- “Baltic Resistance to Soviets: The Forest Sisters”
- “Russian Strategic Intentions: A Strategic Multilayer Assessment.” (Unclassified PDF)
- “Estonia’s Sudden Illiberal Turn.”
- “Falling US dollar value could boost emerging European economies.”
- Rõuge watchtower "Pesapuu" foto: Martin Mark
- “President Kaljulaid: termin «väliseestlane» on oma aja ära elanud. … Seekord tuleb ESTO taas ka «koju», Eestisse. Ehk muutub see uueks traditsiooniks, et eestlased üle ilma tulevad vähemalt iga viie aasta järel kodumaale kokku, et eestlust hoida ja üheskoos Eesti vabadust tähistada. ”
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Friday 5. July
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Ilves: Eesti valitsuses on intellekt saapa tasemel
(Delfi)
“Kui ma lahkusin presidendi ametikohalt, ütlesin, et ei hakka Eesti poliitikat kommenteerima seni, kuni ei hakka muretsema demokraatia olukorra üle riigis. Ma ütlesin seda niisama, arvates, et mul ei tule kunagi Eesti poliitikast rääkida. Ja kaks ja pool aastat ei rääkinudki ma midagi, kuigi inimesed küsisid minult, mida ma erinevate asjade kohta arvan,” lausus Ilves. “Nüüd aga ma juba muretsen demokraatia pärast. Eriti praegu, kui valitsus räägib, et me ole huvitatud liberaalsest demokraatiast. Aga mida te siis tahate? Miks saime me iseseisvaks, kuni 1991. aastani oli meil väga hea mitteliberaalse valitsemise vorm – tervelt 70 aastat.”
Belarus-Russia: from “deeper integration” to a geopolitical crisis?
(Riddle)
“Russia continues its efforts to ensure military, strategic and political control over the territory of Belarus. It has been doing so unilaterally. Moscow does not trust Lukashenko. Rather, it seeks chances to influence the situation in Belarus without the authorities in Minsk. Moreover, the deployment of Russia’s troops on the territory of Belarus is critical for the Russian side; it would provide westward force projection. And it could solve the problem of the Kaliningrad enclave. At the same time, the Kremlin sees no point in making concessions to the Belarusian leadership, which it sees as in “Zugzwang,” with Minsk having no way out.”
NATO Considers Missile Defense Upgrade, Risking Further Tensions With Russia
(New York Times)
“NATO ambassadors will make one last attempt to push Russia to withdraw its new cruise missiles and revive the treaty on Friday in Brussels.
Discussions about new missile defense measures are at their earliest stages, officials cautioned. NATO’s chief spokeswoman, Oana Lungescu, denied that any studies of the feasibility of upgrading the ballistic missile defenses were underway. She said the alliance had repeatedly made clear that the existing ballistic missile defense system “is neither designed nor directed against Russia.”
Report: U.S. is underestimating Putin's "grand strategy" for Russian dominance
(Axios)
“The study, which was compiled by more than two dozen national security experts and was first reported by Politico, finds that Putin's grand strategy is comprised of the following objectives.”
- "Reclaim and secure Russia's influence over former Soviet nations."
- "Regain worldwide recognition as a 'great power.'"
- "Portray itself as a reliable actor, a key regional powerbroker, and a successful mediator in order to gain economic, military, and political influence over nations worldwide and to refine the liberalist rules and norms that currently govern the world order."
Russian Strategic Intentions: A Strategic Multilayer Assessment
(US DOD)
Downloadable 150-page PDF
Excerpt: “… the Kremlin’s assessment of the Baltic States is that they are not ‘countries’ in the sense that Russia is. The risk of a Russian provocation going badly wrong is notably high regarding Estonia, given recent aggressive FSB operations against that country.”
Anti-Semitism a growing concern for majority of Europe's young Jews
(DW)
“According to the "Young Jews in Contemporary Europe" report by the EU's Agency for Fundamental Human Rights (FRA), close to 90% of those surveyed think that anti-Jewish sentiment has risen on social media channels and the internet in general in the last five years.”
Six women who are turning Estonian cuisine into business success stories
(Calvert Journal)
“… using the nation’s natural bounty to serve traditional food in exciting new ways.”
Designing Latvia’s 1st railway tunnel will be a challenge for Rail Baltica
(BNN)
“Construction design contracts for Rail Baltica’s central portion through Riga, as well as Vangaži-Salaspils-Misa route, were signed on 5. July.”
