Tallinn, Estonia - Arrived in Helsinki a few days ago. After one and a half week of scenery it was nice to feel city asphalt under my feet again, to be in a place that doesn't close down at 5pm in the afternoon. Even the rudeness of big city traffic feels welcome. I used to hate big cities, and avoided them when I went travelling, but after a few years in Oslo, I now breathe easier when there's a certain amount of noise, traffic and crowds around me. Feels strangely like home, even in cities I've never been in. Other than that, and the first Finnish bookstore I've found with any English section to boast of, there wasn't much that attracted me about Helsinki. Some nice architecture, fairly nice atmosphere, and though I'd rank it above Oslo in tourist value, it's far beneath Stockholm and Copenhagen, (where I'll be going next.)

Then I took the ferry over to Tallinn, where I met up with Scott Abel, Baltic Blogger, nice guy and expat American, who teaches at a private university here. He's been kind enough to take me on a tour of the old town, (for two professors he and his colleague John have a lot of unscholarly expert knowledge of the city's nightlife), and to explain the mystifying nuances of Baltic history and politics. He's also offered me to sleep at his apartment. I'd found myself a real shitty hostel, where I stayed the first night. Hostels are always a gamble. Some times it pays off - you sleep well, eat well and meet a lot of interesting people. Other times you spend the whole night being kept awake alternately by random people walking into your twelve-bed dorm, the drunks outside, the snoring old Australian guy who wakes up in the middle of night and stumbles about in a drunken stupor before falling over in his own pee, and the creepy old Maoist Finn who doesn't want to stop drinking vodka and leave the room. All of which is interesting and memorable, but highly annoying in the middle of the night. As is the below-zero temperature in the barely functional showers. So now I sleep on Scott's floor.

My timing was lucky - today the Estonians held their four-yearly song festival, where half the country dresses up in traditional costumes and walk through the streets singing. Very similar to Norway's celebration of our Constitution Day on May 17th, with much the same national significance, and a special place in the heart of Estonians for the role it played in bringing about independence from the Soviet Union.

Tomorrow: The ferry to Stockholm, then half a week in Copenhagen. Had planned to spend more time in the Baltic countries, but they really deserve a separate tour of their own, and that will have to wait for another summer.

Sounds like you're having a nice vacation, Bjørn.

Your new word for the day is "quadrennial," describing that Estonian song festival which, like American presidential elections, is held every four years. :-)

A great time of year for visiting those countries. Much smarter than visiting Libya this time of year.

By the way, how is the muslim immigration situation in Estonia?

Bjorn: As a Palestinian I respect whatever opinions you may have on the Palestine-Israel conflict. I also understand the constant fear of sucide-bombings that the Israelis have, and that they suffer too in this conflict.

However I feel I have to point out that the Palestinians also live in constant fear- of their towns and refugee camps being raided and bombed.

The Palestinians suffered during the 'village massacres' at Qiron Qibya, Deir Yassin and many other towns.

The Palestinians as well as the Israelis suffered when Jewish extremists bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.

There are many more examples of violent acts and they are not restricted to one side. Both peoples have committed crimes...

Helen: Was that a racist remark? If so, where do you hail from?

As for Muslim immigration in Estonia, I don't believe there is any. I found the following information on ethnic groups and religions in Estonia (as you can see, there are Jews there, but I don't see any Muslims):

Ethnic groups:
Estonian 65.3%, Russian 28.1%, Ukrainian 2.5%, Belarusian 1.5%, Finn 1%, other 1.6% (1998)

Religions:
Evangelical Lutheran, Russian Orthodox, Estonian Orthodox, Baptist, Methodist, Seventh-Day Adventist, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, Word of Life, Jewish

Oops. I didn't mean to post it here. It should have been in the comments section of the article above, where you mentioned the Israeli girl.

Hello, Tipu. If you think Libya is such a great visit, why not visit there instead of Estonia yourself? It's a pure Muslim country, after all. Also, it's on the same continent where your namesake, Tipu Tib ran a slaving empire for the benefit of the Arabs.

Alright, the information i posted was out of date.

http://www.masnet.org/prof_community.asp?id=687

Apparently there are 20,000 Muslims living in Estonia.

This is approximately the same number of Jews who live in Turkey, when the Turks (I think it was Suleiman I) invited the Jews expelled from Spain by Isabella The Catholic to seek refuge in Turkey.

So, Helen, if yours was indeed a racist comment related to the intolerance of evil Muslims, maybe this will dispell some of the 'infidel' propaganda.

Jim: Did I say I wanted to visit Libya?

Uh, I had no idea that anyone called Tipu Tib existed?

And contrary to what you might think...

3% of Libya's religious population are a mixture of Greeks, Maltese and Italians- i.e Orthodox and Catholics.

tipu: "However I feel I have to point out that the Palestinians also live in constant fear- of their towns and refugee camps being raided and bombed."

I know. If I'd met any Palestinians, I'd have asked them the same question. What things are like on the Israeli side are particularly interesting to me, though, as this subject is almost entirely ignored here in Norway. Israel is seen not as a group of individuals with wildly different views and experiences, but as a kind of mythical evil that is to blame for everything that goes wrong around it. The moment you do point to cases of Israeli suffering, and ask that they be considered as well, you're immediately dismissed as a Sharon supporter, or even a propagandist in pay of the Israeli government. http://bearstrong.net/warblog/000682.html http://bearstrong.net/warblog/000726.html

That said, the amount of suffering on each side does not tell us much about how the conflict can be solved. Palestinians suffer a lot more, and in many more ways, but that doesn't mean that they are somehow morally justified in launching suicide attacks on Israeli civilians, that suffering the most puts you on a permanent moral high ground.

The key to peace, in my view, would be for a large enough number of Palestinians to openly oppose suicide terrorism and the form of Islam that justifies it. Begin confronting Hamas, oppose what they do and what they say, and start demanding democracy from Arafat. Fight first at home for the idea that all humans are equal and have a right to life and freedom, no matter what religion or race they are. Do that in spite of the Israeli occupation, don't use them as an excuse not to do anything. Because in the end there are a large number of Israelis who do want to live in peace with a Palestinian state, and who will sacrifice a lot to see that happen - but _only_ if they can actually believe there will be peace. There can't, as long as Hamas exists and is popular. Imagine if Israel withdraws all its settlers and forces from the West Bank and Gaza, and allows the creation of a real state. Will Hamas stop hating Jews, stop wanting to kill them? If you think that you don't know what they stand for. These people aren't freedom fighters, they're anti-semitic totalitarians. So the terrorists must go first, then there can be peace. (Perhaps not with Sharon, but then he's not head of state for life, as Arafat appears to be.)

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Isabella: Deep Throat, November 27, 2004 02:57 PM

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