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October 25, 2003

Sveiki, all!

It's been a bit quieter in the news, though old themes continue...

This edition's links are to EU integration.

This edition's picture is from a couple of winters past.

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 in their AOL browser: Town Square - Latvian chat. And thanks to you participating on the Latvian message board as well: LATVIA (both on AOL only).

Ar visu labu,

SilvijaPeters

 

  Latvian Link

Looking to the future, the EU Integration Net:

"This is a network of economic and political research institutes and think tanks in the ten Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) which have applied for membership in the European Union (EU). "... to be found at (English version):

http://www.euintegration.net/index.php?LANG=en&nID=10

And the Latvian participant, the Centre for European and Transition Studies:

http://home.lanet.lv/~cets/

 

  News


In Estonia, former top Soviet official named as suspect in deportations
AP WorldStream Monday, October 13, 2003 9:58:00 AM
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press
By MICHAEL TARM
Associated Press Writer

      TALLINN, Estonia (AP) -- A decorated Soviet veteran was named as a suspect in the deportation of Estonians to Siberia in the 1940s -- one of the highest profile figures ever targeted in the ex-Soviet republic's decade-long quest to bring Stalinist-era agents to trial.
      Arnold Meri, 84, is suspected of helping to deport more than 260 purported opponents of the Soviet regime from Estonia's Hiiumaa Island in 1949, several years after the Baltic state of 1.4 million people was occupied by the Soviet Union, police spokesman Henno Kuurmann said Monday.
      Estonia's Paevaleht newspaper reported that Meri is suspected of having organized and overseen the deportations on Hiiumaa, seen at the time as a bastion of anti-communist sentiment. Kuurmann, though, declined to comment on the specific role Meri might have played.
      Meri was quoted by several Estonian newspapers as denying the accusations. The Associated Press was unable to reach him for comment.
      Meri once received the Order of Lenin -- the Soviet Union's highest national award -- for fighting Nazis while part of the Red Army during World War II. He held several top posts in Soviet Estonia, including as chief adviser to the Minister of Education.
      He is the cousin of recent Estonian President Lennart Meri, who was deported himself when he was just 12 -- with his mother and father. The ex-president is an outspoken supporter of the proceedings against ex-agents, saying the main aim is to shed light on the dark Stalinist era.
      After regaining independence amid the 1991 Soviet collapse, all three Baltic states -- which include Latvia and Lithuania -- vowed to prosecute anyone who took part in Soviet atrocities, such as the deportations of over 200,000 Balts during the rule of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
      Estonia has convicted more than half a dozen ex-officials, but most were low-level agents.
      If he is convicted of crimes against humanity, Arnold Meri would face a maximum sentence of life in prison -- though most convicted officials have received suspended sentences.
      Kuurmann said the investigation of Meri could take over six months to complete, after which prosecutors would decide whether to indict him.
      Moscow has denounced the criminal proceedings against one-time Soviet officials as acts of revenge against ailing old men.

Memorial to fallen Waffen SS in Latvia draws complaints
AP WorldStream Wednesday, October 15, 2003 10:42:00 AM
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press
By TIMOTHY JACOBS
Associated Press Writer

