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| (Decided we needed a nice springtime photo to get our minds off the winter weather!) |
✔︎ Dirty money risks encroaching on Estonia's digital utopia
- Reuters
✔︎ Kes sel aastal presidendilt teenetemärgi saavad
✔︎ Europe worried after US announces nuclear arms treaty exit. European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called on both countries to stick to the treaty. “What we definitely don’t want to see is our continent going back to being a battlefield or a place where other superpowers confront themselves.”
- AP
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Friday
1. February 2019
Valijakompass
“ERR.ee avas oma valijakompassi.”
Dirty money risks encroaching on Estonia's digital utopia
(Reuters)
“The Danske debacle was rooted in old school subterfuge – offshore shell companies were used to disguise where the money was coming from. But Estonia’s population of e-residents, some of whom bank in the country even though they live abroad, potentially offers a high-tech route for suspect funds.
“The lesson of Danske is, I hope, enough for us,” Kilvar Kessler, the head of Estonia’s financial watchdog, the Finantsinspektsioon, told Reuters. “You onboarded customers which were offshore companies. … Now e-residents. Exactly the same questions will be asked. Who are they? Why do they need a bank account in Estonia?”
Is the Country’s E-Residency Program a Giant Loophole for Money-Laundering?
(CCN - Norway)
“There is a money laundering risk with cryptocurrency operators. We have made it too easy for these crypto operators now.“
Finnish PM: Brexit taking EU attention away from important issues
(Politico-Europe)
“Asked how frustrated he feels about Brexit on a scale from 1 to 10, Juha Sipilä answers ’12.’.”
“Swedish foreign minister: I ‘cannot forgive’ UK for Brexit.”
Opinion: Saving NATO
(New York Times Editorial Board)
“The House voted overwhelmingly to block President Trump’s threat to quit the Atlantic alliance. The Senate should promptly follow suit. … Many legal scholars say he can pull out of treaties unilaterally without Congress’s consent, but others say Congress has made clear that NATO is different. It’s time for Congress to pre-empt any possible debate about this question.”
Constitutional Issues Relating to the NATO Support Act
(Lawfare)
“The NATO Support Act … does three things. First, it states the “sense of Congress” that the president “shall not withdraw the United States from NATO,” and that “the case Goldwater v. Carter is not controlling legal precedent.”
—
“Second, it states that “the policy of the United States” is to remain in NATO, to reject efforts to withdraw from NATO, and to work with and support NATO.”
—
“Third, and most importantly, it prohibits funds “to be appropriated, obligated, or expended to take any action to withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty.”
EU capitals agree to visa-free Schengen access for Brits
(Politico)
“EU ambassadors want to allow British citizens entering the Schengen travel area post Brexit to stay for up to 90 days without a visa …”
Poland and the Future of European Defence
by Paul Taylor
PDF Download:
Any Moscow Attempt to Annex Belarus by Force will Be the Beginning of the End of Russia
(Window on Eurasia)
“Pavel Severinets, a Belarusian Christian Democrat who plans to run for president, says … “For 500 years, Moscow been trying to swallow up Belarus but has failed and will fail again.”
Europe worried after US announces nuclear arms treaty exit
(AP | others)
—
“USA alustab homme lahkumist tuumajõudude leppest.”
https://www.postimees.ee/6513552/usa-alustab-homme-lahkumist-tuumajoudude-leppest-nato-toetab-otsust
—
—
“Maailmalõpu anatoomia ehk miks inimkond pidevalt oma hukku ennustab. … Üks osa on puhtalt psühholoogiline.”
Tallinn to host a high-profile AI conference 7. March
(Estonian World - 28. Jan.)
“The Estonian president, Kersti Kaljulaid, will open the international conference that will specifically focus on data skills and AI adoption in organisations.”
Thursday
31. January 2019
PPA kuulutas välja kagupiiri ehitushanke
(ERR)
“Kagupiiri taristu esimese etapi ehitustööd kulgevad piirilõigul Võrumaal alates Eesti, Läti, Venemaa kolmikpunktist kuni Luhamaa piiripunktini. Piiritaristu väljaehitus hõlmab patrull- ja ligipääsuteede, viivitus- ja loomatõkkeaia, liivariba, elektrivarustatuse, kanalisatsiooni ja muu kaasneva rajamist.”
