ThemBombs
10-01-2014, 06:37 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War_II
http://www.vox.com/2014/10/1/6880329/russia-baltic-threats-ukraine-estonia
[QUOTE]A senior Russian Foreign Ministry official says that Moscow has a responsibility to protect ethnic Russian citizens of other countries, "regardless of where they live," and that "we will do everything possible to defend the rights and interests" of ethnic Russian minorities in the neighboring Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
The comments came from Anatoly Makarov, the director of the Foreign Ministry's Department for Interaction with Compatriots Abroad. He was speaking to the Russian outlet RuBaltic, as translated by Paul Goble. "We are carrying out a line so that Russian compatriots regardless of where they live are guaranteed all rights and freedoms ... and have the opportunity to preserve the culture and traditions of their historical Motherland," Makarov said, explicitly extending this to the million-plus ethnic Russians who are citizens of Baltic countries.
Here's why that's a bad sign: Russia premised its two invasions of Ukraine (first to annex Crimea in March, then to invade eastern Ukraine in August) on protecting ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking minorities in the country. And Russian President Vladimir Putin's government has embraced the imperial-era idea that Moscow is the real authority responsible for ethnic Russian minorities in other countries. The fear has always been that Putin might extend this thinking to Russian minorities in the Baltic states, as possible prelude to a Ukraine-style invasion there.
The threat of possible Russian meddling or outright invasion in the Baltic states isn't just that another invasion is bad. It's that it could
http://www.vox.com/2014/10/1/6880329/russia-baltic-threats-ukraine-estonia
[QUOTE]A senior Russian Foreign Ministry official says that Moscow has a responsibility to protect ethnic Russian citizens of other countries, "regardless of where they live," and that "we will do everything possible to defend the rights and interests" of ethnic Russian minorities in the neighboring Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
The comments came from Anatoly Makarov, the director of the Foreign Ministry's Department for Interaction with Compatriots Abroad. He was speaking to the Russian outlet RuBaltic, as translated by Paul Goble. "We are carrying out a line so that Russian compatriots regardless of where they live are guaranteed all rights and freedoms ... and have the opportunity to preserve the culture and traditions of their historical Motherland," Makarov said, explicitly extending this to the million-plus ethnic Russians who are citizens of Baltic countries.
Here's why that's a bad sign: Russia premised its two invasions of Ukraine (first to annex Crimea in March, then to invade eastern Ukraine in August) on protecting ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking minorities in the country. And Russian President Vladimir Putin's government has embraced the imperial-era idea that Moscow is the real authority responsible for ethnic Russian minorities in other countries. The fear has always been that Putin might extend this thinking to Russian minorities in the Baltic states, as possible prelude to a Ukraine-style invasion there.
The threat of possible Russian meddling or outright invasion in the Baltic states isn't just that another invasion is bad. It's that it could