> > Speaking to Russian-Latvian media in Russian can be also seen as
> > populism. The pro****tion of Russophones is high in Latvia, and I'm
> > sure many of them would find it a good gesture.
>
> Sure, many find it a "good gesture." It's a gesture that's constantly
> been made -- it's so "good" that it means Russians feel comfortable
> using Russian with Latvian audiences. The time for that has passed, or
> is passing. A lot of the complaints to the language inspectorate (and
> complaints are way up) are about language in the workplace... and in a
> lot of cases, there's little that can be done (because the language
> law was weakened when we were trying to get into the EU/NATO).
> Category requirements are being raised, though, and the inspectors are
> more visibly active than in the past.
I doubt that would help much.
>
> > Were there subtitles? It looks as if the entire industry are
> > monolingual Russophones-)) The answers would be obvious: 1)no, 2)no,
> > 3)Russian. But it could also be a move towards making Russian
> > speaking population more inclusive? (I=C3=BFm sure there will be at
leas=
t
> > one captain who can speak Latvian). Initially (1991), if all
> > Rusophones were fluent in Latvian there wouldn't be any issues with
> > somebody being interviewed in Russian today, majority of people in
> > Latvia know Russian anyway.
>
> There are doubtless a lot of fluent captains. Ventspils, for example,
> had a large number of Latvian seafarers and ****t workers even under
> the Soviets, unlike R=C4=ABga, where those jobs were mostly Russian
> (someone in Ventspils told me about how they would relax by beating up
> the am=C4=AB=C5=A1i, heh). And in the 1990s, the language of training in
L=
atvia
> switched to Latvian -- I've even run into young Latvian ****ps'
> officers abroad, in New Orleans, for example. R=C4=ABga ****t, of course,
i=
s
> notoriously mafiya-run, like many a ****t.
>
> Again, there's symbolism involved, and it matters. The language
> inspectors can go hold talks with the bus terminal in Daugavpils again
> and again, for example, but if the man in charge doesn't care about
> what the drivers speak, they'll just pay the fines and nothing will
> change. So the pressure will be kept on. The pressure will also
> increase because fewer younger Latvians are learning Russian.
My friend=E2=80=99s daughter started learning Russian at school last
Septemb=
er
because the school decided to take Russian as a second foreign
language. It is in Lielvarde, where the pro****tion of Russophones is
close to 0%. Parents don=E2=80=99t have any issue with it. They think
that=
knowledge of Russian is useful. Besides, the school is very good at
languages =E2=80=93 judging by her English, which is almost fluent
(parents
don=E2=80=99t speak English).
On the other hand, the increase of young Russophones speaking Latvian
is very noticeable (at least in Riga). That should eventually
decrease the pressure.
>
> > Developing alternative energies and and adopting European values as
> > soon as possible could help to develop a healthy distance from Russia.
>
> Sure, but like he says -- Russian influence is increasing faster than
> Latvia is becoming more European. We've been getting less European,
> actually -- our rankings in political freedom slipped last year. The
> main "alternative energy" we should be developing is nuclear power. It
> looks like Estonia and Lithuania will do that on their own, and Russia
> will do it in Kaliningrad.
>
> It's partly just a matter of scale -- creating a hockey team paid for
> by a Russian gas company wouldn't have a huge impact on a larger
> country. Here, making a choice between burning coal or getting a new
> Russian gas plant is a matter of big money in a few hands -- hands
> that matter and aren't subject to much control.
>
> Most of the people in government believe in European values about as
> much as the sovoks at s.c.b. do. They would be quite happy with a
> Putin-style managed democracy. They're quite happy with theocracy, too
> -- the Minister of Integration gleefully struck gays from the
> integration program after consulting with the Cardinal and the
> Archbishop, for example. The guy who heads the human rights committee
> in the Saeima has explicitly said that Russia preserves values against
> the baleful influence decadent West (vide Black Monk), and he finds
> comparisons of Latvia to Russia flattering.
>
> There are a lot of people here who sup****t European values, and I
> haven't given up on our eventual success.
Shouldn=E2=80=99t give up. There will be more politicians that would
prefer=
European liberalism to Russian conservatism in future, although the
picture looks quite grim in your description.
