✔ Trump ja May kinnitasid toetust NATO-le
✔ British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed that Trump is "100% in favor of NATO”
✔ Trump and Putin are scheduled to speak by phone on Saturday
✔ “Off-Topic” is a new category which will appear from time-to-time. It will include links to articles not specifically related to Eesti, but might be of interest. This week’s subject: ‘Alternative facts’.
- Foto:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Eesti#/media/File:Suur_Taevaskoda_2010_01.jpg
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Friday 27. Jan.
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(BBC | Politico-Europe | The Guardian)
"US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May have reaffirmed their commitment to the Nato alliance after White House talks.
Mrs May confirmed Mr Trump was "100% in favour of Nato" despite the president's recent comments calling the transatlantic alliance obsolete.
Both leaders said they would work to strengthen commercial ties.”
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—
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- President Trump and Theresa May Joint News Conference
Video and Analysis - New York Times
[Trump and May approach their podiums at 7:34 into the video.]
(ERR)
"USA president Donald Trump ja Briti peaminister Theresa May kinnitasid pärast kohtumist Valges Majas oma pühendumist NATO liidule.
May kinnitas, et "Trump on sajaprotsendiliselt NATO poolt", vaatamata tema hiljutistele kommentaaridele, milles nimetas allianssi iganenuks, vahendasid BBC ja Reuters."
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"Mõlemad riigipead kinnitasid, et teevad tööd kaubandussidemete tugevdamise nimel. May sõnul arutasid nad praktilisi samme kaubandussuhete lihtsustamiseks."
- Commentary: Estonia's New Web Warriors
(Brian Whitmore)
Transcript:
- Ülevaade: President Kaljulaidi 100 päeva ametis
(Postimees)
- Interview: Former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves
(Stanford Political Journal)
“People have forgotten what war is like. …”
--
- Ilves pälvis Saksa Bertelsmanni fondi €200,000 autasu
(Postimees)
—
Ilves gets Bertelsmann Foundation prize “.. for his pioneering work on the promotion of digitalization in government, education and public services."
- Tallink Welcomes New LNG-Powered Ferry: Megastar
(World Maritime News)
"Megastar is 212 meters long and capable of carrying up to 2,800 passengers. Dubbed the most advanced fast ferry in the Baltic Sea, the new vessel is scheduled to start operating between Helsinki and Tallinn from January 29."
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- Fotod: Tallinki uus kiirlaev Megastar suundub liinile pühapäeval
(Tarbija24 | Delfi | Ärileht)
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✔ Interview: Historian Anne Applebaum
(Spiegel)
"Pulitzer-winning writer and historian Anne Applebaum talks about what the rise of Donald Trump means for Europe, what the future holds for NATO and whether democracy can survive the rise of right-wing populism."
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Thursday 26. Jan.
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- President Kaljulaid Visits Sweden
(ERR)
"There are not many countries who understand Estonians as well as Swedish people do," Kaljulaid said following meetings with Swedish leaders. "The economies of Sweden and Estonia are closely intertwined, as are the histories of thousands of our families."
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"Apart from economic issues, other topics discussed at the meetings included the future of Europe, bilateral defense cooperation, Estonia's priorities for its upcoming presidency of the EU as well as the importance of cooperation in the Baltic Sea region."
—
- Sweden and Estonia are closely intertwined
(Office of the President press release)
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- Rootsi ja Eesti on tihedalt põimunud
- Cyberconscripts: Baltic Draftees Can Choose IT Over Infantry
(ABCNews)
"The tiny Baltic nation of Estonia is experimenting with the idea of cyberconscription, a move that gives draftees with tech skills the chance to work shoring up their military's electronic infrastructure."
- Citizens said no to blanket citizenship
(Postimees | ERR)
“… one of the authors of the Estonian Constitution, Jüri Adams, says that any attempt to change the foundations of Estonia's citizenship policy is an attempt to change the results of the 1992 referendum that would rip open old wounds. Prime Minister Jüri Ratas believes that the upcoming elections should concentrate on changing that foundation."
—
- Valitsus kiitis heaks Rail Balticu kokkuleppe allkirjastamise, trassi vastased avaldasid meelt
(ERR)
—
- Rail Balticu vastane: raudsest laupkokkupõrkest tuleb loobuda
(Delfi)
—
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- Estonian govt gives green light to signature of Rail Baltic agreement
(Postimees)
[Rail Baltic agreement not to be put before lawmakers until April.]
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- Rail Baltic coordinator says extra stops in Estonia being analyzed
(Baltic Times)
"At present, the project includes three stops in Estonia -- Tallinn, Rapla, and Parnu. … county governors have proposed adding eight stops on the route."
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- Leedu andis Rail Balticule rohelise tule
(Postimees)
- Even if Trump and Putin Make a Deal, Ukrainians Ready to Fight to Defend Their Country
(Window on Eurasia)
“… Kyiv is concerned that Trump in his pursuit of a deal with Putin may be ready to discuss a resolution of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict without the participation of any representative of the Ukrainian side.”
