Ask a Latvian anything...

reply to post by goldentorch


I think your curiosity about Latvia and the Baltic region is a good thing. Many aspects of the regions' history have been buried or obscured. The so-called "Great Powers" -- the Soviet Union, Britain, France, Germany -- all have had their view and take on things, often to the exclusion of the view of the people who were, quite literally, in the trenches. In so many ways, this region shaped the way we view today's Europe.

reply to post by goldentorch


Well everything started beautifully in WW I we gained our independence from Russia. Many Red Army generals who fought against "the whites" where Latvians. Latvia took Communist side because they said that they would grant independence for Latvia. So the red army won the monarchists and Lenin himself granted us independence stating that if Baltic states and other Eastern European countries that once was a part of Russian Empire would march to Moscow they could not defend against them. And he was grateful to them. But then came Stalin and that's a whole different story. He killed all high ranked military men including Latvians. He occupied Latvia and Eastern Europe with renewed military ignoring all contracts that USSR had been made with Eastern European countries.

That kind of Modern History from my point of view? Do you want to hear about 1919 - 1940 Latvia, 1940 - 1990 Latvia in USSR or more like 1991 - 2011 Latvia?

We are Rigel4.........

We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.

OK, a random question for you.


What is your favorite band?

You can probably figure out my favorite musician by looking at my avatar and username.

reply to post by gimme_some_truth


Beetles

yey me

reply to post by rigel4


My favorite new member!

I do love The Beatles.

Welcome and enjoy!

Interesting thread, thanks for posting. You don't hear much about Latvia outside of the CIS.

I don't know too much about Latvia myself but in 1993 I was part of a team transporting some goods on the Daugava River, back and forth to and from Valdai (in Russia) to the Gulf of Riga in Latvia. It was a pretty chaotic and crazy time back then and I was young and stupid but we had a lot of fun when we got into Riga. Very beautiful old traditional Eastern European town with lots of well-preserved architecture.

reply to post by archasama


More like 1991-2011 the legacy of the rest. Although the problems of being torn between German and Russian Imperialism are very interesting I quite often read about them with having a passing interest in the WW's. I was just curious to get an idea of how you recover from just these sorts of oppressions and how it relates to how the country, culture and people have 'weathered the storm' so to speak.

reply to post by gimme_some_truth


Oh no... favorite band... hard to answer...

Well yeah I like The Beatles. I'll make a list of bands I like/liked SOAD, Nirvana, Linkin Park, Johnossi (Sweden), Leningrad (Russia), Antony & The Johnsons, Beirut, Babyshambles, Die Antwoord (South africa), Massive Attack, POD, Ramstein (Germany), Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Gazette (Japan), The Kooks, Kino (Russia), Korn, Queen, ...

Well you get the point I like and have liked a variety of bands...

But as I'm Latvian I like Latvian bands as well...

Perkons (Thunder), Prata Vetra (Brainstorm), Līvi (The Livonians), Jauns Meness (New Moon), Sīpoli (The Onions)...







Ok enough... just a glimpse into Latvian music...

Originally posted by goldentorch
reply to post by archasama

 

More like 1991-2011 the legacy of the rest. Although the problems of being torn between German and Russian Imperialism are very interesting I quite often read about them with having a passing interest in the WW's. I was just curious to get an idea of how you recover from just these sorts of oppressions and how it relates to how the country, culture and people have 'weathered the storm' so to speak.

Being oppressed by other nations actually has it's good side. Because the time of the Third Awakening brought together all Latvians. The revolutions are what bring people together to such extent that it feels like the whole nation is one family.

Baltic Way

We had the Baltic Way - 600 km long human chain that stretched through Baltic States from Tallinn to Vilnius, Baltic people joined hands for 15 minutes to draw global attention by demonstrating a popular desire for independence for each of the entities. It also illustrated solidarity among the three nations.

Also we had "The Barricades"

The Barricades were events that took place between 13 and 27 January 1991 in Latvia. Latvia, which had declared independence from the Soviet Union a year earlier, anticipated that Soviet Union might attempt to violently regain control over the country.

These were two major events that brought Latvians and the Baltic States together to gain independence from USSR. Too bad that 30 years into free Latvia there are no more unity, solidarity among our people. It's only when we have a threat from outside or inside, common enemy that the whole nation really becomes as one.

So after we gained independence - times were not easy, we had to rebuild, we had to learn how it is to live in a free market... In time of privatization few people took advantage of chaos and grabbed money and properties - and we know them now as The oligarchs who affect the corrupt government. And the hatred against oligarchs is something that we have in common with our fellow Latvians. I hope we fight and crush them - so Latvia could be come a true democracy, power to the people!

Too bad the only party who might be radical enough to crush oligarchs is the nationalist party "Visu Latvijai!" (All to the Latvia!)... and they got just 7% of votes in last Parliament elections. There's a possibility though that we are to hold another election this year. Let's hope we get better people into parliament.

Latvia now is struggling for democracy and struggling to get to the level of well being that we had just before 1940.

reply to post by archasama


Sadly it's common throughout the world whereby you need a common enemy to be able to work in your own best interests rather than those common interests being a motivation in itself and as you say you end up with parties concerned with the globalists greed as we do. "The more things change the more they stay the same".

So, how come Latvian government of Levits and Karins host EU-NATO bases that are designed to keep children for Islamist indoctrination and genetic and torture experiments ? Trying to create the Uebermensch using tricks described by Jozef Mengele ?