BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

The Estonian press on Russia

*The proposal of Georgy Satarov, former aide to ex-Russian president Boris Yeltsin, to create a propaganda TV channel in Estonia to broadcast for North-West Russia, including St. Petersburg, the Leningrad region and Pskov, received much coverage in the mass media. The press believes that Western countries, interested in promoting democracy in Russia, could render assistance. "There is no doubt that Estonia cannot wage an information war against Russia... But taking into account that the West will necessarily have the need to share independent information with states diverging from democracy (in the past the Voice of America and the Radio Free Europe shared it with the Estonian Soviet Republic), the idea does not seem such a utopia." (Postimees, June 15.)

Another article devoted to the situation with freedom of speech in Russia maintains that independent journalism in the country has survived only in marginal publications. "The authorities rein in opposition or criticizing newspapers if they have at least a little weight. Smaller papers that are insignificant on the national scale are allowed to operate almost without obstacles, even if they express radical views." (Parnu Postimees, June 16.)

Small bridges over the troubled Narva

Words from our great friend Vladimir Kovalev.

*Last week, I witnessed something that gave me hope for the recently troubled relations between Russia and Estonia. While traveling to Tallinn with several St. Petersburg businesspeople, I saw that despite the disagreements between politicians in Moscow and Tallinn, ordinary people, especially those trying to do business, are making a huge effort to forge closer ties. They want to show their good will, which is the only way to achieve mutual benefits.

Naturally, one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch, and there are certain nationalists who refuse to stop hitting their heads against the wall and raising arguments about the role of the Soviet Union in the Baltic states. In contrast, from what I saw last week, most ethnic Russians and Estonians in Estonia are falling over themselves to show that they want to be friends.

Our hosts stopped any discord before it started. "I heard the question of occupation come up for discussion here at some point," one Estonian businessman said in a short speech to his Russian guests during the trip. "This is not our topic. This is not our business. We don't need it. We are friends here."

It was clear how quickly the illusions and misinformation about Estonians disappeared from the minds of the Russian businesspeople present as they talked to one another. I was stunned how strong and solid some ordinary Russians' misconceptions were. Many initially saw the Baltic states in a bad light, much the way state-controlled media outlets generally portray them .........

Longtime coastal artist Anne Puski exhibiting at Quarry Cove Art Gallery

*Longtime coastal artist and local favorite Anne Puski currently exhibits her exquisite tapestries and captivating charcoal portraits at the Quarry Cove Art Gallery in Rockaway Beach. "People and Places, presented by the Pacifica Art Connection, also debuts the exciting bronze work of Canadian sculptor Jocko Pischedda.

Born in Estonia, Anne left for Canada in 1949 and graduated from the Ontario College of Art in Toronto. Pacifica has been her home for many years and her elaborate weavings reflect her love of the coastside, such as "Beach Flowers, with its imaginative shell-like forms and "Summer Meadow sporting intertwining purple poppies.

A seasoned world traveler, her weavings are also influenced by her ..........

Easyjet too greedy doesn't care for its passengers

*Once, EasyJet was behind schedule and it had 15 minutes to reach the gates, unload passengers, take on new ones and take off.
I swear to God, I felt like it did not put on the brakes when it landed, I was certain it would drive right into the terminal !” These were the words of a friend, who recently had this experience in the airport, writes the reader, who remembered the experiences of Estonian passengers with Memphis Air.
Long before that, Memphis Air was already on the black list of other European countries. Who should care about such failures ? It would be naïve to believe that profit-oriented travel agencies or aviation companies suffering tight competition would worry about this. They cannot be told not to profit.

The state should be the one to care !

Kuressaare airport to have a new terminal

*Kuressaare airport will undergo expansion that would enable it to serve up to 100-seat airplanes. On Friday, AS Tallinn Airport announced a public procurement for the project of building the terminal.

Enterprise Estonia to cooperate with Japan’s biggest tourism company

*Yesterday, Enterprise Estonia signed a cooperation agreement with Japan’s biggest tourism company JTB (Japan Travel Bureau). The purpose of the contract is to develop tourism between Japan and Estonia.

