Latvia in the News Latvija latviski
“For 52 years I’ve been fighting with my hair and I lost this battle. Now I try to take care of them thoroughly, more often go to a hairdresser. However, if someone has an idea or a advice, I’m open.”
– Latvian President Valdis Zatlers to newspaper Telegraf on Sept. 20, 2007.
“I’m prepared to do what’s best for the country, but I don’t know what that is.”
Speaker of Latvian parliament, Saeima, Indulis Emsis on Sept. 17, 2007.
Latvia is the best country in the world because to be a good Latvian one must respect one’s country, know the national anthem and have credit account in at least two banks.. Original here.
The annual inflation hit a ten-year high here and reached 10.1 per cent (or 10. 2 per cent according to the Eurostat data). The government reacted sharply today by adopting this year’s budget with a 0.4 per cent of the GDP surplus.
At the same time, over the weekend, Danske Bank resorted to sarcasm to get its point across to the investors.
Some local observers and policymakers in Latvia claim that Latvia is a special economy and therefore normal economic rules do not apply. Latvia sure is special ? no country in the world has larger imbalances, but unfortunately gravity also works in Latvia and the kinds of imbalances we are seeing there are surely not sustainable and the risk of a hard landing in the economy and financial distress is very significant and no investor should ignore these risks.
Until now the Latvian government has failed to take these risks seriously enough to implement real measures to curb the massive imbalances in the economy. We are well aware that the Latvian government in March put forward a ?plan to combat inflation?. At that time inflation was around 7% y/y and the current account deficit was around 20% of GDP ? this week?s numbers show that the plan has failed to reduce inflation and the current account deficit.
A large group of green beer-bellied northern Irish fans plagued Riga last weekend for a Euro 2008 qualifying match with Latvia. They were everywhere. A center square could have been somewhere in Belfast.
They drank. They sang. They urinated on walls of people’s homes. They painted their faces. They stood out from the calm, reserved Latvians.
I found myself in the green streak on Saturday night, walking toward the stadium for the game. The green streak spread from the Old City to the Skonto stadium, which was quite a distance away.
As the hordes of already-drunken fans wobbled by a monument to Barclay de Tolly, a Russian general, erected recently in the city, their curiosity was piqued by a group of Russian nationalists demanding Russian to be a state language.
In a traditional Russian custom, the group gathered in spite of the ban by the Riga City Council and the denial of appeal by the Administrative Court. It was also in a great Russian tradition, the occasion was carefully selected. Apparently, Sept. 8 is the anniversary of the battle at Kulikovo when Russians defeated the Mongol-Tatars, prompting a start of the Russian liberation from the Mongol yoke. Which has nothing to do with this country.
“We’re Russians, God is with Us” said one slogan. A passionate, articulate young man, Evgeny Osipov, who might as well resemble a Russian-speaking Hitler, if not by his looks, but at least in the way he delivered fiery speeches. He was surrounded by followers, curious people, and journalists. He was dressed like a Great Leader, a red shirt of the color of the Soviet flag and a very black Stalin-like suit.
The event was attended by two members of parliament, which somehow adds credibility to this man. Unfortunately.
Mostly pensioners watched. A Russian man who moved here in 1978 from Crimea argued with the pensioners, who often were too emotional to see a reason. He supported the language and immigration policies.
The pensioners opposed him.
Over all, it went peaceful in spite of a large police presence. Regardless though, a group of old Russian-speaking individuals wasted their time demanding the right of the Russian language to become an official one.
It will never happen for many reasons. For one, the citizenship and naturalization laws have been accepted by the international community, including the European Union. Another reason is that they’re actually working — more Russians are learning Latvian, though they don’t speak it as often as one would like.
Sure, there are problems with the language laws in this country. They get too ridiculous. There’s actually a government body responsible for making your foreign name into the Latvian one. Consider it your Latvian baptism. James and Phillip become Dzejms and Filips.
But in the case of the pensioners though, it’s not about the language law alone. The language question is connected to the citizenship laws, connected to the closed Soviet factories, lost jobs, connected to the demise of the Soviet Union, connected to the overall dissatisfaction with the ruling elite.
It’s a vicious circle that needs to stop some time in the future.
But as for the soccer game, Northern Ireland lost even though it scored the only goal in the game.
The photo is taken just outside my house in Riga. The writing on the wall says, Russia is the Champion”.
Update:Apparently, the Delfi photos don’t work any more.
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