Quote of the Day: Returning Ghosts

Via Samizdata:

But when we look around in Europe today, we see that not only is Europe not whole and free, we see the ghosts from the painful 20th century returning to our midst. Ghosts that we thought we’d never see again, that we had buried deep in history’s trashbin.

Today, when we look around us, we see it all again. The annexation of territory, the violation of borders, religious conservativism pairing with political authoritarianism and imperialist bravado. 80% of Russians support annexation through military aggression in Crimea, where the Anschluss – and I use that term most seriously here – the Anschluss of territory was justified by the presence of co-ethnics. Moreover, there is widespread support for an anti-liberal attack against decadent Western “permissiveness,” be it in freedom of speech or choice of life-partners. Indeed, we see that liberal democracy has not only failed to win the battle of ideas against authoritarianism, it has failed even to prevent the resurrection of that once vanquished demon, fascism. The nationalist fervor east of us is expressed in arts in a way that makes Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will look like a liberal programme – I suggest you look at the video of the so-called “biker show” staged on August 8 this year in Sevastopol. It is on You Tube. It is a genuine Gesamtkunstwerk. Everything is there – music, art, ballet, motorcycle gangs, it’s all there.

- Estonian President Toomas Hendrik (link to speech transcript)

Paul Krugman vs. the Baltic

Economist/commentator Krugman gets called on his antipathy to the Baltic nations, something that Estonia already did in magnificent fashion. Is Krugman seriously dumping on the successful Baltic states because they are successful (as opposed to the implosions in southern Europe)?

Estonia: The Mouse That Roared (on Twitter!)

This is even better than a huge pot of coffee on this morning: watch as the president of Estonia takes down the insufferable Paul Krugman.  (Also noted on Foreign Policy.)  It's absolutely a flame war to savor as a head of state mixes it up with an econ Nobel Prize winner.  I had honestly not paid much previous attention to President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, but I gotta say that as of right now, I love you, man.  You now get your own blog tag!  The "nerds behaving badly" tag goes to Krugman.

UPDATE: Ilves hits back twice as hard and reminds us of a recent news report on the Estonian economic success.  More on Ilves - a Columbia man (which explains his tweeted potshot at the Princeton background of Krugman, hahaha).  Note too this piece that Ilves wrote back in March.  Follow him on Twitter here.

Euro Notes: Excellent Estonia?

Hey, La Parisienne, maybe we should flee to Estonia if we decide against fleeing to New Zealand.  Look at this great quote from the economics minister:

"But when we had finally escaped from Soviet socialism, we were sick and tired of government centralism. We wanted precisely the opposite in all respects: We wanted a transparent state. A country that isn't constantly intervening, nationalizing businesses, placing a bureaucracy above everything and imposing rules on people in every respect."

LOVE!

The Simpsons, Estonian-Style

Neatorama has this hilarious video from Estonia: