These are posted on your blog
Posted on 08/13/2022 5:11:40 PM PDT by MercyFlush
The Estonian government wants to ban the memory of the Soviet past from public life. Riots and Russian cyber attacks cannot be ruled out. At the center of the controversy is an old tank.
Lenin got it: his statue still stands in Estonia’s third-largest city, Narva, but it was moved to a secluded, walled-in corner in the courtyard in the 1990s. In the summer, the Russian revolutionary leader was surrounded by an ugly construction site fence.
If the Estonian government under Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has its way, all Soviet monuments in the small Baltic state should disappear from public view. And as quickly as possible – that’s what Kallas announced on Thursday.
With the beginning of the Ukraine war, the debates about Soviet monuments in the Baltic States flared up again. Estonia’s neighbor Latvia has already taken it seriously: All Soviet monuments must be removed from Latvian soil by November 15.
In Estonia, this decision harbors enormous potential for social disruption. Because about a quarter of the Estonian population are ethnic Russians. Older people in particular feel connected to Russia and the legacy of the Soviet Union. The announcement also brings back memories of the worst riots since Estonia’s independence in 1991.
15 years ago, in April 2007, the so-called bronze soldier was transferred from the center of the capital Tallinn to the outskirts. The memorial commemorated the Soviet “liberation” of Estonia in World War II. Two days of violent protests followed: Russian-speaking youths rioted, torched cars and looted shops. Over a hundred people were injured, one man was stabbed. On top of that. Russia launched a large-scale cyber attack against Estonia. It was the first time a nation-state had been the victim of such coordinated hacking.
Today it is not the bronze soldier, but a tank that heats up tempers. About 200 to 400 Soviet monuments still stand in Estonia. But the old T-34 tank near Narva in the predominantly Russian-speaking east of Estonia is at the center of the debate about the culture of remembrance. It stands at the point where Soviet soldiers crossed the Narva River and drove the German occupiers out of the city. The river today marks the Estonian-Russian state border.
After the first rumors about the removal of the tank began to circulate in public on Wednesday afternoon, about 150 people gathered at the monument in the evening, according to the Estonian public broadcaster. Some wanted to stay the night to prevent an alleged removal of the tank.
Relocating the tank is legally problematic. Because the central government can only decide on the relocation of war memorials with human remains. Other monuments, like the tank at Narva, are the responsibility of the local administration.
Prime Minister Kaja Kallas admitted that the city of Narva has the right to decide the fate of the tank. “But because it is clear that Narva itself will not intervene, the Estonian state and government must make the decision to move this and other monuments of symbolic value,” said Kallas.
The corresponding law would have to be changed for this. Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu has already suggested calling MPs back from the summer break so that they can vote on a change in the law as quickly as possible.
Nevertheless, it would be wrong to blame the entire Russian-speaking minority in Estonia should the monument dispute escalate, says Karsten Brüggemann. He is Professor of General and Estonian History at Tallinn University and researches the history of Russian-Baltic relations. «In April, 2007 hasn’t the Russian minority demonstrated against the implementation of the bronze soldier. There were a few hundred – partly incited by the Russian embassy”.
However, even now, riots cannot be ruled out. “You’ll always find those few hundred who would salute a Russian tank. Especially in Narva,” says Brüggemann. “But that doesn’t mean that the majority of Russian-speaking Estonians are behind it. On the contrary: This is a radical, dissatisfied minority whose displeasure could unfortunately be activated again.”
It's time to remove these monuments to rape and conquest. If Russia wants them then Russia should come get them. But they have no place on the soil of other nations who were enslaved by the USSR and who are now free.
Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. History has stopped
Sure, monuments to the Unknown Russian rapists in former Soviet Captive Nations should not be taken down.
When did Neocons join with the left in pulling down monuments?
Remember Sergei, I’m not answering your questions until you post your crap about me or post an apology.
Anyone curious about this can check my home page.
The T-34 is the tank that beat the nazis. I wouldn’t mind having it in my yard
They’re not monuments, Comrade John
they’re deliberate symbols of oppression ... get rid of them ASAP
USSR was a monster ... and Russia is continuing where it left off
Estonia can do whatever it wants within its own borders, it’s a sovereign country
guess you forgot that part, Comrade John
Neocons are leftists so they probably support destroying confederate statues and ones to Columbus too (at least in private).
It's like having a statue of King George III at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The people demolishing the "monuments" are victims of the USSR (i.e. the left) and the victims' descendents. They don't have the foggiest idea what a neocon is and couldn't care less.
Hey "Preston", got a better commie troll farm talking point?
“Prime Minister Kaja Kallas admitted that the city of Narva has the right to decide the fate of the tank. “But because it is clear that Narva itself will not intervene, the Estonian state and government must make the decision to move this and other monuments of symbolic value,” said Kallas.“
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This is horseshit. The Estonian state and government have no right to make the decision.
The shipping cost might be a bit stout.
Like those on the left claiming to connected to slavery?
Remember Sergei, I’m not answering your questions until you post your crap about me or post an apology.
Anyone curious about this can check my home page.
You seem to have offended the toilet boy.
Good job !
Your refusal is the indictment.
"Preston"
Your crash course in English as a second language has obviously failed. The Kremlin should demand their money back from your online instructor, or at least feed them a polonium cocktail for this failure.
Unlike the Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania & Estonia were independent countries.
Now, when are you going to clean up Canada, hoser ?
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