Monday—March 21, 2005
Estonia's longest advertisement
Scott Diel, City Paper's Editor-in-Chief, has published a short story in the April issue of
Gray's Sporting Journal. Gray's contributors have included novelists such as Annie
Proulx, David Guterson, Tom McGuane, Jim Harrison, Janisse Ray, Bailey White, and Clyde Edgerton. "'Angling the Archipelago,'" says
Diel, "at 5,000 words, is probably the longest advertisement Estonia has ever
had." Diel has published stories in more than a dozen magazines in the United States, but this is his first long story set in Estonia.
Gray's publishes seven times per year in the US and is available in quality bookstores and newsstands.
Bigger planes in Riga skies
At the end of this month, British Airways will begin flying the Airbus A321 on its London-Riga route. The A321 has 40 more seats than the Airbus A320 and is not powered by a rubber-band engine or squirrels in a cage. Beginning March 28, British Airways will offer daily service between London and Riga.
Balts to take on Pakistan mountain
A team of Baltic mountain climbers will attempt to summit the 8,035-meter Gasherbrum II in the Karakorum mountains of Pakistan. The 10-member team includes four Lithuanians, three Estonians, and three Latvians. Lithuanian Saulius Vilius and Estonian Alar Sikk are the most famous members of the team, having summited Mount Everest in 2003.
“This is the first time that anyone from the Baltics has attempted that mountain,” Sikk said. "We want to prove that with a common effort of all Baltic States we can do anything." "We want to prove the unity of the three Baltic countries and to hoist all three flags together at the summit.”
City Paper remains skeptical that Baltic unity will increase after the team summits the mountain. (See articles in our current issue.)
Lithuanian business invades Belarus
Apranga, the largest clothing retailer in Lithuania intends to expand to Belarus with the trademark Hugo Boss.
The new store should open in Minsk by the beginning of fall. Apranga also operates Hugo Boss outlets in Riga and Vilnius.
Wednesday—March
16, 2005
Today, Romania; Tomorrow, the World
VP Market, the largest retail network in the Baltic states, opened a new store in Bucharest, Romania, the seventh VP outlet in
Romania. Three new stores are expected soon. At present, VP Market owns outlets in Lithuania (195), Latvia (88), Estonia (14), and Romania (7). In 2005, the network intends to another 100 shopping centers, worth approximately 100 million euros.
To read more about Lithuanian world domination, see Arturas Baublys’ article in the current issue of
City Paper, “Mirror, Mirror...Who’s the Fairest Baltic State?”
Survey reveals Lithuanians don't exercise
The largest producer of sportswear in the Baltic states (Audimas, a Lithuanian company of course), revealed that only one in four Lithuanians exercise. Three quarters of the population do not exercise at all. City Paper suggests it is because they are too busy doing business.
Italians vote Vike-Freiberga most charming lady in Latvia
Italians in Latvia consider President Vaira Vike-Freiberga the most charming lady in Latvia, according to a recent poll conducted by an Italian car dealership. The dealership decided to present a Fiat Panda to the winner. However, Vike-Freiberga cannot accept the prize and hopes the organizers will donate the car to charity.
Monday—March
14, 2005
Americans abroad...
...should read the New York Times’ March 14th editorial, “A Travel Advisory.”
(www.nytimes.com/2005/03/14/opinion/14mon2.html) The United States has withdrawn from the 1963 Vienna Convention’s optional protocol. The bottom line, according to the Times, is if you’re headed for the slammer abroad, the amount of consular assistance available to you is not entirely clear: “Now, in a climate of global hostility toward Americans, the right to consular help is all the more important,” write the Times. “...Americans abroad are less secure as a result.”
Stuck in Past, Elite Won't Apologize for Stalin's Crimes
By Vladimir Kovalev
(From the Opinion section of the St. Petersburg Times (reprinted with permission)
Friday, March 11, 2005)
For the last couple of months I have been wondering what is wrong with the Russian political elite, which is behaving like an obstinate donkey, doing everything it can to stop moving toward reconciliation with the Baltic States.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have one simple request - to recognize that Josef Stalin committed crimes against their citizens. In other words, they are asking the Kremlin to do exactly what Germany did decades ago in relation to Adolf Hitler.
I am surprised at the reluctance to do this because a significant part of Russia's political elite, including President Vladimir Putin, were born in the 1950s or even 1960s, which means that years of their youth were deeply affected by a period of stagnation. Every more or less educated person understood that the way the Soviet rulers chose to run the country was very wrong.
In the 1970s, Soviet citizens started getting the point that their state was going nowhere. Sitting in their kitchens on weekday nights they told jokes about Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Young people who were lucky enough to live in Leningrad, as St. Petersburg was then known, were heading to Tallinn for weekends to see a city that they described as "sort of" the West.
Even then, it was obvious to many, visually and rationally, that Estonia and the other Baltic States,did not belong to the Soviet Union in spirit, not to mention their culture, which, unlike Soviet culture, is clearly influenced by European traditions.
