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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Eyeball to eyeball: Estonia stares down Russia |
| 2023-05-21 |
| [CNN] In 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Crimea and began fomenting conflict in Ukraine’s Donbas region, there was a short phrase that captured the fear that Moscow would try to grab still more territory, this time in Estonia: "Is Narva next?" Narva, Estonia, a city of 60,000 people, is as close as you can get to Russia in Europe. It sits high on the western bank of the Narva River, its 13th-century castle proudly flying the blue, black and white flag of Estonia. On the opposite bank stands Ivangorod, population roughly 10,000, with its 15th century fortress, atop which flutters the red, blue and white flag of Russia. Between them stretches a bridge straight out of a Cold War movie, fortified with chain link fences and barbed wire, the route that Russian tanks might take to invade Estonia — or so the theory goes. So far, however, Russian tanks have not rolled over the bridge and Estonia, a small nation of 1.3 million people but a staunch member of NATO, is intent on making sure that never happens. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #7 Guess we don't have a rule of law in the West then, do we? |
| Posted by: DooDahMan 2023-05-21 22:37 |
| #6 Those poor Russians. So discriminated against. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2023-05-21 22:14 |
| #5 @#4 - Good post. If there's any agitation it's from the Estonian government. They are after the Russian schools (taught according to Estonian education ministry standards) and Russian language. Russians with property in Estonia cannot pay insurance, loans, etc., because Russia was booted from SWIFT. Of course, the EST gov't has eyes on confiscation. @#3 - "More and better goods than in Russia". Hmmm, butter and eggs taste about the same around the world. My hint was old ladies. If you knew how paltry a pension is in EST, you might be appalled. (Then again, maybe not.) So if elderly Russian retirees can save a few Euros by shopping across the bridge in Russia and come back in a few hours, they'll do it. I think some (before Feb 2022) used to drive across and fill their petrol tanks with cheaper Russian petrol much like the do at the Luxemb(o)urg-German border. Cheaper smokes in LUX, too. In the name of democracy and free speech, Estonian cable companies were forced to stop virtually all Russian language programming with the exception of nature, science, cartoons, and perhaps some other bland, non-political shows. Sometimes it seems like the Cold War has switched roles. |
| Posted by: DooDahMan 2023-05-21 20:49 |
| #4 Estonia has a significant population of Russian speakers. In particular, in Narva a majority of the population speak Russian. Interestingly, a significant number of Russian speakers in Estonia are Russian military retirees who settled there to find employment or quality of life. No real scientific poll has measured any Sudatenland type agitation among the Russian speakers. However, it is pretty much established that these people hope for friendly relations between the two countries and also that there should be two countries. Latvia and Lithuania have similar issues but their population of Russian speakers in proportion to their total population is smaller than Estonia. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2023-05-21 18:51 |
| #3 ^^^^^^ Why? Estonia has more and better goods than Russia. |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2023-05-21 13:04 |
| #2 Like I believe "Estonian officials" as much as I believe "EU officials" or "UK officials" or (especially) "Ukrainian officials". That bridge was good for old ladies to go do some shopping across the border and come back to Estonia. |
| Posted by: DooDahMan 2023-05-21 11:59 |
| #1 Vladimir Putin has a bigger goal than Ukraine, Estonian officials say: to dissolve the rules-based world order and as long as that’s the goal, Russia will remain the most dangerous immediate and long-term threat to the West. |
| Posted by: Slavising Unineting5672 2023-05-21 09:06 |