Abdul Turay

China Rising By Abdul Turay Published Postimees 6 June 2011 Here is a random list of things that came into my head: Wong Fei-Hung, Tsui Hark, Gong Li, Shao Lin, Leon Lai Ming, Stephen Chow Sing Chi, Wang Fei, Sun Yat Sen, Chiang Kai Shek (also known as Jiang Zhong Zheng), Fa jia, Si ren bang, Han Fei, Shen, Dao, Fu Jian, Bo Yang, Guo Min Dang, Aaron Kwok Fu Shing, Nan Jing, Cui Jian, Tang Chao, Andy Lau De Hua. To most people here, the above is just a list of sounds. If I were to put together a list of the Western counterparts you would know precisely whom or what I was talking about. Wong Fei Hung is the Cantonese equivalent of Robin Hood. Nan Jing is a big city, a former capital. Somebody asked me once knowing that I had once lived in China what the Chinese and Estonian share common. The answer is the Chinese and Estonians share... ignorance,they have a limited knowledge of each others culture. In April the IMF published figures that predict that China will replace the United States...

Why the world is silent about the Estonian election Playing around with higher education Response from Education Minister (ed note: in Estonian, will translate into English when I have time) Right is Right ? Why I write in Estonia Sotsid are not freaks Why are the Social Democrats still failing? Room 101 A comparison between British kids and Estonian kids Go West Where is Estonia exactly? Venture Capitalist Allan Martinson view Follow up story Musician Jaan Tätte view Follow up story The greatest speech of all time A review of Unite Estonia a very successful political play held 8 May at Saku Suurhall. For Europe's sake: Stop the Tories How the British elections will influence Estonia. The libertarian tradition Why Estonian Health care is better than the USA Brave new Estonia Estonian Independence day Cancel the debt Haitian crisis Who's in charge here How the leader of the opposition in Estonia can bully the PM. The man who annoys Estonians: Q and A with Priit Pull...

Why the world is silence about the election By Abdul Turay Published Postimees 10 March 2011 Nobody cares. The World didn't care. The global reaction to the Estonian election has been total apathy. In the UK, The Financial Times ran a brief inside story on the election saying who won but not why. The Chicago Tribunal carried a brief wire report as did The Herald Sun in Australia and The Telegraph in Britain. The BBC covered the story, but buried away somewhere. It had no analysis on the lead up to the election and no real analysis of the reasons for the results. The New York Times was better. It gave the story brief analysis, but from its Moscow correspondent, which as many people believe, is a bit like writing about the activities of the French resistance in World War II from the point of view of the Gestapo headquarters in Berlin. “Estonians stoically absorbed the suffering,” wrote The New York Times correspondent. “The opposition leader Edgar Savisaar, the mayor of th...

Playing around with higher education? By Abdul Turay Published Postimees 4th February 2011 The IRL is promising to scrap tuition fees for a large majority of university students. The Social Democrats are accusing them of populism and Keskerakond are claiming that they are just stealing their policies. But what do the students themselves think? At 18 years old, and about to enter University, Diana Kull is just the type of person whom this policy is aimed at. Free education sounds good to Kull, it was the main reason she picked the university she picked. She is also just the type of young swing voter the IRL is trying to win over. She likes the Social Democrats but she believes the IRL are the party of common sense. “(I like) their general appearance. The IRL are not too nationalist, they are in the safe zone in the middle,” she said. Don't count on Kull voting for the IRL just yet. In fact don't count on her staying in Estonia at all. Kull is leaving the country, she decided t...

Right is Right? By Abdul Turay Published Postimees 16th December 2010 "Estonia is too Republican. Young people should be caring and socially orientated, but not here in Estonia." This blunt comment comes from Kadri Simson. I met up with the Riigikogu member and deputy chairman of Keskerakond a little while ago. She seemed very sincere in her beliefs. "Even when George W Bush was highly unpopular all round Europe he was still popular in Estonia," she continued. She was keen to meet me but she seemed to feel that foreign writers in Estonia were all right-wingers who were deceiving the Estonian people. "There is some kind of attitude lower taxes for richer people or bigger benefits for wealthier people is justified are prevalent," she said. "I am also surprised when some foreigners or people from Western Europe, where these attitude are not so strong, are coming here and starting to give additional arguments towards this. "Those people who I know...

Extracts from an interview with women's magazine: Home and Family In Estonian(Eesti keeles) , Published December 2010 Is divorce a solution? Divorce is only a solution when you shouldn't have gotten married in the first place. I can't speak for Estonia, but in my own country, England, I think the time has come to get rid of civil marriages altogether and just have marriages in church, temple or mosques, a holy place. A marriage should be a holy sacrament. Everybody else can have a civil union. People get divorced because marriage is too easy. How do you solve problems in your marriage? The only way you can solve problems is by discussing them. Sometimes you have to accept you can't have your own way. Most men, if they are intelligent, intuitively know they should allow their wives to control them.

Why I write in Estonia By Abdul Turay Published Postimees 06 October 2010 For those of you who don't know who I am, I'm a Black English journalist based here in Tallinn. I have been living in Estonia, writing in Estonian newspapers for almost two years now. I normally write about politics and economics. There are some who say I shouldn't be writing. I knew one young lady, let's call her Liina, who said that it is arrogant of me to write, this is a view shared by many. Most writers get criticised for what they write, I get criticised for writing at all. I think the time has come to knock this on the head once and for all and answer Liina and her kind. Liina and her kind would argue that I'm not Estonian therefore I shouldn't write about Estonia. It's true, that I am not Estonian and I had no profile in Estonia prior to living here. It's also true that I haven't lived here particularly long, though I speak the language only a little, but I can read q...