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Sveiki, all!

We've been in the grips of a record heat wave here in New York -- we must have accidentally taken the hot weather home with us from Latvia!

It was a quiet week in the news, except for Vladimir Putin and the Russian press milking a letter to Putin from an elderly Riga inhabitant for all it was worth (more propaganda about Latvia oppressing its Russian populace)...

This week'snews stories:

  • Nordea chosen as custodian bank of Latvian state pension system
  • Russia's rebirth not complete without expatriates - Kremlin; prompted by a letter to Putin by Riga resident (and "Leningrad siege survivor") Ludmilla Avanesova, ITAR-TASS constructs a veritable tome about the plight of Russians abroad and a concerned Mother Russia wishing to include all in the ascendancy of her rebirth. We don't know the content of the letter, but, we're sure it's not any different from the "plight" of our own relatives, whose 4,000 or 5,000 ruble life's savings (good for a comfortable retirement) were reduced to... let's see... 5,000 Russian rubles -> 5,000 Latvian rubles -> @180 rubles per lat -> @60 (or so) santimes per US dollar (at least it's been stable since the lat was introduced) -> $46.30. Of course, Putin won't do the equivalent math for Russia: the current exchange rate is about 30 rubles per US dollar, but that's after a 1000:1 devaluation (from 6,000 rubles per dollar to "6" roubles per dollar in 1998, now up to 30), so those same 5,000 Russian rubles IN RUSSIA are now worth a grand total of 17 red :-) cents. Post-independence financial hardship and loss of "go to the head of the line for handouts" because you are no longer part of the occupying power is not oppression. Ludmilla is entitled to a Latvian state pension. Further, many Russians are entitled to Russian pensions as well as long as they do not renounce their Russian citizenship for Latvian citizenship. The politicians can posture and pontificate, but the (currency) math says Russians in Latvia are doing 277 times better than the Russians in Russia. Of course, twice nothing, or 277 times nothing is still nothing -- the reduction in Latvia of everyone's life savings to half a month's apartment upkeep expense is a separate topic. (The article also holds out Kyrgyzstan as Russian-friendly, judging from the drop in Russians emigrating and, especially, official adoption of Russian as a second language.) There is an interesting article on "Orphans of the USSR" at http://www.unhcr.ch/refworld/refworld/unhcr/cis/cis9605.htm -- it appears Kyrgystan's major motivation in adopting Russian as an official language was to stem the loss of the intellectual pool it needed to rebuild.
  • Russia defense minister cool on NATO -- if you can't beat them, if you've been laughed off in the Soviet era when you suggested you wanted to join (Russians are quick to remember Soviet era slights when it suits them), then... pretend you're not interested!
  • USSR RIP-Republics; overall,a sad state of affairs in the republics ; Baltics are doing better than most; Latvia is noted for corruption and oppression of Russians (when will the Western press learn that the propaganda machine is still alive and well in Russia?)

This week's link is toBaltic folklore .

This week's picture is from our vacation in July -- the summer blossoms were irresistable. A couple of folks have noted difficultly downloading the pictures lately. You can always check our web site a few days later and view the picture in the mailer archive.

As always, 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,

Silvija Peters

  Latvian Link

This week's link is to the Baltic Institute of Folklore, founded in cooperation by the folk lore institutes of the individual Baltic countries. Sadly, the site does not seem to have been updated since the Institute (and web site) was founded in 1995.

   http://haldjas.folklore.ee/BIF/bhome.htm

  News


Nordea chosen as custodian bank of Latvian state pension system
Business Wire Wednesday, August 08, 2001 4:25:00 AM
Copyright (c) 2001 Business Wire

    STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Aug 8, 2001 (BUSINESS WIRE)-- In tough competition Nordea (SSE:NDA.) was selected custodian bank for Latvia's pillar 2 state-funded pension system. A custody agreement was signed on 27 July 2001 with the State Treasury.
    "It is a great honor for Nordea in Latvia to be chosen as custodian bank for the country's reformed pension system," says Thomas Neckmar, Nordea EVP and head of Regional Bank Baltic Countries and Poland. "It shows Nordea's capacity for providing a full range of high-quality innovative banking services on local home markets be it in the Nordic countries or throughout the Baltic countries and Poland".
    Nordea was selected custodian for its ability to provide lucrative service terms, 15 M EUR minimum equity, for being licensed by market supervisory authorities to carry out transactions with publicly traded securities and for its capability to exercise prudent supervision and control of all activities performed by the fund manager.
    Latvia has substantially reformed its pension system recently. Changes in legislation provide for a pillar 2 state funded pension scheme, with contributions accumulated and invested in order to provide future benefits. The total assets of the pillar 2 are expected to reach 25 - 30 M EUR by the end of 2002.
    This information was brought to you by Waymakerhttp://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download:
    http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/08/08/20010808BIT00180/bit0002.doc
    http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/08/08/20010808BIT00180/bit0002.pdf
    CONTACT: Nordea
    Kristians Pudans, +371 7 096 244, +371 9 137 311
    or
    Thomas Neckmar, +46 8 614 7930, +46 708 673412
    URL: http://www.businesswire.com

Russia's rebirth not complete without expatriates -- Kremlin
COMTEX Newswire Thursday, August 09, 2001 9:01:00 AM
By Mikhail Kalmykov
Copyright (c) 2001 ITAR-TASS

    MOSCOW, Aug 09, 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- Does "out of sight" always mean "out of mind"? Russian authorities have consistently made it clear that their answer is "no" when our compatriots abroad are in question. The USSR break-up line ran through the hearts and destinies of tens of millions of people who found themselves "on the other side of the border" through no fault of theirs. This is why Russia's rebirth is taken to mean not only the country's economic growth and political stability within its new boundaries. No rebirth can be complete if its fruit cannot be enjoyed by those people in other countries who speak and think the same language as the Russians inside Russia do. For each of those individuals has something of the mother country in them.
    "It is not permissible to let those people feel forsaken and forgotten," President Vladimir Putin said in his response to a letter from Mrs. Avanesova, who had spent the entire time of the World War Two siege in Leningrad and then happened to settle in Riga, Latvia. "I know well that our compatriots have enough serious problems, especially in the Baltic republics.I an confident that Russia is simply obliged to firmly defend their legitimate rights and interests. Far from all has been possible to achieve. But we shall spare no effort in this field."
    In his april message to the Federal Assembly, the President declared when speaking about expatriats, that these people "must be confident that Russia will not abandon them, if they find themselves in distress, it will defend their individual rights, their families, it will protect them against any possible arbitrariness and illegal pressure, it will help them defend their human and civic dignity."
    "No one must be allowed to make a selection of international human rights and freedoms depending on the colour of one's passport," the Russian president warned.
    Over the past 12 to eighteen months, the Russian authorities have repeatedly demonstrated that their was not a mere wishful thinking.Former World War Two partisan Vassily Kononov in Latvia, the Russian pilots who found themselves in an Indian jail, Russian actress Natalia Zakharova's daughter separated from her mother by a French court and many other compatriots in neighbouring and other countries have felt Moscow's firm support in their predicaments.
    The lives of out compatriots in the former Soviet space have taken different turns. Moscow is obviously pleased, for example, with the policy of the Kyrgyz government. Despite the current economic straits, the level of social well-being of the Russian- speaking population there has risen and the level of emigration has lowered. In September, the Constitution of that Central Asian republic where some 600,000 Russian speakers live can be amended to give Russia the status of the second official language.
    Approximately the same number of Russian speakers live in Latvia, but higher living standards in that Baltic republic fail to disguise the social vulnerability of the Russian-speaking "non-citizens." Moscow has warned Riga that it regards the situation of the Russian-speakers in Latvia "the key issue" in bilateral relations.
    It is important in principle to ensure that the support of compatriots abroad does not evolve in a short-lived campaign. This is why the president, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Duma have pooled efforts in this direction. In his recent address to the Third Russian Press Congress Putin noted in particular that "our attention to our countrymen is not a service to a passing fashion", abut a long-term policy.
    A logical follow-up to this will be the First international congress of compatriots to be held in Moscow this coming autumn. The president has expressed the hope that the forum will help "adjust ties among the Russian-speaking communities in different countries, as well as enabling us to find practical solutions to the legal;. economic and humanitarian problems facing us."
    When the Russian president was speaking in Sevastpol about the common spiritual sources of the Russians and the Ukrainians -- charity, love, goodness -- the audience responded with an ovation. And when his Ukrainian colleague Leonid Kuchma then switched to Russian, it looked natural. The two heads of state showed that what the neighbouring people have in common, what interpenetrates both can serve as a good basis for resolving the existing problems.

