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EESTI ELU reedel, 8. novembril 2019 — Friday, November 8, 2019
Nr. 45
ECU special meeting
English-language supplement to the Estonian weekly “EESTI ELU” Tartu College Publishing Committee Founding Chairman: Elmar Tampõld Editorial Board: Enn Kiilaspea, Jüri Laansoo, Tarvo Toomes Editor: Laas Leivat 3 Madison Avenue, Toronto, ON M5R 2S2 T: 416-733-4550 • F: 416-733-0944 • E-mail: editor@eestielu.ca
Russian trolls revisited Russian trolls, they are also known as web brigades, troll farms, Russia’s troll army, Russian bots, troll factory, Putin’s bots and Kremlin bots. They were detected in April 2003, when Vesnik Online post ed the article “The Virtual Eye of Big Brother” by French jour nalist Anna Polyanskova who had been a former assistant to an assassinated Russian opposi tion politician, and two other authors Andrey Krivov and Ivan Lomako. Their article stated that up 1998-1999 comments and ob servations on the Russian inter net supported liberal and demo cratic views. After 2000 the vast majority of these postings were of a anti-democratic, totalitarian nature. This radical shift was seen to be he handiwork of the Russian state security services. It was thought that the security ser vices at the time saw a huge surge of Russians having access to these forums, whereas before only certain sectors of society could visit these sites. In January of 2012 a group calling itself the Russian Arm of the Anonymous sent an enor mous collection of emails thought to belong to the proKremlin and Putin-supported youth organization called Nashi. (The undersigned had the honour in 1998 to be among a list of approximately 10 Esto nians who the Nashi wanted Russian officials to declare as persona non grata.) It was discovered that the pro-Kremlin youth movement had paid commentators to post favourable comments to the regime. Members of the “bri gades” were paid 85 rubles (about $3.00 US) or more for each comment depending on whether the comment generated response. Others, however were paid up to 600,000 rubles (approx. $21,000 US) for leaving hundreds of comments as per instructions on the internet. As a bonus they were given iPads. “Elite” bloggers were com pensated for promoting Nashi activities and the government. The Federal Youth Agency, headed by Vasily Yakmenko, formerly the head of Nashi, was the highest ranking individual
in the brigades’ campaign. Also in 2013 Russian journalists investigated the Internet Research Agency in St. Peters burg, which employs at least 400 individuals. Young people were hired as “Internet operators” and paid to write pro-Kremlin postings and com ments. Targeted were US poli tics and culture, and Alexei Navalny, a prominent opposi tion leader. The work load consisted of each commentator writing at least 100 comments per day. Other people would up to write four postings per day. These would then be passed on to another working group whose job it was to post them on social networks for maximum reach. During Russia’s takeover of Crimea, the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014-2015 and the killing of Boris Nemtsov, the pace and intensity of the brigades was record high. Employing “troll armies” to further Putin’s policies is said to be a multi-million dollar operation. The deluge of pro Russian commentary is the base of a systematic “informationalpsychological warfare” cam paign. One Twitter bot network is known to use more than 20,500 Twitter accounts to flood the internet with pro-Kremlin comments. The US president has ‘retweeted’ at least one tweet from an account operated by the trolls. The brigades not only post hundreds of comments criticiz ing Russia’s political opposition and supporting Kremlin policies but also present seldom covered topics such as murdered jour nalists and defected intelligence operatives, relations with coun tries that Russia is convinced are in their political domain such as Ukraine, Georgia, with Estonia and whose histories the Kremlin has radically distorted. The aim here is not neces sarily an attempt to convince the audience, but rather to con fuse it. Censorship is not their main aim. But surrounding the reality with rumours and con spiracy theories is their favourite tool. (to be continued) LAAS LEIVAT
November 5th, 2019 Dear Member, We invite you to join us at our Special Meeting of Members on November 27th, 2019 at 7:00 pm. As recently announced, the Boards of Directors of Estonian Credit Union (ECU) and Latvian Credit Union (LCU) have entered into an amalgama tion agreement to pursue a merger of the two organizations. By joining together, our credit unions will continue to: • provide the security and com fort of our very own banking institution, • care for the financial well-be ing of each and every member, • give back to our community. The merger will strengthen both credit unions to meet the future of digital banking head on and provide the scale to implement the latest modern banking services and technology. Together we are stronger • Combined assets will be approximately $200 million. • Total membership will be approximately 6,400. • All the staff you know will continue to be there to serve you and will have more oppor