Sveiki, all!

We apologize to those of you who are still having formatting problems. We found and fired up a backup copy of AOL 4.0 to send out this week's mailer, hopefully that will make this a bit easier to read!

It was another busy week in the news. Most revealing was that the Pope named Janis Pujats, the archbishop of Riga, to cardinal -- and then announced several days later that he had made the appointment back in 1998 (along with one in the Ukraine) but had not announced it because of uncertainty over potential reactions in ex-Soviet territories, given the degree to which organized religion had been actively repressed. Personally, we think perhaps he didn't give the Latvians and Ukrainians enough credit to have paid only lip service to the party line during the Soviet occupation! But you never know what crazies are out there, either...

The news summary:

• Brief sketches of some of the newest cardinals, including Janis Pujats (on whom there is unfortunately little detail other than being ordained in 1951)
• Latvian Shipping is going up on the sales block -- for the 4th time, and hopefully the last
• February 9th, coming up next week, was a popular date in history for peace accords, 1929 marking the signing of the Litvinov protocol, assuring Latvia's independence; 10 years ago, Lithuanians voted for independence on this day
• Russian officials keep up the heat, adamantly opposing Baltic membership in NATO (personally, the more vociferously Russia complains, the more worried we get that Russia's motives cannot be trusted in this matter)
• For those who know how to read broadcast sattelite coordinates, TV3 Latvia, ORT Estonia, and ORT Lithuania are now beaming far and wide
• More detail on the surprise papal announcements
• Latvian consulate in St. Petersburg is vandalized yet again, St. Petersburg police say they don't have enough staff to guard embassies full time (the Russian embassy in Riga gets 24 hour protection, by contrast)
• In some of the strongest comments yet regarding Russian opposition to NATO membership for the Baltics, Vaire Vike-Freiberga affirms Baltic reintegration into western Europe, calling Russia's desire for a de-facto dividing line "outdated, pernicious, [and] obscene"
• Valmiera to become a model internet town with a view toward becoming Latvia's future information technology capital

This week's link is to an article discussing the pro's and con's of NATO membership for the Baltics. It dates from 1996 -- but the central issues have not changed.

This week's picture is of Janu Seta, in the heart of old Riga.

For you AOL'ers, remember, mailer or not, Lat Chat spontaneously appears every Sunday on AOL starting around 9:00/9:30pm Eastern time, lasting until 11:00/11:30pm. AOL'ers can follow this link: Town Square - Latvian chat. And thanks to you participating on the Latvian message board as well: LATVIA (both on AOL only).

Ar visu labu,

Here's an article with opposing viewpoints regarding Baltic membership in NATO. The players may have changed somewhat since the interviews done in 1996, but the positions and arguments remain the same. You can find it at:

http://www.balticsww.com/news/features/natoyes.htm

It's part of the Baltics Worldwide site, at: http://www.balticsww.com

AP WorldStream Sunday, January 28, 2001 11:39:00 AM
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press

    VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The following are brief descriptions of the seven men named by Pope John Paul II on Sunday to be cardinals.
    ----
    Monsignor Johannes Joachim Degenhardt: Degenhardt, who turns 75 on Jan. 31, is archbishop of Paderborn, one of the most heavily Catholic parts of Germany. A conservative, he was one of the first German bishops to stop offering certificates that pave the way for a legal abortion as part of a church pro-life counseling program -- a practice opposed by the Vatican.
    ----
    Monsignor Lubomyr Husar: Only days earlier appointed archbishop of Lviv, where he is head of Ukraine's Greek Catholic church, Husar, 67, is a U.S. citizen who left Ukraine in 1944, during World War II, and studied at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and New York's Fordham University. He was ordained a priest in Connecticut in 1958 and was made bishop in Italy in 1977. For five years he had assisted Lviv's Cardinal Myroslav Lubachivsky, who died in December.
     ----
    Monsignor Marian Jaworski: Jaworski, 74, has led Ukraine's Latin Rite Catholics, from his base in Lviv, many of whom are of Polish origin. He had known Pope John Paul II for decades, from their days early in the priesthood.
    ----
    Monsignor Karl Lehmann: Lehmann, 64, is head of the German bishops' conference. Last year he stunned the Vatican by suggesting that the ailing pope might consider resigning if unable to carry out the Church's mission. After he suggested that the Vatican rethink its ban on Communion for divorced Catholics, the Church reiterated the ban.
    ----
    Monsignor Wilfrid Fox Napier: Napier, 59, a Franciscan who leads South Africa's diocese of Durban, will become that country's first black cardinal. Long known for speaking out on matters of social justice, he has adopted a strong stand against laws South Africa's post-apartheid government has passed giving women the choice of having abortions.
    ----
    Monsignor Janis Pujats: Pujats, 70, was ordained in 1951, while his homeland, Latvia, was under Soviet Communism. Since 1991, he has been archbishop of Riga, Latvia's capital.
    ----
    Monsignor Julio Terrazas Sandoval: Sandoval, 64, is archbishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
    (fd)

