Posted on 12/31/2005 9:38:01 PM PST by struwwelpeter
Yes, I loved the Baltic States in the Soviet days: we had a dacha in Estonia; my TV career (however strange it may be) started in Latvia; in Lithuania I misbehaved with the local girls and very nearly wed two of them. I love the present Baltic countries no less, and I am frequently there on music business or just because. How I do evaluate them?
I will begin with the brutal anti-Baltic campaign, already underway for the last several years in the tone of the Russian state media, which is humiliating. For the Baltic, but most of all for Russia itself. This great power has found herself such worthy enemies! Servile fawning before a strong America, clumsy flirtation with "old Europe", Russia boldly vents all the anger of her trampled imperial complexes on tiny Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia (and Poland). Besides giving extra trump cards to the local nationalist fools, these terrible demarches and wretched propaganda led to nothing.
Now for the facts: is it true that Latvia and Estonia are semi-Fascist states, where minority groups are oppressed in every way possible and are deprived of basic human and civil liberties? (This is precisely the manner in which the situation is presented by the state television channels, pop newspapers, and in the parliament and foreign ministry.) This is obviously a tendentious lie. Freedom and democracy in the Baltic countries are greater than in Russia; on their entrance into the European Union, as you understand, it was not just the economic parameters of the countries that was examined, but the humanitarian ones as well. The behavior of Russian speaking population there must seem absolutely inexplicable to our loyal viewers: if they are so mistreated there, then why do they not return to Russia?! Practically all Russians left en masse from our so very friendly Central Asian neighbors and Kazakhstan as early as the 1990s, but they still live and grumble in the Baltic. Are they masochists, or what?
In reality there are problems, and sufficiently sensitive ones, but ones completely unlike any thought up in our propaganda. I will begin with the favorite "anti-Baltic" theme, upon which even the clever and likeable fall: a meeting of elderly SS men and the construction of corresponding monuments and memorials. It is an indisputable, unpleasant story. Our media, however, slyly keeps quiet the fact that it HAS NO RELATIONSHIP a state policy of the Baltic countries whatsoever, that what takes place is merely spontaneous and marginalized, and often with the opposition of the local authorities. The official argument is simple: we cannot forbid to these old men their gathering - that would violate their civil rights. (These microscopic activities which also take place in Germany and other European countries do not seem to bother the Russians in any way.) According to the principle of "whose cow moo-ed" (or "the log in one's own eye"): it is not today's Russia with its "Eurasians", RNE, skinheads, and other free-living fauna that needs to teach other countries anti-fascism.
About the real problems of the Baltic "non-natives": let us begin with the fact that in Lithuania (where Russians are not the main minority group, but the Poles) there are no problems AT ALL. In Estonia, where the Russians make up approximately one-third of the population, about 80% of them already have Estonian citizenship, which only requires passing an examination on Estonian language and history (a violation of their civil rights?!), and the grading of this test - this I know from those who took it - IT IS MAXIMALLY benevolent and liberal, that is, they pass anyone they can. The main headache is purely an economic one: the majority of Russians live in the north, in that region which was once most industrialized, but now the most neglected, and where there is now high unemployment. (If you've ever seen 'Lyalya forever', by Lucas Mudisson, it was filmed in one of those Russian-Estonian 'ghost towns'.)
It is not good, of course, but the matter here is not a violation of civil rights, but the sad aftermath of the Soviet planned economy and division of labor.
In Latvia, the Russian speaking portion of the population is a little more than in Estonia (about 35%); its structure and status, however, is completely different. If the bulk of the Russians in Estonia were former guest workers and the working class, then in Latvia the Russian speakers (Russians plus Jews and people from the Caucasus) make up a majority of the financial, business, and criminal elite. In this case, practically none of them are in government or culture. Everything in the country is divided into Latvian and Russian - from the television and radio stations, to the clubs and the restaurants. The situation strongly resembles that in the South African Republic, where the entire power of the state is in the hands of the radical black population and almost all of the money in the hands of the white minority. Accordingly, relations between two communities are jealous and stressed.
Using their absolute advantage in the government, the Latvians, to put it mildly, are not spoiling the Russians - language tests are very complex. Latvian, by the way, is easier than the puzzling Estonian language. As a result of this, a large portion of the country's Russian inhabitants (on the order of 21% of entire adult population) are not citizens. In my view, this is an absurdity. That hundreds of thousands of people, who were born and lived for decades in Latvia, SPEAKING OBJECTIVELY, would remain second-class citizens, undoubtedly is a violation of the civil rights.
It is bad not only for the Russians, but for the nation of Latvia: besides the general unhealthy situation (scandals, demonstrations, and Eurotrials), the soft exclusion of Russians from society leads to unplanned and destructive results. Not just those who the authorities hate, such as military, KGB, and communist party retirees, are leaving, but many young and ambitious professionals who have a knowledge of European languages, people who could render an excellent service to their native step-motherland And who will arrive to take their places? Kurds, or refugees from Somalia? Well...