—
“Politsei kuulutab välja kagupiiri esimese etapi ehitushanke.”
“Kas meie välispiir on kaitstud?”
“Idapiiri väljaehitus elavdab nii ehitussektorit kui kohalikku ettevõtlust.”
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Estonian-Russian border near Irboska, Pskov Oblast, 30 km
east of the present Estonian-Russian border
March 1920
|
Building Estonia's eastern border may take at least 8 years
(Baltic Times)
“The Estonian Police and Border Guard Board … on Thursday said that it is announcing a procurement for the contract to build border infrastructure along a 23.5-kilometer section of the Estonian-Russian border in the territory of Võru County - the first section of the Estonian-Russian border in southeastern Estonia to be built.”
Unsafe Polish meat exported to 12 EU countries
(BBC | Ärileht | Politico-Europe | Yle)
[Affected: Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Germany and Slovakia.]
“Condemned Polish beef not to reach Estonian stores.”
“Poola haigete loomade liha on jõudnud Eestisse.”
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Eesti õhuruumis lendasid Global Hawk ja USA luurelennuk Boeing RC-135V
(ERR)
 |
| Wikimedia Commons |
Europe in pieces: Where voters disagree
(Politico-Europe)
“The European Parliament election in May is expected to produce a major turnover in political power in the EU’s institutions … But what are voters most concerned about and do they trust the European Union to deliver?”
Is NATO Deterrence a Paper Tiger?
(Carnegie Europe)
“A selection of experts answer …”
NATO heavy weapons to Baltics
(Postimees)
Latvian broadcast regulator hits Russian channel with 3-month ban
(Latvian Broadcasting)
“Rossija RTR, despite being a Kremlin-supporting Russian-language channel, is actually registered in Sweden. Consequently it has sent notifications of its decision to the European Commission, and the Swedish Press and Broadcasting Authority.”
Wednesday
30. January 2019
Piiril konfiskeeriti mitu ebaseaduslikku relva
(Lõuna Leht)
U.S. President Abandoning Security Cooperation
(Foreign Affairs)
“According to a recent article in The New York Times, he has repeatedly expressed a desire to withdraw the United States from NATO. But international cooperation covers a lot more than treaty alliances and multilateral organizations. Every year, countries sign dozens of security agreements covering everything from biological weapons to defense research. The United States used to be a leading player. No longer. Under Trump, the flood of new security partnerships has slowed to a trickle. That is bad news for U.S. security.”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko puts 'integration with EU and Nato' at heart of re-election bid
(Irish Independent)
Majority of Russians Believe There Is a Threat of War
(The Moscow Times)
“The fear of war among Russians has gradually subsided after the 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, when it peaked at 68 percent in 2015, Levada said. In its latest survey, 56 percent of Russian respondents told Levada that they think the threat of war with other countries is real. Another 39 percent said they doubt that there is a threat of military conflict.”
U.S. Policy on Europe Is Up in the Air
(Kathimerini)
[Wess Mitchell, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, resigned last week.]
—
“The Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ President Ivo Daalder, who was US ambassador to NATO in the Obama administration, said: “Wess Mitchell’s resignation, which follows earlier resignations of all the top Europe and NATO people in the Pentagon, sends a disquieting picture to our allies in Europe of a lessened interest in the continent. That means growing trouble for Europe and likely a deeper split across the Atlantic – exactly what Russia and Putin for years have been aiming for.”
Wess Mitchell Warned About ‘Politicizing’ the Threat From Russia
(The Atlantic - August 2018)
“The most dangerous thing in the world we could do is to politicize the challenge [from Russia], which in itself would be a gift to Putin,” said Wess Mitchell during testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.”
—
“Putin’s thesis is that the American constitution is an experiment that will fail if it is challenged in the right way from within,” Mitchell continued. “Putin wants to break apart the American republic not by influencing an election or two, but by systematically inflaming the fault lines within our society. Accepting this fact is absolutely essential for developing a long-term response to the problem.”
