BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Enlarging NATO, Expanding Confusion ...!

Berlin - Twenty years ago, dictatorships across Central and Eastern Europe toppled. During this season of remembering, the focus has rightly been on celebration of the new freedoms gained by the inhabitants of those countries: to speak freely, to travel, to vote and to choose their own national futures and alliances. Yet the legacy of 1989 has difficult aspects as well, mostly centering on the origins and legitimacy of later NATO expansion to former East German and Warsaw Pact territory; acknowledgment of them by the United States could greatly improve American and Russian relations.

Moscow has long asserted that the Soviet Union allowed Germany to unify only in return for a pledge from Washington never to expand the Atlantic alliance. Former advisers to Presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have transcended partisan differences in dismissing the Russian claim. An internal State Department review during the Clinton era concluded that no legally binding prohibition on NATO enlargement emerged from the era of German unification.

Since then, however, it has become possible to reconstruct what happened from first-hand evidence. Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany released the papers of his office, which inspired the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to publish many of his own. A number of other leaders and institutions also opened files in advance of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall: the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library, Secretary of State James Baker, the German Foreign Ministry and the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office among them.

Aug. 23 to become Black Ribbon Day for victims of Nazis + Soviets

OTTAWA – The House of Commons has declared Aug. 23 as Black Ribbon Day to commemorate victims of totalitarian Nazi and Soviet Communist regimes.

MPs gave unanimous consent Monday to a motion proposed by Liberal Bob Rae, which would formalize a day of remembrance which has already been adopted by some ethnic groups.

The day chosen is the anniversary of the notorious Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939.

That was the agreement in which Adolf Hitler's Nazis and Josef Stalin's Soviet Communists divvied up Poland and much of eastern Europe.

Rae's motion spoke of Canadians "superficial and inadequate" knowledge of the evils of the Nazi and Communist regimes.

Last summer, after a commemorative march in Toronto, the Central and Eastern European Council of Canada urged Parliament to formalize Black Ribbon Day.

"The people and government of Canada unequivocally condemn the crimes against humanity committed by totalitarian Nazi and Communist regimes and offer the victims of these crimes and their family members sympathy, understanding and recognition for their suffering," Rae said in his resolution.

Source : THE CANADIAN PRESS

The world after 1989 : Walls in the mind

The ex-communist countries of central Europe have fared well, mostly, since 1989. But they still have to shed their image as poor and troubled relations.

PICTURE yourself in a smoky café somewhere in the middle of Europe—Prague, say—in late 1989. Sipping muddy coffee sweetened with gritty sugar, served by a sullen waiter at a greasy table, you are discussing the future with friends. Their ill-cut clothes are in dull blue, brown and green, the hallmarks of planned-economy tailoring. Your foreign gear stands out a mile.

In the café window, posters tell of a revolution won (see article). One is a poignant death notice for “Comrade Fear”—the once omnipresent and omnipotent embodiment of the totalitarian regimes, newly toppled by candles, flags and courage. Another poster shows a simple starburst, with the words “Gloria in Excelsis Deo”. Religion, like so much else, is now a matter of free choice. But a third poster shows the task ahead. It depicts Europe divided by a cliff that runs along the old Iron Curtain. A precarious ladder leads from the gloomy east to the sunny western uplands. “Back to Europe”, it reads. Before the communist era, countries such as Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary were at the centre of the continent, not its impoverished and isolated backwater.

The cliff looks dauntingly steep. Climbing it means long queues at Western consulates before facing the suspicious officials inside them. Western Europe may have cheered the revolution, but it fears a flood of riff-raff from the east. Abroad, easterners feel like humiliatingly poor relations. Their savings and salaries are all but worthless. You buy the coffees without a glance at the bill. When easterners head west, they pack sandwiches.

Ghosts of the past are everywhere. Some are welcome. Old songs, long-banned, are on the radio again. Heroes once vilified by official propaganda are celebrated. Other ghosts are more sinister. Central Europe before communism was no paradise. What will emerge as the region defrosts? Will Hungarians be content with their constricted borders? Will the Germans, so brutally deported from Silesia and the Sudetenland after the war, now demand justice? Will it be safer to be a Jew—or more dangerous?

Sub's wartime grave discovered

The wreck of a British naval submarine lost for more than 90 years has been found in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Estonia.

HMS E18 - with its complement of three officers and 28 ratings - went out on patrol in May 1916 and was never seen again.

