June 27 – July 3, 2019
- “President Kaljulaid ESTO avamisel: peame mõtlema ja käituma kui üleilmne rahvas.”
- “In early June, Estonia transferred four core databases of information, including land and business registries, to servers at one of Luxembourg’s high-security data centers. … Wanting full control and jurisdiction over its data, it opted for a so-called data embassy — no ambassadors or diplomatic missions attached.”
- “Homsest piiravad Nolani filmivõtted Tallinnas liiklust.”
- “Why the EU is unfazed by no-deal Brexit threats.”
__________
Friday 28. June
__________
Architecture prize awarded to Estonia’s new Communist terror memorial
(BNN)
Factsheet: NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence 2019
(NATO)
“NATO has enhanced its presence in the eastern part of the Alliance, with four multinational battlegroups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. These battlegroups, led by the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and the United States respectively, are multinational, and combat-ready, demonstrating the strength of the transatlantic bond. The PDF illustrates national contributions to the four battlegroups.”
Haapsalu piiskopilinnuse muuseumi vaateplatvorm avatud
(Delfi)
“Platvormilt avaneb avar vaade Haapsalule ja ümbritsevale merele.”
Kapo: Metsavasel oli võimalik meie poole pöörduda
(Postimees)
“Kaitsepolitseiameti büroo juhi Andres Kahari sõnul sündis intervjuu Deniss Metsavasega USA väljaande The Atlantic ajakirjanike initsiatiivil. Kahari sõnul nõustus Metsavas välismaalaste pakkumisega, et tema lugu jõuaks võimalikult paljudeni. «Hr Metsavas soovis ise anda intervjuu välismaisele ajakirjandusväljaandele, sest tema lugu võiks olla õpetlik mitte ainult Eesti, vaid kogu maailma avalikkusele,» ütles Kahar.”
Estonia to electrify all passenger trains to dodge CO2 quota hike
(BNN)
“Estonian cabinet of ministers has approved a plan to switch all passenger trains and most of freight trains from diesel to electricity by 2028 …”
What The Music Industry Can Learn From Estonia
(Forbes)
When Sweden Wanted Nukes
(Foreign Policy)
“A 1963 U.S. intelligence assessment underscores how many countries—even Sweden—were exploring nuclear weapons programs at the height of the Cold War.”
The Death of Ukraine’s Liberals
(Foreign Policy)
“Western-oriented reformers are about to get completely wiped out in parliamentary elections—and they have nobody to blame but themselves.”
__________
Thursday 27. June
__________
Estonian delegation leaves PACE session in protest
(ERR)
“The Estonian, Ukrainian, Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Slovakian, and Georgian delegations left the session chamber of PACE in protest on Wednesday. After PACE decided to readmit Russia in full early on Tuesday morning, the Russian delegation already participated in Wednesday's vote on the appointment of a new secretary-general of the council.
"The unconditional restoration of the Russian delegation's voting rights without the Russian Federation honoring any of the Assembly's numerous demands runs counter to the core values of the Council of Europe and its Statute," a joint statement of the seven delegations reads.”
Readmission of Russia to PACE a Shameful Act of Destruction of International System
(Window on Eurasia)
“Those who voted to seat Russia – and fortunately for the continent’s reputation – many national delegations did not – were swayed not only by the prospect of gaining money the organization needs from Moscow but also by two arguments both of which must be rejected … Some who voted to reseat the aggressor said that “punishing the Russian Federation for aggression is not part of the responsibilities of the Council of Europe,” … And others who voted to reseat Moscow declared that “no aggression by the Russian Federation must deprive its citizens of the possibility of appealing to the European Court.”
Why Estonia is storing its data in Luxembourg
(NBC News)
“Estonia is entrusting terabytes of information on its citizens to an ally in the hope of improving the security of its crucial government systems.”
—
“In early June, Estonia transferred four core databases of information, including land and business registries, to servers at one of Luxembourg’s high-security data centers, the exact location of which was not disclosed to NBC News because of the sensitivity of the matter. Six more are on the way and should be transferred by September. It is believed to be the world’s first “data embassy.”
Rise of Estonia's populist right sends journalists packing
(Deutsche Welle)
“Estonia's conservative populists have taken aim at their media critics since joining the country's government. High-profile journalists have quit their jobs as a result, and now warn that press freedom may be in danger.”
Where your Grandma’s Kitchen Belongs in a Museum: a new exhibition on Soviet Estonia
(Transitions)
“You have more than an hour before your train leaves Tallinn's central railway station. … While speculating about where would be the best place to sit down and get some work done, you notice a sign: “Leap into the Past: Exhibition on Soviet Estonia.” The sign is in Russian, in Futurist font. The post-Soviet scholar in you suddenly wakes up. Coincidentally (or not) at the entrance to the exhibition, an old yellow truck is selling draught kvass (a lightly-fermented rye drink). Just like in the good old times ... only this is Estonia in 2019. …”
One Russian in Ten has Experienced Torture at the Hands of the Siloviki
(Window on Eurasia)
“While only ten percent of those surveyed say they have been victims of torture, a remarkable 75 percent say they know about the application of torture from acquaintances and recognize that it is used to secure guilty pleas or to get evidence A third of the sample said they viewed torture as a form of punishment.”
