scholarly journals Sovietization of the Baltic States: Independence Negotiated, Then Stolen

Elements ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
William Sadd

This article examines the forces and circumstances of the early 1940s during which a unique climate was created for the Sovietization of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It also considers the legal aspects of the case, namely the integration of these three independent, sovereign states into the Soviet Union which violated nearly all measures of international law. This, however, was met with little resistance from the international community, primarily because of the rise of Nazi Germany, the general chaos in the early years of World War II, and the shifting alliances along the Eastern Front. With many former Soviet republics in the spotlight today struggling to stabliize as independent states, and with the Russian Federation still occupying several territories of the former Soviet Union under the auspices of peacekeeping missions, the relatively settled case of the Baltic states serves as example to analyze processes of Sovietization, and should aid in fostering greater interest in the various ways by which desovietization is occurring in the contemporary world.

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-150
Author(s):  
Svaja Vansauskas Worthington

The usually cheerful Insight Travel Guide to the Baltic States offers this synopsis of the Baltic situation:Their independence was sentenced to death by the Nazi–Soviet Pact [the secret 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact] just before World War II. The pact envisaged the Baltic States would be parceled out between them, but it was overtaken by events with Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. The three states were incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940 … Among few other people did the Soviet mill grind finer than in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania … The final injustice was the permanent imposition of Soviet rule and Stalinist terror. Anyone a visitor meets today in the Baltics is likely to have a relation who was sent to Siberia or simply shot.


2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-109
Author(s):  
Ramojus Kraujelis

The fate of Lithuania and Romania as well as future of the whole Central and Eastern European region was determined in the years of the Second World War. The common origin of their tragic and painful history was the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact – the secret deal between Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, which divided Central and Eastern Europe between two totalitarian regimes. In June 1940 the three Baltic States and a part of Romania were directly occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union. The main objective of this paper is to identify, analyze and compare the attitudes of the United States and Great Britain with respect to the annexation of the Baltic States and the Romania territory and discussed the post-war future reserved to them. During the early years of the Second Word War (1940-1942) few interesting international discussions about possible post-war arrangement plans existed. The analysis of the Western attitude would enable us to give answers to certain questions: What could have been done by the Western states for the benefit of Central and Eastern European region; what have they, in fact, done and what did they avoid doing? The year 1943 witnessed the consolidation of the Western attitude with regard to Soviet Union’s western borders, which resulted in the fundamental fact that Moscow did not intend to retract its interests in the Baltic States, Eastern Poland, North Bucovina and Bessarabia while the West did not intend to fight for these territories. Considering the fact that at the Teheran conference (1943) the Western states agreed upon turning the Baltic states into a Soviet interest sphere, the United States and Britain entered the Yalta conference (1945) with no illusions as to the fate of Central and Eastern Europe in general.


2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 93-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Infuso ◽  
D Antoine ◽  
P Barboza ◽  
D Falzon ◽  

With the exception of Israel, representative data from Western and Central Europe indicate consistently low levels of resistance to isoniazid (0-9,3%) or rifampicin (0-2,1%) and of multidrug resistance (0-2,1%) among new tuberculosis (TB) cases. Resistance is more frequent among previously treated cases, but comparisons of data should be done cautiously, as criteria for inclusion in TB notifications may vary across countries. In Western Europe, drug resistance is more frequent among cases of foreign origin, a group with high TB incidence. In 1999, cases of foreign origin accounted for over 90% of the MDR cases in the West, and for all MDR cases notified in Israel. The majority of foreign born cases notified originated from Africa or Asia. In the East, representative data from the Baltic States show that overall, 15% of TB cases notified in 1999 were MDR, among the highest proportion worldwide and indicating inadequacies in previous treatment programmes. In the other countries of the former Soviet Union, non-representative data show high levels of resistance which, along with data from the Baltic states and results of surveys, are very alarming.


Author(s):  
Katherine Graney

This chapter examines the process of EU expansion into the former Soviet Union since 1989, identifying the different criteria that have been used to judge candidates for EU membership. The Central European and Baltic states successfully made arguments about their “intrinsic Europeanness” and “belonging” to Europe and the EU, while the Balkan states have had a harder time proving their suitability for Europe. Unlike the Baltic states, the other ex-Soviet republics, like Ukraine and Georgia, have had a harder time convincing the EU of their fitness for membership, that is, their “intrinsic Europeanness,” and have had to settle for being made “Eastern Partners” of the EU and signers of Association Agreements with the EU. Russia has sought a form of partnership with the EU, while rejecting any idea of conditionality. Finally, the EU shows little concern for the ex-Soviet states of Central Asia, not seeing them as fundamentally European in any way.


2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (SPS5) ◽  
pp. 149-158
Author(s):  
Nikolai G. Bochkarev

AbstractDuring the immediate post-Soviet period, the main infrastructure of astronomy over the territory of the former Soviet Union (FSU) was saved, in spite of dramatic decreases in financial support. Overall the situation for FSU astronomy is now stable. In Latvia, the 32-m radio-dish is in working order. This allows it to participate in VLBI programmes. In Russia, all three 32-metre radio dishes of the QUASAR VLBI system are operational, as well as the 2-m telescope with a high-resolution spectrograph (up to resolution R≃ 500 000) and the horizontal solar telescope (R= 320 000) of the Russian-Ukrainian Observatory on Peak Terskol (Caucasus, altitude 3100 m). However the situation with the observatory itself is worrying, because of the regional authorities' attempt to privatize its infrastructure.The process of equipping a number of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (including Russian) observatories with CCD-cameras is in progress. To solve staff problems, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have begun to prepare national specialists in astronomy, and the Baltic States, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and Ukraine continue to prepare astronomers.Teaching of astronomy at schools is obligatory only in the Ukraine and partially in the Baltic states. To maintain a “common astronomical area”, the Eurasian Astronomical Society (EAAS) continues its programme of reduced-price subscription to Russian-language astronomical journals and magazines in the territory of FSU, the organization of international conferences and Olympiads for school students, and lectures for school teachers and planetarium lecturers, etc.Telescopes in Russia and other CIS territories permit to monitor an object more then 12 hours and can be used in global monitoring programmes. The Central Asian sites have some of the very best astro-climates in the world. They are similar to (or a little better than) the well known Chilean sites (median seeing 0.7′′, very high fraction of clear nights, no light pollution and no high wind). It is imperative that these sites be protected and intensively used by the international astronomical community.


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-181
Author(s):  
Ēriks Jēkabsons

The paper approaches the working environment and observations of Latvian envoy Ludvigs Ēķis in Romania from the autumn of 1939 when the Latvian Legation was opened in Bucharest until the summer of 1940 when the State of Latvia was liquidated. The main focus is on the Latvian-Romanian relations in this period of time, the Romanian foreign and economical policy and the reaction of Romanian statesmen and society to the events and processes of the first stage of World War: the policy of Soviet Union, Germany and Hungary, the Soviet-Finnish War and other conflicts in region and in Europe. The article is based on the materials stored in the State Archives of Latvia and particularly on Ludvigs Ekis’ reports. In a time when war was raging in Europe, Romania, too, was subject to considerable international pressure. Some similarities can be detected between the developments in this region and in the Baltic States.


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