naakums @naakums - Twitter Profile

naakums retweeted

about 1 month ago

People keep asking what the Soviet occupation actually cost the Baltic states. You don't have to imagine it. There's a control group, and it's sitting right across the gulf. In 1938 — the last full year before the war — Estonia and Finland had essentially the same GDP per capita. Two small nations, same sea, neighboring languages, the same starting line. By some rankings Estonia was even slightly ahead. Heritage FoundationX Then history split in two. Finland fought the Winter War and kept its independence. Estonia was occupied, annexed, and folded into a planned economy. Same decade, opposite roads. Fifty years later: 🇫🇮 Finland — ~$24,000 per person (1992) 🇪🇪 Estonia — ~$2,800 An eightfold gap — from an identical starting point. Not because Finns worked harder. Not because Estonians were less capable. One country was free to build. The other was told what to build, for whom, and at what loss. The wages say it even more cleanly: in 1938 Estonian purchasing power was just 4% below Finland's; by 1988 it was 42% below. That cliff is the occupation, drawn in numbers. And here's the part that ends the argument. Set free for a single generation, Estonia has already clawed back to roughly four-fifths of Finnish income. A gap that took 50 years to open is closing in 30. That's the proof it was never about us — it was the system imposed on us. There's a cost that never shows up in GDP, either. No occupation means no cattle cars to Siberia. No murdered and exiled intelligentsia. No decades of settlers moved in to outnumber the natives — which means the very "Russian-speaking minority" Moscow is now parading before the ICJ wouldn't exist at anything like that scale. The grievance Russia is litigating is one it manufactured itself. So no — we don't wonder what we lost. We can see it from the ferry. And free at last, it's what we're finally becoming again. 🇪🇪🇱🇻🇱🇹

petite_michelle's tweet photo. People keep asking what the Soviet occupation actually cost the Baltic states. You don't have to imagine it. There's a control group, and it's sitting right across the gulf.
In 1938 — the last full year before the war — Estonia and Finland had essentially the same GDP per capita. Two small nations, same sea, neighboring languages, the same starting line. By some rankings Estonia was even slightly ahead. Heritage FoundationX
Then history split in two.
Finland fought the Winter War and kept its independence. Estonia was occupied, annexed, and folded into a planned economy. Same decade, opposite roads.
Fifty years later:
🇫🇮 Finland — ~$24,000 per person (1992)
🇪🇪 Estonia — ~$2,800
An eightfold gap — from an identical starting point. Not because Finns worked harder. Not because Estonians were less capable. One country was free to build. The other was told what to build, for whom, and at what loss.
The wages say it even more cleanly: in 1938 Estonian purchasing power was just 4% below Finland's; by 1988 it was 42% below. That cliff is the occupation, drawn in numbers.
And here's the part that ends the argument. Set free for a single generation, Estonia has already clawed back to roughly four-fifths of Finnish income. A gap that took 50 years to open is closing in 30. That's the proof it was never about us — it was the system imposed on us.
There's a cost that never shows up in GDP, either. No occupation means no cattle cars to Siberia. No murdered and exiled intelligentsia. No decades of settlers moved in to outnumber the natives — which means the very "Russian-speaking minority" Moscow is now parading before the ICJ wouldn't exist at anything like that scale. The grievance Russia is litigating is one it manufactured itself.
So no — we don't wonder what we lost. We can see it from the ferry.
And free at last, it's what we're finally becoming again. 🇪🇪🇱🇻🇱🇹

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naakums retweeted

Elisa Mosini 🇪🇺🇮🇹 @MosiniElisa

3 months ago

I can’t stop watching French Senator Claude Malhuret dismantle and deliver facts about the MAGA political landscape I’m genuinely enjoying how the French are calling out and roasting MAGA US right now, saying out loud what many Europeans are thinking 🇫🇷

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naakums @naakums

5 months ago

@GoldenR_Fella Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦🇱🇻

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naakums @naakums

5 months ago

@rima_medUA @BlueYellowUSA I hope this works out.

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Who to follow

Pēteris Vinķelis

@PeterisVinkelis

Starp Rīgu un Jūrmalu.

Guncha

@guncha

Mūzika, smiekli un IT

Violeta Birzniece

@VioletaBirzniec

Working days spends in one of the most interestesting European Commission’s jobs in Brussels working for sport, gender equality and Erasmus+.

naakums retweeted

Brian Szwarc

@BrianSzwarc

8 months ago

Dear Latvia! Sending you a special video greeting from Canada on the 107th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Latvia and the 90th anniversary of the Freedom Monument. Hope you enjoy! 🎥⬇️ Thankful to former 🇱🇻 President H.E. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga for being part of our project. 🇨🇦 is honoured to stand together with 🇱🇻 to defend freedom and the values the Freedom Monument symbolizes. Congratulations Latvia and Happy Birthday Milda! 🎉 🇨🇦🤝🇱🇻 We appreciate everyone who worked behind the scenes to bring this film to life: Cinematographer Reinis Aristovs Editor Toms Krauklis Director/Producer Pauls Dombrovskis Historian Dr. James McKillip Latvian National Armed Forces Honour Guard

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naakums @naakums

11 months ago

Motingo

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naakums retweeted

Bricktop_NAFO @Bricktop_NAFO

about 1 year ago

I’m sorry. If you don’t get paid vacation from work, you live in a third world country. If you don’t get basic healthcare free, you live in a third world country. If you don’t get paid maternity and paternity leave, if you don’t get paid from work and the government when you’re off sick, then you live in a third world country. If your government doesn’t force employers to give you a contract after a trial period so your employer has certain rights to uphold when it comes to loyalty back to you as a worker, so you feel safe and secure when you work hard, then you live in a third world country. These are the very basics we come to expect In Europe and The U.K. This is the very least we will accept. This year I have 52 paid vacation days off from work. This would not include paid sick days, time for doctor’s appointments or paid time off for looking after my child or taking them to the doctors. Some employees like mine pay a little extra for working from home, for electric, for internet and aditional money for food for when I work. We have very good free education. Americans travel to Europe just for the free universities to study without drowning in debt whilst living in the most beautiful cities. These universities that for some subjects are the best in the world. It is physically illegal for my employer to contact me on my day off or outside of my contracted working hours. Some of these things which can vary country to country in Europe are the very basics of what we expect living in a European country. The very minimum. Yet we get told by MAGA that we live wrong, and we should change our values, and that America represents freedom. And we should follow what this government administration wants. What is it to be free? Just to be allowed to have guns? To protect what? To protect yourself from your government? The truth is sadly, that there is no Freedom in America. I say these things above so Americans know what you should demand from your leaders, because none of the above is taught to you. Now this is the Truth you need to hear: For education America is 13th in reading, 18th in science, 37th in math among 79 countries. College debt is over $1.7 trillion and average borrower owes $30,000+. America has the highest incarceration rate in the world…. You have around 25% of the whole world’s prisoners, but only 4% of the global population…. Over 2 million people currently incarcerated in the U.S. You have the most expensive healthcare system globally, yet it ranks #30 in overall health care. U.S. has higher infant mortality and lower life expectancy than many developed nations by far. 1 in 7 American children live in poverty. Roughly 11 million children 90% of your wealth is with 1% of people. America has over 40,000 gun-related deaths annually. And even for tech… The U.S. ranks 13th–20th in internet speed globally. Why would they tell you what you are missing? Why would they tell you what you should demand and expect as tax paying citizens… Seek Freedom, Seek Real Freedom. Not the Freedom They Sold You. The one they sold to you wasn’t free.