Life after Eesti

New Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:32:00 +0000

For a number of reasons I'm switching away from Blogger so please update any links or bookmarks you may have and point them to the new site which can be found here:

http://www.sehr.ca/blog/

I apologize for the minor inconvenience this change causes but in the long run it'll be better for me to host my own stuff.

Alcohol Politics

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:07:00 +0000

Alcohol politics are a popular topic in Estonia, no one seems to agree on what restrictions if any should exist. In Ontario the topic rarely comes up but sometimes it's pretty obvious what side has won. (Note the # of outlets open).

The Shock Doctrine - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:59:00 +0000

I just finished reading Naomi Klein's latest book "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism". I enjoyed her previous book, No Logo, quite a bit so I was looking forward to this one.

The book starts out with an in depth recount of experiments conducted in the 1950s and 1960s, mostly at McGill University in Montreal, that studied a severe method of mental therapy on patients. This therapy involved braking down patients to their infantile level using methods such as intense periods of isolation followed by sensory overload, electroshock and hallucinogenic drugs. Once a patient had been "broken down" it was believed that doctors to "remake" the patients and cure all sorts of mental ailments. A lot of this research has been later used as the base for modern interrogation (torture?) employed by around the world. Klein also argues that basic principals of this research has been used on a much larger scale to inflict mass therapy on entire nations, braking them down to their basic level and wipe out any resistance in order to implement radical reforms that would otherwise be opposed by the majority of the population.

The book then spends a lot of time focusing it's critique on Milton Friedman and his so called "Chicago Boys", staunch free market economist who's main goal is remove any government interference in economics and let corporations run free. The first nations to implement Friedman's policies were Latin and South American nations, such as Chile under Pinochet, which had removed left leaning governments from office and been taken over by right wing dictatorships that brutally repressed it's people. In many of these countries Chicago trained economist came into powerful positions and privatized industries, raised prices, laid of public servants and generally screwed the poor.

Klein explains that Chicago boys learned that during times of instability they would be able to influence public policy (generally through institutions like the IMF) in order to advance their agenda of free market theory. Klein cites examples all over the world where disasters (man-mad or natural) have occurred and how states have been pressured into selling off their assets and opening up their economy to foreigners for plunder. Some of the examples include:

Poland right after the Solidarity movement won elections.
Russia after the fall of communism.
South East Asia after the tsunami of 2004
South Africa at the end of the apartheid

In all of these cases, Klein argues that Chicago trained and influence policy makers pushed through radical reforms that would never otherwise get passed in order to benefit big business.

I'm not sure that I agreed 100% with Klein's arguments, for sure there are numerous cases where corporations got sweetheart deals and it does seem like the IMF is more than happy to saddle struggling nations with a lot of debt and commitments but I don't think it's all that black and white. One example she talks about is Poland's shipyards closing shortly after communism fell, she seems to attribute this to western corporations raiding the factories and closing them maliciously, while the more likely cause is simply that communist era factories were generally a mess and in no way capable of staying open without the Soviet era subsidies they once had.

The section that is the most striking is about the Iraq war and the general outsourcing of the American government to private contractors. After 9/11 the "homeland security" industry grew from nowhere and all sorts of firms started selling services to the government. Most of these firms were run by former government officials who in some cases came back to the government at set policy that would often help their firms. The amount of ineptitude (or sheer corruption?) that occurred in the first months of the Iraq war were stunning. The people in charge were more concerned with getting Wal-Mart and Haliburton on the ground than they were saving Iraqi lives. Iraqis were excluded from working on reconstruction projects while contractors were guaranteed costs, plus profit. She also has a chapter on New Orleans and how corporations were given billions in reconstruction contracts (almost always no-bid) only to see the money get disappear with little to show for it even to this day.

There's more than enough in this book to get you riled up and upset about how some countries have been taken advantage by government and big business. But in general, Klein is a little too lefty for me. She doesn't offer much in terms of solutions, the book left me the impression that she believes that if only the entire world were run by Chavez and Morales and if corporations were all in the hands of governments we'd all be better off. Not sure I agree with that.

