New President for Estonia
@ 4:20 am This weekend, a Social-Democratic Member of parliament of the European Union and the former foreign minister of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves beat the incumbent President Arnold Rüütel in the race for the presidency. He won with one vote over the simple majority from a 345-strong Estonian electoral college made up of lawmakers and local officials, with 174 votes against 162 votes for Rüütel.
Ilves said that he will make foreign policy and Estonia’s international representation the main focus of his presidency. He also reaffirmed his strong ties to the European Union, saying of Estonia’s often strained relations with Russia: “The road to Moscow goes through Brussels.” Ilves, who is fluent in English, German and Spanish in addition to his native Estonian — which he speaks with a slight accent — was elected in a landslide victory to the European parliament in 2004.
Critics have said Ilves knows little about the daily problems facing ordinary Estonians. He will need to bridge the gap between his supporters, generally intellectuals in the capital and other cities, and those of Rüütel, in less developed parts of Estonia. Rüütels, who was a high ranking official in the Soviet-era communist party and speaks fluent Russian, supporters also include Russians, who make up around one-third of the population of Estonia.
Ilves was born in Sweden on December 26, 1953, and spent a large part of his life in the United States, where his parents sought refuge after the 1940 Soviet occupation of Estonia. His election to the Estonian presidency means that the heads of state of all three Baltic countries are former exiles who returned home in the 1990s when their countries regained independence from the Soviet Union after nearly 50 years of occupation. Ilves has often pointed as an example to Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga — who spent the Soviet occupation in Germany, French Morocco and Canada — praising her for significantly raising her country’s international profile and making it a bigger player on the world stage than Estonia. President Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania lived for more than 50 years in the United States during the Soviet occupation of Lithuania.
“Critics have said Ilves knows little about the daily problems facing ordinary Estonians. He will need to bridge the gap between his supporters, generally intellectuals”
Yes, the answer is; bring in the intellectuals.
My prediction: Taxes are going up, killing their economy.
Comment by winter — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 6:13 am
“Critics have said Ilves knows little about the daily problems facing ordinary Estonians. He will need to bridge the gap between his supporters, generally intellectualsâ€Â
Yes, the answer is; bring in the intellectuals.
My prediction: Taxes are going up, killing their economy.
Isn’t it great how all of your predictions are wrong
The presidency is a largely ceremonial position in Estonia. Ilves, even if he wanted to, couldn’t enact social democratic style economic reform. And his biggest backers were the Estonian right wing - Isamaa , Res Publica, and the Reform Party.
Rüütel’s backers - the Center Party and the Estonian People’s Party - were the ones who wanted to spend the surplus on more social programs and government handouts.
Anyway, some of the facts in that article were wrong. For example, ethnic Russians in Estonia are about 25 percent, not a third.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Estonia
Comment by Giustino — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 7:00 am
“presidency is a largely ceremonial position in Estonia.”
as good place to store, watch, and keep under lock and key all your intellectuals.
Comment by winter — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 7:10 am
These people who’ve “studied” things and “know” stuff (like how the Estonian political system works) should be kept away from positions of power. They’re so condescending toward us ignorant folks.
At least, that’s what my gut tells me.
Comment by a lamb with no guiding light — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 8:57 am
winter:
as good place to store, watch, and keep under lock and key all your intellectuals.
Yes, intellectuals are dangerous and need to be monitored. Estonians have more experience with your line of thinking than you probably realise.
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 9:18 am
@5,
winter probably doesn’t even know why Soviet cops used to patrol in threes: one could read, one could write and one was assigned to keep an eye on the intellectuals…
Comment by prince of dorkness — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 9:22 am
Very nice to have Ilves there - Rüütel was ok, but did not really fit the role and seemed overly parochial. I suppose anyone would have after Meri. Anyway, these comments by winter and Finnpundit (occasionally Phil also) on this site remind me how Stalin era communists would have commented on things: you don’t need empirical facts when you have a Grand Theory supplying the pre-existing truth.
Comment by mjr — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 10:57 am
I find the bit that all the 3 incumbent Baltic presidents will be returned expats quite interesting.
Comment by Hank W. — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 11:31 am
LOL! Citizen of US became president of Estonia:)))))
Comment by Belino — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 11:48 am
I find the bit that all the 3 incumbent Baltic presidents will be returned expats quite interesting.
Ilves is interesting because he actually wasn’t born there - Vike Freiberga and Adamkus were born in their countries. But hey, Eamon de Valera wasn’t born in Ireland, either.
Comment by Giustino — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 1:03 pm
Just wait till the austrian governator becomes the president of USA. Guess who was the last austrian born leader leading an another country than his own.
Comment by S.Y — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 1:07 pm
“Just wait till the austrian governator becomes the president of USA.”
Yep, then we have the anschluss of Austria to the 51st state and everybody starts speaking about the famous American composer Mozart, psychologist Freud, physicist Schrödinger and mummy Ötzi.
BTW, didn’t we have “returning expats” as president and PM, when Martti Ahtisaari was elected and Paavo Lipponen was called back (or defrosted) from his internal exile as a head of the foreign policy institute
Comment by antti (the redneck one) — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 1:55 pm
Yep, then we have the anschluss of Austria to the 51st state
Actually, I believe Israel is already the 51st state. And based on transfer payments, it’s probably the 1st.
But, who knows, maybe an Austrian could change that
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 3:15 pm
Nitpick time: mummy Ötzi was found in (what is now) Italy. Only 50 metres from the Austrian border, but still.
Comment by N. Siinistö — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 3:25 pm
“And based on transfer payments, it’s probably the 1st.”
Well, that’s normal. I would expect the states with most representatives get also most of the pork.
Comment by antti (the redneck one) — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 3:50 pm
As long as it’s kosher, I suppose
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 4:08 pm
“Just wait till the austrian governator becomes the president of USA.”
For that to happen, the US Constitution would need to be amended. Currently only native-born Americans can be elected President. By the way, I believe that Finland has a similar provision.
Comment by Kimmo W. — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 7:09 pm
For that to happen, the US Constitution would need to be amended.
Not to worry. Israel will make sure it never happens
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 7:15 pm
California would have the 7th highest GDP in the world if thought of as a country. Thus the austrian Gov is doing quite well.
Finland ranks as 51. GDP
Comment by winter — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 7:21 pm
“California would have the 7th highest GDP in the world if thought of as a country. Thus the austrian Gov is doing quite well.”
Yeah, it’s all Arnie’s doing, isn’t it?
Comment by Kimmo W. — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 8:37 pm
Acutually “Arnie’s doing” getting to be the chief exucitive of the 7th largest GDP was “Arnie’s doing”.
Comment by winter — Mon, Sep 25th, 2006 @ 9:10 pm
Yeah, it’s all Arnie’s doing, isn’t it?
Well, he is the Governator, isn’t he?
Actually, I love all his little scandles. Maybe, as president, he’d loosen America up a bit—AND tell Israel to ‘take-a-hike.’
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Tue, Sep 26th, 2006 @ 4:19 pm