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21 October, 2016

- Minu vanaisa Jaan Harju oli 4. PiirikaitserĂŒgemendi I Pataljoni ĂŒlem august-septembris 1944 a. sellel ajal kui olid viimased lahingud venemaa vastu. Kui punaarmee sisenes 22. septembril Tallinnasse, Jaan pĂ”genes metsa. Ei tea kui kaua ta elas metsas. Ühel pĂ€eval minu Tallinna sugulased kuulsid koputust uksel. Oli habemega mees ukse taga - Jaan. Inimesed Tallinnas aitasid peitmisega - venelased oleksid kĂŒll rÔÔmsad olnud et teda kĂ€tte saada. Elas vaikselt Tallinnas teise nimega kuni ta suri Ă€ra 1973 a. 


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Friday 21. October
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- Russia Holds Missile Drills Near Western Border
(RFERL)
“
 the war games were held at a shooting range near the city of Luga, some 100 kilometers east of the Estonian border."


- The Incredible Secret Life of Varjo Jurisoo
(Daily Mail)


- OpEd: Stagnatsioon Eesti poliitikas | Estonia’s stagnating politics
(Postimees | ERR)
"Eesti poliitilisel eliidil on ideed otsa lÔppenud."

"The political elite has run completely out of ideas. Beyond matters of national security, there were no ideas how to revive the ailing economy, and no ideas on how to meet the challenge of the accelerating demographic change.”


- Kaljulaiu toetus presidendina on 73 protsenti
(Postimees | ERR)


[A survey done by the research company Kantar Emor shows that President Kaljulaid has started out with a positive approval rating of 73%.]


- First gas interconnector between Finland and Estonia ends energy isolation
(New Europe: Press Release)


✔ Hillary Clinton plots mop-up of Trump’s global mess
(Politico-Europe)
"Hillary Clinton’s campaign is already looking past November 8 and is plotting out what she will do on the international front to reassure allies, deter enemies and otherwise repair the damage to America’s reputation caused by Donald Trump. 
 Former officials and analysts who spoke to POLITICO were generally of the opinion that Clinton should focus first on reaching out to allies, then dealing with rivals such as Russia, China and Iran. The two are not necessarily different steps: A meeting, say, with leaders of the Baltic states not only reassures NATO of America’s commitment to the military alliance, it also warns Moscow not to make any moves on Eastern Europe."



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Thursday 20. October
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- President Kaljulaid visited Finland
(ERR | Yle | Postimees)






- Second state visit takes President Kaljulaid to Latvia
(Postimees | ERR)



- Intervjuu: President Kersti Kaljulaid
(Helsingin Sanomat - Soome keeles)


- Kaljulaid: Russia’s unpredictable behavior can’t be ignored
(ERR)


- EL-i liidrid astuvad sammu edasi ja Àhvardavad Venemaad uute sanktsioonidega
(Delfi)
"Saksamaa, Prantsusmaa, ja Suurbritannia hakkavad mÔistma, et Putin kÔneleb ainult jÔu keelt."


- Venemaa harjutas Leningradi oblastis raketisĂŒsteemide Iskander-M kasutamist
(ERR)
"Õppustest vĂ”ttis osa umbes 100 sĂ”durit ning 20 ĂŒhikut sĂ”jatehnikat. Iskander-M on ballistiline raketisĂŒsteem, mis on suuteline suure tĂ€psusega tabama strateegilisi sihtmĂ€rke kuni 500-700 kilomeetri kaugusel."


- Russia conducts nuke-missile run-throughs near Estonian border
(Newsweek | Hot Air)




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Wednesday 19. October
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- Baltics to Triple Military Spending by 2018
(VOA | Baltic Times | Fresno Bee | IHS)
"By 2020 
 the combined overall defense budgets of the three Baltic republics will reach an estimated $2.1 billion, more than double what it was when the countries entered NATO in 2004 and the fastest such growth in any region worldwide."


"Did Donald Trump’s words spur increases in defense spending among U.S. allies?"

“The profile of defence spending in the Baltics has changed dramatically in the past two years.”