Top diplomat for European affairs resigns from State Department
(Multiple Sources)
“Wess Mitchell joins a revolving door of senior officials leaving the Trump administration at the beginning of its third year. His departure comes almost a year after H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser who was instrumental in bringing Mitchell to the administration, was abruptly dismissed.”
“The State Department is Losing a Committed Atlanticist”
“Wess Mitchell's Resignation Surprised European Diplomats”
“Playing with nuclear fire on NATO and Russia.”
“The Conservative Case for NATO.”
Eurozone’s tragic flaw: Too much public debt
by Juha Sipilä, prime minister of Finland
(Politico-Europe)
Global popularity ratings for all world leaders has declined
(Deutsche Welle)
“That indicates dwindling stability around the world …”
Tuesday
29. January 2019
Vaata, kes sel aastal presidendilt teenetemärgi saavad
(Postimees)
Eesti tõusis korruptsioonitaju põhjal riikide edetabelis kolm kohta kõrgemale
(ERR)
“Rahvusvaheline korruptsioonivastane organisatsioon Transparency International avaldas 2018. aasta korruptsioonitaju indeksi (CPI) tulemused: Eesti paigutub 73 punktiga koos Iirimaa ja Jaapaniga 18. kohale, tõustes järjestuses kolme koha võrra.”
Decline in Finland's birth rate continues
(Yle)
“According to preliminary data from Statistics Finland, 47,307 births were recording in the country last year, a good 3,000 fewer than in 2017. This was the eighth year in a row that the number of babies born in Finland fell. Finland's total population stood at 5,521,773 at the end of last year.”
U.S. President sat down with Putin at G20 meeting without U.S. note-taker / translator
(Financial Times)
“Donald Trump sat down with Vladimir Putin for several minutes of conversation at the end of an evening event at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires in November, with no translator or note-taker from the US side to record the dialogue between the leaders.”
Europe is trying to make the internet more fair. How that may backfire.
(Christian Science Monitor)
“The main controversy stems from the directive’s Article 13, which will govern internet platforms that organize and promote large amounts of copyright-protected works uploaded by their users in order to make a profit. The article would make platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Tumblr directly liable for any copyright infringements committed by their users – effectively forcing them to police their own users for copyright violations.”
“… Article 11 would establish fees for quoting snippets of online news articles, such as the headlines, photos, and summaries that you might see on Google News or displayed when someone shares a hyperlink on Twitter or Facebook. … Critics of Article 11 have dubbed it a “link tax,” because, even though it does not prohibit hyperlinking itself, it does limit the ways that links can be displayed. They warn that handing control of even small snippets of news stories to publishers would limit the amount of news that people are exposed to.”
Moscow Won’t Annex Belarus but Probability of Major War Growing
by Paul Goble
“All the speculation to the contrary, Moscow will not annex Belarus, Valery Solovey says. The costs are simply too much greater than the benefits. But at the same time he warns that the probability of a major war is growing because those in the Kremlin assume it is coming and are acting in ways that will make one likely even if they lose it.”
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| Wikimedia Commons |
Op-ed: Could Russia Annex Belarus?
(The Moscow Times)
“A merger between the two countries looks unrealistic for now.”
German military continues to lack equipment and recruits
(Deutsche Welle |Reuters | Euronews)
“… despite repeated government promises, dating back to a 2014 NATO summit … This is particularly true of heavy equipment: Hans-Peter Bartels found that often less than 50 percent of the Bundeswehr's tanks, ships and aircraft were available at any one time, either for training or operational purposes.”
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Monday
28. January 2019
Tartlased on Raadi lennuvälja muinsuskaitse alla võtmise vastu
(ERR)
Raport: Baltimaadesse võiks eelpaigutada NATO raskerelvastuse
(Postimees | ERR)
“Me ei tea, kuidas Venemaa oleks käitunud, kui meil ei oleks alates 2017. aastast NATO liitlasvägesid Eestis, Lätis, Leedus ja Poolas olnud. Ma kardan, et nad oleks meid kindlasti proovile pannud,» summeerib üks raporti autoreid Kalev Stoicescu.”
