A salute to Saakashvili & Baltics

[mikeaverko]

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050523&s=ames

comment | posted May 5, 2005 (May 23, 2005 issue)
Bush's Bitburg?
Mark Ames

Many analysts are saying that President Bush's decision to visit Latvia just two days before heading to Moscow to celebrate the victory over Nazi Germany was designed to "send a message" to Russian leader Vladimir Putin. But by choosing Latvia, a former Soviet republic that became independent in 1991, Bush is stirring bitter controversy among Nazism's greatest victims and risking a repeat of Ronald Reagan's Bitburg fiasco. "I am sorry that this is the time for the visit," said Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem. "If the Baltics had really repented for the terrible crimes that their nationals committed during the Holocaust, then it would make far more sense to 'reward them' by a visit in the proximity of the sixtieth anniversary of the victory over the Nazis."

Moscow agrees. Official discrimination in Latvia and neighboring Estonia against their large Russian-speaking minorities is one of post-Soviet Russia's greatest ongoing grievances, leading to repeated official protests. Putin raised the issue again in his April 25 State of the Union speech, calling on Latvia and Estonia to "prove in actions their respect for human rights, including the rights of national minorities." Another grievance, shared by Russians and Jews, is Latvia's disturbingly tolerant view of its own Nazi past. Zuroff complained that while Latvia has managed to prosecute several former Soviet functionaries for Communist crimes, not a single Nazi collaborator has been tried since the country became independent. In 2000 Zuroff discovered that at least forty-one Latvian members of the Arajs Kommando, a notorious Latvian security unit implicated in the shootings of thousands of Jews, had just been officially rehabilitated and rewarded with increased pensions.

Ninety-six percent of Latvia's Jews were killed in the Holocaust, one of Europe's highest rates and only made possible by enthusiastic local collaboration. Latvia also had one of the highest per capita recruitment rates into special SS legions, whose veterans are revered as "freedom fighters." Today Latvia is the only country in Europe to host annual SS veteran processions commemorating the day the divisions were formed (Estonia used to hold them too). Both the Latvian Parliament and President Vaira Vike-Freiberga--whom Zuroff labeled a "metaphor for the whole problem"--at one time considered combining the day of the SS march with the national memorial holiday. Aleksandrs Gilmans, a former member of the Riga city parliament and an ethnic-Russian Jew, was one of more than thirty protesters arrested at the SS procession in March. "The problem is that there was never a process of de-Nazification in Latvia," he said. "People here do not recognize Latvia's war guilt."

This Latvian revisionism is not merely an emotional historical debate; it is the main justification for disenfranchising the Russian-speaking minority, whom Latvian parliamentarian Aleksandrs Kirsteins, leader of the committee on foreign affairs, referred to as "civilian occupiers." Automatic citizenship is granted only to those who settled in the country before 1940. While half of Latvia's Russian-speaking minority managed to obtain citizenship through grueling tests and requirements, another 500,000 of them, or 20 percent of the population, are still stateless, making them Europe's largest disenfranchised minority. Roughly half of Latvia's 14,000 Jews share their stateless fate. No citizenship means that they can't vote or become teachers or civil servants.

Latvians' contempt for Russia is so deeply ingrained that they don't even bother hiding it. This year Vike-Freiberga presented Putin with a new Latvian history textbook that uses a Nazi-era term to describe the Salaspils concentration camp, where tens of thousands of inmates died, most of them Jews. She also famously quipped that on the upcoming victory day celebration, "Russian people will place a Caspian roach on a newspaper, drink vodka, sing folk songs and recall how they heroically conquered the Baltics." Both of these scandals still get repeated airplay in Russia, which lost 27 million citizens during the war, a staggering figure that reflects the fact that the Soviets bore the brunt of Nazi terror, and that Soviet forces were largely responsible for defeating Germany. Russia is saturated with films and books about Nazi horrors. Yet most ethnic Balts, who were treated as allies by the Germans but who suffered terribly under Soviet occupation, view the defeat of the Nazis as their own defeat.

