So I was finally putting pen to paper on my Biographica Incognita entry on Gentleman Johnny Ramensky. I have spent weeks reading newspapers and court records from the first half of the twentieth century. However in writing about Johnny’s parents immigrating from Lithuania I realised I didn’t really understand the geography of Lithuania. So I hit google maps and street view. Confident I had a fair understanding of the general topography of Lithuania I was about to log off when I noticed something.
Do you see it?
No?
I get the value of coastal provinces however this must be an absolute bastard to govern. Its small, with too few resources to independently support its population, There is no direct land access back to Russia without going through Lithuania, Latvia or Belarus. So this province must be the only access Russia has to the Baltic Sea right?
Wrong. Russia has a huge length of coast on the Baltic Sea at the Fino-Russian border.
I suspect Russia held on to this as their empire receded and the countries now surrounding Kaliningrad …. which I presume is the name of this aberration struck for independence.
I have a totally irrational but fierce anger of geo-political anomalies like this. As with Alaska and Crimea, provinces cut up due to conflict or clumsy resolution to conflict just result in more trouble.
If I become unwell following the publish of this post, please check for Polonium.