Russian schoolchildren hold anti-Estonia protest

Russian schoolchildren hold anti-Estonia protest
Sat Feb 9, 12:35 PM ET


MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian schoolchildren held a history class about World War II on Saturday outside the Estonian embassy in Moscow in a protest over the removal of a Soviet war monument from central Tallinn.
The class, which was given by a Russian war veteran, was held outdoors in a street near the embassy amid near-freezing temperatures. Around 20 children dressed in winter coats and hats attended, an AFP photographer saw.
The protest was organised by the Mishki (Teddy Bears), a children's group affiliated with the Kremlin-backed youth organisation Nashi, which has carried out numerous protests against Estonia.
The bitter dispute over the Bronze Soldier war monument last year plunged relations between Estonia and Russia to their lowest level since 1991, when the Baltic country regained independence as the Soviet Union fell apart.
Estonian authorities moved the monument from a square in central Tallinn where it had stood for 60 years to a cemetery, sparking riots in the Estonian capital in which one person died.
Russians, including the substantial minority that lives in Estonia, see the statue as a memorial to the millions of Soviet soldiers who died in the war.
But many Estonians see it as a reminder of five decades of Soviet occupation, which began at the end of the war and lasted until 1991.

Russian schoolchildren hold anti-Estonia protest - Yahoo! News

 

Its funny that they don't realize that not everyone in Estonia were happy to be "liberated". Nor want to be reminded of it.

 

Soviet war memorial in Estonia symbolizes region's grudges against Russia
Source: AP (4-22-07)

TALLINN, Estonia -- The life-size statue of a Red Army soldier stands at a crossroads in this Baltic capital, fi*st clenched and head bowed, marking the spot where Soviet war dead are buried.

But the statue is engulfed in bitter debate over the Soviet army's place in European history, which could come to a head this week if the Estonian government goes ahead with plans to dig up the tomb and move the statue to a park outside Tallinn.

Russians are appalled, and the Kremlin has warned of "irreversible consequences" for relations with Estonia.

Estonia is not alone. These days, throughout formerly Soviet-controlled eastern Europe, a battle of symbols and memories is being waged -- over statues, street names, the hammer and sickle, even Auschwitz. Now firmly entrenched in the West through NATO and European Union membership, many countries are showing renewed eagerness to erase the more visible vestiges of communism.

http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/37963.html

 

Why always the same symbolism in Russian communication? How about something a little softer in your approach,hey?

 

Seems a little familiar doesn't it? Whether they are the USSR or the CIS they seem to like to use the same phrases and words. The implied threat doesn't always work.

 

And yet Estonia still moved the statue. Sometimes threats don't work when you feel you are in the right.

 

This topic has already been discussed at Length,

http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-today/19027-estonia-soviet-ww2-memorial.html


Paul

 

That is correct, a taste of déja vu when I read this story.

 

The Memorial may have been but not the issue of the Russian school children. I brought up the memorial as an example.

 

"The protest was organised by the Mishki (Teddy Bears), a children's group affiliated with the Kremlin-backed youth organisation Nashi, which has carried out numerous protests against Estonia."

Using Kids as pawns seems to come natural with protest groups . IMO I bet the Estonians pretty much don't care. They arent part of the Soviet Union anymore.

 

Just wait and see what happens to Estonian gas supplies when Russia builds the pipeline conecting Germany as Europes primary destributor for Russian gas.

 

Whether the removal of the memorial has got anything to with anything the fact is that the Soviet Union today i mean the Russian federation will never forgive the 15 former socialist republics for breaking away, recent history suggests that Supreme Soviet Putin will do anything to get back the old Communist Regime.

The Estonians have all the rights to remove the memorial, Russians did not fight for Estonia, they fought for the Soviet Regime which invaded Estonia with Hitler's blessing and rounded up and slaughtered 10's of thousands of Estonians who were seen as a threat prior to WW2 and many more for retribution for them helping the Germans.

To back this up 50,000 folk in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were rounded up by the Soviet Red Army and NKDV and almost all were executed in the Soviet Gulag system.

The more time other breakaway republics tell Supreme Soviet Putin to get stuffed the better. Go Chechnya (sic)

 

The problem unfortuantely is not that simple due to the fact that over 400,000 Russians or Estonians of Russian descent live in Estonia , a minority but still a lot of people.Until the Estonian government makes it easier for the Russian side to get Estonian citizenship unfortunately a lot of them are still going to look East to the Motherland for support which of course Russia is willing to give to stir up problems for the Estonian government.

The government were in a no win situation with the Bronze soldier and in the end probably had to take the descision they did and move it.It has been moved to a cemetery on the city outskirts which is a much better location.

Plus Estonians fought for the Russians as part of the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps so you now have veterans in Estonia who fought for the opposing sides who want to have their own memorials etc to their old comrades and despite reconcilaition the bottom line is that some old wounds in the WW2 and Soviet History of Estonia run deep.

Fascist and Communist are still words that are readily used as insults in Estonia.

It's a very complicated scenario i have Estonian friends both Estonian and Russian and they know that this is an issue that is not going to be easily solved.

This is also going on in the other Baltic States Latvia and Lithuania.

regards

Paul

 

There is one solution and that is the forced repatriation of Ethnic Russians in Estonia back to Russia, if those Russians are so nationalistic about Russia then they would have no qualms about being deported back to the "Motherland".

 

So much for human rights eh VR? If that's the solution then the act of Mig-29s knocking bricks off of chimneys in Tallinin some sunny morning is just as viable.

You're not using your head.

 

Russia already holds the shorthairs of the Baltic states when it comes to energy, I don't know that gas is one of the main ones but there are several trainloads of coal that cross the Estonian Russian border everyday.

It's not in Russias best interest to go kicking the yappy little dogs across the room. Wouldn't look nice. Why bother? its their complex. They can worship the Nazis all they want.

 

What a brilliant idea VR congratulations !!!

Stalin or Hitler would have been proud of you !!

I could really get involved in this debate as i am fortunate to spend a lot of time in Estonia and as i have said have many friends there but once i see comments like that i know it's not worth my time trying to explain it all.

Do a bit of research VR on Estonian history and why they fought in WW2 ,you might learn something.

Paul