How majority of Russians see the role of Russia today?

[Marita]

Lembitu,
Are you saying you were always friendly to us?
By the way, have you read the thread N.A.T.O. - the American outpost in Europe
Before 1991 you never were forbidden to use your language.
But now our compatriots in your country are.
Such behaviour looks like an inferiority complex. One who loves his nation, his language and culture will not impose his language to others. Because it causes hatred and nothing else.

[WiseSage2005]

But now our compatriots in your country are.

No they are not forbidden from speaking the Russian language. It's just that they must sit an exam in Estonian/Latvian. This is not that unreasonable. Remember that the Russians are only there because they were colonists send my Stalin to Russify the Baltic states. In Europe, nation states are traditionally based on a specific ethnic group being the majority in that country - while also having minorities in the country. While the Baltic states were constitutionally part of the Soviet Union for 46 years, they did not give their consent to this. In fact, the Soviet Union first occupied the Baltic states under the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact with the Nazis in 1939 - before the Nazis occupied it in 1941. What justification can there be for the occupation of Estonian, Lithuania and Latvia in 1940? And also for the invasion of Finland before it sided with Nazi Germany? Finland only sided with the Germans to get their land back.

I wouldn't call learning a language "oppression".

[Lembitu]

Marita!
Russians can speak here whatever language they want. Noone will forbid them to do that. Dont believe silly propaganda what your newspapers are makeing. Right now when I write this commentar my collegues are speaking with eachother in corridor and language they are using is russian.
Hatred are called by persons who dont want to learn Estonian language and by te people who want us back to Soviet Union times where we were forced to learn russian language more then estonian. When I was in 5 class, we had 2 estonian language lessons and 4 russian language lessons in week. Is this normal by your opinion?
Is this normal that people who colonized here almost 60 years ago still dont speak still a word of estonian language?

[mikeaverko]

Actually, the Russian presence in Estonia goes back centuries. The discriminatory citizenship requirments in Estonia aren't found in much of the civilized world which includes Russia.

This perspective is very much censored on the "free" (for those who can afford it) world.

An example of how the commentary on Russia is corrupted:

Carnegie Endowment busted
Excellent article by Eric Kraus at http://english.intelligent.ru

Btw, I was the one who intially noted Anatol Lieven leaving the Carnegie Endowment just after he wrote a damning article on Khodorkovsky, who gave that org. $500,000. Refer to the dated 8/25 and 8/29 correspondences at:

http://english.intelligent.ru/letters/index.html

and my article ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ON ASLUND & THE COMMENTARIOT

http://averko.blogspot.com

[Lembitu]

Population in Estonia in 1940 - estonians 95% other 5 %
Pouplation in Estonia in 1960 - estonians 60%, russians 30% other 10%
Population in Estonia in 2005 - estonians 75% russians 20% other 5%
As you see russian population originate from times after 2. WW when they were colonized here. It was try to make our nation russian speaking but fortunately it was not sucsessful.
Yes we have centuries old russians villages in Estonia by the lake of Peipsi. Tthey are called Old Believers. They runned away from Russia when orthodoxy curch started to persecute them. But their number is small (maybe 15000 souls) and they are quite happy with their life. Btw best smoked fish in Estonia comes from them.
Little link here too about their life:
http://www.starover.ee/
So Mikeaverko I see first time that you really know something about Estonian history.

[WiseSage2005]

Originally Posted by mikeaverko

Actually, the Russian presence in Estonia goes back centuries. The discriminatory citizenship requirments in Estonia aren't found in much of the civilized world which includes Russia.

This perspective is very much censored on the "free" (for those who can afford it) world.

An example of how the commentary on Russia is corrupted:

Carnegie Endowment busted
Excellent article by Eric Kraus at http://english.intelligent.ru

Btw, I was the one who intially noted Anatol Lieven leaving the Carnegie Endowment just after he wrote a damning article on Khodorkovsky, who gave that org. $500,000. Refer to the dated 8/25 and 8/29 correspondences at:

http://english.intelligent.ru/letters/index.html

and my article ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ON ASLUND & THE COMMENTARIOT

http://averko.blogspot.com

How is the requirement for ethnic-Russians in Estonia and Latvia to learn Estonian/Latvian any different from the requirement of ethnic-minorities in Russia e.g. Chechens, Ingush, Tatars etc. to learn Russian?

[Alex_Ivanov]

Originally Posted by WiseSage2005

How is the requirement for ethnic-Russians in Estonia and Latvia to learn Estonian/Latvian any different from the requirement of ethnic-minorities in Russia e.g. Chechens, Ingush, Tatars etc. to learn Russian?

Actually very different. There's no any requirement for ethnic minorities to learn Russian. They have unrestricted civil rights of citizens regardless of their Russian language skills. Check it out - Russia doesn't have any language tests for citizenship.