✔︎ Trident Juncture 18: biggest military exercise since the end of the Cold War - hosted by Norway 25. October to 7. November.
- Multiple sources - see Thursday's news listing
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Friday
26. October
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- Arvamus: Kes on rohkem eestlane?
Luukas Kristjan Ilves
(ERR)
"Ilves mõtestab kodanikuks olemist oma isikliku kogemuse läbi ning leiab, et Eestil oleks topeltkodakondsuse lubamisest rohkem võita kui kaotada."
- Opinion: Who is more Estonian?
"Reflecting on what it means to be a citizen based on his own personal experiences, Ilves finds that Estonia has more to gain than lose in allowing dual citizenship."
- Arvamus: Topeltkodakondsus toob kasu eestlastele
Abdul Turay
"Mu poeg on eestlane, kuid tal on sama olukord, mis Luukas Ilvesel. Kui ta saab 18-aastaseks, peab ta valiku langetama, kuid sellega kaasneb täiesti arusaamatu paradoks - ta saab Eesti kodakondsusest loobuda, kuid ta ei saa seda kaotada. Paljudel inimestel pole nii vedanud."
- Estonia to strip citizenship from Abkhazian Estonians
"According to a recent decision by the Supreme Court of Estonia, Estonians who left Estonia prior to the establishment of the Republic of Estonia and did not return after the Treaty of Tartu entered into force are not actually Estonian citizens. This decision has drastically affected one such Estonian family from Abkhazia from whom the state wants to strip their mistakenly granted citizenship by birth."
https://news.err.ee/871889/estonia-to-strip-citizenship-from-abkhazian-estonians-anvelt-wants-change
- Kaljulaid, Ratas call for citizenship laws to be amended if necessary
"Seeing all that has happened in recent weeks with the citizenship of Alli Rutto, an Estonian residing in Abkhazia, I am embarrassed," Kaljulaid wrote on Facebook, adding that she was embarrassed both as a person as well as a public officer for what happened to Rutto and other people in a similar position.”
- Estonia is still clearing thousands of World War II mines from its waters
(Washington Post)
"Mines and bombs from World War II also litter other bodies of water, including the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. But the only European states that have systematically attempted to clear the rusting weapons are those around the Baltic.”
—
"After World War II, the Allies decided to dump 300,000 metric tons of munitions into the ocean, which appeared to be the safest and most easily accessible disposal ground. But some of the weapons - including land mines containing mustard gas - were simply dropped into the Baltic and North seas rather than being taken to faraway dump sites."
- How to Talk About and With Russia: Estonia Has a Thing or Two to Learn From Finland
by Kristi Raik
(ICDS)
“… we tend to think Finns are naive about Russia."
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"This may be so with some ordinary citizens, but the people responsible for Finland’s foreign policy know their eastern neighbour. Estonians find it difficult to understand that the naive-sounding talk is part of the Finnish tradition of coping with Russia. The fake naiveté helps to maintain friendly relations with Russia—which Finland always strives to do, however desperate the situation. A foreign observer might not always know where the border between feigned and sincere goodwill lies.”
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"Estonia could learn a thing or two from Finnish traditions of communication with Russia. Finland tries to maintain a dialogue with its eastern neighbour in all circumstances. It is a complicated and dangerous game. Russia is striving to exploit its bilateral relations with EU member states to fragment European unity and disseminate its interpretations. One shouldn’t give Russia too many opportunities for doing this. Estonia views the Finnish-Russian dialogue with well-substantiated scepticism. Estonia has no reason to strive for similarly close contacts with Russia; it has neither the prerequisites nor the need for it. Nevertheless, Estonia would benefit from closer dialogue with our eastern neighbour. We have to know Russia and need contacts for that."
