Estonia Hit by Left Wing Extremist

Eli Lake reports that a gunman shot-up the defense ministry in Estonia last week. While Estonian officials are "investigating whether [he] was inspired by Russia's 'massive propaganda attack' against the Baltic nation," the other disturbing facet of the man's crazed mission is the manifesto he left behind. 

Lake reports: 

In his manifesto, Drambjan wrote, "Now is the time for breaking illusions." He claimed that the current government was preparing a war against Estonia's ethnic Russian minority. 

"It is clear that the Estonian government has already chosen the path of civil war. It does not matter what form it will take but there will be rivers of blood, full poverty and criminal destabilization," he wrote.

The manifesto also said, "For them we are only sheeps ... Whatever masks they have — they have the jaws of wolves and nature of hyenas. It depends [on] every one of us whether we will survive in the blessed Estonian 'democracy' or will be forced out from this neo-fascist country without our pants."

The madman's political affiliation? "Drambjan, himself, was a member of the Estonian United Left Party, the successor of Estonia's pro-Soviet Communist Party," Lake reports.

And though Europe grapples with myriad threats, including jihadists, left wing extremism remains a scary, real, and dangerous threat. Fortunately, the Estonian way of life will prevail, Mart Laar, Estonia's defense minister, tells Lake.

In the interview, Mr. Laar said his government has no intention of placing the Estonian United Left Party under increased scrutiny or increasing surveillance of Estonia's ethnic Russians.

"I am sure that 99.99 percent of the non-Estonian population in my country have nothing to do with this kind of terrorism," Mr. Laar said. "This is a clear attempt to raise the hatred in the population and it has failed."

"Always the goal of such attacks is to attack our lifestyle and our institutions," he added.

"We are proud we survived the crisis without losses among the ordinary people. We will move on to develop Estonian democracy. We will not repeat the mistakes of some other countries. We are a western country."

One should hesitate to draw too grand of a conclusion from one madman's outburst, yet this could serve as a good reminder for the left wing of the perils of overheated rhetoric.