✔ "NATO Defence Ministers wrapped up two days of talks in Brussels on Thursday, which marked progress in creating four NATO battalions in the Baltic States and Poland, closer cooperation with the European Union and training for Iraqi officers.” - NATO press
- "Putin's assurance that Russia does not plan to attack any other country will not change many minds at Nato headquarters in Brussels.” - BBC
- "Russia is reinforcing its Baltic Fleet in Kaliningrad with two small warships armed with long-range cruise missiles to counter what it sees as a worrying NATO build-up in the region.” - Reuters
- Foto: Kakerdaja bog, Kõrvemaa Nature Reserve
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Friday 28. October
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- Vene agressiooni jätkumine tooks Baltimaadesse alalised NATO baasid
(ERR)
- President Kaljulaid Sõitis Virumaale
(Postimees | ERR | Delfi)
"President Kaljulaid visits Lääne- and Ida-Viru Counties"
- Edward Lucas: Toomas Hendrik Ilves tõi Eesti maailmakaardile
(Eesti Päevaleht)
- Arvamus: elust Eestis läbi propagandakanali silmade
(Postimees)
✔ Finland walks a 1,300 kilometer fine-line with Russia
(Politico-Europe)
✔ Lithuania issues a manual on what to do if Russia invades
(CNN)
"There will be 30,000 copies available in schools and libraries and it will also be published online."
- High-tech Estonia builds on success
(Kyiv Post)
- Online Voting Isn’t as Flawed as You Think—Just Ask Estonia
(IEEE)
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✔ U.S. and Britain Pledge to Send Planes, 800 Troops and Tanks to Eastern Europe
(Time | Huffington Post | CNN)
"Around 800 soldiers along with tanks, armoured vehicles and drones will now head to Estonia in the spring in a Nato effort to reassure the Baltic states over Russian aggression. The boosted mission, up from 500 announced earlier this year, will be Britain’s largest long-term deployment to one of Russia’s neighbours since the end of the Cold War.”
"Eestisse saabuv NATO lahingugrupp saab olema 1100-liikmeline”
"The U.K. troops will deploy in the spring and will be joined in Estonia by forces from France and Denmark, said Michael Fallon, the British defense secretary. The force, he said, would likely include tactical drones, Challenger 2 main battle tanks and Warrior armored infantry fighting vehicles. “That battalion will be defensive in nature, but it will be fully combat-capable.”
"Challenger 2 on praegu vist maailma kõige raskem tank - üle 60 tonni, olenevalt modifikatsioonist. Ma võin näha raskusi, kui nad hakkavad kasutama sildu, mis on üle meie jõgede ehitatud, sest NSVL-i ajal ehitati sillad kandejõuga umbes 60 tonni."
[Everything you’d ever want to know about the Challenger 2 Battle Tank.]
✔ Germany to send Leopard 2 tanks to Lithuania
(Deutsche Welle)
"Protecting Lithuania from Russia is to be Germany's responsibility, according to the new NATO defense plans that emerged at this week's summit in Brussels. The German Defense Ministry showed on Wednesday evening just how seriously it is taking this task, confirming to the DPA news agency that next year it will be sending Leopard 2 tanks to the Baltic country's Russian border in addition to the 650 soldiers it had already promised - though it would not clarify how many. … A NATO battalion of around 1,000 soldiers will be stationed in Lithuania as of June next year."
- Everything you’d ever want to know about the Leopard 2 Battle Tank
http://www.army-technology.com/projects/leopard/
http://www.army-technology.com/projects/leopard/
- Nato sends a message to Russia
(BBC)
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✔ Gotland and Ã…land on the Baltic chessboard
(OSW)
"Sweden and Finland are increasingly concerned about the defence of their Baltic Sea islands, Gotland and the Ã…land Islands, which Russia could attack in the event of a regional crisis or conflict. In mid-September Sweden decided (earlier than planned) to permanently station a mechanised company of Swedish Land Forces on the island of Gotland. … In Finland, in turn, debate on the defence of the Ã…land Islands was reignited after the Finnish defence minister suggested in mid-October that Finland should re-examine archipelago’s demilitarized status."