The submarine was one of a handful sent to the Baltic during World War I by Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, to disrupt German shipments of iron ore from Sweden and support the Russian navy.

E18 left its base in the Russian port of Reval - now Tallinn, the capital of Estonia - on the evening of 25 May 1916 and headed west.

The following day she was reported to have engaged and torpedoed a German ship.

A few days later, possibly 2 June, she is believed to have struck a German mine and sunk with all hands.

Appendicitis

Following the submarine's loss, Tsar Nicholas of Russia gave posthumous medals to the crew, including my great-uncle, Luke Landale, the 1st Lieutenant, who was awarded the Order of St Vladimir. He was just 27 years old.

The submarine was found last weekend close to the Estonian island of Hiiumaa by a Swedish marine survey company, MMT.

Soviet ship sunk by submarine

The announcement of the sinking of a Soviet steamer, the Metallist 968 tons, by an unknown submarine in Narva Bay, off the Estonian coast, about 6 o’clock this evening, came as the climax to a day of intense diplomatic activity here.

Article first published in the Daily Telegraph, Sept 28, 1939.

Nineteen of the 24 members of the crew of the Metallist were picked up by Soviet patrol boats. The remaining five men are missing.

The news was announced on the Soviet wireless shortly after the arrival of M.Selter, the Estonian Foreign Minister, and other members of the delegation from Tallinn.

Foreign circles here think the reported sinking of the Soviet steamer will probably be followed by firm Soviet action towards Estonia.

Soviet demands

Only last night, it was officially announced that the Soviet Government considered unsatisfactory the Estonian explanation of the alleged activity of a Polish submarine in Estonian waters.

What Vladimir Putin should have said in Gdansk

Honoured Guests, Dear Excellencies:

My German counterpart Willy Brandt launched his country’s reconciliation with Poland by bending his knee at the Warsaw ghetto memorial in 1970. My aim today is less ambitious, but I would like to begin by stating unequivocally that my government regards the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, especially its secret protocols, as a crime, and a direct contributor to the Nazi attack on Poland that we are marking today.

Those were dark and shameful years for many countries. Out of deference to my British friends I will not mention the Munich agreement, and out of politeness to my hosts I will not cite the Polish land grab of Cieszyn that followed it. But many wrongs do not make a right. As a Russian leader it is my responsibility to ensure that my country acknowledges both the bright and black spots in our history. Our pride at the sacrifice and heroism showed by the Russian people—and by many others in the Soviet Union—in defeating Hitler does not mean that we cannot mourn the victims and crimes of Stalinism both at home and abroad.

I represent the Russian Federation; I cannot take direct responsibility for the actions of another country. So I cannot apologise for the Soviet Union’s shameful and unprovoked attack on Poland on September 17th. I can certainly condemn it, and I do so now. I similarly condemn the illegal annexation of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, just as I rejoice in their renewed statehood after 1991.

The Livonians : coasting to a different beat

By Philip Birzulis

Most visitors to Latvia only get near the seaside at Jurmala. But the country can boast almost 500 km of shoreline, much of which couldn’t be more different to the bling-sprinkled resort near Riga.
You won’t find any waterslides or mojitos on the bit between Ventspils and Kolka. In fact, this stretch of Baltic coast is so undeveloped that there is just one shop along its entire 84 km. Its tiny fishing villages are mostly connected by unpaved roads. It’s so remote that Estonian mobile networks dominate on the beaches, a reminder that the island of Saaremaa is so near that you can see it on clear days.

Some may read this description and think it would make a perfect solo holiday destination for their mother-in-law. However, people who spend time exploring the quirky history and natural beauty of this backwater have a universal tendency to fall in love with it. So before dropping granny off you may want to reconnoiter the place yourself.

Long live the Livs

Language can be a touchy issue in Latvia. It may therefore come as a surprise to discover that this region is officially bilingual, though not in a Latvian-Russian, Latvian-English or other combination you might expect. Rather, on all the area’s signs pride of place next to Latvian goes to Livonian.
The Livonians (or Livs as they are sometimes known) are Latvia’s most ancient residents. Speaking a language related to Finnish and Estonian, they lived for thousands of years across the country. Unfortunately, a combination of low birthrates and persecution by the various foreign powers ruling down the ages meant that by the 20th century they were reduced to occupying the northwestern corner of the land.

