Always opportunistic swines like that.
this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2025
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During the March 1949 Soviet mass deportations, Kallas' mother, Kristi, six months old at the time, grandmother and great-grandmother, all labeled as "enemies of the state", were deported to Siberia. Her mother was allowed to return to Soviet-occupied Estonia in 1959.
I think she was talking about her mother as victim of USSR, not about his father.
Many Estonians were sent to Siberia... but we have to set the premise in the right here. Till 1950, for 1000 years, Estonia has been independent 22 years (after WWI and the Soviet revolution). Before Russia, for 1000 years, Germany, Sweden or Denmark owned Estonia.
After WWII, true the Soviets send many people to Siberia, a horrendous amount of people... but it comes with the caveat that Nazi Germany occupied for 4 years before so probably, the intent was to deport "collaborators", although we know how these things are operated and probably many were completely innocent (in war we know how repugnant neighbors are to each other on reporting innocents.)
Now her mom did come back a decade later and apparently they made a very good life ever since. That is like if in the 1950s I was imprisoned for a decade (rightly or not) and for the next 3 decades I succeeded in the system and lived far better than my peers (and better than the overwhelming majority of Russians!) but I just self the story of 1950s... it is just disingenuous.
Don't take me wrong, I believe in the preservation and even right of self-determination of people, myself come from one without it, but stop portraying like Estonians or Ukrainians were heavily discriminated by Moscow... they were not. Estonians were not the blacks in the US of 1800s, not even in the 1950s, nor were the Jews in Germany of 1930s but more like the Scots in UK or Basques in Spain. Many people were sent inhumanely and even criminally to Siberia but was proportional to either being suspected of being a collaborator, not for being Estonian or Ukrainian.
I celebrate that Estonia is an independent country and remains to be so for many decades to come, but play your cards right, be vary of Russian's intentions as of the US' or Germany; all three would not think it twice before throwing you under the bus the very moment they calculate to use you as a tool for their own gain. Finland in 1950-2010 knew how to operate in that environment; strength your defenses, but reassure you won't be used by one or the other side; Finland thrived then.
I only left this commentary because for me making a meme with mentioning only her father is kind of manipulation. There is the fact that her family (mother) was oppressed. Technically speaking she doesn't lie when she is is saying that. The "meme" is trying to portrait it like she is lying by providing only half of information and by ignoring another half. I just do not like it. And it is not against what did you say.
Thanks for the clarification... sorry if it sounded I was going after you, actually I read your comment as you intended.
What I was venting about is about how the media that, today, works as memes only portrayed one side of her story... something like this meme does too. Now, if we are going to be that simplistic, this meme captures far more her experience under the Soviet rule than her moms after WWII.
I agreed about media. The story is much more complex as usual, there was good and there was bad about USSR. I do not like the idea of taking only good or only bad about USSR from the history to aggressively and manipulatively push somthing.
And I do not like when anyone's family past is used for politival advantage or disadvantage. Like why is it matter where who was born, who was one's grandpa or something, etc. when we are talking on current days politics? Focus on the present problem.
So true on the USSR.
On using personal narrative for advance I am fine, but has to be more or less genuine to the context. If I say that my neighbor is horrible because once took my lawnmower and never returned it back and leave the part that he bought me later on a better one because he broke mine... I have been completely disingenuous.
Soviet-occupied Estonia in 1959.
I would discard entire source for such remarks.
It is perplexing to me how she has been able to get where she is with that story and how the media complicit with it!
For the non Europeans, she is Kaja Kallas, the EU Foreign affairs representative. She is extreme bellicose, specially toward Russia and representing a tiny minority of Europeans on the matter. But she encapsulates perfectly her boss (Ursula). Europeans elected a completely different parliament recently with a clear mandate for a radical chance... to end up with the corrupt Ursula von de Leyen once again. I strong believe these positions in the EU are heavily vetted by the US before allowed to run.
Hating Russia is basically the sole requirement for advancing in EU politics.
So true... but unlike the US, where it is well known there are sectors that earn lots of money and power, I don't know exactly how it works in Europe since everyone losses with these choices. I am positive, the US choose Ursula for the post (I bet they do like when selecting the General to rule Pakistan where he is vetted for a couple of weeks in private) and forced into the EU with bypassing the Spitzenkandidat process. But why so many powers in Europe let that fly?!
