“To finally have modern copyright rules for the whole of EU is a major achievement that was long overdue.”
- Andrus Ansip
Vice president for the EU Digital Single Market
“From the very beginning, the purpose of Articles 11 and 13 was never to solve clearly-defined issues in copyright law with well-assessed measures, but to serve powerful special interests, with hardly any concern for the collateral damage caused.”
- Julia Reda
Member of the European Parliament
“The European Union’s proposed new copyright directive threatens freedom of expression, collaboration, and diversity online.”
Jan Gerlach
Wikimedia Foundation
(Politico-Europe - 14. Feb.)
(Washington Post - 14. Feb.)
(Julia Reda blog)
(Postimees - 14. veebruar)
(Yahoo News - 14. Feb.)
(Electronic Frontier Foundation - June 2018)
(Fortune - 14. Feb.)
(Gizmodo - 14. Feb.)
(Electronic Frontier Foundation - 13. Feb.)
(BBC - 14. Feb.)
____________
Friday
15. February 2019
Lessons in digital democracy from Estonia
by Toomas Ilves
(Stanford Engineering)
“Of the many nations that have implemented some measure of digital democracy, none perhaps has had more success than Estonia.”
UK Could Hold Back Military Help to EU Under No-Deal Brexit
(Huffington Post - Uk)
“Officials have told foreign diplomats that while Theresa May is fully committed to maintaining strong defence and security ties, future governments could be less willing to support new missions in the EU like the current deployment of troops to Estonia, on Russia’s border.”
Kremlimeelseid gruppe on Facebookis jätkuvalt palju
(Propastop)
“Eelmisel nädalal suleti Facebooki grupp Estoners. Jaanuari keskel lõpetas Facebook sadade kontode tegevuse, nende hulgas ka Eesti Sputniku töötajate loodud libakontod, mis selle propagandaväljaande materjale levitasid. …”
Kaljulaid rääkis Ivanka Trumpiga Eesti e-riigist
(Postimees)
“President Kersti Kaljulaid kohtus täna Münchenis Ameerika Ühendriikide presidendi nõuniku Ivanka Trumpiga, kellega räägiti peamiselt Eesti e-riigi kogemustest ja võimalustest digiarengut naiste ja tüdrukute võimestamisel ära kasutada.”
✔︎ Visiting my grandparents in Estonia
by Matthew Riemma
(Newsday)
Eesti ja Venemaa välisministeerium pidasid poliitilisi konsultatsioone
(Delfi)
“Eesti ja Venemaa välisministeerium pidasid täna Moskvas poliitilisi konsultatsioone. Pooled arutasid piirilepingutega seonduvat, leiti ka, et mitmes valdkonnas on riikidevaheline koostöö hea.”
Advance voting in Estonian foreign missions starts on Saturday
(ERR)
Putin Building a Nation in Belarus Just as He Did in Ukraine
by Paul Goble
“By his aggression against Ukraine and his illegal annexation of Crimea, Vladimir Putin has done more than almost anyone else to build a Ukrainian nation. Now, the Kremlin leader albeit not yet by as extreme actions is promoting the consolidation of the Belarusian nation -- and that will make his dreams of a renewed Soviet Union impossible.”
30 years from leaving Afghanistan
(Postimees)
“On February 15, 1989, Lt. Gen. Boris Gromov (45) jumped off the last Soviet armored car to leave Afghanistan and headed for Uzbekistan across the iron “Friendship of Nations” bridge over Amu Darya to report a successful pullout. The last Estonian to leave that foreign war was just a few cars ahead of Gromov.”
Haapsalu-Noarootsi jäätee avanes vaid paariks tunniks
(ERR)
British Wildcat and Apache helicopters to arrive in Estonia
(ERR)
“The helicopters, the AgustaWestland Apache attack helicopter, and the AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat utility helicopter, are operated by the Army Air Corps, the aviation element of the British Army …”
Report: Putin Told Trump North Korea Couldn’t Launch Missiles, and He Believed It
(New York Magazine)
“Trump has met repeatedly with Putin in unusually secretive circumstances, barring other American officials from attending and leaving no recording of the discussion. Putin has apparently influenced Trump’s thinking on North Korea in other ways. Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported, as an aside within a somewhat light story about how to persuade Trump, that Trump wanted to halt joint military exercises with South Korea because Putin had suggested it.”
