tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798631908134392282024-02-06T19:57:22.743-08:00The4thAwakeningE Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-14946784237161680212011-09-15T12:31:00.000-07:002012-01-08T01:45:08.386-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><strong><span lang="LV" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: LV; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I have a new BLOGSPOT. See: <a href="http://mywealthvirus.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: purple;">http://mywealthvirus.blogspot.com/</span></a></span></strong><br />
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<strong>The text below is in Latvian. It is a Open Letter to the Latvian public calling to VOTE on September 17th by casting an EMPTY ballot. The letter also calls for the resignation of the Latvian President Andris Berzins immediately following the elections. The blogger believes that the current President of Latvia was illegally elected. That is to say, he was elected by a Latvian Saeima, which the previous President of Latvia, Valdis Zatlers, had dismissed as corrupt. This dismissal was subsequently confirmed by the public through a Referendum vote. The following link states the results (in Latvian): <a href="http://www.delfi.lv/news/referendums-2011/zinas/referenduma-oficialie-rezultati-10saeima-atlaista-ar-650-518-balsim.d?id=39788569">http://www.delfi.lv/news/referendums-2011/zinas/referenduma-oficialie-rezultati-10saeima-atlaista-ar-650-518-balsim.d?id=39788569</a> vote.</strong><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhRsQNXNMHrQW8iYAn_m-gT9XsrU6U_O91SbgcL1zrC1xA3gK1cRod3cm8LK33O9gN8dtGRXGCTBomS_uKLfaiXIEa6EK3kleCfcWJhBwW2_to_f8QH_xvBLfWP44ScPuRRVKRysX2Fhqs/s1600/DSCF7103.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhRsQNXNMHrQW8iYAn_m-gT9XsrU6U_O91SbgcL1zrC1xA3gK1cRod3cm8LK33O9gN8dtGRXGCTBomS_uKLfaiXIEa6EK3kleCfcWJhBwW2_to_f8QH_xvBLfWP44ScPuRRVKRysX2Fhqs/s640/DSCF7103.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Labdien!</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "English Font"; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">ATKLĀTA VĒSTULE TAUTAI.</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "English Font"; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Jau labu laiku rakstu (Latvians On Line </span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "English Font"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="http://latviansonline.com/forum/viewthread/34327/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: purple;">http://latviansonline.com/forum/viewthread/34327/</span></span></a></span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">), ka vienīgais veids kā pozitīvi iespaidot un panākt nepieciešamās politiskās pārmaiņas Latvijā ir </span></b><place><city><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">BALSOT</span></b></city><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></b><state><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">AR</span></b></state></place><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> TUKŠU APLOKSNI.</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "English Font"; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Saprotu dažādos iebildumus šāda veida protestam pret korupciju Latvijas politiskās aprindās, tomēr ir skaidri redzams, ka Saeimas atlaišana nekādi neieviesa Latvijas mēdijos populistu viedokļus par valdību, tās korumpētību, un cerības uz reālām parmaiņām. Tieši otrādi, populistiskos (publikas) viedokļus vairāk vai mazāk represēja kā politiskās aprindas, tā daudzi mēdiju avoti un žurnalisti, un debates notiek ļoti seklā līmenī, ja mēdiju stingri monitorētās diskusijas pat var nosaukt par debatēm.</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "English Font"; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Mans personīgais "populistiskais" viedoklis ir, ka tagadējais Latvijas Prezidents Andris Bērziņš ir korumpētas Saeimas iebalsots ārzemju banku ieliktenis. Tā kā balsotāji atzīst Saeimu par korumpētu iestādi, tai nebija un nav morālas tiesības A. Berziņu ievēlēt. Tomēr, tāpēc, ka tas tā ir noticis, Prezidentam Andrim Bērziņam ir no Prezidenta amata jāatkāpjas jau 18. septembrī, tas ir, dienu pēc vēlēšanām.</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "English Font"; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Vispaviršākais novērotājs var secināt, ka Prezidents Andris Bērziņš izvairās no valdibas korumpētības debatēm, jo piedaloties tiks pievērsta sabiedrības uzmanība viņam pašam. Neizbēgams ir jautājums, kas ir tie (un kas aiz tiem) kuri ieteica Andri Berziņu Prezidenta amatam ieteica un vaskoja viņam slēpes, lai sīkais oligarhs varētu ieslēpot Rigas pilī pār akmens bruģi. Man personīgi nav šaubas, ka viņa aizmugurē ir ārzemju bankas (iespējams zviedru). Katrā ziņā Prezidents Andris Bērziņš nevar izvairīties no šādām aizdomām, kuras izsauc viņa darbība kā bankas prezidents kādai zviedru bankas filiālei. Neatvairāmas aizdomas prasīt prasa, ka A. Bērziņš no Prezidenta amata atsakās, un piedalās jaunās Prezidenta vēlēšanās, kurās Prezidents tiek ievēlēts no tautas tiešā ceļā.</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "English Font"; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Vienīgais ceļš, kā panākt KONSEKVENTU DARBĪBU bez tālākās gurķošanās ir </span></b><place><city><u><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">BALSOT</span></b></city><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></b><state><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">AR</span></b></state></place></u><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><u> TUKŠU APLOKSNI</u>. Jo lielāks šāda veida balsotāju skaitlis un procents, jo skaidrāks kļūs latviešu tautas neapmierinātība ar ne tikai iepriekšējo atlaisto valdību, bet par debašu represiju vairāku mēnešu garumā pirms vēlēšanām sestdien, 17. septembrī.</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "English Font"; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Paldies par uzmanību un atsaucību.</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "English Font"; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Antons Benjamiņš, aka Jaņdžs</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "English Font"; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></b></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-63777429192091301692011-09-10T07:55:00.000-07:002011-09-10T09:59:36.875-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A Dead Chicken at Latvia’s Doorstep (XIV)</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOEGOghGo-xpq-WAxKVb5h2hCg0a4Xjrr1uaH78X0Hw8_5Dv8YIga_dLqlI1OlCkT2o6MK3W0KEuTxAKaobIwx9iJOYJvSziHuBAA_nlD30gsymSW2V9wGtJ7jX5HtL8_WrKFt6jAWynbE/s1600/DSCF7047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOEGOghGo-xpq-WAxKVb5h2hCg0a4Xjrr1uaH78X0Hw8_5Dv8YIga_dLqlI1OlCkT2o6MK3W0KEuTxAKaobIwx9iJOYJvSziHuBAA_nlD30gsymSW2V9wGtJ7jX5HtL8_WrKFt6jAWynbE/s640/DSCF7047.JPG" width="640" /></a><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But we cannot regain contact with meaning if we rely on the fallacious base that persists from the past. The critical thinking that we have absorbed</i> [as a civilization] <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is opposed to dead meaning, ….