Our Jimmy is 100!

Nobel Peace Prize winner and former US President Jimmy Carter is celebrating his 100th birthday. Quite impressive for any ex-president, but it raises the question of what a truly vital man he is. It was amazing in 1976. The peanut farmer who was elected as the Democratic candidate in 2010 managed to wrest the presidency from the fantastically politically connected Gerald Ford with his charm. Carter was, of course, an agricultural entrepreneur and quite successful, but of course his ambitions were much bigger. Namely, he was a nuclear submarine officer who graduated from the Naval Academy, one of the first in the US, but they were very carefully trained. In his home state of Georgia, he was elected to the state Senate and eventually won the election for Governor of Georgia, serving one term. His election as President was a sensation. It is not surprising that he was interested in disarmament issues due to his familiarity with the subject. The leader of the USSR Leonid Brezhnev was also interested in disarmament to enhance his prestige in the world. Carter's Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, as it turns out from the Mitrokhin archive (senior KGB officer Mitrokhin handed over the archive of Soviet foreign intelligence to the West in the 1990s), was in close contact with Soviet spies for some time, and so things went smoothly. 1979 In Vienna, the men signed the SALT II treaty.

Unfortunately, things went downhill after that. The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan put an end to relations between the USA and the USSR, which had been developing successfully in the year of the US presidential election. The USA began a boycott of the Moscow Olympics and the Tallinn sailing regatta.

But even then, no one thought that Carter would lose to Reagan, who seemed to be far right, but of course was not. Reagan was a staunch anti-communist, but Donald Trump is actually much more colorful in his views than him.

Carter had to resign. But fate brought him the Nobel Peace Prize. And perhaps he really was the man who deserved it. He fought for disarmament, for peace in the Middle East, was merciless to prisoners and for human rights in general. Perhaps God gave him many years for this very reason.

"Estonia" is always relevant like Titanic

I and others whose relatives perished in the cold sea on that dark autumn night are satisfied that Estonia, in cooperation with Sweden and Finland, opened a new investigation into the causes of the disaster. With today's tools, it is easier to investigate the reasons behind the tragedy. Private initiatives to organize new investigations must also be praised, as this was expected and hoped for. However, I want to warn those who think that these new investigations will satisfy all the claims of the families of the dead. Many people seem to have forgotten that because of structural errors that caused the sinking of the ship, those who lost a loved one in the "Estonia" disaster and sued the classifier of the ship, the French company Bureau Veritas and the company that built the ship, Meyer Werft, demanding more than 40 million euros in compensation. On July 19, 2019, the Court of First Instance of Nanterre, France, made a decision dismissing the family's appeal. It is unequivocally clear that the compensation that most of the people who lost loved ones on board Estonia received was embarrassingly symbolic. Already at that time, the payouts to the families should have reached at least over 100,000 euros. Instead, the relatives of those killed on the ship received ten times less than, for example, in a similar plane or other disaster in the world. With the money paid, it was not possible to raise small children who lost their mother. This was the fault of the rulers of that time and also of later governments, because they did not fight enough for people's compensations. The states of Estonia, Sweden and Finland must pay fair sums to the relatives of the victims. In my estimation, a fair amount in total would be approximately 90 million euros. This would not be beyond the power of Estonia, Sweden and Finland.
The drowning of 852 people must not remain forever shrouded in mystery in today's society. Three decades is a long enough time to bring the truth about what happened to the public. The leaders and officials of the time, who probably have more and more precise information about what happened, should start speaking publicly first. Is it not a coincidence that the KGB agent from 1978 Herman Simm was roaming around the Estonian shipwreck ? The same Herman Simm acted as police prefect in Harju County during the days of the Estonia ferry disaster. After all, Simm was also the head of the Estonian police from December 1994. This was an important part, because there was a strange activity in the takeover of the military base in Paldiski, Harju county. It is well known that when "Estonia" went on a trip on 28.09.1994, military exercises took place in the Baltic Sea. In this case, misguided or non-misleading shots at Estonia cannot be ruled out. It is incomprehensible why the ships, which were currently conducting exercises, did not conduct a rescue operation to save civilians. Now it is known which country blocked the calls from Estonia. And why were Estonian leaders silent about all this? It is clear that today, more than ever, we need an investigation to find out the causes of the sinking of the Estonia ferry and the related circumstances. Estonia as a country could act as a real example, showing that the priority for our country is the citizens and the safety of its people. I am also directly involved in the matter, as I lost three close people in the accident - my grandmother was among the passengers, my sister and girlfriend were among the ship's crew.