It's A Wild And Wonderful Life

But what's it all mean!?

A Pack Of Gifts Now

The ho ho horror!

Latvia Just As Corrupt As It Ever Was!

I get a good chuckle every year when the various corruption indexes come out which invariably show Latvia's standing improving somewhat from year to year. Anyone who lives here knows better. The latest;

Foodie Fraud: Latvian Restaurant Chain Suspected of Tax Sam


Latvia's Asian restaurant chain Gan Bei has been accused of cooking more than delicious stir fry.

Financial police arrested seven people on Wednesday, including the wife of a member of parliament, on suspicion of cooking the firms books in a scheme that allegedly benefited them US$ 870,000 a month.

The suspects were held in connection with tax fraud and a scheme to under report earnings. At least two other people were taken into custody.

Officers of the State Revenue Service (SRS) searched at least 30 locations including the offices of catering company Lade Ko, it's subsidiary Gan Bei, and an unidentified cash register manufacturer. Gan Bei, which serves Japanese, Indian and Thai-inspired cuisine has ten outlets in and around the capital Riga.

Kaspers Podins, chief of the SRS, said at a press briefing that the cash register company under investigation had offered software to it's clients that let them fake having lower amounts of money in the registers, allowing them to skim off the remainder. The suspects, he said, had kept some of the money for themselves and used the rest to pay employees under the table.

Police also received parliamentary approval to search the house of MP Sergejs Potapkins, whose wife Galina Karmaca is a co-owner of Lade Ko and is one of the arrestees. When asked about the case Potapkin complained of "political speculation."

SRS General Director Kaspirs Cerneckis said that evidence obtained in the investigation could result in further charges against other retail and service companies.

Lade Ko confirmed to LETA that all Gan Bei locations have now reopened.

The salient points here;

• a Seima MP possibly benefited from this scheme
• said MP's wife is deeply involved and arrested
• the scheme is well thought out & organized over time
• many ppl involved  from employees to cash register mfg

All the above as well as the statement, "... evidence obtained in the investigation could result in further charges against other retail and service companies.", would indicate that the SRS thinks that this type of scheme is a wide spread problem. Not knowing who the cash register mfg is makes it difficult to appraise how many tainted pieces of equipment there are but it would be irresponsible not to speculate. I suppose that a list of business's exists and a high profile take down is calculated to put the fear in anyone running the shady software so that they clean up and pay taxes as money into government coffers is the main thing here, not criminal prosecutions because you'd have to have your head in the sand to think that it's possible to push a successful criminal case through the useless and corrupt Latvian judicial system.

My interest in this is kind of personal, one of the accountants is my neighbour who I witnessed being taken away by the SRS on Wednesday morning after showing up at 7:15 am and staying for two hours. A nice enough person but knowing the rest of my neighbours as I do I feel sorry that this person is now in the belly of the beast. Illegal schemes are rampant here as the number of knowing participants in this one would indicate.

Don’t Accept Putin’s Version of History

Finally, someone with a visible position in media tells it like it is:

Don’t Accept Putin’s Version of History

The West didn’t provoke Russia. It gave it more credit than it deserved.

By Anne Applebaum

   

LONDON—Looking back over the past quarter-century, it isn’t easy to name a Western policy that can truly be described as a success. The impact of Western development aid is debatable. Western interventions in the Middle East have been disastrous.

But one Western policy stands out as a phenomenal success, particularly when measured against the low expectations with which it began: The integration of Central Europe and the Baltic States into the European Union and NATO. Thanks to this double project, more than 90 million people have enjoyed relative safety and relative prosperity for more than two decades, in a region whose historic instability helped launch two world wars.

These two “expansions,” which were parallel but not identical (some countries are members of one organization but not the other), were transformative because they were not direct leaps, as the word “expansion” implies, but slow negotiations. Before joining NATO, each country had to establish civilian control of its army. Before joining the EU, each adopted laws on trade, judiciary, human rights. As a result, they became democracies. This was “democracy promotion” working as it never has before or since.

Why did we keep pretending that Russia had transformed itself?

   

But times change, and the miraculous transformation of a historically unstable region became a humdrum reality. Instead of celebrating this achievement on the 25^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is now fashionable to opine that this expansion, and that of NATO in particular, was mistaken. This project is incorrectly “remembered” as the result of American “triumphalism” that somehow humiliated Russia by bringing Western institutions into its rickety neighborhood. This thesis is usually based on revisionist history promoted by the current Russian regime—and it is wrong.

For the record: No treaties prohibiting NATO expansion were ever signed with Russia. No promises were broken. Nor did the impetus for NATO expansion come from a “triumphalist” Washington. On the contrary, Poland's first efforts to apply in 1992 were rebuffed. I well remember the angry reaction of the U.S. ambassador to Warsaw at the time. But Poland and others persisted, precisely because they were already seeing signs of the Russian revanchism to come.

When the slow, cautious expansion did eventually take place, constant efforts were made to reassure Russia. No NATO bases were ever placed in the new member states, and until 2013 no exercises were conducted there. A Russia-NATO agreement in 1997 promised no movement of nuclear installations. A Russia-NATO council was set up in 2002. In response to Russian objections, Ukraine and Georgia were in fact denied NATO membership plans in 2008.

Meanwhile, not only was Russia not “humiliated” during this era, it was given de facto “great power” status, along with the Soviet U.N. Security Council seat and Soviet embassies. Russia also received Soviet nuclear weapons, some transferred from Ukraine in 1994 in exchange for Russian recognition of Ukraine's borders. Presidents Clinton and Bush both treated their Russian counterparts as fellow “great power” leaders and invited them to join the G-8—although Russia, neither a large economy nor a democracy, did not qualify.

