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10 November, 2017


✔︎ NorilskA Toxic, Closed-Off City on the Edge of the World
(The Atlantic - 8. Nov. 2017)
[400 km north of the polar circle, 3075 km from Tallinn.]

✔︎ Declassified CIA Report
[Estonian prisoners at Norilsk]
(CIA Reading Room - May 1954)


✔︎ Norilsk Golgotha: Memorial to those who suffered in Norillag
(Russia Beyond - Jan. 2015)
"In the summer of 1990, delegations from the Baltic states first visited the site. Through their efforts, separate memorials were created in 1990 in memory of prisoners from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This group of three shrines, marked by Catholic and Protestant crosses, was dedicated in August 1991.”


✔︎ Remembering the Nations the Soviets Deported in Whole or in Part
by Paul Goble
(Up North - Oct. 2015)
“… more than 700 memorials to the victims of Stalinist repression nonetheless have been erected across the country."
--
(nazaccent.ru/content/18158-obedinyayushaya-skorb.html)


✔︎ Norilsk Journal
(New York Times - 2004)
"The hillside's most prominent memorials were built not by Russians, but by countries now free of the Soviet bloc whose citizens died in the Soviet gulag: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. Few people visit the site, on the edge of the city, behind a worn out factory. Power lines cross over it. A pond of industrial runoff is nearby. ..."

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- Archive:


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Friday 10. 
November
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- Vene tuumaõnnetuse järel jõudis kiirgus ka Eesti kohale
(Postimees | The Guardian)
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- Raport Hollandi kaitseministrile: Balti riikidesse rohkem NATO sõdureid
(ERR)
"Raport leiab, et NATO sõjaväelasi peaks Balti riikides olema praeguse 
3,200 asemel 15, 000."



- Eesti kaanepoisid ja tüdrukud Venemaa TVs
(Propastop)
"Ülevaate Eestiga seotud inimestest, kes Venemaa telekanalites Eesti teemadel sõna võtavad."
Yana Toom
Dmitri Linter
Rein Müllerson
Vadim Strutšenko
Aleksandr Gaponenko

- Estonia’s Kremlin-Friendly Voices in Russian State Media
(Up North)



- Kaljulaid: lahendasime ID-kaardi kriisi hindele 4+
(ERR)
"Riigipea avaldas veendumust, et Eesti e-riigi maine on ID-kaardi turvalisusprobleemidest ja nüüdsest lahendusest pigem paranenud. Ta rõhutas, et Eesti on sisuliselt ainus riik maailmas, kus on digitaalne e-teenustest sõltuv ühiskond. "Piltlikult öeldes oleme meie lihtsalt eesliinil. Meiega saavad sellised asjad juhtuda, teistega ei saa."

- Kaljulaid: Estonia did B+ job solving ID card crisis
(ERR)

- Estonia’s digital ID shutdown brings security to the spotlight
(GovInsider | SC)



- Vene konsul kohtub Narvas vahistatud FSB agendiga
(ERR)
"Venemaa saatkonna konsul läheb esmaspäeval vaatama Narvas kinni peetud Vene kodanikku, keda Eesti uurimisasutused süüdistavad spioneerimises."

- Estonia arrests suspected FSB agent accused of “computer-related crime”
(Ars Technika)



- Defence officials set up hotline between Finland and Russia
(Yle)
"Army top brass on both sides say the round-the-clock connection will support communication during unexpected situations. … Finland took the initiative to set up the hotline with Moscow.



Off Topic: Facebook potentially used to psychologically exploit users 
(Salon)
“… Facebook and its successors were deliberately designed to consume as much time and attention as possible from their users. The result was that they created "a social-validation feedback loop - exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you're exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.” 
- Sean Parker, one of the co-founders of Facebook




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Thursday 9. 
November
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- Riho Terras: minust võib saada koduperemees Hollandis
(ERR)
"Terras sai kaitseväe juhatajaks 5. detsembril 2011. Kaitseväe juhataja ametiaja pikkus on viis aastat, kuid valitsusel on õigus pikendada seda kahe aasta võrra, mida Terrase puhul ka tehti. Terrase ametiaeg saab läbi 5. detsembril 2018 ja ta arvatakse reservi."



- 83 Percent of Latvia’s Ethnic Minorities Now Feel Close Ties to that Country, New Survey Shows
By Paul Goble
(Window on Eurasia)
“… an increase from 67 percent just two years ago, according to the second biannual report on such attitudes prepared by the Latvian Ministry of Culture."

- Joint project reveals fears of Russians in Estonia
(Postimees)








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Wednesday 8. 
November
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- Põhiseaduse asjatundjad: President ei peaks olema riigikaitse kõrgeim juht
(ERR)
"Praegune riigikaitse kõrgeima juhi mudel läheb aastasse 1938, president Pätsi ja ülemjuhataja Laidoneri aega, mis ei sobitu ei meie tänasesse parlamentaarsesse riigikorda ega tänasesse julgeolekupilti," tõdes üks õigusasjatundjatest."



- Nordica jõuab kasumisse oodatust kaks aastat varem
(Äripäev)
"Kui senimaani on Nordica äriplaan ette näinud, et ettevõte jõuab kasumisse alles aastal 2019, siis reaalsus näib tulevat palju helgem. Nimelt teatas ettevõte täna, et jõuab kasumisse tõenäoliselt juba sel aastal."