- Roivas: Russian actions amount to ‘new cold war’
(Politico-EU | Ukraine Today)



- Ämaris paikneva Saksa Ă”huvĂ€eĂŒksuse ĂŒlem kirjeldas Soome meediale Vene sĂ”jalennukite piiririkkumisi
(ERR | Delfi)
"Saksa Ă”huvĂ€elaste hullumeelne ööpĂ€ev Ämaris: Eesti Ă”hupiirile lĂ€henes iga 90 minuti jĂ€rel Vene lennuk."








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Tuesday 18. October
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- Arvamus: NATO laienemine ja Venemaa meeleheide

(Postimees)
"USA tuntud rahvusvaheliste suhete guru Zbigniew Brzezinski kirjutas hiljuti Twitterisse sissekande, et president Obama lahkuv administratsioon peaks Venemaale tegema selgeks lihtsa fakti – sissetung Balti riikidesse tĂ€hendab sĂ”da. Need 140 tĂ€hemĂ€rki sisaldavad endas vĂ€ga tĂ”sist hoiatust vĂ”imalikest arengutest. Meie asi on koos liitlastega teha, et miskit seesugust kunagi ei realiseeruks."




- Lithuanian President slams 'aggressive' Russian moves
(Yle-Finland)
"President Dalia Grybauskaitė did not mince her words describing Russia's October 8 decision to shift its nuclear-capable Iskander missiles into Kaliningrad. 
 'Iskanders are not defense equipment but offense equipment. That means an aggressive open demonstration of power and aggressiveness, not just against the Baltic states but against European capitals."


- What Is Life Really Like In Estonia?
(Seeker - video)


- E-residents and ‘Digital Embassies' could replace country borders
(Wired-Uk | Huddle)





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Monday 17. October
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✔ Arvamus: Eesti viimaste nĂ€dalate teemad on tĂ€iesti idiootsed 
(Eesti PĂ€evaleht)
"VĂ”ib-olla oleme nii mitu korda hunti hĂŒĂŒdnud, et viimaste kuude pingekruvimine Moskva poolt ei avalda lihtsalt enam mĂ”ju. VĂ”ib-olla elame lihtsalt liiga mugava elu illusioonis, et meil jÀÀb aega ĂŒletĂ€htsustada kolmandajĂ€rgulisi kĂŒsimusi. VĂ”ib-olla ei taha me lihtsalt eksistentsiaalseid ohte nĂ€ha, sest ei oska neile vastu astuda."


✔ Opinion: The last few week’s topics have been idiotic
(ERR)
“
 (a) member of the Riigikogu, Eerik-Niiles Kross (Reform), condemned the Estonian media as well as the country’s elites for their obsession with what he sees as pointless topics, while disregarding the last few weeks’ unsettling developments concerning Russia.”
——————
"Siim Kallas’ disappointment and the Reform Party’s supposed internal battles, the Center Party, state support paid to President Ilves’ country home, President Kaljulaid’s staffing decisions, all of these topics had to seem completely idiotic to anyone able to see beyond the rim of their morning beer, Kross opined."


- Defense Forces plan: More conscripts and better intelligence
(Postimees)


- Intervjuu: Rahvusvahelise kaitseuuringute keskuse direktor JĂŒri Luik
(ERR)


- Russian envoy: Crimean scenario not possible in Baltic states
(Baltic Course | Baltic Times)
“
 Estonia is a stable state with legitimate structures of power, and there are no preconditions whatsoever even for a discussion on the Crimean scenario being repeated."










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- Russia -
- Essays, analysis, Opinions -
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- Trump sides with Putin over U.S. intelligence
(Politico)
"On Oct. 7, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a joint statement saying that the U.S. intelligence community “is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations.” That finding has also been relayed directly to Trump in the classified national security briefings he receives as a major party nominee. But Trump and his aides have repeatedly cast doubt on that conclusion."



✔ Baker’s Dozen of Neglected Russian Stories
(Paul Goble)



- Putin in Berlin
(Carnegie Europe)
"During six hours of talks with the Russian president in the German Chancellery along with French President François Hollande and his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel not only hardened her position toward Russia. She also set the tone for a summit of EU leaders, who gathered in Brussels on October 20. There are now increasing calls from politicians in several European countries for further sanctions on Russia because of its relentless bombing of civilians in Aleppo." 



✔ In a Land of Bullies, Trump Looks Familiar
(Politico - Anna Nemtsova)
"I know Trump’s type well: The puffed-up guy who sees himself as bigger than life and struts around with a faux-masculine grimace on his face, thinking that not only women but his entire country should admire him. Hello? We’ve been living with this type since at least 2000, and his name is Vladimir Putin, along with the many mini-Putins in surrounding countries. At the second debate earlier this month, when Trump told Clinton that if he were the president “you’d be in jail,” his worlds rang frighteningly true for many of us in this part of the world. The degradation of democracy doesn’t happen right away; the best bullies take their time. Putin succeeded in chipping away gradually at free speech until it was gone."



- Major Russian naval force sails to North Sea past Norway | Pass through English Channel | Power play, or theatre?
(BBC | ERR)
"Russia's Northern Fleet is expected to sail through the English Channel, then down to Gibraltar, and through the Mediterranean Sea to the Syrian coast. The carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is escorted by seven other Russian ships."


"Sending a large Russian flotilla through the North Sea and the English Channel sends a clear message to the West: anything you can do, we can do just as well - or even better. Russia wants to be seen as a global player, a major military power. And it wants to be respected or feared (or both) by the West."




- Why Moscow Has Gone War-Crazy
(The New Yorker)
"Vladimir Putin may spend the next three months working through his geopolitical wish list, trying to set in place a number of faits accomplis that will be hard for the next U.S. President to overturn."



- Putin and Russia Both Far Weaker than Many Think, Analysts Say
(Window on Eurasia)
"Putin has been backing down repeatedly in recent months as any examination of his words about Novorossia, then LNR and DNR and then Ukraine show. He faces more opposition abroad and at home. And “
 if Russia clashes with the US in Syria, it will lose.”
——————
“The result will be a strong hit to the image of Putin as a strong politician. After such a defeat he may try to do something in Ukraine or in the Baltics. But all the same, his military opportunities remain limited and that means that his attacks would have the character of local operations.”



- Russia and Coercion Through Cyberspace
(War on the Rocks)
“
 what we are experiencing is a broader attempt by the Russian government to seed uncertainty in the institutions that underpin American democracy and power - both hard and soft. As Dmitry Adamasky notes, Russia’s strategic doctrine “is primarily a strategy of influence, not of brute force,” which seeks to break “the internal coherence of the enemy system—and not about its integral annihilation.” Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, espouses a similar philosophy in considering how to “radically shift regime behavior.”



- Opinion: Putin’s hope to ignite a Eurasia-style protest in the US
(Washington Post)
"Putin is trying to deliver to the American political elite what he believes is a dose of its own medicine. He is attempting to ignite — with the help, unwitting or otherwise, of Donald Trump - a U.S. color revolution."



- Domestic Theater: Russia Is Building Fallout Shelters to Prepare for a Potential Nuclear Strike
(The Daily Beast)
“Americans are not crazy to bomb us, I am not sure why our authorities want people to experience hysterical panic attacks. Maybe somebody feels annoyed that we feel too free and happy.”



- Cossacks to Be Deployed to Guard World Soccer Cup, Government Buildings and Borders of Russia
(The Interpreter)
"There are different kind of Cossacks. You have to distinguish the real Cossacks from the dressed-up ones. Only real Cossacks can be entrusted to guard the border. For example, registered Cossack communities have proven their professionalism, organizational ability and idealism. Cossacks are people who are prepared to serve the Fatherland not only for material compensation but for ideological and spiritual reasons."



- The U.K. Is Right to Freeze Russia Today (RT) Bank Accounts
(The Daily Beast)



- Siberia: How warming climate leaves remote permafrost islands on the precipice

(The Siberian Times)


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