BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Nashi and Russian hackers : Where is the truth ?

* Konstantin Goloskokov, a commissar in the pro-Kremlin Russian youth movement Nashi (Ours), has said that he and a few friends staged one of the cyber attacks carried out against Estonia over the past month, the Russian newspaper Vedemosti reported on May 9.

The paper said that he was so far the only person to admit being part of the attacks. Goloskokov said he didn’t know who else had staged cyber attacks on Estonia. He also said he didn’t coordinate his actions with Nashi’s leaders.

One of the best-known hackers in Russia told the newspaper that the most efficient online attacks on Estonia could not have been carried out without the help of the Russian state.

Sober driver = 15 injured on Saaremaa roads

* Fifteen people were hospitalized with injuries on May 26 after a tour bus veered off a gravel road on Saaremaa island. The 15 injured passengers were taken to a hospital in Kuressaare, the regional capital.

A police spokeswoman said their injuries were not serious, consisting mostly of grazes and bruises, and that the victims would probably not require prolonged hospital treatment.

The bus was carrying approximately 30 people, all adults, who were employees of a library on a tour of the island. The spokeswoman said that the driver was sober.

More propaganda from Russia

* Russia has produced yet another anti-Baltic propaganda film, Eesti Päevaleht has reported.

In the new production, titled “The Baltics : Lessons Not Learned,” the authors present their story through the eyes of a schoolgirl from Latvia to “refute with the help of emotional and historic propaganda footage the claims about the occupation of the Baltic states.”

One of the consultants to the authors is Alexander Zdanovich, PR officer of the Russian security service FSB.

Compensation for April damages

* Compensating for damage incurred during the April riots is taking longer than planned, the Postimees daily reported May 28. The government initially promised to pay out compensation within 10 working days of receiving a damage report.

However Finance Ministry spokeswoman Kristi Kunnapas said government’s promise to pay that quickly was overly optimistic, since the documents related to the claims need to be properly checked.

At the beginning of May the government allocated 20 million kroons to pay for direct damage resulting from the unrest.

Smoking ban goes into effect June 5

By Steve Roman

TALLINN - Estonia’s restaurant and bar denizens are looking to June 5 with either delight or dread, depending on how they feel about the nation’s new smoking ban which takes effect that day. Under the law smoking in restaurants, cafes, bars, clubs and casinos will be allowed only on outdoor terraces or in closed-off smoking rooms where there will be no service.

The health protection measure puts Estonia, like Latvia and Lithuania, among the growing club of European countries to make their public places smoke-free.
As in other countries where similar anti-smoking laws have been introduced, many bar owners and managers are worried that the regulations will hurt their business.
Those arguments seem strongest for establishments such as cigar lounges and trendy pipe-smoking cafes, whose business is specifically centered around tobacco.
One such business is Hookah-House, a fashionable lounge specializing in Indian food and water pipes.
“I’m sure it will effect turnover,” said manager Monika Poomann. “People don’t want to move from one table to another table. They’re going to either eat and not smoke, or they won’t eat and they will go to the smoking area. Either way we’re going to lose the smoke turnover or the food turnover.”

Other Tallinn venues, like the dive bar Levis’t Valjas, whose main draw is its smoke-filled, counter-culture feel, are likely to be fundamentally transformed by the ban.
“I just can’t imagine how it will work,” said Levis’t bar worker Katri Kuusk. “All people who come here smoke, and so does everyone who works here. I think that the people will go out on the streets to smoke, but they’re not allowed to stay outside on weekends because we have problems with the neighbors.”
Not all bar managers are so negative on the change, however.
“I think it’s a great idea,” said Andy Gleeson, owner-director of Nimeta Baar, “and it’ll stop my staff from smoking so much.”
Gleeson, who was in Australia when that country introduced its smoking ban a year ago, said it was a huge improvement. “The city was much cleaner, there were less cigarette butts around and no dirty ashtrays in bars or restaurants,” he said.
The sentiment was echoed by photographer Graham Mitchell, who was in Sweden when that country’s smoking ban went into effect. “The clubs and bars just felt like different places without all the smoke,” he said.

First sentence handed out in Estonian riot cases

* The Harju Country Court on Wednesday settled the first of a series of legal cases concerning participants in the late April riots in Tallinn by agreement procedure, handing out community service and a fine as punishment.
The agreement procedure involves two young ethnic Estonian men and two young Russian-speaking women who broke into a photo store during the street riots.
Three of them will have to do community service and one will have to pay a fine.
Under the agreement between the prosecution and the defendants, Voldemar Vamper, 19, will be fined 6,000 kroons (383 euros) for attempted theft. Sofia Smigol, 18, will have to do 120 hours of community service for the same.
Ilmaryneknud Adamoniene, 20, and Anastassija Kurjakova, 18, will have to do 60 hours of community service for illegal entry.
The agreement was to be endorsed by a judge in the afternoon.

