Shooting in the legs: by whipping up Russophobia, the Baltic countries are harming themselves

Mikhail Pozharsky, publicist

As for the visa ban, they decided to make an interim decision - there will be no full ban (as expected), but the simplified system is being canceled. At the same time, a number of countries still announce a complete ban on the entry of Russians - these are the Baltic countries.

The explanation here is simple - historical trauma. First, being part of the Russian Empire, then part of the USSR. Independence was gained relatively recently. But what is "collective trauma" and is it justification for bad policies? There is an analogy here with physical or mental trauma. But this analogy is false. Society does not have a body or nervous system that can be traumatized. And in the case of collective trauma, we are simply talking about the process of retraumatization - the old generations impose fear, resentment and other useful emotions on the new ones. On the one hand, these emotions are a good building material for national identity. This unites ranks, strengthens internal solidarity, and so on. However, in the long run, this is more likely to harm.

One might wonder what would be the correct policy of the Baltic countries towards the Russians? The opposite of the current one: facilitate entry and receive waves of Russian opposition emigrants. Firstly, it would bring money and qualified personnel (the same IT) to the Baltic countries, which Georgia is now receiving from Armenia. Secondly, it would help to solve problems with the local disloyal Russian communities, diluting the old fans of Katyusha singing with new, oppositional and pro-European Russians. Now Soviet monuments are being demolished there to the accompaniment of the whining of disgruntled pro-Russian pensioners, or they could have been to the approving exclamations of youth under a white-blue-white flag. At the same time, the number of emigrants could be sufficient to dilute the local Russian community, but in any case not enough to somehow threaten local national projects.

But no, instead, it is necessary to close the borders, smear yourself with Russophobic hysteria, disperse the local pro-Russian pensioners with the police, only strengthening resentment and alienation. And against this background, begging the EU for permission to violate sanctions - it turns out to be somehow not sweet to live without the Kremlin's oil and gas. The spectacle, I must say, is the most pathetic.

Why is this happening? First, because they piss. Secondly, because it is this approach that is beneficial to local populists in the short term. Now, in general, they will try to push everything bad onto the Russian Federation, but Scholz or Macron will hardly have a ride if they start blaming the Russians for all internal troubles and try to make it the main agenda. But in the Baltic countries - quite. There are enough local schizos there that have been talking for decades about the Russian threat, which has now finally become a reality. Their time has come. And they will feed on the fear of the population, demanding the closure of borders, increased internal repression and the continuation of apartheid. In the short term, this will ensure popularity for the Shiz in the elections, in the long term it will hit the economies of the Baltic countries, exacerbate problems with local Russians and give a couple of trump cards to the Kremlin propaganda.

In general, historical trauma is something that makes entire nations, over and over again, enthusiastically shoot themselves in the foot.