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International Security and Estonia 2023

raport.valisluureamet.ee

201–210 of 265 posts

Re: International Security and Estonia 2023

#201
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you should match your figures with those of the Physicians for Social Responsibility: "However, should the number of Iraqis killed from the 2003 U.S. invasion until 2012 actually be around one million, as the analysis of the existing scientific studies presented in the present study suggests, this would represent 5% of the total population of Iraq .." Of course Americans' aren't going to own up to the magnitude…

The population of Iraq is 43 million. 1/43 isn't anywhere near 5%, and I'm not inclined to credit all of the high-end estimate of 1M to Americans.

The population if Iraq is 43 million right now, I'm sure you can appreciate the fact that the Iraq war is not happening right now, but instead started roughly two decades ago when the population was considerably different.

Re: International Security and Estonia 2023

#202
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Democracy has a well-known blatantly US backing. Not just being punchy: if you accuse pro-democracy movements of being US-backed coups, then that's a low bar for association. The US even tries to foist democracy where it's a terribly ineffective idea, from a US interests standpoint, see efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

oh yes, I did see those.

And your thoughts on how democracy, despite being the least effective approach to extracting resources and suppressing dissent, was pushed on them by the US?

Afghanistan wouldn't be under Taliban control today, if the US had installed a dictator and given them a free hand.

Re: International Security and Estonia 2023

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point even having a Russian speaking population is potentially a liability regardless if they’re pro-Russian or not, since Russia will just spin whatever pro-Estonian or anti-Russian sentiment they say to be propaganda and Russia will just say they obviously need to be liberated so they’re able to express their support for Russia. While only roughly 300,000 to 450,000 of 1.3 million of Estonians have ethnic t…

For context: in USSR a person could not choose to move to live in another area, city or town. that was VERY difficult to do (was possible by marriage). Baltic countries and any close to border areas were especially controlled. But military, KGB and Communist party could appoint people to live in Baltic countries. those were "special" people - that proved their allegiance I can say. That is why they are a challenge to…

This is not true. USSR existed for some 70 years and there were different times.

One could move quite freely by 1970-ish.

Except that you could not have permanent residence in Moscow and Leningrad.

Re: International Security and Estonia 2023

#204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to admit, a famine in the region’s foremost exporter of grain, whose main export of that year was grain, takes spectacular mismanagement and neglect. That’s Soviet industrialization for you. I have to admit the genocide part makes no sense to me, though—I’ve seen no evidence that it was in any way targeted at Ukrainians specifically, only that they constituted a huge portion of the agricultural population at…

it was collectivisation not industrialisation, there were droughts in Ukraine 3 years in a row, there was an epidemic, the kulaks were sabotaging farming

I meant industrialization as a general government direction, not as an official Party policy buzzword: the Soviet state just did not care about the agricultural population except as a potential source of workers for the industry. The droughts and the epidemic still did not stop the grain exports (again, the main source of income for the state before, during, and after the famine, even per the official statistics) or affect the food supply in the cities all that much. The amounts an agricultural worker could legally leave for themselves were below subsistence, for years both before and after the war—steal (“steal”), escape to the city, or die.

The last part is so much bullshit thst it isn’t even really worth considering. (Every sentence in the whole of official Soviet history that includes the word kulak is bullshit.)

Re: International Security and Estonia 2023

#206
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire expansion of Russia eastward across Asia to the Pacific ocean? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Russi...

I am well aware of Russian Imperialism. Are you talking about the left and the right in the USA? Who aside from modern US Republicans is giving them a pass?

It's been understated in the US because the US did something similar marching westward across the continent.

Re: International Security and Estonia 2023

#207
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did the US ever present any proof of Russia manipulating elections or co-opting any politicians? After Trump was cleared, I’ve started thinking that the US is just going through another Red Scare.

You can skim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_20... for a wide range of items with varying levels of evidence. "Proof" comes down to whether you're willing to accept assertions - the ability to execute a search warrant on the Kremlin is... limited - and what level of interference counts. The Republicans concluded Paul Manafort, for example, "represented a grave counterintelligence threat" and…

That article does not seem to have been updated given the recent massive trove of information provided by the Twitter files. [1] A group, "Hamilton 68", was a central source on the "Russian trolls" narrative. They were widely cited, frequently as an exclusive source, by media and congressmen alike. They had a secret list of 644 "Russian trolls" whom they surveilled and used to populate their dashboard on the latest trends in Russian disinformation.

The problem is that those were mostly just 644 seemingly random, primarily conservative, "real" Western individuals. For instance David Horowitz [2] was a "Russian troll." Others included individuals who had written books on the US constitution, a conservative news editor, and so on. So basically whatever conservative individuals were discussing was labeled as "Russian disinformation" which the media (and congress) then simply took at face value and repeated.

Incidentally Twitter also knew that the "Russian disinformation" stuff was, itself, largely disinformation. They were able to determine Hamilton's entire list by simply looking at their API calls. While there was lively internal debate about whether they should go public with this information or not, and they did push back in private, they ultimately chose to remain publicly silent - just as the mainstream media is now also doing, leaving me to link to rando sites in lieu of where these stories ought be.

The one thing I'm certain about is that reading the book, 20 years from now, about whatever's happening now - is going to be interesting.

[1] - https://www.racket.news/p/move-over-jayson-blair-meet-hamilt...

[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Horowitz

Re: International Security and Estonia 2023

#208
post #185
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Putin vision is Soviet Union 2.0, it has been pretty clear in the last year and even before. From the Kremlin: "Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. As for the Russian nation, it became a genuine drama. Tens of millions of our co-citizens and co-patriots found themselves outside Russian territory. Moreover, the epidemic of disintegrat…

Tell me you don't know what a Commonwealth of Independent States is, without telling me. Putin doesn't want a "new USSR". He wants a Commonwealth. If its good for Brits and Canucks and Aussies and Kiwi's, it'll work for the rest of the world too .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_St... Its the USA that doesn't want to see this commonwealth form and become economically viable as a trading par…

Except we don't force countries to enter commonwealth, Putin is scared of old soviet union nations joining Europe. They're free to do so.

Re: International Security and Estonia 2023

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that sure sounds like a question in dire need of a solution!

Only if you consider a 100 year old border a dire situation. Otherwise it would make way more sense economically for Russia to offer to resettle anyone interested no longer being Estonian instead of invading yet another sovereign country.

The present border is more like 80 year old, it was adjusted by the USSR (favouring Russia) after the Baltics were annexed in 1940.

However, it generally follows the pre-1917 borders of the Governorates of Estland and Livonia.

Re: International Security and Estonia 2023

#210
post #208
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell me you don't know what a Commonwealth of Independent States is, without telling me. Putin doesn't want a "new USSR". He wants a Commonwealth. If its good for Brits and Canucks and Aussies and Kiwi's, it'll work for the rest of the world too .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_St... Its the USA that doesn't want to see this commonwealth form and become economically viable as a trading par…

Except we don't force countries to enter commonwealth, Putin is scared of old soviet union nations joining Europe. They're free to do so.

> Except we don't force countries to enter commonwealth,

They don't force anyone

> Putin is scared of old soviet union nations joining Europe

I don't think Russia is scared

They are worried Europe became an american military base with long range weaponry

https://www.thesoldiersproject.org/how-many-us-military-base...

> They're free to do so.

Nobody said the opposite

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