</i>” </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">–Jean-Michael Oughoirlian in “Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World,” by Rene Girard.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The above sentence, taken from the concluding chapter of the above mentioned book, struck me apropo the elections coming up in Latvia on September 17<sup>th</sup>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Rene Girard, to whom the above statement is directed, has just made a remark with regard to the state of our global civilization. Girard claims that our contemporary patterns of thought have fallen into a pattern of “Puritanism [that] dessicates every text and spreads the most deadening boredom even in the newest situations.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Girard goes on: “It is important for us to rediscover something in which we can believe, but there must be no cheating, either with the conditions that are forced upon us by the terrible world in which we live or in terms of those that dictate that the most rigorous research must do without any form of ethnocentrism, or even any form of anthropocentrism.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Ethnocentrism: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnocentrism"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnocentrism</span></a> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Anthropocentrism: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocentrism"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocentrism</span></a> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZxwpuj97QGHUtwa5k7IbkNQFzuyALSOm6sibujXi3t7w-XgsmF-4OHj_Yg338xTLSTxuuXEKiaz6F2O6uelWbyJUCC6zCD54zw8RSe-ItzZhJNrQ415WVGgnoNLauHmAF6PNwPpQGm-rv/s1600/DSCF7039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZxwpuj97QGHUtwa5k7IbkNQFzuyALSOm6sibujXi3t7w-XgsmF-4OHj_Yg338xTLSTxuuXEKiaz6F2O6uelWbyJUCC6zCD54zw8RSe-ItzZhJNrQ415WVGgnoNLauHmAF6PNwPpQGm-rv/s400/DSCF7039.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">What this has to do with the recent dismissal of the Latvian Saeima, the election of a President by the dismissed Saeima (the result of which is that the country is presided over by a man likely representing the interests of foreign banks), and a election campaign for a new Saeima that both looks and smells like a week old chicken on our doorstep, is that “dead meaning” taints every Latvian with its stench.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">On the other hand, it is maybe not so extraordinary after all, because all of Europe today stinks like “dead meaning” might.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">In Latvia, as well as the rest of Europe, “civilization” has come to an end, not by the will of humankind as a whole, but by “dead meaning” thrust upon it by about 0.1% of the total population. This unique minority is the so-called corporate individual, sometimes called “oligarch”, but in fact a relentlessly mindless corporation said to have a <a href="http://www.icel.ie/userfiles/image/_E3B1547.JPG"><span style="color: purple;">human face</span></a>. This grotesque individual, “dead” by the fact of straight faced <a href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Books/Pix/pictures/2009/12/16/1260957295386/Magician-pulling-a-rabbit-001.jpg"><span style="color: purple;">delusions</span></a>, even if some see them as a group such as the <a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wjzpToaJL._SL500_AA300_.jpg"><span style="color: purple;">Bilderbergers</span></a>, for example. A Latvian, <a href="http://www.robertamsterdam.com/piebalgs.jpg"><span style="color: purple;">Andris Piebalgs</span></a>, acts as an advisor to the Bilderbergers. Balloons were floated to find out if he would be a candidate for the presidency. He declined on career considerations. He is the Energy Commissioner for the EU.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiffHc8lqOlKoVUnFR7m_5MDIpjd0_rufTQxqYJODSpZmej1PJ-RovGGp9e2-bG4vvQ68rA8hyphenhyphenA02fC-AeeucJNfBX94rFxjhKifq1VybLtf9Iy0MOUMOJxSbaBNRjShNA04hGMtDGH7ww/s1600/DSCF7042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiffHc8lqOlKoVUnFR7m_5MDIpjd0_rufTQxqYJODSpZmej1PJ-RovGGp9e2-bG4vvQ68rA8hyphenhyphenA02fC-AeeucJNfBX94rFxjhKifq1VybLtf9Iy0MOUMOJxSbaBNRjShNA04hGMtDGH7ww/s400/DSCF7042.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The “dead meaning” floats past this writer’s eyes as the dead body of a man he saw from a tourist’s boat on the Ganges rowing past <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigqyrpQ4oCv8Tn3MNAbvH1jb5hZ92x9CQzH_uKJlXtpG0lblTUx_2yXZoSz-UZD7HKweDyr7sI6TMIkLbZGv4WmxZoUeYOJTwAUq8V_j-ktcqjBswCRXNgYX63nEgdhx5I5zSKldbZGUS2/s1600/2009.11.19+Varanasi+169.jpg"><span style="color: purple;">Varanasi</span></a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With that body floats Europe and Latvia, the latter a dead-Soviet state, but with a western face. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Glory be to sanctimonium. In Latvia, it is not possible to replace the word<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“God” with the word “Sun”, because the anthem is “sacred” and the Sun is unimportant compared to it. The humour of it is that proto-Latvians, the Latvians who lived before 1918 (the year of the founding of Latvia) had the Sun as their female Dearest Goddess. The post-1918 Latvia is firmly established in the mind of nearly every Latvian as the collective “dead meaning”. The future is to keep going on the basis of inertia, a new Saeima to follow the dismissed old one as readily as a hen lays <a href="http://newsleaks.in/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/double-egg_newsleaks-300x240.jpg"><span style="color: purple;">two eggs</span></a>, one after the other.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">If one is looking for a revolution in Latvia or Europe, one has to think of how to disassemble the corporate individual protected on all sides by phallanxes of attorneys and minds dedicated to legality over egality. There have been many proposals over the years, but all made sure that everything was “democratic” and that “human rights” are respected so much so that neither corporate individuals nor soldiers with the country at war should be sentenced to death. The “dead meaning” (the over-justification of why the corporate individual should not be given the ax) gives the reader the chance here and now to go—as they say in Latvian—“Ka-plunk!”