During this period, Russia, unlike Central Europe, never sought to transform itself along European lines. Instead, former KGB officers with a clearly expressed allegiance to the Soviet system took over the state in league with organized crime, seeking to prevent the formation of democratic institutions at home and to undermine them abroad. For the past decade, this kleptocratic clique has also sought to recreate an empire, using everything from cyberattacks on Estonia to military invasions of Georgia and now Ukraine, in open violation of that 1994 agreement—exactly as the Central Europeans feared.

Once we remember what actually happened over the past two decades, as opposed to accepting the Russian regime's version, our own mistakes look different. In 1991, Russia was no longer a great power in either population or economic terms. So why didn't we recognize reality, reform the U.N. and give its Security Council seat to India, Japan, or others? Russia did not transform itself along European lines. Why did we keep pretending that it had?


Eventually, our use of the word “democracy” to describe the Russian political system discredited the word in Russia itself.

The crisis in Ukraine, and the prospect of a further crisis in NATO itself, is not the result of our triumphalism but of our failure to react to Russia’s aggressive rhetoric and its military spending. Why didn’t we move NATO bases eastward a decade ago? Our failure to do so has now led to a terrifying plunge of confidence in Central Europe. Countries once eager to contribute to the alliance are now afraid. A string of Russian provocations unnerve the Baltic region: the buzzing of Swedish airspace, the kidnapping of an Estonian security officer.

Our mistake was not to humiliate Russia but to underrate Russia's revanchist, revisionist, disruptive potential. If the only real Western achievement of the past quarter-century is now under threat, that’s because we have failed to ensure that NATO continues to do in Europe what it was always meant to do: Deter. Deterrence is not an aggressive policy; it is a defensive policy. But in order to work, deterrence has to be real. It requires investment, consolidation, and support from all of the West, and especially the United States. I’m happy to blame American triumphalism for many things, but in Europe I wish there had been more of it.

What Kind Of Motorcycle Is It?

There are few notable old re-conditioned beasts around Babite but this one stands out as it looks like a quality rebuild. I encountered it at my local Elvi this morning but didn't have time to properly scope it out before it disappeared. Anyone know what it is?

What's On TeeVee In Latvia?

Basic Tele2 service pack...3:00pm:


996 KINO TV HD, two idiots babbling about movies as though they knew shit. Best thing about this channel was the very likable blonde girl they chased away many months ago and then disrespected by putting a sign on her chair saying Ï Am Not A Movie Geek." FU movie twats! I have no idea what HD means. Huge Dicks? It can't possibly mean High Definition. You don't know shit movie twats!


997 Video Noma actual movie promo's. But direct to video stuff. It serves no purpose but to eat bandwidth and in this it succeeds wonderfully.

998 HD Testa Kanals, the same National Geographic loop for many years now. Planets. Origins. Sea water flowing over magma. It picked up for 1 month this summer when it was a 24 hr Seal concert. Contract must have run out. Back to bubbling cauldrons of mud and bad graphics, for another year. There's that HD again'!

100 INFO KANALS what it sez folks. How to run your remote to better enjoy the many choices offered by your basic Tele2 channel package.


101 LTV1 German kiddy movie sub titled into Latvian with audio. Death.


102 LTV7 Soccer. Slashing my wrists.


103 TV3 Latvian soaper. Looking for something to punch.


104 LNT Latvian daytime talk show. Forehead hits desk as I nod off. Awake with a start and find remote control spilling drink in the process, blonde host is suggesting violence to her guests. CLICK!!


105 TV5 Russian, cuz of the neon backdrop and stupidity. Sub titled into Latvian. Bad suits. Flesh colored face mic's. The horror, the horror!


106 TV6 English shit sub titled into Latvian with audio, Some sort of sci-fi futuristic detective twaddle with typically bad American writing. KILL IT WITH FIRE!


107 KANAL S2 English twaddle in Latvian...need to pee.


108 Russian talk show in Russian. Not bad. There is a drunk outside my balcony, off to find my pee pot.


109 РОССИЯ PTP- Russian historical soaper. Good production values. Good acting. Looking for my bottle and a pickle.


110 HTB-МИР breathless propaganda. My head hurts. Complete drama queens.


111 REN TV some sort of shite.


112 3+ Horrible great big fat man with gold teeth and a huge nasty dog in a mold infested flat. Ahhh, it's a mystic show with soothesayers and visions! This should be good! Freaks.


114 RE:TV (BOOM FM) Two sports like dummies in Hawian shirts yapping about something in Latvian. Twats.


115 Positivus TV The music festival on a loop. Umm...


117 OTV Latvian kindergarden. Kids. But without the benevolent sun face in the sky. Needs moar drugs.


118 TV RIGA-24 Some sort of local cable that never fails to put me to sleep. Pretty people though.


181 Russian! I Don't understand! Too freakin fast!!


182 LRT News. Russian? Uke? Jeezuz, it's Lithuanian! Need to pee again.


183 BBC World News. Buh bye!


184 Eurosport


185 Fine Living. EAT THE RICH SHEEPLE!


186 Crime Investigations. In English but it doesn't help. Shite.


187 ESPRESSO TV Uke. All war all the time.


188 Baby TV. Need serious drugs to appreciate this one, in English unfortunately.


201 TV-21 Some weird English movie with Russian audio. Looks, bad.


203 FOX Sci Fi? English sub titled into Latvian, vampire? Dystopian theme? Pulse slowing, vision going black at the edges...


