All About Latvia

RIGA – Three is the magic number for Latvia’s outgoing Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis. His government, thirteenth in Latvia’s 79-year-old history, latched on to power for three years and three days, an amazing record for parliamentary democracy.

And today, we bid farewell to the 41-year-old father of three, the guarantor of stability, and the all-round nice guy.

Usually confident and self-assured to the point of arrogance, Kalvitis spent less than five minutes with the press this afternoon after he submitted a letter to President Dr. Valdis Zatlers announcing his government’s resignation.

He looked rushed, somewhat disinterested, wanting to go away from the spotlight of cameras and flash of photographers. He thanked everyone, including the Academy, for a job well-done in two languages – and disappeared.

And really, what else could he have said?

Although the four-party coalition maintains a majority in
parliament, the centre-right government has been under mounting pressure to step down since the October revolution and Subdued revolution.

This is the end of the Kalvitis years filled with zoo-elected presidents, guarantors of stability, double-digit inflation, and smoking strong pipe of peace with Russia.

On November 8, Kalvitis announced his government would step down today, giving the government time to “complete unfinished tasks.”

A week later, the English-language newspaper The Baltic Times compared his decision to “a draft of fresh air through a crack in an outhouse.”

“This has been the single worst government in Latvian history, and we can only wish it good riddance. That‘s the good news,” the newspaper declared.

“The bad news is that it would appear the same batch of compromised misfits will lead the next government - same incompetence, different faces - suggesting that the mismanagement of the imperiled Latvian state could be prolonged indefinitely.”

The public discontent that toppled the strong confident government had been mounting since February, when it pushed through the parliament controversial amendments to the security laws.

Then, there was Zatlers’ election, er, sorry, appointment, at the Riga Zoo, leaving public and Zatlers himself outside the gate.

Most recently, Latvia managed not only to negotiate the border treaty with Russia, but also to adhere to the Russian laws about political advertising one day before the Russian parliamentary elections.

So far, so good.

All the while, it was amazing to see the government lose the trust of the people in just one year since being re-elected.

Zatlers is preparing for talks on the new prime minister. So far three people are known to be interested - a number cruncher, and MEP, Valdis Dombrovskis from the New Era party, a former prime minister, a man of many words and wonderfully grey beard, Ivars Godmanis and a former mayor of the town of Kuldiga (from People’s Party) Edgars Zalans, who only recently has been appointed as a minister of regional development.

But regardless who will come in his place, the next prime minister will still have to deal with overheating economy, dancing the fine line between the moon and New York City, and earn back the public trust.

And there, numerology won’t help.

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RIGA – And there you have it - the real reason why LTV decided to postpone the anti-Putin film - I wouldn’t call it a documentary, you know.

Showing of the French documentary “The Putin’s System” on Latvian Television on Dec. 1, one day before the Russian Duma elections, could have been considered as an “unfriendly gesture”

Abrams Kleckins, the head of a government agency responsible for TV and radio broadcasting in this country said this morning in the parliament.

Broken tape or not, but the television station is showing this film as I write these words. And they’ll do a rerun of the film this weekend.

But it’s really not about the film any more. It’s about the domestic fear to screw things up ahead of the Russian-Latvian border treaty conclusion, or to step on someone’s big toes.

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RIGA – Okay. Maybe it’s not the most appropriate headline.

Latvia is gradually selling its own independence back to Russia.

Judging from news bits posted throughout the day, the foreign minister Maris Riekstins has been modest his comments about the Sunday’s -farce- elections in Russia.

This afternoon, he told journalists he was disappointed with the lack of access at the election time, but he would rely on observers to tell the full story.

“We already have voiced our regret concerning the issue,” Riekstins told BNS.

Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis, whose government is set to step down on Wednesday, refused to comment all together.

And who can forget the slow Latvian response during the Estonian riots in April? Back then, the Parliament waited a whole week before adopting a resolution to condemn the rioters.

This time, however, Latvian Public Television has been under fire for now postponing the showing of an anti-Putin documentary on Saturday. TV execs told the media nothing was wrong with a delay, repeating the gobbledygook about a broken tape.

No matter how disheartening it may be, Latvia isn’t interested in making Russia angry. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to some sources, should visit Riga on Dec. 18 to exchange the now-constitutional border treaty agreement.

At the same time, the economic interests in Latvia aren’t interested in sour relationship with Russia.

To build Latvian economy based on transit of goods, Latvia will have to juggle between Russia and the EU like no other country in the Baltics, hell in the whole Union.

Latvia will have to share sometimes impossible values - that of democracy and the rule of law in the European Union and that of managed democracy and unlawful elections in Russia.

And as the song goes, “you could get stuck between the Moon and New York City. I know it’s crazy but it’s true.”

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Every regime honors its own heroes and erects them monuments. In its 90 years, Germans, Russians, Soviets, Germans had at one time or another taken control of power. Each regime brought changes in the capital city’s list of places to visit.

It was late summer 1918. It was just a few months until the new republic is declared on the ruins of World War I and another couple of years until Latvians finally win their independence.

The Germans, who occupied Riga, elected The Iron Guard on September 3, 1918. It was a monument to the German soldier – the liberator – made out of wood. In the local vernacular, the monument was nicknamed The Wooden Fritz.

The black wooden soldier stood in a small park outside the present-day Augstaka Tiesa building.

To show loyalty to new authorities, people could buy nails sold outside the monument and nail them into the soldier.

The Germans had lost to the Bolsheviks and the newly formed Soviet Latvian Republic erected the monument to Karl Marx on the same spot. On the same base.

It was unveiled on May 1, 1919, replacing the Iron Guard. The monument survived only 21 days.

The new Latvian authorities didn’t fancy a monument in that spot, nor were they keen on re-erecting the Wooden Fritz. So the place remained empty.

This is how that place looks today.

The Latvian independence lasted until 1940, when the Soviet troops rolled in and with open arms Latvia was accepted into the Soviet family of nations under the leadership of the Father of the people Joseph Stalin.

The first Soviet occupation lasted a bit longer than a year, but the Soviet architects had already erected a monument to the Great Leader in the city.

When the German troops arrived into town late June 30, 1941, the Stalin monument was demolished.

The Soviets regained control of Latvia in 1944. For whatever reasons, Stalin’s monument never returned to Riga.

In 1950, the Soviet authorities erected the monument to the leader of the nations in the fight against bourgeoisie Vladimir Lenin near the present-day Hotel Reval. It was the main – though certainly not the only – Lenin monument in Riga.

It stood until 1991 when the wind of change has brought it down and to pieces.

After Latvia regained its independence, the new authorities built monuments to their idols, including Latvia’s own Great Leader Karlis Ulmanis.

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