No, moldova is not even a major occupation of roumanian foreign policy nowadays. It has probably only one goal, to join the EU and one problem, that the EU is not interested.

That whole idea would not even make sense playing risk.

On the other hand a certain american administration once believed in the strategic importance of grenada..

Off-topic: I’m currently reading Benson Bobrick’s “East of the Sun”. Are you familiar with it or do you have any other histories of Russian expansion to mention?

My view is that Russian involvement in the SCO and related initiatives are attempts to come to a modus vivendi with China over Central Asia, permit China to do what it wants inside its borders and provide no pretext for renewed hostilities, while also using its relations with China and the Central Asian republics to resist U.S. influence. In the end, it is Russia’s arsenal that serves as the hard power deterrent against any potential Chinese political expansion. However, Chinese mass immigration could one day end up creating a situation in which Russia cannot effectively control the east. My assumption is that the official Russian view is to continue to try to prevent encirclement by rivals, and right now I think Moscow is betting that the U.S. and our allies represent the greater medium-term threat. Demographic realities may force a realignment later, but Moscow is not setting policy with the situation 20 or 30 years hence in mind.

As I understand it, a substantial part of the Russia’s understanding of its national interest has been to claim hegemony over all the Slavic peoples as a demographic score-settler to keep the Chinese out of the Asian part of Russia some decades from now. Do you feel this is incorrect or that Russia’s priorities have changed?