.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_woqhi51bsHMsIHX2YxHavpS5xRtB5Bzn5dEUtY0-BOPDKuVUndYQ7__wbAqyRdwpTPFnxOOUTHBGBRGlEm_Lok4TPWAPJ4mVaLVlCvhAwG6nasX_aDgX9c00ZkudxmZsVXVq5kFpvvDB/s1600/DSCF7045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_woqhi51bsHMsIHX2YxHavpS5xRtB5Bzn5dEUtY0-BOPDKuVUndYQ7__wbAqyRdwpTPFnxOOUTHBGBRGlEm_Lok4TPWAPJ4mVaLVlCvhAwG6nasX_aDgX9c00ZkudxmZsVXVq5kFpvvDB/s640/DSCF7045.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">So, what can the Europeans and Latvians whose minds have been clogged with “dead meaning” do? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">In practical terms, I will stick with what I have advocated before: Go <a href="http://www.cinematex.ro/posters/27/movie27981.jpg"><span style="color: purple;">vote</span></a>, but drop into the ballot box an empty ballot. Another thing, the proto-Latvians lived among themselves much more democratically when their habitat was the wood and the small clearing they made there for themselves. In terms of human habitat, Europe then was a much better place on Earth than it is today. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZyUaX-rhbkmDRHmuAguq1IUPuNRo5PwviH_8Pq1VtaFOy5ibDqIKlheS_Tcscl71QpN3FzVPfO256t04MCIvWchKM6uHLDB1ddlqPTX37w6e4QNRWSYPeI8_nsTUk7TOvBw7yTvnGT7BX/s1600/DSCF7043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZyUaX-rhbkmDRHmuAguq1IUPuNRo5PwviH_8Pq1VtaFOy5ibDqIKlheS_Tcscl71QpN3FzVPfO256t04MCIvWchKM6uHLDB1ddlqPTX37w6e4QNRWSYPeI8_nsTUk7TOvBw7yTvnGT7BX/s400/DSCF7043.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The world today, too, would be a much better place if human beings took back their right to be human without corporate advice or interference. </span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Latvians and Europeans could be among the first in the world to take the Earth back from the not so virtual infantiles.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Go drop into the box a blank vote and get rid of "dead meaning".</span></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-89383357258612192082011-09-02T05:39:00.000-07:002011-09-07T02:25:18.656-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chickens Which Ran in All Directions</span></b></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Have Become Chickens Come to Roost (XIII)</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRP8m1TiblvvN2LjnuT-iIIKb0Nf_2lCQ5NIVNOkRLzDJIwC-omaogqWVHOoLUFBOxngA5E6S-IazZUtHv8wxuMURwzNK_EnGzV-E50iZTR_pJqVyTlBw_xNXILlnKCZZAbXFtr0LNoO-/s1600/DSCF7156.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRP8m1TiblvvN2LjnuT-iIIKb0Nf_2lCQ5NIVNOkRLzDJIwC-omaogqWVHOoLUFBOxngA5E6S-IazZUtHv8wxuMURwzNK_EnGzV-E50iZTR_pJqVyTlBw_xNXILlnKCZZAbXFtr0LNoO-/s640/DSCF7156.JPG" width="640" xaa="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div closure_uid_6dc8jt="115">A picturesque view from the road.</div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><div closure_uid_dyv1xi="75"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span><span closure_uid_5z7h69="161" lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Latvia is about to get leaders who cannot lead anyone, anywhere, who have no plans for the future, no idea where they come from. </span></div><div closure_uid_dyv1xi="75"><br />
</div></div><h2 style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></h2><h2 closure_uid_6dc8jt="61" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As for the future, none of the current slate of political candidates has risked his or her neck arguing or speculating about a future that has a chance to create a society for long-term survival. This is why they have no <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real politik</i> projections, only cynical and self-serving plans. As for the past of Latvia, the Latvian leadership lacks any real sense of it, leaving it begin (and die) with the declaration of Latvia’s independence in 1918. </span></h2><div closure_uid_6dc8jt="61" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><h2 style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></h2><h2 closure_uid_dyv1xi="76" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">For all of three generations now [70+ years since Karlis Ulmanis demise and his decommission of Latvians as a self-conscious and self-assertive community (1939)] the Latvian community—both in Latvia and abroad—has slithered about its own slippery gore, never quite able to manage an analysis of what happened to create circumstances that this should be so.</span></h2><div closure_uid_dyv1xi="76" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><h2 style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></h2><h2 closure_uid_dyv1xi="77" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This writer has written about the past of the Latvian people in many blogs. His major conclusion may be summed up in a few words: a forest people are not a peasant people. </span></h2><div closure_uid_dyv1xi="77" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><h2 style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></h2><h2 closure_uid_dyv1xi="78" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">No doubt, the Latvian people have been forest and field dwellers, farmers, both. However, the Latvian roots in the forest, which is at the core being of Latvians (or proto-Latvians) have been deliberately erased by a myth that forced to the fore the story about Latvians slogging the plowed field as an exploited peasant <a href="http://uploads4.wikipaintings.org/images/vincent-van-gogh/sketches-of-peasant-plowing-with-horses-1890.jpg!xlMedium.jpg"><span style="color: purple;">http://uploads4.wikipaintings.org/images/vincent-van-gogh/sketches-of-peasant-plowing-with-horses-1890.jpg!xlMedium.jpg</span></a> . </span></h2><div closure_uid_dyv1xi="78" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGPf8EYBNB9qtHCJ1RA1MgzlBw_mttH5elKs8QuN_7oXgWbtmy66a7bNGXa6N9FKKMvcq43UUsZFs2Q630GiBtbZBtkxFsHZIQ4QeBjnX9GZAJxUSCsbQbfucHvPxcQxnse_gnf7GZWsvF/s1600/DSCF7158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGPf8EYBNB9qtHCJ1RA1MgzlBw_mttH5elKs8QuN_7oXgWbtmy66a7bNGXa6N9FKKMvcq43UUsZFs2Q630GiBtbZBtkxFsHZIQ4QeBjnX9GZAJxUSCsbQbfucHvPxcQxnse_gnf7GZWsvF/s640/DSCF7158.JPG" width="640" xaa="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" closure_uid_5z7h69="215" style="text-align: center;">An afternoon sun</td></tr>
