Why Did I Come to the EUCET Conference in Budapest?
I came here to share my experiences of what liberals can achieve. People abroad must understand the urgent situation in Estonia. While many may still think of Estonia as a peaceful and picturesque place, the reality is that we are standing on the edge of a precipice. What’s happening there? It’s important to remember that what is currently happening in Estonia could also happen in your countries—Hungary or Poland.
When and How Did This All Happen?
This all began when Estonia regained independence, but communists and KGB members retained their positions of power in our country. These individuals are represented in the ruling political parties and parliament. When George (György) Soros arrived in Estonia in 1988, he implemented a plan to place suitable communists in charge of democracy. Even today, many political parties—whether they are labeled liberal, conservative, or otherwise—have leaders who, upon closer inspection, are former communists or their family members. Many prominent elite families who were influential communists during the Soviet era in Estonia still hold key leadership positions.
Last year, Estonia’s population was approximately 1,330,000 people. But if we examine the demographic trends of ethnic Estonians’ birth rates, it matches levels seen a century ago. What has happened? A significant number of people have arrived from Ukraine with brand-new passports. Allegedly, refugees receive full living expense coverage and other support. According to the most recent data published two years ago, there were approximately 150,000 Ukrainians in Estonia. As I mentioned earlier, Estonia is a tiny country, and now the number of ethnic Estonians may be just around 700,000. Today, you can change your nationality in your passport as quickly as you change your mood: Yesterday, I was Mozambican, and today, I’m Estonian. We’re fast approaching a situation where foreigners outnumber Estonians in our own country. Official population statistics can’t be trusted, as they need to account for immigrants’ countries of origin. Thus, we can practically say we are already a minority in our homeland. And all of this has happened in just the past 30 years.
How Did This Happen?
The problem isn’t government incompetence but rather their unwavering adherence to a liberal agenda. These changes were initiated by Kaja Kallas’s father, Siim Kallas, a staunch elite communist. He also ensured that in 2004, with internet voting imported from Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela, the liberal Reform Party always won elections. This liberal party—the Reform Party—has not only opened our country’s borders but is also eroding the very fabric of the Estonian identity and turning our universities into breeding grounds for liberals. I must say that even universities in North Korea might now be less Marxist than Estonia’s.
Another issue dates back to the 1980s when it was discovered that Estonia holds more phosphorite deposits than any other European country. This presented a massive problem: extracting phosphorite would have destroyed two-thirds of Estonia’s drinking water. Consequently, those mining plans were abandoned.
But now, secret exploratory drilling has begun. Enormous contracts are being signed secretly with the U.S. government. It’s well understood what this entails: two-thirds of agricultural land will become unusable.
U.S. Military Bases
In 2017, the Estonian government signed an agreement with the United States to establish a military base in Nursipalu. They offered the U.S. a nature reserve just 50 km from the Russian border to do this. Local farmers are gradually being forced to leave their homesteads. Those who remain face severe problems from environmental pollution and excessive noise levels. They clearly understand that having a U.S. military base just 50 km from the Russian border puts them at serious and immediate military risk.
What About Brussels?
Brussels is utterly indifferent to this situation, just as they are indifferent to the fact that we live next to an empire like Russia, whose population is 140 times larger than Estonia’s.
Next week, elections will be held in the United States. I sincerely hope Donald Trump wins. I urge everyone here to write to him and request that he appoint suitable ambassadors to represent the United States in our countries. This is important because the U.S. significantly influences global politics, and the exemplary ambassadors could help bring attention to our issues in Estonia. That would be the first step.
Thank you for your attention!
Mike Calamus, October 24, 2024
