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EESTI ELU reedel, 18. märtsil 2022 — Friday, March 18, 2022
Estonian Destinations: Pärnu’s summer delights Vincent Teetsov Anywhere you travel in Estonia during the summer is sure to leave you with superb lifelong memories of long nights, warmth, carefree escapades, and new friends. However, the city of Pärnu, Estonia’s “summer capital”, is the most effortless in its embodiment of Estonian summer spirit. If ever a locale were to be seen as the “Riviera of Estonia”, it would be Pärnu. Here are five ways you can partake in what this city has to offer. SWIM (Pärnu rand/Pärnu beach): Start out with a relaxing stroll through the heart of town, where, depending on the day, you’ll find vendors selling produce, crafts, books, and curios. Dancers move in unison and musicians busk and serenade passersby, creating a particularly bustling atmosphere. More over, it’ll seem like you stepped back in time if you walk the streets during the Pärnu Hanseatic Days in July. From the heart of town, make your way south to the beach where you’ll see volleyball games played in the soft sand, kids splashing in the shallow water with inflatables, folks laying down and soaking up the sun, and sailboats floating on the horizon. As you promenade down the beach with your shoes slung over your shoulder, relish
in that feeling of winter being far, far away. The water of Pärnu Bay, blending into the Gulf of Riga, is mild, so you can jump in and get a good swim in while you’re there without turning blue. From Aloha Surf, you can rent bikes, stand-up paddle boards, kayaks, or learn how to kitesurf and skimboard. When you’ve dried off, head up from the beach to one of the many bars and cafés where one can hang out with a cup of coffee. Also worth investigating in the vicinity are the bright and smooth functionalist forms of the Pärnu Beach Hotel, a pre-war gem that’s been designated as a kultuurimälestis, or national monument. PLAY: For travellers with young children, connect to one of Estonia’s most well-known book and animation series at Lottemaa Theme Park, located just a short taxi ride or drive from the centre of Pärnu. Each ticket for visitors over the age of two costs 24 euros, while seniors pay 17 euros. Open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM every day from June 11th to August 28th, the theme park has live character performances in costume, the life-sized homes of the stories’ characters, an obstacle course, and a whole bunch of interactive inventions (a prominent feature of the world of Lotte). The inventions
Why Putin is botching his war Anton Oleniek, Memorial University, The conversation, March 2022 The war started by Vladimir Putin against Ukraine is not unfolding as he expected it would. His attempts to play the Cold War game of making threats to achieve his goals were not perceived as credible by NATO. His hopes for a blitzkrieg have not materialized. His expectation that Russian troops would be met as liberators turned out to be wrong. Russian troops have failed to seize any of Ukraine’s major cities, including its capital of Kyiv, and may be running low on resources. Putin’s bet was so risky because, according to my research, loose institutional constraints in Russia allow – if not encourage – excessive risk-taking and gambling in the highest offices. Putin’s Plan A was to coerce Ukraine to change its stated intention to join NATO by threatening the country. Since November 2021, there have been warnings that a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine was a real possibility as leaked military intelligence reports suggested a war in Ukraine would likely break out by the spring of 2022. Around the same time,
Moscow disclosed a list of requirements to the West that included a ban on NATO expansion eastward. It threatened to deploy “military-technical measures” if NATO did not recede. On January2, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not consider Putin’s threats credible, nor a Russian invasion “imminent.” As with threats made during the Cold War, much depended on Putin’s credibility. According to Thomas Schelling, who won a Nobel Prize in economics for his research on conflict, only a credible threat pays off: “The threat … makes one worse off than he need be in the event the tactic fails.” To make a threat credible, the opponent’s choices and possible strategies must be properly assessed. Putin underestimated Zelensky’s perseverance and the constitutional requirements expected of him. Ukraine’s constitution declares “the strategic course of the state on acquiring full-fledged membership of Ukraine in the European Union and in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.” Putin’s Plan B was a blitzkrieg. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022, with massive shelling deep inside Ukrainian territory that was likely aimed at instill-
include a candy wrapper opener and a wooden, scooter-mounted trunk for carrying possessions on the go. If you’re not yet familiar with Lotte the dog, her friend Bruno, her little sister Roosi, and their rabbit friend Albert, try watching the ani mated film Lotte from Gadgetville first. For sporty adults and teens, drive a quarter of an hour west from the city to White Beach Golf, where you can play a round of 18 holes in the fresh coastal air. https://lottemaa.ee/en/ EAT (Café Supelsaksad): When your legs are tired and your stomach is growling, stop by for a comforting meal at this cozy spot, with distinctive blue chairs and vibrant patterns adorning the tablecloths, lampshades, and wallpaper. The interiors – which won a prize from the Eesti Sisearhitektide Liit (Estonian Association of Interior Designers) in 2010 – make a stopover at the restaurant akin to dining at a friend’s home, if said friend was a charismatic impressionist painter. They serve a refined mix of seafood appetizers (like shrimp salad on crispy brioche), salads, soups, main dishes (including a five-mushroom ragout with goat cheese, pine nuts, and apple syrup), and dessert (they’re famous for the layered pastry and cream of their Napoleon ?cake). Portions are generous, so stop by when you’re sufficiently hungry. https://www.supelsaksad.ee/ SEE (Endla Teater): Actress
