Powered By Blogger

19 January, 2018


Multiple friends have shown me this graphic and I was curious to find out who was the author. I finally tracked down it’s origin - it was created by Finnish-Swedish artist Minna Sundberg for her fictional post-apocalyptic webcomic "Stand Still. Stay Silent". 

Complete poster is here: 


_____________

Propaganda 101
_____________


 Alexander Nosovich: No friend of the Baltics
(Stop Fake org. - April 2017)
"30-year-old Nosovich, a Russian 'political scientist', and 'international journalist’, calls himself a foreign policy expert on the Baltic states. He has published two books on the topic with headlines straight from the Kremlin’s propaganda labels: 'Why the Baltic states are dying out' and 'The history of the Fall: Why the Baltic states failed’. 
--
“… Nosovich penned pieces stating that because of (an) inferiority complex, the Baltic states consider themselves to be Scandinavian countries, Europe will drop the Baltic states off with the help of two-speed Europe, and the Baltic states turned out to be more unhappy than Russia."
—
“Nosovich likes provocative headlines and book titles that appear to match the Kremlin’s foreign policy rhetoric, which portrays the Baltics as failed states instead of the only former Soviet republics who successfully integrated into Europe."



- Nosovich’s Latest: Baltic Countries Must Make Seven Fundamental Changes for Good Relations with Russia
(Window on Eurasia)
"Nosovich, notorious in the Baltic countries for his criticism of these states and celebrated by some of the most hardline Russian officials and activists in Moscow for the same reason, provides a list that no Baltic country could accept in toto without putting itself at risk of national suicide."




- Confronting disinfo on TV in Tallinn
by Urve Eslas
(Up North)
"Since 2011, Tallinn’s municipal government, which is governed by the Estonian Center Party (ECP), has been paying about €550,000 a year to First Baltic Channel (PBK)—the region’s most popular Russian-language channel—to create TV programs for Estonia’s Russian-speaking audience. That audience is the ECP’s most important constituency. According to a recent study, the PBK spreads anti-EU and anti-Western propaganda."



- Propaganda in a Fake News World
by Vasily Gatov
(Intersection)
"How does propaganda fit into today’s Fake News landscape?"



- Belarus Seeks to Block Russian Propaganda
(Jamestown)
"In a series of moves that may come as a surprise to those accustomed to viewing Belarus as the closest and inalienable ally of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Alyaksandr Lukashenka has taken a series of steps to block Russian propaganda from flowing into his country."



- Most People in the West Make Two Fatal Mistakes about Moscow ‘Media’
(Window on Eurasia)
1) "… people in the West continue to call employees of Russia media journalists, a practice that automatically converts any measures taken against them into limitations on free speech. But these people aren’t journalists and thus should not be able to expect the respect given to real journalists.”
—
2) “… propaganda of Goebbels and Suslov advanced a definitive ideology (and) “an image of the future”. In Putin’s Russia, however, there is no such ideology and no image of the future. There are not and cannot be any books entitled Putinism."



- Moldova has begun restricting Propaganda channels
(Propastop)
Eesti keeles:



- "Card Stacking": Propaganda Targets Baltic Energy Independence
by Dalia Bankauskaitė
(Infowar/CEPA)

“Narratives show that the Kremlin is carrying out a comprehensive, well-researched, pro-active disinformation campaign to manipulate the energy vulnerabilities of Lithuania and its Baltic neighbors. The new line in this case, that pro-Kremlin media sets the Baltics against the EU, aims to create the false impression that the EU does not support the goal of energy independence for the Baltics—and that the Baltics themselves are not unified in pursuing their own energy independence."
--
"The pro-Kremlin media attempts to do this by describing a failing Klaipeda LNG terminal and the failing Lithuanian state, raising Russia’s profile by diminishing the opponent. This is called card stacking, in which the information is correct—but it is offered and interpreted selectively to guide audiences to a conclusion that fits into the Kremlin’s longstanding narratives."



- Sen. Cardin's Russia Report Wants to Hold Social Media Companies Accountable, but Its Recommendation Falls Short
by Evelyn Douek
(Lawfare)
"On Jan. 10, the Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a staff report documenting Russia’s 'Asymmetric Assault on Democracy’. The document’s focus is, as Anne Applebaum has observed, the permanent, low-level distortion that Russian-inspired disinformation creates in all of the United States’ most important European allies. … While it is clear that social media platforms are a crucial battleground of modern information warfare, the report does not give much attention to their unique vulnerabilities and the proper role of government in policing content on social media platforms. ..."



