A reader writes:
Regarding your tag line “Not Your Usual Eastern European Country”.
Why refer to Latvia as an Eastern European country? It is not. It is more likely Northern or Central European. Eastern was arbitrarily assigned to countries subjugated by the Soviet Union, and nothing to do with actual geographical, cultural or even linguistic parameters. Take a ruler and draw a straight line from east to west, and again from north to south, just including Europe, and see where Latvia is situated. I’m tired of being lumped in with, and referred to, as Eastern European.
I suppose one can make a case that Latvia is a northern European country, but because of the recent history, countries that were once subjugated by the Soviet Union are often refer ed to as Eastern European countries. Poland, for example, may be considered a Central European country, especially considering that the European continent ends some place near the Ural mountains in Russia, yet I’ve seen it refer ed to as Eastern European, especially now that it, much like Latvia, is located on the eastern side of the European Union.
Also, I think because of the shared history with other countries that suffered under the Soviets, it is fair to compare them to each other. So, if I were to say “Not your usual northern European country,” I’d be comparing Latvia to Scandinavian countries, which is not a fair comparison. In my tag line, I’m comparing Latvia to other former Soviet sat elites by saying it’s different than the rest. So you will be lump with those countries not because of the geographic location per se, but because of the shared history.
So this is why I used the phrase Eastern European, rather than Northern European.
