✔︎ Eesti Kommunismiohvrid 1940–1991
✔︎ Walmart’s T-shirt homage to mass murder
✔︎ Reports: Air Defence of the Baltic States
- Multiple sources (see Thursday)
✔︎ "Moscow’s Much-Ballyhooed Vostok 2018 Military Maneuvers Involve Far Fewer Soldiers than Advertised.”
- Multiple sources (see Tuesday)
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- EstoNews Archive:
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Friday 14. September
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- The Great Refugee Flight of 1944
and the importance of an Estonian National Commemorative Day
(Eesti Elu/Estonian World Review)
"September 2019 will mark 75 years since the huge exodus of Estonians fleeing from the oncoming Soviet terror. ..."
- Angela Merkel faces suspicion in Baltics
(Deutsche Welle)
"Merkel is a towering figure in European politics and no doubt a welcome visitor to Lithuania, where she will hold talks with President Dalia Grybauskaite and the prime ministers of all three Baltic states, as well as visit the German troops in Rukla.”
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"However, perceptions that Germany is not a very reliable NATO ally are driven by Berlin's willingness to maintain dialog with Moscow; in the Baltics, that is often seen as a waste of time at best and a dangerous weakness at worst."
- Angela Merkel rules out lifting EU Russia sanctions
- Ratas kohtus Vilniuses Merkeliga
(ERR | Postimees)
"Ühisel töölõunal keskendusid Balti riikide peaministrid, Leedu president Dalia Grybauskaitė ja liidukantsler Merkel peamiselt Euroopa Liidu sisejulgeolekule, sealhulgas välispiiride kaitsele ja võitlusele kuritegevusega, Brexiti läbirääkimiste arengutele ja rändeküsimustele."
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- Intervjuu: Jüri Ratas
(Harju Elu)
- Eesti ja Ameerika kooli võrdlus abiõpetaja kogemuse põhjal
Allison Vas - Tallinna Euroopa kooli klassiõpetaja
(Õpetajate Leht)
"Käitumise poolest tunduvad Tallinna õpilased iseseisvamad kui Connecticuti omad. Nad lähevad ise kooli ja koolist koju isegi algklassides. Connecticuti õpilased viiakse koolibussiga kodutänavalt kooli ja tagasi või sõidutavad vanemad neid autoga. Eesti õpilased tunduvad küpsemad ja vastutustundlikumad. Keegi ei pane algklassiõpilasi ritta ega kõnni nendega mööda koridori. Õpilased teavad, millist käitumist neilt oodatakse, ja tavaliselt ka vastavad ootustele."
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"USA-s jälgitakse käitumist pidevalt – algklassiõpilasi pole lubatud hetkekski üksi jätta. Arvan, et Eestis pakutav iseseisvus arendab lastes eneseusaldust ja probleemide lahendamise oskust."
- Nord Stream 2: why it's so contentious
(RFERL)
“The project aims to double the capacity of the already-built Nord Stream 1, to 110 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year – more than a quarter of the European Union's gas consumption. It will connect Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea, circumventing the traditional route through Ukraine. Nord Stream 2 has been sharply criticized by several countries, both within the EU and abroad. Opponents of the project fear the pipeline will increase the bloc's substantial dependence on Russian gas and argue that it runs counter to international sanctions imposed on Russia following its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula."
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"Environmental activists have also expressed concerns about the damage the project could do to marine wildlife, with some even calling it the “pipeline from hell.”
- Eestisse saabusid liitlaste sõjalaevad
(ERR)
"Reedel saabusid nädalavahetuseks Eestisse plaanilisele visiidile NATO 1. alalise mereväegrupi ja miinitõrjeüksuse Baltron sõjalaevad. Esmaspäeval seilavas sõjalaevad taas Läänemerele, et oma ülesannetega jätkata."
- Paksu Margareeta torni alt leiti keskaegseid müüriosi
(ERR)
"Tallinna muinsuskaitse arheoloog Ragnar Nurga sõnul on tegu ilmselt Suure Rannavärava varasemasse ehitusetappi kuuluvate müüridega, mis ehitati 15. sajandi keskpaigas ehk enam kui 50 aastat enne Paksu Margareeta suurtükitorni."
- Estonia to identify people using Artificial Intelligence (AI)
(Postimees)
"The first such robot was installed by ISP Elisa in its shop at the Kristiine Keskus mall this week and is already identifying people who wish to get a Mobile-ID. 'The client will have to look into a webcam for a moment the image taken by which is used by the AI to determine whether the person in front of the camera is indeed the person associated with the personal identification code,' said Andrus Hiiepuu of Elisa."
