Estonian president scolds Paul Krugman on Twitter

The president of Estonia’s Twitter rant. (Twitter.com)

The President of Estonia slammed Nobel laureate and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on Twitter today over Krugman’s short blog post pooh-poohing the Eastern European country’s economic recovery.

Krugman wrote that defenders of Europe’s austerity measures often point to Estonia’s economic recovery to defend their policies. He included a chart that showed the country’s rising GDP and added: “Better than no recovery at all, obviously—but this is what passes for economic triumph?”‘

Estonia’s president Toomas Hendrik Ilves struck back on Twitter. “Let’s write about something we know nothing about & be smug, overbearing & patronizing: after all, they’re just wogs,” Ilves wrote, using the derogatory British slang term for dark-skinned people from Africa or the East.

“Guess a Nobel in trade means you can pontificate on fiscal matters & declare my country a ‘wasteland’. Must be a Princeton vs Columbia thing,” he added, referencing the two men’s alma maters. (It’s unclear when and if Krugman actually called Estonia a wasteland, even though Ilves puts the word in quotes.)

So far, Krugman hasn’t joined in the Twitter fight.