—
"But Russian officials have repeatedly insisted that Ukraine has no place in such talks because, according to their false claim, Russia is not involved militarily in Ukraine."
- Norway: How One NATO Country Is Preparing for Trump
(The Atlantic)
"Norwegian defense officials spoke carefully about their changing situation. “The Baltic countries feel threatened; we don’t feel threatened, but we see the potential,” one said. But they are concerned.”
—
"Norwegians are encouraged by the selection of James Mattis as U.S. defense secretary. They fought beside him and under his command in Iraq and Afghanistan …"
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- Soome suurim reisiajakiri valis Eesti parimaks lähisihtkohaks
(Postimees)
- Eesti rahvas on nakatunud trammipisikuga
(Postimees)
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- Construction on Tallinn airport tram line extension to be completed this year
(ERR)
“… riders will be able to take the number 4 tram all the way to Tallinn Airport, where the terminus of the tram line will be connected to the airport's passenger terminal via escalators and a gallery."
- Finland experiments with giving away free money
(Politico-Europe)
"The controversial idea, versions of which have been proposed in Switzerland and France, is that by providing a so-called basic income to citizens, whether they are in or out of work, the government can simplify the benefits system and free up individuals to take short-term work that otherwise wouldn’t be financially worthwhile."
- Euroopa Komisjon soovitab pikendada kontrolli Schengeni sisepiiridel
(ERR)
- EU expands anti-fake-news task force
(Deutsche Welle)
- Ukraine and Poland’s History Wars Are a Gift For Putin
(Foreign Policy)
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- Polish government wins Gdansk World War II museum case
(Deutsche Welle)
"A Polish court has ruled the governing Law and Justice Party can take control of a major new World War II museum in Gdansk, paving the way for a reframing of history to suit the nationalist party's ideological agenda."
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- Veljo Tormis Estonian composer whose works gave voice to revolution, dies at 86
(The Washington Post)
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- Veljo Tormis - Raua needmine (Curse Upon Iron)
(YouTube)
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- U.S. Defense Chief Assures Allies Of 'Unshakable' NATO Commitment
(RFERL | Guardian)
—
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- New Defense Secretary Calls NATO Chief on His First Day
(Politico-Europe)
"In a statement, Stoltenberg said, “I had an excellent discussion with Secretary Mattis today — a strong friend of NATO at the Pentagon. Secretary Mattis knows the Alliance’s value well, having been NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander for Transformation. I look forward to welcoming him back to the NATO family, and to seeing him at our next meeting of defense ministers in February.”
—
- The Identity of NATO
(NATO Review)
- Russian Portal: "Trump is ‘an Existential Enemy of the Baltic Countries”
(Window on Eurasia)
- Propaganda: "In a lead article today, the editors of the Rubaltic portal argue that the American leader has shown that he doesn’t need the Baltic countries as “an anti-Russian ‘buffer zone’ in Europe” and that he “does not intend to support America’s allies in the Baltic region” (rubaltic.ru/article/politika-i-obshchestvo/23012017-inauguratsionnaya-rech-trampa/).
- Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Sings Arvo Part
(The Epoch Times)
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- Estonian Philharmonic Choir at Princeton University
(Princeton University press release)
- Ukraine's Poroshenko and Finland's Niinistö meet
(Yle)
"Poroshenko arrived in Helsinki Tuesday from the Estonian capital Tallinn following a meeting there with Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid on Monday. The planned agenda for Tuesday's talks between Poroshenko and Niinistö was reported to focus on the Ukraine conflict and the implementation of the Minsk Agreement, as well relations between the EU and Ukraine."
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- Ukraina president Porošenko külastas täna Eestit
(Postimees | ERR)
--
—
- Ukraine should decide its own future
(ERR)
—
- Estonia Supports Russian Sanctions, Visa-Free Travel For Ukrainians
(RFERL)
—
- Ukraine’s conflict with Russia is also financial
(The Economist)
"Russia may extract $3bn from Ukraine."
- "AK. Nädal" analüüsis ametisse astunud president Trumpi populaarsusreitingut
(ERR)
[ETV report from Washington DC.]
- Balti riikidel tuleb suhetes Venemaaga varuda kannatust
(ERR)
- Eesti nõiad on venelasi hullutanud juba tuhat aastat
(Eesti Ekspress)
[Requires subscription.]
- Latvian Foreign and Security Policy Yearbook 2017
(Latvian Institute of International Affairs)
[Downloadable PDF publication - 256 pages]
- Why Does the EU Get Such a Bad Rap?
(Spiegel)
"Across Europe, EU money flows from Brussels into thousands of projects and ideas. Why doesn’t anybody notice?"
