12
EESTI ELU reedel, 5. veebruaril 2021 — Friday, February 5, 2021
Nr. 5
Foreign and security policy in the new Estonian coalition agreement Martin Hurt, Piret Kuusik, International Centre for Defense and Security, January 2021
Erik Paiste with drummer Vinnie Colaiuta.
Photo: drummerszone.com
On the Market: Paiste cymbals Vincent Teetsov At a live concert, you’ll often see the names and labels of musician’s instruments float ing around as they play. Fender. Nord Stage. Marshall. Yamaha. The drums in the back stay put though, and unless the drummer has a custom bass drum head with a printed band logo, the drums look a bit like a bill board. For touring musicians and the companies that make their tools of the trade, these names are big business and sources of income. Concerts are probably the best advertising possible, along with trade shows like the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Show that takes place in Anaheim, Cali fornia each year. The more a certain type of equipment is associated with a popular artist, the more music aficionados in the crowd want to have that for themselves, to recreate the sound they love. And those aficiona dos are standing throughout the crowd, looking closely at their heroes. One sound that accents so much music we hear is the sound of cymbals, made of cop per-based alloys, or mixtures, of metal. They crash, sizzle, and chime. They mark the tempo of a song and denote the changing of musical passages. If the bass drum is like the heartbeat of a runner, and the snare is like their footwork, then the “hi-hat” cymbal is like the breathing pattern of their lungs. Depictions of cymbals are first found in art from Ancient Assyria and Ancient Egypt. According to drum historian Hugo Pinksterboer, cymbals were used by armies to frighten their enemies as they ap proached them from afar. Cym bals were used for rituals and in religious ceremonies, too, but “they weren’t considered serious musical instruments until the latter half of the 19th c entury.” The most famous cymbal makers in the world are argu ably the Zildjian family, who brought the Turkish cymbal making tradition to the United States in the 1920s. Yet, among the most famous manufacturers
of cymbals today is Paiste, a brand with Estonian roots. As they tell the story, Paiste began in 1901 when Michail Toomas Paiste moved from Estonia to St. Petersburg with his father, who was serving in the Tsarist Guard. The younger Paiste started and ran a publish ing business and music store, “where the first cymbals and gongs [were] made based on customer requests.” The Rus sian Revolution forced Michail back to Estonia, where he reopened the store in Tallinn. It’s at this point that his own son, Michail M. Paiste, took a deeper interest in cymbal and gong manufacturing. His experimen tation became celebrated out side of Estonia, but the Second World War and its aftermath brought the Paiste family to Poland, Germany, and then finally outside of Lucerne, Switzerland, where their head quarters have been since 1957. Erik Paiste, the great-grandson of Michail Toomas Paiste, has been at the head of the family business since 2003. Over the centuries, cymbal construction has changed. The surface of a cymbal, its edge, and the bell are worked in order to create new sounds of varying darkness or brightness. The heart of their creation, however, is based on a few steps. Molten metal is blended and pressed into a disk shape. A lathe is used to cut and change cymbal thickness. The metal is ham mered to alter the way sur rounding air particles travel to our ear. Then, the cymbal is smoothed out, coated, and tested for overall sound. Some of the Paiste cymbal series with more punctuated sound have become popular among heavy metal drummers like Alex Van Halen. But then, they’re also used in other genres. Other Paiste endorsees include Steve Jordan, who has played with James Brown, Stewart Copeland of The Police, and Vinnie Colaiuta, who plays with Herbie Hancock. At the end of the aforemen tioned trade shows, you might hear the wave-like rumbling of Paiste’s 80 inch symphonic gong. Paiste’s CEO, Erik Paiste,
The coalition agreement of the new Estonian government formed by the Reform Party and the Centre Party contains few surprises when comparing the foreign-, security- and defence-policy-related commit ments with the agreements of the previous coalitions that formed the governments in 2016–19 and 2019–21. Security and Defense The agreement states that d efense spending will remain at the level of existing develop ment plans, which is encourag ing given the negative macro economic effects of the pan demic. This only underscores the importance that national defense enjoys in Estonia given the current and foreseeable security environment. The agreement confirms that the coalition partners intend to consolidate functions related to crisis preparedness in the Government Office, which means that the handling of civilian and military crises will be more harmonized. In the past, civilian crisis preparedness and management were the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior (MoI), which over sees the Rescue Service and the Emergency Response Centre. In recent years, coordination of national security and defense and ensuring preparations for national defense and effective governance of the state during both peace and wartime has been brought together in the Government Office. Today, elements of the legacy system led by the MoI co-exist with the new arrangement led by the Government Office, which coordinates activities across all ministries. This partial duplica tion of effort and blurred re sponsibility now appears to make way for greater clarity, which if implemented can only be welcomed.
