Some of my Estonian friends tell me that when they recruited themselves into the red army forces after the Soviet occupation of Estonia, they were treated much better than their counterparts wearing German uniform, for the simple reason that the Germans were spending bigtime on getting their forces out of Estonia, and the Soviets were commanding a pleasing rise in their recruitments. What's more, they plunged big finances into making sure their forces on occupied territory were much better fed and clothed than the Germans could hope. Many Estonians fighting on the German side have conceded the German army hierarchy really didn't give a weasle about how they survived physically, as long as they held their ground. Not surprising then that in the long haul the Soviets won the war!

I read the article in the Economist - it seemed to me a more balanced presentation of the political climate in Estonia and shows clearly that Russians do not face discrimination. So I am not sure why the byline to this article is so inflammatory. I would like to add that Facebook has / had several groups relating the Bronze soldier and it is only thanks to young Estonians that some of these "propaganda" groups have been shut down. These groups are in English.