Russian defence minister cool on NATO membership
Reuters World Report Friday, August 10, 2001 11:00:00 AM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.
By Jon Boyle

    MOSCOW, Aug 10 (Reuters)-- Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov on Friday dismissed talk of a speedy Russian entry into NATO, but said Moscow was interested in forging closer security ties with the Atlantic alliance.
    Joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation "in the next few years is unrealistic or extremely unlikely," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
    His comments came two days after German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told Stern magazine he welcomed a suggestion by U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice that Russia could eventually join the U.S.-led defence pact.
    "The existing NATO-Russia Council cannot be the last word in the relationship between NATO and Russia," Schroeder said. "Whoever thinks in longer historical dimensions cannot rule out NATO membership for Russia in the long term."
    The consultative NATO-Russia Council, enshrined in the 1997 Founding Act signed by the two sides, gives Moscow a say in alliance affairs but no veto.
    President Vladimir Putin first floated the intriguing idea of Russian membership shortly after assuming office in 2000. But he has also criticised NATO's drawing in of Moscow's Soviet-era allies while keeping Russia at arm's length.
    Some Russian analysts see NATO not as a military threat but as a way of excluding Russia from Europe and marginalising its interests. In July, Putin called for NATO to be disbanded and replaced by a pan-European security body that included Russia.
    YUGOSLAV NADIR
    Relations between Moscow and Brussels slumped to a post-Cold War low in March 1999, when Russia cut ties with the organisation after it launched air strikes against Yugoslavia in a bid to halt its crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
    The two sides have since taken steps to mend fences, and Russia has a 3,400-strong contingent serving with the 40,000 NATO-led peace force in the separatist Yugoslav province.
    Ivanov said that, despite differences, Moscow saw potential for closer cooperation on security issues with the alliance, notably in the Balkans and the Middle East. But he said progress should not be hurried.
    "At the same time, I have indeed noticed in my recent contacts...a certain striving of our Western partners towards security integration. This exists also on our side," he told reporters in comments broadcast on state-run RTR television.
    Interfax quoted him as saying that any cooperation had to be on an equal basis, and that Moscow would not tolerate security for one side at the expense of the other.
    Hostile to NATO expansion eastwards in general, Moscow is above all concerned that the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- former Soviet republics -- should be kept outside the Western bloc.

USSR RIP-Republics
AP US & World Saturday, August 11, 2001 12:09:00 PM
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
By The Associated Press