__________
Wednesday 26. June
__________
Royal Air Force jets in Estonia intercepted Russian military aircraft for the second time in one day
(Fox News)
“Russia’s military-related incidents with western democratic nations have been numerous, including frequent activity involving both the United Kingdom and the United States. Their consistent military activity with both countries has caused tensions to run high on the global stage.”
https://www.foxnews.com/world/royal-air-force-jets-dispatch-in-estonia-to-intercept-russian-aircraft
Why the EU is unfazed by no-deal Brexit threats
(BBC)
“EU insiders predict a stress-filled, "hot" autumn after what they hope will be a long and lazy summer. Europe's eyes will then fix on the UK's new prime minister. But also on Dublin. The other 26 EU countries are watching for any sign of wiggle-room on the backstop - if Ireland moves, the rest of the EU is likely to follow.”
NATO weighs options to deter new Russian missile threat
(Reuters via Yahoo)
“Stoltenberg declined to rule out that NATO could reconfigure its ballistic missile defense shield in southeastern Europe to counter Russian rockets.
After billions of dollars of U.S. investment, the NATO-controlled radar and its launchers are trained on Iran, officials say, and the alliance has repeatedly said they are not designed to target Russia, as Moscow has stated.”
—
What Does Putin Really Want?
(New York Times Magazine)
“Russia is dead set on being a global power. But what looks like grand strategy is often improvisation — amid America’s retreat.”
Trump on what he tells Putin: ‘It’s none of your business’
(Politico-Europe)
“Ahead of his expected meeting with Putin on the sidelines of this weekend’s G-20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, the president told reporters that while he expected to have a positive conversation with Putin, he would not divulge whether he will press the adversarial leader about election interference.”
—
“I will have a very good conversation with him,” Trump said, adding, “What I say to him is none of your business.”
Trump conceals details of face-to-face encounters with Putin
(Washington Post - 13. January)
“As a result, U.S. officials said there is no detailed record, even in classified files, of Trump’s face-to-face interactions with the Russian leader at five locations over the past two years. Such a gap would be unusual in any presidency, let alone one that Russia sought to install through what U.S. intelligence agencies have described as an unprecedented campaign of election interference.”
__________
Tuesday 25. June
__________
Laying of gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia complete
(Reuters)
“The 300 million euro ($341.34 million) project, called Balticconnector, is mostly funded by the European Union and will allow Finland to diversify the source of its gas imports, which were previously piped solely by Russia’s Gazprom. Gas will flow both ways through the 150-kilometer (93.21 miles) pipeline, which will have a capacity of 7.2 million cubic meters per day.”
Jewish cemetery vandalized in Tallinn
(Deutsche Welle)
“The 110-year old Rahumae cemetery had graves broken and overturned over the weekend. Swastikas were also found spray-painted near a bus stop. “This ugly act of vandalism where our ancestors rest in peace, and where everyone thinks of their spirituality, their connection to past generations, and human values, is insulting, frightening, and unacceptable in our society," said the Jewish Community of Estonia organization in a statement. On their Facebook page, the group noted that the "this cemetary has never been defiled before, even during the Nazi occupation."
The Espionage Act and a Growing Threat to Press Freedom
(The New Yorker)
“The Espionage Act sanctions the revelation of secrets to the press, with no distinction between those who intend to harm the United States and those who seek to expose the abuse of power.”
__________
Monday 24. June
__________
Estonia warns of risks in wake of money laundering scandal
(Reuters)
“Banks in Estonia have not yet plugged all the gaps in their money laundering controls, the Baltic state’s regulator told Reuters, pledging to maintain a clampdown in the country at the center of one of Europe’s biggest financial scandals.”
Comic Books Helping to Save Finno-Ugric Languages of Russian North
(Window on Eurasia)
“Finnish cartoonist Sanna Hukkanen and Moscow philologist Anna Voronkova … have held master classes in comic book drawing in Finno-Ugric villages and cities throughout the region and even set u a website where many of the best are posted (semnasem.ru/powerofcomics_eng reposted at https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/node/5527 and finnougriccomics.ru/)."
How a community art project helps revive endangered national languages
(Barents Observer)
“In 2015, in Petrozavodsk, Finnish comic artist Sanna Hukkanen and linguist Anna Voronkova held the first master class on drawing comics with Finno-Ugric activists, journalists, teachers, librarians. After that, there were seminars in Udmurtia, Mari El, Komi, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, Mordovia, on the Kola Peninsula, in Karelia, Tver Oblast, in Leningrad Oblast, Finland, Norway, Setomaa in Estonia. Within four years, a large amount of material has been collected: comics’ exhibitions are held, postcards are printed out, they are published in newspapers, a book is being prepared for its publication.”
In Russia's North, A Gulag Grave Site
(RFERL)
“In a patch of forest deep in Russia's north lies a burial site for victims of Stalin's Great Terror. Between 1937 and 1938, up to 9,000 gulag prisoners were brought here by night, shot in the head, and stacked atop one another inside 236 rectangular pits that had for years been concealed among the trees. Sandarmokh, as the site is known today, was fated for oblivion until its chance discovery in 1997 by local gulag researcher Yury Dmitriyev, who spent the next two decades documenting the victims. The area is now covered with rusty iron crosses and wooden posts, to which metal plaques bearing black-and-white photographs of the dead have been affixed. Stone monuments commemorate the various ethnic groups -- Finns, Ukrainians, Poles, and perhaps 50 others -- whose sons and daughters that mass purge claimed.”
—
“But Sandarmokh is changing. Among the photographs, flowers, and wreaths, strips of white-and-yellow tape now mark the places where an expedition led by the government-backed Russian Military-Historical Society uprooted the bodies last summer in a bid to prove a controversial theory: that among the skeletons lying at Sandarmokh are hundreds of Soviet POWs executed by Finnish forces during their occupation of Karelia during World War II.”
___________
_______
___
