✔︎ "Suspected Russian spy found working at US embassy in Moscow. She had access to the most damaging database, which is the US Secret Service official mail system.” - The Guardian
✔︎ "The Russian Foreign Ministry knows nothing about a Russian woman, an employee of the US Embassy in Moscow, who allegedly worked for Russia’s intelligence service, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.” - Pro-Kremlin TASS
✔︎ It’s been nearly three weeks since the one-on-one meeting in Helsinki between Mr. Trump and Russian President Putin. It is still not known what was said or agreed upon, nor what “suggestions" Trump received.
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"Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats could only say that he was not in a position to either understand fully, or talk about, what happened at Helsinki.” - Slate
✔︎ "It felt like we weren't in America anymore.” - CNN White House reporter
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- On-line version:
Foto:
- 2014-2018 Archive:
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Friday 3. August
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- Tallinlane tulistamistest linnas: päris jube ikka, nagu Ameerikas juba
(Postimees)
"Eestis on eraisikute käes üle 50,000 tulirelva.”
- 6,000-pealine koor laulis Eestile sünnipäevalaulu
(ERR)
"51 riiki on esindatud, aga väga hea meelega kõik õppisid seda."
- Who can decide whether or not they are Estonian and citizens?
(Postimees)
"Meet Marina, born in an Estonian-Russian family in Haapsalu in 1963. She can speak Estonian. Mother of three, grandmother of two. Has lived in St. Petersburg for decades, a citizen of the Russian Federation. Marina tried to find out some ten years ago whether she could obtain an Estonian passport to return here. Her sister is an Estonian citizen and still lives in Haapsalu. … The Police and Border Guard Board reply came last autumn: marina cannot be issued passport, there is no sufficient evidence of her being a citizen of Estonia. … Marina is amazed. “I’m am dreaming about moving to Estonia. Having a little house… But I do not believe now that it would work out."
- Estonian war robots could have big implications for future NATO plans
(C4ISRNET | others)
"Estonia is building robots for war. And while they aren’t armed, the proposed design leaves plenty of room for a future where unmanned land combat becomes the norm in Europe. As announced Aug. 2, this new robot system will be a collaboration with Latvia and Finland, with possible participation from Germany, France and Belgium. To fund the robots, Estonia and its partners are looking for help from the European Defense Fund."
—
—
- Developing Collaborative Research Partnerships in Finland and Estonia
(NC State University)
- IKEA one step closer to Estonia as chain's Riga building is completed
(ERR)
- "Tõde ja õigus" sai filmitud
(ERR)
"3. augustiga lõpevad Eesti Vabariigi 100. sünnipäevaks valmiva mängufilmi "Tõde ja õigus" võtted. Mängufilmi võtteperiood kestis poolteist aastat. Linateose ülesvõtmiseks läks kokku 75 võttepäeva. Film põhineb Anton Hansen Tammsaare samanimelise teose esimesel osal ja valmib 2019. aasta veebruariks."
- German bomb debate goes nuclear
(Politico-Europe)
“Do We Need the Bomb?” read the front page headline in Welt am Sonntag, one of the country’s largest Sunday newspapers. “For the first time since 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany is no longer under the U.S.’s nuclear umbrella,” Christian Hacke, a prominent German political scientist, wrote in an essay in the paper. … That the debate is happening at all speaks to how unnerved Germany’s security community has become in the face of Trump’s threats, including his warning at last month’s NATO summit that the U.S. might “go it alone."
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Thursday 2. August
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✔︎ USA Moskva saatkonnas tegutses 10 aastat tõenäoline Vene spioon
(ERR)
"Ameerika Ühendriikide saatkonnas Moskvas töötas umbes 10 aastat Venemaa kodanikust naine, kes osutus hiljem tõenäoliseks Vene spiooniks.