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- President Kaljuraid congratulated Trump on inauguration
(Baltic Times)
"Kaljulaid said she agrees with the view that an adequate level of defense spending is necessary in order for NATO to continue to effectively provide for collective defense. "We are proud to be one of the five NATO members that meet the defense budget target of 2 percent of GDP and we strongly encourage other allies to do the same."
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- Prime minister congratulated President Trump on his inauguration
(ERR)
"The prime minister also thanked the president and the American people for the magnanimity with which they supported the Estonians who fled the Soviet occupation and found a new home in America."
- Swedbank: Estonia's economy expected to grow 2.2 pct in 2017
(Baltic Business News)
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- Baseless Invasion Talk Poses Economic Risk for Estonia
(Bloomberg)
- Estonia Should Be Your Next Vacation Destination
(W Magazine)
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(New York Times)
“1984 shot to No. 1 on Amazon’s best-seller list this week after Kellyanne Conway, an adviser to President Trump, described demonstrable falsehoods told by the White House press secretary Sean Spicer - regarding the size of inaugural crowds - as “alternative facts.” It was a phrase chillingly reminiscent, for many readers, of the Ministry of Truth’s efforts in “1984” at “reality control.”
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- In our Orwellian reality, reach for 'Animal Farm' with your ‘1984'
(PRI)
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- Works by Sinclair Lewis, John Steinbeck, and Hannah Arendt have also had a spike in interest over the past year
(The Atlantic)
(Bloomberg)
"First and most obviously, the leader wishes to mislead the public, and wants to have subordinates doing so, in part because many citizens won’t pursue fact-checking. But that’s the obvious explanation, and the truth runs much deeper."
—
- Trump follows a simple strategy to take over the truth
(Salon)
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- In Race Against Fake News, Google and Facebook Stroll to the Starting Line
(New York Times)
"Both companies have been grappling with a widespread backlash over how their sites may have spread rumors on a vast scale, and how little responsibility they take for any of the content that appears on their platforms."
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- 'Alternative Facts’: Needless Lies
(The Atlantic)
"If the president and his aides will tell easily disproven falsehoods about crowd sizes and speeches, what else will they be willing to dissemble about?"
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- OpEd: Trump is playing a dangerous game with 'alternative facts’
(CNBC)
"For two decades multiple presidents from both parties presented a long list of Alternative Facts as justification for the Vietnam War. Kennedy's insistence that troops were merely serving as advisors, Johnson's Gulf of Tonkin incident, and Richard Nixon's claim that he did not sabotage the 1968 peace talks could all be described as Alternative Facts. Years later, the Bush administration presented evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to justify that war. That "evidence" could also be filed in the category of Alternative Facts."
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"Or you could also call them something else: lies."
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- What Trump Could Mean for Journalism
(The Atlantic)
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- In a Swirl of ‘Untruths’ and ‘Falsehoods,’ Calling a Lie a Lie
(New York Times)
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- Lies, Damned Lies, and Amazing New Euphemisms for Lying
(Slate)
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- In the post-truth era a fake fact checker was inevitable
(The Guardian)
"A Swedish Facebook group called Mediekollen promises to debunk false information on the web. The twist? Mediekollen is faking its facts."
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- Satire: ‘Putin' assures Americans everything will be fine
(NBC - SNL)
“Relax! I’ve got this."
- Baker’s Dozen of Neglected Russian Stories
(Paul Goble)
- The Whole Pravda About Russian Propaganda
(Open Democracy)
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- Russia is targeting French, Dutch and German elections with fake news, EU task force warns
(Telegraph-Uk)
"The number one target is Angela Merkel …"
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- The Czech Republic combats disinformation
(Washington Post)
- How close is Russia to unplugging from the internet?
(EU’s East StratCom Task Force)
- Russia: Life After Trust
(New York Magazine)
"One tends to imagine life in an autocratic regime as dominated by fear and oppression: armed men in the street, total surveillance, chanted slogans, and whispered secrets. It is probably a version of that picture that has been flitting lately through the nightmares of American liberals fretting about the damage a potential autocrat might do to an open society. But residents of a hybrid regime such as Russia’s — that is, an autocratic one that retains the façade of a democracy — know the Orwellian notion is needlessly romantic. Russian life, I soon found out, was marked less by fear than by cynicism: the all-pervasive idea that no institution is to be trusted, because no institution is bigger than the avarice of the person in charge."
- Here’s What Russia’s Military Build-Up in the Arctic Looks Like
(Foreign Policy)
- Briti vetest läbi seilav Vene “äbilaev" vallandas Moskva ja Londoni sõnasõja
(Postimees)
[British Armed Forces escort Russian vessels in the English channel.]
- Trump and Putin: inside the world's most dangerous special relationship
(The Telegraph - Edward Lucas)
- Investigators on any Trump-Russia Connection Should Talk to Sergei Millian
(Christian Science Monitor)
"Sergei Millian, the head of a Russian-American business group, claimed he helped Trump "study the Moscow market."
- Did Western Sanctions Actually Help the Russian Military?
(Foreign Policy)
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