Estonia's population decline slows

TALLINN - Estonia's statistics department said Tuesday that the country's population fell by 2,500 to 1.34 million during 2006, indicating that the ex-Soviet nation's demographic crisis continues, albeit at a slower rate.

During the first decade of Estonia's independence from the Soviet Union, the small Baltic nation lost 200,000 people due to the low birth rate and mass emigration of people employed in Soviet companies. The steady decline has continued since the country joined the European Union in 2004.

However, the statistics service said the population reduction was less than in recent years, due to a slightly higher birth rate.

During the 1990s, live births registered in Estonia dropped from 19,300 per year to 13,000. Estonian authorities and the United Nations expect the country's depopulation trend to continue for the foreseeable future, raising serious issues for both the economy and society.

Estonian president opens new border checkpoint

TALLINN - Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has opened a new pedestrian border checkpoint, Narva-2. The checkpoint is located by the Narva River, which separates Estonia’s Narva and Russia’s Ivangorod.

“The better neighbors know each other, the more mutual understanding they have,” the president said at the opening ceremony. “A good fence makes good neighbors,” he added.

Initially, the checkpoint will service only the residents of Narva and Ivangorod.

Eurasian Secret Services Daily Review

Estonian security service and analysts see ‘hand of Moscow’ behind recent street violence

Andrei Zarenkov

According to Estonian security experts, ‘a directing hand of Moscow’ is visible behind recent mass street violence in Tallinn, aimed at destabilization of society and political life, and also held as a test of unity of the European Union, leading Estonian daily Postimees writes.

Kadri Lijk, Director of the International centre of defense studies, says there are no doubts that Russia intentionally stimulated tension in Estonia, using the replacement of Red Army monument only as pretext, paper says.
Shortly before street clasehes between youth and police, Postimees wrote about a confidential meeting in Tallinn botanical garden between the senior adviser of the Russian embassy, Sergei Overchenko, and leader of the grouping Nochnoi dozor, Dmitry Linter, now under guard on suspicion in organization of street violance.

Security Police of Estonia (Kaitsepolitseiamet - KaPo) has also fixed meetings of the first secretary of the Russian embassy, Vadim Vasilyev, and chairman of the Constitutional party of Estonia Andrei Zarenkov. These people are considered by investigators the main tools of Moscow "puppeteers" in Estonia, Postimees marks. When on April 30 at press conference in the Russian embassy Postimees’ reporter asked about these meetings that had been falling outside the limits of regular diplomacy, ambassador Nikolai Uspensky replied that it was a provocative question he was not going to answer.
According to KaPo, only 12 days prior to Tallinn disorders, Mark Siryk, who was detained together with Linter, was declared ‘the commissioner’ of the pro-Kremlin youth movement’s Nashi Estonian branch. Early in April, KaPo notes, Siryk participated in All-Russia meeting of Nashi in Novoizborsk where inter alia trainings in tactics of street fihtging were held and decision made to send activists of the movement to Estonia.

According to Postimees, KaPo has repeatedly specified that actions of the Kremlin concerning Estonia are coordinated since February 2005 by the adviser of Russian President, Modest Kolerov, heading management of inter-regional and cultural ties with foreign countries of the presidential administration. In 2005 KaPo marked numerous attempts of Kolerov’s department to interfere in Estonia’s domestic policy and to unite Russian-speaking political forces on the eve of local elections.

Estonian analysts say that the Kremlin was upset by the results of elections in Estonia, thus giving the imperial-thinking circles of Russia new stimulus for escalation of pressure and provoking violance in Estonia, Postimees concludes.

LEADING REGIONAL TELECOM OPERATOR SELECTS CEON TO PROVIDE PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION

Tallinn and Redwood City, California – Elion, the leading fixed-broadband provider in Estonia, is preparing to deploy Ceon’s Product Control Center (PCC) product lifecycle management (PLM) and new product introduction solution. Elion made the decision to pilot Ceon PCC as the first phase of a multi phase deployment after analyzing and reviewing the ability of PCC to meet its product management needs.

Ceon PCC is the communication industry’s first purpose-built and standards-based system focused on enabling service providers to construct, manage, and deploy a layered product catalog that includes the full technical and commercial definition of products. PCC supports extended attributes, complex business rules, constraint processing, multi-user collaboration, entity revision management, lifecycle state management, a SID-based data model, and online order configuration and price calculation support.

