Skip to main content

Posts

USA saadik: “Ma tõesti tahtsin hipi olla” Eesti Ekspress 13 märts  Kui Venemaa näitab jälle muskleid, on paras aeg uurida, mis mees on USA suursaadik Eestis ja millised jõud on tema isikut vorminud.   Eesti jaoks on hea uudis, et 59aastasele, kuid poisilikule USA suursaadikule Jeff Levine’ile “tõesti, tõesti meeldib Eesti”. Halb uudis militaristidest eestlaste jaoks on, et Levine pole sõdalane. Südames on ta hipi, armastuse ja rahu inimene, “make love not war”- ja “väed Vietnamist välja”-mees. “Olen pisut liiga noor, et olla hipi, aga ma tõesti tahtsin hipi olla,” täpsustab Levine. “1970. aastal olin 15aastane. Punkarit minust ka enam ei saanud. Hipiliikumine oli viimane, mille ma omaks võtsin.” Levine on väga meeldiv, avatud ja aus. Intervjuu kestel ei kao naeratus tema huulilt. Temaga rääkides tekib selge pilt, milline ta 1975. aastal võis olla – üsna samasugune nagu praegu, kuigi tal olid ilmselt pikemad juuksed ja võib-olla ka habe. Levine on üks neist inimestest,
I really wanted to be a hippy Interview with the US Ambassador Jeffrey Levine. Published Eesti Ekpress 13 March Most people believe that for security, Estonia must always look to the United States, not to Europe. With Russia flexing its muscles again, now would be a good time to look at the U.S. Ambassador, to find out what kind of person he is, and what forces have shaped him. The good news, for Estonia, is that Jeff Levine, the boyish, 59 year old US representative, to paraphrase Sally Field's Oscar infamous acceptance speech; " really, really, likes Estonia."" The bad news, for hawkish Estonians, is Levine is not a warrior, at heart he is a hippy. Love and peace, man, make love not war, troops out of Vietnam, all of that. "I am a bit too young to be a hippy, but I really wanted to be," Levine clarifies. "I was 15 in 1970, I was never a punk. Hippy was the last movement I really embraced," he said.
Social Democrats are solid as a rock Published Postimees 17 February 2014 When I raised the issue of Russian language education to a young man I know, he took his glasses off, paused for a second, then he started to rant. He was talking so fast in English I couldn't take it all in. “If Russians want to live in Estonia they should learn our language and there could be no compromise” This was the gist of what he said. I haven't heard anybody shout like that about politics since the 1990s. Education funding has been in the news a lot lately. But of the three issues, the mergers of schools, the drying up for funding to private schools, and funding to the Russian language Vene Lyceum, it is clearly the third that causes most passion. So it was that the deputy mayor responsible for education, Mihhail Kõlvart, faced a vote of no confidence in the City council last week. He was always going to win. The Centre party have an absolute majority, and wha
Ansip through the eyes of a reporter Published Postimees April 1 By the time you read this, we will have a new Prime Minister. Whilst everybody is speculating about the future, I thought I would reminisce about the past and pay a personal tribute to Andrus Ansip. There is an old saying “All political careers end in failure.” It seems that Ansip has bucked the trend. He wasn't pushed out, nor did he jump, he stepped down gracefully. I have met Andrus Ansip on quite a few occasions, most times he would buy me lunch, we had some good chats together. The first time I met him was he held a meeting with foreign correspondents. At the time I had only been in the country a few months and I was then the editor of The Baltic Times There were 12 of us. Most of the correspondents were Finns. When Ansip entered, he took in the room. Then he spied me, and he looked a little surprised, he smiled a little. I guess he was thinking; “Ahoo you are probably not
29.04.2014 Televised debate  The rise of Euroscepticism The Stream looks at the emergence of anti-EU parties ahead of the European parliamentary elections. Is the very idea of the European Union under threat? EU Parliament elections are coming up and, according to opinion polls, the far-right is projected to do well. Right-wing Eurosceptic parties have been on the rise in recent years, but ahead of these elections there are renewed concerns about their impact on the European Union. We look at what may happen if the EU Parliament gets a sizable coalition of far-right Eurosceptics at 1930GMT. In this episode of The Stream, we speak with: Paul Oakley  @PaulJamesOakley Member of the European Parliament Candidate for London ukip.org Abdul Turay  @abdul_turay British politician and journalist, standing for European Parliament in Estonia estoniatoday.blogspot.com Amelia Andersdotter  @teirdes  Member of the European Parliament, representing the Swedish Pirate Part
Social Democrats are solid as a rock  Ansip through the Eyes of a Reporter Quiet Storm About the local Election in October 2013 . Descendants of a gang of pirates In defence of the British monarchy  Mere Anarchy Promoting Estonia's young anarchists.  Cut it Out  About immigration. Frankly I am getting tired of the issue. Britain and Referenda   Why Cameron will lose the next election and we will have a government more favourable to Europe and Estonia... Chartist versus the World It was just perfect timing, I write a book discussing amongst other things, whether Estonian political culture is failing on not, and a month later, some of the country's leading minds, let's call them the chartists, get together and say categorical that failing it IS! ..   A Black  President for a Small White Nation II An opinion piece. The title is self-explanatory. About the 2009 local elections in Estonia. Four years ago I outraged the nation when I suggested in my first Postime