WHY DON’T THEY JUST SURRENDER?

WHY DON’T THEY JUST SURRENDER?

I hate war. I grew up in Clydebank, the most damaged town in Scotland during WW2, where even after almost two decades had elapsed since the bombing of the town by Nazi Germany in March 1941, you did not have to look very hard to still see the scars. There were only eight houses in the entire town left unscathed. Can you imagine that?

I have been aware of the Cold War all of my life. I remember my parents fear when I was still at Primary School as the world faced the prospect of nuclear annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the early 1980’s I visited both East and West Berlin, years before the wall came down and I was struck by the “defences” on the East German side of the wall. The anti car ditch, the fierce dogs on steel trace, the small explosive charges encased in nails and bolts, on the fences, all designed to blow off a limb or two from anyone attempting to cross. The manned watchtowers, where after some single border guards had escaped, only soldiers with young families in East Germany could serve, the ploughed strips of land where a searchlight could quickly identify footsteps and escape activity. Propaganda described the wall in East Germany as the “ anti fascist wall”…..but all the control measures were on the East German side of the wall, all designed to keep East Germans in, not stop any attack from the West.

I did not rely on anyone’s propaganda to learn this. I witnessed it with my own eyes.

Ten years later in 1993 I along with some friends attended the first Scotland Estonia football match in Tallinn. It was the start of a long association with this newly Independent state. Russian troops were still stationed in the barracks awaiting transfer back to Russia. The city was badly rundown, buildings were crumbling due to lack of maintenance, there was very little food in the stores, fruit was nowhere to be seen. The average wage was $40 dollars a MONTH!

Over the next couple of decades I witnessed the most amazing transformation of this tiny country of 1.35 million. As the Russians shutdown the state factories, transporting anything of value back to Russia, the Estonian Government, fortunately being a very competent one, were engaged in the massive task of modernising and repairing the country and also replacing the jobs that were lost. No easy task. In 1997 Tallinn became a UNESCO world heritage site.

I remember some years later having a meeting with the former deputy chief of a state owned factory that manufactured electric motors. He had just reopened part of the factory and was looking for customers. All quite normal, the main difference being that when it was operated by the Soviets the entire production each week was transferred to Moscow and it was the warehouse operation there, rather than him as the Deputy Chief of the plant, that knew who the end users of his motors were. He was starting from scratch.

The political direction was very clear, the country required to modernise, find inward investment, create a huge number of sustainable jobs. Amazingly they did so with innovative policies, very little borrowing, and the “secret” above all. They recognised they were starting with a blank piece of paper. They recognised that the huge opportunity of full Independence was never likely to be available again. They knew they wanted to join the West and in particular their Scandinavian neighbours so they determined not to copy what the West had. No they determined to build their economy on where the WEST wanted to go but faced difficulty in getting their people, who were tied to existing practice, to accept significant change. Estonia did not have that problem, their entire population were demanding extensive change…and they wanted it as fast as it could be achieved.

Hence was born the Digital economy. Today less than thirty years later Estonia is easily the most digitally advanced economy in Europe. Living standards have soared, better off and free to travel to other countries ,having broken with Moscow, you are likely to meet Estonian tourists at resorts all over the World. They are full members of the two key organisations they identified as priorities from the first day they became Independent, the European Union and NATO. They had to work hard and meet exacting criteria to join both. Public support from the Estonian public was overwhelming in the case of joining both organisations.

Now thirty years on from Independence they live free of Moscow, there is no KGB operating in their country, they can freely communicate with friends at home and abroad, they enjoy free travel and free speech. They have witnessed their lives and their country being transformed, all for the better. 

Before the illegal occupation of their country by the Soviets in 1940, an occupation that lasted to 1991 (the Second World War for Estonia lasted 51 years) Estonia had a similar standard of living to Denmark or Finland. Under the Soviet’s they became a pauper nation in comparison.

I asked at the top of the page “why don’t they surrender? “ . The Estonians won’t and neither will Ukraine. They won their Independence. They enjoy the freedom associated with that Independence. They have got their country back. They would rather die fighting to defend that freedom rather than return to living a second class status in their own land. That goes for every former Soviet Republic with the possible exception of Belarus. There they have, so far, been unable to make the break with Communist control and Moscow is determined it will stay that way.

I would have thought most Scots, in especial YES supporters, would recognise Ukraine’s rights to enjoy the freedom of winning Independence. The propaganda war is being fought by both sides but when you strip it all away you either believe in a country’s right to be Free and Independent, or you don’t.

I do.

I am, as always

Yours for Scotland.

“We do not fight for honour, riches or glory, but solely for freedom which no true man gives up but with his life” The spirit of Arbroath 1320 is alive and kicking in Ukraine. Shame some in Scotland seem to have forgotten those words and have volunteered to become pawns in the Great Powers Propaganda games. This does not bode well for our own struggle to become Independent.

BEAT THE CENSORS

Sadly some sites had given up on being pro Indy sites and have decided to become merely pro SNP sites where any criticism of the Party Leader or opposition to the latest policy extremes, results in censorship being applied. This, in the rather over optimistic belief that this will suppress public discussion on such topics. My regular readers have expertly worked out that by regularly sharing articles on this site defeats that censorship and makes it all rather pointless. I really do appreciate such support and free speech in Scotland is remaining unaffected by their juvenile censorship. Indeed it is has become a symptom of weakness and guilt. Quite encouraging really.

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