The Baltic states (catch all)

[Stan]

UK pressures Estonia to join whaling commission

http://www.citypaper.ee/paper/articles/2752/

The UK embassy in Tallinn has been lobbying for Estonia to join the International Whaling Commission, though no whales have ever been caught in Estonia (a swordfish was caught in a net several years ago). A treaty alliance with Estonia would help the commission in its struggle against countries favoring no-limit whaling.

Ambassador Nigel Haywood, a fine fly fisherman himself, remarked that catching whales for commercial purposes might be allowed again if the country consensus shifts. According to Estonia’s Ministry of Environment, Estonia is principally against catching of whales for commercial purposes, but supports controlled and limited whaling, the objective of which is to retain traditional whaling in certain areas such as Greenland, Iceland and Norway.

[Stan]

The truth is simple: all of us, who live in Estonia, will go on living here. Despite last week. Together. Side by side.

Let us not be misled by looters who acted in the shadow of the night – they would have taken their opportunity to steal sooner or later. They will be handled efficiently by our police and our courts.

A few days ago, I found a webpage with several snapshots of Tallinn, set up by a young woman called Maria, under an extremely relevant heading – ”We are Russians, but our homeland is Estonia”. Thank you, Maria!

We must truthfully admit that the aim of the hate-mongers was foul – they wished that Estonians and Russians should not get along. Yet the hate-mongers are bound to be disappointed, because we shall not be drawn into discord. This is the best way to show that we are above those who manipulate us. I know that our country is rich in both wise Estonians as well as wise Russians, and I know also that neither of them are as stupid as to be affected by toothless hate-mongers.

[Stan]

Estonian President Ilves' 4th of June speech in a conference on democracy

Lack of democracy is a pre-condition for aggressive international behaviour – would North Korea, Iran, Saddam’s Iraq, Sudan or a host of other despotically ruled countries engage in or threaten war if they were democratic? – it’s unlikely. Our question at this conference is what do we, the community of democratic countries do about this?

Since the liberation of Eastern Europe from undemocratic communist rule we have come to accept as a truism that Democracies do not go to war with each other. Before I look more carefully at what this idea entails, allow me to begin rather bluntly by asking a question I couldn’t even imagine asking when I wrote my talk: if it is true that Democracies do not go to war with each other, then what is a country that threatens to target its nuclear missiles at Europe doing in the G-8, the club of large industrial Democracies? Either the proposition is wrong or the G-8 is based on something else than a common commitment to democratic rule.

I used to think that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were disliked because of something we did wrong. I realize now that it is because we did something right. At the same time, all of these small or smaller countries – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, have problems with only one country, Russia. Russia on the other hand seems to have problems with lots of countries. Perhaps it is time to wonder why, and why they all happen to be countries that have chosen democracy.

[kaur]

Between 19.-22.08.1991 was in Moscow putch. Siloviki of that era tried to turn back the collapse process of Soviet Union. On 20.08 Estonian republic declared independence (after the occupation). This was bloodless non-violent resistance that led to this result in Estonia. This case study is already classics in theory. In Estonia this is called Singing revolution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_...ttempt_of_1991

About theory

http://www.aeinstein.org/

The movie

http://www.singingrevolution.com/

... the point is that yesterday there was concert in our capital and there you can see the feeling of the masses. This is not rock concert. This is something more.

http://www.epl.ee/artikkel/439120

[Ron Humphrey]

Thanks for posting them

As with any great experiment such as ours in America there are issues of balance such as the freedom to either feel nationalism and patriotism or not.

And in all cases those within the nations will and do determine which it will be and as such truly control their own destiny without regard to or even inspite of outside influence.

One can only hope that these many fledgling democracies are able to progress as successfully along the path as your country and in turn help to strengthen one another through the open exchange of ideas in every form.

[Stan]

Firefighters managed to gather the remains of almost all the bodies

RIGA - Latvia’s notorious fire safety record made international headlines last week when a blaze ripped through the attic of a three-story convalescent home for disabled people, taking 25 lives and once again raising difficult questions about fire prevention and personal liability. The fire in Alsunga, a town in western Latvia some 15 kilometers from the Baltic coast, was triggered by either an electrical overload or someone smoking in bed.

The remainder of the story:
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/17402/

[Stan]

Amnesty's row with Estonia over minorities heats up
By Ben Nimmo Mar 1, 2007, 17:53 GMT

Almost a third of Estonia's 1.35 million inhabitants are ethnic Russians, but the state's only official language is Estonian. The inspectorate's job is to maintain the national language's status.

When Estonia declared the renewal of independence in 1991, it decided to only grant automatic citizenship to those families which had been citizens before 1940. All other residents could achieve citizenship by passing exams in Estonian language and history.