Ajaleht Guardian ja väljaanne Axios kirjutavad, et naine, kes oli USA välisministeeriumi palgal ning tegi oma ametikohast tulenevalt koostööd näiteks USA Salateenistusega (USSS), pälvis Ameerika luureametkondade teravdatud tähelepanu 2016. aastal välisministeeriumi julgeolekukontrolli käigus."
✔︎ Suspected Russian spy found working at US embassy in Moscow
(The Guardian)
“The Russian is understood to have had full access to secret data during a decade at the embassy. The Russian national had been hired by the US Secret Service and is understood to have had access to the agency’s intranet and email systems, which gave her a potential window into highly confidential material including the schedules of the president and vice-president. … They established she was having regular and unauthorised meetings with members of the FSB …”
“In high counter-intelligence threat countries they are almost always reporting to the local service. In Russia it is a given. The Russians would never let someone occupy that position that wasn’t reporting to them.”
—
“The story is very credible and not very surprising to those of us who have worked in embassies,” said John Sipher, whose 28-year career in the CIA’s national clandestine service included serving in Moscow and running the CIA’s Russia operations."
—
- Mueller seeks interview with Russian pop star who encouraged Trump Tower meeting
(CNN)
"Emin Agalarov, an Azerbaijan-born pop star, found himself at the center of questions about the Trump campaign's potential ties to Russia when it became public last year that his publicist, Rob Goldstone, had reached out to Donald Trump Jr. about meeting with a Russian lawyer for dirt on Hillary Clinton.
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The revelation put a spotlight on the connections between the Trumps and the Agalarovs, who helped Trump bring the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow in 2013.
Emin is mentioned multiple times in an email exchange between Goldstone and Trump Jr. during the spring 2016 ahead of the now-infamous Trump Tower meeting that took place on June 9, 2016 with Trump Jr., a Russian lawyer and others."
- Emin Agalarov: "Got Me Good"
(Music Video)
“… satire on the news of the past 12 months."
- On a hot summer's day in Helsinki
by Kadri Liik
(ECFR - 17. July)
"If one trusts the pre-summit gossip in Moscow, the ‘script’ to tackle the election issue was rather different from what unfolded. Trump was expected to announce that he had been “very tough on Russia,” so now Russia “promised not to intervene any more.” This would have been a ‘big win’ Trump could have taken home. Putin would have stuck to the line that “we have never intervened and are not planning to.” People in Moscow hoped that – provided that the midterm elections pass without interference – this could be the way for the meddling question to move towards closure and shed some of its political tinderbox power. As it happened, Trump was psychologically unable to dissociate his own legitimacy from the meddling issue. This in turn seems to have unhinged Putin, who now failed to remain tight-lipped and launched himself into a tirade against a variety of people he dislikes.”
—
"The outcome is not exactly what Moscow had sought. … by siding publicly with Trump against the US establishment, Putin made also himself personally invested. Now it may be just as hard for the Russian president to reverse course, even when it would be in his country’s interest to do so. Putin, as we have seen, can be irrationally loyal. …"
- Huawei, China’s Shadowy Telecom Giant, Wants a Foothold in Europe
(The Daily Beast)
"Czech intelligence services have issued multiple public reports warning of Huawei’s security risks. A 2014 counterintelligence report warned that Huawei and ZTE occupied a growing share of the Czech telecommunications market and called this a security risk, noting that both companies were suspected of working with Chinese intelligence services."
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Wednesday 1. August
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- USA senaatorid kinnitasid erakohtumisel toetust NATO-le
(Postimees)
"USA vabariiklastest ja demokraatidest senaatorite grupp kohtus kolmapäeval NATO ja Euroopa riikide delegatsiooniga, et kinnitada Ühendriikide senati toetust alliansile."
- Estonia, Russia's tiny neighbor, prepares its cyber revenge
(Stars and Stripes)
"Mirroring larger NATO members, its military is assembling a cyber-command unit to combat virtual attacks that have been growing by as much as 20 percent a year. As well as defensive strategies, the team of 300 people will develop offensive capabilities, though these won't be deployed during peacetime."