>
> > > I think any steps we take, with the possible exception of acts
Russia
> > > finds extremely provocative (e.g., ****fting bronze Alyoshas, etc.)
--
> > > things we don't do -- quite simply don't matter very much. Lavrov
was
> > > spouting off about our supposed gross human rights violations the
day
> > > after the Border Agreement was signed!
>
> > What was he on about?
>
> The usual -- non-citizens.
Well, Putin did offer them Russian citizen****p and some help to settle
in Russia. And I know a few who became Latvian citizens through
naturalisation process. There are choices that people can make.
>
> > What would be a big difference for Latvians if Georgia becomes NATO's
> > member?
>
> Upholding the principle that the door is open to those who pursue
> reforms is our moral responsibility, since we benefited from the same
> sense of moral responsibility towards us. The cry that Georgia and
> Ukraine are different, as "former Soviet republics," is the same cry
> that was used against us not so long ago (in fact, some of the same
> people indulge in it -- Anatol Lieven, who was staunchly opposed to
> Baltic member****p, seems to focus on Ukraine and how bad NATO would be
> and how bad Ukrainian language policies are, these days). Ukraine, of
> course, is far more complex -- Georgia is actually quite similar, in
> that it's small and a strong majority wants to be in NATO.
But apart from principle, Georgian and Ukrainian NATO member****p
wouldn=E2=80=99t affect day-to-day lives of Latvians.
> > But you can't just suddenly turn off the gas.
>
> But that's not going to happen, Dmitry. Even when we had Henry's
> trophy as Russia's Public Enemy Number One, the gas kept flowing to
> In=C4=8Dukalns. The drying out of the truba to Ventspils did nothing to
ou=
r
> economy. The Duma wriggles around demanding sanctions against the
> Baltic Nazis, but very little actually happens -- and the worse it
> gets, the better for Latvia, in a lot of cases. Hurts sometimes, sure
> -- but Georgia will sell its wine here instead of in Russia, and the
> wine will get better and the dependency will be cut.
>
> The main things we should be doing (and are doing, if slowly) are
> quite simple -- integrating our energy grid with the Nordic countries
> and Central Europe, pu****ng for a common energy policy for the EU, and
> taking a clear stand.
>
> Russia won't cut off the gas because it _can't_ -- it needs Europe as
> much as Europe needs its energy. If it starts to play hardball harder,
> the reaction will get harder, and though that might lead to some
> turbulence -- in the long run, it's healthy. It's also better done
> now, rather than later -- letting Russia take over Europe in terms of
> energy whilst ignoring its tendency to use energy as a weapon only
> adds to the efficacy of that weapon down the road. Making Europe
> realize how dangerous, disgusting, anti-democratic and unreliable
> Russia is -- as Lithuania is doing -- is extremely healthy, and we're
> well qualified for the job.
Well, it is not a secret how democratic China is, yet it doesn=E2=80=99t
sto=
p
the trade between Europe and China.
>
> Even in terms of your j=C4=81jamzirdzi=C5=86=C5=A1, alternative
energies, =
it's
> beneficial -- sort of like in America; the gas/petrol prices are
> painful and politicians want to offer a "tax holiday," but the fact is
> that the more painful those pump prices are, the more likely Americans
> will be forced to re*****s the _real_ costs of sucking down the
> world's resources. Changing the psyche might be almost impossible, of
> course -- "the American way of life," so integral to what America is,
> is based on greed and waste. "The European way of life" is more
> refined, but also not at all sustainable. Look at the differences,
> though, from country to country, or even city to city -- look at how
> Copenhagen gets and uses its energy and compare that to London or
> R=C4=ABga.
Our diesel pump prices have reached approx. =C2=A31.20 per liter. And
some
predicted that it may go to as much as =C2=A31.50 by the end of July.
Bio-
diesel is stepping in (slowly), it is cheaper, but there aren=E2=80=99t
many=
outlets that sell it yet. More and more people now realise that it is
vital to reduce consumption of fossil fuels, not only because the
prices are rising, but also because of the impact on the environment.
For example, it is very visible that far more people recycling today
than 15 years ago. But, we are still behind most of our continental
neighbors.
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