Eestlastele on Paul Goble tuttav. Olen siiani temaga ühenduses Balti riikide vabadusliikumise ajast ning meilivahetuses temaga viimastel päevadel kirjutas ta 1991. a. augusti Moskva sündmuste kohta:

The situation on Aug. 18/19 was even worse than no news.

 

Bush had given most of the Moscow embassy time off because of their work in preparation for his meetings with Gorbachev at the end of July.

 

With vacations, there was only a skeleton crew there or in DC.

 

I think the thing Estonians should be most proud of from those days is that Arnold Ruutel, whatever his shortcomings, was the key link between the West and the leaders of all the non-Russian republics.

 

He spoke to all but one of them every day and called in with news. (The only one he couldn't reach was the party secretary in Azerbaijan who at that moment was on vacation in Iran!)

 

I've mentioned this in several articles but unfortunately, that detail hasn't been picked up and spread.  

Ma vastasin Paulile ja ütlesin, et mälu järgi oli Rüütel ainukene Eestis, kes teadis et Moskval on salajane kaabel Soome ja ta kasutas seda. 

 

Paul vastas:

Yes, AR used the line across the Finnish-Soviet border. He dialed into the Finnish system and then dialed again to go into the Soviet.

 

The coup people forgot about this line but he didn't. We are all in his debt.

Pauli eelpoolne vihje "The situation on Aug. 18/19 was even worse than no news" viitab artiklile tema viimases blogis (Aug. 12-17, 2021) mis ajendas mind talle kirjutama:

For those who lived through the August 1991 coup – I still remember Estonian Foreign Minister Lennart Meri’s call telephoning me to say that there had been a coup in Moscow and not seeing any report about that on CNN for more than 45 minutes – the events of 30 years ago remain vivid and important.

Nõustun Pauliga Arnold Rüütli asjus: "We are all in his debt". 

 

On aeg meie ajakirjandusel avaldada seda tõde. 

 

See aitaks ka usaldust meediasse taastada lisaks sellele on tänu avaldamine Arnold Rüütlile inimlikult aus ja eetiline tegu.

Ilvi Jõe-Cannon