Mikhail Gorbachev’s death cracks open Europe’s Russian divide
(Politico)
“When the death was announced of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Europe’s Western elites lined up to pay glowing tributes to the heroic statesman who helped end the Cold War. For many Eastern Europeans, the truth is bitterly different.”
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“Lithuanians will not glorify Gorbachev,” Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said. “We will never forget the simple fact that his army murdered civilians to prolong his regime’s occupation of our country. His soldiers fired on our unarmed protestors and crushed them under his tanks. That is how we will remember him.”
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“When it comes to memories of Gorbachev, the Baltic experience is different.”
1987 - “Gallery: Mikhail Gorbachev visited Estonia.“ - ERR
1988 - “Gorbachev Rebuked Estonia On Soviet ‘Crisis’.” - Washington Post
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| Political Cartoon - Sept. 1989 |
1990 - “Gorbachev denounced separatist declaration by Estonia and said it was invalid under Soviet law.” - New York Times
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| Political cartoon - July 1991 |
“Putin to snub Gorbachev funeral.” - The Guardian
“Gorbachev’s Disputed Legacy.” - Foreign Policy
“The USSR’s last leader isn’t being accorded the same fanfare and pomp of a state funeral.” - Politico Europe
Gorbachev Never Realized What He Set in Motion
By Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic
“The fall of the Berlin Wall had happened by accident, after all; it was not something Gorbachev had ever planned. He had not set out to break up the Soviet Union, to end its tyranny, or to promote freedom. He presided over the end of a cruel and bloody empire, but without intending to do so. Almost nobody in history has ever had such a profound impact on his era, while at the same time understanding so little about it. …”
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| Political cartoon by Pulitzer Prize winner, Estonian / American cartoonist Edmund S. Valtman, born in Tallinn - May 1914 |
Mikhail Gorbachev dead at 91
(AP | Postimees | ERR | Politico)
“Mikhail Gorbachev, who set out to revitalize the Soviet Union but ended up unleashing forces that led to the collapse of communism, the breakup of the state and the end of the Cold War, died Tuesday. The last Soviet leader was 91.
Gorbachev died after a long illness, according to a statement issued by the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow. No other details were given.”
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Friday 2. September
Arvamus: Mida putinistidega peale hakata?
(Postimees)
“Vene rahval tuleb vabaneda putinismist, nagu sakslased puhastusid natsismist.”
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“Eesti integratsioonipoliitika vajab uut ja põhimõttekindlamat taktikat.”
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“Igaüks, kes ei ole koos meiega putinismi vastu, on meie vastu.”
Russian citizens own 41,351 properties in Estonia
(ERR - 29. August)
“The Ministry of the Interior is to prepare a draft bill to address the issue of the large number of citizens of the Russian Federation who own real estate in Estonia, a ministry spokesperson says. In some cases, this may lead to individuals losing their property.”
“Estonia mulls limiting access to property market for non-EU citizens due to security concerns.” - The Mayor
Estonia's foreign minister: Putin Must Pay for Ukraine and Europe's 'Painful' Winter
(Newsweek)
“Urmas Reinsalu told Newsweek next steps should include further restrictions on Moscow's lucrative oil exports—a partial embargo is due to kick in in December—and measures on gas exports.”
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"Raising the price of sanctions could create a stronger push on the aggressor to start to think about ending the war. I think it would be strategically wrong that now we just have to be patient and wait for what will happen with the level of weapons delivery and sanctions we have reached. No, we have to ramp up."
“Putin shuts off EU’s Nord Stream gas supply.” - Politico-Europe
Üle Eesti käib suur postiasutuste sulgemine
Mikk Salu, Ülle Harju, Postimees
“Omniva sulges või on sulgemas mõne kuu jooksul rohkem kui 70 postkontorit või postipunkti, lisaks veel väga palju kirjakaste üle Eesti. … Kõige suurem sulgemiste laine viidi läbi 1. septembril, kui korraga pandi kinni 33 Omniva postipunkti või postkontorit üle Eesti. Postimees avaldab nimekirja 63 kohast, kus postiasutus suletud või septembri jooksul suletakse.”
Estonia piano to be featured on new stamp
(ERR)
“The first written record of piano construction in Estonia dates from the late eighteenth century. The craft flourished in the late nineteenth century, and by the turn of the twentieth century, Estonia had nearly twenty independent piano companies. Ernst Hiis-Ihse was the most notable of these manufacturers, and his first piano prototype was made in 1893.”
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“After WWII, piano production resumed in 1951, with Estonia producing concert and cabinet pianos. Since 1999, the company has been known as Estonia Piano Factory.”
Eesti kohal lendas USA strateegiline pommitaja B-52
(ERR)
“Reedel lendasid Balti riikide õhuruumis USA strateegilised pommitajad B-52. Üks neist jäi pikaks ajaks Eesti õhuruumi. "Tegu oli liitlastega varasemalt planeeritud koostööõppusega, harjutamaks Eesti üksustega rutiinseid protseduure,” ütles vanemseersant Siim Verner Teder.”
Finland hosts historic military training, Swedish forces under Finnish command
(Yle)
“The Finnish Army hosted a historic military exercise drill this week in Northern Finland. The exercise, codenamed Vigilant Knife, was held in the Rovaniemi and Rovajärvi areas of Finnish Lapland and marked the first occasion Sweden placed its troops under Finnish military command. The drill, which ended on Friday, also included about 80 personnel from the UK.”
The Disturbing Return of the 5th Column
(Foreign Affairs)
“How Enemies Within—Real and Imagined—Are Influencing Geopolitics.”
Thursday 1. September
Sisejulgeolek mureneb
(Postimees)
“… Siseturvalisuse valdkonnas lahkus möödunud aastal töölt 401 inimest rohkem, kui tööle tuli. Ka selle aasta kaheksa kuuga on töötajate arvu muutus negatiivne: lahkujaid on enam kui 300 võrra rohkem kui tööleasunuid. Tegelikult on see kõik üks vana tuttav lugu. Palgad on madalad, iseäranis päästeametnikel. Kõik võib kokku võtta sõnadega, et inimesed lahkuvad, sest leiavad parema palgaga töö või jäävad pensionile, ent uusi pole võtta, kuna need tahavad rohkem raha.”
Estonia aims to stop most Russians from entering country within weeks
(Reuters | Baltic Times | National Post)
“… if possible acting in concert with its regional partners, Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said on Wednesday. "It takes some time, but I think timing is also critical, looking at these vast numbers of Russian citizens entering," Reinsalu told Reuters in Prague after a two-day meeting with his EU counterparts. The ministers' meeting decided to make it more expensive and complicated for Russians to obtain visas to travel to the bloc, but stopped short of agreeing to the EU-wide visa ban that Ukraine and several member states had called for.”
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Baltic states and Poland have been driving public opinion in Europe
(Baltic Times)
“… since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.”
Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Denmark pledge wind power increase
(Euronews)
“The septet agreed to produce 20 gigawatts of wind power by 2030, enough to supply electricity to 20 million households. The region's current capacity is under 3 gigawatts. Under the plan, up to 1,700 new offshore wind turbines would produce power equivalent to almost 20 nuclear power plants.
Wednesday 31. August
Venemaa paigaldab Jaanilinna Narva punatanki koopia
(ERR)
"Jah, on plaanis paigaldada tank T-34. See on täpne koopia tankist, mille Eesti võimud Narvas lammutasid. Ehk siis üks ühele. Sama värvi. Monument paigaldatakse 11. septembril. Siis tuleb pidulik avamine," ütles ERR-ile Jaanilinna piirkonna juht Viktor Karpenko.”
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“Jaanilinna võimud ootavad, et 11. septembril tuleb Narvast kohale külalisi.”
War protest: Statues continue to fall as Europe purges Soviet monuments
(AP)
“Krista Sarv, the research director for the Estonian History Museum, said after statues of Lenin and other leading communists were toppled in the 1990s, people could largely ignore the other memorials. But views changed suddenly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, and now the memorials “scream loudly about occupation and annexation.”
“Soviet Monuments are Part of Moscow’s Imperial Lie rather than about Remembering the Dead.” - Window on Eurasia
Cooperation Can Make The Nato Lake A Reality
(War on the Rocks)
“Military cooperation between Sweden and Finland has a long history — Sweden provided Finland weapons when it fought an attempted Soviet invasion to a standstill in 1939. In its current guise, cooperation began modestly in the late 1990s, mainly in the naval arena. Initially begun as a cost-cutting measure, the cooperation has expanded and deepened since 2014, driven by growing concerns over an openly revanchist Russia. … These exercises give an idea of how cooperation could develop under the NATO umbrella.”
Russia has halted gas supplies to Europe
(BNN)
“French Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier–Runacher accused Russia of using gas as a weapon of war. But Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has rejected the accusations – and insisted that Western sanctions have caused the interruptions by damaging Russian infrastructure.”