205 UNIVERSAL CHANNEL universally shite they mean!


210 SONY ENTERTAINMENT English with Latvian subs. They should be sued for using the word entertainment. The laugh track is enough for me to start killing flies in the flat. OH FUCK! The baseline! It's FRIENDS!!!! KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


301 Cartoon Network What it sez. Cartoon. But weird, and in Russian. This is a good way to practice ones Russian however. Giggle, funny.


302 Nickelodeon Please die Disney. Now.


401 Eurosport. Those biking fools again. Get saddle sores you idiots.


402 Eurosport2 Tennis. I hate you Eurosport.


404 OUTDOOR CHANNEL. Rednecks. All day all the time 24/7. Kill yourself now!


411 Sportacent Latvian sport twats.


501 DISCOVERY CHANNEL Any idiot with a GoPro and a wetsuit can be on this channel. Need a beer.


502 Animal Planet. I usually only watch for the monkeys. They don't have monkeys anymore.


503 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. I remember when National Geographic was a quality educational channel with truly thought provoking photography and topics. Now I keep expecting Sarah Palin to take a shit on camera.


515 HISTORY CHANNEL why are they rebuilding cars on the History Channel?


601 MTV EUROPE Kill yourself now!


602 V11 EUROPE see above


603 Some Latvian music channel which means their version of country music. I'm not a total bastard. You watch it and figure it out for yourself. I'd rather drag my face through a bag of hammers tho!


MTV MUSIc 24 Ghetto shit yo!


605 Latvian music again, maybe? Northern Europe? I don't know.


606 Music channel...sigh.


607 ...more music...


608 Iconcerts. What it sez.


701 All Russian movies all the time.


801 Euronews


802 CNN Twats!


And I pay for this shit because my internet and landline are bundled. Not a single Italian channel in the whole bunch. This will not stand!


<edit> of course I meant Lattelecom

Latvia Ghetto Games

I have to admit I was initially biased against this series of events not knowing the reasoning behind it. I was doing something in the flat with the tee-vee on sans sound which is SOP in TRex world and out of the corner of my eye I saw the adverts for the 2014 Ghetto Games in Ventspils and right away I got pissed off because for some reason it reminded me of ICP, juggalos and all that weirdness. Also because I thought someone was just marketing the ghetto. Bear in mind I'm fresh off my New Wave hate fest so it took me a while to calm down and check out what this stuff was all about. Imagine my surprise!

Now I'm kinda curious! Withholding judgment and all.

But there's no way I'm going to Ventspils on Aug 8-10 for any reason at all.

Valium Nation Moscow Edition

It's been a while since I wrote about our home away from home on Gruzinski val, Belorusskaya station,  Moscow and there are some pretty good reasons for that I figure. But since most everyone in Moscow is currently having to deal with the change out of electrical meters demanded by Mosenergo let me give you a heads up that may save you a ton of heart ache! Surprising no one I am sure I suspect there is the possibility of a scam here (there is no such thing as paranoia in Moscow!) but reality dictates that it is too sweet an opportunity for there to not be a scam against all property owners who may be spending most of their time outside of the country and therefore not be in a position to deal with issues in person.



It works thusly:



Mosenergo gives you a notice that your flats electrical meter is old and needs to be replaced. This is a normal enough request so you make an appointment and the deed is eventually done. It's not quite that simple but if you have ever lived in Moscow there is no need for me to fill in the gaps.



So you ask the service tech what to do with the old meter and he says to bin it as he is required to report the old readings to the head office and billing will smoothly transition to the new meter all nice like! With no problems whatsoever. My antenna should have been up and twitching right about then.



So like an idiot you throw out the old meter and the service tech promptly gets a decimal point out of sequence and you now owe Mosenergo 12 billion rubles and having left the city you call from a foreign area code to attempt to smooth the situation and are told with rank hostility that if you don't pay it by next week the word goes out to the border police (a department of the FSB) and the next time you visit the country your passport will be confisgated and you can't leave. Until you pay seventy billion rubles, because penalties and all!



So eventually with many phone calls to the original service tech who suddenly has no record of ever having met you you are suddenly the proud owner of a burnt out Lada and a clean electrical bill. The end.



Well, what did you expect?


The fact is that Moscow authorities do not actually descriminate against foriegners as far as I am aware. They treat everyone like dirt. But that bit about being prevented from traveling out of the country if you have an outstanding debt is perfectly true and I am sure the fact is used by anyone who is trying to settle an account whether it is a legitimate charge or not.


It seems to me that unless you are filthy rich or friends of some really ugly people owning property is just a huge hassle. If it isn't nasty neighbors then it's self-important officials looking to have something to produce for their next peer evaluation with the boss. But renting has it's own pitfalls as I am sure we all know.


I remember a line from a William S. Burroughs story where to get rich was to get cured and man am I ever in need of a cure!

New Wave

New Wave 2014. Blech. Mrs. T has the gig not me so I doctored her multi-pass. Think it will work?

<Edit> Something I just learned. Basic workers like drivers (plenty of off duty cops) and translators are supposed to get vouchers to eat. These vouchers are worth 15 euros and include a drink so of course the various organizers steal them and drink for free while the poor worker gets nothing. One of the many reasons I detest New Wave.

American Singer Caught Up In Wave Of Anti-Putinsm

Hah! Fooled yah! It's not an a real American singer but Putin apologist and celebutard Steven Seagal, "America's Favorite Douche Bag!"

MH17 Crash Forces Estonian BluesFestival To Drop Putin Supporter Steven Seagal From Bill

Steven Seagal has been dropped from the bill at an Estonian blues festival, with organisers made nervous by his ongoing support for Russian premier Vladimir Putin and his position regarding the Crimean peninsula.

