✔︎ Top Russian, NATO generals held a rare face-to-face meeting. In separate statements - "NATO and the Russian defense ministry said the meeting discussed military exercises and troop movements, as both sides accuse the other of risky deployments in the Baltic states and eastern Europe.” - Reuters
✔︎ Live-Fire Cyber Defence Exercise to be Launched Next Week - CCDCOE
✔︎ Ukraine fears ‘second Chernobyl’ if militants flood nuclear bomb mine - Kyiv Post
✔︎ Poland violating EU law by logging in ancient Białowieża Forest - Special News Listing
✔︎ Facebook moves 1.5bn users out of reach of new European privacy law - The Guardian
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- Vabaduse väljak foto:
- 2014-2018 Archive:
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Friday 20. April
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- Setomaa: Piiriehitus tõstab julgeoleku kõrval ka kohalike elukvaliteeti
(Lõuna Leht)
"Ajal, mil julgeolekuolukord maailmas on jätkuvalt keeruline ning surve välispiirile püsib, peame välja ehitama korraliku piiri, mis tagaks riigi julgeoleku Setomaast Saaremaani välja. Võrreldes muu maailmaga ehitab Eesti ainulaadset piiri, mis on kaetud kõrgtehnoloogiliste vahenditega ning annab võimaluse reageerida piirijuhtumitele enne veel, kui rikkumine toime pannakse."
- 2018 Locked Shields: Live-Fire Cyber Defence Exercise 23.-27. April
(CCDCOE press release)
"According to the scenario, a fictional country, Berylia, is experiencing a deteriorating security situation, where a number of hostile events coincide with coordinated cyber attacks against a major civilian internet service provider and military airbase. The attacks cause severe disruptions in the operation of the electric power grid, 4G public safety networks, drone operation and other critical infrastructure components."
- Preventing Escalation in the Baltics: A NATO Playbook
by Ulrich Kühn
(Carnegie Endowment)
"If NATO underestimates the threat Russia poses, the alliance may give Moscow reason to test its resolve, perhaps even by using military force. Conversely, if NATO overestimates the threat emanating from Russia, its well-intentioned defensive measures may lead to a security dilemma that precipitates an arms race and ultimately undermines alliance unity."
- Opinion: Strategic toughness toward Russia the key to keeping Baltic allies safe
(The Hill - 9. April)
- Solve the Baltic's Geography Problem
by Lt. Commander Ott Laanemets
(Proceedings Magazine)
"The Gulf of Finland and the Åland Islands, lying at the entrance of the Gulf of Bothnia, are key to understanding the Russians’ actions in the region. The islands were a part of the 1856 Paris Treaty that ended the Crimean War and created a demilitarized area, and have fallen under the responsibility of Finnish defense forces. The Russians are aware of Finland’s ability to close the Gulf of Finland and disrupt trade heading into and out of St. Petersburg in the event of a conflict. From the Russian viewpoint, possession of Finland’s south coast and Åland Islands would allow it to control the Gulf of Bothnia, exploit the Gulf of Finland for its own purposes, and station its shore-based air defenses to cover the central Baltic Sea."
- Understanding Deterrence
by Michael J. Mazarr
(Rand Corp.)
“… deterrence and dissuasion must be conceived primarily as an effort to shape the thinking of a potential aggressor. Any strategy to prevent aggression must begin with an assessment of the interests, motives, and imperatives of the potential aggressor, including its theory of deterrence - taking into account what it values and why."
- Top Russian, NATO generals hold rare face-to-face meeting
(Reuters)
"U.S. Army General Curtis Scaparrotti and Russia’s Valery Gerasimov met in Baku, Azerbaijan. … In separate statements, NATO and the Russian defense ministry said the meeting discussed military exercises and troop movements, as both sides accuse the other of risky deployments in the Baltic states and eastern Europe."
- Lithuania wants more NATO anti-aircraft missiles to deter Russia
(Reuters)
“We would like to have the permanent deployment of ground missile systems and other capabilities, but we understand that a quite significant part of these capabilities were lost by NATO after the Cold War and it’s difficult to rebuild them fast. We need to ensure that (air defences) could be deployed (in the Baltics) at any time necessary.”
- Ukraine fears ‘second Chernobyl’ if militants flood nuclear bomb mine
(The Irish Times | Kyiv Post)
"On Sept. 16, 1979, the Soviet authorities detonated a nuclear bomb inside the “Yuniy Kommunar” (“Young Communard”) coal mine, at a depth of 903 meters, just beneath the town of some 22,000 people. The subsurface nuclear blast had a yield of 300 tonnes of TNT, roughly 2 percent of that of the Hiroshima bomb. The experiment, many details of which are still classified, was designed to reduce buildups of stress in rock formations, and prevent methane explosions – a deadly hazard of mine workings."
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"For decades after the experiment, the “nuclear pit” of Donbas was carefully monitored by the Soviet and then independent Ukrainian authorities for any sign of a release of its radioactive debris. But today, as the Kremlin’s war in the Donbas enters its fifth year, the mine is under the control of the area’s Russian-installed occupation authorities.”
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“… US state department spokeswoman Heather Nauert wrote on Twitter: “Plans by Russian proxies to flood the abandoned YunKom coal mine... could threaten drinking water of thousands of Ukrainians in Russia-controlled eastern Ukraine."
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- Photos: Danish F-16 Fighting Falcons Supporting NATO Baltic Air Policing
(The Aviationist)
"Baltic Air Policing is a regular mission held in the Baltic area, with the air policing assets stationed in Siauliai, Lithuania, and Amari, Estonia."
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| Photo: The Aviationist |
- Pope Francis may hold Tallinn mass on Freedom Square 25. Sept.
(Baltic Times)
"As part of his Baltic tour, the pope is to visit Vilnius and Kaunas in Lithuania on Sept. 22-23 and Riga and Aglona in Latvia on Sept. 24. On Sept. 25 he will arrive in Tallinn on a one-day visit, the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. From Tallinn, the pope is to head back to Vatican."
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Poland's Endangered
Białowieża Forest
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- Poland violating EU law by logging in ancient Białowieża Forest
(Deutsche Welle | BBC | Science)
“Białowieża is the best-preserved remnant of old-growth forest that once spanned lowland Europe. Straddling the border between Poland and Belarus, the 1500-square-kilometer forest has centuries-old trees, as well a menagerie—including wolves, lynx, dozens of species of birds, beetles and fungi—found nowhere else. Foresters and preservationists have fought over Białowieża for decades."
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- Last major primeval forest in Europe on 'brink of collapse’
(The Guardian - May 2017)
"They are logging in Unesco zones where timber harvesting is forbidden, they are logging 100-year-old tree stands in contravention of European law, they are logging during breeding season and destroying habitats occupied by rare species. It is disrupting natural processes which have been continuing there for thousands of years. We are losing large parts of the last natural forest …"
- Kohus: Poola rikkus ürgmetsaraiega ELi seadust
(Delfi | Postimees)
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The Białowieża Forest
(UNESCO)
- Photos: Bialowieza, Europe's last primeval forest
(The Guardian - 2011)
- Poland logging ancient Bialowieza forest despite protests
(Deutsche Welle - 2016)
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Thursday 19. April
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- Stoltenberg: NATO ei kavanda kohaloleku suurendamist Balti riikides
(Postimees | ERR)
"Praegu me ei kavanda meie sõjalise kohaloleku suurendamist regioonis, kuid kavandame, tugevdada meie võimekust vajaduse korral seda teha …"
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- The Russians Are Coming
(Lawfare)
"In 2013, Russia’s chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, described a new form of conflict that he saw as blurring the line between war and peace. … Now there are new words from Gerasimov. In a recent speech outlining the military’s high-tech plans, Gerasimov stated that economic and non-military government targets would be fair game in this new form of war. … The targets? A recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee minority report lists nineteen nations—Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and the U.K.—in addition to the United States."
- Putin’s Asymmetric Assault On Democracy In Russia And Europe
(US Senate report)
- The EU should get tough on its illiberal democracies
(The Economist - login required)
"There was once no brighter star in Europe. Since shaking off communism in 1989 Poland has rivalled the bounciest Asian tigers in GDP growth. It has become a vital NATO ally. But it is also on the front line of what France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, calls a “European civil war” over the rule of law."