According to the contract, Enterprise Estonia will have a possibility to advertise Estonia as an attractive tourism destination through the sales channels of JTB. Involved parties will also organise joint actions in bringing Japanese tourists to Estonia.

The President of the Republic’s Academic Council presented a book

*The Commission of Internal and National Security of the President of the Republic’s Academic Council presented today at the Office of the President a recently published collection of articles ''The Price of Estonian Success. Social Security and Safety of People in Estonia''. Eduard Taska and Tiina Randviir have collected between the covers of that book articles in which the scientists and experts from various fields analyse issues of security from different angles.

''It is high time to ask if the price paid for economic success is too high for society and unfair towards next generations. In order to strengthen the vitality of the society, we should certainly take a course towards such development that would spare people and culture, and create a firm base for security ......

Rüütel promulgates law on outdoor political ads

TALLINN - President Arnold Rüütel on Monday signed into law the much-debated law that prohibits outdoor political advertising during the active period of pre-election campaigning after the final day of candidate registration.

The law prohibits the display of images of independent candidates, political parties and persons running on a party ticket, party logotypes and other symbols on the walls of buildings, vehicles of the public transport system and cabs, and other political outdoor ads.

Speaking at a government press conference, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip of the Reform Party said he couldn't understand why some media channels were given preference over others. "I've been a supporter of curbing the volumes of outdoor advertising for quite some time, but I've presumed an accord between parties, not orders and bans," he said.

Estonian Bourse hit hard by Co. departure

By Jari Tanner, Associated Press Writer

Tiny Estonian Bourse Hit Hard by Departure of Dominant Company - but Not Giving Up ...

TALLINN (AP) -- The Tallinn stock market has never been more than a bit player among European bourses. But when word came that the company that represented 80 percent of its daily trading was being delisted, some thought the exchange was doomed.

Hansabank Group -- the Baltics' biggest financial institution with 2.6 million clients in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- will leave the bourse on June 30 after a takeover by Swedish banking group Swedbank.

"As far as the international investor community is concerned, nobody has ever been asking for second-tier stocks in the Baltics," said ...............

Lidl expected to expand in Estonia

*German discount supermarket chain Lidl plans to open four stores in northeast Estonia, in addition to three stores already announced in the capital Tallinn, a press report said Monday. One store will be opened in the northeastern town of Kohtla-Jarve, 160 kilometers (100 miles) east of Tallinn, where city officials have allotted the discount food store chain a plot of land, according to the Pohjarannik daily newspaper.

The paper said three more stores would be opened in the northeast but did not specify where. Last month, city planners in Tallinn said work has begun designing Lidl stores in three of the capital's suburbs. Lidl has more than 4,000 stores around Europe.

What the Estonian press says about Russia

**Most of the negative information comes from reports devoted to the situation with freedom of speech in the Russian mass media. "Pro-Kremlin" journalists were not invited to a conference in Tallinn devoted to the problems of the Russian press. "Talks about security in Russia are just a pretext to demand the use of the media in the interests of the state." (Eesti Paevaleht, June 9). "Both the state authorities and mass media drew wrong conclusions from Beslan. The government deemed it necessary to establish control over the press instead of establishing relations." (Eesti Paevaleht, June 9.)

**The Moscow visit of a delegation of Estonian businessmen headed by Tallinn Mayor Tonis Palts gave a reason for optimistic forecasts about the development of Russian-Estonian economic cooperation. "Within the next twenty years trade turnover between Russia and the European Union is expected to double and Estonia, due to its geographic situation, has more advantages that Latvia or Finland." (Erileht, June 8.)

**The announcement of Gazprom vice director Alexander Ryazanov, made at a press conference in Moscow, about the gas giant's plans to raise gas prices to the EU level within three years caused many alarmed comments in the Estonian press. According to preliminary estimates, gas prices in Estonia may double. (Postimees, June 6.)