has demonstrated the instrument with a soft mallet, where the rumbling is at first not percep tible, but then becomes thun derous as it rises is tone. This demonstration is like an hom age to the instruments that made up the company’s begin nings. Next time you listen to music or watch a concert, listen out for the shimmering of the drummer’s cymbals. They not only give songs a boost in volume; they give listeners a boost of ecstatic energy.
Another noteworthy under taking describes the strengthen ing of capabilities related to maritime surveillance and mari time defense by unifying com mand and control arrangements and improving information exchange. This commitment re lates to insufficient national maritime situational awareness, which currently hampers Esto nia’s contribution to NATO and needs to be addressed both by more effective use of existing national assets and by a greater focus on strengthening maritime capabilities, in cooperation with neighbors and Allies. A third noteworthy de fense-related topic in the agree ment is a decision that was taken by the previous govern ment in late 2019 but that this coalition has decided to reiter ate. This concerns the construc tion of wind farms in Estonia and at the same time compen sating the Estonian Defence Forces for the negative effect these installations will have on air and sea surveillance by ac quiring new radars previously not planned for. A “Geopolitical” Commission: What Does That Mean? In contrast to the conflicting attitudes towards the EU within the last government, led by Jüri Ratas (Center), the new govern ment headed by Kaja Kallas (Reform) proudly emphasizes its support for European inte gration and the EU. It is there fore understandable that there is an urge to sign up to the von der Leyen Commission’s com mitments such as climate, digi talization and – surprisingly – a “geopolitical” Commission. The coalition agreement says: “We will prioritize a geo political European Union and support the strengthening of a common foreign and security policy of the European Union.” This leads to the question: What does a geopolitical EU mean for the new government and for Estonia’s foreign policy? The answer is unclear. “Geopolitical Commission” is a widely contested term. It is mixed up with the debate over European strategic autonomy, to which Estonia is strongly o pp osed. Until European governments seriously invest in defense capabilities, any ab stract talk about autonomy, geo politics or related issues is greeted with skepticism. The EU is attempting to pursue a third way in foreign policy alongside China and the US. Does Estonia agree with that direction? There is no consensus on what Estonia’s foreign-policy
orientation should be. There is a strong gut feeling and policy practice towards the US, while the EU is seen primarily as an economic actor. There is a growing group of people advo cating greater engagement with the EU in other policy areas in the light of Washington’s grow ing focus on Asia and its chang ing role in the world. Never theless, the transatlantic instinct dominates. Thus, the declaration priori tizing a geopolitical Com mission sounds hollow. Tallinn should do its homework first and think through what the term means, how thinking in Tallinn and Brussels differs, and what are the opportunities and limits of such goals. Traditionally, Estonian foreign and security policy is not made by one government; it is a broad consensus among offi cials, diplomats, the military and the political establishment. Indeed, the last government broke with this tradition and it is to be seen whether Kallas’s government will follow this behavior. This will probably not be the case. As supporters of a geopoliti cal EU, what is Estonia’s posi tion going to be towards the EU-China Agreement on In vestment? Or Nord Stream 2? These are the pressing geopoli tical dilemmas that Estonia finds itself facing as a member of the EU and a strong supporter of the US and transatlantic relations. Blindly signing up to the European Commission’s pledges may put Estonia in an awkward position in the future. Pledging to support the EU in its foreignpolicy quests and then in reality still following Washington makes Estonia look shallow and full of empty promises. Conclusions In Estonia, a national sigh of relief has taken place. Ir respective of political leanings, the superficially created volatile political atmosphere is likely to be put on hold for a few weeks at least, and hopefully for longer. The key tenets of Estonia’s foreign and security policy will continue. The fact that the new government is formed by the Reform Party and the Centre Party should ensure continuity with all previous governments since regaining independence 30 years ago up to 2019, and it reconfirms the importance to Estonia of the EU, NATO and transatlantic relations as well as the need for closer cooperation.
ESTONIAN LIFE
Tellige EESTI ELU 2021. aastaks!
Your source of news about Estonia and Estonians, home and abroad