- Money laundered via Estonian Danske branch 'blood money’
(ERR)
"American-born financier Bill Browder, who last week filed a criminal complaint against Danske Bank, said that the money laundered through the bank's Estonian branch was "absolutely" blood money. The background of the story is that my Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky uncovered a $230 million tax rebate fraud committed by Russian government officials, and he was arrested, tortured and killed for exposing this fraud."
- NATO in Ukraine: High Strategic Stake, Irresolute Engagement
(Jamestown)
"Ukraine’s Defense Industry Slowly Moves Toward Adopting NATO Standards.”
https://jamestown.org/program/ukraines-defense-industry-slowly-moves-toward-adopting-nato-standards/
- Georgia slams Russia 'occupation' ahead of NATO war games
(Deutsche Welle)
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Tuesday 31. July
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- Kuumus tapab Peipsil massiliselt kalu
(ERR | Postimees)
--
"New 2018 record high temperature of 34.6C measured in Keila on Monday.”
"Teadlased: Peipsi kalad päästab vaid tuul ja ilma jahenemine.”
- Viimsi vald renoveerib lõigu Naissaare ajaloolisest raudteest
(Postimees)
- Shoigu Looks North
by Edward Lucas
(CEPA)
"Russia is complaining about a problem that it has itself created. The Kremlin inherited a geopolitical peace dividend in northern Europe. Sweden and Finland cut their defense spending sharply after 1991. NATO was seen as obsolete. Support for joining the Alliance was minimal."
--
"That has changed. Finland and Sweden are raising their defense spending. Sweden this year reintroduced conscription (Finland never abolished it). Both countries have developed unprecedentedly close ties with NATO, and bilateral ones with the United States. Public opinion has swung sharply. Russia is now seen as a security threat."
--
"This is not the result of clever lobbying by arms manufacturers. It is because of the way Russia treats its neighbors. Bullying the Baltic states—which the Kremlin views as renegade provinces, not proper countries—goes down badly among the Nordics, who realize that their security starts on the Baltic-Russian border. …"
- Archaeologists find holiest part of Vilnius synagogue
(Times of Israel)
"The green and brown, brick and mortar bimah — a raised platform from which the Jewish holy book, the Torah, is read — was unearthed just beneath the principal’s office of a former school built in the 1950s by the Soviet regime.”
—
"The synagogue, dating from the 1630s, was the most important shrine for Lithuania’s once vibrant Jewish community. The city attracted Yiddish-speaking writers and scholars, earning it the title of “Jerusalem of the North. … The Nazis burned down the shrine and the remains were later demolished by the Soviet regime that built a kindergarten, later turned into the primary school, on the property."
- EL jõustas sanktsioonid Kertši silla ehitanud firmadele
(ERR)
- Presidents of 13 EU Member States to visit Latvia in September to discuss future of Europe
(Baltic Times)
- Off Topic: Trump vs. The New York Times - Inside an Off-the-Record Meeting
(The New Yorker)
“Trump’s capacity to create alternative and polarizing realities, to divert attention from his failures and scandals, to inflame his opponents, and to foment a general atmosphere of culture war and mutual recrimination is perhaps his greatest political talent. He can be affable enough to a couple of visiting Times executives in the Oval Office but then has no compunction about going back to war from the stump. This is at the heart of his appeal.”
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Monday 30. July
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- Riik hakkab välismaal töötajate ja õppijate jälgi ajama
(Postimees | ERR)
"Estonia to collect addresses of residents studying, working abroad."
- Soome on hakanud töötajate sotsiaalseid tagatisi oluliselt vähendama
(ERR)
"Tuhanded eestlased on läinud Soome parema palga ja suurema sotsiaalse kindlustunde pärast, aga Soome asjatundjate sõnul on nüüdseks palgatöötajate tagatisi hakatud märgatavalt vähendama."
