STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "...Latvia and Estonia...worried by the presence of large Russian-speaking minorities, have only given citizenship to those who lived in the countries before 1940..." Which is to say, I believe, something in the 30-40 percentile range. Meaning that millions of citizens of both countries, the vast majority of whom were born there, aren't recognized as citizens and thus aren't entitled to any of the rights citizens of any other nation take for granted. Add to this the prosecution by the Estonian government of World War II anti-Nazi partisans for alleged war crimes, and the fact that both countries are NATO candidates in good standing - evidently meeting NATO's vaunted human rights standards - suggest only one thing: That ethnic Russians or Russian-speaking inhabitants of the two Partnership for Peace countries aren't considered 'politically reliable' in the event of an armed conflict with Russia - one which Russia isn't likely to initiate. Conjure up images of Japanese-American internment camps in the U.S. in the early 1940s? It should. Russia Says Human Rights Lacking in Baltics HAMBURG, Jun 7, 2001 -- (Reuters) Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on Thursday that the treatment of ethnic Russians living in some of the former Soviet Baltic states remained unsatisfactory. "Provision of equal rights and freedom for all individuals in the Baltic region remains a most important direction of our efforts," he told a meeting of foreign ministers from the Baltic Sea region in the north German city of Hamburg. "Unfortunately, I have to state that the pace of improvement of the human rights situation in some countries of the region remains low." Russians traveling with Ivanov suggested he was referring to Latvia and Estonia, which Moscow has often said do not honor the rights of ethnic Russians living there. The two countries, angry after half a century of Soviet occupation and worried by the presence of big Russian-speaking minorities, have only given citizenship to those who lived in the countries before 1940, the year they were annexed. This excludes most Russian speakers, who arrived in the post-war Soviet period. The third ex-Soviet Baltic nation Lithuania, which has far fewer Russian-speakers, gave everyone citizenship and enjoys better relations with Moscow. Ivanov was speaking at a conference of 11 foreign ministers from countries bordering the Baltic region. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
