tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post116490476905771245..comments2023-11-05T09:55:13.077+02:00Comments on Itching for Eestimaa: Seething BitternessGiustinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04756707910693785516noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-84872408042485533292007-02-07T22:53:00.000+02:002007-02-07T22:53:00.000+02:00You seem to have an interest in this subject so I ...You seem to have an interest in this subject so I invite you to join some of your fellow bloggers at master-debaters.blogspot.com to discuss Putin's legacy.Master-Debaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11094421976617627062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-1164985310722403062006-12-01T17:01:00.000+02:002006-12-01T17:01:00.000+02:00Where is the civil society, where are the artists,...<I>Where is the civil society, where are the artists, writers, activists?</I> <BR/><BR/>Dead.Giustinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04756707910693785516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-1164952165019034372006-12-01T07:49:00.000+02:002006-12-01T07:49:00.000+02:00It is beyond me why the Russian society so singlem...It is beyond me why the Russian society so singlemindedly refuses to come to terms with its tragic past. This perspective of seeing individuals as cannon fodder of history to be carelessly sacrificed instead of free, valuable citizens whose slaughter is to be remembered with great sadness and pity and not garish "patriotic" celebration is so profoundly illiberal, so anti-englightened as can be imagined. How can this be perpetuated by the nation itself? Where is the civil society, where are the artists, writers, activists? Is Russia really doomed to barbarity for ever? Such great warmhearted people, such awful, corrupt state...stockholm slenderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16909107517362691387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-1164927371742156592006-12-01T00:56:00.000+02:002006-12-01T00:56:00.000+02:00Regarding the Baltic pipeline, the blog I help man...<I>Regarding the Baltic pipeline, the blog I help manage, www.robertamsterdam.com, has an extensive post today discussing the potential of a gas cartel.</I><BR/><BR/>Estonia and Finland have discussed linking up to that pipeline if need be. It's the Lithuanians and Poles who are really scared about the possibility of a gas cartel.Giustinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04756707910693785516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-1164927309271362252006-12-01T00:55:00.000+02:002006-12-01T00:55:00.000+02:00Putin's nationalist-populist platform is based on ...<I>Putin's nationalist-populist platform is based on selling the citizens the idea that Russia should have and can regain its soviet era influence and control over the former satellite states.</I><BR/><BR/>I don't think he'd be successful. Estonia in 2006 is not like Estonia in 1940. The Estonia of 1940 didn't produce the cover of <I>Time</I> magazine or have op-eds featured regularly in the <I>Wall Street Journal</I>. I am not sure if they even had an ambassador in Washington in '40.<BR/><BR/>Could you imagine the Estonia of today involved in a land war with Russia? What, we'd have snipers hiding in the eves of Eesti Ühispank? Mass murder at the Järve Selver? Mortar shells in Kaubamaja?<BR/><BR/>Am I being naive? Perhaps. But what would an Estonia under Russian nationalst influence look like? As far as I can tell, the only answer to that formula is armed conflict.<BR/>The last armed conflict (the forest brother guerilla conflict) died due to an inability to communicate and gain resources.<BR/><BR/>Would that really be an issue in the age of blackberries, laptops, and cell phones?<BR/><BR/>Also, the American foreign policy elite is stocked with individuals who came of age during the Cold War. I don't think they'd hesitate to defend their NATO allies. They've probably been waiting for the opportunity.<BR/><BR/>That's the difference between the Germany that lost in '45 and the USSR that lost in '91. The Soviets were lucky to have rational leadership in Yeltsin to guide them out of what could have been a very bloody few years.<BR/><BR/>Putin seems to lack that kind of patience. Fortunately, he supposedly only has two years left.Giustinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04756707910693785516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-1164916407935757422006-11-30T21:53:00.000+02:002006-11-30T21:53:00.000+02:00I think Russia has more national interest in Eston...I think Russia has more national interest in Estonia that people might think. There's this great book written by Yanus Bugatsky called "Cold Peace" in which he makes the argument that Putin's nationalist-populist platform is based on selling the citizens the idea that Russia should have and can regain its soviet era influence and control over the former satellite states.<BR/><BR/>Regarding the Baltic pipeline, the blog I help manage, www.robertamsterdam.com, has an extensive post today discussing the potential of a gas cartel.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-1164908182519365322006-11-30T19:36:00.000+02:002006-11-30T19:36:00.000+02:00I discovered that article independently of this bl...<I>I discovered that article independently of this blog. Best piece of humour I've read in a while :D</I><BR/><BR/>I wonder if it came across differently in Russian. It is hard to read the Regnum articles because they routinely omit articles and make clumsy grammatical errors. So I am not sure exactly what I am reading.Giustinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04756707910693785516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13406351.post-1164906599588437952006-11-30T19:09:00.000+02:002006-11-30T19:09:00.000+02:00I discovered that article independently of this bl...I discovered that article independently of this blog. Best piece of humour I've read in a while :DAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com