Estonia’s president: From austerity’s poster boy to Internet guru (12)
Eestlased Eestis | 29 Apr 2013  | EWR OnlineEWR
By Oliva Ward, Toronto Star.
When Toomas Hendrik Ilves was a teenager in an Estonian summer camp near Uxbridge, the last thing he expected was to lead a Soviet-free Estonia. Nor to turn the mouse of northern Europe into the economic tiger that roared, with growth levels that dwarfed those of his struggling southern neighbours.

Nor did the New Jersey-raised Estonian president expect to be the focal point of a bitter, high-stakes global debate over the path to economic recovery.

Ilves will be in Toronto Friday to speak to the Economic Club of Canada.

For conservative economists, Ilves is a name to be conjured with: the man who helped to pull the sputtering country out of its 2008 nosedive and spread the gospel of austerity through the eurozone and beyond. He has forged a reputation for his country as “E-stonia,” one of the world’s most electronically connected countries, ranked first in Internet freedom by Freedom House for three years running.
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Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves waves during a celebration of the 95th Estonian Independence Day on Feb. 24, 2013 in Tallinn. zoom

To critics on the left — such as Nobel laureate Paul Krugman — the success is overrated, and some see him as setting a dangerous precedent for debt-ridden countries struggling with economic ruin.

Last June Krugman, a New York Times columnist, blogged that far from being the “poster child for austerity defenders,” Estonia had made an “incomplete recovery” from a “terrible Depression-era slump . . . better than no recovery at all, obviously — but this is what passes for economic triumph?”

Full story:
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Viimased kommentaarid

Kommentaarid on kirjutatud EWR lugejate poolt. Nende sisu ei pruugi ühtida EWR toimetuse seisukohtadega.
kwriakws14 May 2013 11:38
ndzairys
Do-gooder Estonian in Canada09 May 2013 03:46
I just read your posted comment, thanks for this. I have the same read on Estonia from speaking to people there..that the common Estonian is struggling.

I am going to make the assumption that you are an Estonian Canadian, as am I.

We live in a country that is relatively prosperous, and as Estos we save frugally and tend to be well connected with other Estonians...and we are stubborn about getting things done.

My question to you and other Estonians: What can you and I do to make lives better for Estonians in Estonia?

I mean a practical project, not lip-service. I am up for the challenge and would work together with like-minded Estonians willing to put their nose to the grindstone.
Cello06 May 2013 03:24
Dana - Kelly, these shots are amazing .and Tara your kids have grown up so fast. Avery is bfetuiaul and looks just like her mama. Ben is adorable. Love the outfits too.Kelly you amaze me, and I am so looking forward to our shoot this summer!!05/10/2011 10:34 pm

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Eestlased Eestis