We were entertained by the President of Estonia's somewhat overwrought reaction last week to New York Times columnist Paul Krugman's mild estimation of Estonia's economic recovery, but now it just seems like Krugman is baiting the excitable Toomas Hendrik IIves. To recap, last week Krugman noted in a blog post that Estonia's recovery hasn't been so great but "better than no recovery at all, obviously," which prompted a Twitter tirade from Hendrik Ilves that would have you thinking Krugman had spit on his flag or something. (Would that our own presidents were so freewheeling and endearingly silly on Twitter.)

Thursday, Krugman wrote much more favorably about Iceland's recovery on his blog, and, because he couldn't resist, he added this kicker, "And yes, the recovery is better than Estonia, and much better than Latvia." Major burn! (Or, rather, a mild comparison of relative economic performances among European nations!) Your move, Toomas!

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