"I worked at Radio Free Europe, and what Trump has done is simply to be polite to Putin."

Wednesday, Mar 19, 2025

El Confidencial

Former Estonian official discusses RFE’s role, US funding cuts, and Europe’s future security challenges.

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[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former director of Radio Free Europe’s Estonian service and later an Estonian diplomat and politician, discusses his early work at RFE, including smuggling a Soviet radio to Finland to listen to Estonian broadcasts due to restrictions on Western frequencies. He reflects on the importance of RFE as a source of objective news during the Cold War and its role in promoting democracy in Eastern Europe. The discussion covers the recent withdrawal of US funding for outlets like RFE following an executive order by Donald Trump, which Ilves views as silencing a voice against fascism. He critiques current political trends, such as appeasement towards Russia and authoritarian leaders within the EU, and emphasizes that while Europe needs to develop strategic autonomy in defense, this will require difficult social changes. His outlook for the next five years involves addressing security threats from Russia and strengthening European defense capabilities.

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