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Latvia
Wed, 2013-11-27 20:58
#1
Latvia
Wed, 2013-11-27 20:59
#2
A leader who knows when to do the right thing. There are still a few of them around, although obviously nowhere near enough.
Latvia's prime minister resigns over collapse of supermarket roof that killed 54 people
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/latvias-prime-minister-resigns-over-collapse-su...
Thu, 2013-11-28 22:33
#3
Good, if any good can be found in this tragedy.
Latvia store collapse: Maxima boss fired over comments
Tue, 2018-05-01 18:02
#4
"While its true there was a Waffen SS Galizien celebration and march in Ukraine, same thing has occurred in Latvia for years..."
https://twitter.com/DefendingHistor/status/991417143395790848
We've got troops in both places because being anti-Russia is all that matters.
Tue, 2018-05-01 18:14
#5
Except who's changing their tune here?
During the Soviet period, the Latvian Legion were described as having been illegally conscripted by Nazi Germany in 1943, with no indication of being war criminals or of Holocaust involvement.[23] For example, the Soviet film I remember everything, Richard (also known as Rock and Splinters in its uncut release) made during the 1960s (during the Cold War) at the Riga Film Studio, while being full of Soviet propaganda clichés, clearly illustrates recognition of several essential aspects with respect to Legion soldiers, amongst those: that they were front-line soldiers, they were mostly forcefully conscripted, they were not supporters of Nazi ideology, they did not take part in the Holocaust.
This contrasts sharply with Russia's post-Soviet stance, which denounces the Legion as Waffen SS war criminals and uses the Legion issue to assert political and ideological pressure on Latvia on the international scene.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvian_Legion
So in that sense, you are right. It is rather like how the spin on Ukrainan history changed when they fell out of favour.
Tue, 2018-05-01 19:41
#6
"The real problem, Zuroff continued, lies in the deeply rooted issues concerning the Latvian's failure to honestly confront the scope and extent of Latvian participation in the Holocaust, evident in the country's failure since independence to prosecute Nazi war criminals and its attempts to glorify the members of the Latvian SS battalions who fought for a victory of Nazi Germany.
Unfortunately, Zuroff said in the statement, there is far too much local sympathy for Latvians who committed the crimes of the Holocaust as long as they fought against the Soviets. The only way to eradicate this distorted perception of Latvian history is to tell the whole truth about the critical role played by Latvians in the mass murder of Jews and other victims of the Nazis and to stop trying to create false historical symmetries between Nazism and Communism..."
Dr Efraim Zuroff, historian, Nazi-hunter and director, Simon Wiesenthal Center (2010)
Neo Nazi March Denied in Latvia
https://www.jpost.com/International/Neo-Nazi-march-denied-in-Latvia
Tue, 2018-05-01 19:56
#7
Tue, 2018-05-01 21:01
#8
This isn't actually about historical symmetries. The point is that the Soviet Union also recognized that most in those battalions were forced conscripts who were not complicit in Nazi crimes. They even made a movie about it.
For some reason that recognition went out the window after the fall of the Soviet Union. In particular under Vladimir Putin.
Zuroff actually wrote a very good opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post in which he points out exactly the criminals he is talking about. He also points out why Latvia is unfortunately being reactionary about protests against these memorials:
The current threat posed by Russia’s belligerent foreign policy and Moscow’s highly exaggerated accusations that the Baltic states are reverting to fascism only reinforce their fear of another Russian occupation and strengthen their resolve to focus on their own victimhood at Soviet hands.
So much so in fact that the Latvian authorities foolishly barred the entry of several German protesters who sought to demonstrate peacefully against the march, and even arrested five of them.
https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Latvia-must-come-to-terms-with-its-past-44...
He's right about European democracies' need to come to terms with their associations with anti-Semitism, Nazism, and the Holocaust. I suppose it is too much to hope that Russia, the biggest Nazi collaborator until Barbarrosa, will ever do likewise.
Though he neglected to mention that aside from former police who signed up, most of those in those battalions were forced conscripts who were given the choice of putting on the uniform or being sent to the camps themselves.
Anyway, point is it isn't all about being anti-Russian, as you claim.