Overall the book was a decent read. Not as good as her previous one, a bit harder to get through and a little repetitive but overall worth reading if you enjoy this type of anti-corporate book.

Estonia's nuclear ambitions

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:27:00 +0000

There's been talk in the press recently about whether or not Estonia should build it's own nuclear power plant. To me this is an odd questions so I started reading up on it a bit.

Estonia has always been electricity independent thanks to it's abundance of oil shale deposits in the east and the large power plants near Narva which provide more than enough power for the country and even a little left over to sell to neighbors.

In 2013 the EU electricity market opens up and due to the dirty nature of Estonia's electricity generation it will become prohibitively expensive to produce power (they charge a high CO2 tax on oil shale). So Eesti has started looking into alternative methods to get electricity. The past couple of years Eesti Energia has been talking with the Lithuanians about a partnership to build a new plant in Ignelina where there is a plant right now that has to be shut down shortly due to EU regulations. Apparently the negotiations haven't gone so well, the Poles want a large part of the generation and small Eesti may get pushed out of the deal. Eesti has also asked the Finns whether they can be a part of any future projects in the north since Finland has a number of nukes already running, this option doesn't look likely as they are in the process of building a plant and probably won't need a new one anytime soon.

Because none of these partnerships seem to be working the government has decided to investigate whether building their own, small nuke plant would be a good idea. A couple of locations out on the eastern coast have been mentioned and there is talk of taking the CO2 money that they'll be making in the next couple of years and investing it in a plant that will ensure the future of Estonia's electrical independence.

Does Estonia really need to spend the money to build a plant? Are there no other alternatives? It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Post War: A History of Europe Since 1945 - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 22:39:00 +0000

I recently finished reading Tony Judt's excellent book on the history of Europe after WW2. It's a well written overview of the events that shaped modern Europe and describes in detail how the rise of the EU and it's institutions came to be.

It also delves deeply into the conditions and events in Eastern Europe and how they shaped (or failed to shape) the rest of the continent. The first couple of chapters were of particular interest to me, the short period after the war and before the Cold War set in was a precarious time for all of Europe. Security and economic uncertainty was everywhere and a lot of decisions were made with the assumption that Germany could one day rise to threaten the world again.

There were a number of interesting sections that discussed Estonia and its directs neighbors and events that I was either unaware of or found interesting, some of those sections I'll mention here.

Early in the book the author discusses the effects of collective farms and farm quotas on the local populations and how out of touch they were:

The Baltic States, fully incorporated into the Soviet Union itself, were even worse off than the rest of eastern Europe. 1949, kolkhozes in northern Estonia were required to begin grain deliveries even before the harvest had begun, in order to keep in line with Latvia, four hundred kilometers to the south. By 1953 rural conditions in hitherto prosperous Estonia had deteriorated to the point where cows blown over by the wind were too weak to get back on their feet unaided.

Another section that discussed Sweden and the successful social democratic model they employed also mentions various eugenics programs (attempts at racial improvement that usually involved sterilization) that were by run by Uppsala university. I had no idea that such programs existed and continued to exist until 1976.

The chapter on the 1960's discusses some of the reforms that Krushchev tried to undertake, one of which was a small attempt at private farms which apparently worked a little too well.

"By the early sixties, the 3 percent of cultivated soil in private hands was yielding over a third of the Soviet Union's agricultural output."

When discussing centralized planning in East Germany there are some comedic references to the strict nature of quotas that existed.

"It was announced that Book-holdings in the libraries are to be increased from 350k to 450k volumes. The number of borrowings is to be increased 108.2 percent".

In the section about the creation of a common EU currency the author mentions how Germany pushed hard for stringent rules to ensure that the new currency would mimic the policies of the old Deutchmark. This is of particular interest for Eesti as they have been unable to meet the criteria to join the Euro zone simply because inflation grew as the economy heated up.

"The German negotiators - wary of the profligate tendencies of 'Club Med' countries like Italy or Spain - imposed draconian conditions for membership of the new currency."