The Prime Ministers of the Baltic States : the Baltic Way was a unique, peaceful demonstration that changed the world

Vilnius – The Prime Minister of Estonia, Andrus Ansip, the Prime Minister of Latvia, Valdis Dombrovskis and the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Andrus Kubilius, signed a joint declaration, dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Baltic Way, in which the Baltic Way is remembered as a unique, peaceful demonstration that led to the restoration of the independence of the Baltic States.

On 23 August 1989, on the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, almost two million people joined their hands in a 600 km long human chain in order to protest peacefully against the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, stemming from the Pact.

The leaders of the governments said that the recent decision to include the Baltic Way in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register acknowledged the significant meaning of this historic event.

The Prime Ministers also welcomed the recent decisions of the European Parliament and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the initiative to declare 23 August as the pan-European Memorial Day for the victims of Stalinism and Nazism.

According to the declaration, the Baltic States will continue their joint efforts to preserve the historical remembrance of the shared totalitarian heritage of 20th century Europe and to ensure that it is assessed fairly and openly.

On 23 August 1939, Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics signed a non-aggression pact, otherwise known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Pact had additional secret protocols that ignored international law and divided Central and Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. The conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact led to the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, which in turn gave rise to the occupation of many democratic countries in Europe for the following 50 years.

The joint declaration is available at: http://www.valitsus.ee/brf/index.php?id=24449

_____________________________________
Valitsuse kommunikatsioonibüroo briifinguruum
http://www.valitsus.ee/brf/
press@riik.ee

The day the Balts stood still : 20 years of the 'Baltic Way'

Riga - Two months before the Berlin Wall came down, an equally spectacular event took place farther to the east in the Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. But what happened on August 23 remains little known to many in the West. At 7 pm that day, as many as 2 million people (no one knows the exact figure) joined hands across the Baltic states to form a human chain from Vilnius to Tallinn via Riga. They stood in silence for 15 minutes to demand their independence.

The event was known as the "Baltic Way," and it marked the beginning of the end for Communism in the region.

It was specifically planned to mark a painful date in Baltic history. On the same day in 1939, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was signed between Stalin's Soviet Union and Hitler's Germany, essentially agreeing to divide Eastern Europe into spheres of influence and clearing the way for the Soviet Union to annex the Baltic states in 1940.

That memory adds yet another bittersweet tinge as the Baltic states organize numerous events - including exhibits, conferences and meetings of government officials - to mark the 20th anniversary of the Baltic Way.

Perhaps the most ambitious is Heartbeats for the Baltics, in which runners will simultaneously depart Vilnius and Tallinn to meet in Riga, covering 671 kilometres. Thousands have signed up to participate.

Heartbeats was the brainchild of Latvian President Valdis Zatlers. In a practice event on August 13, Zatlers led the way with a brisk jog through the forest outside Riga.

A little out of breath at the finishing line, he told the German Press Agency dpa: "The Way was made by all the people of the states. It was a wonderful sensation knowing the hands you were holding extended all the way to Tallinn in the north and Vilnius in the south."

It was a desire to communicate that feeling to those born since the Way that Zatlers says inspired him to devise the run.

"It will be a great emotion, especially for the younger generation, who don't have memories of the Baltic Way," he told dpa.

The Baltic chain – the wind of change

 

Join us on the 23th of August 2009 in Mini-Europe and help us to make a huge human chain through the entire park at the occasion of the inauguration of a reproduction at scale 1/25^th of the Baltic chain which is offered to Mini-Europe by the cities of Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius.  The Baltic chain was a human chain over a length of more than 600kms which occurred exactly 20 years ago across the three Baltic States.

The Baltic chain – the wind of change

The Popular Fronts of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania organized the Baltic Chain mass "arm-in-arm" manifestation extending through three Baltic states on August 23, 1989 that marked 50th anniversary of August 23, 1939 when the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which resulted in the forcible incorporation of these three states into the Soviet Union and the loss of their independence.
This protest was one of the longest human chains in history (over 600 kilometers).  Within two years after this demonstration, the independence of all three Baltic states was recognized by most western countries.

‘Mini-Europe’ commemorates the 'Baltic Way'

The Brussels miniature park ‘Mini-Europe’ will this Sunday (23 August) organise an event commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the “Baltic Way”, the longest ever human chain which in 1989 became a potent symbol in the independence struggle of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from the then Soviet Union.

Six hundred people - for whom the entrance to the park will be free of charge on a first-come–first-served basis by registering online - will form at 3 p.m. on Sunday (23 August) a human chain through the park, symbolically recreating the 600 km-long human chain from Tallinn via Riga to Vilnius, formed twenty years ago.

