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Estonia painting itself into corner in foreign policy - newspaper

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  • Estonia painting itself into corner in foreign policy - newspaper

    Estonia painting itself into corner in foreign policy - newspaper

    Postimees web site, Tallinn
    3 Dec 04


    Estonia has painted itself into a corner by joining the Russian
    initiative at the UN to mark 8 and 9 May as days of remembrance and
    reconciliation. Ruutel will have no option but to go to Moscow, as
    invited by his Russian counterpart, on 9 May and, with a bit of luck,
    he and the other Baltic presidents will issue a statement to clarify
    the significance of World War II for the Baltic states before they
    leave for Moscow. The following is the text of the article entitled
    "Ruutel cornered" by Erkki Bahovski published by the Estonian
    newspaper Postimees web site on 3 December.

    In the light of the question as to whether President Arnold Ruutel
    should go to Moscow on 9 May or not, Estonia has done quite a lot to
    paint itself into a corner in terms of foreign policy. The deadlock
    seems quite so serious that there are only weak recipes for a way
    out. Evidently the visit is on.

    During his visit to Armenia, our president issued an appeal, in itself
    a correct one, that Turkey should recognize the 1915 genocide against
    the Armenians. There is, however, a "but". If Estonia is fighting
    against genocide and crimes against humanity in front of the world
    public at large, then why should the Estonian president go to Moscow
    to mark an event that continued the genocide and crimes against
    humanity on Estonian territory?

    On the other hand, Armenia is among the CIS countries that supported
    the Russian initiative to declare 8 and 9 May as so-called UN days for
    remembrance and reconciliation. The way these days were created is
    quite interesting: on 10 November a letter was sent by the Russian UN
    mission to the Netherlands, the holder of the EU presidency,
    containing a Russian request for EU support for a resolution to this
    end to be adopted at the UN General Assembly on a consensus basis.

    This is how things indeed went: the EU supported the idea of a
    consensus and only Lithuania abstained at the General Assembly, as its
    representative recalled that those days in May commemorated the start
    of a peacetime Soviet occupation in the Baltic states.

    The simple question is: what did Estonia do? The decision was taken on
    the basis of a consensus and Estonia, consequently, voted in favour. A
    resolution to this end discusses 8 and 9 May additionally not only as
    days for remembrance and reconciliation but also in terms of an appeal
    to all UN member states to remember these days, or one of them, "in an
    approved manner" every year so as to commemorate all the World War II
    dead. Is the [Soviet-style] Victory Day returning to Estonia?

    Since Estonia at the UN General Assembly supported the Russian
    initiative to mark the end of World War II in Europe it would be quite
    strange to explain to the world that well, you see, we are not going
    to Moscow.

    Meanwhile Estonia, which has always been seeking an EU common policy
    on Russia, has not simplified its position through Prime Minister
    Juhan Parts's visit to Israel. When Parts said that the EU should be
    softer towards Israel, he cast doubt on the EU policy hitherto on the
    Middle East.

    It would now be quite strange to go and seek, say, from France a more
    unified policy on Russia. Perhaps, having painted itself into a
    corner, a weak way out of the corner for Estonia would be for the
    Baltic states' presidents to issue a joint statement to the world
    ahead of their travel to Moscow to explain what happened during World
    War II in the Baltic states and what the Baltic states' position is on
    the war. This, however, would still not be a final solution.
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