Issue #300? 7 years? And I’m still compiling news from Eesti, the Baltic Sea region, and the EU? Many hours of work go into each issue. Will there be an issue #400? 500? Kurat, I have no idea.
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Latest COVID cases in the Baltics:
- 1,751 in Estonia
- 622 in Latvia
- 534 in Lithuania
(BNN)
“Koroonaviiruse andmestik.” - Eesti Terviseamet
“Lanno: kui nakatumiskordaja pole maiks 0,85, jääb see suvi Eestis vahele.” - ERR
“Euroopas jõustuvad mitmel pool rangemad piirangud.” - Postimees
“British strain of coronavirus now predominant in Estonia.” - Baltic Times
“Estonia Restricts Entry for Citizens of Several More EU Countries Due to COVID-19.” - Schengen Visa Info
“Estonia to receive 300,000 doses of Janssen (J&J) vaccine.” - ERR
“Soome peatab nädalaks AstraZeneca vaktsiini kasutamise.” - ERR
“Lockdown restrictions in force across Estonia until April 11.” - ERR
“Estonia becomes country with highest Covid-19 infection rate in the world.” - Baltic Times
“E.U. unveils vaccine passport plan to enable summer travel.” - Washington Post
“Analysis: Europe's COVID setbacks risk another summer travel washout.” - Reuters
“European countries to resume use of AstraZeneca vaccine.” - Deutsche Welle
— Friday 19. March —
Eesti teadlane töötas aastaid salaja Hiina sõjaväeluure kasuks
(ERR)
“Harju maakohus mõistis tänavu 2. märtsil kokkuleppemenetluses süüdi ja kolmeks aastaks vangi mereteadlase Tarmo Kõutsi, kes tegutses Hiina sõjaväeluure heaks. Ta on esimene Eesti kodanik, kes on süüdi mõistetud Hiina kasuks spioneerimises pärast taasiseseisvumist. Tarmo Kõuts (endise kaitseväejuhataja admiral Tarmo Kõutsi nimekaim) töötas Hiina rahvavabastusarmee ühendatud peastaabi luurebüroo kasuks vähemalt kolm aastat ja sai oma töö eest 17 000 eurot …”
https://www.err.ee/1608147715/eesti-teadlane-tootas-aastaid-salaja-hiina-sojavaeluure-kasuks
RMK plaanib raiuda üle Eesti tuntud puhkemetsi
Ülle Harju, Postimees
“Võru Kubija, Tartu maratoni rada, Kiidjärve, Kärdla linna ümbrus – kokku 29 rahva poolt armastatud puhkepiirkonna kohta saatis RMK välja kirja, et plaanib seal metsatöid, kõrgendatud avaliku huviga ala (KAH-ala) kaardi ja üleskutse esitada 21 päeva jooksul ettepanekuid.”
https://leht.postimees.ee/7204994/rmk-plaanib-raiuda-ule-eesti-tuntud-puhkemetsi
Finland’s women-led government targeted by online harassment
(Politico-Europe | Yle)
“A new report from the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, based in Latvia, has found that the Finnish government, headed by Prime Minister Sanna Marin, is overwhelmingly targeted by misogynistic online harassment. … The report found that the majority of these messages do not come from "bots" but from genuine accounts, most of them anonymous.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/sanna-marin-finland-online-harassment-women-government-targeted/
—
“Nato-raportti kertoo Suomen hallituksen olevan poikkeuksellisen vihakampanjan kohde.” - Yle
Chemical weapons in the Baltic Sea an urgent threat
(Lrt)
“We express our deep concern about the threat that is still posed by chemical and conventional weapons sunk in the Baltic Sea after World War 2,” said 39 members of the European Parliament in a letter addressed to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.”
Poliitika: Kuhu kadusid Keskerakonna vene valijad?
(ERR)
“Keskerakonna toetamises kõhklevad venekeelsed valijad otsivad erakonda, keda toetada.”
