Comments

Asehpe

Well, what could one expect? If they think the USSR had no responsibility in the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and that the occupation of the Baltic States was small potatoes... what else can we do, other than keep repeating the obvious?

12 Nov 2009 (Netherlands)

Andris

Mr. Karasin needs to be educated on some WWII basics: MOLOTOV RIBBENTROP PACT, Or I suppose that was all a lie... I find it humerous how a nation of 142 million can blame a nation of 2.5 million for so much !

12 Nov 2009 (United States)

Alfreds Blekis

Nothing to worry about Mr. Karasin. Anyone can see he has no solid basis in his so called arguement about us (non-democratic?) Latvians. If I am not mistaken there are approximetly 700,000 Russians living in California and a good number of them came after 1990. Is he not going to criticize the U.S.A. for forcing the English language on the Russians, thus making the Russian language as secondery? Comming to the subject of discrimination in the labor market I remember when I was in Latvia how Latvians were discriminated by the Russians during the communist era. Russians holding the higher positions and the main language being Russian. But don't worry. Now the majority of businesses in Latvia, if one business does not have Russian workers then it will have a hard time to communicate or Russians will charge the company for discrimination. He has a point when he says that one cannot equate the then Soviet Union to Nazi Germany. Under Germanys Nazi government 10,000,000 people were put to death and under Stalin 30,000,000.

14 Nov 2009 (United States)

Roy

I guess that this issue will go on for many years without resolution. It is, though, important to see both sides of the argument from the perspective of the residents of Latvia. On the one hand are those of ethnic Latvian origin who are justly proud of their rich culture which was rescued from what was rightly perceived to be deliberate cultural cleansing by the Soviet authorities from the 1940s onwards. On the other hand, though, there are the hundreds of thousands of ordinary people of Russian origins who find themselves in Latvia, the vast majority of whom are proud to call themselves Latvians nowadays. Most are second - and third-generation "immigrants" who do not identify themselves with Russia at all. For the Russian government to use these people as pawns in a strategy to extend Russian influence (or even to re-consitute the Soviet Union) is likely to be counter-productive since it inevitably perpetuates the ethnic divide in Latvia. At the same time, the Latvian government should now show its confidence in Latvia's independence by considering defusing the issue by granting citizenship to all who live in Latvia.

19 Nov 2009 (Great Britain (UK))

Edite

If it wasn't so extremely important for the truth to be told in historical context, Karasin's comments could be viewed as absolutely comical if they were accompanied with actual visual footage of Soviet crimes against humanity (we are not speaking about Nazis at this point, but all other Eastern European countries that were besieged by the Soviets.) The disconnect between what Karasin is purporting happened will not reflect the truth of what is shown on the screen or in photos of that time. Karasin must believe all in the West are stupid and incapable of distinguishing between truth and fiction. His silly efforts in complaining about discrimination are laughable and deserve to be dismissed out of hand. One example of Soviet claims of discrimination lies in the story that when Soviet military troops that still remained in Latvia for a time, after re-independence in 1991, cried foul when they were now required to pay for their bus, train and trolley fares, which they did not pay for over 50 years during the illegal occupation. Now I ask, how petty is that? Every school child knows that when one travels on a commercial bus, train or airplane, one must pay a fee for that priviledge. Why is it that the Russian leadership cannot figure out how absolutely ridulous they sound about all of their complaints. They can't all be stupid... or can they? When a country has a Putin (KGB, GRU, NKVD) and a buddy, Medvedev, and other KGB cohorts leading Russians, can they really trust what their politicians say when they all know they have been trained to lie, lie, lie.

19 Nov 2009 (Canada)

Alfreds Blekis

Roy, I agree with all that you had written except that Latvia does grant citizenship to all who live in Latvia including non Latvians. Case in point.The Vietnamese who were sent by the communist Vietnamese government to the Soviet Union as a payback to Moscow for it's military aid to the Vietnamese government. These Vietnamese workers were sent to different satellites, one of them being Latvia. Up to this day there are those who are still there. The same can be said about the Russians who were either born in the Baltic States before 1990 or who have been living there before that date.

21 Nov 2009 (United States)

Juris (George) Dale

What USSR has done to Latvia and its people, there should be no Russians in Latvia, unless they are proper citizens of Latvia, speak fluent Latvian, and know the true history of Latvia, NOT one made up by USSR. I lost my entire family in 1940 and 1944.

28 Dec 2009 (United States)

Alex

It is unfortunate that in Russia there is this continued misinformation about WW2. But I have to say that it is unfortunate that Latvia decided to not give citizenship to the the people who lived in their country at the break up. Especially since the majority of the ethnic russians were in favor of an independent Latvia. Now the result is a large portion of the population who could have been strong patriots of a democratic Latvia have a more pessimistic view of the country they were born in yet have to apply to be a part of mostly because of their ethnicity. This is a backwards way to preserve a country and culture which I am afraid will backfire.

29 Dec 2009 (United States)