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Thursday 4. July
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Academics come out on strike against austerity in Estonia
(Open Democracy)
“This summer, Estonian universities have declared warning strikes for the first time in decades.”
Estonia’s Sudden Illiberal Turn
(Visegrad)
“EKRE’s MP-s celebrated their swearing-in by making “white power” signs, widely reported in newspapers around the world. And last week, Estonia was one of four countries to oppose an EU declaration of achieving net carbon neutrality by 2050. The other three – Hungary, Poland and Czechia.
The government’s reaction to these two events vividly illustrates the combination of strategies, which allow the coalition to maintain a level of respectability while stifling civil society and advancing an unpopular, hyper-conservative agenda. Taken together, these strategies reveal the complicity of the Centre Party in propping up the right and undermining democratic processes in Estonia.”
Europeans have a lot to say. Brussels needs to listen.
(Politico-Europe)
“Europe’s elites couldn’t hear from the people they serve even if they wanted to.”
Sweden is sending a new ground-to-air missile defense system to the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea
(Business Insider)
“Although it is not a NATO member, Sweden has close ties to the alliance and has been beefing up its armed forces after decades of neglect amid increased anxiety over Russian sabre-rattling in the Baltic Sea region, particularly in the wake of Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea.”
Ämari lennubaasis toimub tasuta õhushow Laupäeval, 13. juulil
(Lõunaeestlane)
“Kus saab näha üle 30 Eesti ja liitlaste lennuvahendi. Teiste hulgas teevad etteaste Poola õhuväe aerobaatika meeskond „Orlik“ ja hävitaja MIG-29, Taani õhuväe hävitaja F-16, USA hävitaja F-15 ja transpordilennuk C-130. Maapealsel väljapanekul on vaatamiseks üle 25 ühiku lennutehnikat, sealhulgas ka NATO eelhoiatuse ja juhtimise lennuk AWACS.”
What Was That Secret Russian Sub Doing Before It Caught Fire?
by Anna Nemtsova - Daily Beast
“Flames roared through the nuclear-powered Project 1083 Losharik submarine apparently while the vessel was near its home port of Severomorsk on Russia’s Arctic coast. … This was an extraordinary crew of top elite captains. Whoever put them together on that vessel gave these captains a complicated task, which required their expertise and experience in oceanographic research.”
From the EU to Trump: Where does Ursula von der Leyen stand?
(Deutsche Welle)
“Germany's defense minister has been at Angela Merkel's side since 2005. No stranger to global affairs, she's set to become the next European Commission president. So how does she view Europe's most pressing challenges?”
Editorial: Europe's Treatment of Migrants Is Shameful
(Spiegel)
“It's easy to criticize Washington's migration policies as inhumane, but the approach taken by the EU is even more outrageous. Politicians in the EU outsource the horrors and wash their hands of any guilt.”
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Wednesday 3. July
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Piiriülene koostööprojekt tõstab Võrumaal energiatõhusust
(Lõuna Leht)
“Projekti „SaveSmart“ eesmärgiks on parandada avalikus kasutuses olevate hoonete energiatõhusust Eestis ja Pihkva oblastis võttes hoonete renoveerimisel kasutusele uusi tehnoloogiaid ja nutikaid lahendusi.”
In Baltic Resistance to Soviets, ‘There Were Forest Sisters Too’
by Paul Goble
“… like almost all those who have dealt this subject, have made the mistake of assuming that “the forest brothers” in fact were all brothers. In fact, as a new exhibit in Vilnius prepared by the KGB Documents Division of the Lithuanian Special Archive, “there were Forest Sisters too” and their role deserves to be celebrated …”
Utah mill eyes radioactive material from Estonia
(Salt Lake Tribune)
“Energy Fuels Resources submitted an application in April to the Utah Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control to allow the White Mesa Uranium Mill to accept material from a rare-earth production plant in Estonia. The residual material contains uranium that the mill can extract to make fuel rods for nuclear power plants.”
Saving the Council of Europe
by Andrius Kubilius - Lithuanian Tribune
“The Ukrainian, Georgian, UK, Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian delegations, who protested the decision, are now in consultations with capitals and national parliaments on the modalities of further work in the PACE. All this because the Council of Europe seems to be turning into an institution of unconditional submission to the Kremlin’s demands, which only encourages its further aggressiveness. … it raises further questions about the organization’s future.”