Tatyana Zhdanok, a Latvian MP in the European Parliament from the country's Russian-speaking minority, lost much of her family in the Holocaust. "For me personally, the political revanchism going on in Latvia is very painful," she said. "So of course it seems very strange to combine a visit to Latvia with a visit to Moscow [to celebrate the victory over Nazism]." Zhdanok said she was concerned by local reports that Bush's Latvian itinerary will include a visit to the Freedom Monument, site of the Brothers' Cemetery, where SS Legion Gruppenführer Rudolf Bangerskis's remains were ceremoniously reburied in 1995.

If Bush visits the site, he could have a controversy on his hands equivalent to that stirred up by President Reagan's visit to the German war cemetery at Bitburg, where SS soldiers are buried. The White House has not yet announced Bush's itinerary in Latvia, except that he will meet with the heads of all three Baltic states, two of whom are loudly boycotting the Moscow celebration.

Many Russian speakers say that if Bush is serious about spreading human rights and democracy, then he should meet with Latvia's disenfranchised minority. Indeed, there is a precedent. In 2001 Bush sent then-Secretary of State Colin Powell to Macedonia to help resolve that country's conflict with its minority Albanian population, who at least had citizenship and voting rights. Powell at the time declared, "Multi-ethnicity need not be a source of conflict...if channels are opened for all to be made part of the democratic and political process."

While there is hope that Bush will make a similar gesture in Latvia, the fear among Russians and Jews is that instead of addressing minority rights issues and historical grievances, President Bush will use his visit to pat the Baltic presidents on the head for supporting his war in Iraq, blunder his way into a controversial cemetery site and then ride into Russia to teach Putin about the lessons of history and human rights.

[Lembitu]

I still see no problem here. USA have lot of illegals too. But we dont send them out if we find them. Instead of that we will give them opportunity to get citizenship. But seems that most of them are too lazy to do that. And please tell me one example of discrimination. I have still no answer for that question. You have not provided me with any case of discrimination.

[mikeaverko]

http://www.exile.ru/2005-May-20/baltic_countries.html

BALTIC COUNTRIES

By Kirill Pankratov

Over the past few weeks surrounding the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, some former Soviet satellites raised a big stink demanding an apology from Russia for the "occupation" after WWII. Russia should really apologize for one mistake. They shouldn't have extended an invitation to the likes of Latvia and Estonia in the first place. What's the point of having these little Nazi stooges at the Moscow parade anyway?

Russian officials engaged in rather tortuous and silly rhetoric denying the "occupation." Frankly, it's a pointless argument. If you're a small, piddling principality in the vicinity of big serious powers, you get stomped, period. You can call it "occupation," "domination," "vassalage." It does not change things much. You're just a freaking doormat. You're told what to do, and are obliged to lick the big boots that rule over you.


They say there is no greater fury than a woman scorned. There is a corollary to this statement, based on the same logic of a weaker party. There is no greater hatred than a little vassal country which spits on its former master whose power has waned. This hatred's flip-side is an even greater zeal with which they proceed to grovel and lick the boots of their new masters. It has happened so many times in history and, no doubt, will continue.

There is one memorable line from an otherwise forgettable Stallone movie Cliffhanger, when the hero, his back to the wall, provokes the bad guy: "In a minute I may be dead, but you'll always be an *******." Russia may be down or out -- proven by history to be a rather temporary condition -- but you'll always be small, utterly insignificant ass-lickers, extending wet and willing tongues before your masters, whoever they may be.

Yes, building a large empire often required a lot of blood. But pipsqueak nations are no less bloodthirsty -- just small, with a limited capability. When they have their chance for rape and pillage, they usually jump at it with greater zeal than bigger predators, who can often afford to be more lazy and forgiving.

In many countries the locals collaborated in the Nazi racial "purification" policy. But only in Latvia and Estonia did they exterminate nearly all their Jews and other minorities even before Nazis set up their administrations in 1941 -- and with the most gleeful enthusiasm they bragged to their German masters how efficiently they solved the "Jewish question." For many of them it was their proudest moment in history -- that Nazis regarded them as the second-grade suckers, to be subjugated, unlike others, of the third-grade stock, to be exterminated completely.