- EU: Don’t believe the doomsayers. Here is Europe’s good news
(The Guardian)
"Beware doom-laden forecasts about Europe: sometimes they bear less relation to reality than to the ideology of those who seek to undermine the European project, have deep qualms about it, or just think it’s going to the dogs. Loud, scary headlines make for more clicks. Polarised discourses breed oversimplification.”
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Thursday 13. September
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✔︎ Estonia eyes mid-range air defense systems to rectify NATO ‘oversight’
(Defense News)
"Estonia’s military is prioritizing the purchase of a midrange air defense system as the country seeks to plug a capability gap its defense minister called the result of a “total oversight” by NATO. … The country is looking at procuring a medium-range air defense system, similar to the Kongsberg network-centric air defence system, or NASAMS, purchased by Lithuania, and which is also in use by Finland."
- Technical: NASAMS 2 operation and capabilities
(Global Security)
"A complete NASAMS 2 battery consists of 12 missile launchers (LCHR) (each one carrying six AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles), eight radars (AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel F1 Improved Sentinel X band 3D radar), one fire control centre (CTOC), one electro-optical camera vehicle (MSP500) and one Tactical Control Cell (TCC) vehicle."
- NATO Holds Drills to Deter Russian Planes From Entering Airspace
(Moscow Times)
"Fighter pilots carrying air-to-air missiles from 10 NATO nations took turns to simulate the interception of a Belgian air force transport plane en route to Spain, performing visual inspections of the aircraft's status by hovering off the wings at speeds of 900 kilometers per hour. Some 60 NATO jets, mainly from European allies, are on alert to defend alliance airspace, as NATO deals with a dramatic increase in Russian air activity on its borders since Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014, with a record 870 interceptions in the Baltics alone in 2016."
- Rumor/scare tactics: "The Russian military has reportedly tested advanced missiles that may be able to evade detection by radar technology at its biggest war games in four decades, currently underway near the Chinese border.”
- Kuulujutt/hirmu taktika: "Venemaa katsetas Vostokil radarile nähtamatuid rakette."
- Baltic Air Defence: Addressing a Critical Military Capability Gap
by Sir Christopher Harper
(ICDS - June 2018)
"The architects of early Baltic defence efforts saw large conscript armies as the best way to deter a potentially hostile neighbour. … In the air domain, one clear capability shortfall is in air defence. The Baltic states have, through the Baltic Air Surveillance Network—BALTNET—built a capacity for air surveillance and command and control which is adequate in peacetime, but insufficiently robust to support NATO’s defence of Baltic airspace in times of crisis."
- Report: Air Defence of the Baltic States
(ICDS - May 2018 pdf)
Summary: "Air defence is the biggest military capability gap in the region, and while the three states have taken steps to address this, the full range of systems required for comprehensive, layered air defence is prohibitively expensive. This is a concern for the Baltic states, but a vulnerable north-eastern flank should also be a concern for NATO as a whole."
- Air defence the most critical gap in the Baltics’ military capabilities
(Estonian World - July 2018)
- Findings of a Study on Strengthening the Air Defence Capabilities of the Baltic Republics
(Defense Aerospace)
- Eesti Kommunismiohvrid 1940–1991
Memoriaali Andmebaas
"Andmebaasi kantakse aastatel 1940-1991 Nõukogude Liidu okupatsioonivõimu poolt kohtuväliselt represseeritud või alusetult süüdimõistetud ning vastavalt Eesti Vabariigi seadusele kohtuväliselt represseeritud ja alusetult süüdimõistetud isikute rehabiliteerimise kohta rehabiliteerimisele kuulunud isikud. Lisaks sisaldab andmebaas: vahetu kommunistliku terrori käigus hukkunud isikuid; kannatanuid, kes vangistusest või asumiselt vabanesid; küüditamisele kuulunuid, kuid keda ei küüditatud ja neid, kelle saatus on teadmata."
https://www.memoriaal.ee/andmebaas/#andmebaasis-kasitlemata-isikud
- Estonia's Victims Of Communism 1940–1991
The Memorial’s Database
"People who have been extrajudicially repressed or groundlessly convicted by the Soviet occupying regime in 1940-1991 and are subject to rehabilitation according to the act of the Republic of Estonia concerning the rehabilitation of persons who have been extrajudicially repressed and groundlessly convicted are entered in this database. Additionally, the database includes: persons who perished directly in the course of communist terror; sufferers who were released from imprisonment or exile; persons who were on the lists to be deported but who were not deported, and persons whose fate is unknown."