This is a 16 year long battle here. In order for me to legally work here, I had to learn and be tested in Estonian Language, Culture and History. The ethnic Russians have lived here for 50 years and can barely muster a 'thank you' in Estonian. How much time do you need ? I had 13 weeks in 95

But officials at the inspectorate dismissed the claims, saying that the amendments simply change the organization's legal status.

'The amendments don't make a difference to our work. What they mean is that while we worked under a government regulation before, we're now regulated by law,' inspectorate spokeswoman Hele Parn told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

'It is a bad piece of work, ahistorical and unbalanced. It echoes Kremlin propaganda in a way that Estonians find sinister and offensive,' wrote Edward Lucas, the Economist's regional expert.

More on this here: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe

[Old Eagle]

Tanaan, Herra Reber.

[Stan]

Old Eagle,
That would actually be this way: Tänan, härra Reber.
Seega, Suur tänu Sullegi !

Sorry 12 years of this Eesti keel

[Old Eagle]

That's cool; not sure I can make my keyboard do that.

[goesh]

Si, si, peristroka!

[Stan]

Did you ever imagine a Russian Consumer Watchdog


Estonia bans marketing of Georgia’s Borzhomi mineral water

Excessive amounts of barium metals in Georgia’s mineral water was the main reason for such a ban, the official said. The long-time usage of the water that contains this chemical element may increase risks of cardiovascular diseases. Another argument that prompted this step is the absence of Borzhomi-38 and Borzhomi-41 on the EU list of mineral waters allowed for use, which is an obligatory condition.

Estonia markets 600,000 litres of Borzhomi a year.

On March 16, Latvia banned Borzhomi from marketing, as barium metals exceeded six times the maximum permissible concentration.

The Russian consumer rights’ watchdog imposed a ban on marketing of Borzhomi last May, as it violated the effective sanitary standards. Georgia assessed this step as economic blockade.

[Stan]

Mar 28, 2007
By TBT staff

The Baltic states are preparing to mark the three year anniversary of their admission into NATO. As the day approaches, Estonia draws praise for its efforts, Latvia analyzes the impact that NATO membership has had, and Lithuania prepares to celebrate the event.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns expressed gratitude on Monday, March 26 for Estonia’s participation in the ongoing operations in Afghanistan. The praise came with a grain of salt, however, as the American official also used to opportunity to implore other European countries to increase their contributions to the operation.

The agreements of the Baltic states with NATO have been an Air Policing Mission in which other European countries rotate responsibility for controlling Baltic air space, cooperation with military fleets, particularly in the field of mine clearing, and an international training of special operation units to fight terrorism. All three Baltic states lend their aid to the mission in Afghanistan.

More here
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/17582/

[Stan]

Apr 13, 2007
BNS

Baltic nations may form a joint infantry battalion to send to NATO missions. A meeting of the Baltic Military Committee will see the heads of the three nations’ defense forces discuss the formation of such a battalion.

Estonia’s Maj. Gen. Ants Laaneots, Latvia’s Brig. Gen. Juris Maklakovs, and Lithuania’s Maj. Gen. Valdas Tutkus will meet at the Leigo farm in south Estonia on April 12 and 13 to discuss further cooperation between the Baltic nations.

Also slated for discussion is Baltnet, the joint airspace monitoring system, Baltron, the joint naval squadron, and Baltdefcol, the Baltic defense college.

Their previous 'BALTBAT' peace keeping Battalion was the Baltic State's first joint military effort and has successfully served along side coalition forces for 10 years.

[Stan]

Russia's ITAR-TASS - coverage regarding Estonian President Ilves' responses to a BBC interview (very poorly translated, but that's the way I received it ).

Turning to the question of deployment of American military bases in the Estonian territory, Ilves said that “nobody has requested so far for a permission to deploy a NATO military base” in Estonia, but “if such a request is received, this question will be debated by the Estonian parliament, and a voting will be held”.

“Estonia has already NATO bases: our country is a member of the North Atlantic alliance, and, therefore, all objects of Estonian defence forces are NATO objects,” he stated.

[Stan]

AFP, April 18, 2007 reports

The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have decided to ask NATO to continue patrolling their skies until 2018, when the three alliance newcomers expect to take over the job, an official said Friday.
"The chiefs of the Baltic defence forces decided to ask NATO to continue with the current air defence solution at least until 2018, under which other NATO members patrol our skies," Estonian military spokesman Andres Sang told AFP after a meeting of Baltic army leaders in Estonia.
"Meanwhile, the Baltic states will continue joint activities to enhance their air defence capabilities," Sang said.
"We will continue the development of the joint radar system Baltnet, carry on joint training and devise more long-term plans on how to carry on after 2018," he said.
The formal request to NATO will be made by the three governments later in the year, he said.

