Bush Salutes Fledgling Baltic Democracies

[FUZO]

TweetBush Salutes Fledgling Baltic Democracies


RIGA, Latvia - President Bush on Saturday saluted the leaders of fledgling democracies in three Baltic nations that endured Soviet oppression for half a century, and said they could help Russian President Vladimir Putin see the benefits of living in a free society.



"I will continue to speak as clearly as I can to President Putin that it's in his country's interests that there be democracies on his borders," Bush said at a news conference with the leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

"We recognize your painful history," Bush said.

Bush's decision to visit the Latvian capital and Georgia on his trip to Moscow to mark the 60th anniversary of the defeat of **** Germany prompted a letter of protest from Moscow, which viewed it as meddling in Russia's backyard.

"The idea of countries helping others become free, I hope that would be viewed as not revolutionary, but rational foreign policy, as decent foreign policy, as humane foreign policy," Bush said.

He said the Baltics set an example for other countries emerging from tyrannies and oppressive governments.

"You rank very high as far as I'm concerned in the freedom movement," he said.

He also called for free elections, set for next year, in the former Soviet republic of Belarus, the last remaining dictatorship in Europe.

The people of Belarus "should be allowed to express themselves in free and open and fair elections," Bush said about the former Soviet republic run by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.

In a reference to Putin's steps away from democratic reforms and Belarus, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said he reassured Bush that the Baltics will support peoples' quest for the same freedoms they now enjoy.

He said the Baltic leaders hoped they could introduce to other nations "some kind of dose of oxygen into the resistance and opposition that is striving for the same rights we are enjoying."

Bush also said he understands the lingering resentment against Russia among people in the Baltic nations.

Every step of Bush's brief stay here was aimed at celebrating the democracy that was ushered into this country and other parts of Europe with the end of the Cold War. But his visit also underscored still-simmering anger at the Soviet Union's 1940 annexation of the Baltics that resulted in an oppressive occupation that lasted 50 years.

"Look, I fully understand there is a lot of anger and frustration involved in the three Baltics countries about the occupation," Bush said. "I've expressed that to President Putin, but he didn't need me to tell him. He fully understands there's a lot of frustrations and anger about what took place. My hope is that we will be able to move on past that phase of history, the phase that is embracing democracy and free societies."

The White House hopes Bush's high-profile dive into the decades-old dispute will encourage the Russians to confront a dark spot in their history, in which the end of World War II in Europe saw the Baltics trade **** domination for communist rule.

"The American people will never forget the occupation and communist oppression of the people of the Baltics," Bush said

Bush, however, acknowledged the United States and Britain share a portion of blame for the Baltics' pain. The 1945 Yalta agreement that carved up post-World War II Europe was forged by Soviet leader Josef Stalin, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Adamkus and Estonian President Arnold Ruutel both have chosen not to attend the anniversary celebration of the defeat of the ****s.

In an opinion piece published Saturday in The Washington Post, Latvian President Vike-Freiberga said all democratic nations must urge Russia to condemn the crimes committed during the Soviet era in the name of communism.

She described rapes, looting and killings by the Red Army that continued in Latvia well after the war ended.

"Until Russia does so, it will continue to be haunted by the ghosts of its past, and its relations with its immediate neighbors will remain uneasy at best." she wrote.

[T-Man007]

TweetGo Bush! Why wont people just get the facts. Who's the most powerful nation? We are. How'd we get there? Through freedom. Contolling people will never make you powerful, never. Give people the rights to do what they want and have a voice for what they believe in. And, if you still want to be powerful, you help the people get what they want.

A man who controls a nation is not powerful, but a man who is supported by a nation is.