01-28-2010, 04:26 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-28-2010, 04:28 PM by Greg Collins.)
I have a Romanian friend who refers to the Moldovans as brothers united by common language. It goes a bit deeper than that as, historically, Moldova was part of Romania or, to be more precise, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Linguistically and culturally they are, basically, the same people or, rather, the same melting pot (Gypsies, Romanians, Hungarians, etc.). They were separated in 1940 as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, combining the areas of what is now Moldova and what is now Pridnestrovie into the Moldavian SSR. This is, of course, simplified.
One of the problems in all of this is the natural boundary of the Dneister river. The Russian people (linguistically and culturally) in large part remained on the eastern side of the river, while the folks above stayed on the western side. This culture/language divide became the basis of the conflict, beginning at the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, which gave birth to the Pridnestrovan Moldavian Republic in 1992 as a separate entity from Moldova; functioning in all ways as a separate republic but still not recognized except by South Ossetia and Abkazia.
In Moldova, most every sign you see will be written in what is basically Romanian- hence the medal. In Pridnestrovie, even though the State seal is inscribed with three languages (Russian, Ukrainian and Moldovan), the language used will be Russian.
Oh yeah, if you don't already know, "pentru" means "for".
One of the problems in all of this is the natural boundary of the Dneister river. The Russian people (linguistically and culturally) in large part remained on the eastern side of the river, while the folks above stayed on the western side. This culture/language divide became the basis of the conflict, beginning at the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, which gave birth to the Pridnestrovan Moldavian Republic in 1992 as a separate entity from Moldova; functioning in all ways as a separate republic but still not recognized except by South Ossetia and Abkazia.
In Moldova, most every sign you see will be written in what is basically Romanian- hence the medal. In Pridnestrovie, even though the State seal is inscribed with three languages (Russian, Ukrainian and Moldovan), the language used will be Russian.
Oh yeah, if you don't already know, "pentru" means "for".
"We are Marching for the Victory of Communist Labour"
V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin)
V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin)