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- A new memorial to Latvians who died fighting in Germany's Waffen SS during World War II has drawn angry criticism from Israel and Russia -- who say the state-sanctioned, marble-built monument is an affront to millions of Nazi victims.
      The 40-meter-long (yard) memorial includes the names of 11,000 men who died in battle against the Red Army etched in stone, plus an inscription reading, "We're waiting for justice to be resurrected." Some 1,000 Waffen SS soldiers are also buried around the site.
      Latvia's government donated a sixth of the 650,000 lats (US$1 million) it cost to build the memorial in the Lestene cemetery -- 70 kilometers (43 miles) west of the capital, Riga. The rest of the cost was paid with private donations.
      Minister of Culture Inguna Ribene and several lawmakers attended an unveiling ceremony last month. Latvian leaders have argued that men in the unit, also known as the Latvian Legion, were drafted or joined believing the Germans were the lesser of two evils as Soviet troops invaded.
      The Soviets occupied then-independent Latvia in 1940, Germany took over from 1941-44 before the Soviets pushed back into the Baltic state. About 250,000 Latvians ended up fighting alongside either the Germans or the Soviets -- and some 150,000 Latvians died in the fighting.
      Nearly 80,000 Jews in Latvia, 90 percent of the prewar Jewish population, were killed during the Nazi occupation. Thousands of Russian prisoners of war also died in Nazi prisoner of war camps.
      Latvia regained its independence as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
      The presence of Latvian officials at the memorial's inauguration, which included prayer services, particularly outraged Israelis, Russians and many Jewish groups.
      "It raises questions about how Latvia is treating what happened during World War II," said Clara Vesterman, an Israeli diplomat in Latvia. "Members of the Latvian SS took part in the killing of the Jews and we found it very interesting that the minister of culture was there."
      Israel's Foreign Ministry also officially protested to the Latvians, she said. Propaganda Alert
      "(This is) yet another attempt by Latvia to alter the facts of history and use mourning as a reason to promote international misunderstanding and hatred against Russia," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
      Latvians donned Waffen SS uniforms, not out of any sympathy for Nazis, but to fight against the Soviets they feared even more, said Dzintra Mihailova, council chairwoman in Lestene village, where the memorial is located.
      "These men weren't SS fascists," she said. "They were fighting for Latvia."
      "It's a terrible crime being committed right now -- all Latvians are being made to look like Nazis," added Nikolajs Romanovskis, a Waffen SS veteran who oversaw construction of the memorial. "I hope the world will understand we are victims and not Nazis."
      Most Latvian Jews were killed in 1941-42, two years before the formation of Latvia's Waffen SS -- which many Latvians say shows how the unit could not have played a role in the Holocaust.
      But Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff, who heads the Jerusalem office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, argued that as many as a third of the Latvian Waffen SS soldiers may have been involved in the murder of Jews as auxiliary police -- years before they ever entered the front-line unit.
      "The Latvians think that anyone who took up arms against the Soviet Union was a hero and should be lionized -- even if they used those arms to kill the Jews first and later to fight alongside Nazi Germany," he said, speaking from Jerusalem.
      If, as Zuroff argues, such a high proportion of Latvian Waffen SS troops did take part in earlier massacres, that means some of their names could be etched in stone on the memorial wall.

Helsinki's stock exchange to cut 60 jobs
AP WorldStream Wednesday, October 22, 2003 7:26:00 AM
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press

      HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -- In a move to save costs, the Helsinki Stock Exchange plans to cut 60 jobs, or 16 percent of its work force in Finland, after a merger with Swedish technology company OM AB which operates the Stockholm exchange.
      Most of the layoffs, to be completed by March 2004, will be in OM Technology's Finnish operations, the HEX exchange said Wednesday.
      In June, OM said it will eliminate 200 jobs in Sweden during the second half of the year in anticipation of the merger with HEX PLC which took effect Sept. 4. On Wednesday, OMHEX said 10 more positions would be cut in Sweden in the first quarter of 2004.
      In May, OM bought HEX stock worth 2.2 billion kronor (US$279.8 million) in a deal that created the Nordic region's largest securities market reaching into the Baltics. OM, which already had a 15.7 percent stake in the privately held HEX, offered 2.5 new shares for each outstanding HEX share.
      Helsinki-based HEX operates Finland's stock exchange and holds majority stakes in the stock exchanges in Estonia and Latvia. In 2001, it formed a partnership to offer access with Euronext, which is made up of exchanges in France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal.
      -- -- --
      On the Net:
      HEX: http://www.hex.fi
      OM: http://www.omgroup.com
      (mhh-mpm)

Latvia defense minister worried about Russia
Reuters World Report Friday, October 24, 2003 1:15:00 PM
Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd.
By Erik Brynhildsbakken