Let's review how and why some countries become great, some -- just big, and others -- neither big nor great. There is a lot of silly bull**** in this respect. Some think it is usually a matter of geography, like when a country occupies a separate island, or is bounded by rivers and mountain ranges. This is certainly wrong. A great nation can begin with a small island, but it would outgrow small confines if it has a will to do so. Ancient Greece -- one of the greatest civilizations in history -- began with just a motley collection of rocky islands and mountain valleys. You'd never guess looking at today's Brit brats, but they used to be genuinely great country in the 19th century. And the most remarkable example, Venice, had its core territory a small swampy island, which Romans ignored completely in all their 1000-year history. And yet it had been a truly great, magnificent empire for a time, in the late 15th-early 16th century.

Basically, some countries remain small, pathetic nobodies for the same reason some soccer teams are stuck in a third league, while others compete in the premier league championship. Can you spell l-o-s-e-r? Surely, even if you're in the third league, there will be some passionate fans around your village, getting drunk toasting your little victories and declaring your team the greatest thing on Earth. Occasionally even a glamorous big city magazine will mention your team, tickling your little engorged ego. But, damn... this is still a third echelon, and many spend their entire lives there.

History is a long affair. Over time, some people simply exhibit more drive and enterprising than others. Some decide to wake up earlier, explore new horizons, discover new lands, and fight for new possessions. Others decide to stay home and brag about how their beer is so much better than in the neighboring village. And even while in conquest, after a spell of pillage and slaughter, some decide to stay and commit to a long-term development of conquered lands. Others just steal some trophies, rape some local maidens, and hurry back to their villages, bragging about their exploits.


For example, Lithuania had its moment of greatness, back in 15th century. It was far larger in size than Russia at the time. Up to the middle of 17th century Russians had to defend themselves from Lithuanian and Polish incursions more often than attack these lands. In the 17th century the whole huge territory comprising today's Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia was still up for grabs. There weren't sharp ethnic or religious boundaries. These lands switched sides and passed from one hand to another many times. Why was it that Russia eventually became the biggest Eurasian power ever, and Lithuania (and Poland) ended up in a damp little corner of the Baltic Sea? In short -- over a period of time Russian conquerors proved a little less corrupt, a little more tolerant and inclusive, a little more amenable to the long-term development of the occupied territories than the "democratic" thieving plutocracy of Polish magnates and stupid pretensions of its squabbling petty aristocracy, the szlachta.

When Ukraine was under Lithuanian and Polish control, the latter could not care less that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians were captured and sold into brutal slavery in the Ottoman-allied Crimea, the biggest slave market still existing in Europe in the 18th century. In fact, Poles and Lithuanians were more likely to team up with Crimean Khans to raid Russian lands. Russia, in contrast to that, starting with Peter the Great, got serious about fighting slave-mongering khans, and kicked their asses for good. No wonder Ukraine ended up allied with Russia, and today (the Orange revolution notwithstanding) is incomparably closer to Russia in a cultural sense than to Poland or Lithuania.

Lithuania and Poland at least had their passing moments of greatness. Ever heard of a Great Latvia or Great Estonia? They were always just village hicks ruled by German barons, and later by Russians. The most famous Estonian (albeit ethnic German) I can think of, before the 20th century at least, was Fabian von Bellinghausen, the discoverer of Antarctica in 1820 as a co-commander of a Russian expedition. Had Estonia been a small independent country back then, his biggest expedition would probably have been to Stockholm, where he would have just bragged about how much cheaper beer was in Tallinn. And when they actually became independent and sailed to Stockholm, they mismanaged it so badly that their ship "Estonia" sank in 1994 with some nine hundred passengers, making it the biggest peace-time disaster in the open sea since the Titanic.

