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18 November, 2016


- There will be no email newsletter next week due to the US Thanksgiving Day holiday. 
If events warrant, news links may appear on the EstoNews blog. 


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Friday 18. November
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✔ Trump, NATO chief pledge alliance's 'enduring importance' 
(Reuters | Politico-Europe | others)

"U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg agreed on Friday on the Western alliance's "enduring importance", NATO said, striving to reassure Europe that Washington will remain committed to its security.”
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"NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday he is “absolutely confident” that President-elect Donald Trump will maintain the United States’ role in the international organization, despite Trump’s past suggestions that he would pull back from the commitment if other countries did not bear more of the financial burden."










- SetomaaA Fairytale Kingdom Faces Real-Life Troubles
(National Geographic)
"On the [southeastern] border of Estonia and Russia, the Setos struggle to create a modern identity from ancient beliefs. … Two thirds of Seto land falls in the Pskov region of Russia, though only a few hundred Setos live there.” 

- Pääle kiräkeele kõnõldas Eestin kõgõ inämb võro ja seto kiilt!
(Lõunaleht - märts 2015)

- National Geographic avaldas artikli maagilisest Setomaast



- Tallinnas avati uuenenud valgustusega jõuluturg | Christmas market in Vana Tallinn is now open
(ERR | Postimees)



- Obama, EU leaders agree to stick together, stay tough on Russia
(Reuters | NYT | AP)



RumorBaltic warning over Russian move on Nato
(BBC)
"Lithuania has warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin may test Nato in the weeks before Donald Trump becomes US president.


- How World War III Could Begin in Latvia
(Foreign Policy - Paul Miller)


✔ USA analüütik: Trump peab varsti otsustama, kas Balti riikide kaitsmine on väärt kolmandat maailmasõda
(Delfi)


- More than 60% of Estonians consider EU membership a good thing
(ERR)


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Thursday 17. November
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We’re Worried About the Baltics: What Does Trump’s Election Portend for these Tiny U.S. Allies?
(Lawfare)


In Estonia, Caution but Surprising Cheers for Trump’s Victory
(New York Times)
“… profound worry over Mr. Trump’s intentions has calmed somewhat because the president-elect has pulled back from statements he made on the campaign trail."
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In an effort to head off any weakening of American support for the Baltic States, Mr. Kalnins and a group of fellow legislators from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania will travel to Washington early next month to press their case to the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and others who might help influence Mr. Trump."


Russia to again allow Estonian, Latvian non-citizens to enter country without visa
(The Baltic Times)
"According to the draft document published on the website of the Russian draft legislation a separate category of non-citizens [approx. 6,000] has emerged - non-citizens in Latvia and Estonia who were born after February 6, 1992 and have come of age, as well as their offspring, who cannot enjoy visa-free travels to Russia."


Lithuania Suspends Russian TV After Anti-U.S. Comments
(RFERL)
"The order came after a recent broadcast in which Russian Duma member Vladimir Zhirinovsky was shown saying that if U.S. troops get near Russia's borders "they will burn down with the crew.” Zhirinovsky is the leader of the nationalist Liberal Democratic party and is known for flamboyant [read: dangerous] remarks but also for hewing closely to Kremlin policy."





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Wednesday 16. November
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Opinion: No antidote to Putin's influence in Eastern Europe
(Deutsche Welle)
“… despite the fact that there is consensus for a strengthening of NATO's eastern flank, not all countries are willing to help the alliance to the same degree. The Baltics, Poland and Romania are the only Eastern European states willing, and actively preparing, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the USA in the face of a possible Russian military threat.”


- In the name of Russian votes
(Postimees)
“… the Center Party's scandalous cooperation agreement with Vladimir Putin's United Russia party was signed in 2004 with one simple goal in mind – to finally help the party come to power on the wings of the Russian vote.


- EU unveils security check plan for visitors
(Deutsche Welle | EU Observer)
“… to be applied to millions of short-term visitors from 60 countries who can currently visit Europe's Schengen area without each first applying for a visa."



- EU member states back visa-free travel for Ukrainians
(Deutsche Welle)




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Tuesday 15. November
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- Internet Freedom: Estonia Listed at #1
(RFERL | Freedom House)


Briti valitsus soovib Trumpiga NATO teemal arutada
(ERR)




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Monday 14. November
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Venemaa püüab oma mõjuvõimu Soomes suurendada
(ERR)


Could Estonia lose its only Russian-language TV channel ETV+?
(The Calvert Journal)


Make Eastern Europe safe again
(Politico - Eerik-Niiles Kross & Molly K. McKew)
"The Kremlin thrives on uncertainty, and it will continue to operate in uncertain and unstable places with a free hand. The Baltic states need strong words from the U.S. president-elect. Only his unwavering support for the enhanced NATO footprint in the Baltic states and Poland can end the current uncertainty, enhance stability, and make clear that what is ours is ours, and not up for negotiation."


