidden in the "Obama Care" law? Are we going to have to quarter government troops again? I thought we fought a war so we wouldn't have to do that! My wife and I are already taking care of her mother and uncle, and if the economy doesn't pick up, my older daughter and her husband may have to move in, too. Not much room left for troops. Maybe I can get a subsidized loan for an addition.
Without going presonal let me point out that this discussion is pointless. The best solution is to let the people of Transnistria (Transdniester) to dieceid if they want to join Ukraine, Russia, or to have a status similar to the Aland Islands in Finland, or the Faroer Islands in Denmark, as well as to let the people of Bessarabia to decide if they wnat to join Romania, or to have an independent state with Transnistria as an autonomous part of it or without it. That should be th etask of EU, UN, Russia and other powers including USA. Also let it be known that Transnistira was a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, then a part of the Russian Empire, briefly a part of thene Ukrainian People's Republic, and finally the part of the USSR.
Mr Girin, excuse my ignorance, but are all the parties involved Christian Ortodox? if so, how have the different churches involved themselves in the conflict?
When I returned from my quest to trace the German/Hungarian ancestry of my father's family in the former Austria Hungary, in the summer of 1990, I might have been the only man in Chicago outside of the Tarom Airlines office who had heard of Moldavia. I was not surprised at my countrymen's ignorance then, having been stung as a child by their blithe unconcern for the fate of the brave Hungarians of '56. How surprised have I been lately, to hear that an American senator has not only heard of Moldavia, but has decided that its fate should be a matter for American foreign policy.
From what I could glean in 1990 from ordinary Romanians and their press, most Romanians believed 1.) that Moldavia was part of Romania, having been included in the original 1859 union with Wallachia that created the country, and 2.) that Moldavia was backward and far away and not very interesting. In 1990 Bucharest, it seemed only natural that the collapse of Soviet power meant that any territories it had seized would, or at least could, now go back to their former lives as part of whatever nation they had been in previous to the Soviet takeover. But there were some even then, including me, who remembered that Russia was still there, and thought that Moldavia's weakness and proximity to it could be a problem.
As for now, I'm no more disturbed by the American bungling of the opportunities presented by the Soviet collapse than I am by the failure of Russia to show a more peaceful face to the world and to restrain its imperialistic impulses; or, for that matter, than by the thought of two editors of my favorite conservative magazine admiring a Red Army general for ''know[ing] how to deal with" protesters.
Mr. Bailey,
Moldovans are Orthodox Christians like Russians and Rumanians. The Moldovan Orthodox Church is part of the Russian Orthodox Church not the Rumanian Orthodox Church. However, in the early 90s, pro-Rumanian Moldovan nationalists with the help of Rumania formed a "Bessarabian Orthodox Church" that is part of the Rumanian Church. An overwhelming majority of Moldovans (at least 80 %) still worship in the Russian Orthodox Church and observe Christmas by the Julian calendar like Russians and Serbs. However, a small number of pro-Rumanian nationalists (like Kishinev's mayor) worship in the Bessarabian Church and make a point of observing Christmas on December 25 like the Rumanians. This recently caused tensions in Kishinev.
Hello,
From a historical and human rights point of view, Pridnestrovie (Transnistria and related spellings) has a better case for independence than Kosovo. At issue, is the influence of the major powers in discouraging and encouraging the recognition of disputed territories as independent states.
Kindly note that the Romanian language as spoken by Romanians in Romania and abroad includes a noticeable minority of Slavic words.
Russia and Ukraine (under its current president) don't support Pridnestrovie's independence, while sympathizing with that region's concerns. IMO, the best settlement option is a union state of republics, based on the territory of the former Moldavian SSR. Consider how New York isn't part of New Jersey and vice versa, while both are part of the US. Centuries ago, Moldova had a period as an independent entity that included parts of modern day Romania, but not Pridnestrovie. When compared to Moldova - Pridnestrovie had lengthier periods as part of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union.
These articles relate to what has been discussed in the above article and discussion:
The Future of Russia-NATO Relations
http://www.eurasiareview.com/old/analysis/analysis/8309-the-future-of-russia-nato-relations
Differences Over Disputed Territories
http://www.eurasiareview.com/old/analysis/4424-differences-over-disputed-territories
Haggling Over the Former Moldavian SSR Dispute
http://www.eurasiareview.com/old/analysis/393-haggling-over-the-former-moldavian-ssr-dispute
Follow-up on the Former Moldavian SSR Commentary
http://www.russiablog.org/2009/05/commentary_on_the_former_molda.php
Resolving the Former Moldavian SSR Dispute
http://www.russiablog.org/2009/03/resolving_the_former_moldavian_ssr_dispute_averko.php