- Reviving the Propaganda State
by Maria Snegovaya
(CEPA)

“Western observers sometimes blame decisions by their own governments (such as NATO’s expansion or the deployment of missile defenses in Eastern Europe) for the worsening of U.S.-Russia relations in recent years. Yet a closer examination of the record shows that the Kremlin’s view of the West has long been hostile. Moreover, its conviction of the need to strengthen Russia’s role on the international stage has remained relatively unchanged since the early days of President Vladimir Putin’s rule.”




- Opinion: Confronting propaganda
by Edward Lucas
(CEPA)
“.. many respectable academics, authors, journalists, and politicians see nothing wrong in accepting invitations from RT, the Kremlin’s $300 million-a-year propaganda outlet. Even if the audiences are slender, the appearance fees are not."
--
"I am campaigning to discourage people from doing so. British MP Tom Brake of the opposition Liberal Democrats is just one of my allies; he argued last week in Parliament for a boycott of RT and its sister outfit, Sputnik."






_____________

Friday 19. 
January
_____________


- Idapiiri ehitus võib kujuneda kavandatust märksa kallimaks
(Postimees)
"Siseministeeriumi hinnangul võib idapiiri väljaehitamine ehitusturu kõrgete hindade tõttu maksta ligi 80 miljonit eurot, mis ületab algselt planeeritut umbes 10 miljoni euro võrra.”

- Vene piirivalve tabas Eesti poole suundunud rühma vietnamlasi
(ERR)

- Fence on Latvian border with Russia targets specifically illegal immigration
(Baltic Times)
"The planned construction of a wall on Latvia’s border with Russia and Belarus is aimed specifically against illegal immigration from Central and Southeast Asia, Latvian Ambassador to Russia Maris Riekstins told TASS on Wednesday.”



- Sisseränne aitab meid kiiremini rikaste riikide sekka
(Äripäev)
"Kõrvutades kolme riiki on tulemused vapustavad: kui viimase 10 aasta jooksul on Eestis rahvaarv kahanenud 20 000 inimese võrra, siis Lätis 260,000 ja Leedus enam kui 400,000 võrra. Väljendades sama protsentides, siis on Eestis rahvastik vähenenud 1,5%, Lätis 12% ja Leedus 13%. Leedu rahvaarvu langus on olnud seejuures kiireim kogu Euroopa Liidus."


- Logging surge threatens a quarter of Estonia’s forest
(Climate Home News)
"A quarter of Estonia’s forestland is at imminent risk from a major logging increase, aided by “flexibilities” in EU rules that the Baltic state championed."
--
"That is the warning from conservationists, as the scars of clear-cutting show commercial demand for wood is already changing the landscape. Estonia’s logging volumes have almost tripled in the past decade. The European Commission expects Estonia’s forests to become a net carbon source by 2030, rather than a sink, as they are today."
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/01/16/logging-surge-threatens-quarter-estonias-forest-warn-conservationists/
- Tallinn-Helsinki tunnel plan lacks ambition
(BNN)
"While Finland and Estonia work on plans of an under-sea tunnel from Tallinn to Helsinki, the construction of which could start in the 2030s, a Finnish businessman has presented plans to finish the massive construction project in 2024 ..."



- A Fresh Perspective on NATO, Strategic Culture and Collective Defense
(War on the Rocks)
"Early remarks by senior Trump administration officials led analysts to question the administration’s continued commitment to an alliance-based international order. However, the new National Security Strategy clarifies the administration’s views on allies and alliances - particularly NATO.”



- Eesti kaalub osalust terroritõrjeoperatsioonil Põhja-Aafrikas
(Postimees | Delfi)
"Tuleval nädalal oma Prantsusmaa kolleegi Florence Parlyga kohtuv kaitseminister Jüri Luik räägib seal muuseas võimalusest, et Eesti võiks saata üksuse nende Põhja-Aafrikas toimuvale terroritõrjemissioonile Barkhane."
—

- Eesti võib lisaks Afganistanile saata ka Malisse rühma jagu sõdureid
(ERR)



- See kodu ON imepisike - soklikorrusel asuv tudengi pesa Kadriorus
(Moodnekodu)



- Photo essay: The Trans-Siberian railway
(Calvert Journal)
"For photographer Giulia Mangione, it had been an ambition to take the 9000 km train route from Moscow to Vladivostok since studying Russian as a student. After working on The Happy Show, her long-term photographic series on Denmark, she was looking forward to working on a travel project with a distinct beginning, middle and end."




_____________

Thursday 18. 
January
_____________



- Japan taps in to trade potential of EU's newer members
(Euronews)
"Everything is data and everything is about being digitalised. That's Estonia. That's why we think Estonia is the best to collaborate with. … Planetway is basically a hybrid company between Estonia and the Japanese and also business and research and development,” says CEO and founder Noriaki Hirao. “This is something… Estonia invented it and Japanese people kind of customise it and use it in Japan already. Every Asian country is like: ‘Whoa, I want to use it.’”
--
“Estonia is the perfect example of coming to the point where they have like a total digital society already, probably one of the finest in the world.”