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Contemporary Deterrence – Insights and Lessons from Enhanced Forward Presence
(ICDS)
“NATO decided, in July 2016, to establish an enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) in Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania and Poland. A battalion-size battlegroup (BG) was deployed in early 2017 to each of these nations. This report looks at various aspects of the eFP some eighteen months after the start of its deployment and offers recommendations to NATO Allies, particularly host and contributing nations, for strengthening the eFP.”
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NATO: U.S. President’s Talk of Leaving Will Make Only Putin Happy
(Time)
“Why Trump is so opposed to NATO seems to range from his belief that America takes on too much of NATO’s economic burden to something hidden in his strangely friendly relationship with Putin. The reasoning is opaque. …”
What the Evolution of NATO's Missions Means for the Future
(The National Interest)
“Washington is pushing the Alliance to adopt an increasingly offensive focus, and the allies could be making a major, self-destructive blunder to follow its lead.”
NATO chief says U.S. President’s funding gripes having 'real results’
(Multiple Sources)
“Trump has frequently blasted members of the 29-nation western security partnership for not paying more into their national defense budgets, the AFP news agency reports. Before taking office, he called NATO "obsolete" and recent media reports said he spoke to senior officials last year about pulling out.
"President Trump has been very clear, he is committed to NATO. He stated that clearly just a few days ago and also at the NATO summit in July.”
—
“NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visited the Pentagon in Washington D.C. on Monday”
“The United States is one of the founding members of NATO, a military alliance that was formed in 1949 and is still going strong today, some 70 years later.”
“As World Powers Fail to Work Together, Global Risks Grow More Dangerous.”
“Trump brags about his toughness after NATO Secretary General seems to vindicate him.”
“Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, just stated that because of me NATO has been able to raise far more money than ever before from its members after many years of decline," Trump tweeted. "It’s called burden sharing. Also, more united."
“It’s crazy to not ask difficult questions about NATO.”
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/426918-its-crazy-to-not-ask-difficult-questions-about-nato
Estonian sexual minorities: Beatings and threats
(ERR)
Russian media: Russia Deploys Tanks to Kaliningrad
(Warsaw Institute)
“… several dozen tanks have been deployed to the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad in the vicinity of the Polish border. Militarily, this does not introduce many changes to existing the balance of power. More importantly, it is all about the political aspect as Moscow is trying its best to exert pressure on Western countries, preventing them from strengthening NATO’s eastern flank. …”
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| Wikimedia Commons |
Cold winter brings out icebreakers ahead of schedule
(Yle)
“Sisu is the fifth icebreaker Finland has deployed this season. She was sent out on Sunday, some two weeks earlier than last year.”
Sunday
27. January 2019
The Swedish Military had a #MeToo problem. They decided to do something about it
(Foreign Policy)
“In January 2018, in response to declining volunteerism and increasing tensions with Russia in the Baltic Sea, Sweden reactivated conscription eight years into an experiment with a volunteer army and 29 years after combat occupational specialties were opened to women. Sweden then became one of only a handful of countries in the world to enact gender-neutral conscription, including Israel and Norway.”
—
“But the Swedish military was now already grappling with sexual harassment and assault problems. In November 2017, a female Swedish Army veteran, Anna Berkestedt Jonsson, created a Facebook page inviting military women to share their stories of sexual harassment and assault with the hashtag #givaktochbitihop. Jungwallius and Linehagen were among them. Within days, more than 3,000 abuse incidents were reported, and 1,768 female Swedish Armed Forces members signed an article published in the newspaper Dagens Nyheter. The article detailed their experiences and demands for change.”
Europe 'coming apart before our eyes', say 30 top intellectuals
(The Guardian)
Russia: an increasingly ‘normal’ country…with an abnormal regime
by Mark Galeotti - Blog
The Norwegian model isn’t working for Norway – it wouldn’t for Brexit Britain
(The New Statesman)
“By severing the link between economic arrangements and democratic process, “Norway-plus” would repeat the mistakes that led to the Leave vote.”
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