I guess it was also clear for Putin, who would have traveled the same
route several times when he was young. He wouldn't have become so excited about Germany if he hadn't.
For this reason I believe that the Kremlin's inhabitants should have understood the Baltic States' request, but this week I suddenly received the answer as to why they will not fulfill it - the political elite has not learned the lesson.
The answer came in the form of the results of a survey conducted this month by VTsIOM, the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion, which asked Russian residents if they think that their country needs are ruler similar to Stalin.
Almost half of all respondents, 42 percent, said yes. In the age group that most of the political elite belongs to, 45 to 59 years, 52 percent favored Stalin-style leadership. But most worrying was that 45 percent of young Russians - aged from 18 to 24 years - were also positive about the tyrant.
These figures fill me with despair. It is impossible for me to imagine that in a club or a bar in a European city I would have the slightest chance of discovering that every second person had positive thoughts about Hitler.
But the equivalent of such a nightmare is likely to happen in a place of entertainment in any Russian city, according to the results of the survey: every second person will have positive thoughts about a ruler who killed tens of millions of people in his own country, and who executed or sent to concentration camps millions of foreign citizens.
His admirers praise Stalin and are supported by the older generation,
who seem to have missed the point in the 1970s and later when the truth about the crimes committed by the Soviet regime was released at the end of the 1980s.
With attitudes like this, the Baltic States should not expect any apologies or recognition from the Kremlin - the national political elite is stuck in a time warp and, what's more worrying, is dragging the young generation behind it.
In the light of this I fully support the decisions made by the leaders of Estonia and Lithuania not to come to Moscow on May 9. Their refusal has at least initiated a wide discussion in Russia with heated debate on both sides about the crimes committed by the Soviet regime. Maybe if people in Russia talk about it more often, the percent of Stalin supporters will fall year by year.
Only after hearing the arguments would many realize what terrible things were done by the Soviet Union and its leaders for 70 years of its history.
Thursday—March
10, 2005
Rüütel invites Bush to visit
Estonian President Arnold Rüütel has invited American President George W. Bush for a visit to Estonia, Delfi reports.
The Americans have not yet responded to the invitation. “It is too early to talk about dates,” said a government spokesperson. There was no comment concerning whether President Rüütel might meet Mr. Bush at Ülemiste airport in a pickup truck.
Estonia takes 25th in “Miss IT” pageant
Estonia leads central and eastern European countries, ranking of 25th of 104 countries which have been most successful in “exploiting information and communications technology.” According to the report prepared by the World Economic Forum, Lithuania ranks 43rd, Latvia 56th. Singapore will wear the first place crown. She will receive a scholarship and certificate suitable for framing.
Bad day for cranes in Riga
Cranes at two construction sites in downtown Riga damaged adjacent buildings yesterday. Both cranes were erected by Valiants Ltd. One crane collapsed and fell on the roof of an apartment building. The other crane suffered from a bent jib and damaged the rooftop of a house. No injuries were reported.
Lithuania PM: Russia on path to democracy
Algirdas Brazauskas, the leader of the Social Democratic Party and head of the Lithuanian government, stated Russia "has been heading towards democracy." The PM was commenting on the changes in Russia over the past 10 years.
Pressed for further comment, Brazauskas said, "Russia is on the path to democracy; it is a part of the global community as a democratic country."
Missing documents remain missing (Vello Vikerkaar says he knows where)
Despite a Monday deadline, the majority of the 92 missing documents have not been submitted to the Estonian security police
(KaPo).
Eesti Päevaleht wrote that according to unofficial information, the number of the missing documents decreased from the initial 92 to 80 before former foreign minister, Kristiina
Ojuland, left the ministry.
“It is my belief that these documents don’t exist anymore, because they have been destroyed,” said current minister, Rein Lang. Lang believes officials most likely forgot to properly record the destroying of the papers.
City Paper’s Vello Vikerkaar believes he has seen some of the 80 missing documents and suggests KaPo start with the following places:
1. The birdcage at the St. Petersburg Hotel
2. The magazine display rack at the Estonian Air business club lounge
3. www.topsecretdocuments.com
Estonia hopes for a new invitation from Russia
Foreign Minister Rein Lang should attend the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazis on May 9 in Moscow, Estonian government members have decided. “We have proposed that Russia send an invitation to the foreign minister,” Lang said. “It is completely Russia’s decision. The probability the invitation will be sent is extremely small,” the foreign minister speculated.
Latvia wins Great Baltic Inflation Race
February inflation in Latvia was the highest in the Baltic countries. Consumer prices increased 6.9 percent in February versus the same period a year ago. Estonia registered a 4.5 increase in the annual inflation rate in February. Lithuania registered 3.3 percent.
Tuesday—March
8, 2005
Estonian President says no to Moscow
Estonian President Arnold Rüütel confirmed officially he will not
attend the May 9 events in Moscow. Mr. Rüütel has informed the Russian president of his decision.