- Latvia to build a fence on border with Belarus
(Latvian Broadcasting)






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- Trump | Putin -
- "Trust No One” -
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 Media: Watching the US elections in Moscow
(Politico-Europe)
"When it seemed Clinton would win, the editor of Russia Today tweeted “Democracy RIP” - but then quickly rescinded her comment when it became apparent Trump had come out on top. Russian state TV similarly switched gears, churning out a narrative of American working classes flooding the polling stations and finally taking back their country. … State TV channels eagerly explained that Americans had voted for Trump “because they were tired of the anti-Russian attitudes of Clinton and the establishment."

"Two days before the US election, state TV channel Russia 24 launched a countdown timer of the hours and minutes left until polls opened – a level of hype and anticipation far exceeding that witnessed during Russia’s own recent parliamentary elections.” - The Guardian-Uk



✔ A Trump administration thaw with Russia is ‘unacceptable,’ John McCain says
(Washington Post | ERR)
“With the U.S. presidential transition underway, Vladi­mir Putin has said in recent days that he wants to improve relations with the United States,” McCain (R-Ariz.) said in a statement released by his office. “We should place as much faith in such statements as any other made by a former KGB agent who has plunged his country into tyranny, murdered his political opponents, invaded his neighbors, threatened America’s allies and attempted to undermine America’s elections."

✔ McCain: katse "taaskäivitada" suhteid Venemaaga oleks vastuvõetamatu

Kremlin: Trump and Putin Did Not Talk About Crimea 
(The Moscow Times)


- What will the new American president do to end Russia’s shadow war against the United States and its allies?
(Time)

Trump May Take a Far Tougher Line against Russia ...
(Window on Eurasia)
Russian Academician Aleksey Arbato: "Trump will not begin with a hostile attitude toward Russia. He “will be open for dialogue with Moscow but he will not make any dramatic gestures” and he won’t call on Russia to “follow great ideals because he understands that Russia and America have very different ones.”

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 Opinion: The Man Who Would Not be President
(New York Times - Roger Cohen)
"I believe money binds Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and Trump. Precisely how we do not know yet. But there is also a cultural aspect. Putin has set himself up as the guardian of an absolutist culture against what Russia sees as the predatory and relativist culture of the West. The Putin entourage is convinced the decadence of the West is revealed in its irreligious embrace of same-sex marriage, radical feminism, euthanasia, homosexuality and choose-your-gender bathrooms. Enter (Stephen) Bannon.”

 Media: Trump’s Man Stephen Bannon and ‘Breitbart' are looking to build a Trumpian media empire in Europe 
(The Daily Beast)
"Bannon's support for European far-right parties runs far deeper than his interest in Marion Maréchal-Le Pen or the National Front. He brags about his international Breitbart operation as “the platform” for the American alt-right, and has for years been thinking globally, with an affinity for the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), Alternative for Germany (AfD), and the Freedom Party in the Netherlands (PVV), all of which have earned glowing coverage on the pages of Breitbart."


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- Russia's mobilisation may prove Putin's undoing
(Raam Op Rusland - Mark Galeotti)
“… first is that there is still a sharp limitation to what this impoverished, inefficient, corrupt remnant of the USSR can do, even when relying on the executive capacities of an authoritarian to focus resources on its security sector. Second, this is no Stalinist mobilization state, not even the later Soviet one with its plans to summon millions of men to arms in time of war. Third, much of this militarization of politics has less to do with warfighting and everything to do with politics."



How Trump Could Roll Back Obama's Russia Policies
(RFERL)



Opinion: There’s a New Putin in Town
(Foreign Policy)
"So for a start, the Kremlin is going to lose one of its favorite tactics: namely, periodically poking the West with a stick. On Putin’s orders, the Russians have simulated nuclear attacks on Sweden, flown warplanes low over American ships, launched a kidnapping raid over the Estonian border, and generally missed few opportunities to troll the Western world and see how it responds. By demonstrating Moscow’s will and ability to break the rules, with little real consequence from Washington, the hope is that the Europeans in particular will be unnerved and divided.”



Arvamus: Kui Trumpist saab Venemaa sõber, peab Kreml kiirelt uue vaenlase leidma
(Postimees - Andrei Kuzitškin)



- Putin’s big problem: America is no longer the enemy
(The Guardian-Uk)
"The Kremlin may struggle to adjust now there is a fellow neoconservative in the White House."



Donald Trump’s Election Leaves Angela Merkel as the Liberal West’s Last Defender
(New York Times)



NATO: US and Europe need each other
(The Guardian | Deutsche Welle | Reuters)
"Going it alone on defense and security is not an option for either the United States or Europe, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in an article published on Sunday.





Opinion: Russia's Trumpian pipe dream
(Deutsche Welle)



Putin spokesman calls on Trump to press NATO to withdraw from border
(AP | The Hill)




- Pro-Russian candidates win in Bulgaria and Moldova
(EU Observer)

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