Yes, "relaxed Western readers" do want to hear about the warnings from the Baltic states of the "rising Russian menace" [TBT #496], and it reflects well on them. "Tyrants are but the spawn of ignorance, begotten by the slaves they trample on." [Lowell's Prometheus]
Russia has had an unfortunate history of creating tyrants, begotten by the ignorance of the population as revealed by "Ben"; the citizenry of the Baltic states, in contrast to Russian citizenry, had the strength and courage to shed the tyranny that oppressed them in the past and remain ever vigilant of the threat of its resurrection. "When a nation has allowed itself to fall under a tyrannical regime, it cannot be absolved of its faults due to the guilt of that regime." [Winston Churchill]
The Russian people have not, as have the German people, cleansed and absolved themselves of the guilt of their past tyrants and their atrocities against their neighbors, as a consequence of which there is a great danger that the "Bens" of Russia [in reference to the readers who penned the letter in #496 's ed.] will allow the resurrection of tyranny in their country.
The civilized world is, indeed, very interested in what The Baltic Times writes about Russia.
Ontario, Canada