While Rüütel will not attend himself, he will send a representative: “Keeping in mind the international importance of the event celebrated in Moscow and the necessity of cooperation between the states, I consider it necessary that the Estonian state would be represented at that event on the level of the prime minister or a member of the government of the republic.”
Lithuanian president says no to Moscow
Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said he will not travel to Moscow in May for celebrations to mark the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. The was conveyed to President Putin in the form of a letter presented to Boris
Tsepov, the Russian ambassador to Lithuania.
"Fully realizing that painful historical experience of the nation and with due account of public debates, I have made up my mind to stay in Lithuania with my nation,” said
Adamkus.
Lithuania’s Euro MP says Latvian president has time to reconsider
Vytautas Landsbergis, the Lithuanian representative at the European Parliament, said Vaira
Vike-Freiberga, the Latvian president, still can ensure the unity of the Baltic states by changing her mind about traveling to for the May 9th celebration in the Russian capital.
Friday—March
4, 2005
Estonia short of university students (but not universities)
As of autumn 2004, a total of 67,760 students in Estonia were acquiring higher education.
Admittance figures which had been growing continuously since 1995 remained on the level of the last academic year: 18,923 new students enrolled. Currently, six public universities, six private universities, seven state higher schools and 17 private higher schools are operating. Ten vocational educational institutions also provide higher education according to some applied higher education curricula.
University officials have expressed a desire to fill the dwindling student population with foreign students and have been critical of the Estonian government’s speed at processing visa applications.
Gulf of Finland freezes
Record colds during the past few days have caused the Gulf of Finland to freeze.
The port of Kunda called for an ice-breaker when the ice reached a thickness of 30 centimeters. In Finland, ice has covered everything up to
Turku. Not to be outdone by port cities, southern Estonia registered a temperature of 28.5 degrees below zero Centigrade. (This story filed by Vello Vikerkaar in
Kunda. He reports the ice fishing is good, though boring holes more difficult.)
Owners of destroyed potato chip plant vow rebuild
Finnish owners of Latfood’s Adazu cipsi potato chip factory arrived in Latvia yesterday to appraise the situation. They said rumors were false that the plant would not be rebuilt in Latvia but moved to Russia or Belarus. Americans in the region are looking up.
Thursday—March
3, 2005
Paksas first not guilty, now guilty (?)
The Appeals Court of Lithuania has annulled an earlier ruling of the Vilnius District Court which had acquitted former president Rolandas
Paksas. The higher court found Paksas guilty of disclosing a state secret.
In October of last year, the District Court concluded that there was no strong evidence that Paksas warned the Russian-born businessman Yury Borisov that the national security office was monitoring Borisov’s telephone conversations.
The Appeals Court has now ruled that the acquittal was brought because the district court failed to link parts of the evidence. The higher court said that Paksas committed a criminal act, yet it chose not to impose a penalty.
Estonia’s presence in Iraq draws fire in parliament
The Estonian government, which wishes to extend the mission of Estonian military serving in Iraq by a year or six months, will face major opposition from both coalition and opposition factions in parliament, the Estonian daily Postimees reports.
“Estonian boys should come home by Midsummer’s Day,” People’s Union MP Tiit Tammsaar declared.
Estonia’s presence in Iraq has cost the lives of two Estonian soldiers.
Tallinn’s deputy mayor resigns over drunk driving charge
Tallinn’s deputy mayor Kaupo Reede announced he will resign his post. Police arrested him for drunk driving this past Sunday. Reede said he had made a mistake and could not continue working in a job where he has to be a leading example.
Reede suffered as many others have due to the zero tolerance of Estonian drunk driving law. He had consumed alcohol Saturday evening and enough remained in his bloodstream the following morning. Many consider the Estonian law unfair and are working to change it.
Four Estonian pimps to the Swedish clink
Stockholm’s court found nine people guilty of trafficking Estonian women to become prostitutes in Sweden. Four received prison sentences and the rest fined. Once their sentences are served, the men will be banned for life from Sweden.
Balts must work almost an hour to earn BigMac
Swiss UBS bank’s recent study “Prices and salaries” rates Oslo as the most expensive city of 71 studied. Copenhagen, Tokyo, Zurich, London and Stockholm follow. Helsinki ranked 11th. Tallinn, Vilnius and Riga took 47th, 52nd, and 63rd positions, respectively.
Purchase power parity is highest in Swiss cities, Luxembourg and Miami. In the Baltic states, Riga is 47th, Tallinn 57th, and Vilnius 60th.
Vilnius residents must work 57 minutes to earn a BigMac, Tallinners 46 minutes, and Rigans 44 minutes. In Helsinki and Stockholm, 19 minutes suffices. In New York 12 minutes and in Moscow 29 minutes must be worked.
Potato chip factory burns, Americans weep
In two hours time, a blaze destroyed Latfood’s Adazu cipsi potato chip plant on Tuesday. No casualties were registered, but Americans throughout the region grieved.