Mini-Europe is a miniature park located in Brussels, at the foot of the Atomium, where replicas of 300 famous buildings and historical sites from the 27 EU member countries are gathered, on a scale of 1/25.

The park wants to commemorate this important symbolic action as part of its own twentieth anniversary celebrations, its management told EurActiv.

For this occasion, the cities of Riga, Vilnius and Tallinn have also provided 200 miniature dolls which will link together those cities in Mini-Europe, represented by the Great Coastal Gate and Fat Margaret's Tower in Tallinn, Riga’s Freedom Monument and Vilnius’s University campus.

The inauguration of this miniature “Baltic Way” will take place at 2 p.m., in the presence of the mayor of Tallinn and organisers of the original 1989 ‘Baltic Way’.

The flags of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will also be flown at the top of the Atomium.

Those wishing to join the human chain in ‘Mini Europe’ were still able to register when this article was published.

Background :

Books : 'Brecht at Night'

Mati Unt, translated from the Estonian by Eric Dickens

By Thomas McGonigle

Dalkey Archive: 208 pp., $13.95 paper

In 1940, Helsinki received an unexpected visitor: Bertolt Brecht. Eventually to be known as the most famous German playwright after Goethe, Brecht was also a committed communist on the run from the Nazis, believing that Hitler personally wanted him dead. The picture of Brecht's arrival in Finland is almost comical: He arrived with his wife, his mistress, his children and 26 bags of luggage.

Brecht was not just another traveler, you understand; he was appreciative when someone spoke good German to him -- but was also suspicious that he or she might be a Nazi agent. The protector of Brecht and his family during this time was the very wealthy Estonian playwright Hella Wuolijoki, with whom he would go on to collaborate on a number of plays and who, more important, had a direct link to Stalin and his secret police.

But why Helsinki? Why did he go there in the midst of the aftermath of the Finnish-Soviet Winter War? Brecht was an ardent defender of Stalin and all his murderous acts, glibly arguing that Finland should have given in to him.Helsinki was also a way station on Brecht's journey to, of all places, Hollywood -- which he intended to reach by way of Moscow and Siberia.

In Mati Unt's "Brecht at Night," his fourth novel to be translated into English, the Estonian author and innovative stage director makes Brecht a curiously compelling contradictory character.

HOW THE 1939 MOLOTOV-RIBBENTROP PACT IMPACTS THE WORLD TODAY

The Hitler-Stalin deal dividing Europe 70 years later Date: August 6, 2009 Time: 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Speaker(s): Featuring Keynote Remarks: The Honorable Sven Mikser Chairman, Foreign Affairs Committee, Parliament, Republic of Estonia Followed by a Panel Discussion: Dr. Michael Szporer Professor of Communications, Arts and Humanities, University of Maryland, University College Chris Socha Senior Policy Advisor for U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, Ranking Member, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe Host(s): Dr. Lee Edwards Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought, The Heritage Foundation Details:   Location: The Heritage Foundation's Allison Auditorium One of the most cynical treaties in modern history was signed on August 23, 1939, by Nazi Foreign Minister Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was termed a non-aggression pact but was in fact an aggression pact against free and independent neighboring countries. A secret protocol divided Central and Eastern Europe into spheres of influence between the two totalitarian countries. A week later Nazi Germany invaded Poland, starting World War II, and shortly thereafter the Soviet Union absorbed Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into its empire for more than 50 years. Since regaining their independence after the collapse of Soviet communism, the Baltic states and all of Eastern and Central Europe have spent considerable time and money on security arrangements that would minimize the effect of any similar “great power” treaty. The “end of history” optimism that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago has been replaced in large part by realpolitik pessimism. The Heritage Foundation has assembled a panel of experts to discuss the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and to examine key questions such as: Should “great powers” be permitted to make decisions without regard for their impact on smaller sovereign nations? What role should NATO, the EU and the UN play in minimizing the impact of great power pacts? Thursday, August 6, 2009 – 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.  The Heritage Foundation’s Allison Auditorium RSVP Online at http://www.heritage.org/Press/Events/  | or call (202) 675-1752 Terms and Conditions of Attendance are posted online at www.heritage.org/Press/Events/terms.cfm All events can be viewed live from our Home Page www.Heritage.org News media inquiries, please call (202) 675-1761 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE | Washington, DC 20002 | (202) 546-4400

For Iran, a lesson in hope

By David Keene

TALLINN — Mart Nikul is an Estonian who spent 16 years in the Soviet gulag, much of it in solitary confinement in a concentration camp in Siberia. He was released as the Soviet Union was collapsing, but only after then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan personally asked Mikhail Gorbachev to let him go.

