Posted on 09/17/2007 2:47:46 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Riga - An outspoken critic of the Baltic States will visit the three small nations this week.
Rene van der Linden, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, will visit EU members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for talks about human rights, democracy, and national minorities.
Linden criticized Latvia and Estonia for their minority policies, including Estonia's decision to relocate the Soviet-era monument last spring.
'I have repeatedly criticized the Baltic states for their attitude toward the Russian national minorities,' he said on his visit to Moscow in August. He said during his visit to the Baltics this week he would 'call the most serious attention to the situation of the Russian-speaking minority in these countries.'
He also criticized 'rise of fascism' in the Baltic states, which joined the European Union in 2004.
Approximately 29 per cent of Latvia's 2.3 million people are ethnic Russians. In Estonia, about 25 per cent of the country's 1.3 million people are ethnic Russians. Both countries became independent in 1991 following the fall of the Soviet Union.
PACE and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe certified all three countries as fulfilling their obligations before the international organizations when it comes to dealing with national minorities.
Linden also criticized Estonia for transferring the Soviet Army monument from downtown Tallinn to a military cemetery, a move that caused two-day riots - mostly by ethnic Russians - in the centre of the Estonian capital.
On his recent visit to Moscow, he said he regretted the failure to 'respect the memory of the dead.'
'There were widespread feelings of dissatisfaction in Europe over the Estonian government's conduct in this situation,' he said in Moscow.
Estonian media suggested that Linden's criticism of Estonia had to do with his family's had business interests in Russia.
'The PACE chairman's criticism of Estonia is astounding, to put it mildly,' Estonia's Eesti Paevaleht newspaper said in an opinion piece published in August.
It was published a few days after veterans of Estonian volunteer Waffen division gathered in Sinimae, where the battle of Nazi and Soviet Army had been particularly fierce in summer of 1944.
The Estonian Defence Minister Jaak Aaviksoo sent an official letter to the veterans, calling on them to defend homeland from enemies both from within and without.
'Linden believes that the rally in Sinimae and the Erna Raid (military competition based on the route of a Nazi group) testify to the growing neo-Nazi attitudes in Estonia, and that it is necessary to exert pressure on it in this context. Did he really make this statement because his family has economic interests in Russia?' asked the editorial.
'Let's recall that Gerhard Schroeder, whose prosperity also depends on the Kremlin, was one of the few critics of Estonia during the April events.'
for your list
The Council of Europe? Are they still in operation since the founding of the EU? If memory serves me, Winston Churchill wanted a European version of the USA and promoted the Council of Europe, in 1950 or so.
Please, leave the Baltics alone and go peddle your pc garbage somewhere else. Those countries know more about democracy than this clown.
And hmmmmm... I sure have no overwhelming concern about Russian "human rights" after they slaughtered and imprisoned millions from various republics. I highly doubt anyone from the Baltics is treating Russians THAT badly - screw the Commie statue.
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