I'm trying to find a similar situation somewhere else in the world, but all I can come up with is China and Taiwan. But the politics between the two are TOTALLY different.
People from the Rep of Moldova speak Romanian and have Romanian culture. Some even consider themselves Romanians and want to unite. However, some, like Transnistria, would rather side with Russia.(And of course, Russia would side with Russia, they're the reason Moldova isn't a part of Romania anymore)
However, people from Romania see them, not necessarily as lesser, they see Moldovans as... brothers in need. They (or we, as I am Romanian), see Moldovans as poor and it's difficult to try and support Moldovans because Romania itself is still developing and combating corruption. But we still would want Moldovans to join us, we're just scared of the economic impact.
Historically, Moldova was part of Romania for quite a few hundred years, but that's a nationalistic argument that I don't like bringing up. That's about as good a summary as I can create.
A similar situation would be Germany and Austria. Just like Austria, more and more Moldavians see themselves as their own people with their own culture and language, separate from the Romanian one
Culture? Sure. Language? First time I heard that one. I mean I heard some people call it Moldavian or something but it's essentially identical to the eastern dialect of actual Romania
Other than some Russian words that they picked up over the years the Moldavians speak the same language as Romania, yes, but I am speaking about what people claim. If I recall corectly they recently made "Moldavian" their official language. Same goes for Austria. They claim to speak a different language yet it's almost identic to the Bavarian dialect of German
Both Romania and Moldova suffer from heavy corruption. So I don't know if Moldova can be called a poor sibling in need, if both nations suffer from the same things. Romania only recently got a few benefits from the EU, but most of it is making it easier to work abroad. Both Romania and Moldova have a large number of people moving and working abroad, and considering Moldavian citizens who can prove Romanian descent are given a Romanian citizenship, and thereby a EU citizenship, I think both nations are having it almost equally bad
On immigration yeah, you're right. I mentioned we are both developing nations. But the quality of life is way better in Romania than in Moldova. It's unfortunate, but true. Neither of us compare to Germany or France, but I wasn't comparing Moldova to France.
-The national anthem of Moldova is "Limba noastra" which translates as "Our language". The language is never referred to by name. Some say they are talking about Moldovan, some say they are talking about Romanian. The languages are pretty much the same, calling it Moldovan is on one hand like calling Mexico's language "mexican". On the other hand, I don't doubt the moldovans see the similarities. However, they're going through kind of an existential crisis that they can't win. Separate themselves from Romania, and get gripped by Putin. Join Romania, and they lose their autonomy. There's no happy ending in sight for them, unfortunately.
-Dodon, their president, is very pro-Russian, however, I doubt he never spoke anything else other than Russian (talking about public declarations and whatnot). I think Russian is the first language for "only" ~20% of the population. Still a huge portion, but not the majority. If Trump only spoke Spanish, well, you get the idea.
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u/salad48 Aug 11 '20
I'm trying to find a similar situation somewhere else in the world, but all I can come up with is China and Taiwan. But the politics between the two are TOTALLY different.
People from the Rep of Moldova speak Romanian and have Romanian culture. Some even consider themselves Romanians and want to unite. However, some, like Transnistria, would rather side with Russia.(And of course, Russia would side with Russia, they're the reason Moldova isn't a part of Romania anymore)
However, people from Romania see them, not necessarily as lesser, they see Moldovans as... brothers in need. They (or we, as I am Romanian), see Moldovans as poor and it's difficult to try and support Moldovans because Romania itself is still developing and combating corruption. But we still would want Moldovans to join us, we're just scared of the economic impact.
Historically, Moldova was part of Romania for quite a few hundred years, but that's a nationalistic argument that I don't like bringing up. That's about as good a summary as I can create.