Politics & Society

JBANC - Last week we celebrated 100 years of U.S.-Baltic relations. The three Baltic countries have been marking the centennial with the U.S. with various events and projects.The U.S. embassy in Estonia has published "100 moments that shaped the partnership between the United States and Estonia" online. The U.S. embassy...

Karl Altau, JBANC Two years ago, Belarusians were everywhere. They have not disappeared. In summer 2020, there was a nationwide mass movement in support of democracy in Belarus against dictatorship. Elections took place August 9, but results were overwhelmingly deemed fraudulent, unfree, and unfair by the opposition, election observers, and...

The Estonian American National Council (EANC) Election Committee submits the final list of candidates to the XXIII Council, with their introductions. Candidates were given the option to write their introductions in Estonian, English, or both. Election ballots will be mailed in the coming weeks to everyone who is in the...

The Reform Party, Isamaa and the Social Democrats (SDE) have struck a deal on forming a new coalition, ending nearly a month of sometimes fraught talks. Following Friday's deal, the three parties will start the process of forming up a new coalition, which will make up 56 seats of the...

Karl Altau / JBANC Following a House Rules Committee review of a record-breaking 1213 amendments, the U.S. House of Representatives is ready to engage in floor debate on the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). A House vote on the bill, H.R.7900, could happen by July 15. It...

Estonia's annual inflation hit 22 percent in June, the highest in the Eurozone, data from Eurostat shows. The average was 8.6 percent, up from 8.1 percent in May. In June, the biggest year-on-year price difference was energy, which has risen by 41 percent. In May, it was 39.1 percent. This...

NATO member Canada deployed two warships to the Baltic Sea and north Atlantic at the end of June to reinforce the alliance's eastern flank. HMCS Kingston and Summerside will be on a four-month deployment as part of Operation Reassurance, a statement from the Canadian Armed Forces said. Between July and...

The Estonian Cultural Garden was dedicated June 19, 1966. Each year, the Estonian community and friends gather to celebrate Estonian Victory Day (võidupüha) and St John's Day (jaanipäev). This year local Estonians celebrated võidupüha and jaanipäev on June 26th, 2022. Toomas Tubalkain served as MC. Pastor Peeter Pirn led a...

The Biden administration has found a new candidate for ambassador to Estonia, the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn confirmed Friday. The U.S. hasn't had an ambassador present in Estonia since the resignation of James D. Melville, Jr. in June 2018. "The selection and confirmation process for the next U.S. ambassador is...

On June 14th, 1986, President Reagan hosted Baltic diaspora activists and leaders of JBANC at the White House. The President received JBANC's Baltic Freedom Award and signed proclamation #4948 declaring June 14 as "Baltic Freedom Day" in honor of the "heroic Baltic nations" suffering under Soviet occupation, which he called...