- After 700 years in Latvia, Baltic Germans vanished in a matter of weeks
(Latvian Broadcasting)
"In 1939, the twilight of the Latvian state was closing in, like a deadly avalanche. On August 23 the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was concluded; war broke out on September 1; the military base agreement, forced upon Latvia by the USSR followed on October 5. On that same day, German envoys in Rīga and Tallinn received a note from the Reich tasking them to inform the Latvian and Estonian governments about the repatriation of Baltic Germans. This operation had been planned in great haste and secrecy by Hitler.”
—
"The streets were full with carriages hauling furniture. Their real estate was taken over by a public company set up for the task. Baltic German companies were closed. The first ship left Latvia on November 7, and the last left the Baltic shores on December 16.”
—
"About 50,000 people had left Latvia in a matter of weeks. They were mostly the elites. It sparked an economic crisis. Demand decreased rapidly as the greater spenders had left. Real estate prices plunged as thousands of apartments had been left, some Rīga streets were abandoned entirely. The GDP was riven down by the closure of hundreds of companies. There was a labor shortage as well. A gaping hole had been torn in the Latvian nation. …"
- The Rise of Russia's GRU Military Intelligence Service
(Spiegel)
"Each autumn, Russia's GRU secret service celebrates its birthday. Falling on Nov. 5, the festival is officially called the Day of the Military Intelligence Agent and commemorates the founding of the Soviet military intelligence service in 1918.”
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"Since the dismantling of the Soviet Union's once all-purpose KGB, Russia has been home to a broad palette of intelligence agencies. The KGB's First Chief Directorate became the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation. The agency is regarded as chic and elegant, and it is located "in the forest," as its shielded headquarters are referred to in agent jargon. The KGB's Ninth Chief Directorate became the Federal Protective Service (FSO), which is responsible for providing protection to Putin and the Kremlin. The agency is feared primarily because proximity to Putin is synonymous with power in the country. The rest of the KGB became the Federal Security Service (FSB), the domestic intelligence agency. It's the best-known agency and it also took over KGB headquarters at Lubyanka Square. Unfortunately, it also adopted some of the Soviet secret polices' methods.”
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Thursday
25. October
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- NATO: 'Trident Juncture 18'
(Multiple sources)
"NATO begins it’s biggest military drills since the end of the Cold War."
"NATO näitab õppustega valmidust lüüa tagasi mistahes rünnak."
"Trident Juncture 18, as the operation has been called, will test the response of the North Atlantic alliance to a mock attack on Norway. Over two weeks, drills will stretch from the Baltic Sea to Iceland – with some of the action taking place close to Russia, which itself held a huge military drill last month."
"Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and select ships from Carrier Strike Group Eight (CSG-8) joined U.S. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps service members Oct. 25 for the largest NATO exercise since 2015 … After sailing off the coasts of Iceland and in the North Sea, strike group ships crossed the Arctic Circle and began operations in the Norwegian Sea.”
"The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (HSTCSG) will expand its compliment of capabilities off the coast of Norway, performing air, surface and subsurface operations while being confronted by the trio of freezing temperatures, fierce winds, and unpredictable seas.”
“… Sweden has stayed away from military alliances. Deciding to participate in an exercise that stresses the mutual defense of member states as embodied in Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty, shows a profound shift in that country’s strategic thinking. Finland has for decades delicately balanced its independence and internal politics with the need to maintain proper relations with neighboring Russia. Playing the “NATO card” keeps Moscow guessing as to its long-term intentions.”
"Venemaa reaktsioon NATO suurõppusele on olnud tagasihoidlik.”
"The goal of the exercises is to test and train NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force and follow-on forces. The rapid reaction force is designed to spearhead a defense against an attack on an alliance member within days and is a component of the NATO Response Force."
"The exercise envisages an armed attack against Norway, a scenario that seems all too real after a year of provocative Russian exercises aimed at Norway, such as a simulated attack against the Norwegian intelligence service installation in Vardo by Russian bombers in March 2017.”
"The Finnish Air Force's Lapland Air Command's main operating base at Rovaniemi will also be used by some of the aircraft participating in the exercise."
"Moskva: NATO üritab õppustega tõmmata Rootsit ja Soomet oma tegevusse."