So you guys from that little corner of the Baltic, maybe you should have your own parade, proudly displaying your long wet tongues, so skilled in licking the boots of your masters. If history is any indication, you'll need those skills for a long time to come.

[Zbyszek]

Misha, your dear Kirill threw quite a lot of mud on the Baltic countries, yet he somehow failed to acknowledge that forseeable economic prospects for all three states are much brighter than for Russia.
Kirill can sense stink of recent Baltic claim, yet he lacks moral courage to recognize the Soviet responsibility for being one more unwelcome and brutal master of these lands.

[mikeaverko]

Zbig:

Economically, Latvia and Estonia aint nuthin without the EU and Russia.

As for Lithuania, its standard of living isn't as good as the other two Baltic countries.

I keep tryin to inform you that Russia itself has a great future.

On remembering the past, the record is clear on those Balts who collaborated with the Nazis in some gross atrocities as members of the SS.

I received this e-mail in realtion to Dr. Pankratov's excellent article:

Thanks, Mike,
I have some thoughts, however, that could have added to the argument.

First of all, RUSSIA is being labeled as occupier, while it was the USSR, whose first victims were Russians and Russia as a nation, occupied and subjugated to the aims of internationalist Marxists who murdered millions of ethnic Russians and robbed the country to subsidize weaker "republics" and the world "revolutionary struggle". Putin so rightly countered recently that it was Lenin's infamous Latvian "riflemen" (whose monument is still honored in their capital) who played a major role in bringing the Bolsheviks to power and committing mass murder and atrocities throughout Russia.

Second, the Polish-Lithuanian Union's "Rus"-sian territories were amassed because of the devastation of the Mongol-Tartar invasion, a monumental catastrophe that exposed all unconquered lands to land-grabs from the West. And the Poles-Lithuanians made deals with the Mongol-Tartars as well...

Finally, in medieval times, ethnic, linguistic and cultural ties were far stronger between Balts (except Estonians, who are Ugro-Finnic), Poles and Rus. Even under St. Alexander Nevsky, Balts and Finns fount against the invading Swedes and other Germanics who eventually annihilated or absorbed Baltic tribes such as the Prussians, but weakened by the Mongol yoke, Russians had to abandon the fight, and Germanizations, conversion of faith and affinity followed. After Lithuanians and Latvians became Christian in the 13th century, there were many intermarriages and dynastic alliances, and such prominent families as the Trubetskoys and Golitsins are from the Lithuanian Gedimin origin. Rus-Polish ties alternated between impulses for Slavic unification to mutual conquest. The major dividing factor was religion. After the newly Orthodox Balts had to convert to Catholicism after Jadviga-Jagajlo marriage that formed the Lithuanian-Polish Union, and the Vatican's iron hand in using Poland as a means of converting Eastern Slavs to Catholicism, chances of amicable relationships waned and turned into the animosity that we know today. There were periods of warmer relations, however, and even invitations of the Russian Tsar or Emperor to rule these lands as "king of"... it is a long and complicated history.


[Edited by mikeaverko on 5th June 2005 at 08:02]

[Lembitu]

This was very funny article. This shows clearly how hatred against everything blind a person so much that he cannot think clearly anymore. I have red many such articles from russian a**holes that this even dont bother me anymore.
This article is full of hatred and nazism and sovinism.
And as I understand Baltic states should be happy that russians didnt eradicated us all? For us red flag and USSR ALWAYS stays as a symbol of genocide and mass murders. I personally have forgiven for our eastern neighbours all their crimes against my nation. But there will be no trust between us until Russia shows clearly that they have will to change their attitude.
About our economics. Take away imports and exports concerning Russia and Estonian economy wont even notice that. Russian side has put so high custom pays that trade with Russia is meaningless. Only good thing that comes from you beloved powerful Russia, wich is economically still standing only because of gas and oil, are the natural resources. About EU. Yes we have close ties with EU countryes and conflict with them can cause a problem.
But can you explain Mike why you hate small nations so much? Have some estonian or latvian kicked your little ass?

[Lembitu]

Still no example about discrimination.