Thursday
14. February 2019
Tallinn loodab sadama trammiliini rajada aastaks 2024
(ERR | Postimees)
“Tartu maanteelt Rävala puiestee, Laikmaa ja Ahtri tänava kaudu Mere puiesteele.”
—
“Tallinn hopes to build harbour tram line by 2024.”
Estonian startups attracted EUR 328 million in 2018
(BNN)
Kaitseministrid allkirjastasid NATO Põhjadiviisi staabi loomise dokumendi
(ERR)
“Rahvusvaheline Põhjadiviisi staap (Headquarters Multinational Division North, HQ MND N) saab NATO väestruktuuri osaks, mis ühendab meie regiooni sõjalised üksused alliansi kõrgema juhtimisstruktuuriga.”
The EU May Have Just Put an End to Russia’s Pipeline Project
(The American Interest)
“What Gazprom and the Kremlin feared was that at some point, the EU would bring its open market liberalization rules to bear. If that happened, Gazprom would lose control of the pipeline and be subject to significant regulatory audit and market pricing obligations. This past Friday, Gazprom’s worst fears appear to have been finally realized, when a proposed amendment to the EU’s 2009 Gas Directive passed through the European Council. If the European Parliament, which has already approved a similar proposal, agrees on the terms of the legislation, Gazprom’s entire external pipeline strategy, with Nord Stream 2 at its center, will come under significant pressure.”
“Is Putin Losing Russia's Gas Monopoly?”
Komsomol 2.0
by Stanislav Andreychuk - Riddle
[Komsomol was the old Soviet Youth Organization.]
—
“Most of those who sincerely believe that younger generations will come and change everything simply do not understand the reality in which Russian youth exists. This is even truer for students from ordinary regional universities (leaving aside Moscow’s prestigious Higher School of Economics and School of Social and Economic Sciences and the European University of St Petersburg.)
Today, the average freshman at any Russian university was born in around 2000. Such people have never known any other leader than Vladimir Putin, who has been the country’s de-facto leader for their entire lives.”
30 years on, Russia views Afghan war with pride
(AP)
____________
Europe’s NATO problem
(Politico-Europe)
“Proposals for more robust European defense range from a series of Brussels-based initiatives on procurement, training, and research and development, to the extension of France’s nuclear umbrella, to the development of a full-blown EU army … Were the EU simply to mass its serving military members it would have the second largest armed force in the world — a total of roughly 1.5 million service members — with only China having more, nearly 2.2 million.”
—
“(But) Under the guise of avoiding “duplication” and demanding “complementary” capabilities, the U.S. and NATO’s political leaders continue to put up strong resistance to the EU ever developing the command-and-control capabilities that would allow it to operate outside of the alliance’s existing umbrella.”
Stoltenberg: NATO vastab Venemaa INF-i rikkumisele
(ERR)
“NATO peasekretär Jens Stoltenberg ütles teisipäeval, et allianss vastab Venemaa keskmaa tuumajõudude lepingu INF rikkumisele ja valmistub Venemaa rakettide arvu kasvuks, kuid ei kavatse paigutada Euroopasse uusi maapealseid tuumarakette.”
NATO is planning for more Russian missiles in Europe
(NBC News)
“Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Moscow is "deploying nuclear-capable missiles in Europe with very short warning times and they are also reducing the threshold for any potential use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict."
Tomahawks in the Baltic States? Russia Is Making a Fuss
(Warsaw Institute)
“After the USA’s decision on suspending its participation in the INF treaty and the similar punitive decision of the Kremlin, Russia is fueling the atmosphere of hysteria caused by this matter. This can be exemplified by statements concerning the alleged deployment of rocket weapons in the Baltic states by the USA. Even though the USA has never made such a proposal, it did not stop Russian generals and politicians from threatening that Americans are to withdraw from INF in order to easily locate missiles in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania which can threaten Moscow.”
Don’t Let Cyber Attribution Debates Tear Apart the NATO Alliance
(Lawfare)
“States including the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Estonia, and Denmark have publicly declared their willingness to lend sovereign offensive cyber effects to deter, defend against and counter the full spectrum of threats.”
The Summit of Reckoning
by Edward Lucas - CEPA
“… the Alliance is now back in business in its core mission of territorial defense. Following decisions at the summit in 2016, it has multinational trip-wire forces in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland and is developing a tailored presence in the Black Sea.”
NATO Secures The Western Balkans
by Janusz Bugajski - CEPA
“In the western part of the Balkan peninsula, NATO already encompasses Albania, Montenegro, and Croatia and has contributed to enhancing security links between the three coastal neighbors. In effect, the Adriatic is now a NATO sea and protected from hostile outside powers.”
