Marc Hyman's Blog, page 7

"Only in Estonia" flashback: punks meet choirs

Here's a souvenir from a classic "only in Estonia" event, courtesy of To Breathe as One.

It's a clip from last year's Estonian Punk Song Festival in Rakvere, at which professional choirs performed punk rock songs, without a trace of irony. In this clip a massive choir is performing "Anarchy in the U.K." by the Sex Pistols. What I love about it is that Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the president of Estonia, is singing along. He's the fellow in rimless glasses, black turtleneck, and jacket, who appears...

A national tragedy, 15 years later

MS Estonia memorial

Fifteen years ago today, 852 people were killed when the passenger ferry MS Estonia sank on its regular voyage from Tallinn to Stockholm. It was one of the deadliest maritime disasters in recent history, and it shook the young Estonian nation (independence had been achieved just three years earlier) to the core.

The Estonia was a massive and luxurious ship, 510 feet long and nine decks high. It plied the waters of the Baltic Sea every night; it was, for most Estonians and...

Scandinavian and Baltic Heritage Celebration

The Estonia oak tree, UW campus, 26 Sep 09 (detail)

I joined several hundred people today on the University of Washington campus in Seattle at a celebration commemorating both the 15th anniversary of the university's Baltic Studies Program and the 100th anniversary of its Scandinavian Studies Department.

To mark the occasion, eight oak trees, one for each country in the department's curricula (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden), were planted along the...

Book release: my new memoir recounts life in Estonia in 1992

The memoir of the experiences I had when I first moved to Estonia in 1992 is called Back on the Map: Adventures in Newly Independent Estonia.

The book is in the final stages of pre-publication. It will be released and available to purchase through amazon.com next week (the week of September 28th). I'll post more precise details along with ordering information here soon. In the meantime, here's the first glimpse of the book's cover.

Now why does that picture look so familiar …?

More juice for the E-stonia brand

Some good news for the "E-stonia" brand. The Economist Intelligence Unit just released its annual IT industry competitiveness index, and Estonia again outpaced all of its formerly Communist neighbors in Central and Eastern Europe. Overall, Estonia placed 23rd out of the 66 countries ranked, an improvement of one place from last year. Estonia also topped fellow EU members Italy (#24), Spain (#25), Portugal (#30), and Greece (#32).

Number 1 in the world was again the U.S., but the greatest...

Estonian branding starts at the top

There seems to be an unwritten rule about how heads of state pose for their portraits. Whether they're smiling (see, for example, South Africa and Finland), frowning (Russia), or projecting a carefully-composed neutrality (China, Poland, and the US), heads of state pose as a rule without props. But here, as in so many areas, Estonia breaks the mold.

First some quick background. Toward the end of my book I discuss how Estonia has successfully branded itself as "E-stonia" (or as it is sometimes...

A half step forward for Estonian-Russian relations?

An important theme in my book is the tenuous state of relations between ethnic Estonians and ethnic Russians in Estonia in 1992. With the notable exception of the unfortunate bronze soldier riots in 2007, relations have generally improved, as more and more ethnic Russians have gained the right to vote and have joined the Estonian political process.

Now comes a story out of Kohtla-Järve, a heavily Russian city in northeastern Estonia. It seems that a doctor (an orthopedic surgeon, no less...

A new source for news from the Baltics

There's a new online source for English-language news from the Baltics.

It's called Baltic Reports, and it was launched as a result of a dispute between the owners of The Baltic Times and the paper's editorial staffers. It seems that the Times wasn't paying its journalists, and to add insult to injury it was pressuring them to write articles favorable to advertisers.

The writers said enough was enough, and the result is some welcome competition in the market for English-language news in the...

Estonia's global competitiveness: weaker, but still respectable

Estonia has consistently earned a respectable spot on the annual Global Competitiveness rankings compiled by the World Economic Forum. In this year's report, released earlier this week, Estonia placed 35th out of 133 countries ranked, a small drop from the #32 slot it held last year.

"Competitiveness" is meant to be broad gauge of a country's overall business climate. According to the WEF, the rankings are based on 12 "pillars": Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomic Stability, Health...