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Reports

April 29th - May 5th, 2024 by Olevs Nikers

Estonia Weekly: Selfish politicians and Russian culture

This week, posts were mostly targeted towards the government and how the Centrist Party will be blamed for the failures of other politicians.

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March 4th - March 10th, 2024 by Olevs Nikers

Estonia Weekly: Cars and Estonian schools

The bulk of the posts focused on the switch in the language of instruction in Estonian schools, the issues that will arise, and how the government will do nothing about it except create a Potemkin village. There were also many posts regarding new taxes on things such as cars and pensions, with the Conservative Estonian People's Party calling for people to protest by stopping their vehicles because protests are the only way to get the government's attention. Finally, there were posts about Estonia being pushed by the West towards war with Russia and posts about Kaya Kallas trying to appear as non-Russian as possible.

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October 30th - November 5th, 2023 by Olevs Nikers

Estonia Weekly: Government Destroying Free Media and the Economy

This week Estonian media outlets and social media commentators were concerned about the economic issues and the strike of Estonian teachers, which was also utilized by the disinformation activists as a chance to address the national policy of transition to only Estonian teaching language in all state funded schools. Very interesting post on Facebook raised the issue of how the Russian speaking population relates to the Russian disinformation campaigns, and found no correlation in this regard. On a pure financial and economic note, the taxation policy of the current government is discussed this week, so arguing that “Kai Kallas' government raises taxes and cuts costs during a recession, the same was done in 2008. during the crisis of the year also the Andrus Ansip government, which led Estonia to a deep economic downturn. Whis comes to the this week narratives, is that it is incorrect to relate Russian speaking population with any kind of Kremlin Propaganda and influence operations; That this is failure of Estonian government successfully to implement the transition to education in Estonian language for the Russian schools; That government does not care about family, their priorities are LGBT rights, language policy, military spending, that State loyal media is not reliable and That current Estonian taxation policies can lead to the same economic effects of 2008 world economic crisis.

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October 23rd - October 29th, 2023 by Olevs Nikers

Estonia Weekly: Language, Culture, and Geopolitical Tensions

This week, social media and news outlets in Estonia concentrated on educational policies, particularly the use of the Estonian language in schools with Russian-speaking students, and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. There was notable attention given to a pro-Palestine demonstration in Tallinn. Discussions also touched upon the significance of Russian culture in Estonia and the potential EU enlargement to include Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia, arguing from a financial standpoint that these changes would not benefit Estonia. The narratives conveyed a sense of threat to language rights, misinformation about the Middle East, doubts about the benefits of EU enlargement for Estonia, concerns over the state of freedom of speech and assembly, and a belief in the deep ties between Estonian and Russian cultures.​

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