Overall I thought the book was one of the most readable history books I've read and provided me with a good base for understanding a lot of current EU (and Russian) issues. So if you're looking for a nice 800+ page book to cozy up with next to the fireplace on a wintery night I highly recommend it.

Pet Peeve

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:15:00 +0000

Can someone explain to me why such a large bottle is needed for such small pills?

I know that the probably only make 1 or 2 sizes of bottles to accommodate the largest size pills but really, this is a waste of packaging.

Skype vs. Scrabulous

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:27:00 +0000

Scrabulous is the popular Facebook application that got into trouble for ripping off the original Scrabble game.

It appears that they also have a strikingy similar logo to Skype. :)

Teder vs Jõks

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:52:00 +0000

Reform has given their support to Indrek Teder and it's likely that he'll become the next õiguskantsler (Estonia's version of a constitutional ombudsmen). Teder has supported a recent decision of Jõks where parliament members can't sit on the board of directors of companies (not sure if it's just government firms or all firms?) so it should be interesting to see if Teder gets chosen if he'll push this through against the wishes of Reform and Kesk.

To me it just looks like the main requirement for this job is being bald with think rimmed glasses. :)

Australian advisories

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:05:00 +0000

There's an amusing article in most of todays Canadian dailies about Australia's official travel advisory website which warns to "exercise caution" when traveling to Canada. The site lists Canada as more of a risk then Chile, South Korea and Latvia to name a few.

Some of the major dangers in Canada include:

- Risk of terrorist attack
- Petty crime such as pick pocketing and street theft occurs at tourist destinations, hotels and on public transport.
- The province of British Columbia in western Canada is in an active earthquake zone
- Alberta and British Columbia are also subject to avalanches. Tornadoes can occur in some areas of Canada between May and September.
- Bush and forest fires can occur any time in Canada. (Fires in the winter?)

I checked Estonia out on their site. Eesti is consider one step safer than Canada, some of the dangers include:
- You should avoid demonstrations and large public gatherings as they may turn violent.
- Driving in Estonia can be dangerous due to local driving practices, poorly maintained roads and vehicles, and inadequate road lighting.
- When you are in Estonia, be aware that local laws and penalties, including ones that appear harsh by Australian standards, do apply to you.

Canada sure sounds like a scary place. :)

Fox "News"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 14:18:00 +0000

The post below contained a video clip from a Fox debate, in which Ron Paul ripped the host a new one when asked why he was running since he wasn't electable.

Fox apparently cut this from the debate (not sure if that's 100% true) and now they've gotten it removed from YouTube even though there are thousands of other Fox clips on the site.

A lot of people claim that the mainstream media is purposefully ignoring Ron Paul, I'm starting to believe that may be true.

Straight talk

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:32:00 +0000

Ron Paul has some pretty kooky ideas but boy is it nice to see an honest politician once and awhile.

You're fired

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:02:00 +0000

There's a lot of ink being spent in Estonia on a new employment law that was announced yesterday. I haven't read many specifics about the law, mainly because most of the press is going towards the battle between Reform and the Sotsid who dislike the bill. I gather that the bill makes firing employees easier which is upsetting a lot of people, if anyone has more details on the actual bill I'd love to hear them.

What did strike me as interesting in this bill is that it provides every employee with 15 days a year for an "educational vacation". I think this a great idea, it's a way to ensure that your population continues to upgrade their skills and gives employees a chance to break from the everyday work life and learn something new and interesting. I expect we'll see a proliferation of schools and companies offering 2 week courses in all sorts of topics if this bill passes.

An surprise benefit of Shengen

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:03:00 +0000

Apparently Nashi activists are pissed at Estonia again (although I don't think they ever stopped). This time it is because as of last month when Eesti joined the Shengen visa free zone which allows for border free travel in the EU they have shared their "banned list" of people denied entry to Estonia with the rest of the EU. Because of this there are a number of Nashi (reportedly around 2000) who are now barred from entering any Shengen country, essentially all of the EU except England and Ireland. Nashi activists have gotten so obsessed with getting to Tallinn that they've resorted to crossing borders illegally on foot.

Orwellian

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 14:05:00 +0000

Has Rudy Guliani resurrected George Orwell and put him in charge of his ads?

Something is off

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:02:00 +0000

Does this seem normal to you?

Singing Revolution Box Office receipts

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 17:46:00 +0000

The Singing Revolution came out in NYC last week. It got some good reviews and managed to crack the Top 10 box office in terms of average revenue per screen in all of the US. Hopefully these good results will mean a little more exposure for the film.

A little bit about Russia

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:19:00 +0000

So yesterday Russia held their parliamentary elections, no surprise in the result. Putin's party won more than 60% of the vote and there are complaints of widespread voter manipulation.

I also noticed the news that the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) announced that they are beginning talks with 5 new countries to join, among them Estonia and Russia.

I didn't know much about OECD so I check out their website and their mission statement is as follows:

The OECD brings together the governments of countries committed to democracy and the market economy from around the world to:

• Support sustainable economic growth
• Boost employment
• Raise living standards
• Maintain financial stability
• Assist other countries' economic development
• Contribute to growth in world trade

I wonder how the Russia fit's into that criteria, based on this weekends performance their doesn't seem to be much "democracy" going on there.

Global Climate Destabilization

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:23:00 +0000

Good video that explains in simple terms that action to combat global warming is an exercise in risk management that shouldn't be ignored.

Russia: Death of a Nation

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 01:37:00 +0000

I just finished watching a fascinating and frightening documentary on Russia's demographic crisis (thanks for the tip Jaanus).

It's a look into the rapid decline of Russia's population which is compounded by poverty, drug use and disease. It also examines the growing nationalism in the country, the maker often compares what he sees to 1930's Germany.

It's made by Channel4 in the UK and is available on Google Video on also on some torrent sites.

It's a good watch if you're into Russia and makes you wonder how they'll turn things around internally.

Is Russia trying to devalue the Estonian Kroon?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:43:00 +0000

There are reports in the papers today that Russian websites are saying that the Eesti Kroon is being devalued and people should cash in their EEK's for Euros. Officials have come out and said that this is not true but that hasn't stopped a number of people from rushing to currency exchange places to convert their kroons. Apparently most of the people converting have been ethnic Russians in places like Idu-Virumaa and it hasn't spread much further.

So the question is whether the Russian government (directly or through its various proxies) is trying to cause the kroon to collapse and whether they could succeed? Eesti Pank has said that they have more than enough foreign currency reserves to hold the peg and since the Kroon is a fairly illiquid currency on the global market I doubt that Russia or any Russian organization has enough kroons to sell to make any impact. Also, since the biggest losers of a devalued Kroon would likely be the Swedish banks that control Estonian finances they'd probably do everything they can to purchase the excess money that is coming onto the market. So the only real option would be to try to cause an internal "run on the bank" and get locals to sell their Kroons, which it seems like they are trying to do at the moment but I doubt it will work.

Now I wonder what would happen if Russia tried to push the value of the kroon up instead of down? Could this ruin the economy by making exports unrealistically expensive? Hypothetically if Russia took some of the vast amounts of money they make every day off of oil and started buying kroons they could push up the value of the kroon to effect an already vulnerable economy. I haven't thought this through very much so I'm sure there's a reason why this wouldn't work but it's an interesting thought nonetheless. Most likely Eesti Pank could flood the market with more kroons bringing the value back down to normal and negating any impact.

Economic Crisis a good thing?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:49:00 +0000

Sten caused a bit of a stir this past weekend when some of his comments at a innovation forum made the newspaper. Sten was quoted as saying that Eesti could use a good old economic crash at this point in order to secure the economic future of the country. He argues that Eestlased have gotten a bit lazy, that life is going so well and the money is rolling in so there's no need for radical change. This is good in the short term but long term will hurt Eesti which still relies greatly on Old Town tourism, (no longer) cheap labour, a real estate boom and transit corridors as sources of income.

I think Sten hits the nail on the head and a little shake up is necessary in order to re-order the school system and focus the country on a sustainable economy of innovation and services. Looking at the recent economic stats (GDP growth hits a 4 year low) we may be in process of that correction, whether or not it will be severe enough to shake things up is yet to be seen.

