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EESTI ELU reedel, 17. jaanuaril 2020 — Friday, January 17, 2020
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Vladimir Putin’s war against truth, justice and Sergei Magnitsky Marcus Kolga, MacLean’s, January 2020 When Russia’s only aircraft carrier caught fire last month, the latest accident in a long string that have plagued the Russian military for the past decade, questions about the crumbling state of Putin’s military have reemerged. However, Vladimir Putin need not rely on submarines, tanks or guns to inflict maxi mum damage on his adver saries. His most powerful weap on is cheap and devastating. With algorithms, code, propa ganda and lies, Putin has at tacked democracies throughout the Western world, sowing divi sion and anger to subvert them from within. These same tactics are applied to anyone brave enough to stand up against the Putin re gime. Critics who oppose him are subjected to information and psychological warfare in the form of murky lies, disinforma tion and defamatory labels in tended to discredit, smear and marginalize Putin’s enemies. As stated in a leaked Canadian intelligence report, Canadian Deputy Prime Minis ter, Chrystia Freeland was tar geted by Russian disinformation operations in 2017, owing to her support of Canada’s Mag nitsky human rights legislation. Minister of National Defence, Harjit Sajjan, a Sikh-Canadian, was also the target of a racebased Russian disinformation attack intended to undermine trust in Canada’s NATO mis sion in Latvia among Russian speakers. Canadian troops serving in Latvia are characterized by Russian propagandists as spear heading a NATO invasion of Latvia, while Latvians and Ukrainians are crudely painted as fascists in order to erode con fidence in Canada’s missions to those countries. Russian propa ganda is so effective among the U.S. military that, according to a recent survey of U.S. armedservices households, 46 per cent admit they view Russia as an ally. Yet the most prominent and maligned target of Russian in formation warfare over the past decade has been Sergei Mag nitsky, a Russian whistleblower who was incarcerated, beaten and killed by Russian authori ties after he discovered and reported a massive 230-mil lion-dollar tax fraud committed
Esto Ski Day 2020… (Continued from page 8)
substantial will be available in the main lodge. Bar service will also be available. Rentals: Rentals are available at Squire Johns, across the road at
by Russian officials, and his former boss and leader of the global Magnitsky human rights campaign, Bill Browder. Over and over, Putin’s propa ganda machine has churned out crude falsehoods about Sergei Magnitsky in efforts to discredit his legacy, the crimes he ex posed, and the global campaign to hold corrupt human rights abusers accountable. In 2012, Russian Senator and Putin-aligned oligarch, Vitaly Malkin, was dispatched to Washington, D.C. by Vladimir Putin to lobby against U.S. efforts to adopt the Magnitsky Act: legislation that allows the U.S. and Canadian governments to place visa bans and asset freezes on corrupt Russian and other global officials who abuse human rights. Among the narratives peddled by Malkin and his coterie of Russian kleptocrats, was that Magnitsky was an alcoholic who died from “undetected diseases.” Yet even Russia’s Presidential Human Rights Council concluded he had been severely beaten in prison – a conclusion only reinforced by a recent ruling by The European Court of Human Rights. Furthermore, Malkin had millions of dollars invested in Toronto real estate, and has been banned from entering Canada on grounds that he was a “member of a group engaged in organized or transnational crime.” Simultaneously, the Putin regime put Sergei Magnitsky – posthumously – on trial for tax evasion and convicted him. Throughout the farcical process, an empty cage stood in the court room. Browder too, was tried and convicted in absentia, and has now been repeatedly harassed by Russian authorities who have abused Interpol’s Red Notice system to try and have him detained abroad. Meanwhile, the Kremlin pro duced a barrage of documenta ries for state-controlled media that presented wild conspiracy theories about both Magnitsky and Browder. In one, Browder was identified as a U.S. secret agent working to destabilize Russia. In another, he was ac cused of being responsible for the death of exiled oligarch, Boris Berezovsky, and stealing millions from the International Monetary Fund with Russian opposition leader, Mikhail Kasyanov.
A bizarre 2016 Russia state media documentary, titled “The Browder Effect,” even claimed that Browder was behind the murder of Sergei Magnitsky. The assertion that Magnitsky was not beaten was also later echoed in a documentary pro duced by Russian filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov. Canadian advocates for Mag nitsky legislation have also been victims of Russian government propagandists. The Kremlin lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who is at the centre of the now infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Jon Manafort, publicly called out Magnitsky supporters, which resulted in a call for a formal investigation by the Russian prosecutor general into their activities. Former Cana dian diplomats with business interests in Russia, academics who are aligned with the Putin regime, and corporations with Russian partnerships, have all actively campaigned to discredit Canadian activists who support Magnitsky legislation. The Kremlin’s tactics include social media trolling, abusive blog posts, surreptitious letters, legal threats and in some cases – including what I’ve experienced myself – death threats. As European leaders begin discussions about an EU ver sion of Magnitsky sanctions legislation, a new wave of cynical reports targeting Sergei Magnitsky and Bill Browder have emerged in Russian state media. In Vladimir Putin’s post-truth world, it is critically important that Canadians consume news and media with the understand ing, that regimes such as those in Russia, China and Iran, are weaponizing information and media to attack truth and facts in order to polarize and under mine our society. This requires us to consume news through a thick critical lens, and question sources and motivations behind stories that sound too strange or wild to be true – especially when it comes to critics and opponents of Vladimir Putin. Marcus Kolga is a strategic digital communications strategist, human rights activist and expert on foreign disinformation. He is a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s Centre of Advancing Canadian Interests Abroad.
Georgian Peaks. You can re serve ahead of time by tele phone (519) 599-3244. Fun Race: The fun race is for all ages at a basic GS-gate level. Please register for the race at the front desk on the day of the event, providing the participant’s name, age and specify skier/
snowboarder. The fun race be gins at 10:30 AM followed by the awards ceremony taking place at the West Lodge in our designated area at the end of the ski day. The racers waiver form is attached. To make the beginning of the day seamless and assist you in getting in and out onto the hill faster, please
Layers of time colliding – the 3 hommiku/maa targad, biblical Magi or Wise Men / Kings from the East arrived in what Estonians, like Italians call Firenze (Florence) on January 6th last week. Dressed in Renaissance era clothing, as when the “Cavalcata dei Magi” (Cavalcade or Procession of the Magi) tradition began here in 1417, lords and ladies, falconers and others, led by drummers, the gift bearers (seen here) and the three kings on horseback, now pass by designer shops such as Chanel and Fossil. The procession ends in the Piazza del Duomo where a live Tarkade kummardamine (Adoration of the Magi) plays out in front of the theatrical nativity scene. Photo: Anu Hint
“Three Kings’ Day” in Firenze and Eesti Epiphany, a Christian feast day on January 6, known in Estonia as kolme/kuninga/päev (Three Kings’ Day), com memorates the 12th day of Christmas when the three Wise Men arrived at the man ger bearing gifts of kuld (gold), viiruk (frankincense) and mürr (myrrh) for Baby Jesus. The New Testament does not give the names of the Magi, however in the Western Christian church, they have all been regarded as saints and are commonly known as Caspar, Melchior and Baltha zar. The day is a national holiday in many countries worldwide, including our neighbors Fin land, Sweden, Poland and Germany, and of course Itaalia, where a witch-like woman La Befana (an Italian tradition from Christian legend since the 13th century), also plays a part for the kiddies. In almost all Spanish cities, the Cabalgata de Reyes Magos is a traditional parade with floats carrying the Wise Men. Among Irish and Amish kristlased, this day is also known as Little Christmas or Old Christmas. In Estonia, people regard kolmekuningapäev as the final day of the Christmas period, unless of course you are of Eastern Orthodox faith (õige/ usklik). Then the next day would be your Christmas Day. For Lutherans, the holidays be gan with tidying up on tooma/ päev, 21. detsembril and bring ing in the tree, usually only a day or two before Christmas Eve maximum! A lot of fami lies actually still bring the tree in and decorate it on jõulu/ laupäev (Christmas Eve), that way you really don’t want to
have the form filled in and ready when you buy your tickets. Please forward this informa tion on to your family and friends, a great day for one and all. PEETER TOOME ptoome@rogers.com MIHKEL TOOME mtoome@gmail.com
send it off until after the Wise Men have reached their sweet destination. (The singular of Magi is Magus – which means sweet in Estonian.) The word Magi tends to trick the Estonian eye into thinking mägi, which means mountain or hill in the context of local Estonian geograafia, as in Suur Muna/mägi, Estonia’s highest at 317,4 m üle mere/pinna (above sea level). Mägi is also a very common Estonian surname. Magi in the context of the Wise Men comes from the Greek word “mágos”, which is where the English word magic comes from. Magos in turn comes from the old Persian “Magu pati”, a title given to priests in a sect of the ancient Persian religions such as Zoroastrian ism. Today we might call them astroloogid (astrologers) or tähe/targad, having “star smarts”. Although not very religious, Estonians do adhere to many traditions set in place by the church. Most people don’t take out their tree until after Epiphany. And it’s common knowledge that just as you shouldn’t wish anyone a Happy New Year until 12 midnight on the 31st (before that you only wish HEAD VANA-AASTA LÕPPU, (Happy End of the Old Year), you only have until this day, 6. jaanuar to wish them a Happy New Year. If you forget and wish someone Happy New Year AFTER that day, you have to give them a gift, “pead pu deli tegema” (a bottle of booze or why not a smoked ham). Perhaps in this day and age, taking them out for a kohv or bowl of vegan supp will suffice. HEAD UUE AASTA JÄTKU! Happy continued new! RIINA KINDLAM
Quotes • If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving is not for you. • Don’t ever be depending on the rabbit’s foot for good luck when it obviously didn’t work for the rabbit.
