Moscow signals concern for Russians in Estonia

[happyslug]

81. I addressed the Soviet Occupation above

Remember the Soviet Union did not go into the Baltic States till 1940, after Hitler and Stalin divided up Eastern Europe. At the same time, Russia was looking at war with Hitler. The debate in the Soviet Union was would Hitler attack in 1941 or 1942. Stalin believed it would be 1942, for by then the Germans would have a much stronger army to attack Russia and this appears to be the Soviet Plan till Hitler unleashed his Troops in June 1941 (and even then it appears it took a few days for Stalin to understand Hitler had attacked, Moscow for the few days after the attack kept on issuing orders to its own troops NOT to cause any provocation against the Germans).

Once it was understood that Hitler would attack the Soviet Union, the Baltic States became pawns between the two and suffered accordingly. Stalin was paranoid, thus thought nothing of moving masses of people around if he suspected they were disloyal (he did this to the Crimean Tartars in addition to the People of the Baltic States). Stalin was as harsh on Russians that he THOUGHT may oppose him (in 1938, Stalin killed off his top generals and many of his better officers in the Russian Army for he thought they were plotting to over throw him).

Unlike Hitler (who was the classic demigod) Stalin was a modern technocrat. His participation in the Revolution of 1917 was behind the scene, he supplied the money to finance the revolution. Stalin was the type of person who walk into a plant and tell the people how to run the plant better AND BE RIGHT. So many people in the Communist party owned his favors dating back to pre WWI days that he had almost total control over the party, and those parts of the Party he did not controlled he wiped out in the purges of the late 1930s. Thus by 1940 Stalin had made the Communist Party of the Soviet Union what Mussolini called the most fascist of all states (More fascist then Germany under Hitler and Italy under Mussolini).

Stalin's plan was always to destroy any internal opposition, and he did so any time he could. It was NOT Russia that caused the problem for the Baltic States, it was Stalin. To blame Russia for what happened to the Baltic States 1940-1980, is like Blaming Germany for the Holocaust. Germany did not do the Holocaust, it was the Nazis under Hitler. Hitler was the leader of Germany during the Holocaust, but he made it a policy to cover up what he was doing to the Jews. The same with Stalin, his tendency to kill off people always had some sort of cover, dis loyalty was always a favorite.

Please note, while the Soviet Union kept the Baltic States after the death of Stalin, most of the killing and other problems the people of those countries went through occurred under Stalin. Post Stalin death rates and harm to the people of those areas declined. Now the Soviet Union kept them as part of the Soviet Union, for the Soviet Union still saw them as potential bases for enemy to attack Russia (remember NATO), but they were treated no worse then Russia itself.

And remember, when these same States were part of IMPERIAL RUSSIA, the Tsars left them alone as long as they were not bases for attacks on Russia itself. The bad times were under Stalin, and that was bad for anyone who lived under Stalin, just asked the Ukrainians.

My point is, from a Russian Point of view, the Baltic States are NOT a threat to Russia in and by themselves. On the other hand, they can be bases for other powers to use to attack Russia, i.e NATO and the US. This ability to be used as bases is what Russia fears, and what Russia will object to and if Russia's fears grow to much, lead to a Russia invasion to prevent these countries from being used as bases to attack Russia.