Thread: Regarding Russian in the Baltic States

but letting Russians speak Russian

No one is forbidding them to do that - Russian speakers can and do provide service to other Russian speakers in a language they prefer - no one is punished for that.
In some shops employees have little flags on their uniforms that indicate their language skills - find one who has Russian flag and you will get service in Russian without any problem.
But Latvians should not be required to do that - if they do - that is a nice bonus, but Russians should not demand that.
If you think that Russian working in some government institution or customer service should only speak to me in Russian - then NO - they should speak to me in Latvian or get fired.

Speaking Latvian in Latvia IS NOT A DISCRIMINATION.
Just like speakin Russian in Russia is not a discrimination.

Maybe in the future...

When Russian tanks will come in?

It was not like they occupied you and started exploiting the country, like say, the Nazis did.

They did exactly that - and they invaded BEFORE Nazis came in - in 1940 when they and Nazis were ALLIES - USSR propaganda tries to not mention that.

but from the point of view of the USSR, they were genuinely liberating you and annexed the Baltics in a legal way.

But USSR does not exist now.
And from Latvian and most of Western world point of view they occupied us illegally.
Only cowards like Sweden admitted (at least for some time) that occupation was legal - USA and many other countries did not.

And it affected only a minority.

Almost everyone have at least one relative that was deported or otherwise persecuted by USSR.
Not to mention that these deported people and their descendants were later discriminated against even after Stalin's death.
But it does not matter how many people were deported - that was a crime against humanity - equal to Holocaust.
Pre-war Latvian government never did anything like that.

They built schools, libraries, hospitals, sports centres etc.

So did pre-war Latvian government - but they did not kill people.
And so does current government.
Before invasion - standard of living here was much higher than in USSR.

Other Latvians benefited from free education

Education was free in pre-war Latvia too.
And it is free now - I did not have to pay a single lat for my university degree.

The whole idea was that all the Soviet republics were equal

but Russia and Russian speakers were more equal than others.

Not only schools and hospitals were built in Soviet Latvia - factories as well

Factories which proved to not work in free market, because of shitty production quality.
And stuff RAF made was just terrible compared to anything that was manufactured in the West.

Btw xdns - thanks for correction

And Hanna - your post looks like:
If you said this to some woman after she was raped:
"Well, you are not the only woman that was raped. And you probably enjoyed this a little bit, didn't you. And the man that did this to you - he looks rather charming, and you should understand him - he really wanted sex - he did not do it because he hates you. You should make it best out of this situation. And look how you are dressed - maybe it was partially your fault"

Originally Posted by nulle

And Hanna - your post looks like:
If you said this to some woman after she was raped:
"Well, you are not the only woman that was raped. And you probably enjoyed this a little bit, didn't you. And the man that did this to you - he looks rather charming, and you should understand him - he really wanted sex - he did not do it because he hates you. You should make it best out of this situation. And look how you are dressed - maybe it was partially your fault"

Ok, interesting.

But here is another version of this story:

The rapist denies the rape and has not been convicted. There are mixed views as to what actually took place.

Yet, 20 years after the rape, the woman is still talking obsessively about the rape, hating all men, discriminates againts men whenever she gets the chance and blames men for everything that is wrong in her life.

My point is rather that I understand and sympathise with her frustration and sadness but I think it's time she moves on, for her own good, for the good of her children and for the good of the innocent men who happen to cross paths with her.

We are now opening a contest for the best metaphor for Latvia-Russia relations
My turn: Russian Latvians remind me of divorced couple's children who love both their parents and can't decide with whom to live and whom to see only on weekends.
Poor little baby Linderman... Sorry, I can't stop thinking up silly things