- Estonia blossoms even in Russia’s menacing shadow
(The Chronicle Herald)
- Commission wants bigger budget for smaller EU
(Politico-Europe)
"That is the political math of the European Commission’s proposal on Wednesday for a roughly €1.279 trillion spending plan for 2021 to 2027. The proposal, unveiled in the European Parliament by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger, will pose an even greater test of unity for the EU27 than the tense negotiations with the U.K. over its departure."
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"In squeezing and pushing not only to fill the roughly €13 billion annual hole that will be left by Brexit, but also to ramp up spending on new priorities, the Commission has set forth an initial list of winners and losers who will spend the next two years or more fighting bitterly to shape the final outcome."
- Estonia has EUR 412.5 mln in stabilization reserve
(Baltic Times)
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Sunday 29. July
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- Breaking point: December 2020
(The Economist)
"After the euro crisis and Brexit, Poland and Italy could open up new fissures within the EU. A report from 2020 imagines how."
- The Forest not the Trees: Hidden Successes of Latvian Integration
by Indra Ekmanis
(FPRI)
- Who's afraid of Rīga's Moscow suburb?
(Latvian Broadcasting)
"This piece probes one of Rīga's most colorful neighborhoods, the Maskavas priekšpilsēta or Moscow suburb. With a dark past and high crime rate in the 80s and 90s, it remains very much a "a city within a city", as described in this neighborhood profile by Agija Ābiķe-Kondrāte."
- Canada extends NATO mission in Latvia to 2023
(Defense Talk - 11. July)
- 48 hours in Klaipeda: Lithuania’s Baltic Capital
(Emerging Europe)
- NATO launches The News Hero Facebook game to counter Russia's info war
(NBC News)
"NATO Isn’t What You Think It Is."
"A Russian Attack on Montenegro Could Mean the End of NATO."
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Russia
“Trust No One"
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- Russia’s Craving for Respect
by Edward Lucas
(CEPA)
"The World Cup unleashed more than a tourism boom for near-winner Croatia. It also showed Russians the unfamiliar delights of public appreciation. The consequences of that could be lasting. Worthy targets for respect in Russia abound, including the bewitching language and literature, natural beauty, art, music, and humor. But more recently the country is magnificent mostly despite, rather than because of, the way it is run. Communist jargon debased the language. …"
- Putin and Trump have the Same Enemies but Putin Doesn’t have an Oklahoma, Eidman Says
(Window on Eurasia)
- Protesters chant anti-Putin slogans at Moscow rally against retirement age plan
(Reuters | The Hill)
"The rally organized by the opposition Libertarian Party chanted “Putin is a thief” and “away with the tsar,” slogans common at anti-Putin and anti-government protests."
—
"More than 6,000 people came to Sunday's rally some 2.4 kilometres (1.5 miles) from the Kremlin, according to White Counter, an NGO that counts participants at rallies using metal detector frames.”
- Peterburis toimus Venemaa mereväe paraad
(ERR)
- Putin marks Russia's Navy Day, reveals plans for 26 new ships
(Deutsche Welle)
"In total in 2018 the navy should get 26 new warships, motor boats and vessels including four battleships with Kalibr cruise missiles."
"Russian kids play war in military summer camps."
- Putin's Plan to Russify the Caucasus
(Foreign Affairs)
“… on June 19 the Russian Duma adopted a bill that will profoundly affect the status of the country’s hundred-plus ethnic minorities. The bill makes education in 34 of Russia’s 35 official languages—every language except Russian—optional, limiting instruction in ethnic-minority languages … as part of a new effort to Russify the country’s many ethnic minorities."
- Accused Russian Spy Maria Butina Told American CEO: Send Cash to Moscow
(The Daily Beast)
"Maria Butina, the accused Russian operative, didn’t just allegedly cultivate the NRA on behalf of the Kremlin. The 29-year-old Russian national also braced one of America’s best-known businessmen, pushing him to increase his investments in his bank in Moscow—a bank that was facing trouble with Kremlin authorities."
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