</tbody></table><h2 closure_uid_5z7h69="162" closure_uid_dyv1xi="103" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span><span closure_uid_dyv1xi="113" lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In other words, the Proto-Latvians, a people once politically free and democratic, with a language that celebrated the endearing word, with community and word protected from violence by the forests about them [which forest encouraged socio economic equality] were turned into uncertain democrats, urban dwellers no longer able to see the panorama of the whole (present, past, or future), but who present themselves as a demoralized pack of ‘elites’ and politicians of Riga. They are all happily setting the ship of state ever more adrift into the plastic rubbish at the centre of our planet’s seas.</span></h2><div closure_uid_5z7h69="162" closure_uid_dyv1xi="103" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><h2 style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></h2><h2 closure_uid_dyv1xi="104" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_6dc8jt="114" closure_uid_dyv1xi="112" lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">While the Latvian people are correct to rate the occupation of the Soviet Union (in 1939 <a href="http://www.worldology.com/Europe/images/wwii_1939_ussr_baltic.jpg"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.worldology.com/Europe/images/wwii_1939_ussr_baltic.jpg</span></a> ) as a cruel blow to their existence as a community, this writer has been constant in pointing to the betrayal of the Latvian community by Karlis Ulmanis as a major contributing factor to the community’s demoralization, not to mention perversion of the state. </span></h2><div closure_uid_dyv1xi="104" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><h2 style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></h2><h2 closure_uid_dyv1xi="105" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_6dc8jt="113" lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">An unfortunate and no doubt once confused President Karlis Ulmanis is today variously accused of having<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>been a fascist dictator and/or a martyr to the Soviet Gulag—factors that play a part in what happened. However, the real “occupation” was accomplished by Ulmanis himself, when with no protest against an event that necessitated the shedding of his blood (if he was to avoid sheeding the blood of Latvians), he surrendered his personal job—presidency by dictat—for a job as an agronomer in the Soviet Union. Yes, Ulmanis died in a Gulag as the result of an outbreak of war between the Soviet Union and Germany <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa</span></a> , not because the Soviets had scheduled him for execution there. Whatever the ideals of President Ulmanis may have been, his last acts denied them all.</span></h2><div closure_uid_dyv1xi="105" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><h2 style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></h2><h2 closure_uid_dyv1xi="106" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_6dc8jt="102" lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">While political science recognizes such an event as “founding violence” <a href="http://www.bluffton.edu/~mastg/Girard.htm"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.bluffton.edu/~mastg/Girard.htm</span></a> , Ulmanis is responsible for creating a decommissioning violence, a mortal (potentially) psychological blow <a href="http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/38434/Trauma.pdf"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/38434/Trauma.pdf</span></a> , which has been in effect since Ulmanis' nation-negating deed. </span></h2><div closure_uid_dyv1xi="106" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><h2 style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></h2><h2 closure_uid_dyv1xi="108" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_6dc8jt="101" closure_uid_dyv1xi="111" lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As a result of Ulmanis decommissioning of the State of Latvia (in a moral sense, one proud of itself), he created psychological conditions that have not been overcome to this day. This is not to negate the spirit of the Latvians who were outraged by the occupation and joined the Germans in attacking the Soviets. It is true that later (when easy guesses were belatedly acknowledged) the Latvians also turned against the German military. However, what needs highlighting is the fact that as a result of Ulmanis’ betrayal of the self-esteem of the community through his personal actions rather than acting through communal deliberations, the Latvian people, suddenly decommissioned psychologically, reacted to war and its violence emotionally as if it were liberating. The leaderless nation did not act with deliberation and rationally as it ought to have done.</span></h2><h2 closure_uid_dyv1xi="108" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h2><h2 style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></h2><h2 closure_uid_dyv1xi="107" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_6dc8jt="100" closure_uid_dyv1xi="110" lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As a result of the communal emotional state left to the winds and communal affairs not a matter of communally deliberated decision-making, the reputation of the Latvian legionnaires became exposed as much to eroneous action as to excuse-making that never examines the root cause of the psychologically induced uncertainty that haunts the psyche of Latvians today. History slip-slides as shallow men will let it. Certainly, a negation of Latvian history, whether in the far- or near-time, suits the current political elite and their sponsors. </span></h2><div closure_uid_dyv1xi="107" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><h2 style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></h2><h2 closure_uid_dyv1xi="109" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">To conclude: It is not the community-nation that is the concern of the current political elites. It is not the nation as a culturally sustainable entity that interests them. What is in the forefront of interest today are narrow and self-serving political schemes. </span></h2><div closure_uid_dyv1xi="109" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><h2 style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></h2><h2 style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">One ought not be surprised that the future of Latvia is never envisaged as, say, the land which may give Europe its future capital. It is well for the existing system that Latvia remain at the system’s periphery, where it can be exploited as borderlands generally are. That is also where the lands of the dead are traditionally found.