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Old 28-04-2007, 01:59   #55
la aurora la aurora is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by haku View Post
Estonia removes Soviet memorial (and Russia goes insane over it)
One important thing the author of the article forgot to mention is that all this is happening with 9th May coming in less than 2 weeks... Victory Day one of the biggest and most important holidays in this country.

I don't know how important memories of the WW2 are in France but here it's considered one of the most painful and important events of 20th century. We've lost millions of people in this one. Almost every family in this huge country lost someone dear to them in this war. Our grandparents still have a lot of painful stories to share and scars to show. Landscape in some parts of the country still looks different from what it was before the bombing took place.

We, younger generation of russians, grew up in the atmosphere of deep sorrow and respect when it comes to WW2. 1941-1945 is the date everyone knows from a young age. We all saw a lot of movies about that time, learned our history lessons and yeah, call us stupid, but we treasure monuments reminding us of that time. And on 9th of May you don't really get surprised seeing a young punk-kid giving a flower to the old person he doesn't even know and saying 'thank you'.

Those people that were burried there in Estonia were not really communists or stalinists. They were fighting against a fierce power that tried to take over the Europe. They were fighting for their own land and people, for estonians, for the rest of the Europe and we don't really know how many silient heros found their last 'home' there. Removing the monument just because some unwanted people choose to meet near it and the authorities of the city can't find a couple of police guys to watch them is a choice that's really hard to understand. It does seem vandalic, disrespectful and unhuman. Monuments in general are known for being an attraction for various groups. Let's get rid of them all?

Saying that russian reaction on this is 'going insane' was rather cold-hearted and makes it sound like we made a big deal out of nothing. Mind you, Estonian officials knew exactly what russian reaction would be. And if they thought dealing with this reaction was easier than dealing with a small crowd of nationalists that gather there from time to time, I personally start to believe it's a 'provocation'.

Quote:
Originally Posted by haku View Post
Putin steps up missiles warning (and talks of "mutual destruction" like in the good old days)

We are now officially in Cold War II.
Putin said what Bush would say if we suddenly 'felt insecure' and decided to place a couple of such bases somewhere in Latin America. Look at the map and check where USA, Russia and Poland with Czech Rep are situated. Administration of USA was acting rather agressivly in last years. They got out of several agreements they found 'uncomfortable' for them, they attacked Iraq without really asking for permission from the rest of the world. I'd be really surprised to see Putin happy about them planning to place their bases in Eastern Europe. What other reaction would you expect?

Cold War hasn't began today and it wasn't Putin who've started it. It's just how things are done in modern world. Everyone tries to push their interests as far as possible. It's not a game of one and not even a game of two.
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