- Kolm varianti Patarei tuleviku osas
(ERR)
"Patarei ehitati Vene keiser Nikolai I korraldusel kindlusehitisena, ametliku nimega Kaitsekasarm. Kindlustuse kompleks valmis 1840. aastal, ent muutunud sõjapidamise strateegia tõttu ei kasutatud seda kordagi sihipäraselt. Kuni Vene tsaarivõimu kokkuvarisemiseni kasutati Patareid kasarmuna. Aastatel 1920-2002 tegutses Patareis erinevate riigikorda ajal vangla."



- NATO leppis kokku uue juhtimisstruktuuri põhijoontes
(Postimees)
"Peasekretäri sõnul suurendab sõjalise juhtimisstruktuuri kaasajastamine alliansi võimet kiiresti vägesid liigutada ning liikmesmaid toetada. «Sõjajõudude liikumine ei hõlma ainult uusi väejuhatusi, vaid võimet liigutada vägesid ja varustust kiiresti õigete transpordivahendite ja õige taristuga."

- NATO agrees new military commands to protect Europe
(Reuters)
"Hoping to add to its deterrent factor against Russia, NATO defense ministers agreed to create an Atlantic command and a logistics command to help respond more quickly to threats in Europe."



- Finland not asking for security guarantees from US
(Helsinki Times)
“… although it considers the country an important partner, the presence of which has a stabilising impact on the entire Baltic Sea Region, views Jussi Niinistö (BR), the Minister of Defence."

- Finland invites USA to join large-scale military exercises in 2021
(Politico-Europe | Yle)
"Finland and its neighbor Sweden have centered their defense strategies for decades on neutrality and refraining from participating with the big military alliances on their doorsteps. But the annexation of Crimea and war in Ukraine in 2014 changed that calculus in Northern Europe. ...”




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Tuesday 7. 
November
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- Kapo pidas kinni FSB agendi, kelle sihtmärgid olid Eesti riigiasutused
(ERR)

- Estonia arrests suspected Russian FSB agent
(Reuters | others)
"The man was stopped at the weekend as he prepared to leave Estonia for Russia from the north-east border town of Narva. He was formally charged on Monday in a Tallinn court. “A person, who is a Russian citizen, is suspected of acting as an FSB agent in the preparation of a computer crime against the Republic of Estonia,” the prosecutors office said. “The target of his action against Estonia was the Estonian state authorities.”
“… bigger damage was prevented,” prosecutor Inna Ombler said."



- Lithuania worries that a Russia-funded nuclear reactor in Belarus is part of a push for more power
(PRI)



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Monday 6. 
November
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- Piecing together the Kremlin’s puzzle
by Edward Lucas
(CEPA)
"Had Russia played its cards differently we would have no NATO expansion, let alone territorial defense. It would have far stronger influence in Western capitals. The warnings of the former captive nations (and of people like me) would have seemed like ridiculous scaremongering."



- In Finland, Mattis backs creation of a hybrid warfare center focused on Russia
(Washington Post)




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Russia in 1917
The Bolshevik Revolution"
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✔︎ 100 years later, Bolshevism is back. And we should be worried.
by Anne Applebaum
(Washington Post)
“… Bolsheviks always envisioned actual class warfare, accompanied by actual mass violence, which would physically destroy the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, physically destroy their shops and factories, physically destroy the schools, the courts, the press. In October 1917, they began using that mass violence."
"Within two decades of October 1917, the Revolution had devoured not only its children, but also its founders - the men and women who had been motivated by such passion for destruction. It created not a beautiful new civilization but an angry, unhappy, and embittered society, one that squandered its resources, built ugly, inhuman cities, and broke new ground in atrocity and mass murder."



- ‘We have Awakened a Monster’ – How Bolsheviks Laid the Foundation for Rise of Today's Islamist Radicalism
by Paul Goble
(Window on Eurasia)
“… what might be called “the birth certificates” of 20th and 21st century anti-Western Islamist radicalism are the Soviet government’s appeal “To All the Toiling Muslims of Russia and the East” of December 3, 1917; and the shariat appeal by the Bolshevik-organized First Congress of Peoples of the East which took place in Baku, September 1-8, 1920.”



- Russia's Unloved Anniversary
(Spiegel)



- The legacies of 1917
(Eurozine)
"Russia has yet to come to terms with the consequences of 1917."



- Revolution Centenary Unearths Debate Over Lenin’s Corpse
(The Moscow Times - 3. Nov.)
"On Thursday, leader of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov said that it was “high time” to bury Lenin’s body, and called on President Vladimir Putin to put the issue to rest."
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“Enough staring at Lenin’s corpse,” Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel. “It is wrong that in the heart of Russia, on Red Square, there is a coffin with a dead man."



- One family’s divergent views of the Bolshevik revolution tell a tale of Russia’s complicated past - and present 
(Christian Science Monitor)
“… splits are everywhere - in opinion polls, at family dinner tables, in the commentary of guides at history exhibits in the capital."



- Vene kirjanikud ja Suur Oktoober
(ERR)



- Putin’s Russia Wrestles with the Meaning of Trotsky and Revolution
(The New Yorker)



- Russia has its czar a century after the October Revolution
(Washington Post)

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