Russian Hypocrisy: It Simply Takes your Breath Away!
Filed under: Russia
Unbelievably, after years of caterwauling about the Estonian government daring to require those who live permanently in the country to learn to speak its language, especially ethnic Russians who are remnants of Soviet oppression, the Kremlin now has the utter, breathtaking audacity to impose language requirements on non-Russian speakers in Russia, and not those seeking permanent residence but anyone who spends more than a year in country. Right in the middle of the crisis with Estonia in which Russia claims Estonia is discriminating against Russians! How neo-Soviet can you get?
Details after the jump.
The Kremlin constantly moans and wails about the "outrage" of requiring native Russian speakers who live in Estonia to learn the Estonian language:
Some Russians continue to allege job, salary and housing discrimination on account of Estonian-language requirements. Russian government officials and parliamentarians echo these charges in a variety of forums. Both the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Estonia and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities have declared that they cannot find a pattern of human rights violations or abuses in Estonia.
In fact, as reported by Indiana University, the Russian government has gone so far as to threaten invasion of Estonia on this basis:
Unfortunately for this Russian-speaking population, the current international and domestic political climate is complicating their adjustment to this newly independent Estonian homeland. The Russian government, disregarding the fact that Estonia's Russian speakers willingly have chosen to stay, has used the excuse of alleged minority-right infringements as justification for a possible armed invasion. Once in Estonia, these Russian troops would "secure" the rights of these Russian-speakers who live outside of their homeland. This vow of "support," however, only aggravates attempts being made by the Russian speakers to solve their political problems independently and jeopardizes the development of healthy foreign relations between Estonia and Russia.
So what happens to non-Russian speakers in Russia? Are they free from these types of requirements? If one thinks that Russians might act fairly in this regard, one is disappointed. Australia's Herald Sun reports:
A huge influx of migrant workers, many of them Muslims from ex-Soviet republics, has caused resentment inside Russia and many policy-makers say it has contributed to a spate of racially motivated attacks. The Federal Migration Service said it supported a draft law written by two pro-Kremlin members of parliament that would set a language test for anyone planning to work in Russia for more than one year. "We have an interest in this and support the lawmakers' initiative," the service said. "It is obvious that without knowledge of the Russian language it is impossible to integrate into Russian society."
Just like a pack of little children (or more accurately, just like the Politburo), the Russians think they can have their cake and eat it too. They think they can make rules for others that they themselves don't have to follow. And even if foreigners learned Russian, it wouldn't save those of the wrong skin color from violence. On Adolf Hitler's birthday, dark-skinned students around Russia were placed under house arrest so the skinheads could celebrate without blood flowing in the streets. As one student in Vladivostok says:
"I could live here five years, learn to speak the language, open a business, and one day, one Russian man could decide to kill me because I am foreign. Everything: my dreams, my family, my life, would be gone. This is Russia."
According to the Vladivostok News: "Over the week of April 20 the Korean was assaulted by a group of seven young Russian men in one of the central Vladivostok's streets. The victim was returning in the evening to the dormitory after a workout at a local gym. The group approached him on an unlit sidewalk and began throwing punches. The assailants then fled on foot. 'I think I am lucky,' the student stated when recalling the attack, 'they didn't have a knife.'"
del.icio.us | 
digg | 
technorati | 
stumble upon | 
furl | 
reddit