NATO: Fort Trump? Try Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) in Poland
by Julian Lindley-French
“On the other side of the Estonian-Russian border … the Russian Order of Battle includes the 1st Guards Tank Army, 6th and 20th Combined Arms Armies, 11th Army Corps in Kaliningrad, 3 airborne divisions, 3 Spetsnaz Special Forces Brigades, 10 rocket and artillery brigades and 30 tank/motor rifle brigades/regiments plus one naval infantry brigade. There are also significant Russian air and naval assets in the region, all of which are reinforced by Russia’s short-range, theatre and strategic nuclear forces.”
—
“Solution? Move the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) from sleepy Gloucestershire in the UK, where it is currently based, to Poland, possibly supported by a US Army corps. …”
Putin has Built East German-Style Totalitarianism in Russia Today
(Window on Eurasia)
“Russia today looks much like the GDR did, the commentator argues, and that means that “totalitarianism is more productively considered not from the point of view of what is permitted but from that of the level of control. And from this point of view, undoubtedly a totalitarian system has been built in the Russian Federation.”
Ukraine’s New President Needs a Strategy on Donbas
by Konstantin Skorkin - Carnegie Moscow
“Volodymyr Zelensky won Ukraine’s presidential election back in April as the candidate for peace. Now, a hostage of his own high ratings, the new president must demonstrate to the Ukrainian public that he is taking decisive steps to resolve the armed conflict in the country’s Donbas region.”
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Tuesday 2. July
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Laulukaare renoveerimiseks kulus kuue jalgpalliväljaku jagu metsa
(Maaleht)
Alates 1. juulist saavad Eesti kodanikud reisida Venemaa Kaliningradi tasuta e-viisaga
(Lõunaeestlane)
“Visit The Kaliningrad Region With An E-Visa.” (Russian website)
Estonia: The Inside Story of Building a Digital Nation
(CMI)
[Interview: Taavi Kotka and Toomas Hendrik Ilves.]
Dangers from proposed Belarus and Russian nuclear power plants
(Vilnews)
“One NPP containing two reactors, will be situated in Astravets, Belarus, approximately 20 km (12 miles) east of Lithuania and about 50 km (31 miles) from its capital city of Vilnius. The other set of two reactors will be constructed in the Kaliningrad enclave approximately 10 km (6 miles) south and west of Lithuania’s border. (The Kaliningrad enclave is a small patch of Russian-administered land wedged between the European Union nations of Poland and Lithuania.) In case of a nuclear disaster, the two NPPs pose a grave danger to Lithuania and other North-European countries.”
—
“The Kaliningrad and the Belarus NPPs, by being built on the borders of Lithuania, place the entire country in a ominous nuclear vise …”
At Least Fourteen Killed In Fire On Russian Navy Submersible
(RFERL)
“In the same region in 2000, all 118 crew members aboard the Kursk, a Russian nuclear-powered submarine, were killed after the vessel sank to the floor of the Barents Sea.”
Putin declares federal emergency in Irkutsk flooding
(RFERL | Meduza)
“On July 1, meteorologists and physicists at Irkutsk State University published a notice on the university’s website analyzing the causes of the flooding. The scientists indicated that “the cause of the catastrophic floods was an anomaly in the development of atmospheric processes that appeared in the context of observed global and regional climate change.””
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Monday 1. July
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Arvamus: Eesti on juba langenud Venemaa hübriidsõja ohvriks
(Postimees)
“Eestis on toimunud «roomav pööre». Võimule sai Keskerakond, kus ollakse meelestatud taastama koostöö Moskvaga, sest nende selja taga seisavad ettevõtjad, kes ajavad äri Venemaa ettevõtetega. Eesti valitsus koostab juba ettepanekuid riigiettevõtete erastamiseks Venemaa investorite huvides. Just selle olevat kokku leppinud Kersti Kaljulaid Moskvas Putiniga ja Taavi Aas Peterburis Venemaa kõrgemate ametiisikutega.”
Riigikaitse: Eesti peab küberturbe alast võimekust suurendama
(ERR)
(ERR)
US command ship USS Mount Whitney arrives in Estonia after Baltops 2019
(ERR)
The Case for a Sovereign Europe
(Berlin Policy Journal)
“With Donald Trump in the White House, the limits to European sovereignty are becoming painfully clear, even in the economic realm. It’s time to embrace a new strategy.”
