Moldova worries it would become the next one

[Jaga]

news.yahoo.com/moldova-prepared-defend-itself-map-070209417.html
Moldova prepared to defend itself after map shows former Soviet republic as possible next Russian target
Lisa Bennatan, Matt Wall

President of Belarus since 20 July 1994
The Moldovan ambassador to the U.S. said Wednesday his country is prepared to defend its borders if Russia or Belarus were to invade the former Soviet republic.

"The country is prepared [for] any kind of scenarios, including the very worst-case scenario," Ambassador Eugen Caras told Fox News in an exclusive interview. "So we will be defending what's to be defended."

A day earlier, video surfaced showing Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko standing in front of a map that appeared to indicate the Moldovan breakaway state of Transnistria as a potential next target.

[pieter]

Jaga,

In this case I think NATO ally Romania will get involved, because ethnic Moldavians are practically the same people as Romanians. If Moldova 🇲🇩 is attacked Romanians 🇷🇴 will be furious, because they feel that an attack on Moldova is an attack on Romania 🇷🇴. Either the Romanian army 🇷🇴 or Romanian volunteers and mercenaries will fight in Moldova 🇲🇩. The Czarist empire started to populate Bessarabia some nice 1812, after the Ottoman Empire gave Bessarabia to the Russian Czarist empire. Bessarabia is the former name of Moldova.

As of 2014 census, Moldovans were the largest ethnic group of Moldova (75.1% of the population). In addition, 7.0% of the population declared themselves Romanians, amid the controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Moldova.

The country has also important minority ethnic communities, as shown in the table below. Gagauz, 4.4% of the population, are Christian Turkic people. Greeks, Armenians, Poles, Ukrainians, although not numerous, were present since as early as the 17th century, and had left cultural marks. The 19th century saw the arrival of many more Ukrainians from Podolia and Galicia, as well as new communities, such as Lipovans, Russians, Bulgarians, and Germans. Most of Moldova's Jewish population emigrated away between 1979 and 2004.

Moldova and Romania have experienced an exceptional relationship since Moldova's independence in 1991. Pan-Romanianism has been a consistent part of Moldovan politics, and was adopted in the Popular Front of Moldova's platform in 1992. Most of Moldova was part of Romania during the Interwar period. The official language of Moldova is Romanian. The peoples of the two countries share common traditions and folklore,[1] including a common name for the monetary unit – the leu (Moldovan leu and Romanian leu). Early signs that Romania and Moldova might unite after both countries achieved emancipation from Soviet rule quickly faded after War of Transnistria. However, a growing unionist sentiment emerged especially in the second decade of the 21st century. While Romania remains interested in Moldovan affairs and its progress towards European integration, a majority of Moldova's population is currently against unification with Romania.

A Russian invasion and occupation will lead to very strong Pro-Romanian and Great-Romanian sentiments and will lead on the long term to a unification of Moldova 🇲🇩 and Romania 🇷🇴, like West-Germany and East-Germany in 1990.

Cheers,
Pieter

[pieter]

The unification of Moldova and Romania (Romanian: Unirea Republicii Moldova cu România) is a popular concept in the two countries that began in the late 1980s, during the collapse of communism. The Romanian Revolution in 1989 and the independence of Moldova in 1991 further contributed to the development of a movement for the unification of the two Romanian-speaking countries. The question of reunification is recurrent in the public sphere of the two countries, often as a speculation, both as a goal and a danger. Most of Romania supports unification, but a majority in Moldova continues to oppose it. However, support in Moldova for reunification has increased significantly, with polls asking "if a referendum took place next Sunday regarding the unification of the Republic of Moldova and Romania, would you vote for or against the unification?" rising from approximately 20% to over 40% support from 2015 to 2021. Support for unification with Romania is much lower in Transnistria and Gagauzia than in the rest of Moldova.

Individuals who advocate the unification are usually called "unionists" (unioniști). The supporters of the union may refer to the opponents as "Moldovenists" (moldoveniști). When referring to themselves as a group, opponents of the unification sometimes use the term "Statalists" (stataliști).

Source: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_of_Moldova_and_Romania