- Opinion: Emmanuel Macron Warns of Rising Nationalism in Europe
(New York Times)
" The struggle between the traditional values of Western liberal democracy and the new forces of authoritarianism, intolerance and nationalism has become a defining challenge of the times. Invoking the title of a well-known German trilogy by Hermann Broch about the deterioration of values in the years before World War I, Mr. Macron said: “I don’t want to belong to a generation of sleepwalkers that has forgotten its own past. I want to belong to a generation that has decided forcefully to defend its democracy.”
- The story of Russia’s new private propaganda outlet: “USA Really. Wake Up Americans.”
(EU vs Disinfo)
"RIA FAN, the mother company of “USA Really. Wake Up Americans”, is in fact itself an offspring project of the famous St. Petersburg “troll factory”. RIA FAN shared its first address with the trolls before moving into its separate premises; however, according to RBC, the owner remained the same, namely Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is currently criminally charged in the United States for his participation in a conspiracy to “sow discord in the U.S. political system,” including the 2016 presidential election.”
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"Gradually, it becomes difficult, and thereby also less and less relevant, to distinguish between the pro-Kremlin propaganda that comes from outlets owned and controlled by the Russian authorities, such as RIA Novosti and Sputnik, and the privately owned and theoretically independent, but no less Kremlin-loyal outlets, which, as RIA FAN and its new international offspring, depend on schemes involving both the government’s political approval and the government’s money."
- Facebook moves 1.5bn users out of reach of new European privacy law
(The Guardian)
“… despite a promise from Mark Zuckerberg to apply the “spirit” of the legislation globally. .. This is a major and unprecedented change in the data privacy landscape. The change will amount to the reduction of privacy guarantees and the rights of users, with a number of ramifications, notably for for consent requirements. Users will clearly lose some existing rights, as US standards are lower than those in Europe."
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Wednesday 18. April
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- Vene ujuvtuumajaama üle Soome lahe pukseerimist lükati edasi
(Postmees | Delfi)
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- Andrus Ansip arutas Zuckerbergiga kasutajate privaatsuse kaitsmist
(ERR)
"Ansip arutas Facebooki ühe omaniku Mark Zuckerbergi ja tegevjuhi Sheryl Sandbergiga usalduse taastamist digitaalse ökosüsteemi vastu - kuidas kaitsta kasutajate privaatsust ja tõkestada libauudiste levikut."
- Has Democracy Lost Its Appeal?
(Foreign Affairs)
"Some say that global democracy is experiencing its worst setback since the 1930s and that it will continue to retreat unless rich countries find ways to reduce inequality and manage the information revolution. Those are the optimists. Pessimists fear the game is already over, that democratic dominance has ended for good.”
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2018-04-16/democracy-dying?cid=int-now&pgtype=hpg®ion=br2
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- Hungary’s opposition face an uphill battle against authoritarianism
(CAPX)
"Hungary's opposition can't rely on the EU to save their democracy. … Without concerted opposition, the risk of Hungary sliding into authoritarianism is very real"
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Tuesday 17. April
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- Developments in Baltic Defense since Trump Took Office
(FPRI)
"As a result of policies pursued in the previous decade and a half, entering 2017, Estonia had the strongest foundation in defense of the three states. Even at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Estonia took territorial defense seriously and never ended conscription. It also had an early experience with Russia during the 2007 bronze soldier cyber attack, which led it to focus heavily on cyber security.”
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"Compared to 2016, when a RAND report predicted that in a conventional war the Baltic states would be overrun within three days, Estonians are now far more confident of their ability to defend themselves. The Chief of Staff of the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF), Brigadier General Martin Herem, noted as early as March 2017 that the EDF could mobilize 21,000 soldiers for battle, of whom over 3,000 are professionals and the rest conscripts or reservists. This has given Estonia confidence that it can now resist an invasion for longer than a couple of days, thereby buying NATO more time to reinforce its eastern flank."