IP-transformation and accelerating competition is forcing service providers to be more creative and agile in rolling out new product offerings. The primary way in which operators can differentiate themselves going forward is around innovative product offerings. Ceon PCC has been developed to meet the product management challenges faced by operators in today’s marketplace, where product lifecycle management systems have now become a strategic imperative rather than an operational efficiency consideration.

Alcohol and tobacco tax to rise in Estonia next year

* The government of Estonia decided on Thursday to implement sharp increases in the taxation of alcohol and tobacco, as well as fuel.
      A previous decision, alcohol is to rise in price by ten per cent from the beginning of 2008. Now the government decided to raise the tax on alcohol by a further 20 per cent later in the year.
      
The tax on tobacco will rise in January, and in July, so that the price of cigarettes will reach the minimum level required by the EU.
      Estonian Finance Minister Ivari Padar said that public health concerns were the main reason for the move.
      In the same connection the government decided to decrease the income tax rate from the present 22 per cent to 18 per cent.
      Estonia postponed plans to raise its taxes on tobacco and alcohol in previous years for fear that it might spur inflation and prevent Estonia from joining the euro zone. As Estonia's switching over to the euro is being delayed in any case, the government decided to raise the taxes at one go.
      Prime Minister Andrus Ansip says that the new target is to join the common European currency in 2011. According to calculations of the Estonian Ministry of Finance, Estonia can expect an inflation rate of six per cent next year.

Estonia Keeper Mart Poom Signs For Watford From Arsenal FC

Former Sunderland, Portsmouth & Derby Star Joins Hornets.

by Scott Harkness

Arsenal’s Estonian goalkeeper Mart Poom has joined Watford - who were relegated from The Premiership this season - on a permanent transfer deal for an undisclosed fee.

The 35-year-old Estonian No.1, who has only made two first-team appearances for The Gunners since his loan-move from Sunderland to Highbury was made permanent in January 2006, made his Premiership debut for the Gunners in their 0-0 draw away to Portsmouth in the last game of the 2006/07 season.

He will now be joining Adrian Boothroyd's team at Vicarage Road, with Richard Lee competing for the goalkeeper's jersey for The Hornets.

Estonia blacklists over 2,000 visitors

TALLINN - The Estonian Citizenship and Migration Department has imposed a permanent ban on 398 visitors, and a temporary ban on 1,615 potential comers, a department spokesperson said Monday.

Anne-Maarja Olei said the ban mostly covered Russians, Ukrainians and Armenians, some of whom could pose a threat to Estonian sovereignty. Foreigners who have been arrested by the police over public order violations were also put on the black list.

The Estonian Citizenship and Migration Department said 11 people, including three Russians, were extradited from Estonia in April.

Estonian residents increasingly support European Union

Stenbock House — The last survey by TNS Emor shows that compared to the end of 2006, the support of Estonian residents for European Union membership has increased considerably. When according to the recent survey conducted in December, the support of citizens who were of voting age for the European Union was 74%, then in May this year, it had risen to a record 85%. The previous highest percentage of support (78) dates back to October 2006.

There are no differences in the attitudes taken by citizens of voting age and by the entire 15–74 age group. A slight difference emerged between Estonians and the voting age citizens of other nations. Among Estonians, support reached 87%, being 78% among other nations.

At the same time, the number of citizens not supporting the European Union has decreased. In May, 8% of citizens did not support Estonia’s membership in the European Union. The relevant indicator in December had been 16%.

Along with increasing support for the European Union, support for the single European currency has also slightly increased. While support remained between 40–43% in the year 2006, then 47% of the respondents supported the adoption of the euro in Estonia and 40% of the respondents rejected it in May 2007. For the first time, the percentage of people supporting the euro exceeds that of those objecting to it.

Emor also investigated to what extent the Estonian public was informed about the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome that had laid the foundation for the European Union. Thirty-two per cent of the residents had heard about the celebrations in Estonia.

The survey was conducted within the framework of a telephone Omnibus study between 1 and 3 May and between 15 and 17 May. 1001 Estonian residents aged 15–74 participated in the survey. Of them, 800 were Estonian citizens of voting age. The survey was ordered by the State Chancellery.

The survey is available in full on the homepage of the State Chancellery at : http://www.riigikantselei.ee/?id=372 

EU Information Unit
+372 693 5729
www.riigikantselei.ee/euroopa

British Tallinn

Tallinn has been something of a soft touch for invading hordes over the centuries. Just about every nation or clan that borders the Baltic Sea has at one time or another approached the city's imposing, yet clearly breachable walls - Vikings, Danes, Swedes, Poles, Nazis and Soviets. Poignant dates litter this small country's history : 1346, when the city was sold by the Danes to the Teutonic Order ; March 9 1944, when the Nazi-held city was bombed remorselessly by the Soviets throughout the night ; August 20 1991, when Estonia finally regained independence from the Soviets after the so-called Singing Revolution.

