Re: There I was - peacefully drinking....

Damm.. you're right.. it is comrade peetey schizo-screed !

Russian poison and strawberry icecream mixed in the usual proportions.


On Mar 27, 7:45 am, "Henry Alminas" <halmi...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
... my coffee and reading all the "news"
not fit to print when I came across the
article shown below.

There should be warning labels on some
of this stuff! Someone owes me for a
new keyboard for at least one mouthful
of the mentioned coffee went all over
it.

*This* in Regnum.ru and authored by a
RIA/Novosti "expert? Ye gads!!
Durn - at least the
first part of the article is a hell of a lot
*less* Baltophobic than many a production
we receive from Petriukas! I must be fair,
however, to Petriukas - that is. Whereas we
might find it difficult to deal with one so
hormonaly challenged - he must feel like
a trapped passenger on a seesaw gone
wild (at least whenever he passes through
the mid-point of his mood swing).

Anyway, I will deal with some of the
"Petriukas wisdom" in another post
now - back to the matter at hand.

In the second half of the article the author
gets a grip on himself and gets back into
the standard russkie line - one that even
Petriukas might agree with.

Anyway - enjoy and put your coffee
cup out of reach.

Best - - Henry

For educational purposes only:

Russians and Balts are trapped by the past
17:04 | 26/ 03/ 2007

For educational purposes only:

From: Regnum.ru via RIA/Novosti
By: Leonid Mlechin

MOSCOW. (Leonid Mlechin, member of the RIA
Novosti Expert Council)

Russians think that Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians are
arrogant, that their countries are malicious gnomes with an
all-but-Nazi ideology, and that they hate Russia and treat
Russian-speaking residents of their countries as second-class
people. To be honest, Russians dislike the Balts for three
reasons:

To start with, they were the first to leave the Soviet Union - how
ungrateful!

Second, these pro-Western countries rushed into the EU and
NATO - joined our enemies!

Third, they make claims on our territory or demand compensation
for what they call "the Soviet occupation."

Discontent with the status of local Russians and other grievances
are rooted in these causes. There are ex-Soviet countries where
Russians are really having a hard time, but Moscow does not
want to mess with dictatorships. It is much safer to lash out at
the three Baltic democracies.

Our protests against SS veterans' rallies or SS monuments in the
Baltics are also affected in many respects. In Russia, people freely
march under overtly Nazi slogans, and Nazi literature is sold in
the open, but society does not worry too much about this.

Moscow's traditionally high-handed attitude to small European
countries and its habit of resolving all issues only with its big
partners - America, Germany or France - is a source of rightful
irritation in the Baltic nations. Russian policy towards them is
hardly dexterous. What has our diplomacy done to build new
relations with them? Incidentally, when transport links with
Kaliningrad turned into a big problem, Moscow desperately
needed good relations with Lithuania, but there were none to
be had.

If we want to overcome this enmity, we have to be honest about
the past. There is simply no other way. The trouble is that the
past is very unattractive on both sides. Nobody wants to recall
it, let alone accept any blame. But modern politicians are in no
way responsible for events in the 1930s and 1940s. Why should
they display false solidarity with the criminals of that era? If
Russian politicians do not want to talk about the Stalinist era
and admit that Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians became
Soviet citizens against their will, then righteous indignation at
Baltic SS squads does not sound too credible.

Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia demand that Russia should apologize
for the occupation. The Russian leaders do not apologize because
they deny that there was an occupation. I don't think that the latter
is a precise term, though. Occupation means control over a foreign
territory. In 1940 the three Baltic countries were annexed and
absorbed by the Soviet Union. Some of our politicians still claim
that all three joined the U.S.S.R. of their own free will. But
declassified documents from the Soviet Foreign Ministry paint a
completely different picture. The Soviet Union incorporated the
three republics after sending in troops, changing their governments by
force, and holding elections that could not be called democratic by
any stretch of the imagination.

Massive purges were launched almost right away. Not only former
policemen and officials, but also intellectuals were shot or sent to
labor camps. The last prewar deportation took place on June 14,
1941 - a week before the German invasion. The deportations have
shaped the local attitude to the Soviet Union ever since.

Baltic soldiers were not too enthusiastic about defending Soviet
power. In August 1941, half of all Estonian conscripts fled the
Red Army. In October, 10,000 Lithuanians and 5,000 Latvians
joined the Nazis. Stalin had to disband the Baltic national units.

After the war, the Balts forgot that Hitler was going to resettle
them and invite Germans to their land. Latvia and Estonia started
building heavy industry on imported raw materials and labor.
The locals' share of the population went down abruptly.
Newcomers believed that the Baltics were as much a part of the
Soviet Union as any other, and did not bother to study the
language or local customs. The locals were angry that the
newcomers behaved like hosts.

These very different nations were part of one country only by virtue
of geopolitics and a common historical destiny. Until recently, they
had always been under the control of some overlord, and
they had to adapt themselves to it. They are angry at themselves for
their failure to achieve independence. They lament their destiny as
minor nations that nobody cares about, but they do not admit this.

The Baltic nations wanted to be left alone. They felt ill at ease in a
big foreign country also because more emotional, dynamic and
flexible nationalities made them look awkward, unskillful
and slow. The popular Russian jokes about "hot-blooded Estonian
guys" have appeared for a reason. The Latvian, Lithuanian and
Estonian temperaments, mentalities and traditions (for all
the differences between them) are very different from those in
Russia, not to mention Asia or the Caucasus. In a word, coexistence
in the big Soviet family was awkward for them in every
respect.

Balts are often criticized for their snobbery, but it is more a
lack of confidence. Trapped by complexes, they are too reserved
for self-deprecating irony. On the other hand, they quite often
underrate themselves.

This is probably why the policy of the three Baltic republics
towards Russia contains a mixture of fear, audacity, and a childish
desire to get at an adult who is unable to reciprocate. I believe my
Baltic colleagues will agree that this is a desire to assert oneself
at the expense of a big neighbor, and take a little revenge for the
past into the bargain. It thrives on confidence in cultural
superiority. The Balts seriously believe that civilized Europe ends
at Estonia's eastern border.

Civilized Europe would not have joined the Nazis. Some 40,000
Lets fought on the side of Nazi Germany, including 20,000 SS
volunteers. Another 15,000 Estonians joined the SS of their own
free will. Having sided with the Germans, Lithuanians, Latvians
and Estonians became accomplices to Nazi war crimes. Local
residents were killing communists and staging Jewish pogroms
even before German troops arrived. Jews had no escape in the
Baltics.

Civilized Europe does not acquit Nazis. Having become
independent in 1991, Lithuania announced an amnesty for all
those who had been convicted of crimes by Soviet power,
including those who took part in the extermination of Jews.
They even received compensation for being wrongly punished.
This caused protests, but Lithuanian intellectuals were indignant: "How
can these people accuse us of anything? We are the victims, not them!"

A moral right to reproach others only comes with an ability to see
one's own shortcomings. If the Kremlin says that Russia has to give
jobs at markets to its own people first, how can it criticize
Riga or Tallinn, which have been following the same logic for
15 years now?

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not
necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.


.

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