The status of post-conflict diaspora language

This was initially written as a response to a comment under a Reddit post in a thread that discussed the tender relationship between the diaspora big-minority Russian language, and the indigenous majority-status Estonian language in Estonia.

I think it will take a while for Estonians as a group to disassociate the Russian language from the titular people in Russia, from the titular state, and the regime that runs it.

In my view, the Russian language as such is not guilty of any crimes.

But it has long been used as an instrument of oppression, colonization, and foreign machinations; it's been the titular language of oppressive dictatorships, and has been spoken by a great many people who have advanced, and continue to advance the policies of said regimes. — All this dismays me quite a bit.

As a consequence of having been used as an instrument of colonisation, the countries in which russification took place, naturally gravitate towards undoing said acts of colonisation and their many outcomes, which have had an effect on a number of majority-status indigenous cultures that have come to fear the loss of their native language.

This uncompromising undoing, as it were, of the results of occupation and colonisation is done perhaps as a measure to reduce the chances of their indigenous language(s) — with not too many speakers on a world scale — from becoming endangered sometime in the future.

And so, this creates the externality of the Russian language suffering the fate of collateral damage as a somewhat self-inflicted result of several conflicts and wars started by the Russian state.

Yet the Russian language itself is not in any way in danger.

But how the many Russian diasporae are to develop a culture in each of their respective host countries, which culture would be immune to foreign (Russian) influence measures and meddling, is something that requires a lot of care and nurture.

It's important to note, that in Russia proper, several indigenous non-Russian languages remain endagered, or are under the threat of extinction. Their speakers are discriminated against, and their sons have been thrown into the meat-grinder that is the Russian-initiated war in Ukraine.

There, in Russia, several indigenous non-Russian languages have already become extinct. As such, their extinction is always a major harm and irreparable loss to humanity.