But a more recent date may come to be noted as a turning point for the city - October 31 2004. This was when the first easyJet flight from Britain landed at Tallinn's airport. Some feel the city has never been the same since. For around £40 each way, the journey to Tallinn's medieval old town - a Unesco world heritage site - became instantly affordable to Britons. The state airline, Estonian Air, soon dropped its prices to compete.

Before this date, most Britons visiting the city were over 50 and largely interested in culture and architecture. Beyond Tallinn itself, other attractions proved popular : the limestone cliffs at Ontika; the coastal spa town of Pärnu; the forested and bog-filled nature reserves ; and the large islands of Hiiumaa and Saaremaa to the west. But since Tallinn became cheaper to reach it has joined the ranks of European cities that each weekend have to deal with sometimes hundreds of drunk, leery men , singing and stumbling their way from bar to strip club in search of alcohol and sex, under the banner of the stag party. Of all these cities, Tallinn is seen to be particularly vulnerable to this form of tourism as, unlike the bigger cities that these "staggers" head to, the downtown area is little more than a mile wide. In such a small space, the staggers more than make their presence felt.

Estonia's Jarvi family hold reunion concert in Tallinn

by Anneli Reigas
 
  TALLINN (AFP) - Nearly 30 years after Neeme Jarvi took his family and left the Soviet Union for the United States, the conductor from tiny Estonia who has become a global music giant will hold a homecoming concert in Tallinn that spans the generations.

   Sharing the conductor's baton with Jarvi for the concert in the Estonia Concert Hall in Tallinn on Saturday will be his sons, Paavo and Kristjan.

   Daughter Maarika, a flautist, will be a featured solo artist in the concert,  while a handful of Neeme's grandchildren will be in the audience.

   The entire family will be travelling to Estonia especially for the concert, with Grammy-award winner Paavo arriving at the last minute because of professional commitments in Germany.

   The concert is not only a birthday celebration for Jarvi, who will be 70 on June 7, but also a homecoming for the entire family, which has kept alive its love of Estonia despite long years spent outside the Baltic state.

   "Although my family and I have been living far away from our homeland for 27 years, we have always remained attached to our Estonian roots," Jarvi told AFP.

   "It's a great honour to be a member of a tiny nation of around only one million people that has survived wars and occupations by Russians, Germans and even Danes and Swedes," said Jarvi, who is currently chief conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in the United States.

Bienvenue à Tallinn

Joe Warmington

Arrivé de Finlande sur un traversier, je me sens comme un espion dans un film sur la guerre froide - mais pas pour longtemps. Le vieux port de Tallinn présente peut-être des vestiges de l’époque soviétique, mais l’ancienne ville est aussi moderne et prospère que n’importe quelle ville de l’ancienne Union soviétique.

Le Rideau de fer a définitivement été levé, mais cinq décennies de règne communiste et des siècles d’histoire donnent à Tallinn une saveur unique. Dans la décennie et demie depuis que l’Estonie a obtenu son indépendance de l’Union soviétique, le pays est passé avec succès du communisme au capitalisme et du contrôle étranger à la démocratie.

Un passé difficile
Aujourd’hui, Tallinn est florissante, prospère, mais, étrangement, toujours médiévale. Elle possède mille et un charmes et autant de lieux intéressants! Pourtant de 1940 à 1992, visiter cette ville historique était presque impossible. Les touristes étaient rares et les temps, difficiles.

Aujourd’hui, il y a du travail pour tous ceux qui en veulent, indique Olga. Les Mercedes, les chantiers de construction et les boutiques à la mode sont bien en évidence.

A New Kind of War

By Anne Applebaum

And now for a quick quiz : A European country — a member in good standing of NATO and the European Union — has recently suffered multiple attacks on its institutions. Can you (a) name the country, (b) describe the attacks and (c) explain what NATO is doing in response ?

If you can’t, don’t worry NATO itself doesn’t quite know what it is doing about the attacks, despite the alliance’s treaty, which declares that an armed attack on one of its members is “an attack against them all.” The country is Estonia — a very small, very recent member of NATO ; the attacks are taking place in cyberspace; and while the perpetrators aren’t exactly unknown, their identities can’t be proved either.

Which creates a dilemma, or rather several : Is this an “armed attack” ? Is the NATO alliance obliged to respond ? And if yes, how ? None of these questions have clear answers. And if you thought that terrorists headquartered in ungovernable bits of the undeveloped world were the West’s worst problem, think again.

Estonia gives harmonious welcome to Japanese royals

TALLINN (AFP)

Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko were given a harmonious musical welcome to Estonia on Thursday as they began their first-ever visit to a former Soviet republic.

After a formal welcoming ceremony held under overcast skies and in chilly winds at the presidential palace of Kadriorg in the seaside capital Tallinn, and a luncheon hosted by Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Akihito and Michiko attended a choral concert by some 3,000 Estonian youngsters.

Thousands of spectators and performers applauded warmly as the imperial couple arrived at the Song Festival Grounds in Tallinn, which holds a special place in Estonian history.

It was under the huge arch at the Tallinn festival grounds that Estonians staged their "Singing Revolution" -- the peaceful, musical demonstrations of the late 1980s that paved the way to ending Soviet rule in 1991.

Estonia is the second stop on the Japanese royal couple's 10-day European tour, which began in Sweden and will also take in the other two Baltic states, Latvia and Lithuania, which were also occupied by the Soviet Union.

In a speech given at the official luncheon in Tallinn, Akihito recalled the year he ascended to the throne, which was also the year that thousands of people in the Soviet-occupied Baltic states formed a human chain that extended from Estonia to Lithuania, to peacefully press for freedom.

"I ascended to the throne in 1989, the same year that the Baltic Chain, which started in Tallinn and united the three Baltic countries, attracted the attention of the world," said Akihito.

"In 1991, I learned that the three Baltic states were the first countries to free themselves from Soviet power, and I remember the emotions that this powerful course of history created in me," he added.

Later, as hundreds of red and white Japanese flags fluttered alongside the blue, black and white of Estonia's banner, the audience at the song grounds rose to their feet as Akihito and Michiko walked to their places in the first row to listen to a half-hour concert of Estonian choral songs.

"For us, it's a great honour to show our musical culture to the Japanese emperor," choir conductor Aarne Saluveer said.

In the crowd, a few dozen Japanese people stood shoulder to shoulder with Estonians.

"I've only seen the emperor on TV in Japan, so it's my chance to see him in person here," said 39-year-old Junko Yasuda, who had travelled to Tallinn from nearby Finland, where she lives, just to see the emperor.

As the youthful voices intoned the songs, the clouds lifted and gave way to a clear but crisp late spring day.

"Even the clouds have disappeared," said Mailii Tamme, an Estonian woman in the audience.

"It always happens with our song festivals: we sing the clouds away."

On Thursday evening, the imperial couple will meet with key players in Estonian-Japanese relations in Tallinn's medieval Town Hall.

Ilves said in a statement that cultural exchanges between Japan and Estonia were "part of a global process, in which various conceptions and ways of thinking meet."

"This creates understanding and brings our people closer together," the Estonian head of state said.

The emperor and empress will spend one day each in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on the first Japanese royal visit to territory that was once part of the Soviet Union. Because of a territorial dispute, Japan has never signed a peace treaty with the Soviet Union or Russia officially ending World War II.

Carmen heading to her 29th birthday

Carmen Kass (born September 14, 1978 in Paide, Estonia) is an Estonian supermodel.
Check her up here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Kass

Kass grew up in the Estonian city of Paide. When she was little girl, she lived in the village of Sika . Her mother worked in a farm. There, she was brought up by a single mother and lived in a cramped apartment. At the age of fourteen, she was 'discovered' in a Tallinn supermarket by an Italian modeling scout. Kass had wanted to compete for the Miss Estonia title, but an offer to fly to Milan, Italy, to start a modeling career seemed like a more glamorous and lucrative option.

Kass officially moved to Paris at the age of 18. Soon after, she received exposure on the cover of magazines worldwide, such as Vogue (France) in 1997, ELLE (Australia), Image (UK), Madame Figaro, Numéro France, Vogue (France), and Vogue (US) in 1999.

In 1999, Kass modeled for top designers such as Alberta Ferretti, Anna Sui, Bill Blass, Christian Dior, DKNY, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Michael Kors, Moschino, Prada, Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Louis Vuitton, and Valentino.

In addition, Kass has posed in numerous advertisements for Calvin Klein, Chanel, Donna Karan, Givenchy, Fendi, Michael Kors, Versace, and also for General Motors. She is also recognized for her appearances in a The Gap denim advertising campaign. Kass was a spokesperson for Sephora, one of the world's leading cosmetics retailers, and the Christian Dior perfume, "J'adore".

Kass was awarded by Vogue as "Model of the Year" at the 2000 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards.