In the information vacuum
BBC news irk me - inadequate, Russian-minded, inaccurate. I had to look for the new channels of information on the events in Estonia. Actually, the focus is slowly shifting to Moscow where Estonian embassy has been literally sieged by young Russian activists. Today, Estonian and Swedish ambassadors were attacked physically.
Lately, I have turned to the Estonian news channels for my daily dose of information. The coverage has been perfect - fast, factual and with a typically Estonian healthy dose of scepticism. Today, this channel was cut off. Due to cyber-attacks on the information systems in Estonia, I have not been able to access important sites all day. BBC mentioned these cyber-attacks in quotation marks - I guess they have no need to access any of the major Estonian sites.
It might sound too new-age to be a problem, but for a country, which held the first on-line parliamentary election in the world, disruption of e-services is a serious problem.
Now, I had to turn to Russian news sites - at least they indicate the area of new developments in the conflict, albeit under a thick sauce of anti-Estonian propaganda. Then, I turned to the blogs.
Along the way, I found a great article on the true ethnic picture of Estonia. I have referred to this blogger earlier with a pinch of admiration. Guistino, an American in Estonia, has a nice easy language and a lot of knowledge about my country. His reactions to the latest events are an interesting read.
Lately, I have turned to the Estonian news channels for my daily dose of information. The coverage has been perfect - fast, factual and with a typically Estonian healthy dose of scepticism. Today, this channel was cut off. Due to cyber-attacks on the information systems in Estonia, I have not been able to access important sites all day. BBC mentioned these cyber-attacks in quotation marks - I guess they have no need to access any of the major Estonian sites.
It might sound too new-age to be a problem, but for a country, which held the first on-line parliamentary election in the world, disruption of e-services is a serious problem.
Now, I had to turn to Russian news sites - at least they indicate the area of new developments in the conflict, albeit under a thick sauce of anti-Estonian propaganda. Then, I turned to the blogs.
Along the way, I found a great article on the true ethnic picture of Estonia. I have referred to this blogger earlier with a pinch of admiration. Guistino, an American in Estonia, has a nice easy language and a lot of knowledge about my country. His reactions to the latest events are an interesting read.
posted by Kristina at 8:40 PM
3 Comments:
hi Kristina, I was following your blog for some time (found through nomadlife and thought your story somehow resonates with mine - I am russian, was born in Lithiania, grew up in Belarus, was working in AIESEC Belarus, Russia, in AI in Netherlands, and now am in Sydney exploring the world :)
anyhow, this post made me comment here - being russian with belarusian passport, i do hold a different perspective i believe, however a long time of working in international teams and talking to my friends from other countries made me more open to other, often contrarry to mine, views about some issues.
The comment I wanted to make - there are for sure different opinions inside and outside Estonia on the issue with the monument. At the end, it's your country, the government does whatever it thinks is right.
I personally agree with an opinion however, that from a moral point of view you can't put 'equal' sign between a monument which symbolyzes victory over Nazism; the following USSR occupation is a different story.
History is history; it can't be written back, whatever good of bad it holds, by removing monuments...
I really liked this article (hope you can rea it; as far i understand, you know russian?)
http://rian.ru/authors/20070503/64818016.html
the opinion might be challenging at first, but please, do read it; it holds some good thinking i believe, and anyways, it's always good to challenge own point of view :)
sorry the comment's too long; i'll be glad to hear more of your opinions! and i do like your blog :)
First, I have to apologise for the long silence - I was traveling and out of decent internet connection.
Thank you Sveta for your comment, I appreciate it.
I didn't want to explicitly state my position on the moving of the Bronze Soldier memorial. But I do support the move (I know many of my friends will disagree).
Don't judge me wrong - I am as messed up as the Estonian society. My mom's dad fought in the Soviet army against Nazis until the end of the war. At the same time (literally), my dad's grandparents were taken by the Communists to the forest near their farm and killed. I love my family. My wedding anniversary is on May 9th, and it is not just a coincidence.
Nevertheless, I do not think that the Bronze Soldier is the issue or the core of the problem. The monument is a symbol. Symbols, unfortunately, tend to get more attention than the actual problems.
The real issue in my mind is the stumbling integration in Estonia, the never-ending bullying from Russia, and the appalling apathy of the Western reaction. This is what I was trying to say.
Nii, huvist..
Kus kandis sa Oxfordis oled? Ja asja.. noh, nii põnev, meid, eestlasi siin siiski mõni on. Ja peale selle on AIESECi asi kah lahe, sest ma ise siis AIESECis ja alumnis ju hinnas :)
J
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