Re: Reflections on Latvia Then and Now



On Jan 30, 3:45 am, "captain." <spammersmust...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
- should i expect an indignant lorad?
mr.cedrins, is this guy playing things up?

Reflections on Latvia Then and Nowhttp://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=20227

By Alexei Pankin

Your husband hasn't been issued a visa," the travel agent told my wife, who
along with our daughter had received a visa for the New Year's holiday we
had planned in Latvia.

The agent then dictated the following statement for me to submit to get my
piece of paper: "To the Consular Department of the Embassy of the Latvian
Republic in Moscow, Russian Federation. I, Alexei Borisovich Pankin, will be
vacationing in Jurmala with my wife and daughter Jan. 4-8, during the
Russian official holidays. I promise not to engage in any activity connected
with my profession during that period." I then had to sign and date the
document.

Although my wife is also a journalist, for some reason the consulate did not
demand a similar statement from her. The only explanation the travel agent
could up with was that the Latvians believe a mother's place is to mind the
children, so vacationing mothers pose no threat.

I don't know which upset me more, the discrimination I faced as a result of
my profession or that faced by my wife. It really made me wonder about the
mores of the European Union.

During the communist era, the Baltic republics - and Latvia in particular -
were islands of Western civilization for Soviet people. Mikhail Gorbachev's
program of glasnost took root there faster than in Moscow.

I can still remember the elation with which our democratically evolving
press reacted to the appearance of the first personal-ads section in a Riga
newspaper. It was like a fresh wind of freedom blowing over us from the
Baltic coast.

The Moscow intelligentsia used to read and reread the wonderful articles in
Rodnik magazine, which was published in Latvia in both Latvian and Russian,
while Moscow journalists could only envy the freedom enjoyed by the magazine's
journalists. Articles were regularly published in Latvia written by
Muscovites whom even the most courageous editors in the capital would not
publish.

Working as a journalist and as an editor, I wrote and printed articles
supporting the legal right of the Baltic republics to secede from the Soviet
Union. I did hope, however, that having gained the freedom to choose, they
would opt to remain as the proud western rim of the Soviet Union, rather
than become a confused eastern province within Western Europe. I even went
to rallies in favor of their freedom of choice.

And now look what we have ended up with: "I promise not to engage in any
activity connected with my profession!"

Despite my anger and misgivings, I provided the required signed statement
for the consulate, not wanting to cancel our long-planned family vacation.
My feelings toward Latvia, however, were not particularly positive that day.

But I did end up enjoying Riga, and particularly its cosmopolitan feel.
People there speak Latvian and Russian on about an equal basis and,
regardless of their ethnic origins, appear to switch back and forth between
the languages without prejudice. They don't only do this when speaking to
tourists but between themselves as well.

Just as it was in the Soviet era, Russian-speaking Latvians - even those
without citizenship - enjoy privileges still denied to citizens of Russia.
As of this January, Latvian residents no longer need visas to travel within
the European Union. Meanwhile, Russian citizens will have to continue to
trudge through consulate lines.

I admit that by writing this column I have broken the solemn promise I made
to the Latvian government. Although I wrote this piece in Moscow, I formed
and ruminated over these impressions while still in Latvia. Even worse, I
had a conversation with a taxi driver there, which is pretty standard
behavior for journalists traveling in foreign cities. And I'm not going to
repent for this sin, even if it means being declared a persona non grata.

Alexei Pankin is the editor of Mediaprofi, a monthly magazine for regional
media professionals.

Panki is a long term krmlyu sycophant and piss-pants envier of all
things Latvian.
He apparently makes a living by imagining the most inconsequential and
niggling stupidities possible.

For you to question whether I would have objections to his uber-
russkian chauvanism also reveals your own ingrained russian
chauvanism. It is like you questioning whether russian crap is crap
after having smelled it.

If he doesn't like visa proceedures, he should go vacation in
'transiniestria' or 'ossetia'. It would be better for everyone.





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