Tue, 2018-05-01 21:57
#9
Oh yes it is. Take a look at Latvia's xenophobic language laws. Why do you keep repeating they weren't complicit in Nazi crimes? Of course they were. And their 'reluctant conscripts' are still proudly marching under Nazi banners more than 70 years later. Anyway, I know where you stand. I learned it in the Ukraine lists. Like I said, anything goes as long as its anti-Russian. The Canadian government thinks much the same, ( which is why we've got troops both places ) - especially the little Banderite, Atlantic-Council, NATO or bust, 'feminist foreign policy' foreign minister...
Tue, 2018-05-01 21:54
#10
Take a look at Latvia's xenophobic language laws.
As a Canadian, are you saying language laws are xenophobic?
Just laws about 'certain' language, perhaps?
Tue, 2018-05-01 22:07
#11
Go back and read the quote I cited, NDPP.
It was the Soviet government which recognized them as not complicit because they were illegally conscripted. I am just pointing that fact out to you.
For some reason the Putin government changed its mind about that. But then, it gets called for what it is in that Jerusalem Post editorial.
Tue, 2018-05-01 22:12
#12
In fact, if you bothered to read that wikipedia post it goes in quite some detail in to these annual commemorations, as well as the positions of the Latvian government, and other European nations.
Wed, 2018-05-02 00:45
#13
I don't particularly care what you or Wikipedia say the position of the Soviet Union was then or Putin's now. This is my view Smith and reflects the observations of people who are actually there now. Expect me to be posting more. As for Zuroff, he sings a somewhat different song than he used to, as you can see below. It's a common enough phenomenon these days actually since the PTB evidently decided a weaponized xenophobic ultranationalism suits their purposes once again in European states adjoining Russia. The Guardian now leads the way in cheering on the rise of a rabid proto-fascist, anti-Russian ultranationalism in Latvia and the other Baltic states - far worse now as a result of the systematic, sustained anti-Russian propaganda campaign that has made it so. Not Russia.
Efram Zuroff: The Threat of Baltic Ultranationalism
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/03/baltic-far-right-eu
"...If Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia had been making serious progress in educating its people about the horrible crimes committed by local Nazi collaborators during the Holocaust and had made an honest effort to bring unprosecuted local killers to justice, then perhaps we could ignore the marches. But not a single Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Nazi war criminal has been punished by a Baltic court since independence. Instead, Jewish anti-Nazi Soviet partisans in Lithuania have been singled out for legal harassment, and these countries are leading the campaign to equate communism with Nazism.
I think the time has come in the UK to stop treating the resurgence of neofascism in the Baltics as an election issue and elsewhere in the EU to start treating it as a threat to the integrity of European democracy."
Wed, 2018-05-02 01:51
#14
Expect you to be posting more? Well that's a surprise.
Not sure why you think it is "changing his tune" to warn about far right movements in these countries while at the same time pointing out that Russia is making the situation worse by being belligerent and exploiting these tensions for their own purposes. I don't see any conflict at all because those movements are everywhere, including in Russia, and in fact Putin's government has been bankrolling and aiding them in European nations, while at the same time fronting fake antifascist groups to target legitimate politicians:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/anti-nazi-group-secretly-helping-kremlin-r...
In fact the only thing I can think of that changed between his other articles and the more recent editorial is the invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine. So yes, I expect he has noticed.
And this: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/24/russia-lithuania-border-fe...
Wed, 2018-05-02 02:09
#15
Every thread is about Russia. Oh, and Latvian Nazis bad and Austrian Nazis good, right?
Tue, 2018-07-10 13:33
#16
Jewish Group Wants Trudeau to Condemn Glorification of Nazis During Latvia Visit
"A top Jewish organization is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to use his trip to Latvia to push back against the glorification of Nazi collaborators in that country as well as attempts to deny the nation's role in the Holocaust. B'nai Brith is concerned with the rise of extreme right forces in Europe, who are trying to rewrite history about Nazi sympathizers, with parades and demonstrations..."
LOL Trudeau now caught between NATO's rabid Atlanti-cyst proxies and Zio Israel lobbyists back home.
Tue, 2018-07-10 14:52
#17
So much BS around here and so little time!
Anti-Nazi Group Secretly Helping Kremlin Rebuild Russian Empire
https://www.thedailybeast.com/anti-nazi-group-secretly-helping-kremlin-r...