Headline, March06, 2013

'''THE RULING BALTIC BRATS OF ESTONIA'''

Let me paint the scene for you:

The Prime Minister was 33. The Minister of Interior was just 28 years old. The Foreign Minister too was just 28. At one point, virtually, the whole cabinet was between 25 and 33. And

These were the boys of the Estonian Student Fraternity at the Elite Tartu University, who had the spent the Eighties listening to rock and worshipping the free market policies of Mrs Thatcher.

When the frathouse became Pro Patria alliance and ran for power, the boys used rock songs to get the message across. When they were elected in 1992, they did not give up on Maggie, or on rock n roll. Hilariously, at the European summit in Vienna, the rosy-cheeked premier was turned away by security guards who refused to believe that he was old enough to be a leader of any country.

''The guy took one look at us and said, 'OK, where's the Prime Minister?''' remembers Mart Laar, who was indeed the PM. Ruling Estonia from the Toompei Castle at the top of the hill fort of Tallinn. Then, Laar was the youngest Prime Minister in Europe.

There is no doubt that the Estonians are immensely proud of their youth. Here, youth symbolises purity and innocence, the antithesis of the corrupt. And Youth had not held the government back.

Estonia, with a population of 1.6 million, with its lakes and forests on the Baltic, was perhaps the only success economic story since the lifting of the Iron Curtain. Its low unemployment, its foreign investment, relatively low inflation, balanced budget and stable currency were remarkable when compared to the economic chaos all around.

Boonie and Clyde on a Friday night was the best place to see a booming Tallinn at festival no matter what the midst of a political crises. One would find the Tallinn Chief of Police dancing Travolta style on the neon dance floor.

While in another booth the Members of the Parliament could be seen huddled in  a whispering and plotting. Russian Mafiosi in another; and in the next you would find Toivo Klaar, the 25 years old chief of the political section, a wealthy Canadian Estonian who held the key policy making job in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A tall, elegant, dandy, Klaar enjoyed being a young power house: ''We are a serious crowd, though everyone knows each other from the University. Here you can still be wild-man type and run the government, but it's not deathly serious either. There's fun and games; there's none of the pomposity that comes with power, no flashy entourages. But of course they are like a frathouse come to the Whitehouse.''

The cobble streets, the stone ramparts, and the churchyards and the castles of the city are crowded with people having the time of their lives.

So at the time, In rocking Estonia, the quaint little Baltic republic, the young had taken control. So between the heavy metal music, the wholesome Nordic blondness, and the ancient grandeur, the entire place turned for Happiness. The scene uniquely Estonian. Hansel and Gretl go to Woodstock.

With respectful dedication to the Students of Estonia. Join up and contribute on Sam daily times and !WOW!

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless