esmaspäev, veebruar 19, 2007

Ilves Picks Up Ethnic Russian Support

Hmm, do I smell a little Clintonian triangulation? It looks like Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves is gaining a lot of credit on the "Russian street" these days, due to his refusal to promulgate the recent law “Law on the Removal of an Unlawful Structure.” For the first time in a long while (since I have been reading the Russian government-informed newswires) somebody had something positive to say about Estonia:

LOS ANGELES, February 19 (Itar-Tass) -- The adoption by the Estonian parliament of the law entitled “On the liquidation of banned structures,” which makes it possible to dismantle the Monument to the Liberator Soldier in the central part of Tallinn, is “another episode in the attempts to revise the results of World War II,” Emil Vinogradsky, president of the San Francisco Association of Russian Veterans of World War II, California, told Itar-Tass. He believes the Estonian legislators should revise their resolution.

“The current situation with the revision of World War II in Estonia is outrageous,” Emil Vinogradsky continued. He welcomed the fact that Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves had refused to put the law into effect. “This shows that the Estonian leaders are skilled people anyway,” he said.


Meanwhile, over at the Russian version of Postimees, commentors were immersing the online newspaper in a sea of "sbasiba" after Ilves decided not to promulgate the bill.

This is the first big test in Ilves career (after getting selected for the presidency, of course). It's interesting to see how he's using it to his political advantage. Perhaps this will soften opposition to him in the ranks of Keskerakond should he run for a second term in 2011. The biggest criticisms of Ilves was that he was too American, too French, or too vain to be a president. With the Pronks capital in the bank, he can now present himself as Mr. Reasonable.

8 kommentaari:

Rein Kuresoo ütles ...

I wander how many russians have been hired to wage this war. ITAR-TASS produces almost every day a news from russian, greek, cypros etc. war veterans, sculptor Ernst Neizvestny, Moscow jews, french russian community etc. The message sent to them contains statements like 'barbarian law','glorification of fascism', 'revision of the outcome of the WWII', 'dismantling the war monument', 'act of sacrilege', etc.
Tens of russian commentators are sitting at the PC-s, releasing ready-made comments containing Russian crooked perception of Estonian history any hour of the day. This mess is not ended yet.

Anonüümne ütles ...

Ilves did what he had to do. Parts of the law violate directly our constitution - I’m so disappointed IRL and The Reform Party even tried it. They knew perfectly well it wouldn’t pass. Stupid mind-games before the election. Very low.

However, I fail to see the "something positive" part. The attitude remains the same. "Dismantle", "Liberator Soldier" and "another episode in the attempts to revise the results of World War II"
?!

SLDD (same lies, different day)

Giustino ütles ...

Tens of russian commentators are sitting at the PC-s, releasing ready-made comments containing Russian crooked perception of Estonian history any hour of the day. This mess is not ended yet.

Like worker bees :) However, their spelling and grammar leaves much to be desired. Did you know that occasionally Estonia has a president named Toomas Hendrik, and one time they had a president named Toomas Henlik? It's all true, according to TASS. I'm still waiting for Toomas Heimlich Ilves ;)

However, I fail to see the "something positive" part.

Well, you should read TASS more often. Lines like: "This shows that the Estonian leaders are skilled people anyway" are rare indeed! Honestly, it's the only positive thing I have read about Estonia since BEFORE the border agreement was signed. And even that "we are all friends here" atmosphere was short lived.

antyx ütles ...

One can't help wonder if this was all a masterful ploy by the anti-Edgar brain trust. They've forced his hand, and he managed to soil himself. Meanwhile the Ilves-backing camp could appease the nationalist electorate by passing the law, and still have the safety catch of Ilves vetoing it.

It would all be an admirable gambit, if not for the fact that I'd have to presume competence, which I'm not quite ready to do yet.

Rein Kuresoo ütles ...

Yes,poor Heimlich has to face even more challenges:
According to him /Zarenkov/, participants of the action intend to go to the side of the road used by Toomas Hendrik Ilves when he goes from home to office.
http://www.regnum.ru/english/782986.html
Where is this road in the presidental palace?

this was all a masterful ploy by the anti-Edgar brain trust.
It seems to be more a pro-Edgar campaign. He surely gets some more russian votes. Ansip, on the other hand got too hot first and is now in trouble with his promises - both aspects of his conduct will probaly cost votes for the reformist party.
Moscow hoped probably also to push a russian party into the parliament , but probably this will not happen.

Unknown ütles ...

...the whole remove, dismantle and melt the soldier thing is just sooo tiring, exhausting...its election time...politicians determine their campaignes not on the real problems, not on the labor-market/economy/education issues in estonia...all what counts is the highest possible salary and a piece of metal on töönismägi(<--dont mind me if wrong spelled)...the whole statue thing is just a nice try to avoid the look on the real problems in eesti...

Giustino ütles ...

Well, elections will be in just a few short weeks, and we can sort out what happens to this friggin' statue after that.

I honestly hate the fact that Härra Pronks is on the cover of the 2007 Kes? Mis? Kus? aastaraamat. Talk about something totally unworthy being there.

kloty ütles ...

Your praising comes too early, just count the number of comments on rus.delfi.ee about the latest speech of Ilves on BBC.