Nulle, I am not going to argue with you about this. Obviously you are entitled to your opinion and there is no point both of us wasting our time on a fruitless argument.

I am sure there are reasonably reliable sources of information about how many people in Latvia speak what languages. In Riga, Daugavpils and Liepaja that I have visited, I found it was half or more speaking Russian. Obviously it's a large percentage in the country as a whole, whatever the actual figure is.

I think Latvia will make itself increasingly worse if it continues with its current language policy. As it is, not a lot of people in Europe know much about Latvia. It's really mostly neighbouring areas like Scandinavia etc that really take an interest, but as Latvias role in the EU etc grows, more and more people will take an interest. I think it's a great country in all other respects.

Latvia happens to be a neighbouring country of mine, and I wish it all the best, and success to everyone living there; Latvians and Russian speakers alike.

Look at all modern & normal bilingual countries and you'll see what I mean. Switzerland, Canada, Finland, Belgium, United Kingdom and many more in the EU and elsewhere.

Then look at the situation in countries that choose to discriminate or surpress minorities within their borders. They are the poor and unsuccessful countries that are torn apart by conflicts and never move forward as a nation because people are too narrow minded to move on from whatever historical or cultural differences they have.

Which type of country would you like yours to be?