Reuters World Report Wednesday, January 31, 2001 11:04:00 AM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.
By Anastasia Styopina

    RIGA, Jan 31 (Reuters) -- After five years of failed tenders and political turmoil, Latvia is once again bringing Latvian Shipping to the block in the hope of finally selling the company that has unseated governments and marred the country's image.
    Investors looking at the potential privatisation of the 68 percent stake the state is offering in the world's 19th-largest shipping firm in tonnage terms, have until 1000 GMT on February 1 to express interest in taking part in the company's fourth selloff tender.
    A final auction is expected in May.
    As with previous attempts to privatise the company, the latest effort has been surrounded by political bickering.
    Despite the dismal backdrop for the sale, however, the government says this time it is convinced it will succeed.
    "We will get the Shipping privatisation moving ahead," Economy Minister Aigars Kalvitis told reporters.
    The latest two attempts to privatise a minority holding in Latvian Shipping failed due to low investor interest.
    The first tender flopped when the government doubled the offered price after putting the sale on hold for over a year.
    HEATED ATMOSPHERE SURROUNDS LATEST SALE
    Now the fourth attempt to find a strategic investor for Shipping is taking place.
    Fatherland and Freedom, a junior partner in the four-party ruling coalition has publicly criticised the sell-off rules, although it approved them in a cabinet meeting.
    Normally cool-headed Latvians and their leaders have been driven to despair over the impact of problems in the privatisation process on the image of the post-Soviet country's image.
    "If we here continue quarreling and are unable to agree then all our work (building the country's image abroad) will not bring anything (very) positive," Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins was quoted as saying in the media.
    Former Prime Minister Vilis Kristopans has said the Shipping dispute helped lead to his government's downfall in 1999.
    His successor, Andris Skele, also cited privatisation rows when he stepped down a year later, when Shipping was the main item on the government's privatisation agenda.
    ANALYSTS SEE SLIM INTEREST BUT POSSIBLE SUCCESS
    Analysts say even without the bickering, enough investors may have been put off already to sink the tender.
    "Most probably there won't be too many (applications) because previous history with this company's privatisation has undermined trust in the privatisation process overall," said Roberts Indelsons, head of the Suprema brokerage in Latvia.
    However, some analysts note this time the government has made the selloff more attractive by offering a majority stake.
    "That could be more interesting for potential investors," said Krajbanka analyst Ivars Bergs.
    Shipping has budgeted a 2001 net profit of $5.6 million on planned turnover of $164.4 million. The privatisation agency first started planning its sale in 1996.

Reuters World Report Friday, February 02, 2001 5:18:00 PM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.

    LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) -- Following are some of the major events to have occurred on February 9 in history:
    1674 -- Charles II of England signed the Treaty of Westminster, ending the war with the Dutch.
    1801 -- France and Austria signed the Peace of Luneville, effectively ending the Holy Roman Empire.
    1929 -- The Litvinov protocol renouncing war was signed in Moscow between Russia, Poland, Romania, Estonia and Latvia.
    1934 -- The Balkan Pact to prevent encroachment by the great powers was signed by Romania, Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey.
    1991 -- Lithuanians voted by a huge majority to restore the Soviet republic's pre-World War Two independence.
    2000 -- Russia and North Korea signed a new friendship pact aimed at healing bilateral ties.