With the deepening international crisis following the downing of Malaysian Airlines' flight MH17 on Thursday, schedulers have decided to replace the martial arts actor turned blues musician, due to public unrest over the situation in this part of the world.

Seagal's relationship with the Russian president has flourished since he was drafted in to help launch a national fitness programme, and their shared interest in martial arts has led to a series of celebratory photo-calls.

Further, Seagal has spoken out in political support of Putin. The Guardian quotes him saying to a Russian outlet, "He's one of the greatest world leaders alive today. I consider him my friend."

Seagal reportedly added that Russian's annexation of Crimea was "entirely reasonable".

Estonia's foreign minister, Urmas Paet, told Tallinn's newspaper Delfi: "Steven Seagal has become active in politics in the last few months in a manner not befitting a world which honours states based on the rule of law."

Although all eyes are currently on the Ukraine, where rescue workers continue to go through the wreckage of MH17, and international communities await anxiously the return of their victims of the crash, Estonia is understandably on edge, with Putin on the record calling to protect Russian populations in post-Soviet states.

No word yet on who will replace Mr Seagal, although it's probably safe to say it won't be Gerard Depardieu, another infamous Russian supporter.

Steven Seagal is a noted misogynist and coward who I won't bother bashing again as I have posted about him before. What is interesting however is how outspoken non-Russian supporters of the Putin regime are maybe starting to feel the heat in the international arena. Sure, it's just a music festival and he isn't exactly on a black list of persona non-grata like what Latvia has recently applied to Oleg gazmanov, Joseph Kobzon and Allu Perfilova (stage name - Valerie)  but it's a welcome start. Now if they could just add some intellectuals like Stephen Cohen I would see it as a positive development.
who supports state sponsored terrorism.




In todays climate of a rampant and out of control Putin led Russia (Pooty currently has the highest approval ratings in 14 years if you can trust the numbers) I support any and all measures taken by countries of the EU to put the gears to anyone
Blogger is such a shit platform I'll be surprised if anyone can read this post. I need to move evrything over to Worpress without losing it. Anyone?

Strange Encounters Of The Strange Kind

A partially toasted but soon to be drunk Latvian guy walks up to me just as my wife and I stand up to leave our park bench and asks me if I am English? I roll my eyes at my wife like, "...see what I was telling you earlier? I can't go anywhere in the summer without someone trying to bum a ciggarette..." and he catches it and mumbles something about no it's not like that, do you have a cell phone? Now my wife is rolling her eyes at me in warning but the guy goes again, no it's not like that and mumbles can I tell him the time on my cell phone? Now curious, I reach into my pocket with my hand that has the wrist watch on it and holding my phone in a death grip I show him the screen which indicates that it is 1:00 pm precisely. Then we just turn and leave before he can figure out why he was talking to me to begin with because my home page on my iPhone is a seriously wasted looking Keith Richards with a ciggarette in his mouth.

Thinking Of Investing In Latvia?

Don't do it. That's all. I've deleted this post a dozen times over the last ten years and now that I finally want to post it I just can't without condensing it into a very short format that won't drive away readers but unfortunately also lessens the impact of the problems my wife and I have encountered here, again and again. I tried setting up a separate site to deal specifically with the problems we've experienced here as I see them but the time involved and the document scans and explanations necessary not to mention the language issues just made it a non-starter. If you have questions then by all means ask for clarification in the comments and I will oblige to the best of my abilities. I have reams of documentation and registered letters to back up any claims I may make. So here it is in bullet format:

• The system is broken and is kept broken for a reason. Data bases don't talk to each other and this gives great leeway to local managers to do as they please with impunity. They resist positive change. They resent positive change!
• Citizens always have the upper hand against non-citizens. Consider the history of this country and the number of non-citizens and you can see a huge unresolved problem that isn't going to go away. It's not a bug but a feature!
•  Even amongst citizens those who are not connected through a well established system of nepotism and clans will be beaten down. Why anyone would acquire a Residence Permit here for any reason other than access to the EU is beyond me.
• As a PRP holder (husband of a Russian repatriate) I can attest through direct experience that trying to stand up for rights accepted as normal in the rest of the EU will lead you to conflict with the pocket police and massive debts to a advocate or lawyer that at very best will result in a draw. You will not win and will most likely face the exact same charges again down the road, it will always be hanging over your head. You will not win. Ever.
• Because of the previous point Latvian citizens are very adept at filing complaints through a compliant and corrupt system at no cost or responsibility/accountability to themselves. I once had a local prosecutor attempt to extort 400 lats from me during an investigation "through the local police inspector in charge no less" to close a file with another 600 going to the individual who filed the complaint against me. Not close the file in my favour mind you, just close it for now. I declined and spent a year paying a lawyer to keep me out of jail. I would love for someone in the field of yellow journalism to ask me about that one. Kompromat? Anyone?
• Latvian officialdom is two faced. Very nice on the phone or even in person but constantly working against you. You will never know where you stand. Ever.
• Bribes work. KNAB does not. Don't even bother.
• It won't matter how much transparency your company brings. It won't matter how much money you bring to the local economy. It won't matter that you bring a positive benefit to people who this country have written off through austerity measures. Any chimp in a stained tee-shirt can file a complaint against you and initiate a process to bring you down. And it may even, most likely will be, someone who has benefited directly from your largesse. There is no loyalty here. They love to see their neighbors get fucked somehow. It's a Latvian thing.

I won't be staying here much longer. We are winding things down and taking our energies elsewhere. We could never dump our investment without a huge loss so we are unfortunately tied to this country for the forseeable future. But this brings us no joy.


Don't come here except as a summer tourist! Word.

Know Your Enemy

Ever wonder where these guys went after Latvia became independant? I see them everywhere, you just have to know how to look. See those guys teaching MMA on Jurmala beach? Notice the expressionless stocky fellow who just busted into the queue at the local checkout? All these Soviet ex-military are still around. They're hard to miss.

I'm actually surprised Latvia has such a short list of "banned people" or persona non grata as they say in the educated ranks. Could be a lot larger I figure.

Former Riga OMON Major Vladimir Antyufeev appointed new deputy PM of the unrecognized Donetsk People's Republic

RIGA, July 11 (LETA) - A former major of the Soviet OMON police unit in Riga Vladimir Antyufeev, who Latvia has included on the international wanted list, has been appointed the new deputy prime minister of the unrecognized Donetsk People's Republic.

Antyufeev also served as former chief of security in the unrecognized territory of Transnistria in Moldova, and is also wanted by authorities in Moldova.

In a press conference in Donetsk, Antyufeev stated that ''he has fought against fascism'' all his life.

Describing his active participation in attempting to suppress Latvia's independence efforts in the early 1990's, Antyufeev described his actions as ''an active fight against the resurrection of neo-fascism in Latvia''.

On January 20, 1991, OMON troops, loyal to the Soviet regime, attacked Latvia's Interior Ministry, killing six people during the January 1991 events in a failed pro-Moscow coup attempt following the Latvian SSR's declaration of independence.

Seven OMON officers, including Antyufeev, were subsequently found guilty by the Riga District Court and were given sentences in absentia.

Antyufeev subsequently fled Latvia to Russia after the country regained independence and has since been wanted by Latvian authorities for his crimes.

As a major of the Riga OMON forces, Antyufeev and his troops carried out various attacks against pro-independence supporters during the January 1991 events in Latvia.

The Entrance To The Car Park Of The Estonian State Opera.

Shamelessly lifted from Reddit. Forgive me, but it's so cute.

Babīte Train Station Beautification

Well, I'm guessing some local good has come out of this Rīga European Capital of Culture thing that has been bestowed upon that fair city for 2014 I suppose since if you visit Rīga it's likely that if you have the time you will take a train to at least Majori in order to experience some of the famous Jūrmala beach. Which means you will pass by Babīte, at least twice. I certainly have no other explanation for the sudden works being lavished on my local train station as it has pretty much been an eye sore for the eight years I have lived in the area. Maybe someone complained!? (tears of laughter and stomach cramps) The station itself was painted once (maybe twice?) in all that time as I recall but the tool shed and more importantly the pee place have never been done to my recollection and boy did it show! Behold;

the pee place before...

... and after!

The tool shed was even worse if you can imagine!

And of course...

...the station itself. Currently under external remont.

However past experience shows that it won't take long for the tags to show up, :(

Babīte is the first station on the Tukums line outside of Rīga municipality, Imanta being the last. It's a quiet little village which is why we like it here and only 18 minutes to the city with an Elvi and even a nice bar/restaurant and two (2) bus stops, but there are no police and it sometimes gets a little hairy. Probably why so many crooked businessmen have property in the area (shhhh!). Still, it's not the worst station around as I have documented previously but that pee place should be blown up! It's so disgusting that men mostly just duck behind a tree and woe betide the desperate women who enter therein. Just think, "sticky shoes." Yuck. Unfortunately if they improved it too much some bum would probably take up residence and burn it to ground with a camp fire meant to warm up a stolen can of hobo beans. 

Still, I like it here and we won't be moving anywhere else in Latvia. When we do decide to decamp Babīte it's straight to Italy!

Canada Day in Latvia

Hey ho! Long time between posts but it's hard not to say something about my home country on it's birfday today so here goes.

Established as a country in 1867 Canada is now 146 years old. Yea! I've celebrated Canada day in a bunch of countries since I became an Expat, not that I do it religiously or anything but any excuse to drink before noon I say! But I do carry around a honking big flag in my backpack to fly in solidarity on these occasions. In Latvia it's usually on the beach. Only this year sucks hard and today it is raining so furiously there is nothing I can do so I settled for purchasing a ridiculously expensive bottle of supposedly imported Canadian Maple Syrup to temporarily replace the Latvian honey I normally slather on everything. I hope it isn't fake, the Maple Syrup. Latvian honey is almost universally doctored unless you know where to purchase it.

What do I miss about Canada the most? Let me see ,,, ;

1) A well established civil society with uniformly enforceable laws. It doesn't exist here in Latvia yet in spite of what folks might say. You will never notice if you are a tourist hopping off a Ryan Air flight or a ferry in the port but Latvia is an impossible place to do transparent business and unfriendly to boot. A country with a declining population of now less than 2 million it seems that everyone knows everyone and foreigners are still red meat. Riga I can deal with but outside of Riga it gets nasty. Latvia is not a comfortable place to live and work. Eight years experience talking here folks.

2) The friendliness of Canadians. It's almost embarrassing and a well worn out joke outside of the country but I hope we never lose that civility (oops! my bad). You may not notice it until you leave the Motherland for some period of time but let me assure you that we Canadians are just freakishly nice in a cauldron of not nice. Never be shy about being nice homies! When I lived in Tokyo it was respected as they have a very ordered society and nice counts a lot. Except when I was getting kicked out of bars/restaurants because they thought I was Russian. Anyway, Be Nice!

