Talk about putting a brave face on a bad situation. Estonia, a former Soviet republic, joins the Western alliance and within four years a spy is discovered.
We reported in this week's Baltic Times that Hermann Simm, the alleged traitor, was given security clearance at the highest levels only a year ago. A senior government source has told TBT he was not personally surprised that the mole was discovered.
The Estonian authorities, at least in the 90s, did not have the means to protect anybody who the Russian secret service put the thumbscrews on. The only option for someone who didn't want to collaborate was to flee the country.
Let's make no mistake about it. We don't know what secrets Simm allegedly released to his handlers, but we do know that whatever they were, it compromised the security of NATO. It is quite likely that leaked information compromised the personal safety of NATO spies working in Russia.
Yet instead of throwing their hands up and saying sorry for causing such a mess, or at least admitting it's bad that it happened, Estonia's political elite make out like they have won a prize.
One MP, Marko Mihkelson, even went as far as to say the Simm affair makes Estonia look good.
"Eliminating defense risk so professionally, definitely raises Estonia's reputation," the MP said.
And Mihkelson is not alone in his assessment. There have been similar noises from members of the government.
This is a sorry state of affairs. NATO authorities have so far refused to be drawn on the level of damage, but no-one outside of Estonia itself has said that the Simm affair has done anything but damage Estonia's reputation. It may be true that other countries have made similar mistakes in the past, but Estonia has a lot to live up to. As a New European country, a new member of NATO and the EU, it is simply more important that it gets things right, just as the new kid in school can't afford to make mistakes.
It is therefore rather disingenuous for the Estonian political elite to make out like nothing bad has happened. This damages the countries reputation as much as the Simm's affair itself.
There is still one question which everyone in Estonia, and for that matter the rest of the Baltics, is asking. If he is guilty, why did he do it? Why would someone betray his country to another country which, by all accounts, is not popular with most people?
It is not as if there could have been much to motivate a spy in material terms. Also, he could not have had an ideological reason to do what he did. It is not communism versus capitalism anymore. It is capitalism versus capitalism. This is what is as worrying about the New Cold War, as it's being called. Before, we were all told that the argument was over different belief systems; if countries could resolve their ideologically differences then they could all be friends. Now we are being told that it is Russia itself which is the problem. And that is not such an easy thing to fix.
