Putin’s Equation of Forest Brothers with Nazis Outrages Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

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Putin’s Equation of Forest Brothers with Nazis Outrages Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (6)

Rahvusvahelised uudised | 11 Sep 2020 | EWR

Paul Goble

STAUNTON, September 9 – A week ago, Vladimir Putin signed an order calling for a one-time payment to Russian citizens living in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania of 75,000 rubles (one thousand US dollars) who fought against the Forest Brothers, as the Baltic resistance to the Soviet occupation was called, after 1945 (kremlin.ru/acts/news/63990).

By equating Soviet troops who fought Nazis with those who fought Baltic Forest Brothers, Putin has equated members of the Forest Brothers with the Nazis. Not surprisingly, this has outraged the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian governments as well as many ordinary citizens in those countries and their friends elsewhere (ritmeurasia.org/news--2020-09-09--reshenie-putina-nagradit-borcov-s-lesnymi-bratjami-vozmutilo-vlasti-baltii-50798).

The history of the Forest Brothers movement is complicated. Some of their members in fact did fight for the Germans. But most were Estonian, Latvian or Lithuanian patriots who fought first the Soviet occupation, then the German occupation and then the Soviet occupation once again.

Moscow occasionally picks up on this issue, focusing exclusively on the few documented cases in which Forest Brothers after 1945 had earlier worked for the German occupiers in order to blacken the reputation not only of these freedom fighters but that of the Baltic countries as a whole.

Three developments appear to have triggered the latest action by Putin in this regard. First, several Estonian officials have called for demolishing Soviet war memorials in Tallinn, actions that Russian commentators say could trigger a crisis that in bilateral relations (rubaltic.ru/article/politika-i-obshchestvo/20200828-novye-bronzovye-soldaty-estoniya-gotovitsya-snova-snosit-sovetskie-pamyatniki/).

Second, the increasing integration of Baltic forces into NATO ones has reminded some in the Russian capital that Western military experts have encouraged Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to develop Forest Brother-like partisan units to resist any Russian move against them (rusi.org/publication/rusi-journal/confronting-anti-accessarea-denial-and-precision-strike-challenge-baltic).

And third, Moscow continues to be worried about the image of the Forest Brothers on the population within Russian borders. Few know that Stalin deported Russians from Pskov Oblast in the late 1940s because some of them were attracted to and even involved with Latvian Forest Brothers (russian7.ru/post/deportaciya-zhiteley-pskovskoy-oblast/).

Blackening the reputation of the Forest Brothers and the Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians serves Moscow’s interest in a variety of ways, but it is not without risk: Every time Moscow does so, ever more people in the Baltic countries and elsewhere refocus their attention on these fighters and sees that Moscow’s propaganda now is as false as it was under Stalin.

For more background on the Forest Brothers and their remarkable histories, see
windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/07/in-baltic-resistance-to-soviet.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2017/07/baltic-forest-brothers-did-in-1940s.html windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2017/08/west-backed-forest-brothers-in-baltic.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2017/07/baltic-forest-brothers-did-in-1940s.html.

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Lembit Tork, Tallinn.15 Sep 2020 00:03

Fighting against the Forest Brothers and calling them nazis shouldn't raise an eyebrow these days in Europe or North America. Crazy Estos, Lats n' Liths!! Didn't they get the memo?

In Europe we're being constantly told the age of sovereign national self-determination is out. It's almost an embarrassment. How dare we!? And, according to standards blared incessantly on national broadcasts in North America, isn't anyone still daring to cling to conservative values (even if they're actually centrist values) being shamed? Practically a nazi? Fascist, racist... no middle ground permitted. You're either with us or you're a nazi.

So, Putin's taking a timely opportunity to go along with the playbook? Or he invented it, including controlling the US elections. The whole thing. Falling out with Trump is a temporary ruse. It's not the globalists who are tying us down, it's the commie-nazi Kremlin-arch conservative-orange Man Bad nexus that's the plague. Canada's Jordan Peterson too.

Supersensitized, and on the same page, is where w'e're all expected to be. Strange and desperate moment in history. Plus, the US elections are coming up. Polarization nation. Expect reason to completely evaporate soon. Virtue signalling and assigning labels to skyrocket. The show has hardly begun.

Antidotes? From the classic liberal side, please check the latest from Canada's Gad Saad. Üle tunnine video. Päris huvitav. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... The Death Of Truth And How To Revive It

And, from the 'Progressive' dissident side. 15 minutit. Not your evening news. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... Democrats Performative Political Theater Will Be The End Of Us All!