Estonia in the Economist

And once again - damn those Economist journalists are good. I have to admit that it never stops surprising me as an Estonian how well and adequately the Economist journalists manage to portray the situation in Estonia. Part of this is probably the advantage of having a third party perspective, but they are remarkably perceptive to the general opinions in the country as well as insightful of the true nature of things. The latter is something that most Estonians know, but might not want to talk about. Current turmoil about our Bronze Soldier is one example - this is the notorious Second World War memorial that Estonians see as a memorial to our occupation, and Russians see as a basic commemoration of Soviet soldiers that died in the Second World War.

So if you want to see a really good and concise analysis of the situation in post-election Estonia, definitely read the Economist article "Floreat Estonia". You can find more good analysis on Estonia in their other arcticles you will see in the left hand corner of my blog under "Interesting Readings".

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Yes, one correction. As I was just reminded by a friend of mine, indeed, the Economist and all other Western commentators seem to have an overly positive image of Mr Mart Laar. Not to say that he did not do good things as a Prime Minister, but some of these things were not his personal achievements as much as those of a good team and good advisers. In addition, his party is also known to have supported many controversial issues, and some of them not so progressive and innovative at all. It is sad that the Reform Party refused Mr Laar the position everyone expected him to take, yet by the same token, I think in some ways Mr Laar was lucky to stay out of the Cabinet, because at this point the West appears to have clearly exaggerated expections for him.

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And for the local interpretation of the Economist article see (those that can read Estonian) "Economist: Ansip oleks pidanud Laarile võimaluse andma"