From: "PJ O'Donovan"
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Newsgroups:
alt.activism.death-penalty,talk.politics.misc,uk.politics.misc,aus.po litics,re
c.travel.europe
Date: 30 Nov 2006 03:59:21 -0800
Subject: No Bush bashing in the Baltics

His visit is seen as a clear signal to Moscow
that the Baltic States are out of the Kremlin's sphere of influence.

Brief history of the Baltic states, PJ. The Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia,
and Lithuania) became independent states in 1920. They remained independent
during the interwar period. In 1940, with the beginning of World War II,
the Soviet Union took advantage of the opportunity to annex the independent
Baltic States. None of the Western powers recognized this annexation, and
refused to return Baltic state holdings, such as gold, deposited in Western
banks. These holdings provided assets for a new start after the fall of the
Soviet Union. These states were not as "influenced" as you seem to believe.

Donna Evleth