What did you find so funny? As anyone familiar with history of this region knows, Baltic republics did voluntary join Soviet Union. Majority of population and political elites was for it. Minority was against. Some of those later emigrated, which does not change the fact that accession was voluntary and according to international law.
Of course, there was some level of Soviet interference before the events, at a level comparable to let us say US interference in recent Ukrainian elections. One may say Baltic revolutions of 1930s were first "velvet revolutions" or "revolutions of roses" in the World. However it hardly changes anything.
Likewise, if you do not recognize Baltic republics joining USSR, you should not recognize mentioned Ukrainian elections as well and even more so since in Baltic case pro-Soviet stance was much more prevailing (compared to 45% of electorate in Ukraine falsified up to 51%) and actually constituted definite and qualified majority.
I see that you're new to Free Republic (Jun 25, 2005). We disagree.
Ukraine Isn't the Only Target
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1293515/posts
Russia/Ukraine: Did President Putin Miscalculate In Ukraine?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1291979/posts
Report: Ukraine Opposition Leader Takes Oath ("Ukraine is on the threshold of a civil conflict")
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1286762/posts
Ukraine: Yushchenko Has Strong Words For Would-Be Separatists In Eastern Ukraine
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1341373/posts
UKRAINE
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1313245/posts
The Leeches of Ukraine
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1293727/posts
Yushchenko links poison to meal with secret police
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1302978/posts
Breaking News: Russian Troops Intervening in Ukraine Elections
Private Email from Election Observer in Ukraine | 11/23/2004 | Bob
Schaffer (former Colorado Rep. and recent candidate for the US Senate)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1287112/posts
Red, White, and Orange
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1290676/posts
Revolution in Ukraine
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/24/wukra24.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/11/24/ixnewstop.html
Estonia had pursued a policy of neutrality, but the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Nonaggression Pact on August 23, 1939 signaled the end of independence. The agreement provided for the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia, part of Finland, and later, Lithuania, in return for Nazi Germany's assuming control over most of Poland. After extensive diplomatic intrigue, the Estonian Socialist Republic (E.S.R.) was proclaimed on July 21, 1940, 1 month after Estonia was occupied by Soviet troops.
Estonia had pursued a policy of neutrality, but the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Nonaggression Pact on August 23, 1939, signalled the end of independence. The agreement provided for the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia, part of Finland, and later, Lithuania, in return for Nazi Germany's assuming control over most of Poland. The Soviets requested to station troops in Estonia one month later, and the Estonian leaders, with a standing army of 15,000, complied. The government was eventually driven from power in June 1940, and an election was held where all parties were outlawed except the Communist party.
The fate of Estonia was decided by the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of August 1939 between Nazi Germany and the USSR. On September 28 the Soviet government imposed on Estonia a treaty of mutual assistance that conceded to the Soviet Union several Estonian military bases, which were occupied forthwith. A broadly based nonpolitical government under Juri Uluots was appointed, but on June 16, 1940, a Soviet ultimatum demanded a new Estonian government, "able and willing to secure the honest application of the Soviet-Estonia mutual assistance treaty." The following day, Soviet forces occupied the whole country.
On July 21 the Chamber of Deputies was presented with a resolution to join the USSR; it was unanimously adopted the next day in spite of being contrary to constitutional procedure. On August 6 the Moscow Supreme Soviet incorporated Estonia into the USSR as one of its constituent republics. Meanwhile, Päts, Laidoner, and many other political leaders were arrested and deported to the USSR. In the first 12 months of Soviet occupation, more than 60,000 persons were killed or deported; more than 10,000 were removed in a mass deportation during the night of June 13 - 14, 1941.
As the President of a country that subsequently suffered greatly under the Soviet rule, I feel obliged to remind the world at large that humanity's most devastating conflict might not have occurred, had the two totalitarian regimes of Nazi Germany and Soviet Union not agreed to secretly divide the territories of Eastern Europe amongst themselves. I am referring to the shameful agreement signed on August 23rd of 1939 by the foreign ministers of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, Vyatcheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop.
A week-and-a-half later, as a direct result of this disgraceful pact's secret supplementary protocols, Hitler invaded Poland and started the Second World War. The Soviet Union then occupied the eastern half of Poland, with Hitler's full compliance, and invaded Finland later that year. Then, in June of 1940, the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. These invasions and occupations had been foreseen and agreed to in advance by Hitler and Stalin.
It is precisely these two dictators who bear the brunt of the blame for the immense human loss and suffering that resulted during the war that ensued. In commemorating those who lost their lives during the Second World War, we must not fail to commemorate the crimes against humanity committed by both Hitler and Stalin. We must not fail to mention these two totalitarian tyrants by name, lest the world forget the responsibility that they bear for beginning that war.