AP Online Tuesday, January 30, 2001 3:26:00 PM
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
By DAVID McHUGH
Associated Press Writer

    MOSCOW (AP) -- NATO's eastward expansion could plunge Russia's relations with the West into crisis, Russian officials warned Germany Tuesday. They also renewed their opposition to U.S. plans for a missile defense system.
    Sergei Ivanov, the secretary of President Vladimir Putin's powerful Security Council, gave the blunt warning about NATO to German Defense Minister Rudolph Scharping. Germany is a key member of NATO.
    "If implemented, these plans will create a fundamentally new situation in Europe that objectively infringes on Russia's political and military interests," Ivanov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "This could lead to a serious crisis."
    Former Warsaw Pact nations Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined the Western alliance last year, bringing NATO to the border of Russia's militarily strategic enclave of Kaliningrad, a chunk of Russian territory wedged between Lithuania and Poland but separated from the rest of Russia.
    The former Soviet republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are eager to join NATO. Russia vehemently opposes their membership, which would make Kaliningrad surrounded by NATO and give the alliance another border with mainland Russia.
    Unconfirmed reports this month said Russia had sent tactical nuclear weapons to Kaliningrad, possibly as an expression of its opposition to NATO expansion. Scharping told a news conference that Germany had no evidence that Russia had sent such weapons to the enclave.
    Scharping also discussed arms control issues, including Russia's opposition to a U.S. plan to deploy a limited missile defense system, with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev.
    Russia has steadfastly opposed U.S. proposals to change the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to allow such a missile defense system and has lobbied U.S. allies in Europe against the proposal.
    Sergeyev told reporters Tuesday that Russia would continue to insist on preserving the ABM treaty, calling it a "cornerstone of international security and stability," Interfax reported.
    Scharping said at a press conference that although Germany was not part of ABM, his country "had a strong interest in maintaining and observing the treaty." The new administration of President Bush should conduct "intensive negotations both within NATO and with Russia" to work out differences over arms control, he said.
    He said Russia, the United States and Europe should work together to preserve the existing framework of arms control agreements. "We must not endanger the international security architecture of arms control and disarmament," Scharping said.
    Scharping's visit comes ahead of a European security conference Saturday in Munich, Germany, which new U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to attend.
    The Munich talks are expected to include discussion of the U.S. missile defense proposal. U.S. leaders say deployment of a missile defense system is necessary to protect the nation against limited ballistic missile attacks by such nations as North Korea and Iran. Russia and China contend that deployment of the system could re-ignite the arms race.
    Putin proposed an alternative shared European missile defense last year. However, few details have been released, and Scharping said Tuesday that such a system was not yet practical. "It is senseless to talk about goals that remain only goals and cannot be implemented," he said.

COMTEX Newswire Wednesday, January 31, 2001 6:03:00 PM
Copyright 2001 Phillips Publishing, Inc.

    Jan. 31, 2001 (Interspace, No. 711 via COMTEX) --
    5 degreesE: Sirius 2/3 D A new Baltic digital platform has launched on 12642MHz vertical, SR 9402, FEC 3/4. It contains TV3 Latvia -- V5001, A5002, ORT Estonia -- V5021, A5022 and ORT Lithuania -- V5031, A5032. Down at 11881MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4 TV6 nature World, TV6 Action World and Nickelodeon Scandinavia are switching in and out of encryption. National Iranian TV has opened another outlet, this time on 12455MHz horizontal, SR 18051, FEC 3/4, VPID 133, APID 132 in clear MPEG-2. In the Merlin Communications multiplex at 12111MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4 a new test card from TV Nimrooz has appeared on PIDs V52, A53 in clear MPEG-2. TV 6 Moskva has left 12689 MHz horizontal from where it had been available in free-to-air MPEG-2.