      RIGA, Oct 24 (Reuters) -- Latvia's defence minister said on Friday that Russia had caused an aggressive climate to develop in the countries' relations which smacked of a lack of respect for Baltic independence.
      The Baltic state, which won independence when the Soviet Union collapsed just over a decade ago, is to join NATO and the European Union in 2004 and Defence Minister Girts Valdis Kristovskis said that would force Russia to back down.
      "Some problems in the relationship between Russia and Latvia stem from Russia not recognising the (Soviet) occupation, and this has caused this unproductive and aggressive climate to develop," Kristovskis told Reuters.
      "Of course I'm worried," he said. "Our main security policy is to have good relations with all our neighbours," he said, adding Russian economic and political pressure was hampering Latvia's development.
      Many Russian bureaucrats still hark back on Russian "imperialism," Kristovskis said. "In the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs there are still a lot of diplomats and staffers steeped in the Soviet past."
      Almost one third of Latvia's 2.3 million people are ethnic Russians who settled during the Soviet years and ethnicity remains a sensitive issue.
      Kristovskis said some politicians running for elections to Russia's State Duma lower house had been trying to drum up support by whipping up resentment about the treatment of Latvia's Russian minority.
      "Russian statements against Latvia and the other Baltic states are especially aggressive in election years, and now they are in an election year," he said of the accusations of poor treatment of ethnic Russians.
      BORDER SPATS
      Latvia regained its independence in 1991, but its relationship with Russia has been uneasy ever since. Baltic leaders and analysts say only entry into NATO and the EU will normalise Baltic-Russian relations.
      Border spats, economic arm-twisting and opposition to NATO entry have strained relations between Moscow and the leaders of Latvia, and fellow Baltic states, Lithuania and Estonia.
      Kristovskis cited Russia's refusal to agree a border treaty with Latvia was a prime example of Russia's attitude to the Baltics, but said Russia would be forced to back down once the region was part of NATO and EU.
      "Then it would be Russia against either the NATO or the EU."
      NATO membership has been the key foreign policy aim for the Baltics since 1991, but the trio were prevented from being part of the first eastern wave of enlargement due to fierce Russian opposition against having NATO in its "near abroad."
      The NATO ticket was assured with invitations to seven East Europe countries including the Baltics last year, but Russia is still staunchly opposed to any NATO bases in the Baltic region.
      Kristovskis said Latvia was on track with all preparations for entry into the defence alliance and that the government should gradually increase defence spending to keep up with NATO's own sweeping reforms.
      "We must gradually increase our defence spending by $100 million in the next 3-4 years," he said. The 2004 budget proposal puts defence spending at about $165 million.

HIV, TB Concern European Health Officials
AP Online Thursday, October 23, 2003 11:49:00 AM
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press
By DOUG MELLGREN
Associated Press Writer

