From: avg@rodan.UU.NET (Vadim Antonov)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet
Subject: Re: "democratic" Estonia
Date: 8 Sep 1992 14:56:25 -0400
Organization: Berkeley Software Design
NNTP-Posting-Host: rodan.uu.net

In article <1992Sep8.064025.25116@jyu.fi> ryyti@jyu.fi (Jarmo Ryyti) writes:
>
>Yesterday 7.9.1992 Moscow correspondent Matti Valkonen of Helsingin
>Sanomat, a leading newspaper in Finland writes:
>.....
>"Moscow poticians and media have repeatedly warned Baltic states and especially
>Estonia about violating the human rights of the russians. On the other hand
>they have not said a word against Caucasian and Central Asian states where
>there are against the russians clearly more difficult threat.

Total bullshit. My native city is Nalchick, Northern Caucasus, and i can
assure you that Russians feel much less pressure there. In fact, they're
"neutral side" in Georgian-Ossetian, Georgian-Abkhazian, Chechen-Ossetian,
Armenian-Azeri conflicts. Not that they do not suffer from the wars but
they're not THE enemy. They got caught in the middle of thousand years
old conflicts which were "frozen" under totalitarian regime.

Nice example of the unbiased Finnish press.

BTW, how do you think who were the hundreds of thousands of people protesting
(Gorbachev's?) military actions in Lithuania?

>The Baltic states are european calm that you can threaten them and collect
>political support in Moscow.

Yep. "European calm" is now kinda... well. Ever read of riots in
Germany of a war in Yugoslavia?

>In stead of Uzbekistan with her 22 million
>inhabitants or very far away in the heart of Asia situated Tadzikistan
>or Kirgisistan will not be threatened because the russian minorities over there
>will feel the threats on their own skins.

Yes, but it is not the ethnic confilcts -- it's the struggle for
power between ex-communist rulers (like Nabiyev who resigned recenltly after
the opposition finally caught him) and multicolored opposition forces
varying from Islam fundamentalists to pro-democratic movements.

>In the beginning of August the azeris arrested two russian officers.
>There has been negotiations to free them without results. The unsuccesful
>negotiations have been done without public threat which  the russians
>run in the Baltics.

Yep. Azeri (being Muslims) have accused Russia in providing military
aid to Christian Armenia.

>In february two russian soldiers and an officer were cought as hostages
>in Azerbeidzhan and again according ITAR-TASS Russia and Azerbeidzhan
>negotiate about freeing the men. The russian politicians have not raisen their
>voices about the violating the human rights of the men."

Taking hostages is a standard tactic of terrorist guerilla groups, but
still it has nothing to do with ethnic conflicts.

>"LANGUAGE LAWS DO NOT HEATEN SENCES"
>
>"The careful attitude of Russia concerning Central Asia can be seen
>clearly of the fact that the russians do not blame the language laws
>of Uzbekistan,Kazakstan or Tadzikistan.
>Of the inhabitants of Karaganda 80 % are russians, germans and other
>foreigners. Only one fifth are kazaks but according the laws of the
>independent Kazakstan to all leading posts will nominated kazaks.
>The opressed russians have to leave the country.

Wow. How do ya think are Russians a minorty in Kazakhstan? I wonder
where this guy gets his information. Need i to remind that the 
Kazakhstan is the most supportive of Russian politics among the CIS
members? Nazarbayev won elections with the strong support of Russian
population of Kazakhstan (note that they were allowed to cast ballots).

As for language -- in the city on the banks of Potomac river which
happened to be the capital of the U.S.A 26% of population speaks
in languages which are different from English. In LA it's 60%.
No signs of fierce protests about teaching English in schools...

For a lot of US residents English is merely a mean to communicate with
other ethnic groups; in ex-Soviet countries de-facto it is Russian.
How do you think how can be interpreted intentions of a government
which shuts down teaching of the language of inter-ethnical communication?
Yep, in a (European) country it was named "ethnical cleansing".

If you didn't know, a foreighn language (usually English or German) is
a mandatory course in *all* Russian schools (with a notably exeption of
schools for mentally impaired). Now let's see if anybody ever complained
about German (or Britan) nationalism in Russia.

Again i don't feel guilty that my native language is wide-spread.

--vadim
Newsgroups: soc.culture.soviet