Bronze Soldier controversy comments

• 22
  
  February
  
  2010
  CB -
  
  You have to ask yourself who built it and why.The history of the Baltic states is one of centuries of occupation (the Swedes, the Danish, the Germans, The Russians, The Germans again, the Russians again..) These 'occupiers' built the major cities, and they also built the monuments to themselves there as well. Considering that the last occupation ended less than a few decades ago, its no surprise that locals are eager to brush off the reminders of it. Its also worth noting that the Soviet occupation/liberation (the event commemorated in this monument), was far more oppressive and enduring than the Nazi one it replaced.I think the protest and violence that accompanied the moving of this monument, says more about the anxiety of a minority Russian youth living in a 'foreign' country experiencing economic decline than anything else. Most of their parents arrived in Estonia on the wave of Soviet Russification, and enjoyed the benefits, opportunities and prestige that accompanied emigrating from their homeland superpower. Russian prestige doesn't mean much today, and these young guys are scrapping for work alongside their Estonian national compatriots. Show me a culture or society where the children's prospects look bleaker than their parents' did, and I'll show you a bunch of young men who feel sore about it. Add alcohol and you've got a news story.What's really interesting, is the relationship between these two groups - - young first generation Russian Estonians living as a minority, and Estonia itself existing as a minority power beside the imposing Russia. They're both fretting on some minority anxiety tip. They should just hug/cry it out, sauna, lumberjack wallow in a bottle together, etc... whatever those half frozen whiteys do to defuse and pass the time.The govt probably could have done a better job of selling this as, "After centuries or war and occupation, we want to make the city a place for fostering peace, and keep the emblems of war with the people who died in them.."
• 15
  
  February
  
  2010
  Timothy Barrett - Fort Leavenworth
  
  Should the Estonians and Latvians remind their pro-Russian counterparts about what the Soviets did the last time they came to "liberate" them: namely the destruction of the Kopli, Kalamaja and Moigu cemeteries in Estonia and the Lielie Kapi in Riga, Latvia.The Estonian decision is rather mute in comparison.
• 18
  
  July
  
  2009
  Neil McGowan - Moscow
  
  It was either a huge mistake, or a deliberate provocation, to move this historic war-monument.