Latvia in the News Latvija latviskiA group of members of Russia’s Duma demanded the resignation of the Estonian government on their visit to Tallinn. It’s been said those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat. Perhaps, the members of the Duma are not familiar with the events of 1940, when the Soviet Union established puppet governments in three Baltic States.
Update: Justin has more on this.
The esteemed member of European Parliament representing Latvia Tatjana Zdanoka is in Tallinn meeting with representative of the Nochoy Dozor. That in itself shouldn’t be surprising.
The old monument in its new place may relieve some tensions, even though the angriest of Russians demand the head of Estonia’s Prime Minister Andrus Ansip. The Estonian government didn’t intend to demolish the monument in the first place. It will be interesting to see what the Russian media will say about this.
Photo from postimees.ee
From the Independent:
One dead, hundreds arrested and the danger of more trouble to come. It’s not what we have come to expect of Estonia, better known to Britons as a playground and a place to buy property. Some will shake their heads, the phrase “far-off country of which we know little” coming to mind. We should resist that temptation. Like it or not, the expansion of the European Union to the Baltic states means Estonia’s crisis with Russia over the removal of a Soviet war memorial from the centre of Tallin is our concern, too. You wouldn’t know that, however, from the evasive murmurs coming out of Brussels and Germany, the current holder of the EU presidency.
We have had the strange spectacle of the EU nodding with apparent respect as Vladimir Putin’s ministers lecture Estonia on civil rights. This is hypocrisy on a grand scale, given Russia’s treatment of its unhappy Chechens and its rough handling of recent anti-government protests in Moscow and St Petersburg.
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