The US worked hard since WW2 to ensure that Europe would be politically subservient to the US. The Marshall Plan indebted Europe to the US, and NATO made Europe militarily dependent. Such economic and military dependence necessarily led to Atlanticist politicians rising to the top. Incidentally, the EU makes the whole problem worse because the bureaucracy there is not accountable to the people living in individual European countries.
The theory is that. What is perplexing is how with so many countries, with so many stakeholders (voters, industries,...), the discipline is incredible. The Ursula case is interesting, the US did not like the candidates that was posed to win (Manfred Weber as probably saw on him as too patriotic German and Margrethe Vestager as too popular with Europeans with her antitrust cases on American companies)... so imposing ignoring the Spitzenkandidat system and resorting only to secretive backroom deals... it is amazing this is what the EU has become!!! It is no surprise most EU representatives in the parliament know no clue about the candidates and just follow party lines, but still... I would expect some more dissidents. Meloni in Italy is interesting too... her speeches were vociferously anti-establishment but the media was kind of passive with her... and no surprise, she is indeed perfectly inline with the establishment... but, the media were told to be nice with her before elections so the apparatus knew beforehand her real self! There is a vetting process before hand!
EU is a giant mess at this point, and it's really not clear to me how it's going to move forward. The EU doesn't appear to have a coherent strategy on how to deal with the US, Russia, or China. It's becoming geopolitically irrelevant, and the economy is going into a recession. The apparatchiks running the project don't seem to have any bright ideas or even basic awareness of the problems EU is facing.
Could not agree more here! Any group you follow there you see with a minimal grasp of reality?
Not really, because the main alternative to the neoliberal centre seems to be on the right. I'm really not sure what to expect in Europe in the coming years.
Thanks again, I see it like that. These days I predict the US has more chances of changing than Europe since the lack of social net will precipitate the demand for change more radically. Finally, what is your take on leftist parties in Europe such as Diem25 (I am not versed on the differences Marxist, leninist and that)?
I expect that there will be a split between the US and Europe in the coming years. The US sees China as its main adversary, and Europe is losing strategic relevance for the US because Russia is not an ideological opponent the way USSR was.
However, if the US simply left Europe then it would end up gravitating towards the east, first economically, then politically. That would be highly undesirable from the US perspective as it could result in a huge Eurasian bloc with from Europe, to Russia, to China. In my view this is what the war in Ukraine is all about. In fact, National Interest published a very revealing article back in 2021, while it focuses on Russia, it's pretty clear how the argument extends to Europe as well https://nationalinterest.org/feature/strategy-avoiding-two-front-war-192137
The US has also been predating on Europe economically since the start of the war. US companies have been enjoying selling energy to Europe at high prices while Biden's inflation reduction act lured companies away from Europe. Today, Trump is building on this strategy with massive tariffs designed to stifle Europe's economy and lure more business to the US. The threat of Russia is also being used to force Europe into massive increase in military spending, most of which will go to American military industry.
All of this is bad news for Europe economically, and that's creating a lot of internal political tension. As people see their standard of living collapse, they're turning to nationalist parties because the neoliberal center has lost its credibility in their eyes. Hence why we see a surge of support for RN in France, AfD becoming a major party in Germany, and so on. I expect we'll see more of what we saw in Romania where elections will be cancelled, candidates arrested, parties banned, and so on. All of that will further delegitimize the current system as people start realizing they're not living in a genuine democracy.
Unfortunately, the left has been systematically dismantled in Europe since the end of WW2. What I mean specifically is the economic left. Socialism in Marxist terms mean worker ownership over the means of production which is directly at odds with the current capitalist state of relations where private ownership is the norm. Most of what constitutes the left in the west, such as social democrats, does not challenge capitalist relations. These parties simply want to curb the worst excess of capitalism such as having the rich pay more taxes, provide more social services, and so on. These are reformist parties that seek some form of sustainable capitalism.