- Putin: "Venemaa ei ähvarda kedagi, relvastub vaid enesekaitseks."
(Postimees)
- Top 3 Ways to Spread Disinformation About Military Exercises
(EU vs Disinfo)
- European Intervention Initiative: The Big Easy
(Berlin Policy Journal 15. Oct.)
"The European Intervention Initiative (E2I), outlined by French President Emmanuel Macron during his September 2017 Sorbonne speech, will take a more concrete form this November following the ministerial meeting and Military European Strategic Talks (MEST) setting the political guidance and technical processes. So far, nine countries—Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom—have signed a Letter of Intent, and others may soon join. …"
- Vormsi: Soviet Border Guard Station to Sauna
(Deep Baltic)
- Lithuanian freedom fighters in Russian propaganda: why does the Kremlin care?
(Delfi-Lithuania)
"The Kremlin's propaganda media aim to portray the partisans as Nazi collaborators who actively participated in the extermination of the Jewish population. Also, there is an effort to depict the entire partisan movement as criminal, and there are repeated lies about how the main partisan leaders were Nazi criminals, Jew-killers, bandits who terrorized the local communities.”
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"The goal of Russian propaganda is to whitewash the history of Soviet occupation."
- Kaitseväe juhataja Võru maavaidluse kohta: riik ei saa anda järele väljapressimisele
(Lõuna Eestlane)
- Counting the Dead in Europe’s Forgotten War
(Foreign Policy)
"The head of the OSCE’s observer mission in Ukraine describes the challenges and frustrations of monitoring the war."
- EU: Headed for a Brexit Crashout
(New York Magazine)
"Time to stop fixating on emerging economies like Turkey, or Trump’s trade wars hurting global growth, and turn your focus to the U.K. - which is even now, after last week’s summit, on a path to the worst sort of Brexit, a disorderly “no deal” in which the U.K. leaves the European Union with no agreement at all on March 29. That means no plan and no disruption-reducing transition period — which in turn means chaos at U.K. and E.U. ports, food and medication shortages, and, if we’re unlucky, an eventual U.K. financial crisis for which we’re extremely unprepared. And there isn’t a scenario that has a decent chance of changing that trajectory.”
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Wednesday
24. October
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- NATO ei taha Euroopasse rohkem tuumarelvi
(Pealinn)
"NATO peasekretär Jens Stoltenberg ütles kolmapäeval, et tema arvates ei taha alliansi liikmesriigid vastuseks Venemaa uuele raketiprogrammile Euroopasse rohkem tuumarelvi. "Me ei taha uut külma sõda," ütles Stoltenberg. "Me ei taha uut võidurelvastumist."
- NATO: More nukes in Europe not likely
(The Hill | Baltic Times)
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- Moscow’s Nuclear Enigma: What Is Russia’s Arsenal Really For?
(Foreign Affairs)
"But those who fret about the Russian arsenal misread the Kremlin’s intentions and put forward the wrong solutions. The real danger is not a new and more aggressive Russian nuclear strategy; it is the Kremlin’s failure to communicate its goals effectively to leaders in Washington and elsewhere."
- Intervjuu: Kindral Riho Terras
(ERR)
"Detsembri alguses lõpeb kindral Riho Terrasel kaitseväe juhataja seitsme-aastane ametiaeg. Ta tunnistab, et tunneb kogu aeg hirmu, mõeldes Eesti sõduritele välismissioonidel, aga ei karda Venemaa rünnakut, sest on kindel, et president Putin usub NATO-sse praegu palju rohkem, kui viis aastat tagasi."
- Estonia should stop emitting CO2 by 2030
(Baltic Course)
"Estonia should strive towards a situation where by 2030, transportation is the only pollutant emitting carbon dioxide, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid said. "I believe we should start discussing that, excluding transportation, Estonia, too, should be free of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. Today, the knowledge and the technology are good enough for that - that is what our green energy specialists say," Kaljulaid, who is currently on a working visit to the Pacific Islands, told LETA/BNS on Wednesday. "I think it is worthy of a discussion."
- Teises kvartalis oli Euroopa Liidu kõige madalama riigivõlaga riik jätkuvalt Eesti
(Postimees)
- Data breach dents Estonia’s reputation for online expertise
(Emerging Europe)
- European elections 'face growing threat of manipulation’
(The Guardian)
"The scandal over the misuse of Facebook data by Cambridge Analytica and the growing evidence of illegal interference in elections were described by the commission as a “wake-up call” to which national governments had to respond."
- Apple CEO Tim Cook's sharp rebuke of 'data industrial complex'
(Washington Post)
"Apple chief executive Tim Cook, who spoke to the European Parliament in Brussels, praised the EU’s Global Data Protection Regulation, which other companies have criticized as cumbersome and posing a risk to innovation. "It is time for the rest of the world - including my home country - to follow your lead.”
- Tim Cook says tech's dark side is real
(Axios)
"Platforms and algorithms that promised to improve our lives can actually magnify our worst human tendencies."
- German-Russian Rapprochement: Gas and Common Enemies
(Warsaw Institute)
"The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project is extremely important for both parties; it will enable Russia to increase both Germany and Europe’s dependence on its raw material while hitting Ukraine. As for Berlin, it will be provided with direct access to such volumes of gas that would manage to dominate the gas market in Central and part of Western Europe.”
--
"On August 18, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Vladimir Putin held a meeting at the German government’s castle in Meseburg. This was the first bilateral summit of both leaders in Germany since 2013 that clearly reflected a noticeable warming in German-Russian relations. According to many Germans who advocated cooperation with Moscow, such step constituted a symbolic return to a “diplomatic normality” after ties between the two countries had been strained following Russia’s annexation of the Crimea region. And even Putin was the first to reach out to the Germans …”
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"A gas covenant: Berlin and Moscow have long ignored protests from such countries as Poland and Ukraine, as evidenced by the implementation of the Nord Stream pipeline and then also by launching the Nord Stream 2 project."
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Tuesday
23. October
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- Estonia send ten staff officers to NATO exercise in Norway
(ERR)
"In Norway, NATO will be conducting the largest exercise since the Cold War, bringing together for the first snowfall some 50,000 troops in the north of the country to demonstrate to Russia the alliance's capability to defend an ally against any adversary. Trident Juncture will begin on Thursday and run through 7 November."
- Finland to prohibit energy use of coal by 2029
(Helsinki Times)
"The Finnish government re-affirmed its commitment to combating climate change by submitting two legislative proposals to the Parliament on Thursday. One of the proposals would promote the use of biofuels in transport and that of biogas-fuels in heating and manufacturing. The other, in turn, would prohibit the use of coal for energy production as of 1 May 2029."
- Toward a "New Ostpolitik"
(Berlin Policy Journal)
"Rather than making overtures to the Kremlin, German foreign minister Heiko Maas pushes for more cooperation with Central Europe. “We need an understanding between all EU members about the foundations of joint action” toward Russia, Maas said. A new Ostpolitik “must take into account the needs of all Europeans—those of the Baltic states and Poland as well as those of the western [European] countries.“
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"In order to achieve this unity, Germany should act as a bridge-builder, counterbalancing the recent drift between the EU’s East and West triggered by the refugee crisis. Rather than simply criticizing Eastern neighbors for their attitudes, “[Germans] must learn to see Europe more through the eyes of other Europeans,” Maas said. “We Germans in particular should stop taking the moral high ground on migration, especially vis-à-vis our partners from Central and Eastern Europe. Mutual finger wagging and moral arrogance will only deepen divisions.”