- Where have all the teachers gone?
(Estonian World)
“… education experts in the UK were saying that Finland ranks so highly in academic achievement because it pays its teachers a good salary. Yet Estonia, with its poorly paid and unappreciated teachers, is at the same high level as Finland. How can this be?"
- Ukraine’s hidden menace - landmines
(Politico-Europe)
"No one really knows the extent of contamination, but the Ukrainian defense ministry has said it estimates around 16,000 square kilometers are strewn with land-mines, trip wires and booby traps. While some experts say this figure is excessive, all agree defusing the region poses an immense long-term challenge. … “There is no doubt that Ukraine is one of the most mine-affected countries in the world,” says Yuri Shahramanyan, program manager for HALO Trust de-miners in the region. Even if fighting were to stop tomorrow, it would take decades to make the region safe again."
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Wednesday 12. September
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- Walmart’s T-shirt homage to mass murder
by Mari-Ann Kelam
(Acton Org.)
"On Aug. 23, the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian Regimes, Estonia opened a new memorial for all victims of communism. The 30,000 square foot structure in Tallinn is dedicated to the people of Estonia who suffered under the terror inflicted by the Soviet Union. The names of 22,000 people who were murdered or never returned home from the inhumane conditions in Siberia are inscribed on the memorial’s plaques.”
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"On this background it is extremely concerning and offensive to find Walmart and other retailers promoting what they call “cool shirts“ — bright red tees emblazoned with the Soviet hammer and sickle. Making light of the atrocities committed under and in the name of communism shows ignorance and callousness."
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| Walmart On-Line |
- Walmart must remove Soviet-themed shirts
(multiple sources)
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- No NATO nation has suffered a cyber attack big enough to trigger Article 5 - yet
(Fifth Domain)
"Some of the things which have happened are very serious,” said Jüri Luik, Estonia’s defense minister. “Whether it would constitute an act of war, I think we haven’t risen to that level yet.” Although small in size and budget, Estonia is widely acknowledged as a leader in cyber defenses, due in part to necessity. Among the most wired nations in the world, Estonia famously suffered a massive digital attack in 2007 that sent the country into a flurry of investing in digital defenses. The country is also home to NATO’s cyber center of excellence.”
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“NATO itself doesn’t have a big cyber defense capability. These capabilities come from national governments and they can be used with the agreement of governments, especially the offensive” capabilities," Luik said."
- In Cyberwar, There Are No Rules
(Foreign Policy)
"In 2013, a group of experts on digital law convened in Tallinn, Estonia, and wrote the Tallinn Manual, the closest thing to digital Geneva Conventions the world currently has. (In 2017, it was updated to the Tallinn Manual 2.0.) It defined the characteristics of a cyberattack, including targeting and disabling critical infrastructure, hitting health care facilities, destroying transportation corridors or vehicles containing people, and attempts to penetrate the computer networks of opposing military forces. … NATO sponsored the Tallinn conference, but the Tallinn Manual is nonbinding and was not an official NATO publication. Moreover, the alliance itself is currently on shaky ground, and there’s no guarantee that the United States would abide by any agreement."
- Siil 2022 large-scale military exercise
(Baltic Times)
"The commander of the Estonian defense forces Gen. Riho Terras met with the command of the 2nd Infantry Brigade to discuss preparations for the large-scale military exercise Siil 2022 (Hedgehog 2022). Terras met with the command of the 2nd Infantry Brigade in Luunja to discuss future perspectives and receive an overview of the current state of the infrastructure of the campus and the equipment and gear of the reserve units of the brigade …"
- Nordic, Baltic military infrastructure experts meeting in Tallinn
(Baltic Times)
"Property and procurement specialists and engineers in the field of national defense from seven countries have gathered in the Estonian capital for a conference of Nordic and Baltic specialists in military infrastructure. … The collaboration between the managers of the military real estate of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, which got its start in 1973, was joined by Finland in the 1990s and by Estonia and Latvia in 2015. By now also Lithuania has joined the cooperation network."
- EU parliament opens punitive action against Hungary for damaging it’s own democracy
(Reuters | BBC | Politico)
“… the first time the European legislature has triggered the so-called Article 7 procedure against an EU member state."
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- Euroopa Parlament toetas Ungari vastu rikkumismenetluse algatamist
(Postimees)
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- What Can We Expect of Vladimir Putin When He Is Scared?
by Masha Gessen
(The New Yorker)
"Three things scare Putin: large protests, especially when thousands of people take to the streets without official permission; the messiness of the democratic process, especially elections; and the loss of his own popularity. All three have been in evidence recently.”
