Estonia’s 47-year-old Foreign Minister Umas Reinsalu had some choice words for 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling the Russian leader to “go to hell.” Reinsalu makes the situation for Estonia more tense, knowing that his country shares a 183 mile border with Russia and must, like other former Soviet satellites, find ways to get along. Now part of the European Union and NATO, Reinsalu can talk tough knowing that Putin wouldn’t dare attack a NATO country knowing the consequences of Article 5, where an attack on one member is an attack on all. At the same time, Estonia was part of the Soviet Union from 1921 to 1991, the date Soviet Union disbanded, offering independence to several former satellites. Reinsalu was questioned by DW News reporter Nina Hasse-Toonbridge. “Would you like to see Vladimir Putin go to jail,” Hasse-Toonbridge asked. “To hell,” Reinsalu responded bluntly,
Reinsalu needs some more diplomatic training, knowing that such publicly hostile rhetoric could have security consequences for his country. Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, has become a major tourist destination for EU and world tourists, featuring a medieval Unesco old town, now serving as Estonia’s capital. While there’s nothing wrong with Estonia celebrating its independence, there’s something provocative, actually distasteful, listening to the foreign minister tell a head-of-state, no less of the Russian Federation to “go to hell.” Estonia’s 45-year-old Prime Minister Kaja Kallas needs to reign in her foreign minister for his incendiary remarks. Estonia doesn’t need a hostile Russian Federation threatening its borders or independence. All the Baltic States, including Latvia and Lithuania, value their independence, wanting no wider part of the Ukraine conflict. Reinsalu let his personal feelings get the best of him.
If Reinsalu really feels that the EU and NATO haven’t done enough to defend Ukraine, Estonia could commit its own troops to battle the Russian occupation. Reinsalu talks like he’s ready to commit troops to Ukraine, where Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymr Zelensky has been asking for U.S. and NATO troops since Day 1. If Reinsalu thinks Estonia, or NATO, have not committed enough military resources to Ukraine, his government could commit troops to help Ukraine beat back Russian occupation. Reinsalu says the Trans-Atlantic Alliance has not done enough to defend Ukraine. “Price is paid by the blood of Ukrainians,” Reinsalu said. Reinsalu could confer with Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and decide that they’d like to commit more military resources and troops to defend Ukraine. Reinsalu is aware of the U.S., f acing a pivotal Midterm election,that could affect Ukraine.
Former President Donald Trump has been critical of Biden’s proxy war against the Russian Federation, influencing a vocal group of GOP House members and Senators to bring the eight-month war to an end. No one knows the extent of Ukraine’s infrastructure destruction from eight months of war. Kiev doesn’t give an accurate body count of how many Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives in the last eight months. Biden keeps funding Zelensky, now over $60 billion, to fight his proxy war using Ukrainian troops to battle the Russian Federation. If Congress changes hands, Reinsalu could find the U.S. Congress changing its priorities in Ukraine. Faced with a possible recession in 2023, enough Americans are fed up with the U.S. government funding costly foreign wars. Despite all of Reinsalu’s hostile rhetoric, it’s doubtful Estonia would commit actual troops in Ukraine.
Estonia has donated about $215 million to Ukraine’s war effort, roughly 0.8% of Estonia’s Gross Domestic Product [GDP]. Estonia banned Russia from travel to the once once a popular destinations for Russian tourists. Estonia’s parliament, voted almost unanimously Oct. 19 to brand Russia a “terrorist regime,” something the U.S. has been unwilling to do because of the already dismal Russian relations. Estonia’s parliament makes clear that they consider Russia a hostile foreign power, despite the longstanding cultural ties to the Russian state. All the openly aggressive rhetoric from Talin doesn’t help Ukraine one bit, as they continue to battle the Russian Federation. Zelensky wants no part of peace talks because he’s afraid he’d have to cede territory lost to Russia in the last eight months of war. Zelensky knew when he took on the Russian Federation, there would be consequences to Ukraine.
Biden and Zelensky still think if they can keep the war going, it gives Ukraine the best chance, before any peace talks, of negotiating a better peace deal in some murky future. But every day that goes by, more carnage and Ukrainian infrastructure is destroyed, making the rebuild effort all the more complicated. Republican members of Congress have had enough of Biden’s blank check with U.S. taxpayers cash to fund the proxy war against the Russian Federation. Foreign policy experts want an improvement in U.S.-Russian relations, something that can’t happen until the war ends. No one in Congress signed up for the U.S. going to war against the Russian Federation. Zelensky won’t admit that without U.S. funding the Kiev government and the war, he would be forced to make concessions. Well, eventually all wars end and concessions are part of the peace process.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
