Psychological shield for Estonians?

Unfortunately it is not possible to rely only on peasant common sense when thwarting hostile attacks to influence us, because big states use billions for this war without frontiers. Estonia needs an immune system. Our national psychological defence must be constructed to a wide and strong base. Then the external influences and crises will not break our internal connections, society and the state as a whole during bad times.  (my translation)

No, this is not a quote from ‘1984’. It is from the speech made on the occasion of the 92nd birthday of the Republic of Estonia by the head of our defence forces. I have never understood why a high-ranking military person should be allowed to make these kind of political speeches at all, but using this kind of Orwellian rhetoric and nobody really caring about it is for me a dangerous sign. Connect it to the recent gaffe by our Minister of Defence who claimed that Estonian independence was a “triumph of national will” which seemed similar to the title of Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will.

Nationalism is dangerous: the national unification function it provides threatens individual liberties, and discourages dissent or unpopular opinions, which in turn makes the society more closed. Do not get me wrong, I consider myself proud to be Estonian, but I do understand that the fact that I was born Estonian is random and does not mean that I am somehow better than someone who was born with a different nationality.

In my opinion our concept of nation state must be reconsidered. It is difficult to justify in today’s world the preservation of the Estonian nation as the primary reason for having the Republic of Estonia. We need a separation of the nation and the state.