"Narva Oblast": Russia and NATO
Editor's note: "Narva Oblast" is a text published first in the "Eesti Ekspress" weekly newspaper back in 2009 after Vladimir Putin invaded some regions of my beloved Eastern Iberia (Georgia). I decided to upload it here in the (English language) original version before translation into Estonian by my good Tallinn-born friend and ex-editor Askur Alas. Well, off it goes... Narva Oblast Everything happened too fast. Extremely fast. But History is picky: who could predict a month ago European Union's official recognition of Kosovo would happen the very same week as the Presidential election in Russia? “Rude mistake”, “Careless foreign policy”, “Big Bear underestimated”, “Bronze Soldier’s revenge”, “Second Act”, “Vladimir’s Grand Finale ”, etc. I can’t remember all the headlines printed those late days of February 2008. “Surprise”? To some extent. However, one can hardly say it was an “ab...