3) Universal Health care bitches! I had both knees replaced here in Latvia at an out of pocket cost of CAN 10,000 without rehab and I can tell you that it hurt our bottom line in a big way. Still, for perspective, we have an old lady renter who recently suffered a mini stoke and spent 5 days in hospital receiving a bill of 150 EUR when she got out. Her pension is about 250/month and she was reduced to living on potatoes and cucumbers for three weeks so we gave her money for food and forgave her rent (paying ourselves basically) which is where that "Canadian Nice" comes in. Most everyone we know laughed at us. Anyway...

4) Canada is a land of immigrants. We know it and we celebrate it which is currently in stark contrast to our friends to the south and, quite frankly, here. Word to the wise, if you are going to sell Residence Permits in order to tweak your real-estate sector which is wholly owned and controlled by ex-Soviet apparatchiks and the current glut of Brussels office seeking politicos then open the door to citizenship wider. Just saying.

5) This is a questionable one but I include it because it haunts me so! Red meat. We just don't eat red meat anymore. Or even pork. That may just be a combination of locale and the influence of Mrs. T who is a closet vegetarian but beef just isn't a big thing here and pork wears thin real quick. That came as a real shock to me as Alberta was my home before fleeing Canada and huge BBQ's heavy with all manner of beef products was the norm. I can't even eat a full steak anymore as my stomach just rebels and it bothers me so as the brain continues with it's demands to "consume the fucking steak you pansy!" I miss bacon as well.

6) Personal vehicle. This is actually a big one for me! OK sure, there are lots of places in Canada where you can exist without a vehicle but outside of most well established urban centres it's just impossible, Canada is just too big and spread out to make it without even the crappiest of transportation, as long as it can pass a vehicle inspection you are good to go. Public transportation in the EU is so well established by Canadian metrics that one can exist quite nicely without a vehicle which may free up funds for other things, like new knees, but it does nothing for the ego. I miss my car/4X4 truck/bike. Really miss them! Yes I can walk to the train station from my flat in exactly two minutes with eighteen minutes travel putting me in the Riga central station where another eight minute walk puts me on a tram to almost the door of my office but, it's just not the same as rolling up to a parking space with my own personal vehicle. I like the freedom of public transportation but I miss the empowering aspect of owning my own fossil fuel guzzling iron behemoth. I find myself becoming plugged up with frustration and feelings of inadequacy. My penis is perfectly normal, just so you know.

7) Endless aisles of food and stuff, consumer central! I mean hell, when last in Winnipeg I could hit my remote start from the comfort of the kitchen and 10 minutes later after wasting a gallon of carbon laden fuel idling the van just to get into my warm  "personal vehicle" and drive all of five minutes down to the Super Store and find just about anything I needed whether it be live lobster or powdered Voodoo Anti-Zombie Essence®. Whut? 21 long aisles of dry produce last time I was there not counting the fresh baked goods/fresh vegetable produce/dairy/dead animal sections. Then there was the clothing/appliance/pharmacy/optometrist, etc...etc... and it's not even considered a mall! All under one roof! To be fair they have places somewhat like that here, called Spice and Stockman and so forth but they have no real choices. Sad face, :(

8) Fellow Canadians. Last time I checked the official Latvian statistical web portal there were a total of 43 Canadians who had received Residence status. It's a small group and I don't know any of them. Not that I've reached out but whatever.

9) Rob Ford. Oh, wait!

10) Clamato® dudes! Look, get in touch with me, seriously. Eating a pickle with my vodka is killing me!

The Beach Was A Bitch

What can I say. After +20℃ last week it was only +9℃ today! Still, the beach was all mine and it's about the best thing I like about Latvia.

We, Mrs. T & I, walk from Majori to Bulduri about every chance we get. This is part of my rehab as concerns my knee surgeries. It's about three km.

This is when you hit the beach at Majori and will eventually be called Club Habana or something. It's a noisy shit hole catering to the elites and specifically the NewWave music puke-a-thon.

I hate the NewWave thing. 

Continuing down the beach from Majori towards Buldari one runs across this hotel which is called The Lighthouse or some such. I wonder how many bribes were paid to get a permanent structure constructed right on the beach. Many?

But for sure not as many as Parex bank paid to get this fucking horror constructed! There's a big story behind it if you want to Google but essentially it's owned by the state now I think. No one knows what to do with it. I heard it's rented out for meetings and stuff but I don't think it's really utilized that much. There's always some guy wandering around the property, caretaker or something. Not a bad gig I figure.

But once you get past that monstrosity which is pretty much at Bulduri you are home free. It's pretty much quiet from there to Priedaine and beyond which is where I hide when the summer rush picks up and that horrid music festival destroys the peace.

But keep it to yourself, ok?

Latvia Finally Gets It's Troops

About Time I figure. Hopefully Latvia can capitalize on this opportunity to pick up some training and possibly equipment. Balls in your court oh great and all knowing Latvian politicians. ;)

US troops land in Latvia amid Ukraine crisis

Riga (AFP) - Latvia on Friday welcomed American troops on its soil, part of a US force of 600 sent to the region to reassure the Baltic states amid concern over Russia's actions in Ukraine.

"Today is a special day because this morning I met the heads of the armed forces at the Adazi military base and greeted the US military unit that arrived this morning for military training," Latvian Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma told reporters.

Some 150 troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade will be based at the Adazi base near capital Riga until at least the end of the year, according to the Latvian defence ministry.

Another company of soldiers arrived in Poland on Wednesday, while around 150 others are each expected in Lithuania on Saturday and Estonia early next week.

Washington on Tuesday said it was sending the 600 troops to the region to increase its presence in the region and reassure its NATO allies and partners.

Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas, who was visiting Latvia on Thursday, welcomed the gesture, saying: "We are strong together".

