violence in places where i've visited always freaks me out. but this is particularly freaky. it was only a couple of months ago that mrs. noz and i were looking at that same WW2 monument. as mrs. noz said last night when i pointed out the estonian riots story "tallinn didn't seem to be a riot place."
i guess no where really is until the riots start. but tallinn, with it's cute shops and picture-perfect touristy old town, masks some of the serious issues that bedevil the country. the view of world war two in the baltics is particularly interesting, turning the usual story on its head. many estonians, latvians and lithuanians consider the nazi occupation to be a period of liberation. and the memory of world war two puts them at odds, not only with most of the rest of europe, but is also entangled with ongoing issues of how to deal with their russian minority.
