Just checking - how's the massive resurgence of neofascist nationalistic Latvian movement explained by your SO? I'm always fascinated by the explanations.
nationalist, yes--Neofascist, no. yes indeed--Latvia has a very strong nationalist movement. It's both obnoxious and hilarious listening to some of the older generation make the same anti-west, anti-Russia arguments in defense of Latvia that their "enemies" would make in defense of their own nations. Nationalism is a poison anywhere, but it's no surprise in a country where for 5 decades, simple possession of your flag was a trip to the Gulag. Perhaps you can forgive them a modicum of this current memory, those that survived such things.
As for neofascism, if you refer to the march of the Latvian Legion, and you try to label them Nazis as all pro-Russian propagandists do, then you know very little about the issue.
These were soldiers that volunteered late in the war under a division of the SS, yes, but they were the only division not required to take an oath of loyalty to Hitler. None of them were German sympathizers--Latvian men were given a choice of who to fight for (Russians didn't really give them a choice as their occupiers from 41-42, however). The Germans were late to recruit them after pushing the Russians out. They fought, simply, to keep Russia the fuck out of Latvia. After deporting 17,000 citizens in a single night of June 1941, Russians quickly erased the memory of 700 years Of German stewardship. They were
that brutal.
I could go on and on...I've read a lot into this. More than you, I'm positive. Interviewed a surviving Legionnaire and visited these cemetaries.
In fact--Latvian Legionaires were appointed in Nuremburg to guard Nazi war criminals. They were officially recognized by the UN and the Allied nations as non-nazi, non German combatants. The official world record for them is clean. It is only today that reactionaries and Russian hell-raisers rives history to point towards discrimination that does not exist.
One major problem with Latvian politics is that out of some 20 political parties,
all but one of them are right-leaning. The only party with a bent to leftist values is the pro-Russian party (which took over city council in Riga last year, shockingly). This fosters a strong perceived environment of nationalist culture even though many in the country do not share these values. Those Latvians with liberal values simply
can't vote Russians into power. They have every reason not to vote Russians into power.
Please tell me more about forced cultural dilution in Georgia and South Ossetia.
no different than what happened with the Baltics, with Poland. forced deportation of indigenous, non-slavic Georgian citizens and replaced with populations of Russian citizens during invasion and USSR occupation. This is cultural dilution at the hands of Stalin--a natural born Georgian, he wanted, like he wanted the rest of Eastern (and Northern) Europe as Russian states. Today, Putin can simply look at these current population dynamics and claim a legit reason to go in, support Russian cultural populations, and invade.
You know who recognizes S Osetia as an independent today? Russia, N Korea, Venezuala, Nicaragua.
that's it.
To this day, Putin and Russian apologists claim that the Baltics readily voted themselves into the USSR. The fact of the matter is that on the invasion, the Saima (parliament) was sent to the Gulag (Ulmanas--the Latvian PM until 41, died in a Siberian prison) and replaced with occupying Russian military. These officers voted the Baltics into the USSR. So, as Putin still makes the argument today--yes, the Baltic nations voted themselves into the USSR...under the vote of the USSR.
amazing.
I can't quite decide whether you are ill-informed, or just have a collection of various tidbits of information in your head without any systemic knowledge, thus, when you start putting them all together, it makes no sense.
You do realize, that Russia single-handedly moved the swaths of *stan republics from the Dark Ages into the modern day, and as soon, as it pulled out, they rolled back into the feudalism? Which is exactly what fuels Chechen, and the rest of the Caucus problems?
Chechnya is not an area that I delve deeply into. It's easy for me to chalk it up to yet another Russian invasion into sovereign territory, but I don't make such bold assertions.
NOW--I realize that I misremembered my earlier claim. I was thinking about the apartment bombings when I was referring to the gassing at the theater. I remember the theater hostage situations it was happening live, and I seem to recall early reports saying that the terrorists gasses the hostages. That is live news...so always take that with a grain of salt.
Though the apartment bombings, blamed on Chechen separatists by Putin, and for what Litveninko [sic] was killed. That's what I was thinking.
Ah, I see your SO has worked you well. Just a quick reality check: Swedish in Finland, French in Canada. And we are not talking about denying the elderly the basic necessities because they could not master the Latvian/Estonian/Lithunian language. Just minority presence and the second state language as is.
What is so difficult for someone living in another country for 30 or more years who refuses to learn the actual language? Is it too much to ask them, if they want to be a part of the country...to actually try to be a part of the country? Apparently it is with the older Russians--who are, in fact the ones that raise the stink. Their kids don't seem to care, as they will be going to school and working in the country, thus understand the value of learning the language..The calls of discrimination are mostly from the older generation--those who remember being proud occupiers. The kids aren't nearly as concerned with such tomfoolery.
Is the situation with Mexican immigration into the US familiar to you?
Hilariously, a EU delegation was recently sent to Riga at the request of USSR to investigate such oft-claimed issues of discrimination against this "indigenous" Russian population. The director of the EU department responded that such claims were baseless, essentially relaying the same argument "Claims of people living here for 20 years who refuse to learn the language are not worth considering."
Sorry, this was reported in Diena last week.
I wonder how the ave US citizen would react if someone proposed Spanish as a "second state language."
Better yet, what if such had been proposed as a "non-discriminatory act to support the wishes of minority ex-patriot citizens of a former occupying, brutal, Mexican regime."
yeah, sure...and the UN would be calling us ultra-nationalist neofascist beasts?
I am no apologist for the occupation of Baltic states, but what they are currently doing with their bruised ego of, essentially, slaves from one master to another, is just stupid. It wins them no points in NATO, and their economy is hurting as a result of that.
I assume you aren't living in Russia.
if so....why?