- Soome ajakirjanikud valisid ERM-i parimaks välisriigi turismiobjektiks
(ERR)
"Soome Reisiajakirjanike Gild tunnustas neljapäeval Helsingis alanud Soome turismimessil Matka Travel Rahva Muuseumit (ERM) kui lõppenud aasta parimat välisriigi turismiatraktsiooni."



- Tallinna-Helsingi tunnelist: kui plaan on hea, tuleb ka raha
(ERR)
"Eesti ja Soome vahele tunnelit kavandav Peter Vesterbacka ütles täna Tallinnas esinedes, et 70 protsenti rahast tuleb Hiina investoritelt ning ülejäänu Skandinaavia ja Baltimaade pensionifondidest."



- Estonia’s Defense Development Plan Needs to be Changed
(Baltic Review)

- France to increase support for NATO battle group in Estonia
(Times | ERR)
—

- Russia closing gap with NATO
(Stars & Stripes)

- The Russian Way of Warfare
(Rand Corp.)




- 1 in 5 Latvians 'at risk of poverty’
(Latvian Broadcasting)
"425,000 persons or 22.1 % of Latvia's population were at risk of poverty in 2016."




_____________

Wednesday 17. 
January
_____________


- Swedes told how to prepare for war 
(AP |Business Insider | The Hill)
"Sweden is preparing to send a brochure to 4.7m households warning them for the first time in more than half a century of what they should do in the event of a war."
--
"The booklet will deal with issues such as how members of the public can take part in “total defence” during a war and how to secure basic needs such as water, food and heating. It will also cover other threats such as cyber attacks, terrorism and climate change. Its publication comes as debate intensifies in Sweden about defence and security issues, the threat from Russia and whether the country should join Nato.”
—
"The booklet, which has the working title If Crisis or War Comes, will be published in May. Such a document was last given out to households in 1961 …"
--
—



- Interview: Philip Murphy, former U.S. Ambassador to Germany
(Spiegel)
"Philip Murphy, the former U.S. Ambassador to Germany, was sworn in as New Jersey (USA) governor on Tuesday. In this interview, he attacks Donald Trump and his political style. But he also strikes an optimistic note, saying: "We'll get through it."




- Germany loans Lithuania copy of 1918 independence declaration
(Deutsche Welle)
"A Lithuanian professor found the document – the only surviving copy of the original declaration of independence – in a Berlin archive in 2017. Historians believe up to five copies were signed on February 18, 1918 while the country was under German occupation. The original disappeared in 1940 after the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania. Under a bilateral agreement, Lithuania will return the document to Germany in 2023."



- Media Censorship: Putinism Works Through Fear
(Zeit)
[An interview with Russian secret service expert and journalist Andrei Soldatov.]
—





_____________

Tuesday 16. 
January
_____________


- Civil War still divides Finland after 100 years
(Yle)
“A Yle survey suggests that mistrust sown in the Finnish Civil War of 1918 has trickled down through the generations and is still present in subtle ways. Sixty-eight percent of respondents say the bitter conflict still divides Finns 100 years later, at least to some extent."
--
"After declaring independence in 1917, Finns fought an approximately four-month-long war to determine how the country should be run. Starting on 27 January 1918, the war pitted the industrial and agrarian Reds in southern cities against the peasants and middle and upper-class Whites in rural areas and the north. Close to 40,000 people died in the bitter fighting and the war's aftermath."



- Lithuania Bars Kadyrov, 48 Other Russians Under Magnitsky Law
(RFERL)
"The Lithuanian law was modeled on the U.S. Magnitsky Act. The Magnitsky laws are named for Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who died in a Moscow jail in 2009 after suffering what his supporters said amounted to torture. Magnitsky had been jailed by Russian authorities after he helped uncover a $230 million tax-fraud scheme. He was later convicted posthumously of the crime."
--
"Lithuania was the fifth Western country to adopt Magnitsky legislation, following the United States, Canada, Britain, and Estonia."
—
"Russia's Elite Nervous About New U.S. Sanctions"




_____________

Monday 15. 
January
_____________


- Lavrov: piirilepe seisab Eesti russofoobse käitumise taga
(ERR)
"Lavrov lisas, et selleks, et lepe jõustuks ja riigid võiksid normaalselt elada, peaks Eesti lõpetama kuulumise kolme-nelja NATO ja Euroopa Liidu aktivisti hulka, kes võitlevad surmani selle eest, et tirida neid struktuure palavikulise russofoobia suunas."



- Twelve F-16 Fighting Falcons from the Ohio Air National Guard landed at Amari
(DVIDS)
"In addition to 12 Fighting Falcons, the U.S. Air Force deployed nearly 300 Airmen from the 180th Fighter Wing, and approximately 75 Airmen from the 52nd Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, as the 112th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron."

- K9 Thunder howitzers: South Korea submits offer to Estonia
(ERR)
"The agreement is expected to be signed in the first half of 2018."

- Japan joins NATO Cyber Centre in Estonia
(Jane's 360)




_____________

Ukraine
"The war goes on"
_____________



- Ukraine adopts controversial “Donbas reintegration” bill
(Euromaidan Press)
"President Petro Poroshenko called the adoption of this law “a signal for Crimea and Donbas” that they are part of Ukraine. Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” called the law a violation of the Minsk agreements, stating that Ukraine is “preparing for war.”
—
—

- Venemaa ütleb et Ukraina valmistub uueks sõjaks
(Postimees)
"Ukraina parlamendis vastu võetud seaduseelnõu, mis kuulutab Ida-Ukrainas välja ajutise Vene okupatsiooni, tähendab sõjaks valmistumist, teatas täna Venemaa välisministeerium. "Seda ei saa kutsuda muudmoodi kui uueks sõjaks valmistumiseks," teatas välisministeerium …"

- Ukraine's Terrifying TB Outbreak
(Worldcrunch)
"Strains of drug-resistant tuberculosis are spreading across Ukraine, where armed conflict and market misgivings are making a bad situation even worse."


- Putin’s ‘Hybrid Peace’ More Threatening to Ukraine than His ‘Hybrid War’
(Window on Eurasia)
"Vladimir Putin’s rhetoric about Ukraine has changed in order to curry favor with Russians in advance of the presidential poll, but his approach on the ground has not changed, laying a potential trap for Ukrainians …"




_____________

Russia
“Trust No One"
_____________


- National Pride in Russia
by Denis Volkov
(Intersection)
“… between 67% and 83% of Russians today take pride in their country. The lower figure is for pride in “today’s Russia,” despite all of its problems and faults. The higher figure represents answers referring to pride in the country in general, irrespective of specific events. This is not so much an assessment of the current moment, but rather an expression of a feeling of belonging, of the respondent’s identification with the country."




- US sanctions: Russian elite 'realize Putin made a serious mistake’
(Deutsche Welle)
"Media reports suggest concern is growing in Russia about a detailed report that the US government will submit to Congress at the end of January about oligarchs with close ties to President Vladimir Putin. Washington is expected to impose fresh penalties on Russia for alleged interference in the 2016 US election, and around 300 oligarchs fear being named and included on a sanctions list.”



- Don’t Speak, Memory: How Russia Represses Its Past
By Nikita Petrov
(Foreign Affairs)
"In the eyes of the Stalinists, admiration for the tyrant ought to be public and compulsory. That’s why they’ve chosen such an assertive way to inject the dictator into public space. Many want to go even further. There’s talk of erecting monuments to Stalin. There are annual calls to restore the city of Volgograd’s Soviet-era name: Stalingrad. Newly published histories in Moscow’s bookstores perpetuate the mythologized image of Stalin as a strict but fair ruler. Their titles—The Other Stalin, Stalin the Great, Stalin: Father of a Nation—say it all. … The monsters of Stalin’s era are coming back from the dead. And some of Russia’s leaders, including President Vladimir Putin, are exploiting the ideology of Stalin’s era to serve their own ends."



- Soviet Citizens Sought to Rename Capital City Because ‘Moscow isn’t a Russian Name’
by Paul Goble
(Window on Eurasia)
“Eighty years ago this month, a group of Soviet citizens wrote to their government proposing that it rename Moscow. In the context of the Great Terror, they immediately were charged with crimes and repressed. … In 1927, Aleksey Volodin writes on the Top War portal, another group of Russians, mostly from Tambov, called for renaming the USSR capital “’Ilich’ in Lenin’s honor given that according to them, “’Moscow is not a Russian name’."



- Kremlin ‘Purged’ Suspected Spies After Trump Dossier Release
(The Daily Beast)
"In an interview with House intel committee, Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson claimed the Kremlin tried to eliminate U.S. intel sources after the Trump dossier went public. … [Simpson said] "to my knowledge, it wasn’t anyone that helped us. [I] think it was more likely people who were taking the opportunity to settle scores or were falsely accused, as often, you know, just like in the old days, and/or were sources of the U.S. Intelligence Community, not us.”



- Russia moves toward creation of an independent internet
(Deutsche Welle)
"Moscow wants to install its own root servers. … Moscow doesn't plan to seal itself off completely, only to keep the internet working in the country should there be an "external influence.” 



- Putin käis õigeusu traditsioonide kohaselt jääaugus
(ERR)

________
____
_






Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)