Rosie Dimanno is at times the Toronto Star’s best columnist. At others among the, being charitable, most opinionated, not always politically correct (not necessarily a bad thing), certainly not woke and known for shooting from the hip. Fearless, in other words. She is part of a generation of women journalists, such as her good friend Christie Blatchford, who wrote for many newspapers including the Globe & Mail who had to deal with sexism in the newsroom and old-school editors, who would not give plum assignments to young female scribes.
But she needs to be read, for better or worse. On Friday, August 25th her column focused on the (then) alleged demise of Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash. Different causes are being disseminated on the internet as to the cause of the plane falling from the sky. Seven of the leaders of the Wagner group including Prigozhin are now dead. With the Russians investigating it is certain that the truth will never out. According to Associated Press, Prigozhin’s DNA was found among the remains, all named on the manifest have been identified, as per Russian authorities. One fact is undeniable. Dimanno’s title emphasizes this: Mess with Putin at your peril. Recommended reading.
What the undersigned was not aware of, not spending time following certain sites or participating on social media, was that according to Dimanno, since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at least seven critics of Putin have been defenestrated. “Falling” out of windows, but allegations abound, that they were thrown out, rather than slipping, losing balance or jumping voluntarily. All seven belonged to the Russian elite either as oligarchs, business tycoons or politicians, all expressing publicly their opposition to the war. Where innocents are being killed, with Russian forces targeting apartment buildings. Simply stated, this is nothing but the use of terror, but one cannot say that publicly, on social media in today’s Russia.
Which is no different from Stalin’s Soviet Union. Koba, the “man of steel’s” self-selected nickname (as was changing his last name, from Dzhugasvili in Georgian to steel in Russian) comes from the ancient Greek, meaning supplanter, held by the heel or heel-grabber. By eliminating through execution his top generals before WW II, Stalin also ensured major losses for the Soviet Army in that conflict, due to lack of good leadership. More recommended reading: Martin Amis’ 2002 book about Stalin, “Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million”. There are millions of innocent civilians who died in the Gulags, in WW II and due to famine. The number is probably greater than 20 million.
The Dimanno column tweaked the memory bank. Estonia also has an alleged case of defenestration, although at the time it was published that politician, holder of the Estonian Freedom Cross II/3, given for bravery in Estonia’s war of Independence, Artur Sirk, in self-chosen exile in Luxembourg fell out of a hotel window there in 1937.
The years 1934-1940 in Estonia were known as the Vaikiv Ajastu, the Age of Silence. President Konstantin Päts was faced with strong opposition from the vapsid. Formed by veterans of the Estonian War of Independence in 1929 it was fervently anti-communist the name of this populist movement can be translated as the League of Participants in that war. The vapsid advocated for change in the country’s political system, calling for a strong president to address national problems, reform the economy. One must recall that the thirties were economically difficult everywhere due to the Depression and authoritarianism was on the rise. Mussolini and Hitler gained power, and were unfortunately role models elsewhere, particularly in the Baltic States.
Estonian president Konstantin Päts established authoritarian, not quite dictatorial rule in response to the vapside movement, whose leader Andres Larka, a decorated general, actually challenged Päts as a candidate for the presidency. According to historians, Sirk, the vice-chairman of the movement, was the brains behind the movement. Hence the biggest threat to Päts’ rule. The vapside movement was banned by the government of Jaan Tõnisson, who established a state of emergency as a response to the growing support for the movement.
The vapsid did win absolute majorities in three largest cities during the 1934 local elections. But not in the countryside. As a response, Päts also declared a state of emergency, the movement was disbanded, their leaders arrested in December 1935.
Artur Sirk escaped from prison after eight months and fled to Finland. In exile, he and the vapside leaders fomented riot. An attempted putsch, calling for Sirk to be prime minister failed. Sirk fled again, this time to Sweden, where he was declared persona non grata and expelled from the country. He again fled to many countries, ending up in the Lowlands, Belgium, Holland, and gained a Swiss visa. The Estonian government demanded his extradition; he was arrested but later freed, choosing Luxembourg as his next country of residence.
Authorities there called his death a suicide, claiming he jumped. However, he had no motivation to do so. Hence the opinion that he was defenestrated. There is no evidence linking Päts with Sirk’s death. But it was certainly not unusual for authoritarian leaders to permanently remove strong and forceful opponents from the political arena. Their deaths did not mean an end to resistance to the system of rule, but emphatically showed how some countries were ruled by fear and an iron fist.
Putin’s Russia is the same as Stalin’s - perhaps even more so. Opponents of Putin have been poisoned in Great Britain during his 23 years of rule. But not thrown out of windows there. A quipster on Reddit noted that windows on planes do not open, hence the explosion. As Sirk’s case emphasizes, some facts around Prigozhin’s death will never be revealed. Being thrown out of windows is an unusual, but certainly effective means of eliminating political opponents. These deaths remain shrouded in mystery while tyrants, dictators and authoritarians remain firmly cemented in power.
TÕNU NAELAPEA
On defenestration (2)
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