Defiance in the Face of Aggression: Estonia’s Prime Minister Challenges the Status Quo
There is no draw. There is only a win or a loss
After receiving the ‘Heroes of Democracy Award’ from Renew Democracy Initiative, Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas released a video statement.
It is totally worth listening to:
“ We are now living in a historical moment, where more people around the free world are waking up to the fact that freedom and democracy are not a given. That freedom is never free — you have to fight for it.
Brave Ukrainians are teaching us this every day.
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine recently entered its third year.
Make no mistake: Russia wants rewrite the global order in its own image. In Russia’s vision for security, it is acceptable to conquer and colonize another country. It’s a matter of global security not to let this vision succeed and help Ukraine win — otherwise, we will wake up in a much more dangerous world.
Like Gary Kasparov has said — and I quote:
The fight against authoritarianism is like a game of chess. It’s black or white, but its not like chess. There is no draw. You win or you lose.
Russia has always counted on time working in its favor. It thinks we will get tired first. It thinks we will give in to fear or resignation. But democracy has one big advantage that dictators don’t.
We’re able to look in the mirror and be open about how we can make democracy better and stronger. How we can fight back better, how we can fight together. This is our winning formula against autocracy. Truth is something dictators cannot stand.
That is why they try so hard to make us believe that democracy makes us weak.
In the current historical moment, we need to believe in our values and find the spirit of victory more than ever. This is also why organization's like the Renew Democracy Initiative are important- because they remind us why democracy also needs to be protected and cared for.
I dedicate this award to the power in each of us to defend freedom. So, let us be not afraid of our own power.
Thank you!
Who is Kaja Kallas?
If I were asked to describe Estonia’s first female Prime Minister using a single word, it would be “conviction.” Her courage to stand by her convictions is what sets her apart from most politicians around the world.
When the war broke out in the neighborhood, Kaja Kallas, the Prime Minister of Estonia, quickly sprang into action.
The mere 363-kilometer distance between Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, and St. Petersburg in Russia might have seemed daunting. However, rather than succumbing to fear of the predicted Russian army advance, projected to overrun NATO forces in 60 hours, she spearheaded the Baltic rally in support of Ukraine.
Her determination left no room for doubt about the direction she wanted the world to take.
She knew what needed to be done even before the war began. She did not worry about what she had or what she did not have. Instead, she focused her attention on what needed to be done and what could be done.
In January 2022, one month before the invasion, she proposed supplying weapons to Kyiv. If only the world had listened to her before the war began, or even if the West had listened to her after the war broke out, the Russian forces would not have lasted this long.
She says the war will end when Russia knows it has lost.
No ambiguity. No nudge to read between the lines. No effort to deflect. A very precise answer.
Defeat Russia. Either pick black or please pick white.
But it wasn’t simple bravado.
Kaja Kallas may have been born into Estonia’s Royal Family of Politics. Her father was a Prime Minister. Her great grandfather was one of the founders of Estonia. But she was also a politician seeking votes to get re-elected in a country with a large Russian speaking population.
The war broke out with months left in the clock for her re-election.
Estonia’s economy was not in great shape in 2022. When the war broke out, Estonia was slowly recovering from the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic. Estonia’s GDP shrank by 1.29% in 2022. Any assistance Estonia offered to Ukraine at the onset of the war had to be weighed against this backdrop.
She did not ask, “What if I try to help Ukrainians, spend money, and end up losing my chair because of it?” It did not seem like a politically savvy decision.
The Biden administration suggested Zelensky flee. The German administration offered helmets. The French administration was nowhere to be found. The major powers conveyed they were not ready to face the war Putin had thrust upon them. But a small Baltic nation, led by Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, a nation that was contracting and in a financial hole, offered military assistance to Ukraine.
They offered to host Ukrainian refugees.
Estonia offered refugees “temporary housing, one-time rental compensation payments of 1,200 euros, and benefits of 200 euros per month”. Data from the Kiel Institute ranks Estonia as the top-ranked nation supporting Ukraine, spending 4.1% of its GDP. It seems that Estonia does not have an “Estonia first” policy, or at least it does not have leaders who prioritize politics over humanitarian concerns.
When Adam Grant, in his podcast, ReThinking with Adam Grant, asked Kaja Kallas, what is it gonna take to eventually get to peace?
She said:
“I mean, it takes that Russia goes back to their borders and withdraws the troops. I think, this aggression cannot pay off because one thing that, I have, you know, start to think, during this war or understand is the definition of war and peace, really.
Meaning that, if you ask any child, it is very clear. War is bad. Peace is good, but there is also, you know, differences between war and peace, meaning that peace for your side of the Iron Curtain meant that you were building up your countries, your prosperity, well-being of people, whereas peace on our side of the Iron Curtain meant the tortures killings, pressuring down culture, erasing our, our culture, our language, all of it”. (I edited the fillers for clarity)
Just think about it for a moment.
Estonia is a tiny country bordering Russia, then the second most powerful army in the world, with daily oil and gas revenue that dwarfs Estonia’s annual budget.
Does Kaja Kallas not consider that by confronting Putin, she is potentially inviting trouble for her country? These thoughts would likely have crossed her mind repeatedly. The Western world continues to hesitate in its stance against Putin, reflecting an unwillingness to confront him directly and declare, “We will not cease until we thwart your mission to occupy Ukraine.”
But Kaja Kallas refuses to surrender to those fears and self-doubt that paralyzes the western world.
She lives in a country that shares a border with Russia, yet she does not tremble in fear of Putin’s nukes. Her own life is at stake. However, politicians who reside thousands of miles away from Russia cannot shake off their fear and continue to succumb to Putin’s nuclear blackmail.
Nukes are great weapon only when you have it and not use them.
However, we don’t have to listen to those men. It is impossible for them to dictate what the best course of action is. In the end, I would rather listen to Kaja Kallas or anyone who demonstrates a path to liberty and freedom for everyone.