tunities for career development; there will be no job losses as a result of the merger. • The existing three branches will continue operations with at least the same hours of service; the Estonian House in Toronto and the Latvian Houses in both Toronto and Hamilton. We will work as quickly as we can to make all banking services avail able to all members across all three branches. • Your accounts and contracts (loans, mortgages, savings, investments) will be transferred to the amalgamated credit union retaining the existing terms. • Anita Saar will be the CEO of the merged credit union, and Andris Lagzdins, CEO of the Latvian Credit Union is taking a well-deserved retirement after over 30 years at LCU. • The Board of Directors will be composed of 9 representa tives from ECU and 3 from
Ratas: The Three Seas Initiative opens up new opportunities for Estonia Government of Estonia, October 2019 Prime Minister Jüri Ratas assured recently at a meeting with the US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and James Risch, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, that the United States of America is and will be an irreplaceable ally and partner for Estonia, with whom the country has a strong connection and great cooperation. The Three Seas
Free admission! Estonian film, The Little Comrade. 6:00 pm, Friday, November 15, The Royal Cinema, 608 College. EUFF Film Festival.
LCU, reflecting the proportion of assets brought to the amalga mation. • The amalgamated credit union will be open bond, mean ing membership will not be restricted to members of the Estonian and Latvian communi ties only. ECU is already open bond. Some details about Latvian Credit Union • Operating since 1959; cur rently closed bond. • Approximately 1,600 mem bers and $50 million in assets. • Two branches, one in Toronto and one in Hamilton: - 4 Credit Union Drive, North York, ON M4A 2N8 - 16 Queen Street North, Hamilton, ON L8R 2T8 We remain firmly grounded in our heritage and roots At the Special Meeting of Members we will introduce an exciting new name for the amalgamated credit union. The new brand honours our heritage and supports our future growth in the wider community. Mem bers and staff from both credit unions, as well as the larger community, helped explore our brand through focus groups and surveys. This input guides us forward. We are a credit union with a community of staff and members who care deeply about who we are and what we do. We will stay true to these values. Looking forward to the future Pending approval by our members, the Latvian Credit Union members, and our regu lator FSRAO, we expect the merger will be effective January 1, 2020.
In early 2020, you’ll see changes to our website with a refreshed look and feel, repre senting the new brand, and a more dynamic, user-friendly display. Stay tuned for more details about the website launch. Over the next couple of years, we will implement new state-of-the-art banking systems and an updated mobile app that will allow us to provide im proved products and services in all branches and to all members online. As we work on this tran sition, you may be contacted by a staff member or by mail to verify your personal informa tion. We ask for your support on this next chapter in our history We will continue building value as we build our commu nity. Merging with a like-minded credit union partner is a major step forward in this plan. The future promises great things for us! We are all in this together. Come out to our November meeting and join us as we con tinue to build a vibrant credit union for our children and grandchildren. We ask for your trust and support with a “yes” vote this November. If you have any questions, please call us in branch; all staff are prepared to answer your ques tions. You can also check our website for regular updates: www.estoniancu.com/aboutus/ mediacentre/merger. Sincerely,
Initiative is an excellent opportunity to expand this cooperation, open up new possibilities and involve more countries. The Prime Minister also met with Deputy Secre tary of the Treasury Justin Muzinich.
Baltic Sea and Black Sea, with the aim of promoting financial cooperation. “The goal of the initiative, which connects 12 European Union Member States and the United States of America, is ambitious. I am convinced that constructing new energy, trans port and digital connections on the North-South Axis of Europe injects new energy into the economies of Central and Eastern European countries, and contributes to raising the com petitiveness of the European Union through this,” Ratas assured. The Prime Minister wel comed the active interest of the United States towards the initia
“Estonia and the US are countries that share the same values and have a similar un derstanding of challenges the world faces,” said the Prime Minister at the meeting with Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. Speaking of new oppor tunities to strengthen the trans atlantic relationship, Ratas highlighted the Three Seas Initiative, which is a format of cooperation between countries surrounding the Adriatic Sea,
ELLEN VALTER Chair, Board of Directors ANITA SAAR President & CEO
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