http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129333023&ft=1&f=1004

Did you actually read the story? Seems fairly balanced as far as these go.

Andrejs, baddist scurvy

NPR reads the New York Times. And the day is a coincidence. If I were ambersun, I’d be more worried about this.

Andrejs,
You’re kidding, right?  Do you want me to read the article for you so that you understand it?

What’s balanced in heading an August 23 story about anything Estonian that makes no mention of the August 23 agreement between Stalin and Hitler (someone tell Greene) that destroyed independent Estonia and gave passport-free entry to the Russian-speaking Russians and Russian-speakers FROM OUTSIDE ESTONIA into forced-Russian-speaking Soviet Estonia “Russian Minority Struggles In Post-Soviet Estonia?”  Nothing like featuring the true minority struggle in Estonia and identifying the real long-suffering “ethnic minority” of Estonia on August 23 in remembrance of near-genocide. 

“Estonia, a tiny nation along the Baltic Sea, has come a long way from its dark days under Soviet occupation. But one Soviet legacy remains: the difficult question of how to treat thousands of ethnic Russians who relocated to Estonia when it was part of the Soviet Union.

Estonia is not “tiny” (http://www.angelfire.com/nv/micronations/realsize.html) and the ethnic Russians did not “relocate” to Estonia but “illegally occupied” it.

“The issue stirs emotions as much as any immigration debate, pitting people who want to protect their heritage and erase a difficult past against a minority who is demanding equal rights and a fair chance for a good life.”

This is not just like “any immigration debate” unless your country has also been flooded with unwelcome, uninvited, hostile, foreign-speaking occupier “immigrants” in an attempt to wipe your ethnic self off the face of the “tiny world;” Russians don’t need “heritage protection” since the Russians are aggressive and Russia is not tiny; no one has denied Russians in Estonia “equal rights” and “a fair chance for a good life.” PERIOD. You repeat something often enough and you begin to think that’s the story and then you even start talking that way about “tiny Estonia” and the “Russian minority” “denied rights.”  The skewed and loaded begins sounding “balanced” - just like Russian or Fox News.  I had no idea those were your favorites to feel so at home with Greene’s “balance.”

If you need help with the rest of the article, just let me know.

Andrejs,
Nothing like “coincidence” in running stories around or on August 23 about the “suffering Russian minority” that flooded into the Baltic States with the August 23 Stalin Hitler Pact “open (Baltic) borders” agreement.  It helps to sincerely care about getting the right Baltic stories out to the world -  and to have lots of (corrupt and corrupting) money and nuclear weapons.

Guess which Jewish/Latvian friend of Latvia gave $20,000. to support the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia while the spineless/Soviet-deformed politicians of the floundering government of LatRuss could not find the money (reason and will) to support this incredible museum?

What I gleaned from this is that Estonia is not tiny, according to Ambi. That should serve everybody well.

/Judas the minute man

I guess you missed the below parts from the very same story:

“I don’t see what people are complaining about,” Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said in an interview.
He said that given Estonia’s painful history — which saw Soviet leaders deport Estonians to Siberia and force the Russian language on Estonians left behind — ethnic Russians have been treated pretty well.
“I mean, Germans were beaten up for years and years after the end of World War II,” Ilves said. “That was a very bad situation. We don’t have that here.”

And then there’s:

A majority of ethnic Russians left stateless after Soviet rule have successfully obtained citizenship — and Ilves said they are generally happy to live in a free democratic country. There is a minority, he says, who feel a connection to Russia and its language, and have shown little interest in learning Estonian.
Allowing Russian to exist as a secondary official language, he said, would be letting the Soviet legacy live on.
“Well, right, you occupied us, now you’re going to make your language the state language? That’s just too much,” he said. “So many people who come here and want to be here have no difficulty with the language.”
As Estonian writer and filmmaker Imbi Paju put it, “Language is our identity.”

And then there’s:

The process of “Russification,” which included pressuring Estonians to learn Russian, makes her small country determined, she said, to protect its native tongue today.
But Paju is optimistic that relations between Estonians and Russians can improve. Her book, Memories Denied, is the story of her mother’s deportation.
“Sometimes people ask me, ‘Your family was in Siberia and camps, and most of them killed. How [is it] possible that I talk with Estonian Russian people about this topic?’ “
Paju often does talk about her book at libraries in Russian communities. When she gets a cold reception, she speaks about how both Estonians and Russians were victims in Soviet times. And she tells her audience that mutual suffering should be inspiring the two communities to build something better.

I realize that this article is no Soviet Story, but give it a rest. Just because an article tries to tell two sides of the story doesn’t mean its wrong. I know which side I am on, but your need for blinders is ridiculous.

Andrejs

It takes “pathologically tolerant” Latvians to seek and to find  “the balance” in an August 23 story that focuses on “struggles of [some] of the Russian minority.”  The August 23 Soviet story may be an old story to some and not worth telling to reporter David Greene and intimidated, spineless Latvian politicians but the false struggles of a handful of no-count Russian losers in “tiny Estonia” is no story at all.

ambersun.

Being “tiny” is not a flaw.

Recognizing that both sides of a story are being told is not being pathologically tolerant.

Step back.  Don’t let your anger color your reactions.  This is journalism, not a legal brief.

I agree with Anita.It’s only a journalist and they cannot be expected to be factual ,unbiased or knowledgeable . However , the Estonian attitude is commendable and Latvia should take some lessons from those dudes.They appear to be more concerned about the survival of their culture than the transformation into a “multicultural” society bowing to the russky occupiers.