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Photo: visitestonia.com
and educator Stella Adler once said “The theatre is a spiritual and social x-ray of its time.” What better way, then, to witness the culture of Estonia, than through a theatre performance? After a long day seeing the sights, you can dress up in your most elegant attire and round out the evening with a show at the most prestigious location to see theatre in the city. The theatre, which first opened its doors in 1911, puts on quite a few homegrown comedies and tragicomedies, stand-up from the likes of Märt Avandi, and dramas written by international playwrights and translated to Estonian. For performances in the main hall, balcony seats go for 18 euros and orchestra seats for 20 euros. While you wait for the show to start, you can take a look at the art on display in their gallery, featuring rotating exhibitions of Estonian artists. Among these have been the annual Pärnu Fotofest and the IN Graafika printmaking festival. https://www.endla.ee/
STAY (Wasa Resort): Located just a six minute walk away from the beach through beautiful grassy, tree-lined paths is this hotel that’s suitable for families and single travellers alike. Rooms, and entire or two-bedroom apartments nextdoor, are available for booking. After a long day around town, you can come back to the spa to reset. Sweat it all out in the sauna, swim some laps in the pool, and ease your muscles in the jacuzzi. The spa also offers guests over two dozen rejuvenating treatments: mas sages, facials, manicures, and pedicures. https://wasahotels.ee/resort/en/ ••• This, of course, is just scratch ing the surface of what you can do in Pärnu! As with any enjoy able trip, allow plenty of time to wander around and see the city without a schedule. And in each place you visit, make sure to ask for recommendations from locals, who will give you insights on the city that can only come from living there!
ing fear and awe in Ukraine’s Chechens managed to contain leaders and population. Putin and ultimately repulse the more probably expected Ukrainians potent opponent with the help to become demoralized and flee of mass mobilization and high if they were able to. morale. Russian documents seized by When Russian occupants Ukrainian troops on March 2 recently attempted to distribute suggest that the military phase food to inhabitants of Kherson, of the invasion was expected to a regional capital in the southbe completed within 15 days of ern Ukraine temporarily seized its start. Planning and supplies by Russian troops, and to film didn’t extend beyond this time the process for the purposes of frame. That deadline for seizing propaganda, the city’s residents control of Ukraine hasn’t been stood by waving Ukrainian met. Russian troops have made flags. slow advances, though Ukraine We are witnessing the true has warned of escalation in the birth of the Ukrainian nation – aftermath of the recent deadly exactly the opposite of what bombing of a military base Putin was hoping to see by close to the Polish border. “freeing” Ukraine from Uk rai Shortly after the invasion, nian nationalists. It’s not just some Russian media started to the Ukrainian army containing publish stories on new “people’s the invasion – Ukraine’s people republics” and Russia as an are too. alternative to the Ukrainian state. Putin’s clear miscalculations This déjà vu script was clear- have led some observers to ly inspired by the “Russian speculate about his state of Spring” in 2014 when Russia mind. But there may be an managed to stage referendums institutional explanation for his in the seized territories of troubles, rather than psy Donbas and Crimea, resulting chologi cal or medical. When in the emergence of self- power is not constrained, its declared republics in those holders tend to take excessive regions. Crimea was subse- risks regardless of mental sta quently annexed. bility. This time, no Russian Spring That’s because they believe is forthcoming. Instead of citi- everything’s permitted. The abzens greeting Russian troops as sence of institutional constraints liberators, they are met with creates an impression that the Molotov cocktails, even in the terrible consequences of a bad regions where Russian speakers decision on the lives of innoprevail. This is similar to the cent citizens is negligible, at Finnish and Chechen conflicts least until accumulated errors with Russia. Both Finns and produce a disaster.
Not many heads of the state in the world face fewer constraints than Putin. The model of power that prevails in Russia is very close to absolute power with no strings attached. Putin controls nuclear weapons, which lessens if not removes geopolitical constraints. It comes as no surprise that he put Russia’s nuclear force on high alert as soon as the war started to go awry. Russia is well-endowed in natural resources. Rents extracted from natural resources (total natural resources rents), particularly oil and gas, represented more than 13 per cent of Russia’s GDP in 2019. Russia is among the top 20 natural resources economies of the world, according to this criterion. Recent changes in Russia’s constitution allow Putin to serve two more presidential terms. The Russian leader’s only potential challenger, Alexei Navalny, is behind prison bars on what he describes as trumped-up fraud charges, although he’s calling for Russians to take to the streets and protest the war. This means there’s no incentive for Putin to be rational and cautious when making decisions that have profound consequences on the world. He doesn’t expect to pay the price for his errors – a perfect example of how absolute power corrupts absolutely.