- Russia beefs up Baltic Fleet with ships armed with cruise missiles
(Reuters | Postimees)
"Russia is reinforcing its Baltic Fleet in Kaliningrad with two small warships armed with long-range cruise missiles to counter what it sees as a worrying NATO build-up in the region, Russia's daily Izvestia reported on Wednesday. … The Buyan-class corvettes are armed with nuclear-capable Kalibr cruise missiles, known by the NATO codename Sizzler … the ships are believed to be carrying conventional warheads."
- Toomas Alatalu: Geopoliitikast ja Venemaa rakettidest
(Eesti Päevaleht)
- NATO wants allies to up contributions to military on Russia borders
(Deutsche Welle | EU Observer)
- Kaljulaid's third state visit: Lithuania
(ERR)
"The two presidents spoke about the future of the EU, the Ukraine-Russia crisis, the Baltic countries' defense cooperation and energy independence, the migration crisis, the Eastern Partnership as well as the impact of the British referendum on the EU … also spoke about the future of Rail Baltic as an important project for the region."
- Finland-Estonia Pipeline Approved
(Compressor Tech - industry newsletter)
"The Balticconnector pipeline will consist of three sections: 13.7 miles (22 km) Finnish onshore, 49.7 miles (80 km) offshore and 31 miles (50 km) Estonian onshore. It enables the transport of 0.25 Bcfd (7.2 X 106 m3/d) with flows running in both directions. Alongside the Gas Interconnector Poland–Lithuania (GIPL), it will contribute to increasing energy security and solidarity in the region."
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- Interview: Kersti Kaljulaid’s "Nordic Benelux"
(Latvian Broadcasting)
President Kaljulaid has presented a new term: Nordic Benelux “ ... referring to likely-minded countries on the northern rim of the EU."
http://www.lsm.lv/en/article/politics/kersti-kaljulaid-lets-talk-about-the-nordic-benelux.a207078/
- Ukrainian Hackers Publish Surkov’s Plans to Destabilize Ukraine in Coming Months
- Ukrainian Hackers Publish Surkov’s Plans to Destabilize Ukraine in Coming Months
(Window on Eurasia | Foreign Policy | Interpreter | Moscow Times)
"A Ukrainian hacker group said yesterday that it had broken into the email account of Vladimir Surkov, Putin’s chief advisor on Ukraine and was now publishing two documents … The first document is 15 pages long and lists a series of steps Russia should take between November 2016 and March 2017 to destabilize Ukraine and provoke new parliamentary and presidential elections. … The second, shorter document concerns Surkov’s ideas on how best to promote the formation of a Trans-Carpathian “republic” in cooperation with Hungarian groups in order to weaken Kyiv’s rule."
http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2016/10/ukrainian-hackers-publish-surkovs-plans.html
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/10/25/hacked-putin-aides-emails-detail-alleged-plot-to-destabilize-kiev-surkov-ukraine-leaks/
"Given Surkov's history as a master manipulator, it could even be possible that he himself could have deliberately orchestrated the deliberate leaking of a selected cache of emails to (potentially unwitting) activists."
http://www.interpretermag.com/day-981/
https://themoscowtimes.com/news/the-surkov-leaks-reveal-the-expected-kremlins-guiding-hand-in-eastern-ukraine-55879
- Congratulations from foreign leaders continue to arrive for new Estonian president
(ERR)
http://news.err.ee/v/news/46b71d94-7a06-459c-9940-a1f9e8250ba4/congratulations-from-foreign-leaders-continue-to-arrive-for-new-estonian-president
- Miks on Hillary Clinton siiski ebapopulaarne?
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/10/25/hacked-putin-aides-emails-detail-alleged-plot-to-destabilize-kiev-surkov-ukraine-leaks/
"Given Surkov's history as a master manipulator, it could even be possible that he himself could have deliberately orchestrated the deliberate leaking of a selected cache of emails to (potentially unwitting) activists."
http://www.interpretermag.com/day-981/
https://themoscowtimes.com/news/the-surkov-leaks-reveal-the-expected-kremlins-guiding-hand-in-eastern-ukraine-55879
- Congratulations from foreign leaders continue to arrive for new Estonian president
(ERR)
http://news.err.ee/v/news/46b71d94-7a06-459c-9940-a1f9e8250ba4/congratulations-from-foreign-leaders-continue-to-arrive-for-new-estonian-president
- Miks on Hillary Clinton siiski ebapopulaarne?
(Vikerradio)
[Eesti reportrid rääkivad ameerika presidendivalimistest. Viimased paar minutit rääkivad just mida Eesti peaks tegema pärast valimised.]
http://vikerraadio.err.ee/v/reporteritund/saated/47f1e1c6-4481-47d6-9ba1-56bb0a157b91/reporteritund-miks-on-hillary-clinton-siiski-ebapopulaarne
- Analüüs: Kuidas paistab USA-Vene suhete seis Washingtonist vaadatuna
(ERR)
http://uudised.err.ee/v/valismaa/e118d719-407d-4e64-8730-6cd8b48f1820/valisilm-analuusis-kuidas-paistab-usa-vene-suhete-seis-washingtonist-vaadatuna
[Eesti reportrid rääkivad ameerika presidendivalimistest. Viimased paar minutit rääkivad just mida Eesti peaks tegema pärast valimised.]
http://vikerraadio.err.ee/v/reporteritund/saated/47f1e1c6-4481-47d6-9ba1-56bb0a157b91/reporteritund-miks-on-hillary-clinton-siiski-ebapopulaarne
- Analüüs: Kuidas paistab USA-Vene suhete seis Washingtonist vaadatuna
(ERR)
http://uudised.err.ee/v/valismaa/e118d719-407d-4e64-8730-6cd8b48f1820/valisilm-analuusis-kuidas-paistab-usa-vene-suhete-seis-washingtonist-vaadatuna
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Monday 24. October
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- How does misinformation spread online?
- How does misinformation spread online?
(World Economic Forum - January 2016)
"Recent studies that focus on misinformation online pointed out that the selective exposure to specific content leads to "echo chambers" in which users tend to shape and reinforce their beliefs. An echo chamber is an isolated space on the web, where the ideas being exchanged essentially just confirm one another. It can be a space of likeminded people sharing similar political views, or a page about a specific conspiracy theory. Once inside one of these spaces, users are sharing information that is all very similar, basically ‘echoing' each other. … Misinformation online is very difficult to correct. Confirmation bias is extremely powerful. Once people have found "evidence" of their views, external and contradicting versions are simply ignored."
- Finn booze hunters bypass Tallinn and travel to Latvia
(Latvian Broadcasting | Yle)
“… a liter-bottle of Russian Standard vodka costs €24.99 in Tallinn, and just €13.74 in Valka (Valga), making the more time consuming trip to Latvia economically sound not only from a Finnish, but an Estonian point of view.”
http://www.lsm.lv/en/article/culture/finns-go-on-booze-cruises-to-latvia.a204337/
http://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/fridays_papers_latvian_booze_cruising_wind_farm_outrage_municipal_hockey_jolly_and_a_very_finnish_catastrophe/9215567
- European Reassurance Initiative projects on track in Tapa, Estonia
(US Army Public Affairs - 21. Sept.)
"Twenty-two European Reassurance Initiative infrastructure and construction projects managed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District at Tapa are nearly complete, and will support an influx of U.S. and NATO forces as heel-to-toe rotations begin in early 2017."
https://www.army.mil/article/175457/european_reassurance_initiative_projects_on_track_in_estonia_throughout_europe
- Lithuania’s ‘extreme tourism’ rankles the Roma
(Politico-Europe)
http://www.politico.eu/article/lithuanias-extreme-tourism-rankles-the-roma-tours/
(Latvian Broadcasting | Yle)
“… a liter-bottle of Russian Standard vodka costs €24.99 in Tallinn, and just €13.74 in Valka (Valga), making the more time consuming trip to Latvia economically sound not only from a Finnish, but an Estonian point of view.”
http://www.lsm.lv/en/article/culture/finns-go-on-booze-cruises-to-latvia.a204337/
http://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/fridays_papers_latvian_booze_cruising_wind_farm_outrage_municipal_hockey_jolly_and_a_very_finnish_catastrophe/9215567
- European Reassurance Initiative projects on track in Tapa, Estonia
(US Army Public Affairs - 21. Sept.)