</span></h2><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBQxuTHZ1G-QY6JJMcFtmaPpCpg5h-wBVKKDHqFvSueQSl9IKSk4qR6JLzkT12sA1XnpVD_u8p776Sw7Pl_ETr3R-n6kNVrHSqV6ReDL3Hc20s5l_S1FlCHbc2aBU_I8Td3kK8Aye4CiG/s1600/DSCF7159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBQxuTHZ1G-QY6JJMcFtmaPpCpg5h-wBVKKDHqFvSueQSl9IKSk4qR6JLzkT12sA1XnpVD_u8p776Sw7Pl_ETr3R-n6kNVrHSqV6ReDL3Hc20s5l_S1FlCHbc2aBU_I8Td3kK8Aye4CiG/s640/DSCF7159.JPG" width="640" xaa="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The road turning right.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><h2 closure_uid_5z7h69="216" closure_uid_6dc8jt="62" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span><span closure_uid_5z7h69="236" lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Jaņdžs, aka Eso Antons Benjamiņš, 2. september, 2011-09-02.</span></h2></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-53019881966012241382011-08-26T05:26:00.000-07:002011-08-27T23:39:13.611-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chickens Running in All Directions</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(XII)</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEKQMUEafwzAJzbhLp_h0NLNfyqIDZe4vSq9Z2XWZ3Vt5P_hnk9vvUZZVQCRbLyzsd2v-CX6pDN6VPNbK_PCcyRN0VQVkkbfd7TDB5j8nJSHScPIQy5EJDbUb6ZTLSXfcXDdFVKFe595Lu/s1600/Riga19%252C2011+002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEKQMUEafwzAJzbhLp_h0NLNfyqIDZe4vSq9Z2XWZ3Vt5P_hnk9vvUZZVQCRbLyzsd2v-CX6pDN6VPNbK_PCcyRN0VQVkkbfd7TDB5j8nJSHScPIQy5EJDbUb6ZTLSXfcXDdFVKFe595Lu/s640/Riga19%252C2011+002.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_srica9="682" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Who is a heavyweight? I mean a heavyweight in a charismatic way.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I know that every star of whatever brightness is believed to be a heavyweight. However, this is a suspect presumption. The twinkle of a star may be but a twinkle.</span></div><div closure_uid_srica9="563" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The charisma of a heavyweight calls back to my mind the office of the Sacred King, the mythological, but not always, figure of ‘ancient’ times. This was a man, and sometimes a woman, who did real things in such a way that he-she earned themselves a place in a nation-founding myth. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Before the founding myth there was no Sacred King or Queen to guide society beyond the mother, children, and wandering Son circle. The members of this group were so much into each other that they seldom fought with each other. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Nevertheless, this incredibly tight knot, which was bound by incest [might this have been the original Gordian knot?] was often visited by exceptions: unforgettable murders. The murder by Cain of Abel belongs to this genre. The war between kings Paris of Troy and Menelaus of Sparta for the living body of Queen Helen was likely due to the fact that Helen’s bed was too close to that of her brothers. Such intimate relationships have long been erased from the founding story, whether the Bible or myth. Nevertheless, the story is a near perfect example of pareidolia </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">in story telling. One may see this type of pareidolia as deliberate in order to facilitate the sometimes repressed mind. The ‘Mind’ of Western society fits the bill.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRu6-cw12fnU1gCnXv6lHQMOsg3TskfCfExsq_EtgUd67H6kTAPHEOiCwpGHQdwUQS0PKv-QkVXnDxF3LOl3AGlgTcoBAt-3jEfEMW5JOwni95mYrFATJ0mtFDc_2WB3DMDzYep4bzOf33/s1600/DSCF7052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRu6-cw12fnU1gCnXv6lHQMOsg3TskfCfExsq_EtgUd67H6kTAPHEOiCwpGHQdwUQS0PKv-QkVXnDxF3LOl3AGlgTcoBAt-3jEfEMW5JOwni95mYrFATJ0mtFDc_2WB3DMDzYep4bzOf33/s640/DSCF7052.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_srica9="357" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_mrz6g="293" closure_uid_srica9="359" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Due to the unwelcome outbreaks of murder among the ‘original’ family, a larger society—if it was to maintain itself beyond the immediate intimate circle for any length of time—needed to discover a reason for being. Why indeed not return to the warm circle of babies nuzzling the breasts of their mothers, the family where sex among its own is unavoidable? </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_mrz6g="294" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There are two ways in which an incest ridden family can avoid future outbreaks of fratri-cide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One is 1) to leave the murderous event, the horror, and prevent a recurrence of itself as long as it remains part of a society’s living memory, but thereafter risk a repetition; or 2) repress incest.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEjW4J_Z8JhnXpQdfgzajC6HT_tEvoPzxMQ5vcjd5jYC2qd_TROD6E3WRvjwm4MsT_Q-lCIRprP_pOaEn_2us4ifaBDYHnWk8x-qnW9D7jD1hyphenhyphen3-uh741BVL6wse4sCHd1-RQyAwqVyBcl/s1600/DSCF7050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEjW4J_Z8JhnXpQdfgzajC6HT_tEvoPzxMQ5vcjd5jYC2qd_TROD6E3WRvjwm4MsT_Q-lCIRprP_pOaEn_2us4ifaBDYHnWk8x-qnW9D7jD1hyphenhyphen3-uh741BVL6wse4sCHd1-RQyAwqVyBcl/s400/DSCF7050.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_srica9="387" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The repression of incest fell to the office of The Sacred King.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_mrz6g="296" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Sacred King did not repress (as we may think today) by using the police or a military, but by offering his life to death. By giving (voluntarily) his life to death, the king creates for ‘death’ its large D. The Death of the Sacred King creates such charisma that it equals and passes the charisma of two brothers trying to slay each other.</span></div><div closure_uid_mrz6g="295" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_mrz6g="297" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In other words, Why us, why is it that we must die, but not them; or why we and they, but not they over there are dying?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_mrz6g="298" closure_uid_srica9="418" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The cause of an enlarged social space is stimulated into being by two powerful factors:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1) the fact that sooner or later a murder not only does but must occur; and 2) that without a mediating resource, the default will prevail; in other words, catastrophes of a tragic nature will be frequent. Brothers will kill brothers as if no sisters had been born. Incestuous dreams lead to incest, and death of one of the brothers will be by the hand of the other, who found his brother’s legs entwined with the same legs that bore them both. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinxxOK5i8zOTMrdNKtPZXao7sRMrNprQoimRslE0XMp4VoFrna8T6nsYTOyEiPFRK5wFnZRXwrO1N0vVjehdjfRy-Ba5J1gx7ocTW9NnOhJpntIyopZ9XMZ46nuCqDeVCIf8Z6atoc4RhE/s1600/DSCF7051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinxxOK5i8zOTMrdNKtPZXao7sRMrNprQoimRslE0XMp4VoFrna8T6nsYTOyEiPFRK5wFnZRXwrO1N0vVjehdjfRy-Ba5J1gx7ocTW9NnOhJpntIyopZ9XMZ46nuCqDeVCIf8Z6atoc4RhE/s640/DSCF7051.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_srica9="416" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The story of incest may seem far from the political economy of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. Actually, it is not. </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span closure_uid_mrz6g="299" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> is as every-where-else in the 21<sup>st</sup> century. The economic disparity between the two brothers, the Oligarchs and the Populists, puts them at a catastrophic distance from each other. While one brother is a Populist with little education banging a whore who is also a Populist and most of the time stays unemployed, the other has so much money that he is called an oligarch, and the government runs scared of his big D…. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is how the big D is weighed: Death on the one hand, Dick on the other. Both names are heavyweight, but the last one is for a laugh, no?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> the two brothers represent the nature of Latvian politics. One is a ‘non-existent’ Populists dreaded by the Oligarchs, because they are but a handful. The first mentioned are many, the last few. The Oligarchs are believed to be omnipotent, because </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">America</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">London</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Paris</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, and </span><state><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Berlin</span></place></state><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> are on their side, while the others are said to be mere Populists, a Mob of sorts. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV1awHtwH0mNZR3CoGeKrQVGEHvk1tGBX84JrTloQOu3G_Z1SoKz4m42vYbdLzOYOg-CLAXVu49ia5nv8k5mtVIPeAZE4FTwZC8R8y8e9sBcWL0wXo7hBb4lIPO4t5-OsN-H71oCzHSn7Y/s1600/DSCF7033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV1awHtwH0mNZR3CoGeKrQVGEHvk1tGBX84JrTloQOu3G_Z1SoKz4m42vYbdLzOYOg-CLAXVu49ia5nv8k5mtVIPeAZE4FTwZC8R8y8e9sBcWL0wXo7hBb4lIPO4t5-OsN-H71oCzHSn7Y/s400/DSCF7033.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_srica9="448" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><div closure_uid_mrz6g="300"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Populists are the jelly on which the </span><place><placetype><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Tower</span></placetype><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> of </span><placename><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Babel</span></placename></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, today owned by oligarchs, is built. We know the </span><place><placetype><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Tower</span></placetype><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> of </span><placename><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Babel</span></placename></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to have crashed </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.deldig.com/media_thumbs/180.jpg"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">http://www.deldig.com/media_thumbs/180.jpg</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">at least once before. Will it do so again? Does not the World and Latvian media speak as one out of a given system beyond which there is no other? </span></span></div></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_mrz6g="301" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One sees this polarized relationship between the oligarch who pretends to the Prime Minister’s job of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, and Clever John and Crazy Jane, the last being witch Ragana’s eldest daughter </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/2010/03/eso-antons-benjamins-aka-jandzs-not_26.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/2010/03/eso-antons-benjamins-aka-jandzs-not_26.html</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">, </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">the former her pimp</span><span closure_uid_mrz6g="310" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. Like it or not, Clever John and Crazy Jane happen to be Latvian citizens, too. </span><br />
<br />
<span closure_uid_mrz6g="310" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What does one Lembergs do for an encore after President Berzins, who—before being stirred into a passion for his country by high office—receives the highest pension in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span closure_uid_mrz6g="312" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">? If Ls 5000 monthly were to be divided by 10, the result is Ls 500—which is to say that ten families could afford to return from </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">England</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span closure_uid_mrz6g="311" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> or will not leave Latvia. Clever John and Crazy Jane (Gudrais Jānis un Dullā Žane) get screwed only the way an incestuous son of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span closure_uid_mrz6g="313" closure_uid_srica9="669" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> can screw them. Then the oligarchs have the gall to say that the Latvian language is the most holy, and go kiss their “D”s if you don't believe it.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ0CcxIpONr5nmFpx5Tou6FVftPYYU5W2Ls2ToKSqT-kc3XkPza6W4dIPMpHt4_8p9_uPZ-vP2kOMnQDFdUXEEXTck-Sb6DjtOsMl1wCSH1VgynyPtqAsPhLN86QUc2rR5Ce06XAXh3crt/s1600/DSCF7011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ0CcxIpONr5nmFpx5Tou6FVftPYYU5W2Ls2ToKSqT-kc3XkPza6W4dIPMpHt4_8p9_uPZ-vP2kOMnQDFdUXEEXTck-Sb6DjtOsMl1wCSH1VgynyPtqAsPhLN86QUc2rR5Ce06XAXh3crt/s640/DSCF7011.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_srica9="477" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_srica9="683" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Middle Class, the “successes” from among the Populists are close enough to their Populist roots to appreciate the difference, and continues to kiss the oligarchs’ Blarney Stone <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.irelandseye.com/blarney/blarney.shtm"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.irelandseye.com/blarney/blarney.shtm</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">till it shines and right can no longer be distinguished from wrong.