Tuesday 30. August
Energy emergency revives Estonia’s polluting oil shale industry
(Politico-Europe)
“Hando Sutter, the CEO of Eesti Energia, said his company is ready to boost production to 10 million tons. “This energy naivety era is over,” he said. “We very clearly understand in Europe today that we can't rely so much on … not-so-friendly neighbors.”
Estonian Foreign Minister Calls For Nuremberg-Style War Crimes Trial
(RFERL)
“Reinsalu also called for new sanctions against Russia including a ban on tourist visas for Russian citizens.”
Lessons from Finland
By Minna Ålander, 49 Security
“The Finnish concept of security is far more than military defense: it encompasses questions of the economy, critical infrastructure and overall societal resilience and preparedness. … The Finnish mentality on security is pragmatic realism which allows it to prepare for the worst – meaning it is able to quickly recover when a threat occurs.”
Sanna Marin: Part of a New Finland
(New York Times)
“In Finland and beyond, the issue has raised the question of whether, as a young woman leading her country, Ms. Marin is held to a different standard than older, male leaders are. It has also fueled a debate about what is — and is not — appropriate behavior for a prime minister. As a result, she has become a polarizing figure in a country that, some say, has not quite caught up with the fact that it has become a beacon of progressive modernity.”
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“In the space of one generation, Finland has changed from a joyless, buttoned-up Protestant society into something very modern and digital,” said Roman Schatz, a German Finnish author of a book about Finland, who pointed out that dancing was illegal in the country during World War II.”
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“Sanna Marin is part of that new Finland,” he added. “We’re seeing the birthing pains of Finland 3.0.”
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“I represent the younger generation,” Ms. Marin told the Finnish public broadcaster noting, “It feels sometimes that my mere existence is a provocation to some.”
- Putin’s War -
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment: 31. August 2022
(ISW)
“Russian authorities released a list of the locations of schools in occupied areas, including precise coordinates, ostensibly warning of possible Ukrainian attacks against them as the school year begins on September 1. This announcement could be preparation for Russian false-flag attacks on schools, for an explanation of very low attendance, or for some other purpose. …”
Initsiatiiv Hersonis on Ukrainlaste Käes
(Postimees)
“Juba mitmendat päeva kestab ukrainlaste vastupealetung riigi lõunaosas Hersonis. Kas see võiks tähendada, et lähiajal tuleb suurem rünnak kogu rinde ulatuses, sellest räägime Postimehe Sõjastuudios julgeolekuekspert Rainer Saksaga."
Push to retake Kherson is symbol of Ukraine’s cautious confidence
(The Guardian)
“Ukraine declared this week it had begun a counteroffensive aiming to retake Kherson – the one city Russia holds west of the Dnieper River – prompting a fog of uncertainty to descend on how the effort was progressing, never mind whether it would succeed. Oleksiy Arestovych, a key adviser to the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, stressed there would be “no quick wins” as the attack in the south began – a point reflected in a briefing on Friday by western officials.”
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“Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officials said Ukraine had “pushed back” the Russian defenders in “several places”, but insisted it was too soon to name villages taken or distances gained while fighting was ongoing. The caution may be realistic, but it is also telling. This is not, in any sense, a blitzkrieg or a broad front attack, but rather a localised effort to strike at the most obvious strategic vulnerability in the Russian frontline, and to try to demonstrate that Ukraine can drive the Russians back in places before winter sets in.”
Ukraine Is Remaking War with Technological Advancements
(Foreign Affairs)
“At the outset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, most experts expected that Kyiv would fall quickly. … Of course, Kyiv didn’t fall. Instead, the Ukrainian military stopped Russia’s assault on the capital and forced a retreat.”
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“The Ukrainian military deserves recognition not just for its troops’ motivation but also for its technical savvy. It has used cutting-edge technologies and adapted existing capabilities in creative new ways, on and off the kinetic battlefield. It has deployed loitering munitions—missiles with the ability to stay on station until an operator locates a target—and modified commercial drones that can destroy Russian troops and equipment on the cheap. It has tapped commercial satellite data to track Russian troop movements in near real time. And Kyiv has wisely used artificial intelligence, in conjunction with this satellite imagery, to create software that helps artillery locate, aim, and destroy targets in the most efficient and lethal manner possible.”
How Ukraine used Russia’s digital playbook against the Kremlin
(Politico Europe)
“Kyiv is mastering digital warfare in ways previously associated with the Kremlin.”
“Putin Thinks He Can Wait Out U.S. Support for Ukraine.” - The Bulwark
“Putin Can’t Allow Any Real Talk about Future Because That would be an Implicit Criticism of His System.” - Paul Goble
A short series recap of the lead-up to the Ukraine war
(Washington Post)
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