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"Putin’s … tool of distraction has been war. Less than a year after taking office for the third time, in 2012, he launched a war with Ukraine, occupying Crimea. This fostered a sense of triumph and national unity that kept his popularity safely in the stratosphere for four years. Meanwhile, though, the slowing economy, stagnating oil prices, and Western sanctions drove increasing numbers of Russians into poverty. This created worry that bubbled just under the surface …"
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Tuesday 11. September
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- 30 years since the most important Singing Revolution concert
(Estonian World)
"From a song against phosphorite excavation to the Singing Revolution."
- Song of Estonia
(Estonica)
"On 11 September 1988, about 300,000 people gathered at the event known as the Song of Estonia, organised by the Popular Front. Trivimi Velliste, Chairman of the Estonian Heritage Society, for the first time publicly uttered the idea that only a year ago would have been unthinkable — Estonia must become an independent country.”
- Läti ostab neli Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helikopterit
(Postimees)
- Latvia just bought 4 Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawks
(Defense Post | Airforce Tech.)
"The sale [$200 million] includes ten General Electric engines, ten Embedded Global Positioning Systems/Inertial Navigation Systems, five Talon Forward Looking Infrared Radar (FLIR), communications equipment, 20 AN/AVS-6 Helmet Mounted Night Vision Devices, as well as spare and repair parts, support equipment, training and other support."
"The primary mission of the Blackhawk helicopter is as a troop carrier and logistical support aircraft, but in addition the helicopter can be configured to carry out medical evacuation, command-and-control, search-and-rescue, armed escort, electronic warfare and executive transport missions. … The helicopters are manufactured at the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation production facilities based in Stratford, Connecticut, USA.”
- Russia’s Primary Targets
by Janusz Bugajski
(CEPA)
"Moscow has a number of latent conflicts that it can reanimate. … Estonia and Latvia have been in Russia’s crosshairs since Putin assumed power almost twenty years ago. Their economic and political successes upon leaving Moscow’s orbit contrasts most starkly with Russia’s failures.”
- Woodward: Venemaa on valmis kasutama Balti sõjas NATO vastu tuumarelvi
(ERR | Postimees)
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✔︎ Moscow’s Much-Ballyhooed Vostok 2018 Military Maneuvers Involve Far Fewer Soldiers than Advertised
by Paul Goble
(Window on Eurasia)
"For Russian rulers, it has long been 'good tone' to frighten the rest of the world with their country’s 'military might,' military analyst Aleksandr Golts says. Putin is no exception, but the size and even intentions of the military maneuvers taking place now under his watch do not stand up to close scrutiny."
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"In Asiatic Russia, Moscow can lie to the world about what it is doing without anyone likely to find out, while in European Russia, its actions would be subject to scrutiny."
✔︎ Don’t Fear the Russian Military
by Mark Galeotti
(The Atlantic)
"This exercise is part of what I have called “heavy-metal diplomacy”: Russia’s use of its military to overawe and misdirect the West. We’ve seen this kind of undiplomatic diplomacy at work in Europe, where Moscow has responded to debates in Sweden and Finland about joining nato with war games simulating Russian invasions. We also see this sort of diplomacy at work in the numbers game Vladimir Putin plays. In last year’s Zapad war games, Moscow lowballed the number of soldiers participating in order to keep it below the ceiling at which Western countries would be able to send inspectors under Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe rules. This time around, the Russians seem happy to play up those numbers. But the much-hyped 300,000 figure involves much false accounting …"
✔︎ Vostok 2018: Fact, Fiction and Hyperbole
(Jamestown Org.)
“… to suggest this exercise alone provides evidence for the development of a Sino-Russian alliance is stretching it too far. Prior to Vostok 2018 commencing, it was revealed that the Russian defense ministry also extended an invitation to a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member—Turkey—to participate. But no one suggested this signaled a new partnership with Ankara."
Additional Articles on Vostok 2018:
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- Sweden's Elections Show That a Strong Far Right Is Europe's New Normal
(Foreign Affairs)
"As Sweden’s election results came in around midnight on Sunday, almost all of the country’s major parties were feeling like winners. The ruling Social Democrats were pleased simply because they did not collapse completely, as their brethren have done in the Netherlands and Germany. Although their 28.4% of the vote was nearly three percentage points below their 2014 result, they remained the single-largest party in the country. Their current coalition partner, the Greens, was relieved not to fall out of parliament. And the center-right Moderates, despite their vote share dropping from 23.3 to 19.8%, were happy because they remained Sweden’s second-largest party.”