I met him last week here in Tallinn, the capital of the free Estonia he and many others like him spent a lifetime fighting and suffering to make a reality. These largely forgotten warriors have stories worth remembering, but what struck me as we talked over lunch was the reason he was first arrested.

Back in the ’50s, the Soviet Union bragged to the world that life behind what Winston Churchill first dubbed the Iron Curtain was pretty darned good. Pictures circulated in the West of healthy, happy Czechs, Poles and, yes, Estonians, who seemed positively giddy over their good fortune to be living under communism and the protection of their Soviet comrades.

Friendly visitors to the Soviet empire were taken on carefully orchestrated tours of what came to be known as “Potemkin” villages filled with prosperous beneficiaries of Soviet-style socialism. No one was allowed to see what life was really like in places like Tallinn, where men, women and children were living in poverty and being ground down by a political and economic system that didn’t work and rulers who simply didn’t care about ordinary people.

"Lenin is worse than Hitler" : Senior Moscow patriarchate official says

Paul Goble

            Vienna – Today (April, 22nd) is the 139^th birthday of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet state whose body remains as it has since his death in the mausoleum on Red Square, an object of veneration by his supporters and an offense of varying degrees to those who see him as the enemy of national tradition, freedom and faith.

            This year, as in every year since Gorbachev’s time, there has been the usual discussion on whether Lenin should be removed from the mausoleum and buried as supposedly was not only his wish but that of his family, with a growing number of Russians saying that they are willing to support or at least not oppose such an action if the government takes it.

            But one statement this year, by Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for Relations with the Armed Forces and Security Services, deserves particular attention because his words likely reflect the views of many in the Church leadership and because they could lead to a break between the church and some Russian nationalists.

            Queried by the Rusk.ru portal, which has close ties with the Patriarchate, about what should be done with Lenin’s remains, Archpriest Dimitry said that “the time for burying Lenin arrived already in April 1870.” Indeed, the Church official said, “it would have been better if this bastard had never been born” (www.rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=182479).

            “For me,” Smirnov continued, “Lenin is worse than Hitler.  The decision of the powers to bury him will not lead to any social explosion.  When the body of Stalin who was ‘a living god’ was carried out of the Mausoleum, no one got upset. What is there to talk about [when it comes to Lenin]?”

CIA ran radar monitoring station in Helsinki in 1960s

The US Central Intelligence Agency operated a radar monitoring station in or near Helsinki, a previously top secret CIA report released under the US Freedom of Information Act shows.

The document, penned in January 1967 and approved for release in 2007, reveals that the CIA had planned a "black" operation involving a reconnaissance flight in Finnish airspace in order to provoke advanced Soviet radar installations in Tallinn into action.

"The VA point complex at Helsinki will be operational during the entire mission to intercept the signals from Tallinn when that site is provoked into operation by the Oxcart," the report adds.

Oxcart refers to the Lockheed A-12 spy craft that was capable of flying at more than three times the speed of sound at heights of up to 95,000 feet.

Finnish regional daily Turun Sanomat, which carried a report on the document in its Wednesday issue, quoted Lieutenant-General Matti Ahola, a former commander of the Finnish Air Force, as saying that the mission plan was a match with actual cold war events, including those in Finland.

"Some kind of stimulus had to be used in order to trigger a response so that the signals could be intercepted and analysed," Gen Ahola told the paper.

"Professionalism and discipline dictated that wartime radar modes were not to be used in peacetime airspace surveillance, but in reality this was not always observed - to the benefit of the provoking party."

Gen Ahola was further quoted as saying that he was not familiar with the VA point designation.

Estonia and Latvia remember Soviet crackdown

RIGA : Crowds gathered in Estonia and Latvia yesterday for emotional ceremonies marking 60 years to the day since Stalinist-era security forces deported tens of thousands of people to Soviet camps. The crackdown of March 25, 1949 is etched in the consciousness of citizens of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all Soviet republics until 1991.

In Riga, hundreds gathered at the soaring Freedom Monument to lay flowers in memory of more than 40,000 Latvian families deported.