- Eight of the 47 howitzers the Latvian army bought from Austria will be stationed in Latgale
(Latvian Broadcasting)
- The Case for a Permanent U.S. Military Presence in Poland
(War on the Rocks)
- Vene saatkond jagas Eesti välisministeeriumi postitust annekteeritud Krimmist
(Postimees)
"Venemaa saatkond jagas eelmisel nädalal Twitteris Eesti välisministeeriumi kaastundeavalust Krimmi koolitulistamise pärast, saatkond ei märganud aga, et välisministeeriumi postituses on kasutatud sõnu «annekteeritud Krimm»."
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Monday
22. October
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- Väliseestlaste organisatsioon soovib 1944. aasta põgenikele mälestuspäeva
(ERR)
(ERR)
"Ülemaailmne Eesti Kesknõukogu (ÜEKN) saatis riigikogule pöördumise, milles tegi ettepaneku kuulutada 19. september ametlikult 1944. aasta suurpõgenemise mälestuspäevaks."
- Latvia's innovative diaspora law ready for decisive vote
(Latvian Broadcasting)
- Does Estonia’s History with Two Orthodox Churches have Lessons for Ukraine?
(Window on Eurasia)
"The history of Orthodoxy in Estonia shows that “the peaceful coexistence of two churches is possible” in a single country; but it also shows how difficult that situation can prove for the faithful and for the countries involved."
- Ministry proposes to establish Estonia's eastern border requirements as EU border standard
(Baltic Times)
- After Estonia's ID-card train wreck this identity app is taking Baltics by storm
(ZDNet)
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- Disarming Disinfo
by Brian Whitmore
(CEPA podcast)
- Lithuanian army's Iron Wolf brigade affiliated to German army division
(Delfi Lithuania)
“… will open more opportunities to ensure our Brigade is ready to act in composition of a division through training and exercises. It will also improve interoperability with the German-led NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group."
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Russia
“Trust No One"
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- Is There a Successor to Putin?
(Riddle)
"Russians are experiencing a lack of stability, which reinforces a demand for an ‘iron fist’ that could restore order. … According to a July 2017 Levada survey, 44% believe power should be vested in the hands of a single, strong person, up from 32% in 2016. At the same time, the share of those who condemn Stalin dropped dramatically thanks to the growing number of indifferent youth."
- GRU Exposure: A Sign of Internal Power Struggles?
(Riddle)
"Intra-elite conflicts within the regime of Vladimir Putin have always fascinated Russia watchers. This is understandable: hardly anything would upend the current system more than the growth of internal contradictions and inter-clan fights. Fresh developments have brought this topic right back to the forefront. Namely, the recent exposure of employees of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defence (more commonly known as the GRU) relating to the Skripal poisonings."
- Kremlin Propagandist Calls to Define Limits of Free Speech in Russia
(The Moscow Times)
"Top Kremlin propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov asked Russian academics on Thursday “to define the limits of what is not inadmissible and what is allowed under freedom of speech and freedom of expression.” Kiselyov, often described as the Kremlin’s chief spin doctor, is best known as presenter of Vesti Nedeli, a weekly news programme on the state-run Rossia 1 television network. Earlier this week, Kiselyov suggested “narrowing the range of freedom of speech in Russia,” when criticizing an upcoming satirical film about the siege of Leningrad during World War II."
- Moscow bans ceremony honoring victims of Stalin’s Terror
(The Guardian)
"Memorial, the country’s oldest rights group, has held a 12-hour ceremony every year on 29 October for the past 11 years. Hundreds of people read out names of those killed during Stalin-era repressions at a memorial in Lubyanka Square, outside the headquarters of the current security service and its Stalin-era predecessors. Historians estimate about a million people perished in Stalin’s Terror, also known as the Great Purge, in the 1930s."
- Putin Core Team On Its Way to Being as Old as Brezhnev’s Politburo Was
(Window on Eurasia)
"Vladimir Putin has hyped his youthful physical well being so often that many are in danger of forgetting that at the end of his current term in 2924, he will be 72, the Ustinov Trolling Telegram channel says. But even more, his closest entourage will in many cases be as old or older and thus resemble the aging Leonid Brezhnev’s Politburo.”
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