"For those predicting a decisive right-wing triumph, the ultimate result didn’t quite live up to the hype.”
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Monday 10. September
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- Venemaa valmistub ajaloo suurimaks õppuseks
(Postimees)
"Venemaal algavad homme ajaloo suurimad õppused, millest võtavad lisaks 300 000 Vene sõdurile osa ka Hiina ja Mongoolia väed. NATO on nimetanud õppust suurkonflikti harjutamiseks."
- Danske Bank to publish results of Estonia money laundering case Sept 19
(Reuters)
- Washington Quietly Increases Lethal Weapons to Ukraine
(The American Conservative)
- Recent defence pacts nudge Finland away from it’s non-aligned status
(Yle)
"Former National Defence University docent Pekka Visuri says that there is no doubt Russia is following the development of the situation carefully. "There's no question about this, but no one knows what kinds of measures they will take in practice," he says.
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"Visuri says that the defence agreements Finland has entered into over the last two years are hardly mysterious, and yet they still leave room for interpretation. At the end of the day, Finland's political elite will decide what kinds of measures can be made on the basis of the pacts."
- Being Young and Russian in D.C.
(Politico)
"When Maria Butina, 29, was charged with acting as an unregistered Kremlin agent from her perch as a grad student at American University, it seemed to confirm Washington’s worst suspicions about them. Now, more so than ever, the capital’s young Russiantonians find themselves living in a battlefield of the new Cold War."
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"Their Tinder dates keep asking them if they’re spies. Their landlords are interrogating them. Their résumés are getting tossed in the trash, and when they do get the job, their boss might warn them not to mention their nationality to people at the office. If that sounds bad, many of them—especially opposition figures and gay men in exile—are regarded with more suspicion by their own government back home than by their new neighbors here.”
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"Of course, life for young Russiantonians is not an unending stream of side-eye glances and faux glasnost. The standard of living here is far better than in Russia, where the gross domestic product per capita is about $9,000. And for a sizable number of young Russians who came to Washington fleeing persecution, the city is a haven. …”
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Russia
“Trust No One"
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- Kremlin Taking Money from Population to Defend Itself against Divisions in Elite
(Window on Eurasia)
“Over the period of Putin’s rule, there has occurred not simply a selection but a qualitative change in the political class. The ruling elite now has been formed out of absolutely servile, cynical, incapable and irresponsible people capable of only responding to their bosses” rather than to the needs of the population …"
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"These officials absolutely do not understand in what country they are living. When I tell bureaucrats that the average income of the Russian family is today 38-40,000 rubles (550-580 US dollars) a month, they respond with surprise that it is impossible to live on those amounts.” - Levada Center director Lev Gudkov
- Pension Reform in Russia: How Has the Public Reacted So Far?
(Riddle)
"Since June, sociologists have recorded growing public dissatisfaction. ... 90% of Russians oppose the reform. (The last development that united Russians to the same extent was the annexation of Crimea, which triggered positive emotions.) Public approval ratings of the president and the government have both taken a hit. These last two months have seen Vladimir Putin’s approval rating drop from 80% to 70%. It is the steepest ratings drop he has faced in years. Effectively, the president’s approval rating has fallen to a level observed in 2011-2013. That was a time of protests, deferred effects of the economic crisis and a decline in people’s expectations."
- 'Hundreds' Detained As Kremlin Opponents Protest Pension-Reform Plan
(RFERL | Deutsche Welle)
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"Russian police have "stooped to a new low" by detaining "dozens of teenagers" during peaceful protests against the government's plan to raise the retirement age, Amnesty International says. The London-based human rights watchdog made the statement on September 10, a day after more than 1,000 people were detained nationwide as anti-Kremlin demonstrators took to the streets in rallies coinciding with regional and local elections.”
- Sergei Skripal and the Russian disinformation game
(BBC)
"A loosely-defined network of Russian state actors, state-controlled media, and armies of social media bots and trolls is said to work in unison to spread and amplify multiple narratives and conspiracies around cases like the Skripal poisoning. The goal is no longer to deny or disprove an official version of events, it is to flood the zone with so many competing versions that nothing seems to make sense.”
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"What is really striking is that you no longer see the Russian machine pushing a single message, it pushes dozens of messages," said Ben Nimmo, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who studies Russian disinformation. "The idea is to confuse people."
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