Rein Lang: Difference between revisions

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	On ], ], Rein Lang celebrated his 50th birthday at a beer restaurant in Tartu, Estonia.<ref name='ee-juubel'>] ], ]: by ]</ref> The party featured a performance of the play ], an award-winning ]<ref>], describing the play on a .</ref><ref name='epl-lang-review'>] ], ]: </ref> ] by ], featuring a monologue of ], delivered in front of a large hanging ]. Lang invited guests to attend the party in the period costumes. In an additional note, he pointed out that this era was characterized by ], and stressed that the event was not intended as a ]; specifically, guests wouldn't be expected to arrive in uniforms or bearing Nazi symbols.<ref name='ee-juubel'/><ref name='epl-lang-review'/>		On ], ], Rein Lang celebrated his 50th birthday at a beer restaurant in Tartu, Estonia.<ref name='ee-juubel'>] ], ]: by ]</ref> The party featured a performance of the play ], an award-winning ]<ref>], describing the play on a .</ref><ref name='epl-lang-review'>] ], ]: </ref> ] by ], featuring a monologue of ], delivered in front of a large hanging ]. Lang invited guests to attend the party in the period costumes. In an additional note, he pointed out that this era was characterized by ], and stressed that the event was not intended as a ]; specifically, guests wouldn't be expected to arrive in uniforms or bearing Nazi symbols.<ref name='ee-juubel'/><ref name='epl-lang-review'/>

	Russian media reported this event as the minister "decorating his birthday with ]s",<ref name='pm-rus-acc'>] ], ]: </ref><ref>] ], ]: , edited by ]</ref>, citing an Estonian newspaper which recalled a scandal that happened three years ago, when ] had a swastika on his sleeve during a birthday party.<ref name ="regnumswastika">] ], ]: </ref> This was interpreted as "distortion" by Estonian media <ref name='pm-rus-acc'>] ], ]: </ref><ref>] ], ]: , edited by ]</ref>. The ] group has in ]n media made calls for the Minister of Justice to resign over the event.<ref>] ], ]: </ref> In an explanatory ], Lang stated ''"The Republic of Estonia has condemned Nazi crimes and my birthday was attended by people who, without exception, despise fascism."''<ref name='epl-lang-review'/> ], speaking on ], has called Russian media's coverage of this incident a case of ].<ref>] ] ]: </ref>		Russian media reported this event as the minister "decorating his birthday with ]s",<ref name='pm-rus-acc'>] ], ]: </ref><ref>] ], ]: , edited by ]</ref>, citing an Estonian newspaper which recalled a scandal that happened three years ago, when ] had a swastika on his sleeve during a birthday party.<ref name ="regnumswastika">] ], ]: </ref> This was interpreted as "distortion" by Estonian media <ref name='pm-rus-acc'>] ], ]: </ref><ref>] ], ]: , edited by ]</ref>. The ] group has in ]n media made calls for the Minister of Justice to resign over the event.<ref>] ], ]: </ref> In an explanatory ], Lang stated ''"The Republic of Estonia has condemned Nazi crimes and my birthday was attended by people who, without exception, despise fascism."''<ref name='epl-lang-review'/> ], speaking on ], has called Russian media's coverage of this incident a case of ].<ref>] ] ]: </ref> Athanasios Pafilis, Member of ] (Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left), filed question on Lang's conduct for 2007 Autumn sesssion, calling it "New pro-Nazi incident involving the Estonian Minister of Justice" <ref></ref>

	Russian media, in presenting background of Lang for covering this incident, has sometimes claimed that as the Minister of Justice, Lang blocked a ] that would have prohibited display of ]s.{{cn\|date=September 2007}} This is untrue; Lang was one of the original sponsors of a bill outlawing public display of occupation symbols, such as ], ], and the ], when such display is executed in order to incite social hatred<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref>. The bill was blocked in a ] commission that considered it too onerous for constitutional freedoms, particularly, ].{{fact\|date=September 2007}}		Russian media, in presenting background of Lang for covering this incident, has sometimes claimed that as the Minister of Justice, Lang blocked a ] that would have prohibited display of ]s.{{cn\|date=September 2007}} This is untrue; Lang was one of the original sponsors of a bill outlawing public display of occupation symbols, such as ], ], and the ], when such display is executed in order to incite social hatred<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref>. The bill was blocked in a ] commission that considered it too onerous for constitutional freedoms, particularly, ].{{fact\|date=September 2007}}

Revision as of 20:58, 21 September 2007

Rein Lang (born July 4 1957 in Tartu, Estonia) is an Estonian politician, a member of the Estonian Reform Party since 1995, and a diplomat. He is currently serving as the Minister of Justice.

Childhood and education

Lang's father was appointed to work at the Soviet embassy in Helsinki. Consequently, Rein Lang grew partly up in Finland, becoming a fluent speaker of Finnish. He has championed Finnish-Estonian relations. Lang got the basic and highschool education in Tallinn English College (then known as 7th Highscool of Tallinn) and graduated cum laude from University of Tartu in 1980, acquiring a degree in law.

Family

Lang is in an open marriage with Ulvi Kuusk, whom he met in 1979, and has a teenage (as of 2007) daughter.

Careers

Legal career

In 1980–1983, Rein Lang belonged to Injurkollegija, a specialised attorney organisation for foreign legal relations of the USSR. This was his first job after graduation.

Rein Lang participated in Constitutional Assembly of Republic of Estonia (Template:Lang-et) tasked to write the Constitution of Estonia enacted in 1992.