Inflatable

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:24:00 +0000

Estonian inflation hit 8.5% in October, nice. I don't see much about it in the papers or any comment from the government. I haven't seen a single step by the government to curb inflation (not that they have many options) and I'm starting to wonder if anyone in Eesti understands the economic consequences of high inflation? Ansip proudly stated that they hadn't adopted the Euro yet not because of any internal problem but because of the strict Euro entry requirements, wonder if he still uses that (weak) argument?

España

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:26:00 +0000

I spent the last week in Spain catching a bit of sun and spending some time with Liisa. I'd been to Spain before about 6 years ago and enjoyed it then and still enjoyed it today.

A couple of things I noticed while in Spain:

1) Madrid's subway system is amazing, it's cheap and goes pretty much everywhere and is exactly what public transit should be. A single ride costs 2EUR but you can purchase 10 rides for about 6EUR. You can take the metro out to the airport eventhough it's 15+ kms from the centre and there's even a line with only 2 stops (I think it's mostly to get up a big hill). They continue to expand the system each year which is something unheard of in Toronto. Purchasing tickets is simple, quick and mostly automated although there is still usually 1 worker who you can ask questions of or buy tickets. The system appears to be used very widely and was always full. I wonder how they get the money to continue to expand the system? Do they get EU money for it? Toronto (and Tallinn) could seriously learn a lesson or two from Madrid's public transit.

2) Spanish lifestyle is fun but doesn't suit me. In Spain time seems shifted, shops don't open until 10 or 11am. They close for a long time in the afternoon and reopen again after 5pm. You can't get dinner until 8:30pm (kitchens are often closed) and no one goes home until 4am. While this might work well during the hot summer days and is fun once and awhile I couldn't live like this. I like to go to bed relatively early and get up early, I'm most productive in the morning, maybe the long Estonian winter nights have permanently shifted my patterns.

3) Tapas is great. I love being able to have a number of different little dishes rather than one big dish. It's also great to be in a country where they don't tack on a 500% markup on a bottle of wine in a restaurant.

All in all a great vacation, coming back to Toronto weather wasn't much fun but it's better than the weather Liisa has in Tartu. :)

Estonian Identity Act

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:03:00 +0000

The topic of ethnic relations has been on the radar in Estonia for the past 6 months since the riots. Quebec languages laws have often been compared and contrasted with Eesti so I was amused when I read an article in the paper today about the purposed "Quebec Identity Act" which the Parti Québécois is purposing in Quebec.

Essentially the law would create a "Quebec citizenship" which you can get if you speak French and know enough about Quebec culture and history (I'm assuming through some sort of test?). Without Quebec citizenship you would not be able to for the National Assembly, municipal council or school posts, and from contributing to political parties (even Federal Parties) or petitioning the assembly. The article gives a nice example: Just imagine. A born-in-Canada computer analyst from Toronto who moves to Montreal for work could apply for "Quebec citizenship" only if he or she speaks French and knows Quebec culture..

Even if this proposal were somehow to become law (which it won't) there's no way it would survive a legal challenge but it's always interesting to see that Estonia's ethnic integration issues aren't unique and exists even very close to home.

The Estonian Threat

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:28:00 +0000

I just read an article in the NY Times about what Putin may do to stay in power. This paragraph struck me:

The other option would not require Mr. Putin to move out of the Kremlin even for a short time. According to the Russian Constitution, the president may declare martial law in the case of aggression or “direct threat of aggression.” A subsequent “martial law regime” could be easily fashioned by the Parliament to include the cancellation of elections until the “threat” is over. The “threat” could be found to emanate from Estonia, which has been sharply denounced by Russia’s official propaganda this year. Estonia’s ambassador in Moscow has been harassed by a government-organized youth group and its Web sites have been subject to cyberattacks.

I've got to wonder what kind of "threat" Eesti could pose to Russia to cause martial law? I can't even think of a made up threat that Russia could come up with that would require martial law, any ideas?