Worldfocus special correspondent Daljit Dhaliwal and producers Sally Garner and Ara Ayer report on the scope of Latvia’s fall.

During the 50 years of Soviet occupation, Lithuanians clung to their language as a not-so-quiet form of rebellion. Today, as Worldfocus correspondent Daljit Dhaliwal and producers Sally Garner and Ara Ayer report, they want to protect it — not from an occupying force, but from other languages.

As Worldfocus correspondent Daljit Dhaliwal and producers Sally Garner and Ara Ayer report, Estonia is quickly becoming E-stonia.

Watch an extended interview: Estonia’s Internet guru Linnar Viik shares cyber strategy.

The small eastern European nation of Estonia, population 1.3 million, has sent troops to Afghanistan, just as it did in Iraq.

Worldfocus correspondent Daljit Dhaliwal and producers Sally Garner and Ara Ayer report on Estonia’s military after Soviet occupation and its alliance with the U.S. in Afghanistan.

Read producer Sally Garner’s blog from the field: Newly-minted Estonian soldiers head to Afghanistan.

Soldiers gather for a briefing in Estonia’s snowy woods. Photo: Sally Garner

Producer Sally Garner is reporting from Estonia and writes from a military base about the newly-independent country’s contribution to the war in Afghanistan.

This newly-independent former Soviet Republic takes its freedom very seriously. Proud of its membership in NATO and its friendship with the United States, Estonia is among the most committed of all the countries willing to send soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2002, Estonia — a country with fewer than 1.5 million people — sent its first soldiers to stand alongside the United States in the war on al-Qaeda and the Taliban. In 2003, Estonia signed on as one of the original members of the so-called “coalition of the willing” to fight the war in Iraq.

That may not sound newsworthy until you realize that this tiny country had no army until 1994 when Soviet troops finally left. As one army officer said, “We started from scratch.”

We saw this first generation of Estonian troops training for international missions on what used to be a Soviet military base not far from the town of Paldiski, about 50 miles from the capital city of Tallinn. Thirty young soldiers got their briefing in the snowy woods before tackling a tough lesson on searching for suspected Taliban fighters and weapons.

A soldier trains in Estonia’s fierce winter weather. Photo: Sally Garner

After scoping out possible approaches, they drove their armored personnel carriers up to abandoned Soviet barracks, a perfect training ground for soldiers learning how to maneuver in Afghan villages and towns. Perfect — except for the weather which is the complete opposite of the heat and dust they’ll experience during their upcoming summer tour of duty.

It’s an amazing sight to see. And what makes this a story that producer and cameraman Ara Ayer and I won’t forget is the discovery that many of these soldiers’ fathers were forced to serve in the Soviet Army during its long and disastrous invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

But these Estonian troops aren’t really interested in history. They’re focused on their country’s future and value their international service for the combat experience they can’t get in their very young country. As one lieutenant told us, “We always need to be ready for any enemy who wants to take our freedom away.”

- Sally Garner

Watch for Worldfocus’ upcoming series exploring the Baltics in the coming weeks.

Riga’s central market. Photo: Sally Garner

Rooftops in Riga’s old town section. Photo: Sally Garner

Worldfocus producer Sally Garner is in Riga, Latvia, reporting on the country’s floundering economy. She writes about how the financial crisis has impacted daily life in Latvia.

The headlines read: “Europe’s Sickest Country,” “Latvia’s Government Collapses,” “Europe’s Most Extreme, Dramatic Economy” — but walk around Riga, Latvia’s capital city, and you’ll see people heading to work, stores full of shoppers and banks open for business. It’s a recession. It’s Eastern Europe. And Latvians are holding their breath.

Unemployment is growing. The economy is now shrinking faster than in any other European country, but in the central market we found people choosing from the mountains of fruit and vegetables, checking out tables full of cookies and candy, buying bunches of flowers and even picking out sweaters and coats. They’re worried, but they say they remember harder times under Soviet rule.

This is a country proud of its 18 years of independence from the Soviet Union and willing to fight to save itself in the current economic crisis.

