[glesica]

> Also claiming that they have an incentive to leave the country seems wrong

I don't know about that, ever been to Narva? Ethnic Russians are, at least to some extent, in a position similar to that of African Americans in the US, but it is easier for them to leave since they just arrived a few decades ago, whereas African Americans have been in the US long enough to have established long-term connections and to have lost contact with the "old world". So it seems pretty reasonable to me to say that Ethnic Russians have an incentive to leave the Baltic states.

[slc]

No, I haven't. I live in Latvia. I'm sure that the older generation of Estonians don't like the russians, because they blame them for the ~50 years of life under a communist dicatorship, the relatives lost in the siberian death camps and so on. But comparing this dislike to the history of slavery and segregation, linchings and so on of african americans seems stupid and the qualification of "to some extent" doesn't remedy that. Again, can't really speak about Estonia, if you would claim that the russian speaking people can't sit in the front of the bus, I wouldn't be able to refute it other than to express my sincere disbelief.

[mb_72]

You could make that comparison if African Americans had been invaders of the US, but not otherwise.

Narva is a huge problem for the Estonian government - unemployment there is high, and the educational institutions struggle to field teachers who can teach in Estonian. As a result, young people with a Russian background are at a disadvantage with respect to basic language skills.

It's also fair to say there are a number of those in Narva who wish for their 'countrymen' to come rolling over the border again.

[glesica]

Why does it matter how a discriminated-against minority group got to a place? Russian Balts are treated poorly. African Americans are treated poorly. Both groups suffer from lack of opportunities, institutional discrimination at various points, and a cycle of poverty caused largely by bigotry. How they got there is really immaterial.

[slc]

You forgot to compare the treatment of the russian speaking people in the baltic states to the treatment of jews in the nazi germany. Both were treated poorly.

[chokosabe]

This is daft, stupid and racist. African Americans are Americans. Period.

[glesica]

They sure are Americans, but try telling that to a good portion of the US population and you'll get some push back, unfortunately... Racism is alive and well in America, just like anti-Russian sentiments are alive and well in the Baltics. The Russian minority in the Baltics suffers from many of the same problems modern African Americans do: discrimination, systemic poverty, lack of opportunity, etc.