"I am glad that today our allies arrived here on Latvian soil and this shows that the NATO alliance is there for us," he said after talks with Straujuma.

How To Create A 5th Column in Latvia

Stateless in Riga

Published on Monday, 31 March 2014 11:50

Written by Ruben Martinez

 

Ruben Martinez is a freelance journalist based in Riga, Latvia and has collaborated with different international media in both Spanish and English.

This article originally appeared in New Eastern Europe issue 1/2013: Can Russia Really Change?

Walking quietly around the cobbled streets of Riga’s old town, Zanna explains to a group of tourists about the particularities of the Art Nouveau style that adorn many of the facades of the buildings in Latvia’s capital city. For many years now, this 71-year-old woman has worked as a tour guide for Russian visitors in the country where she was born after her father, who was born in Russia, was sent to the Baltic shore to fight the Germans in the Second World War. Zanna, born in 1941, never knew her father. He set off for the war one day and never made it back. 

Facing reality was tough for her family after such a loss, but they opted to stick together and stay in Latvia. They had no one waiting for them back in Russia. Life was all about surviving in the western part of the yet to be vast Soviet empire. Many years have passed since then, but in her voice there are still shades of many bittersweet moments of her life. Zanna reflects on her mother’s efforts to build a reasonable a comfortable life in Latvia, and how all that changed from one day to the next.

Second class citizens

Recalling the day the country regained its independence, Zanna says, “I literally went from being an average citizen to being on some kind of a blacklist; I became a second-class citizen of the country where I was born.”

Many people took part in the 1991 referendum on re-establishing the country’s independence, even those ethnic Russians who were either sent to Latvia to work or, like Zanna, born in the country when it was a part of the Soviet Union. They represented as many as 715,000 people in a country of little more than two million inhabitants. The restoration of the 1922 constitution was among the first measures the newly elected government of Latvia implemented, and individuals who were citizens of the country as of June 17th 1940 were once again recognised as Latvian citizens along with their descendants. All those who didn’t fit this description were given a “non-citizen of Latvia” status, limiting their rights at the social and political level in the newly re-established independent republic. This action left contradictory feelings in those left behind, turning their lives upside down, and the 71-year-old Zanna recalls one example: “My family was given 30 per cent less privatisation certificates than Latvian-born people, limiting our right to privatise our apartment. For me it has always been clear about what happened –they improved the lives of the others at our expense.”

 

During the first years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the path to citizenship was blocked for this large community, leaving them in a sort of limbo. Only in 1995 did the Latvian government pass the law on the status of the citizens of the former USSR, making naturalisation an option for them. However, annual quotas and so-called windows were imposed for the next three years, which limited both the number and sort of people who could apply for Latvian citizenship.

Latvia’s “non-citizens” represent a unique status never seen before at the international level. They are former citizens of the USSR, individuals who are neither citizens of Latvia nor of any other country. Theycannot vote in any type of elections, nor actively participate in Latvia’s political life. They can't work in the public sector nor work in certain private businesses, and their pension rights are restricted.

Failed referendum

Today, around 315,000 of these non-citizens live in Latvia (14 per cent of the entire population), down from approximately 715,000 in 1991. The data is still relevant for such a small country of just 2 million inhabitants, and after two decades of ups and downs, the non-citizens’ community seems to have finally taken the initiative to try to achieve a change in their situation. Last September, the social movement For Equal Rights submitted over 12,000 signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) in order to initiate a referendum to grant full citizenship to all Latvia’s non-citizens. The bill submitted by the petitioners stipulates that all non-citizens of Latvia who do not apply to keep their status of non-citizens by November 30th 2013 would be automatically granted Latvian citizenship on January 1st 2014. The CEC, however, decided that the second round of signature collection for staging a referendum, which would have needed petitioners to gather at least 10 per cent of voters’ signatures (approximately 150,000 signatures), couldn’t proceed for technical reasons.

The Latvian authorities welcomed the decision, and then-Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said that the CEC’s decision was based on the incompatibility of the bill with the country’s constitution and believes that it should contribute to defusing inter-ethnic tensions in Latvian society. Officials also stated that the automatic granting of citizenship to non-citizens would contradict the European Union’s security standards, being also discriminatory to those who had already been naturalised.

Nevertheless, the initiative has already shaken the political arena in the country, with Latvia’s president, Andris Bērziņš, saying during an interview previous to the CEC’s decision, that “automatic citizenship for non-citizens is not the right solution, although I believe that the problem requires an urgent solution.”

Evolution

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and Amnesty International describe non-citizens of Latvia as stateless persons, belonging to a state that does not exist anymore. However, under Latvian law, they are long-term residents of the country who are neither citizens of Latvia nor any other country. Tatjana Ždanoka, Parliamentarian and co-chairperson of For Human Rights in United Latvia, maintains that what happened in Latvia was “a clear division by origins”, adding that parliament, “elected by all the people, deprived a large number of the country’s citizens of some rights. Basically, it was the creation of apartheid.”

 

Such comparison could be dangerous, but clearly illustrates the bitter feelings, especially for Ždanoka, who has made non-citizens’ rights one of her main political pillars. Over the years, the situation of these people has been evolving, in part, thanks to international pressure when the country joined the EU and NATO back in 2004. Nils Muižnieks, a Latvian human rights activist and since April 2012 Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, believes that the citizenship law has not really worked: “It has not promoted integration and participation, and the majority of politicians are not very concerned about the situation. In fact, some are quite satisfied with how things are.”