The current agreement over the NATO patrols runs out next year.
More established members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) have taken turns patrolling the air space of the three Baltic states since March 2004, when Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined the alliance.
Currently, France is policing the Baltic skies. Romania is due to take over in August.
The Baltic states, which regained their independence from the Soviet Union 16 years ago, lack sufficient aircraft and personnel to run the patrols themselves.

[Stan]

This morning the Cato Institute made the argument that NATO should rethink its commitments to the Baltics.

Seems the isolationists at CATO have concluded that the Baltics are worthless and don't merit defense.

Indeed, a crisis could result if a future Russian president concludes that NATO's mere presence in the Baltic region is an intolerable intrusion into Moscow's rightful sphere of influence.

Sphere of influence ? A quick scan at Wikipedia, defines an SOI as "an area or region over which an organization or state exerts some kind of indirect cultural, economic, military or political domination." At least Wiki doesn't list Estonia under the Russian sphere of influence.

In any case, the U.S. should never have undertaken military commitments to the Baltic republics. These obligations are a dangerous liability, and the U.S. must extricate itself from them.

A tad too late methinks ! I'm sure NATO thought long and hard about assistance to the Baltic States and concluded it was in fact feasible to defend. An attack on the Baltics would be a disaster for Europe with tens of thousands of refugees and a financial burden on Sweden and Finland.

Regards, Stan

[Stan]

"The Estonian Minister of Defence, Mr. Jaak Aaviksoo, met with the Deputy Commander of the NATO Training Mission, Major General Ernesto Alviano, and the commander of the next training mission, Lieutenant General James Dubik. Minister Aaviksoo also met the Commander of the Multi-National Force (Iraq MNF-I), General David Petraeus, who oversees all forces in Iraq."

Mr. Aaviksoo and General Petraus discussed the current situation of the Iraqi operation and changes in the security situation in Iraq. The general confirmed that co-operation with the Estonians is excellent and Estonian platoon serves as an invaluable ally for the USA combat forces.

The minister rated the operations of the NATO Training Mission very highly and confirmed that Estonia will continue to participate in the mission. He stated that the international community must definitely continue to support the Iraqi security forces with training. “The operations of the NATO Training Mission will acquire even higher importance as the security situation improves,” the Minister of Defence said. He added: “Therefore, being NATO members, we’re glad to see that the organisation has taken an obligation to contribute to the training and supplying of the Iraqi army.” Two Estonian staff officers are currently serving in the NATO Training Mission.

Estonia has contributed weapons (2,400 AKs and 2.4 million rounds of ammunition) and a computer class with 11 work stations within the framework of the NATO Training Mission in 2005. Estonia has also supported the training provided to the Iraqi forces through the Trust Fund. The contribution made in 2005 and 2006 amounted to 50,000 and 50,000 EUR, respectively.

The Minister of Defence will return to Estonia on Saturday.

[Stan]

The Estonian Head of State met with SECDEF Gates to discuss a number of initiatives, including support to Georgia for future NATO membership.

President Bush recently approved an Estonian plan to create a NATO Center of Excellence.

President Ilves and Secretary of Defense Gates spoke in detail about the NATO cyber-defense center planned for Estonia, about the practical questions related to its creation and the participation of the United States in this project, for which United States President George W. Bush expressed his support during yesterday’s meeting with the Estonian Head of State.

“Cyber-security is one of the greatest challenges at the beginning of our century and one facet is the technical and legislative solutions needed to defeat cybercrime and cyberattacks,” noted President Ilves.

The Estonian Head of State and United States Secretary of Defense also spoke about bringing the Georgian and Ukrainian armed forces into compliance with NATO standards, which both Estonia and the United States are supporting.

More here

[Stan]

From today's VOA PRESS RELEASE - Washington, D.C., June 28, 2007

During the on-camera interview topics ranged from Estonia sending troops into Iraq and Afghanistan, questions of cyber security, and relations with Russia.

Discussing Estonia's memberships in NATO and the European Union and the potential complications in relations with Russia, President Ilves stated, "we are Western Allies". Then he continued, "...there are people who basically don't think that Eastern Europeans should have the same rights and freedoms as Western Europeans. I think it's a spurious argument."

Asked about Estonia's role in Afghanistan and Iraq, President Ilves commented that it is the duty of NATO democracies to support one another and said, "We are there because it's the right thing to do."

Recognizing Estonia's important role implementing computer technologies, President Ilves advocated establishing a legal framework to address the challenges of cyber security.

More at the link