"Twenty-two European Reassurance Initiative infrastructure and construction projects managed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District at Tapa are nearly complete, and will support an influx of U.S. and NATO forces as heel-to-toe rotations begin in early 2017."
https://www.army.mil/article/175457/european_reassurance_initiative_projects_on_track_in_estonia_throughout_europe
- Lithuania’s ‘extreme tourism’ rankles the Roma
(Politico-Europe)
http://www.politico.eu/article/lithuanias-extreme-tourism-rankles-the-roma-tours/
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- Russia -
- Essays, analysis, Opinions -
____________________
- Baker’s Dozen of Neglected Russian Stories
(Paul Goble)
- OpEd: Playing With Fear: Russia’s War Card
(New York Times)
"Clearly, the Kremlin is deliberately creating a sense of impending war by having its own media insist that NATO has put Russia under threat — from the military alliance itself and its democratic ethos. Ominously, Mr. Putin loses no opportunity to extol the Russian people’s wartime virtues of heroism and martyrdom."
- Does Russia have the financial means for its military ambitions?
(NATO | BNE)
- The Russians who fear a war with the West
(BBC)
"None of the students I speak to seem interested in volunteering to fight in Ukraine. They are in their late teens or early 20s, all of them born in the post-Soviet period. And they seem unconvinced by the talk on TV of a looming conflict. "You shouldn't watch TV in Russia," one young woman says. The media is whipping things up. This is an information war. You shouldn't pay attention to it. They're making the people anxious for no reason.” I ask them what the concept of the West means to them.
"Capitalism," says one.
"Opportunity," says another."
- In Russia's cyberscene: Kremlin desires, private hackers, and patriotism
(Christian Science Monitor)
- Russia's October Surprise: Its Failed Attempt to Hack the Election
(Foreign Affairs)
"Moscow’s anger over the WikiLeaks debacle may be why it soon changed tack and escalated its verbal attacks against the United States over Syria. A few days after the leaks, Russia unleashed an exceptionally harsh barrage of threats when the United States pulled out of cease-fire negotiations in Syria. On October 10, for example, chief Russian propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov said that the United States’ “impudent behavior” toward Russia could have “nuclear” implications and that there had been a “radical change” in U.S.-Russian relations in recent weeks. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, another of President Vladimir Putin’s hatchet men, advised Americans to vote for Donald Trump or risk being dragged into a nuclear war. At the same time, Russia positioned nuclear-capable missiles in Kaliningrad, which borders Poland and Lithuania, and test-fired three ballistic missiles elsewhere, making clear that its war of words was coordinated with the threat of military action."
——————
"Perhaps Russia thought that its aggressive behavior would cow the American public into supporting Trump, who advocates more friendly relations with Russia. But in reality, Moscow’s effort appears to have backfired."
——————
"Trump’s continued decline in the polls throughout October suggests that Russia’s saber rattling has not had any clear electoral impact. International affairs are simply not central to most (US) voters in this election. This is a fact that is hard for average Russians to understand, as their television propaganda keeps them on high alert to the possibility of a Western invasion. As a result, they tend to believe that Americans are also centrally focused on Russia, which is clearly not the case."
- Russia's Flotilla Flop
(Moscow Times | RFERL | others)
[Social media had a field day regarding the 30-year-old smoke-belching Admiral Kuznetsov - Russia’s only aircraft carrier - while making it’s way to Syria. But the apparent purpose of the vessel's mission to Syria is deadly serious.]
- In Russia’s ‘Frozen Zone,’ a Creeping Border With Georgia
(New York Times)
“… the reach of Russia keeps inching forward into Georgia with ever more ingenious markings of a frontier that only Russia and three other states recognize as real."
- Many Children of Russian Elite Express Contempt for Their Country
(Window on Eurasia)
“If an individual is rich and can live broadly, he sooner or later will be transformed into a citizen of the world … The ‘golden youth’ grow up in this milieu and for entirely banal reasons do not understand why it is necessary to lie and to say that living in Russia is best of all.”
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