The Latvian authorities believe that time has given them the reason. Latvian culture and language are stronger than they were 20 years ago, and the small Baltic country has been able to get on to its feet after the collapse of the Soviet Union. “I truly believe that there have been no big mistakes at the political level over the last two decades,” Roberts Zīle says. The Latvian economist and member of parliament, who served as Minister of Finance from 1997 to 1998 and Minister of Communications from 2002 to 2004, considers non-citizenship to be a non-issue. “We would not have become an EU member state if we had not fulfilled the legal framework on citizenship. Being a non-citizen poses no obstacles to work and contributing to the development of the country, and I think the issue has been over exaggerated many times,” Zīle adds.

However, the numbers speak for themselves; around 14 per cent of Latvia’s population has the words “alien” and “non-citizen” printed in their passports. Such a large figure proves that it is a large and diverse community which includes an important number of elderly people, youngsters, and children. Alex Krasnitsky, a journalist born in Riga, says he feels “cheated by all Latvian politicians who do not represent us,” and notes that everyone was promised citizenship during the “awakening period” of the late 1980s and early 1990s. “At the social level there is no such problem between citizens and non-citizens, but I believe we have been used politically many times. I love my country, but sometimes I have felt alone and isolated from a political point of view. To be honest, I think we have been forgotten over the years,” Krasnitsky adds.

Naturalisation 

Non-citizens have been offered the opportunity to naturalise since 1995. More than 135,000 people have taken advantage of this opportunity proving that they had lived in Latvia for at least five years and knew the country’s constitution, language, history and national anthem. Death rates and migration movements have also contributed to bringing down the numbers of non-citizens in Latvia. Today, however, naturalisation rates are very low, while the number of non-citizens applying for other citizenships, mostly Russian, has increased slightly. There are reasons to explain this phenomenon: poor knowledge of the Latvian language, especially among older people, and a lack of motivation.

“Naturalisation is acynical procedure introduced at the beginning of the 1990s,” 24-year-old student Aleksandrs Filejs says. “I was born in Riga, so why should I pass an exam to acquire citizenship of my own country? I believe it should be given to me automatically.” Filejs, a highly active polyglot – speaking Latvian, Russian, French, German and Spanish – mentions “a moral discomfort” when talking about the right to vote in Latvian elections.

The case of Yuri Petropavlovsky is unique. His naturalisation application coincided with the education reform protests that took place in Latvia in 2004, when hundreds of ethnic Russians took to the streets claiming their right to be taught at school in their native language. Born and raised in Latvia, he passed the naturalisation exams, but the government revoked his citizenship after considering him disloyal to the country. In 2006 he took his case before the European Court for Human Rights after being told that in Latvia “political decisions of the government are not under the influence of the Latvian Court system.” He expects to have a positive resolution in the near future, although he says that it would only be “the end of a small battle”. 

Language

However, the naturalisation process also has its positive sides. Nadzezhda lives with her husband, a non-citizen, and their daughter who has citizenship as she was born in independent Latvia. Tired of feeling like an outsider in the country where she lives and having to deal with endless procedures when travelling, Nadzezhda naturalised because she wanted to be a “full-right citizen of Latvia, take part in the social and political life of the country and freely travel around Europe”. She had to take the naturalisation exam twice as she failed to prove her fluency in the Latvian language the first time around. “When I passed the exam, I felt very confident in myself for achieving something I had very much longed for,” Nadzezhda says. Like her, most young non-citizens were either born in the country or had their education in Latvian. Elderly people, however, struggle to speak the Latvian, mainly because they can get around only speaking Russian and refuse to learn the language after living for many years in the country.

Language poses a key element for the integration of such a large community whose mother tongue is mostly Russian. Svetlana Djačkova, a social and human rights researcher at the Latvian Centre for Human Rights, says that the state should take more steps to further promote naturalisation, and believes that there is a “lack of political will to promote social integration” in Latvia. “International observers have advised easing some of the naturalisation procedures for social groups such as the elderly in terms of language. However, there is a lack of dialogue between the state, experts and minorities,” Djačkova adds.

Voting

After non-citizens were granted visa free travel throughout the Schengen Area and Russia, the debate on how to further promote the integration process of these people has focused on one of the most important democratic rights: the right to vote and participate in politics; something that is sometimes taken for granted in Western Europe. 

Nils Muižnieks points out that “people learn democracy through participation and Latvia doesn’t see the drawbacks of having such a large community of non-citizens … to promote participation and have their rights represented, you have to promote naturalisation and voting rights at the local level.” 

The Latvian political elite doesn’t share such an approach. “Can you tell me of a country where non-citizens can vote in national elections? I don’t know of any,” argues Roberts Zīle, who also adds: “If you want to be politically active, you have to be a citizen, and the doors are open for everybody. There are no quotas or so-called windows as there used to be.”

Latvia took important steps to address the situation of its non-citizens prior its accession to the European Union, but once the country became a member state, the problem was moved to the very bottom of the list of political priorities. International pressure and therefore political will have disappeared, and the EU, which says that citizenship issues belong to the internal affairs of individual countries, limits its position. 

Meanwhile, Russia has not contributed positively to finding a solution to the problem. Taking into account that these non-citizens are mostly ethnic Russians who were either born or sent to the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic during the time of the Soviet Union, the messages sent from the Kremlin have been everything but helpful, calling for external interference and for non-citizens to believe that their situation in Latvia, and that of the Russian language, would change. 

So while Latvia has achieved important goals during these 20 years, non-citizens have not. They may have got used to their status, but as long as they cannot vote and lack representation at the political level, the social integration process will not go forward in the country. Democracy sometimes doesn’t mean fairness, and while some people promise to keep fighting for this cause, the battle for the hearts and minds is yet to be won by Latvia.