It’s definitely an interesting and boom time in the Baltics right now.
The Soviet generations are dying off and the post Soviet generations are increasing MASSIVELY. There are people near 40 years old there now with no real memories of Soviet times other than what they did on the playground. There is definitely a growing divide between haves and have nots.
These are tiny countries and the size of Russian cities just over the border dwarfs them. The weight of geography and cultural history will once again draw them east. If that will be in 10 years or 100 I don’t know. But it will happen.
You’re wrong.
While entities like the E.U. will have their part to play, in this age of Brexit and sovereignty, tiny countries will shine in all their varied, unique, language-preserving glory while the delusional empire-minded (China and Russia) are in for a rude awakening. That is of course until the freedom-lovers within those countries embrace the new reality as well and rise up against their backwards overlords.
We are moving into an age of “tiny countries.”
Other interesting developments in the post-Soviet space include:
“Kazahkstan to change from Cyrrilic to Latin alphabet.”
http://www.dw.com/en/kazakhstan-to-change-from-cyrillic-to-latin-alphabet/a-41147396
9% of Estonian export goes to Russia. The trouble with doing business with Russia is that they feel this 9% of volume makes them entitled to control how the relations with the countries where the 91% goes must be.
We regrettably got a leftist dominated government now for the first time since independence, but it looks like having them actually have power is the best cure for their popularity, that has fallen to 36% by now. I just hope they can’t do too much damage.
This is why they will survive as separate entities - for the same reason Ireland, Scotland and Wales more or less stayed unique from England while the Cornish were absorbed - language, culture/history kept them distinct for a long time, but then the Welsh and Cornish adopted anglicanism and finally the Cornish lost their language and then they were lost
similarly the Armenians, Jews, Yazidis, Mandaens, Samaritans, Alawites, Zoroastrians survive even in tiny communities due to this separation
Within the east slavs we have the destruction of the Belarussian language first when it was reduced to a local language under the later stages of the Polish Lithuanian commonwealth - not due to forced policies but due to Polish being the prestiage langauge, then under the Tsar in the 1800s with the rise of literacy and finally the forced Russianization under the Bolsheviks.
Latvia, Lithuania will survive.
If anything we will have more "small nations" but within a wider framework like the EU. You see this in India (at least 40 different nations in one union) or Switzerland.
Even Russia gives Buryats, Tuvans, Enki, Tatars and udmurt relative freedom to survive as separate entities.