None of the Latvians I know argues with the fact that, with respect to Russians, things get carried too far, that there are injustices and generally a lot which is entirely irrational. They argue this, naturally, through their awful historical experiences: the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, mass exile to the GULAG, postwar purges and occupation.
Here I would like to take an important step backwards. In Russia everyone, everywhere believes that there was no occupation of any kind, but rather, vice versa: the USSR showed much favor to the wretched Baltic States, building for them industrial plants, factories, and nuclear power plants. Perhaps, from the point of view of the happy-go-lucky visitor to the spas at Yumaly and Palangi, it all seemed that way. But here is a small story from life...
In the mid 1980s I traveled by train to Estonia, and my neighbor in the sleeping compartment was a Russian man of about 50. He told how he had been living in Tallinn for more than twenty years, and working there as the director of a large electronics plant. In the process of conversation, I complained about the complexity of the Estonian language and asked how my collocutor coped. The man looked at me with genuine consternation and exclaimed (I cite verbatim, I memorized for life): "Yes, and by what law do I have to learn this CANINE LANGUAGE??!" This was the typical reaction of the "red directors" and of other Soviets in charge of industries in the Baltic States. Question: is this the attitude of a friend and benefactor, or a bureaucrat and occupier?
Everything is so, and to us, the great power, this is not given to understand, but is it worthwhile to erect a new life for our countries on the foundation of old offences and unhealthy complexes? Many Baltic politicians, especially those in Latvia, are like the chauffeur who drives the machine forward while only looking in the rear view mirror.
In speaking of this, I am not calling upon the Baltic States to reexamine their policies with respect to their eastern neighbor. One need not fear that grim chirping which emanates from the clowns in the Duma or our PR-president Putin: the worst that Russia could do would be to clamp down on goods transiting the ports of Tallinn, Riga, Ventspils and Klaipeda), and that they have ALREADY done. Adjusting spiritually to post-imperial relations - this is also not really necessary. I, myself, as a Russian citizen, am not disposed towards friendship with my government in its present shameful state, and advise others to avoid it as well. It is not worth the trouble of developing tourism, trade, and cultural relations with it.
But what is important is something else. I think that the leaders of the Baltic states need to take a deep breath of pragmatism, to stamp on the throat of this never-ending song of historical offences, and turn THEIR FACE (but not their rear end, or at least not sideways as they are now) to their non-native population. The fresh experience of minority riots in France proves that assimilation under the stick and cultural alienation are fraught with enormous problems. Agree, Rein, agree, Maris*: that when one cannot find a single sign, inscription, or advertisement in Cyrillic in Tallinn and Riga, large cities where half the Russians live (we will not bring up Narva), then this looks like deliberate idiocy.
* Rein Lang and Maris Gaylis, my comrades in youthful adventures; they succeeded in working their way up to prime minister in Estonia and Latvia, respectively.
Happy New Year to you my FRiend.
What do their t-shirts say?
My eyes are crummy, but some of them say 'Russkaya Shkola' (Russian School) and 'Ruki ot Russkikh!' (Hands off the Russians).
Ping.
I am told that even street signs in Russian are torn down and not replaced rather than having them in Russian.
Bookmark for later read.
May God bless your New Year, Granny.
Thanks for the good wishes, may I wish your and your family
a very Happy New Year also.
I pray that God will keep them safe.
I've lived and worked in the Ukraine many times over a five-year period. Pre- and Post- Orange Revolution. They are getting a similar treatment in the Russian media these days.
I don't how much of the author's piece is true. I've only passed through the Baltic States, which are sort of like the Benelux - on the way from someplace interesting to someplace else interesting.
There is definitely no love lost between the 'aboriginal inhabitants' of the Baltic region and the Russians. I noticed on several train rides to Petersburg, how brutal the local customs agents were towards the Russians, but how courteous and friendly they were with the EU and US passengers.
During the first Chechyan war, the Russians captured and exhibited dozens of mercenaries from the Baltic States. Supposedly, none of them were Muslim, and all were ethnic European. There was a team of female snipers operating out of Grozny, called 'White Pantyhose', who racked up devasting losses on the Russian officer corps. The Russians managed to kill one of the snipers, and she was supposedly identified as a marksman (marksperson?) from one of the Baltic States' Olympic teams.
I was recently in Kazakhstan and went out to the site of a prison camp for politicals near Karaganda, in a village called Dolinka. There were mass graves there that had been excavated by the government of Lithuania. Supposedly, all the remains (Russians, Poles, Baltic, Chukchi, whomever) were carted back to to some memorial in Riga.
Here is a story about a ceremony commemorating another GULAG cemetary, near Karaganda.
We have Americans all bent out of shape about things that went on before George Washington was born, so just imagine how fresh the hate is after only a decade and a half free from Russian domination.
In Ukraine, I have used my poor Russian vocabulary to speak with Ukrainians, only to be told (politely) that they spoke English or Ukrainian, not Russian.
This even though Russian is taught in all schools in Ukraine.
Great read. Thanks.
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