Hello Moldova!

Once a Russian friend recalled Moldovans as "Romanians who think they are Russians" (He also has another deeply moving analogy about Greeks: "Turks who think they are Italians"). 

So now that the Europe's poorest country (The glorious Republic of Moldova) makes the headlines again with the revolts that ultimately sacked the parliament. Before, it was always the Transnistrians, who seceded, waged a separatist civil war and kept the Europe's only quasi-communist Russian-backed dictatorship and their never ending dispute with Moldovan mainland alive (reminds me of Georgia and Abkhazia which is also gently supported and pet by Russia).

The flag of Moldova..or the flag of Romania(see below) with an emblem 

Moldova (or roughly, Bessarabia) used to be a frontier post of Ottoman Empire (The "Evil" Turks) but enjoyed a political autonomy by paying taxes and sending beautiful girls fto the Sultans (they still do the latter) until Mother Russia appeared at the gates and Moldova eventually became the doormat it needed to brush her boots before she poured down the Ottoman Balkanland to the ultimate objective of warm ports.  It was annexed by Russians and stayed right through the way of attacking, retreating and reattacking armies during most of its contemporary history and met an ultimate destruction at the end of WW2. 

The Coat of Arms of Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic...notice the grapes below

Then came the formation of Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR) and the soviets poured a lot of roubles in rebuilding Chisinau (Kishinew) and also a lot of Russification by changing the Moldovan alphabet into Cryllic and social engineering the population by decreasing the majority of Romanians in the MSSR, that is the very essence of the troubles of Transnistria today, where the majority of the populatian are Slavic in contrast to the rest of Moldova (which is roughly 75% Romanian). Leonid Brezhnev who used to be the party boss in MSSR then rose to be the premier of USSR and you can understand how those roubles were allocated by the way he ran USSR years later (his administration pushed USSR to bankruptcy) 

The breakaway Transdnestrian region..only acknowledged by Russia and candidate for the worst shaped country ever.

The flag of Transdnestria...it is not a joke. They still use those symbols there (or don't have a TV)

Romanians are the majority in Moldova

Boring Information: There is also a Orthodox Christian Gagauz minority in Moldova (which we in Turkey claim them as Turkish brethren and can speak in a better Turkish than many Azerbaidjani can do)  which may be of interest to some of my readers.

So we can say that Moldova is another confused nation just like Ukraine, where the national identity was also suppressed, many roaming armies and the eventual Soviet occupation and ultimate shift to market economies left deep marks in the nation. This caused the polarisation to the West or Russia. It means that nobody believes that a Moldovan or Ukrainian identity can save the country from the current troubles, only the helping hand of West/US or the iron grip of Russia (a longing for USSR) can. Therefore the internal politics cannot (or would not) focus on the real problems but create politics of fear and retribution about losing the country's autonomy or unity (reminds me of another country...hmmm). 

"Yevropeans, save us from the evil reign of kommunists and let us in so that we can cheat the welfare system and enjoy unemployment benefits without ever working"

"Mircea, take this chair to my mum, she will love to see a new piece of furniture in years"

Damaged buildings in Moldova will be repaired using state funds designated for universities at which [some of] the protesters are students...this is so Turkish!

The latest "Twitter Revolution" in Moldova can be similar to Ukrainian Orange Revolution but actually it is not; because nobody cares about Moldovan nation than they do about the Moldovan wines in their cellars. In Ukraine it is different; Ukraine is Russia's soft belly and owns the outlets of gas, the main moneypot of Russia. So you own Ukraine and you deliver a serious blow to Russia; but if you own Moldova...you own nothing but a bunch of "Romanians who thought they were Russians, then changed their mind and wanted to be independent Moldovans and then made up their minds that they are better off being Romenians in the EU so that their girlfriends would not be forced to prostitution in Turkey"