Brexit pani Abdul Turay tuleviku Eesti poliitikas küsimärgi alla
(ERR)
“Suurbritannia lahkumine Euroopa Liidust on pannud küsimärgi alla Abdul Turay tuleviku Eesti poliitikas. Euroopa Liitu mittekuuluva riigi kodanik ei saa kuuluda Eesti erakonda ega olla volikogu liige.”
https://www.err.ee/1608148591/brexit-pani-abdul-turay-tuleviku-eesti-poliitikas-kusimargi-alla
“Brexit may bar UK national Abdul Turay from running in local elections again.” - ERR
Puhkusereisid on täies hoos ja reisijad selles probleemi ei näe
(Postimees)
“Kui koroonaviiruse esimese laine ajal olid riigipiirid kinni ja Tallinna lennujaamas haigutas tühjus, siis neljapäeva ja reede hommikul meenutas sealne rahvamass tavapärast puhkushooaega. Reede hommikul kell 6 ootas Tenerife lennu check-in-järjekorras mitukümmend inimest.”
Could Putin Launch Another Invasion?
(Politico)
“Should Putin want to launch another short, victorious war, there is no shortage of potential targets. At least five neighboring countries are obvious candidates. Three of them—Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine—are the sites of “frozen conflicts” that can be easily thawed by Russian troops or their proxies inside those countries or on their borders. Another, Belarus, is half of a formal “Union State” with Russia. The fifth, Kazakhstan, has more ethnic Russians—3.5 million—than any post-Soviet state except Ukraine …”
—
“But these five potential wars would not quite measure up to Putin’s ambition for “big ideas,” or to his self-imposed mission to restore and avenge. That criteria would be met by a fast and victorious poke at NATO’s eastern flank, the member states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. …”
— Thursday 18. March —
Saadikud valisid uueks riigikogu esimeheks Jüri Ratase
(ERR)
https://www.err.ee/1608146563/saadikud-valisid-uueks-riigikogu-esimeheks-juri-ratase
Ilves: Euroopa peaks samuti Putini mõrvariks tunnistama
(ERR)
"Putin on lasknud tappa inimesi otse Berliinis. Kas eurooplased peaksid seda aktsepteerima? Igal juhul annaksid nad märku, kui nad Bidenit ei järgiks," ütles Eesti ekspresident.”
https://www.err.ee/1608146956/ilves-euroopa-peaks-samuti-putini-morvariks-tunnistama
Ilves: „Putin hat mitten in Berlin töten lassen. Sollte Europa das etwa akzeptieren?“ - Welt
“Kremlin: Putin’s offer of a call with Biden was to save ties.” - AP
Estonia has the cleanest air in emerging Europe
(Emerging Europe)
“WHO guidelines state that an annual concentration below 10µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre) minimises the risks involved, and in emerging Europe, only Estonia clears this metric, with its 2020 annual average coming in at 5.9µg/m3.”
Moscow expelled an Estonian embassy employee
(Pro-Kremlin TASS)
“… in response to Tallinn’s declaration of a Russian diplomat persona non grata.”
https://tass.com/politics/1258167
New Hiking Trail Connects National Forests in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
(Travel & Leisure)
“Officials in the region are planning to spend this year creating trail markers to guide travelers along the route, which links the Polish-Lithuanian border and Tallinn, Estonia. The trail is divided into stages, each just over 12 miles in length. Officials estimate it will take between 102 and 114 days to hike the full length of the trail, which is part of a longer European path that aims to join the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and the Baltic states.”
A century ago, The Treaty Of Riga redrew the map. It still reverberates today.
(RFERL)
“One hundred years ago, a treaty now forgotten by many was signed in the Latvian capital, Riga. It formally ended an undeclared war between Poland, just reemerging on the map after being wiped out centuries earlier, and upstart Bolshevik Russia, which was preaching world communist revolution.”
—
“The Treaty of Riga redrew the borders of much of Eastern Europe, but for many it came to be seen as an unmitigated disaster - in particular among Lithuanians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians whose hopes for democratic independent states were largely dashed as a result of the pact.”
https://www.rferl.org/a/treaty-of-riga-1921-disaster-poland-ukraine-belarus-lithuania/31156317.html
Reshaping Belarus’s Political Scene
(Jamestown Org.)
“Four recent events have the potential to affect the ongoing evolution of the Belarusian political scene.”
https://jamestown.org/program/reshaping-belaruss-political-scene/
— Wednesday 17. March —
Estonian PM tests positive for coronavirus
(Reuters)
“Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Monday but is feeling well, the country’s government said.”
Narva’s Monument to Paul Keres
(Atlas Obscura)
“This unusual sculpture composed of bronze was constructed to commemorate the 100th birthday of Paul Keres. Keres, a local legend in the Estonian city of Narva, was one of the top chess players in the world, a career that spanned from the mid-1930s to the 1960s.”
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/statue-of-paul-keres
Talks with Latvians, Estonians on Astravyets power will need effort
(Baltic Times)
“Lithuania is not dropping its ambitious plans to reach agreement with Latvia and Estonia by the end of June on boycotting power produced by the Astravyets nuclear power plant in Belarus …”
Troops, Medics In Ukraine's War-Torn East Reject COVID-19 Vaccines
(RFERL)
“… many soldiers facing off against Russia-backed separatists in the trenches of eastern Ukraine say there's no need for them to be vaccinated against COVID-19, because they are already isolated from the rest of society.”
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-covid-vaccines/31151978.html
A micro-hotel on stilts in the pristine landscape of Estonia
(Inhabitat)
“Located next to a woodland swamp at Rapla, Estonia and raised on 7-meter-high stilts, Maidla Nature Resort is a tiny treehouse-style retreat for just one or two visitors.”
— Russia —
Satire: Putin Misses Former Employee
By Andy Borowitz, New Yorker
“I remember one time, in Helsinki, when I told him that I didn’t meddle in the American election, and he obediently repeated what I said,” Putin recalled. “I knew then and there that I had found a very special employee.”
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/putin-misses-former-employee
What’s In Store for the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics
(Carnegie Moscow)
“Donbas should brace itself for a long time in the role of a Russian military protectorate like Transnistria or South Ossetia.”
https://carnegie.ru/commentary/84089
“Russia, the West, and Europe's Grey Zone.” - by Marie Mendras
“To Regain Support, Putin Needs ‘a Small Victorious War’ against a Domestic Enemy Not a Foreign One.” - by Paul Goble
“Russia will have to react if Bosnia joins NATO, warns embassy.” - Euronews
Can the Biden Administration Get Russia Policy Right?
(Russia Matters)
“In its first two months, the Biden administration has made two central planks of its Russia policy crystal clear: It has no interest in a reset, and Russia is not a priority. The sharp break with President Donald Trump’s aspirations was plainly intended as a message to both the American public and the Kremlin that the White House is under new, tougher management. …”
https://russiamatters.org/analysis/can-biden-administration-get-russia-policy-right
Parts of Russia Running Out of Coronavirus Vaccine and Suspending Inoculations
By Paul Goble
“Shortages in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast have received the most media attention, but among other places which have run out or are close to running out of vaccine include, Murmansk, Pskov, Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Sverdlovsk and Rostov Oblasts and the Khanty-Mansiisk Autonomous District, according to regional media.”
http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2021/03/ever-more-parts-of-russia-running-out.html
“Sputnik V: Has Russia won the battle in global vaccine diplomacy?” - Euronews
“St. Petersburg Officials Fear a Third Wave of Pandemic.” - Paul Goble
7 years after Russia's annexation of Crimea, Indigenous Tatars still face prosecution
(PRI)
“We have been in Crimea since time immemorial. We have suffered much under the colonization of the then-imperialist Russia and in the 20th century under Stalin, who deported the Crimean Tatars en masse from their homeland to places of exile,” said Ayla Bakkalli, the representative for Crimean Tatars at the United Nations.”
Putin’s Russia Moving Ever More Rapidly Toward a State Somewhere Between China Now and the USSR under Stalin
(Window on Eurasia)
“… the result of a variety of factors that are likely to come to a head between 2024 and 2030 and lead either to a new totalitarianism, a possible liberalization or collapse and disintegration.”
http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2021/03/putins-russia-moving-ever-more-rapidly.html
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