</span></span></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-51419288414925784802011-08-20T11:47:00.000-07:002011-08-21T09:54:01.312-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div closure_uid_4v8thg="575" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chickens Running in All Directions</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(XI)</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfF31ynx_5y7MRun2MSCDfGJmUEL6IYY_QD-HVgrn_-4cvYO2uO_WH2MTi4OCEvT-PXVQzwbBPMFp1Jnr2ps6q18NmrDrhtjVuH73u-6WN85JSgq-6HpNC9gAINWeNImpUvzGplPC3nRtX/s1600/DSCF7006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfF31ynx_5y7MRun2MSCDfGJmUEL6IYY_QD-HVgrn_-4cvYO2uO_WH2MTi4OCEvT-PXVQzwbBPMFp1Jnr2ps6q18NmrDrhtjVuH73u-6WN85JSgq-6HpNC9gAINWeNImpUvzGplPC3nRtX/s400/DSCF7006.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_4v8thg="313" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_4v8thg="574" closure_uid_hdielk="300" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Let me begin this entry with Apollo, the Latvian internet site so frequently put down, because it best represents populist resentment of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span closure_uid_4v8thg="395" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’s corrupt institutions. The site speaks for itself by shouting loudly, clearly, and sometimes in a foul language the opinions that infect the populists. By populists this writer means that segment of the population without which democracy is not possible. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Speaking of democracy in Latvia, were it to exist here, there would be no public displays of the Turrets’ syndrome that infect the responses at said site, but [to paraphrase Adrian Kuzminski </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.mdrtalk.org/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">http://www.mdrtalk.org/</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">(go to ‘Populism, The Third Way’)] there would be a political economy of the people with claims to private property as a correlate to its claims to public power. In short, if </span></span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> were to be a democracy, it would use the leverage of its small size to seize for itself the intellectual ground that is that of the former </span><place><placetype><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Republic</span></placetype><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> of </span><placename><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Vermont</span></placename></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> (see above link) than ape the neo-liberal system that is visibly sick unto death. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Be that as it may, how does a country arrive at democracy when most of its authorities dream of becoming oligarchs, are oligarchs, or are in some way compromised by oligarchs. By using the word ‘oligarchs’, I mean not so much to put onus on the individual, but the system, re liberal capitalism self-regulating itself in such a way that there is in effect no regulation. A good example of this invasive power is the current President of Latvia, one Andris Berzins, an oligarch (granted, even by Latvian standards a minor one), who as a former bank director for an affiliate of a Swedish bank is blatantly compromising the economic interests of most Latvians.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnzDg_Kp4e0jq09ZZOiXy8CSInp63heDfUiToIyJ-W1Upkc4B_YFoX83WoxWWh3kzJFrou-hoLP-QN05v9oX3lL-knPt-NLHw4ZbyZomBdqVfg_F24sazTX6qEhGgEHSUh3GzJxQ_oG9ns/s1600/DSCF7008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnzDg_Kp4e0jq09ZZOiXy8CSInp63heDfUiToIyJ-W1Upkc4B_YFoX83WoxWWh3kzJFrou-hoLP-QN05v9oX3lL-knPt-NLHw4ZbyZomBdqVfg_F24sazTX6qEhGgEHSUh3GzJxQ_oG9ns/s400/DSCF7008.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_4v8thg="396" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In a recent media blurb </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/246875"><span lang="LV" style="mso-ansi-language: LV;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/246875</span></span></a> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, the President claims to know why the citizens of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> are unhappy with the Saeima, the legislative body of the Latvian government. The internet text is in Latvian, which may be as well, because were it in English, the reader would see through the clichés sooner than later and understand that the President’s ideas are simplistic and self contradictory. In this instance, a lie in Latvian obfuscates the lie more successfully than its presentation, say, in English, which due to its unfamiliarity to the public at large has less ‘white noise’ to interfere with the true interpretation of what he is saying.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkQW0RbszzUZq6tEXoA8j4mS_Ym5eZNhW3v1eBdNCmh5mdsSTYVEXRNtxWz8MOSsHrSuGnRCh0YVHv0_YxT3qO4EPqcJM1cTCv6vlWBJMUp7WwZdMcqHomiQI-e8in-j4pyWB8BxXcmZFn/s1600/DSCF7009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkQW0RbszzUZq6tEXoA8j4mS_Ym5eZNhW3v1eBdNCmh5mdsSTYVEXRNtxWz8MOSsHrSuGnRCh0YVHv0_YxT3qO4EPqcJM1cTCv6vlWBJMUp7WwZdMcqHomiQI-e8in-j4pyWB8BxXcmZFn/s400/DSCF7009.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_4v8thg="425" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the media blurb, the President insists that he is a conservative to such a degree that he would not initiate measures without the full agreement of the Saeima (a body recently dismissed by voters as illegitimate)</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">. More over, President Berzins hopes that by presenting himself as such a conservative, he is not encouraging populism. (“…</span><span lang="LV" style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: LV;">es kā prezidents atbalstīšu tikai tās iniciatīvas, kurām ir atbalsts koalīcijā. Ceru, ka tas nebūs pamats priekšvēlēšanu populismam</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">”.) Apparently, the President is as confused about the meaning of populism as are most of </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">’s political elites, which is to say, the President is just as interested in circumventing democracy as the dismissed Saeima. Not so incidentally, he is joined in his call for a special session of the old and discredited Saeima by the coalition of the Greens and Farmers (ZZS) <a href="http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/247227"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/247227</span></a> , who are largely funded by an oligarch.