It’s Monday - so that means a cornucopia of absurd from “lawyers”

It’s only a journalist and they cannot be expected to be factual ,unbiased or knowledgeable

It’s ? Refer to people at “it” often ? I’m sure your fanbase is increasing exponentially.

Suddenly, Ogresdels has positioned himself as a judge of the Estonian reality. That was fast. Evelyn Wood speed reader are you ? Absorb Estonianness through osmosis maybe ?

Can you point out those portions of the article that were lacking fact and knowledge Ogresdels ?

But the best is from our own drama queen of absurdities - Ambersun.

It helps to sincerely care about getting the right Baltic stories out to the world

Pardon my laughing at your sentiment - but aren’t you the one who often describes todays “Latvia” (not Latvia - I’ll get to that later) as being the residence of spineless/Soviet-deformed politicians of the floundering government of LatRuss

LatRuss Ambersun ? Where is that exactly ? Does your referring to the Latvian Republic and its residents in a continuous stream of invective and slander show me that you “sincerely care about getting the right Baltic stories out” ? If you sincerely cared - but you don’t.

Instead of goose stepping across NPR articles and otherwise making a nuisance of yourself to those who actually “care about getting the right Baltic stories out” - how about addressing the legacy of your beloved Trimda as embodied here by Mr LL and Bruno - hmmm ?

They’re sparkling jewels of your Latvia Ambersun (as opposed to “Latvia” that has long rejected them - and you rejected it for that). The same silence you presented after Prof Ezergailis’ posts should be reproduced here. Clean your own house first.

Let’s talk about this in tiny Latvia, instead of the Baltic giant that is Estonia.

Vidas,
Let’s just say that Prof. E.‘s post on LOL was no accident and no thanks to you.  You obviously did not get the full import of his remarks as you also missed his issues with Evans’s treatment of the Kaunas tragedy.  A while ago, I alerted you to Evans but you’re “asleep at the wheel” unless you feel the urge to carry on about something important like what Mr. LL has written rather than Evans. It’s obvious you care more deeply about Latvia than Lithuania.  That’s understandable.

Anita,
August 23 obviously is just another date to you and Denmark is not “tiny” like Latvia and Estonia. What is always “tiny” is the amount of information one finds in the news about Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.  Unlike you, I expect more than “tiny” for Estonia and more for August 23 - as in a “never again” remembrance of the Stalin/Hitler Pact.  I also expect more from NPR than Russian Today. Here I thought you and the cabal were such discerning consumers of worthy journalism.

Anita, Vidas, and other critical readers of worthy news about Estonia and Latvia,
Be sure you have your cable set to Russia Today for news about “big” Russia and “tiny” Latvia.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/business/media/23russiatoday.html
Russian Cable Station Plays to U.S.
By ANDREW E. KRAMER
Published: August 22, 2010

MOSCOW — Only a handful of viewers may know it so far, but a 24-hour cable news station sponsored by the Russian government is making inroads in American cable markets.

No longer viewing America through the lens of Communist ideology, the Russians’ new take on the United States is more subtle: the station, Russia Today, offers a blend of social critique, debates on international issues and, new this year, a dip into conspiracy theories that is helping ratings.

The station’s motto? No, it is not “We will bury you,” as Khrushchev might have had it. In the new voice of Russia, the station asks viewers to “Question More.”

Russia Today, which is financed by the Russian government, has 20 million potential viewers in the United States. It has poured money into a Washington bureau, with 40 editorial positions there, and signed cable deals this year in Los Angeles and San Diego. It shows six hours of programming intended for the Americans in its global audience.
/... ./

(bold mine)

ambersun wrote:

“Anita,
August 23 obviously is just another date to you and Denmark is not “tiny” like Latvia and Estonia. What is always “tiny” is the amount of information one finds in the news about Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.  Unlike you, I expect more than “tiny” for Estonia and more for August 23 - as in a “never again” remembrance of the Stalin/Hitler Pact.  I also expect more from NPR than Russian Today. Here I thought you and the cabal were such discerning consumers of worthy journalism.”

It’s not that Denmark isn’t tiny… I just suspect admitting it is not really a problem for most Danes.  Nor for most Latvians.

As for what you expect others to do (so important that you mentioned it twice) - we’ve talked about this before.  Your expectations aren’t the center of the known universe, or even of things Latvian.  If you want a story about the pact, write it.  Better to light a single candle to curse the darkness.  There are millions of stories out there, and the story you wanted told was not the story this person wanted to tell.  And I’ll repeat - the fact that he showed both sides to the story was “worthy” journalism.  You want only the one side told.  That’s not “worthy journalism” - it’s advocacy.  It has its place.  This wasn’t the place.  Go to the op-ed section and write away.

You really have to learn to do something worthwhile yourself, rather than merely (but persistently) complain that nobody is doing what you would like done, how you’d like it done, and on which days you’d like it done.

Anita,
You just keep it up and pretend that you also are a cretin.  When, dear maza latviete no mazas latvijas, was Denmark identified in any article as “tiny” Denmark?  What is your problem dealing with reality?  I can only wish that you were Danish and not Latvian so that the next time someone referred to your country in that patronizing and ignorant way as “tiny” for anything more enlightened to say, you’d give them a piece of your “big” Danish mind. You’re just being ridiculous and wasting time.  I have no idea why.  Also, let’s show some consistency on what days of historical note reporters need to remember “victims.”  On 9/11 I expect David Greene to write for NPR and The New York Times his “balanced” article about the “struggles” of “the minority Muslims” in the US.