Business career

In late years of the Soviet Union — since 1986 —, Lang worked in the entertainment business. He has been a deputy director of the Linnahall and in 1989 became a deputy director of club 'Muusik' (Estonian for 'Musician'). In 1990, he became CEO of AS Laulusillad (Estonian for Song Bridges), and in 1991–2001 served at various positions in AS TRIO, along with Hans H. Luik establishing and running the first politically independent radio station in post-Soviet Estonia, Radio Kuku. Over the next several years, Lang launched two more radio stations, Radio Uuno, a music-only radio station, and the Russian language Radio Tallinn (later renamed Radio 100). In 2002, Lang and Luik sold their radio interest to their then co-partner from the United States, Metromedia International Group Inc.

Media career

In Radio Kuku, Lang regularly appeared in talkshows, ending up gaining considerable reputation as a political commentator. His most popular programme, the weekly 'Midday Hour' (Template:Lang-et), has become legendary, and a subject of a number of jokes mostly associated with Valdo Jahilo. 'State of the state' (Template:Lang-et) was also popular.

Political career

Following his departure from the media business, Lang served as deputy mayor of Tallinn in 2001–2003 and as a member of Riigikogu in 2003–2005. He served as the Deputy Speaker of Riigikogu and Chairman of its European Affairs Committee. In 2005, Lang was the minister of Foreign Affairs for two months, from February to April. With the resignation of Juhan Parts, the prime minister at that time, a new cabinet was proposed by Andrus Ansip; there, Lang would serve as the Minister of Justice, a position he officially took when the new cabinet took an oath on April 12, 2005.

Press Enemy of 2004

In 2004, the Estonian Newspaper Association (Template:Lang-et) consensually titled Lang 'Year's Press Enemy'. The explanation provided in the press release cited Lang's snobbish attitude towards press, exemplified by an email response in which Lang asked a county newspaper's correspondent to "not bother" him with any more requests for information. Lang has disputed this characterisation, and implied that Toomas Leito, leader of the Estonian Newspaper Association, was following a policy of But you are lynching Negroes.

Controversial "Delfi bill"

In autumn of 2005, Lang initiated a bill that would have allowed penalising web portals for anonymous commentary left by their visitors. The bill, nicknamed "Delfi bill" (Template:Lang-et) after an Estonian web portal commonly associated with poorly thought out and scatological commentary, was widely criticised and ended up rejected by Riigikogu. Among other concerns, critics commonly pointed out that Delfi belonged to a media concern competing with AS TRIO, and questioned the minister's neutrality.

The Ministry of Culture can only be tidied up by a grenade, thrown in through its window.

Birthday party artificial controversy

On July 4, 2007, Rein Lang celebrated his 50th birthday at a beer restaurant in Tartu, Estonia. The party featured a performance of the play Adolf, an award-winning anti-fascist drama by Pip Utton, featuring a monologue of Adolf Hitler, delivered in front of a large hanging Nazi banner. Lang invited guests to attend the party in the period costumes. In an additional note, he pointed out that this era was characterized by poverty, and stressed that the event was not intended as a fancy dress party; specifically, guests wouldn't be expected to arrive in uniforms or bearing Nazi symbols.

Russian media reported this event as the minister "decorating his birthday with swastikas",, citing an Estonian newspaper which recalled a scandal that happened three years ago, when Prince Harry had a swastika on his sleeve during a birthday party. This was interpreted as "distortion" by Estonian media . The Nochnoy Dozor group has in Russian media made calls for the Minister of Justice to resign over the event. In an explanatory opinion article, Lang stated "The Republic of Estonia has condemned Nazi crimes and my birthday was attended by people who, without exception, despise fascism." Trivimi Velliste, speaking on TV3, has called Russian media's coverage of this incident a case of psychological warfare. Athanasios Pafilis, Member of European Parliament (Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left), filed question on Lang's conduct for 2007 Autumn sesssion, calling it "New pro-Nazi incident involving the Estonian Minister of Justice"

Russian media, in presenting background of Lang for covering this incident, has sometimes claimed that as the Minister of Justice, Lang blocked a bill that would have prohibited display of swastikas. This is untrue; Lang was one of the original sponsors of a bill outlawing public display of occupation symbols, such as hammer and sickle, swastika, and the Red Star, when such display is executed in order to incite social hatred. The bill was blocked in a parliamentary commission that considered it too onerous for constitutional freedoms, particularly, freedom of speech.

"Wikigate" incident

On 23 July 2007, Lang's article on Misplaced Pages was edited by a user identifying as "Kairioun", removing a large section on Lang's birthday controversy. After these deletions were consistently reverted, another user by the alias of Gerog112 performed a similar deletion many times, resulting in a 24-hour restriction of editing privileges (sometimes mistakenly reported as a three-month restriction), and made a number of bizarre statements in Estonian. News media quickly traced the user Kairioun to Kairi Õun, an advisor of Lang, leading to considerable coverage of the incident, which Henrik Roonemaa, in an analysis session in Tehnokratt, dubbed "Wikigate". Gerog112's real life identity remains unknown. The resulting publicity attracted a number of new Estonian editors to Misplaced Pages.

Celebratory beer for Constitution's anniversary

As the current Estonian Minister of Justice, Lang was involved in the Constitutional Pilsener project.

References

External links

Official blog, sponsored by the Estonian Reform Party
A news item by Rossiya, the national TV channel of Russian Federation.

Template:Incumbent succession box

Preceded byJaak Jõerüüt (acting)

Minister of Foreign Affairs
February 2005 – April 2005

Succeeded byUrmas Paet

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