Abdul Turay

Go West follow up article Musician Jaan Tätte's view: As far as foreigners are concerned, we are Russian. First published Postimees 21 July 2010 Musician and traveller Jaan Tätte's experience is that foreigners think Estonians are Russians and mostly Estonia has to be introduced via neighbouring countries. In today's Postimees opinion piece Abdul Turay writes that gradually Estonia has started to be separate from other Eastern Europe countries and more and more it is becoming part of the Nordic countries. Postimees asked Tätt what his experience shows. “When I meet with a foreigner and explain where Estonia is located, then we talk at first about Finland and Sweden. Yes And Russia is our neighbour,.... then there is understanding,” he said. The musicians evaluation is foreigners think Estonia is Eastern European. “The more intelligent understand that we want to belong to there the North but actually we belong still to the East,” he said. “For many acquaintance it doesn...

The greatest speech of all time. By Abdul Turay Published Postimees 11 May 2010 Think of every great speech from history. They all use parallelism. Think of the beatitudes. All blessed are the meek , All blessed are the peacemakers,All blessed are the poor. Think of Martin Luther King's “I have a dream” speech. Think of Winston Churchill Battle of Britain speech. We shall fight on the beaches, We shall fight on the hill, We shall fight on the landing grounds. Now we have a have candidate for great speech for our age. Andres Mähar, playing a disgruntled losing Unite Estonia candidate, ranting on a roof top and shouting f*** you to everybody; politicians, their supporters, country folk, the Janitor, even himself. The “F*** you (Kai Perse)” speech. “F*** you internet commentators, thanks to you, you can't get your point across without saying f*** you,” he said. Estonia has one underlying political problem. People dislike the government, as they should be after years of failure and...

For Europe's sake stop the Tories By Abdul Turay Published Postimees 4 May 2010 One brutal statistic brings home what Estonians really think of Britain. According to the British Office of National Statistics (ONS), more than eight times as many Latvians or 38140 registered workers and almost 13 times as many Lithuanians 57620 have emigrated to Britain in the last five years as have Estonians – 4520. Clearly more than any other country in the region, Estonians don't dig Britain. They don't rate it as a place to live, work and make money; and they don't care about the British election. The challenge therefore is to convince you that this coming election really does matter to Estonia. What many Estonians don't realise is that far from being weak, in decline, with it's glory days behind it, Britain is strong, getting stronger and increasing it's influence in Europe and the World. To find out how and why, read on. The man who becomes the next British Prime Min...

The libertarian tradition By Abdul Turay Published Postimees 30 March 2010 “There is nothing nice about the USA. When you go to hospital you have to pay” So sang legendary Scottish punk band the Exploited in their seminal track “F**k the USA” Estonian medical practitioners make the same point albeit rather more tactfully. “In the US people are not even in the health system, it is not working,” Dr Margus Viigimaa, President of the Centre for Cardiology said. He goes on to explain that when the health system in Estonia was set up in the 90s they borrowed ideas for Sweden and Britain but not from the United States. The healthcare debate not only show that Estonia is in many ways a better place to live than the United States. It also shows the people who oppose health care reform, American libertarians, are dangerous not just to Americans but to the Estonia nation. To understand why we have to look at how Americans see themselves and their place in the World. The passage of the health c...

Featured articles City under siege Right is Right? Why I write in Estonia Brave new Estonia Cancel the debt Who's in charge here How the leader of the opposition can bully the PM. The man who annoys Estonians: Q and A with Priit Pullerits Postimees did this in depth interview. Black men, Estonian women the truth An opinion piece. The title is self-explanatory. Pyrrhic Victory About the recent local elections in Estonia. The Sexiest man in Estonia Guess who? The Playboy bunny and foreign policy Laar's Dilemma About the former PM of Estonia. Cult of Youth Why Estonia is run by kids Quiet genius who brought East to the West How the Koran came to be published in Estonia. Bigotry and denial Race relations in the Baltics in particular Lithuania A hard landing indeed Let's eat potato peels Fighting to preserve a Nation's heritage

Brave New Estonia By Abdul Turay Published Postimees 21 February 2010 When my editor called me to write a piece about Estonian Independence day my first thought was: “why me?” I am aware there are a lot of people interested in reading what I have to say about this, that and the other, but surely a big patriotic event like Independence Day is best covered by native writers? But then I realised, everything that can be written about Estonian Independence Day and the new national awakening Estonia currently is going through has already been exhaustively covered. I can imagine the words. “Estonians fought to preserve the nation’s freedom, Estonians must still fight to preserve the nation’s freedom.” What else is there left to say? Well actually looking at it from as an outsider there is quite a lot to say. I can say this with authority. Patriots from other countries envy Estonia. This is an exciting time to be alive and be Estonian. To us outsiders what is going on in Estonia is an heroic ...

Cancel the debt By Abdul Turay Published Postimees 28 January 2010 I was going to write about something else. In fact I'd already written it and was about to hit the send button, then I read this from American journalist Amy Goodman, who has just come back from Haiti, on her Democracy Now broadcast. “We sat and watched as doctors came from Denver Children’s Hospital performed this amputation that, in most cases, would have been unnecessary if the patient had received care at the beginning. The number of amputations without anaesthesia—now, let’s remember that it’s not only amputations, but it’s all operations.” Reading about people getting their arms and legs hacked off without any anaesthetic makes the subtle manoeuvres of Estonian politicians seem kind of trivial. Estonian politicians are angels compared to another group of people, international bankers. This destroyed nation owes international banks about a billion U.S. dollars. Most of it to the Inter-American Development Ba...