teisipäev, märts 03, 2009

stuff i am reading

Guns from Finland -- Eesti will pay Suomi €2 million (31.3 million Estonian kroons) to acquire to acquire forty-two 122 mm 122H63 howitzers.

Money from Sweden -- An agreement with the Riksbank would allow Estonia to borrow up to 10 billion kronor ($ 1.12 billion).

[Maybe they could throw in an IKEA while they are at it? I find it curious that two of the Western European lender countries, Sweden and Austria, have invested heavily in their former imperial possessions (Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, Slovenia) but nobody ever seems to point this out]

Where's Misha? -- "Two highly-respected erstwhile allies, former Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze and ex-ambassador to the United Nations Irakli Alasania — have broken ranks and are now calling for the president’s removal."

Mexico, 1970 -- The real danger to the Putin-Medvedev regime is a "coup by the captains and majors who do the grunt work of running the state and don’t have enough hard currency to go into exile. This was the pattern of Latin American regime change circa 1970 and stands as the best historical analogy to present-day Russia."

Master of the game? -- "President Obama has sent a letter to his Russian counterpart that raises the prospect of the United States halting development of its missile defense program in Eastern Europe if Russia helps resolve the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program."

[Was this part of the plan all along? Freak the Russians out over a missile shield that didn't even work and then press them for assistance on Iran in return for its removal from the agenda?]

5 kommentaari:

Sharon ütles ...

Sweden and Austria, have invested heavily in their former imperial possessions (Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, Slovenia) but nobody ever seems to point this out

That's probably because it's been a few centuries since these countries were imperial powers, and now they're so nice and cuddly that no one suspects them of any evil take-over bids.

Sure, if it was someone who had recently occupied territories and repressed the rights of the native peoples, we would probably be looking at them more warily, but the most recent thing these countries have done is given us things to buy of dubious artistic merit. Who could suspect them of anything?

Jim Hass ütles ...

Some of the reasons that the colonial powers were interested in these places still exist--location and resources, etc--but this probably does not explain very much of the world today.

Hayek placed a lot of emphasis on local knowledge-- what people had a particular familiarity with and interest in-- when he posed his famous the about the "calculation problem" in economic decision making.

History, culture and sheer familiarity gave the Swedes and Austrians the special ability to see business opportunities in there old territories, and the better chance to get them realized. How many Japanese investors had a clue about Estonia or Slovenia, their languages or what they could be successful doing?

Rainer ütles ...

"History, culture and sheer familiarity gave the Swedes and Austrians the special ability to see business opportunities in there old territories..."

I wouldn't know about Austro-Slovenian relations, but the Swedes in general have rather vague knowlege of their "formr Baltic colonies". Estonia is usually seen as an "Eastern country" with all the stereotypical Post-Soviet trappings that come with it.

Giustino ütles ...

Well, Austria-Hungary fell apart less than 100 years ago. And that was a multinational state with a very long history.

As for the Swedes in Estonia, your average Swede probably doesn't know much, but I think the elite are quite familiar with the history. As Dag Hartelius put it, "Estonia is one of the few countries in the world where you feel that Sweden actually counts."

Lingüista ütles ...

I also think the general knowledge of the average citizen of a country is not what defines such political interests -- there's history between Sweden and Estonia, it's in the books, those in power can look at it. Old ties can be renewed, albeit via Swedish banks instead of Swedish armies.

Do Estonians in general look up to Swedes? Or do they have mixed feelings about them (as seems to be the case with respect to their Finno-Ugric brethren, the Finns?)