AP WorldStream Sunday, January 28, 2001 6:29:00 AM
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
By FRANCES D'EMILIO
Associated Press Writer

    VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Only a week after he named a record-setting 37 new cardinals, Pope John Paul II on Sunday announced even more new princes of the church -- two Germans, one each from South Africa, Bolivia and Ukraine -- as well as revealed two he made secretly in 1998 from the former Soviet Union.
    In a surprise announcement from his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square, the pope, smiling broadly, read the names but gave no reason why he hadn't named all of them only a week earlier.
    The five new cardinals who will participate in the Feb. 21 consistory ceremony at the Vatican are: Monsignors Lubomyr Husar, the newly appointed archbishop of Lviv, Ukraine for Eastern rite Catholics; Joahannes Joachim Degenhart, archbishop of Paderborn, Germany; Julio Terrazas Sandoval, archbishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia; Wilfrid Fox Napier, archbishop of Durban, South Africa, and Karl Lehmann, bishop of Mainz, Germany.
    In the last consistory ceremony, in 1998, the pope made two cardinals whose name he didn't reveal, keeping "in pectore," Latin for in his heart, the identities, possibly because he felt the times were too sensitive in terms of relations involving Catholics in the former Soviet Union. The two churchmen were Marian Jaworski, archbishop in Lviv of Catholics, many of them Polish-origin, who follow the Latin rite, and Janis Pujats, archbishop of Riga.
    The announcement of the two names for Ukraine comes five months before the pope travels to that formerly Communist-run land, despite reported objections from some in the Ukrainian Orthodox church to the visit.
    Speaking of Husar, recently named to the archbishop's post, as well as the two "in pectore" cardinals he revealed from parts of the former Soviet Union, John Paul told the crowd in the square: "I intend to honor their respective churches, which, especially in the course of the 20th century, have been severely tried and which offered to the world the example of so many Christian men and women, who knew how to pay witness to their faith amidst suffering of every kind, not rarely culminating in the sacrifice of their life."
    On Jan. 21, the pope named 37 new cardinals and said he intended to soon announce the names of the "in pectore" cardinals.
    The back-to-back weekly announcements were a first for this pontificate, which began in 1978.
    In making all the new cardinals, the pope acknowledged he was breaking the limit of 120 churchmen eligible to vote in the secret conclave which will someday elect his successor. The limit was set by a predecessor, Pope Paul VI.
    (fd)

AP WorldSources Online Monday, January 29, 2001 10:25:00 AM
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
Copyright 2001 THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

    In what has become a cycle of hostility, the Latvian Consulate in St. Petersburg was vandalized early Tuesday morning by a group that smashed windows on the building's first floor, thus touching off a minor diplomatic furor.
    Glass on the front door and two windows on the first floor of the building-which is located on the 10th Line of St. Petersburg's Vasilievsky Island-were shattered with a metal rod and stones, consulate officials said. Latvian Embassy officials accused the Russian authorities of being lax for not posting 24-hour guards in front of the diplomatic mission.
    "The Russians are not providing safety for the consulate, which they should be doing according to the Vienna Convention 1/8signed in 1963 3/8," said Latvian Consul General Juris Audarins in an interview on Thursday.
    The police and consulate officials say they think members of the nationalist Russian National Unity Party, or RNE, group-which has no connection to the Yedinstvo, or Unity, political faction-were involved in the violence. In fact, a police source who requested anonymity said that they had a suspect for the most recent attack under surveillance but had not arrested him yet. The source declined to say why, but he did say that the suspect had been kicked out of RNE.
    Throughout the year, said Audarins, the consulate has suffered at least six hostile acts, including angry pickets, telephone threats, and even a Molotov cocktail attack last July.
    And last January, the consulate was vandalized with black paint and eggs. During the same month, the RNE claimed responsibility for the action. The police arrested a young activist, Andrei Dmitriyev, who was charged with deliberate damage of property. He confessed, spent three days in jail, but then he was amnestied and released.
    Also last May, police said, RNE members paid a beggar 250 rubles and two bottles of highly alcoholic cleaning fluid for the beggar to drink in exchange for his breaking the consulate's windows. He too was arrested and let go shortly thereafter.
    After Tuesday's attack, the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a letter of protest to the Russian Embassy in Riga, demanding Russia organize 24-hour security for the St. Petersburg consulate as well as apprehending the vandals, Audarins said. The note added that Russia's Embassy in Riga has round-the-clock protection from Latvian police.
    Police at Vasilieostrovsky Police station No. 16, however, say that they don't have the staff to provide that kind of service. Generally, police can cover the consulate only on the days when its visa section is working, the source said.
    He said the Lithuanian, Czech and Estonian consulates are in the same situation.
    Unconsoled, Audarins said there appears to be a method behind the violence, which appears to be driven by the tensions that have existed between Russia and the newly independent Baltic state.
    Dmitriyev, who was arrested last year, said he was protesting the imprisonment in Latvia of Vasily Kononov, 77, a former Soviet officer accused of war crimes and sentenced to six years last January.
    RNE members were not available for comment on the incident, but members of the Russian Party, another local nationalist group in St. Petersburg with anti-Baltic leanings, said it supported the alleged actions of the RNE.
    "The Baltic states made the policy of apartheid legal," said Russian Party leader Nikolai Bondarik, in reference to the citizenship difficulties that Russians have had in the Baltic states since the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
    Latvia fell under Soviet rule as a result of the Molotov-Ribentropp pact signed in 1939. Approximately 35 percent of Latvia's native population was killed during World War II, deported to Siberia, or fled.
    Since Latvia regained independence in 1991, Russia has been concerned about the Baltic nation's ethnic Russian population and the Kremlin has protested the republic's policy of prosecuting suspected former Soviet officers.