    The 14 republics that broke away from Russia and became independent countries at Soviet breakup in 1991:
    ------
    CAUCASUS STATES:
    ARMENIA: War, economic decline and emigration have ravaged landlocked Armenia. Christian country almost surrounded by Muslims in Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan, fought six-year war supporting ethnic Armenian separatists in Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Since 1994 truce, Armenia and Azerbaijan have failed to reach political solution.Population 3.4 million.
    AZERBAIJAN: Has strategic potential as transit country for oil exports. Has own oil reserves and natural gas, and caviar-producing sturgeon, in Caspian Sea. President Geidar Aliev accused by human rights groups of rigging elections and stifling free speech. Social safety net been strained by nearly 1 million people displaced by Nagorno-Karabakh war.Population 7.9 million.
    GEORGIA: President Eduard Shevardnadze, former Soviet foreign minister, has tried to forge closer ties to West and get Georgia out of Russia's shadow. He has brought some stability, but rampant corruption has stunted economy. Georgia fought 1992-93 war with separatists in Black Sea province of Abkhazia, and scattered clashes continue.Population 5 million.
    ------
    BALTIC REPUBLICS:
    ESTONIA: Managed to retain strong sense of national identity and relatively vibrant economy even under Soviet rule. After regaining independence, Estonia quickly implemented market reforms, and widely seen as success story of former Soviet Union. Like neighboring Latvia and Lithuania, Estonia eager to join NATO and European Union.Population 1.4 million.
    : Relatively stable, but has been rocked by recession and corruption scandals. Large ethnic Russian minority complains of discrimination under harsh laws to protect Latvian language and discourage use of Russian. Treatment of Russians also source of tension with Moscow.Population 2.4 million.
    LITHUANIA: Mainly Catholic country bordering Poland, was in vanguard of Soviet republics rallying for independence. But has not enjoyed same economic progress as other Baltic states and been battered in recent recession. Ethnic divisions less sharp than in Latvia and Estonia, because Lithuania more homogenous.Population 3.6 million.
    ------
    CENTRAL ASIA:
    KAZAKSTAN: Politics dominated by President Nursultan Nazarbayev; human rights groups accuse government of harassing opposition and independent media. Large ethnic Russian population concentrated near border with Russia. Despite vast oil reserves, oil sector has developed less quickly than expected.Population 16.8 million.
    KYRGYZSTAN: Mountainous country on China's northwest border, once praised as bastion of democracy among authoritarian neighbors. But President Askar Akayev increasingly cracked down on dissent. Army has battled Islamic separatists in south near borders with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.Population 4.5 million.
    TAJIKISTAN: Devastated by Civil war and drought. Following breakup of Soviet Union, fighting broke out between secular government and mostly Islamic opposition. 1997 truce ended war and gave rebels jobs in government and military, but some fighters have rejected deal. Heroin from Afghanistan smuggled through on way to Russia and Europe.Population 6.1 million.
    TURKMENISTAN: President Saparmurad Niyazov runs Soviet-style system with virtually no opposition or independent media. His statues and portraits are everywhere, including on national currency; cities, schools and hospitals bear his name. He has resisted economic reforms, and desert country remains poor despite vast oil and natural gas reserves.Population 4.4 million.
    UZBEKISTAN: Government says threat from Islamic militants justifies limiting civil liberties. Unsanctioned expressions of Islam, including wearing beards or traditional women's head coverings, punished with jail, expulsion from universities and harassment, human rights groups say. Has reserves of oil and natural gas, but government's resistance to reforms has deterred foreign investors.Population 24.1 million.
    ------
    OTHERS:
    BELARUS: Visitors often remark it is like traveling back in time to Soviet Union. President Alexander Lukashenko has suppressed opposition and media and has pushed to turn largely symbolic union with Russia into unified state with single currency. Most farms and factories state-owned; some prices on goods controlled.Population 10.4 million.
    MOLDOVA: Wedged between Ukraine and Romania, one of Europe's poorest countries and center for smuggling arms, gasoline and cigarettes. Ethnic Romanians make up two-thirds of population, but country has begun leaning toward Russia since communists elected to power this year. That has eased tensions in Trans-Dniester, predominantly Slav separatist region that fought brief war in 1992 over fears Moldova would reunite with Romania.Population 4.5 million.
    UKRAINE: Bordering Russia and central Europe, most populous of former Soviet republics. Boasts rich black soil, mineral resources and long coastline on Black and Azov seas. But people are sharply divided between Ukrainian nationalists and those with close cultural ties to Russia. President Leonid Kuchma accused by opposition groups of incompetence, corruption and involvement in death of investigative journalist. Population 49.8 million.

  Picture Album

A note to all you digital photo aficionados out there... our pictures aren't back yet from vacation, so we thought we'd sift through the ones from our digital camera to pick one for this week. If you have a digital camera and you can manually set your white balance, go for it! We left "automatic white balance" turned on (the default), and the dirt in the background was no where near brown (more like purple!). At any rate, after much gnashing of teeth and extensive retouching,...
...this week's picture is a rose from Silvija's mom's cousin's garden in Ieriki.

A summer rose blooms in Ieriki
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