Elion selects Alcatel FTTU solution for triple play

*Estonia telco Elion Enterprises has signed a contract with French telecoms supplier Alcatel for the delivery of a fibre-to-the-user (FTTU) solution to deliver high bandwidth voice and data communications services in Estonia. This contract follows a FTTU trial, which ran from October 2004 until May 2005.

Elion will install the FTTU solution in Merirahu and Alasniidu, two greenfield sites near Tallinn, offering services such as TV, voice and internet access.

Alcatel will supply its ..............

Russia believes Estonian border treaty ratification impossible !

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement today that said the country did not believe it could ratify the text of a border treaty with Estonia that contained amendments made by the Estonian parliament.

The statement was issued in connection with the Estonian parliament's June 20 ratification of a treaty on the Russian-Estonian border and the delimitation of the sea in the Gulf of Narva and the Gulf of Finland.

"Russia acted honestly relying on Tallinn's official assurances that Estonia would not take any steps to torpedo the process. Unfortunately, the assurances were not fulfilled," the statement said.

"The text of the treaty ratified by the Estonian parliament includes unacceptable provisions that tie the treaties with internal Estonian documents that do not correspond with objective realities and create a false context for the .............

The Estonian Native Religion

*The Estonian native religion is the only native nature worship in Estonia. It was never created, it has arisen and changed in this country together with maarahvas (1)(Estonians) during innumerable generations. Estonia has been inhabited for about 10000 years. Maarahvas and their religion are considered just as old.

Being an inseparable entity together with our land, traditional culture and aboriginal languages, its something more than a religion. It is a consistent worldview, tradition and way of life, which in this form exists only here, in Estonia.

Variants of the Estonian Native Religion

Just as maarahvas and maakeel (aboriginal language) (2) vary in different regions, so does the religion. We meet somewhat different customs in different regions. For example, in the southern region the powers of nature are called ema; isa (mother, father) but in the northern regions haldjas (guardian spirit). In the southern and western regions the arrival of spring is ........... 

Brave Tiiu in Milano, Feb. 2005

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Hoops, hoops ! Oi, oi !

The "good" is that no one can say anything "bad" !

As pure as GOLD, our Little Lady is !

HQ pic, please ask.

Finns banned from running businesses in Finland set up shop in Estonia

Increasing numbers of entrepreneurs convicted of white-collar crime and banned from running businesses in Finland have been moving their operations across the Gulf of Finland to Estonia.
      Helsingin Sanomat has learned that there were 13 companies listed in the Estonian trade registry in mid-June in which a founder, shareholder, board member, or manager had been banned from running a business in Finland.
      One of the companies continued its operations in the Baltic countries under the same corporate name.
      
Under Finnish law, an entrepreneur can be .........

Järvi follows father to the podium

*Like father ; like son goes the saying. In the orchestra world, Paavo Järvi, music director of the Cincinnati symphony Orchestra, and his dad, Neeme Järvi, outgoing music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, share a unique bond.

Growing up in Estonia, Paavo learned conducting at his dad's knee. Today, they have the unprecedented feat of conducting major American orchestras at the same time. (Neeme Järvi will begin a new tenure with the New Jersey Symphony this fall.)

This weekend, Neeme is ........

Diplomatic relations established

*Estonian Ambassador in Sweden Jüri Kahn and Eritrean Ambassador Araya Desta signed a Joint Communiqué establishing diplomatic relations between the Republic of Estonia and the African State of Eritrea. Eritrea formally became independent in 1995 after years of fighting for independence from Ethiopea.

Hoarding sugar leads to fine... blame the government !

*Estonia’s State Audit Office (SAO) has published its findings into the enquiry of so-called EEK 700 million sugar fine imposed by the EU. The report laid the blame on the government as a whole and said that the government did nothing to stop companies or private persons from hoarding sugar before 1 May 2004, when EU regulations came into force.

Princeton grad returns to Estonia

*The first Estonian resident to gradute from ivy-league Princeton University, Siim Sikkut, has returned to Estonia, Estonian daily Postimees reports. Mr. Sikkut says that he sees it as his mission to help Estonia develop its economy.