Russia and Estonia fight over Bronze Statue similar to John Houser's "The Equestrian"

[Anita]

Have you been following the controversy and rioting over the removal of a bronze sculpture in Estonia? Here is a link to 'Times On Line" with a story about the events:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1717586.ece

...and you can view a slide show to see the statue in question:

Does anyone know who did the sculpture in 1947?

Here is another link to WHY the sculpture is so controversial:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1715134.ece

This reminds me of a similar event this month with John Houser's "The Equestrian" vs "Don Juan de Onate". We thankfully have not had the public demonstrations and riots they are having in Estonia, but clearly a lot of people were offended by the subject in Texas.

Many of we sculptors try to create powerful sculptures that evoke emotional response from the viewers, but sometimes we don't have a clue how they will be received and accepted or rejected as time passes.

[Merlion]

This is how I understand the situation in Estonia.

Estonia is one of the countries that broke out of USSR in about 1990. It is located next to Russia.

The removal of the Russian soldier memorial statue triggers off violent protests among its badly treated Russian minorities.

The Estonia government has selected a bad time to move the statue left by the Red army. Recently a richer Putin's Russia due to oil and minerals is trying to exert its strength and influcence in Europe and globally.

These ethinic Russian minorities are more or less second class people. Many are stateless due to high Estonian language requirement for citizenship. So while they have emotions for what the statue represents, these ethnic Russians also feel it is now a good time with a good excuse to make its voice heard and its presence felt.

Of course, it would not surprise me that Russia is backing perhaps vebally these violent protests in Eustonia.