Monday, Jan. 29, 2001
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press

    DAVOS, Switzerland -- The presidents of the three Baltic states insisted Friday that they would join the European Union and NATO in spite of Russian concerns.
    "It is the commonality of democratic process, of freedom and of human rights that causes us to look westward to the European Union as our proper home," Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga told delegates at the World Economic Forum.
    She said her country had no intention of being caught in the middle of a divided Europe.
    "That would be outdated, pernicious, obscene," she said.
    Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia former Soviet republics that obtained independence a decade ago have all applied to join the EU and NATO.
    Russia strongly opposes Baltic NATO membership, saying it would be perceived as a threat to Russia.
    Russia hasn t officially opposed Baltic membership of the 15-nation EU bloc, but some Baltic officials fear that Moscow, fearing a loss of influence in the region, might try to thwart that as well.
    "Our country is right now going forward, completely open to Western philosophy and democracy," said Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus.
    "That gives me the strength and hope and reassurance that as far as Lithuania is concerned, nobody is going to stop that country from progressing, from becoming a member of the EU, from becoming a member of NATO."
    Estonian President Lennart Meri said he believed his country was strong enough to make a contribution to the European Union.
    "When we join the EU, we will be able to inject some of the dynamism so typical of Estonia into the structures of the union," he said. "In the direction of Russia, we still see many unexplored opportunities," Meri added.
    The three presidents stressed that their countries had many things in common, but they were still separate nations with separate languages, cultures and interests.
    "We aren t Siamese triplets," said Vike-Freiberga.

Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2001
Copyright 2001 Associated Press

    VALMIERA, Latvia -- Latvian educators said this month they plan to transform the small town of Valmiera into a model Internet society where all municipal business will be conducted online and high-technology companies will be encouraged to invest.
    "It could take a long time to set up, but we think the project is very necessary for development. The Internet is the future," said Gunars Bajars, rector of the local Vidzeme University and one of the project organizers.
    The aim would be for this town of 29,000 people, located some 100 kilometers northeast of Riga the nation's capital and main business center to eventually become Latvia's information technology capital, Bajars said. Currently, just 1 percent of the households in and around Valmiera are online. Nationwide, around 6 percent of the Baltic state's 2.4 million inhabitants are hooked up to the Internet, according to the central statistics office.
    Bajars said the plan, which envisions connecting nearly all offices and homes to the Internet, would cost "several million dollars." He said he hoped funding would come from national and local governments, and corporate sponsors.

Wending our way through old Riga, we pass down a long alleyway and into Janu Seta, "John's Garden" (or "Yard"). This picture is from Peters' trip in October, 1996. Janu Seta, the map publisher, has a little store featuring books, maps, and Latvian cermics, paintings, and jewelry tucked down below (straight ahead--we've been happy customers [no, this isn't a paid advertisement!]), and in the summer this little square is a lively beer garden venue.