      OSLO, Norway (AP) -- Top European health officials will gather in Oslo next week to address severe health problems facing Russia and the Baltic states, including HIV and tuberculosis.
      The 16-nation meeting includes health ministers, the European Commission, the World Health Organization and others. They are expected to create a group to promote public health dubbed the "Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being."
      The partnership is made up of European Union countries plus Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Norway, Iceland and organizations. The United States and Canada were also sending representatives to the meeting.
      Differences in income, health care and cases of infectious disease remain vast between the wealthy countries of northwestern Europe and their neighbors in the former Soviet Bloc.
      Joergen Kaurin, of the Norwegian health ministry, said at a pre-meeting briefing that the 122-mile Arctic border between Norway and northwestern Russia probably "has the world's greatest social difference."
      Per capita earnings in the Nordic countries, for example, can be 10 to 15 times those of Russia, Latvia, Estonia or Lithuanian, he said.
      In 2001, Norwegians had a life expectancy of 79 years, compared to 65.3 years for neighboring Russians, the World Health Organization said.
      The same year, the Baltic state of Estonia reported 1,470 new cases of HIV/AIDS, more than the 1,310 total cases that Finland -- just a short ferry ride away -- has reported in its history. With a population of 5.2 million, Finland has more than three times as many residents as does Estonia.
      In 2000, Norway reported 4.9 cases of tuberculosis per 100,000 people, compared to 94.6 cases in Russia, WHO figures show.
      "Tuberculosis is a poor person's disease," said Kaurin, adding that the ex-Soviet republics typically lack the money needed to pay for treatment.
      "And poor treatment, incomplete treatment makes it worse because resistance (to drugs) increases," he said.
      Kaurin said that even though "infections know no borders" there is little evidence of any broad scale spread of disease from east to west.
      The final declaration, which Kaurin said likely to be accepted without change, identifies two key areas for the project: prevention of major public health problems and promoting social well-being.
      The preventive measures including fighting infectious diseases, illegal drug use, cardiovascular disease and poor living conditions through health care reforms, increased cooperation between various agencies, such as health care and social services, and increased monitoring of citizen's health.
      The project hopes to promote social well-being by spreading information about the risks of smoking, alcohol and unsafe sex.
      The meeting is not expected to pledge funding, but to start programs designed to help the eastern countries reform their health systems, import expertise and deal with the basic causes of disease.

EU: Russia should drop trade barriers against Estonia
AP WorldStream Thursday, October 23, 2003 11:34:00 AM
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press
By MICHAEL TARM
Associated Press Writer

      TALLINN, Estonia (AP) -- The European Union says it expects Russia to drop what are seen as punitively high trade tariffs on Estonian goods when the Baltic state joins the EU next year. Moscow, however, has given no indication it intends to heed the call.
      "We very much hope they will eliminate (the tariffs)," Arancha Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, told The Associated Press Thursday. "It would be discriminatory treatment against Estonia if they aren't."
      The tariffs, which double the standard trade duties on all Estonian products, have severely hampered Estonian access to neighboring Russia's markets and have remained a major bilateral irritant since they were imposed in 1995.
      Many Estonians said the tariffs were politically motivated, with Moscow at the time expressing displeasure with Estonia's pro-West, pro-NATO bent and with what it alleged were citizenship policies that discriminated against Estonia's large Russian minority.
      The Baltic Sea country of 1.4 million people is one of just a handful of countries globally that must pay the double tariffs. Russia has granted all other ex-Soviet republics, including Estonia's two Baltic neighbors, Latvia and Lithuania, most-favored-trading status.
      Before Estonia's successful EU referendum last month, leaders here said Russia would have no choice but to drop the barriers when Estonia joins the bloc. The tariffs will violate a 1994 EU-Russia accord obliging Moscow to grant all EU states favored-trade status, they argued.
      Gonzalez said that was also the EU's position.
      "We have drawn (Russia's) attention to the fact that Estonia will have to be treated like any other EU member state when it joins," she said, speaking by telephone from Brussels. "We have discussed this with Russia. If it doesn't happen, we will take it from there."
      Many Estonian business leaders say they aren't convinced Russia will abolish the tariffs, saying they expect Moscow to dig in its heels and demand negotiations on the issue.
      "Nothing will change," Raivo Vare, who heads Estonia's Pakterminal oil-transit company, was quoted as saying in Estonia's Paevaleht daily Thursday. "They (Russian authorities) will find 110 ways how to avoid doing it."
      Russia hasn't declared its official stand.
      "It's a rather difficult question," Dmitri Ivanov, press spokesman for the Russian embassy in Estonia, told AP. "It is still under discussion." He declined to elaborate.
      Before the Soviet Union unraveled in 1991, a majority of Estonian exports went to Russia. Today, less than 10 percent do, with the EU by far the largest trading partner now.
      Tariffs weren't the only reason many Estonian producers gave up on Russia. Many concluded in the 1990s that Russian markets were too unstable and chose instead to forge trade links with wealthier countries like Finland and Sweden.
 

  Picture Album

With winter coming to New York, we think about colder days in Riga, too!

Sheds in the Pardaugava
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