U.S. Permanent Military Base in Poland
A Favorable Solution For the NATO Alliance
(Warsaw Institute)
“The idea of U.S. permanent military base in Poland is also advocated by Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, and Ukraine, all of them being most at risk from Russian military aggression. Nonetheless, such countries as Russia and Belarus and most of the Western European states, including Germany, seem rather sceptical or even negative about the plan to establish any U.S. military headquarters.”
Poland’s Short-Sighted Military Dependence on the United States
(Carnegie Europe)
“It’s not too late for Poland to let go of the mirage of Fort Trump.”
____________
Tuesday
12. February 2019
Pre-election discussion in Toronto on Estonian diaspora issues
(Estonian World)
“Participants Meelis Niinepuu (Estonia 200), Urmas Reinsalu (Pro Patria/Isamaa), Imre Sooäär (the Centre Party), Jaak Madison (the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia), Eerik-Niiles Kross (the Reform Party), Sven Mikser (Social Democrats) and Andres Herkel (the Free Party) … discuss how the Estonian government can better cooperate and communicate with the Estonian global community to create a global Estonian identity, regardless of where we live and what languages we speak …”
http://estonianworld.com/life/live-from-toronto-pre-election-discussion-on-estonian-diaspora-issues/
or:
As Orbán rises, Hungary's free press falls
(PRI)
“Hungary now ranks 73rd out of 180 countries on the Press Freedom Index, developed by Reporters Without Borders — that's a drop of 50 places since Viktor Orbán returned to power in 2010.”
What does Hungary's crackdown on free media mean for the rest of the world?
(PRI)
“But for people who speak languages and who travel, the Hungarian media isn't really where they're getting their news from. And so that group isn't so likely to support the independent media in Hungary. And for the people who are stuck in the country and who are living solely in the Hungarian language space, it's very difficult for that group to actually support independent news as well. Now, it's happening. It's happening much more than I thought it would, but when you have a situation where the government is just blanketing the country with its own version of the news, having these other versions also then starts to look somewhat suspicious. ”
Is Russia Prepping for War by Cracking Down on Social Media
by Anna Nemtsova
(The Daily Beast)
“Andrei Lugovoi has a certain fame outside of Russia. The former KGB officer is wanted in Great Britain for his alleged role in the murder of the dissident former spy Alexander Litvinenko … But in Russia, Lugovoi is now a prominent member of the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly, where last week he introduced a new legislative project which could poison the internet that many Russians, particularly younger ones, have grown used to.”
—
“It’s well known that Lugovoi represents the views of the “siloviki” or law enforcement agencies. Every time he proposes a legislative project, the parliament members know that the ideas are shared at Lubianka, the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB).”
Foreigners struggle to find work in Finland
(Yle)
“Immigrants job hunting in Finland say they face a language barrier, as well as discrimination with respect to pay and contracts.”
Monday
11. February 2019
Defmin thanks Estonian troops who served in Mali
(Baltic Times)
“Estonian Minister of Defense Juri Luik awarded mission medals to the approximately 50 members of the Estonian defense forces who served as part of the French-led anti-insurgent mission Barkhane in Mali.”
WWII munitions: Time bombs at the bottom of the Baltic Sea
(Deutsche Welle)
“300,000 tons of munition are rotting away in the Baltic Sea, damaging fish and marine life and endangering people. Experts have investigated how dangerous the contaminated sites are and what should be done with them.”
Opinion: Europe, Please Wake Up
(Project Syndicate)
“The first step to defending Europe from its enemies, both internal and external, is to recognize the magnitude of the threat they present. The second is to awaken the sleeping pro-European majority and mobilize it to defend the values on which the EU was founded.”
Opinion: Europe Does Not Exist
(Commentary Magazine)
“Fabulous riches, half a billion people, and the world’s second-largest economy do not a superpower make.”
Russia's grey war in Ukraine prompts fatigue
(EU Observer)
“Ukraine has no doubt who it is fighting.
"When I say the enemy, you understand this is the Russian Federation," the colonel in command of the 93rd brigade, who asked not to be named for security reasons …”
Northern lights dance across night skies in Finnish Lapland
(Euronews)
Viewing the Northern Lights in Sweden
(New York Times)
“It’s Almost Like Heavenly Visual Music”
___________
_______
___
