One of the pet peeves of mine that have me writing contributions to the Dissenter is the ridiculous impression I keep getting of News.err.ee. It just seems so very wrong that the state-carried English news portal should push out all of its native English-speaking contributors first, and then move on to producing such ridiculously badly written pieces as today’s update on candidates for the position of Foreign Minister.

In his article, acting editor-in-chief Silver Tambur presents to us former Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, former Minister of Foreign Trade and Entrepreneurship Anne Sulling, MEP Kaja Kallas and MP Kalle Palling.

Paet’s qualifications don’t need explaining. Currently serving as one of Estonia’s MEPs in Brussels, Paet is perhaps Reform’s most astute politician. And I wouldn’t mind at all being quoted saying that he’d have been ten times wiser a choice for PM than the gentleman currently in office.

Kaja Kallas, who’s been traded as the party’s government hopeful of the hour for a whole array of different roles and positions, is probably on the list by virtue of her meaning to the party. “One year in Brussels”, as Tambur puts it, would hardly suffice to represent the Estonian government abroad.

(Or would it? If in need of more candidates, the Reform Party should feel free to talk to me; I have several friends who have spent any number of months in the EU capital.)

Kalle Palling’s stated qualifications most notably include having been a committee member for a stark four months plus doing “fairly well” explaining a current political crisis to the general public. And I do commend the man for that, of course, although personally I believe he might wish for more favourable representation in the media.

Remains Anne Sulling.

Ms Sulling is indeed the only alternative to Mr Paet on this list. To give Ms Kallas or Mr Palling preference over her quoting qualifications and a record of successes working with other governments would be nothing short of laughable.

Although Mr Tambur finds that “her ability to adapt quickly enough in a tense and challenging security environment” could be questioned, I’d ask him if he’d trust Ms Kallas or Mr Palling with the task of flogging several thousand tons of dairy products to the Japanese on short notice.

Of all the “qualifications” of the relative newcomers listed here, I’m by far most impressed by this last one.

And not at all impressed by this latest example of hack writing on the part of the country’s most prominent English news source.