- Algas metsaistutushooaeg, RMK kasutab tänavu uudseid lahendusi
(Lõuna Leht)
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- New leader of Estonian reformers, Kaja Kallas, in shadow of her heavyweight father
(ERR | BNN)
"Kaja Kallas’ greatest challenge in the coming years will certainly be getting out of her father’s shadow."
https://news.err.ee/820140/stepping-out-of-her-father-s-shadow-greatest-challenge-facing-kaja-kallas
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- Kolm aastat Läti piirikaubandust: riik kaotab veerand miljardit maksutulu
(Postimees)
- Bomb specialists destroy 250 pieces of WWII ordnance in Saaremaa
(Baltic Times)
“… during a joint training exercise … on the Sorve peninsula, 268 pieces of ordnance and 171 rounds of ammunition from World War II were discovered …"
- NATO jets in Baltics scrambled four times last week to escort Russian military aircraft
(Baltic Times)
- Sweden’s violent reality is undoing a peaceful self-image
(Politico-Europe)
"Gang-related gun murders, now mainly a phenomenon among men with immigrant backgrounds in the country’s parallel societies, increased from 4 per year in the early 1990s to around 40 last year. Because of this, Sweden has gone from being a low-crime country to having homicide rates significantly above the Western European average.”
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"The rising levels of violence have not gone unnoticed by Sweden’s Scandinavian neighbors. Norwegians commonly use the phrase “Swedish conditions” to describe crime and social unrest. … In response, the Swedish government has launched an international campaign for “the image of Sweden” playing down the rise in crime, both in its media strategy and through tax-funded PR campaigns."
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Monday 16. April
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- Brexit redraws EU alliances
(Politico_Europe)
"Countries like Sweden, Ireland, Estonia and Bulgaria once looked to the U.K. as their big brother on issues ranging from free trade and liberal economic policies to defending national tax sovereignty and standing up to Russia. Now, they are feeling the phantom pain of Britain’s impending amputation and casting around for new ways of fighting their corner.”
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"Enter a loose alliance between the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Its supporters call it a 21st-century version of the Hanseatic League of merchant cities that traded with each other in medieval Europe."
- Analysis: Improving Sanctions
by Edward Lucas
(CEPA)
"Hit the Russian elite’s assets abroad, increasing the pressure on Vladimir Putin, who will then stop menacing Russia’s neighbors and abusing his subjects’ human rights. That is the theory behind the West’s policy towards the Kremlin—which I support. But beware wishful thinking."
- Neli Ühendkuningriigi maaväe kopterit jõudsid Eestisse
(Postimees)
- British Army to deploy Lynx Wildcat helicopters to Estonia
(ERR | Janes)
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| Source: British Ministry of Defense |
- The Wildcat AH1 Helicopter
(Elite UK Forces)
“… designed as a battlefield reconnaissance, troop transport, airborne command post and force protection platform. … the Wildcat AH1 features an array of sophisticated systems ..."
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Russia
‘An Epidemic of Murders’
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- Russian Politics Increasingly Resembles a Crime Report
(Window on Eurasia)
"The more cynically the top Russian powers that be are, the more people die at its hands,” Kseniya Kirillova says, leading to “an epidemic of murders” ranging from those that attract international attention even when the regime’s attempts fail as in the Skripal case to more obscure figures who far more often are murdered successfully."
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"The US-based Russian journalist says that in Russia today, people are being killed “at all levels beginning from the highest and ending at the regional ones. Some of these murders undoubtedly can’t be carried out without approval ‘from on high,” while those lower down need only the backing of the regional FSB.”
- Russian investigative journalist dies after falling from balcony
(Various sources)
[Russian journalist Maksim Borodin, who had reported recently on Russian paramilitary groups in Syria, died last Sunday after falling from the balcony of his fifth-floor apartment in Yekaterinburg.]
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"Borodin regularly wrote on crime and corruption. In recent weeks, he wrote extensively about the deaths in February of Russian mercenaries fighting in Syria, identifying several fighters from the Urals city of Asbest who had been killed."
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"Editor Rejects Suicide."
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- Putini eraarmeest kirjutanud ajakirjaniku surmale eelnesid salapärased sündmused
(Postimees)
- Putin’s Billionaire Buddies Are Getting Scared, and Not Just of Sanctions
(Daily Beast)
"Some of the oligarchs now face major U.S. sanctions, while others are getting arrested on the Kremlin’s orders."
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