There are a handful of genuine socialist parties in Europe, but they're extremely marginalized and I can't see how they can break into mainstream politics at this time. One of the problems is with messaging. The right has a big advantage here because their narrative is largely compatible with what people already believe. In a sense, the right is also a reformist type of movement where they're not suggesting any revolutionary change. People who become disillusioned with the mainstream have easy time gravitating towards the tropes the right peddle like immigrants being the problem and taking people's jobs away.
On the other hand, accepting socialist narrative requires accepting that the current system is fundamentally broken and there needs to be radical restructuring of society. In my opinion, what socialist left needs to focus on is crafting its messaging in a way that resonates with the public. The narrative has to be at least as appealing as what the right offers for people to even start to listen.
Insightful comment. I consider myself politically neutral yet I can tell apart when a genocide is happening, privacy violations, a ailing society, and a long etc. You are completely right with "socialist left needs to focus on is crafting its messaging in a way that resonates with the public". I still not sure if socialism is a solution but gosh... if a wondering mind like me, gets with a rancid aftertaste when reading words like "means of production", "capitalism", "Marxist"... for real, the language needs to update and connect with people... It is like I say "we need to gather around the wireless to hear news". (in 1910s radio was known as "wireless" from wireless telegraph)... it is a good statement but if i said some people simple will get confused with the term and the rest will know the term but simply think a person that uses those old references cannot possibly have the solution for today's world problems.
Imo this comes at least partially down to the generic pattern of representatives becoming more conformist when they get into power. In my country for example we have a Pirate party, and they were quite radically progressive when they were founded but as they got into parliament+govt they became more centrist. You see this happen in many countries. I wouldn't immediately jump to the conclusion that they are being 'vetted' by hidden elites, I think it's very possible that its just an effect of the incentives you face in the process of competing in elections, facing the media, the environment in a parliament, etc. etc. But even if the latter is the case, it wouldn't be a good thing since you have a diverse set of representatives representing a diverse society, and if the democratic system molds them to have a uniform set of traits then you are losing accuracy of that representation.
No doubt, with more responsibilities there is always a tendency to conform more, but from there to vote blindly there is a stretch. I wonder what happened to the Pirate parties in Europe!! I am looking for a pan-European, not necessarily federalist party in Europe but the few available do not convince me... I am tempting to create one (partially joking)... or just give up and find a peaceful live in some coast.
Hmm... Volt?
I did check them... even interacted with one of their executive members but, besides the literature that found it mostly bland and ambiguous, did not find enthusiasm there for the change Europeans demand. Besides, being federalist, I think on the rest of policies they will accommodate to whoever they partner with on the center-left. I did not see a substantial audience with Volt's message, maybe I should have spoken with more of their people. My search continues. Thanks SubArticTundra.
There's also MERA25 (lead by the likes of Slavoj Žižek and Jannis Ver.). I quite liked them but they (and other pan-euro parties) have no chance of winning seats so long as the seats are distributed within each country separately.
Good Point! Yes I have been following MeRA25 / DIEM25 (gosh horrible name(s)!) and their podcast since 2 yrs ago and Yanis Varoufakis for more than a decade... great man yet so sad he is unable to connect Europeans. Of course, Brussels was able to permanently linked him with Greeceś default, when he was the very person denouncing the whole scheme. They need a marketing person (and a new name now since 25 is half over). I was tempted once to give him a great domain for a new European party. In any case, Amazing intelligent and humanistic guy, but his speeches sound too commie and too rancid. Even, over and over he proved himself right in international politics and economics and his new book positions him as very, very well verse in current technological affairs,yet Yanis, rather than being the front lead, he should be the mentor to someone can speak in today's language.
It is true, the system in Europe highly penalizes pan-european or even pan-national parties in contrast a small highly concentrate party in a region, so one could consider to organize a coalition wave of small parties scattered across the EU. But I still think is is better to have a common name across Europe. This is a thing of talking to a few lawyers to see the possibilities.
Kaja is a fucking clown. Them moment I saw that she said Ireland doesn't know what its like to be oppressed (the fuck?), I automatically discredited everything she says.
She and Ursula should throw themselves in ditches and rot.
Ok whatever but where's the meme template from?
It's from a Victoria Beckham interview where she was claiming to be raised with significantly less wealth.
Thank you. I just looked it up and it's gold.