Thread: Языковая обстановка в Латвии и др.

But I was mainly asking about Latvia. Why 1940? And why Baltic states

They wanted to expand their empire - it's that simple - more people to oppress, more slaves for the GULAG, more resources to loot and exploit.
Sweden was lucky - if Finland had lost the Winter War, then Soviets would probalby try to invade Sweden too.

They were there during WW2 to fight the Nazis and then I suppose just took advantage of the situation.

Until 1941 Nazis and Communists were allies.

There is definitely another side to that story.

Maybe, but there were ethnic cleansing and ethnic Georgian expulsion from Abkhazia and S-Ossetia. (Yes I know that these two countries want independence from Georgia)
Also Russian forces entered in uncontested areas of Georgia and killed civilians there.

I really do not like that they repeat something like that with Latgale.

Finland did quite well in that war, and got a bit greedy and tried to expand their own territory into Russia

In Continuation war they simply took back territories that USSR stole from them after the end of Winter War - And refused to go further despite the fact that Hitler asked them to.

More about language - I previously showed laws that regulate languages here.
As I said - referendum is the only way (we have democracy not authoritatian regime here).
And this summer/autumn radical ultranationalists Vladimir Linderman and Yevgeni Osipov may be starting one - they just need to collect ~150 000 signatures to initiate this referendum.
But this referendum will certainly fail - because they are using retorics like - "Russians! - do not give up - we will show Latvians their place" - no latvian is going to vote for that.
So basically - russians are partly responsible for current situation - you cannot force someone to love you.

Originally Posted by nulle

Sweden was lucky - if Finland had lost the Winter War, then Soviets would probalby try to invade Sweden too.

Russia has never tried to invade Sweden PROPER. I don't think Russia has ever been interested in that territory.

Originally Posted by nulle

In Continuation war they simply took back territories that USSR stole from them after the end of Winter War - And refused to go further despite the fact that Hitler asked them to.

Well I am no expert but I was told that they wanted to create "Great Finland" which was larger than the traditionally Finnish speaking areas, practically all the way to St Petersburg.

radical ultranationalists Vladimir Linderman and Yevgeni Osipov

What is their agenda? Are they Russian speakers born in Latvia?


Latvian politicians should read this:

Originally Posted by EU Official Document, One Family, many languages

The language we speak helps define who we are. The European Union respects this right to identity of its 450 million citizens. While committed to integration between its member states, the EU also actively promotes the freedom of its peoples to speak and write their own language. The two aims are complementary, embodying the EU’s motto of united in diversity.

In addition, the Union actively encourages its citizens to learn other European languages, both for reasons of professional and personal mobility within its single market, and as a force for cross-cultural contacts and mutual understanding. In an ever-growing and more diverse EU, it is important that its citizens can communicate with each other. The Union also promotes the use of regional or minority languages which are not official EU languages, but which are spoken by up to 50 million people in the member countries, and as such form part of our cultural heritage.

Even if majority of parliament supports Russian as official language (they don't) - there still needs to be a referendum.
Currently majority of Latvians simply do not want to give it any status - reminds them of Soviet Union, etc.
How do you think they can change their minds?

Russians should start discussions about that issue, because otherwise they will never get any official status for their language.
"Мы вам покажем кузькину мать!" and "Бей гансов!" certainly will not help

What is their agenda? Are they Russian speakers born in Latvia?

Divide and conquer.
Create conflict between nationalities and then try to get more votes from more radical people.
Sadly such tactics are used both by russian and latvian radical nationalists to get into the parliament.
I'm really tired that in our country political parties are not divided by ideologies, but by nationalities.

Latvieti nepadodies - krievi nāk!!! (Fellow Latvians - do not surrender - Russians are coming!!!)
Русские - не сдаваться!!! - Mы ем покажем!!!
This bullshit is repeated before every elections for 20 years...