Edward Lucas: “Estonia is now an insider, not an outsider anymore.” Interview with The Economist’s international editor
By Silver Tambur in Life Article: http://estonianworld.com/life/...Edward Lucas is International Editor of The Economist, the London-based global newsweekly and also oversees the paper’s political coverage of Central and Eastern Europe. He has been covering the region of Europe since 1986, and was the Moscow bureau chief from 1998-2002, the central and east European correspondent. Edward Lucas has been visiting Estonia numerous times and for many years has been a strong advocate in support of Estonian economic and political affairs on an international stage. Edward Lucas has also been highly critical of the current Russian regime for many years and has written many books about the subject. His latest book “Deception: Spies, Lies and How Russia Dupes the West” is out now.
Edward, how did your love affair with Estonia start?My interest started in my childhood, looking at the various maps of Europe from different eras, and trying to figure out why the countries which had previously existed had disappeared – it looked mysterious to me. Coming from Britain which has had the same shape since the last Ice Age and England that had been roughly the same country for 1000 years, the idea that a country could just disappear from the map so easily, was very puzzling and I became very interested about the fate of the three Baltic states. .................
Article: http://estonianworld.com/life/...
Viimased kommentaarid
Kommentaarid on kirjutatud EWR lugejate poolt. Nende sisu ei pruugi ühtida EWR toimetuse seisukohtadega.
Toomas Merilo09 Sep 2012 00:29
My respected friend and former skautjuht, Harri Kivilo, wrote: [i]’How can Mr Lucas infer that Estonians are now, due the crime committed by Soviet Union, no longer people having common descent, language, history and cultural distinctions that are radically different from the Russians brought forcefully to change Estonia into “a country based on a constitution”.’[i]
Harri’s question is absurd, because with it he puts words into Lucas’ mouth that Lucas wouldn’t in a million years say. Harri does a disservice to Estonia’s good and outspoken friend at the Economist.
If there is anything worthy of criticism in the interview, then it is how the interviewer has butchered the English language… Lucas, a native English speaker and author, could not possibly have made so many grammatical and syntactical errors. This is obviously not a transcript, but a butchered editorialised synopsis.
Harri Kivilo06 Sep 2012 02:00
Mr Lucas is very persistent in his writings that “Estonia is not a country based on ethnicity; it’s a country based on a constitution”. Encyclopaedia Britannica defines: “ethnicity refers to the identification of a group based on a perceived cultural distinctiveness that makes the group into a “people. This distinctiveness is believed to be expressed in language, music, values, art, styles, literature, family life, religion, ritual, food, naming,…” .
Before the occupation by Soviet Union the population of the Republic of Estonia consisted up to 90% of individuals who considered them to be Estonians – in accordance with the above definition. How can Mr Lucas infer that Estonians are now, due the crime committed by Soviet Union, no longer people having common descent, language, history and cultural distinctions that are radically different from the Russians brought forcefully to change Estonia into “a country based on a constitution”. It also seems that Mr Lucas does not want to know that the Estonian Constitution requires as the primary duty of the state to secure endurance of the Estonian nation and culture forever.
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