As we walked around Riga’s old town with its cobblestone streets and “pedestrian only” signs, we saw “for rent” signs — and while many people didn’t want to talk about the economy, most say they know someone who’s lost a job in just the last few months.

We’ve only been here two days, but we’ve heard bankers, small business owners, students and engineers all tell us that Latvia is in trouble. They just want us to know it’s trouble they share with the rest of the world, not theirs alone.

We’ll be back in Latvia next week. Tomorrow we head to neighboring Estonia, and later to Lithuania where we’ll see for ourselves what the headline “Once leaders, Baltic countries in deep slump” means in the countries that were dubbed the “Baltic Tigers” when money was flowing and times were good.

- Sally Garner

Watch for Worldfocus’ upcoming series exploring the Baltics in the coming weeks. 

One of the estimated 160,000 Egyptian bloggers shares his perspective in our Web exclusive video: Egyptian bloggers cite censorship, arrest and torture.

Special correspondent Hoda Osman and producer Sally Garner report on the state of journalism in Egypt from Cairo.

The video below is an exclusive Web interview with blogger and activist Hossam el-Hamalawy.

For bloggers and mainstream journalists, Egypt is far from free. Both Hossam el-Hamalawy and Nora Younis blog using their real names. Both write about protest rallies, politics and the growing — but still small — labor movement in Egypt.

Watch the video interview of el-Hamalawy, who says he’s been arrested, questioned and tortured several times during his career. He describes the blogging community in Cairo as having one foot in cyberspace and the other in the street.

It’s that activism that makes them targets for state security police.

Blogger Nora Younis told us about knowing she was being watched but choosing to continue to live and work without trying to hide.

“I never lock my door; I just leave my apartment and pull the door shut,” she said. “I never lock my door. I don’t care if they’re tapping the phone; I have to continue living as if this is safe. I have the right to do it. I should continue to do it.”

Reporters without Borders ranked Egypt 148th out of 169 countries in its annual press freedom survey.

The organization specifically cited the jailing of two bloggers last year as evidence of Egypt’s continuing crackdown on journalists. The report also pointed to the use of the Internet as a powerful tool that resulted in the “unprecedented arrest and imprisonment” of two government officials when a blogger posted video of them torturing prisoners at a local police station.

- Sally Garner

Hoda Osman, who spent the first 26 years of her life in Cairo, goes back to that city for a sampling of opinion.

Read Producer Sally Garner’s blog post: Sailing along the Nile in Egypt.

View the story here: Egyptians express views on America

Nile River boatman Hussein Ahmed. Photo: Sally Garner

When I first saw Cairo from an airplane window it seemed to be a vast sea of brown, with three tiny triangles poking up from the monochromatic landscape. Tiny from the air — but you know you’re looking at the Giza pyramids.

Once you’re on the ground and actually at the pyramids, you realize that Cairo is pressing its irrigated edges right up to the those amazing monuments. The brown desert landscape gives way to green only because of the Nile. Egypt gets only two or three days of rain a year, so the river is what provides 95 percent of the water for the whole country.

We got a close-up view of the world’s longest river on a quick trip on a felucca [a traditional wooden sailing boat]. The striking thing about sailing along the Nile in the heart of Cairo is how suddenly quiet it seems. The river is at one of its narrowest points here, but it’s so wide and gentle that you never hear the roar of traffic from the main roads just alongside.

One of our assignments was to try to get a glimpse of what Egyptians think about America, so we took the opportunity to interview our boatman, Hussein Ahmed. While the current and the breeze were calm, he had plenty to tell us, volunteering his affection for “Ameryka” but his disdain for President Bush and the policies of the current administration in the Middle East.

As we sailed along past the former home of late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, we heard about the “good” Presidents Carter and Clinton and how the “Bush family should go.” As we got off the boat, he said sadly that American tourists don’t come to Egypt as often anymore. He hoped we would come back because even though he was angry about U.S. political policy, he truly liked Americans.

It was a refrain we’d hear over and over and over during our trip…at the fancy indoor shopping malls…and in the street markets.

It’s clear that while Egypt might be mysterious to Americans, America is a daily presence in the lives of Egyptians.

- Sally Garner