Naivety is an especially poor friend in war and major conflicts. The "us versus them" and "friend or foe" models based on which dissidence happens, and is happening in Russia and elsewhere today, are shaped using long-term influence operations, Raul Rebane says in Vikerraadio's daily comment.
Russian disinformation is rife in countries formerly ruled from Moscow. Some ex-Soviet states have tried to suppress it altogether by banning Russian television stations and even limiting the use of the Russian language on their own domestic channels. Special Correspondent Simon Ostrovsky visited Estonia, which is trying a different approach. The story was produced in partnership with the Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellowship.
Former Reform Party secretary-general Martin Kukk said Reform party voters' expectations to Prime Minister Kaja Kallas were greater than current results. The party's ratings drop is also caused by the actions of coalition partner Center Party's chairman Jüri Ratas.
Veteran politician Andrus Ansip does not beat around the bush. The galloping interview with the former prime minister and European Commission vice president races through Estonian domestic politics where more than a few players get slapped, touches on the coronavirus crisis and fall presidential elections, before arriving at a recipe for casting off the shadows of doping in Estonian skiing.
Did you ever feel that the second government of Jüri Ratas – the coalition of the Center Party, EKRE and Isamaa – could stay together for four years as they managed to sort out all their scandals and stick together?
I was against the coalition from the first and I m glad it finally ended. Considerable damage was done to Estonia.