The Geopolitics of Theresa May’s Dutiful Handshake with Putin
(The Moscow Times)
“The trick is to balance diplomatic etiquette with undiplomatic honesty. Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, for example, struck a pitch-perfect note at the 2014 G20 summit, when he memorably said “I guess I'll shake your hand but I have only one thing to say to you: You need to get out of Ukraine.”
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Sunday 30. June
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Kui Eesti ei taha liberaaldemokraatiat, siis milleks meile iseseisvus?
(Delfi)
“Eesti president Toomas Hendrik Ilves ütles usutluses Läti Delfile, et ta on ametis oleva Eesti valitsuse pärast mures ega näe olukorra paranemist.”
—
"Ma olen mures ega arva, et asi läheb paremaks," tõdes Ilves. "Valitsus on vastutav oma tegude ja sõnade eest. Vabandused, et seda või teist ütles üks või teine partei, kuid meid see ei puuduta, ei ole võimalikud. Kui te loote valitsuse, peate te ka vastutama.”
—
"Te olete rassistlik valitsus, te olete valitsus, mis ründab oma kodanikke /.../ kui te ei astu välja seesuguste avalduste vastu. Osa valitsusest jätkab samasuguste jubedate asjade ütlemist on riigi kodanike kohta ja selle eest on vastutav valitsuse juht," ütles Ilves Läti Delfile.”
Kaljulaid: Estonians should think, behave as global nation
(ERR)
"Estonia as a state today is available to its citizens at all times and anywhere. The e-state is the best instrument for promoting and maintaining global citizenship. Thus, as a free nation, we must think and behave like a global one.” Kaljulaid added that Estonians' actions need to aim at ensuring that the Estonian identity crosses oceans and state borders, and that Estonians all over the world can feel that they are a part of their nation. To that end, the Estonian identity needs to be an open and joyful one, and aim to bring people together.”
—
"We don't need to create new barriers or build a new iron curtain dividing our nation.”
Lithuanian Seimas discusses possibility of nuclear accident in Belarus
(LRT)
“A temporary group in the Lithuanian parliament discussed on Wednesday the country's preparation for a possible nuclear or radiological accident at the Astravyets nuclear power plant which is under construction close to the Lithuanian border. The group discussed the readiness of Lithuanian institutions to deal with such challenges.”
Vilnius gears up for possible threats before Astravyets NPP launch
(Delfi)
“As the launch of the Astravyets nuclear power plant in Belarus is nearing, the authorities of Vilnius, situated some 50 km from the nuclear facility, plan to install radiation-monitoring equipment near the River Neris on the Lithuanian border.”
—
“Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has already announced plans to buy and distribute almost 4 million iodine pills to the residents of the Vilnius region, aimed at protecting them from radiation.”
Britain holds largest Baltic naval drills in century to deter Russia
(The Straits Times - Singapore)
“Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt said the British-led Joint Expeditionary Force, a rapid response unit, has reached a "new scale" in the exercise that included nearly 4,000 people and 44 vessels from nine nations. Mordaunt called the exercise "the largest Royal Navy deployment in the Baltic for more than a hundred years", speaking to reporters aboard a British warship in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda, which is just a stone's throw from the militarised Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
The exercise was meant to reassure eastern flank Nato allies and to demonstrate that they are "aligned and ready”.
—
"Russia is becoming more assertive, we see her deploying more forces and new weapons, and we can imagine scenarios that may play out in the future.”
Ukraine: Russia’s Test Lab for Cyberwar
(Wired 20. June)
“The Cyber-Cassandras said this would happen. For decades they warned that hackers would soon make the leap beyond purely digital mayhem and start to cause real, physical damage to the world. In 2009, when the NSA’s Stuxnet malware silently accelerated a few hundred Iranian nuclear centrifuges until they destroyed themselves, it seemed to offer a preview of this new era. “This has a whiff of August 1945,” Michael Hayden, former director of the NSA and the CIA, said in a speech. “Somebody just used a new weapon, and this weapon will not be put back in the box.”
—
“Now, in Ukraine, the quintessential cyberwar scenario has come to life.”
How Europe's smallest nations are battling Russia's cyberattacks
(Yahoo News)
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