Comments on Itching for Eestimaa: järgmine peatus: 'the new cold war'

Everyone else managed to look bad to various degre...

2008-03-14T16:04:00.000+02:00

Everyone else managed to look bad to various degrees. Even Estonia's officials, hiding behind the West's skirts.

It will ultimately be the undoing of the Ansip years. It's like Blair and Iraq. Once he passed that point, Mr. 'Cool Britannia' was no longer cool.

Likewise, though the country rallied around Ansip last May, with hindsight and less Russian badgering, the party of the 'Baltic tiger' liberal managers -- daunted by delayed euro adoption, inflation, Russian gray sanctions, and a large minority at home that is still writing his name on public walls -- seems less ferocious. They've gone from Simba to Snagglepuss in eight months.

Remember, that was when the Soviet Union was much...

2008-03-14T13:02:00.000+02:00

Remember, that was when the Soviet Union was much more powerful, fuelled by a missionary ideology and had a truly global reach of imperial or semi-imperial connections. I simply don't see Russia having any of the resources to match even that failing effort.

But then there'd be no book.

Lucas has done good work in his field, and it is g...

2008-03-14T10:46:00.000+02:00

Lucas has done good work in his field, and it is great that there is a channel for his efforts, whether it is a book, scroll or whatever format. Amen to that.

Lucas said back in May he was "cross" with all parties involved in last April. Well, I thought last April was an embarrassing chapter for everyone -- except for precisely the cagey, wary country folk, members of the Kaitseliit who were ready to take things into their own hands, and the riot police called up from the counties.

Everyone else managed to look bad to various degrees. Even Estonia's officials, hiding behind the West's skirts. You talk about faith. Where was the faith? What's the point of vaunted membership of EU and NATO if the government is going to act like that every time there is a problem? I think that the EU was just being the EU, but Estonia was acting like we were sold down the river when the EU hadn't issued a statement in 12 hours.

(BTW, I like the idea of a "Kärdla to Narva race" -- maybe the finish could be extended to Ivangorod, to draw international attention to border lineups. You can't have runners breathing in idling truck fumes.)

Like all bullies, the real problem of Russia is it...

2008-03-14T09:28:00.000+02:00

Like all bullies, the real problem of Russia is its inferiority complex. And has been for the last... 300 years or so, ever since Peter the Great chopped some beards off and declared that Russia should be like Europe.

Well, I hope we still remember what happened with ...

2008-03-14T08:51:00.000+02:00

Well, I hope we still remember what happened with the first Cold War? Remember, that was when the Soviet Union was much more powerful, fuelled by a missionary ideology and had a truly global reach of imperial or semi-imperial connections. I simply don't see Russia having any of the resources to match even that failing effort. I guess its economy is now the size of Canada? Or smaller? There simply cannot be a return to any global rematch. Locally Russia might make difficulties - though it really should be more worried about its borders to the south than the west. Siberia is awfully empty and there are awfully many Chinese around - or Islamic countries along the Russian borders. Well, of course the Kremlin is not famous for its strategic sophistication but maybe even Moscow will eventually understand where the real threats are.

"He is now raising three children I hear but he no...

2008-03-14T08:37:00.000+02:00

"He is now raising three children I hear but he not pay back friends yet."

I don't know all the specifics of the case, but if someone woud pull such a stunt on me, I woud consider myself relieved of my debt ;)

To point to a good article: http://www.exile.ru/bl...

2008-03-14T00:40:00.000+02:00

To point to a good article: http://www.exile.ru/blog/detail.php?BLOG_ID=17760&AUTHOR_ID=

I see it as a very long letter written by a corres...

2008-03-13T21:52:00.000+02:00

I see it as a very long letter written by a correspondent who has so much to tell you that he cannot squeeze into an article in The Daily Mail

'Russian authoritarianism implicated in death of Diana'

'Does gazprom cause cancer?'

'Asylum seekers buy Russia with proceeds of benefit fraud'

I notice this on saaremaa newspaper's portaal and ...

2008-03-13T21:43:00.000+02:00

I notice this on saaremaa newspaper's portaal and think, why there is English bloggy. Then I see who write and it is that bastard, who get me drunk with beer and leave me ten year ago to island !

OK, no hard feelings. :)As say Englishmen.

I returned once back to Võru. It took 9,5 hour. I think, that it take more, if Your ferry would go back to pick up Economical Minister. :)

More about the West's bulwark:Within the EU, there...

2008-03-13T21:21:00.000+02:00

More about the West's bulwark:

Within the EU, there are at least five camps or groupings, when it comes to deal with Russia, enunciated the ECFR report, ranging from the "Trojan horse" countries, strategic partners and the friendly and cool partners to the "new Cold warriors": the "Trojan horse" countries refer to Cyprus and Greece; the "strategic partners" imply France, Germany, Italy and Spain; the friendly pragmatist nations are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Luxemburg, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia; the "cool pragmatists" indicate Czech, Demark, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and Britain; whereas Lithuania and Poland are cited as the "new Cold warriors".
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91343/6302611.html

I remember waiting for a ferry to go to Saaremaa in 1997 and talking to a few local guys in a trahter. They spoke no English, and my Estonian being nonexistent, we switched to Russian. I told them I wanted to go to Kihelkonna and see Vilsandi, whereupon one guy, quite drunk at the time, said: There is a scenic road of stone eggs leading there. The other Estonian guy explained that his buddy just used a calque for cobblestone in Estonian...

I've stayed in Kihelkonna a couple of times. What a lovely place, as is the rest the island. The Karujarv lake is unique, being an island lake. It has the clearest water I've seen anywhere

If a person wakes up in Kärdla, Hiiumaa, how long ...

2008-03-13T21:05:00.000+02:00

If a person wakes up in Kärdla, Hiiumaa, how long would it take them to get to Narva at the other side of their tiny Baltic nation?

This reminds me of night of drinking ca ten years ago. We were driving in countryside. Sven was quite drunk already and since he was in debt to us some money, we decided to teach him lesson he wouldn't forget. We drove to Kihelkonna on the west-Saaremaa and left him to sleep it off in forester's cabin. We took his mobile phone so he would not be distrubed, and his wallet. We then drove back to Võru.

We started worrying after a week. It turned out he had tried to catch boat to Stockholm as local people said it would be faster. Then he hitchhiked and walked as far as Mõnnuste village in three days where he met local girl.

He is now raising three children I hear but he not pay back friends yet.

Nice article. By the way, Pajamas reviewed Lucas' ...

2008-03-13T20:10:00.000+02:00

Nice article. By the way, Pajamas reviewed Lucas' book a while back.

"And because of this quiet country cynicism, a better bulwark for the West could not be imagined." Well, not sure about the West. America--yes, most of socialist wimpy Europe in EuSSR--very reluctantly, except for Lithuania and Poland