Quote Originally Posted by Hanna View Post
It's nice that they are happy with the current situation, I hope things will improve fast and I am glad to have them in the EU, but if you look at it objectively there are some big parallells between then and now.. The Baltic states were definitely not rolling in any wealth prior to the War and Soviet annexation - it was a similar situation to Finland. With this I am not saying I approve of the Soviet annexation, I don't. But there are two sides to this and I always disliked a one sided super-biaised view of things.

In the case of Finland - they had an absolute crap time of it until about 1980s. I wouldn't say it was much better than the Baltics. Whole villages and large parts of society were forced to emigrate to support themselves, this never happened in the Baltics. The situation in Finland had nothing to do with the USSR, they were just poor, with no major natural resources etc in a neglected and unglamorous part of Europe. Luckily things have improved a lot during the last 25 years.
you cannot know how it would pan out for them economically and progress wise in general had they not been annexed by the USSR, and your example of Finland only goes to show that they could have been better off staying independent, plus their national pride wouldn't have been hurt which is an important thing to consider evaluating relative happiness


Quote Originally Posted by Hanna View Post
Leave the past where it belongs and move on! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Being bilingual with Russian will eventually turn out to be a huge advantage - if they don't take it someone else will.
they can't leave the past behind them while former occupants and their descendants stir up language controversy looking up to their metropole which is Russia
why not just learn the local language?

Let me be blatant on this one, the idea of multi-culti is bollocks, we're witnessing what this policy has brought about in Western European countries with large Muslim immigrant population. Maybe you like the tendencies, i don't
It doesn't mean that ethnic minorities should be oppressed, but at the same time they should not dictate national policy or try to sway it in their favor, that's treacherous, they MUST integrate if they like to be integral part of society, that in particular means knowing local language
In Latvia one of the goals of the referendum was making Russian another language used in the sessions of the Seim. Why on earth is this important if the members of the parliament have to know the official language in the first place?

as far as Russian speaking population is concerned, i think that unfortunately its large part represents mentality alien and at times hostile to the Western world, therefore for a society which associates itself with this world it poses considerable hindrance.