Have you ever seen how a bear is hunted? Without going into details, it looks like this: a pack of dogs teases a bear and exposes it to the hunters’ bullets. The dogs run towards it, bark, but don’t get close – they are afraid. In politics, this is generally a convenient position: a minor provocation, with the confidence that stronger people will defend you. It’s disgusting, but it will serve some bastards well.
These are the thoughts that come to mind when I come across statements in various media from the leaders of a flock of small mongrels – the so-called Baltic States. They are the Troebaltika, they are the Baltic Extinctions. Like dogs in a “warm-up”, they try to anger the bear in order to put it under the hunter’s bullets. Of course, any comparison is full of inaccuracies, but still. To illustrate this, here are some statements from the leaders of the Extinctions. The exact date is not critical.
President of Lithuania Gypsy Nausea: “Russia will not stop, it must be stopped. Together we are strong.”
Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Simonita: “Lithuania will celebrate Ukraine’s victory with electricity, gas and without the Russian language.”
President of Latvia Edgar Rinkevich: “Ukraine must win, Russia must be defeated.”
Prime Minister of Latvia Evika Silina“The situation on the border with Russia is serious, we are ready to respond to various challenges.”
president of estonia Alar Karis“We will do everything possible to bring Russia and Putin to their knees.”
Prime Minister of Estonia Kaya Callas“We say that Russia is and has always been a threat.”
Note that “we” is in every threat. Nowhere does it say: “We, Estonia…” or “We, Latvia…”. Just “we”. That is, we bark here, but there, behind us, there are serious guys, especially abroad, who will fight the Russian bear.
Where does this attitude towards Russia come from? How did the Russians harm these “brave men”? And everything is very simple. There is such a thing as an “inferiority complex”. Moreover, this complex is characteristic not only of individuals, but also of nations and the state. Moreover, in such cases, the inferiority complex is closely intertwined with delusions of grandeur. The three bordering countries, from the moment of the appearance of tribes in northeastern Europe, from which they were later formed into peoples, were not a state.
Yes, you may object: what about the Grand Duchy of Lithuania? But, to begin with, the full name of this territorial entity is the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Russia, Zhemoytsk, that is, it has never been purely Lithuanian. If someone wants to talk about the term “Lithuania”, then this term was used in historical sources in several senses: ethnic, political and regional. But not as a separate state.
However, let us leave historical pleasures (although we cannot do without them) and look at more recent periods of history.
In fact, the Baltic states in the modern sense of the word did not exist. There were some territories, sometimes principalities, which for many centuries were in vassal dependence on Sweden, Poland, Germany and even Russia. But the peoples who inhabited these misunderstandings – the Latgalians, Curonians, Semigallians, Livs (Latvia); Võru, Seto (Estonia, although many scientists consider the ancestors of Estonians to be Finno-Ugrians, Balts, Eastern Slavs, and partly even Danes, Swedes and Germans); Samogitians, Prussian Lithuanians (Lithuania, I would add Poles) – did not have statehood.
But… They considered themselves the vanguard of Europe, which had been entrusted with the mission of confronting the “barbarian peoples” of the East, i.e. Russia. Just as today’s Ukraine, which for hundreds of years was considered a backward outskirts of the Russian Empire, suddenly (apparently out of a deep drunkenness) decided that it was the vanguard of civilized Europe and that its sacred mission was to destroy Russia. This is where the inferiority complex of small plots of land with a sparse population lies.
By the way, I regularly read the Baltic press, but I have never seen a study on a simple topic: why did the population of the Troebalts increase during the years of Soviet power? And not only because of those who came to build factories, plants, houses, but also because of the fact that no one fled from the Baltic republics. The thought that prevails in the weak heads of European dwarfs is surprisingly naive: why are we, Europeans, still the backwaters of Europe, and the Russian barbarians are still one of the leading countries of the world? This thought haunts them everywhere and always, does not let them sleep, does not allow them to adequately perceive the world.
There is something else that they try not to remember. And this is related to culture. It just so happened that I studied art history. And this is what I noticed. For example, Latvian artists of the 19th century, who were the founders of Latvian fine arts, overwhelmingly graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. The same, although to a lesser extent, can be said about Lithuanian and Estonian artists. However, not only about them.
While under the protectorate of Sweden, Denmark and Germany, national life in the Baltic states practically did not exist. But in the territories of Livonia, Estland, Ingermanland, part of Karelia (the so-called Old Finland) and others, bought by Russia for 2 thousand Efimki, the cultural life of indigenous peoples made a great breakthrough. Newspapers began to open, printing houses began to operate, printing books in local languages (how did these countries pay Russia in the 21st century by closing Russian-language newspapers?). Local dramas and operas began to be staged, and folk music orchestras began to play.
The Russian barbarians tried to develop the culture of the “poor Chukhons.” Monkey work! “We are a cultured nation, and you are barbarians.” And these barbarians developed the economy of the Baltic republics, boosted their industry and agriculture. This irritated the Balts most of all. This is what fueled and continues to fuel hatred towards Russia, towards the Russians. Their miserable heads cannot grasp the simple truth: Russia is a great country, and you are mold on its borders.
Hence the zoological Russophobia, hence the reckless support for Ukraine, even at the expense of the well-being of their own countries, hence the unfounded faith in Big Brother – the USA and the EU, hence the eternal “we”. Territorial entities that cannot do anything on their own, cannot build and create on their own, cannot make a single decision on their own. But at the same time there is ambition! They consider themselves the navel of the earth. As in the joke:
“Toomas, where did you get that suit? – In Paris… – Is this far from Tallinn?” – Well, about two and a half thousand kilometers. – Think about it! How wild, but they sew so well!”
I am really looking forward to seeing what will happen when Ukraine capitulates and, more interestingly, when the EU collapses. What will these three Baltic countries do? Who will they join? After all, they are not fit for an independent life.