“Sixty years ago the unexpected guests knocked at your door, changing your destiny forever,” said Latvia’s President Valdis Zatlers in a speech near the monument on the cold sunny day. “Today we still ask why,” he said. Former deportee Hilda Petrova laid a bouquet of white carnations at the foot of the 42-metre (140-foot) landmark. “I wanted to remember many innocent people who were deported, imprisoned, died in basements under Soviet rule,” she said with tears in her eyes. Those sent to the Siberian Gulag included opponents of Soviet rule and nationalists as well as so-called kulaks, or wealthy farmers, and their families in an effort to impose collectivisation in the republics recently reabsorbed into the Soviet Union.

In Estonia, hundreds of deportation survivors gathered around the Linda memorial in central Tallinn.

Paju Battle - 90th anniversary - January 31th, 1919

The battle against Red Latvian Riflemen for the Paju Manor near Valga in southern Estonia on 31 January 1919 was the most sanguinary encounter in the early stages in the Estonian War of Independence.

On 30 January the partisan unit headed by Julius Kuperjanov occupied the manor along with the Tõlliste Stage. But during the night the manor again passed into the hands of the Reds. In a battle that lasted the whole following day Finnish volunteers together with the partisans managed to finally gain possession of the manor at the heavy toll of 42 men dead and 113 wounded.

On 1 February the partisans and the Finns marched into Valga without meeting any resistance as the enemy had withdrawn from the Estonian-Latvian border town. This meant establishment of control over an important railway junction and pushing the front outside Estonian borders.

In the Paju Battle the soldiers displayed death-defying courage against overwhelming enemy forces. Julius Kuperjanov, the head of the partisan unit, along with the other wounded, was taken to a hospital in Tartu where he died of wounds on 2 February 1919.

A memorial was erected on the Paju Battlefield in 1994.

tommyfdc @ gmail.com

Friendly undermining of restored independence

The right of self-determination of peoples as defined in the Charter of The United Nations encouraged Estonian nationals in the year 1990 to sever the ties with The Soviet Union, into which the Republic of Estonian was violently forced 50 years ago.

After declaration of independence in 1918, Estonia had to fight the Russian and German forces that were trying to maintain their rule over Estonians. The Independence War ended with Tartu Peace Treaty, signed on February 2, 1920. In that Treaty Russia denounced forever all rights Russia had over the Estonians and their territory until signing the Treaty. The state border between Russia and Estonia was very meticulously defined in the Tartu Peace Treaty.

The documents of 1990, describing how the restoration of independence must be implemented, prevent anyone to conclude that the territory of Estonia shall be reduced to suit changes made by the Soviet. Surprisingly not knowing or not wanting to know that Estonia has a valid Border Treaty with Russia, some influential western friends started soon to advise the inexperienced Estonian politicians to sign a Border Treaty with the Russian Federation.

Sovietization of Baltic States 'worse than any occupation'

VIENNA – On the 18th anniversary of USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev's use of lethal force in Vilnius, a Russian portal has posted a recent lecture by a Russian historian who concludes that the incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union in 1940 was "worse than any occupation" and created "a headache" for Moscow that continues to this day.

In that talk delivered last month, Elena Zubkova, a senior scholar at the Moscow Institute and the author of "The Baltic Region and the Kremlin' (2008), argued that both Russians and citizens of the Baltic countries have incomplete and often distorted understandings of what happened in 1940 (www.polit.ru/lectures/2009/01/...)

If one looks at Moscow's approach to the Baltic countries in 1939-40, Zubkova said, it is clear that "this was above all an imperial project of Stalin, a project for restoring the empire despite the fact that in its details, its realization was seriously affected by the current political arrangement and in the first instance was connected with the war."
As recent Russian scholarship has shown, she continued, Moscow during the 1920s largely ignored the Baltic countries after recognizing their independence. The Kremlin at that time, Zubkova says, "had neither the forces, nor the time, nor the opportunity to form and carry out a special 'Baltic policy.'"

(One curiosity, however, that is sometimes remarked upon, the Moscow historian said is that until 1925, the Soviet state did not transform its Western Front into a military district. "There was already no war, but there was a front." However, she pointed out, this had far more to do with Poland than with the Baltic countries.)

Only in the 1930s did Stalin begin to focus on the Baltic States as a region of particular interest. The first Politburo decision in the archives, Zubkova notes, dates from 1934, but even then, it reflected a general interest. Only in the spring of 1939, with the threat of war looming, did this interest take on a more precise focus.