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_hdielk="302" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">The other link that this blogger would like to mention appeared in Apollo. It is a summary of an interview in the newspaper Diena (13.8) with Valdis Birkavs. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhisdcpG5XVTOvUZlGCZA26X9SGH7B6weOTMW3Sp_yTAeolEhpwzyoMIFeDe8nsMkr61RCRNGFWbOuBB59Uyq95FFZrMOYfox0q7z1kkytjXOKUv2tgdakne8HK9h7ltPqqxYQPytZArxNB/s1600/DSCF7010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhisdcpG5XVTOvUZlGCZA26X9SGH7B6weOTMW3Sp_yTAeolEhpwzyoMIFeDe8nsMkr61RCRNGFWbOuBB59Uyq95FFZrMOYfox0q7z1kkytjXOKUv2tgdakne8HK9h7ltPqqxYQPytZArxNB/s400/DSCF7010.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_4v8thg="457" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Birkavs is a former Prime and Foreign Minister of </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">. The text is in Latvian, and concerns itself with what Birkavs believes are the four stages of </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">’s evolution as a state, re: 1) romanticism; 2) cynicism; 3) greed; 4) near hopeless confusion </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/246776"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/246776</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">In this instance, the Latvian text has no white noise.</span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Regarding the last and present stage of the government, Birkavs argues that after joining the EU and NATO, there began a period of indecision, aimlessness (for the last ten years), and standing in place. [“Līdz ar iestāšanos Eiropas Savienībā un NATO…. sākās periods… mētāšanās, bezmērķība [pēdējos desmit gados]… mīņāšanās uz vietas.”] </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is worth noting that Birkavs connects the deconstruction of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’s sovereignty (see previous blogs) with </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> enmeshing itself with EU and NATO. Joining the EU has cost </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> its bright standard (spožo karogu) and surrendered it to </span><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Europe</span></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’s feckless </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/feckless"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/feckless</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">politicians. This phenomenon has also been noticed by Philip Zelikow in a Commentary piece in the Financial Times </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e806c60a-c769-11e0-9cac-00144feabdc0.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e806c60a-c769-11e0-9cac-00144feabdc0.html</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> .</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Rounding off the neglect, both, of foreign and domestic policies in Latvia, George Friedman of Stratfor has much to say that hits the nail on the head, even though he writes of the state of the governments of the world and does not mention Latvia. Friedman is concerned over who are they who are presuming to be running the world? Are they not all lightweights? “</span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The issue is: who are these people who are running things, what gives them the right to do so, and if that right does not somehow flow from competence, what does it flow from?” </span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Read more: <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20110812-agenda-george-friedman-crisis-political-economy?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20110815&utm_term=agenda&utm_content=video&elq=45f3e5e2c8134398af20c345831692ac#ixzz1VasRakrR"><span style="color: #003399;">Agenda: With George Friedman on a Crisis of Political Economy | STRATFOR</span></a> </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Which questions brings us to the question of who is a heavyweight?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd_-GM8Q2xkkhvakRJa_ygEHCBO_9ii5bjd1CeFyDhGY9hqpBruPOC-84OX0uhnnVk5SQkWjQ9IkKsmyF3LGRs4e257rXx8zTfjLcPAYIHECPRoqrm6a31CWOX63eTUfIVoBc55XECe7rF/s1600/DSCF7011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd_-GM8Q2xkkhvakRJa_ygEHCBO_9ii5bjd1CeFyDhGY9hqpBruPOC-84OX0uhnnVk5SQkWjQ9IkKsmyF3LGRs4e257rXx8zTfjLcPAYIHECPRoqrm6a31CWOX63eTUfIVoBc55XECe7rF/s640/DSCF7011.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_4v8thg="486" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_4v8thg="540" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I will attempt to make some suggestions in the next blog of “Chickens Running in All Directions”.</span></div><div align="left" closure_uid_4v8thg="573"></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-26326555854435286832011-08-12T12:13:00.000-07:002011-08-12T12:13:07.753-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chickens Running in All Directions</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(X)</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdim55s4wcLflMrxnKUEyDrKAL2J6Vj08MbGg7WZknseoCsoX6yskEFS5mzVzHNYZmWpyPXkaojhFrbuzW7qzaWfJE9LRl5n6w07RWDdwpwOPv3iVwl06PO3futZFVviZqyStRQsyIGvod/s1600/DSCF6886.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdim55s4wcLflMrxnKUEyDrKAL2J6Vj08MbGg7WZknseoCsoX6yskEFS5mzVzHNYZmWpyPXkaojhFrbuzW7qzaWfJE9LRl5n6w07RWDdwpwOPv3iVwl06PO3futZFVviZqyStRQsyIGvod/s640/DSCF6886.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_9yo46j="288" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span><span closure_uid_9yo46j="356" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The recent outbreak of hooliganism in </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">London</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14449675"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14449675</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">and in other parts of </span></span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">England</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, confirms the death of the traditional community with a vengeance </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14487982"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14487982</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">. Not that this is anything new or has not been known to happen before. Many historians of economy, notably Karl Polanyi (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Great Transformation</i>, 1944), noted “the social catastrophe which followed the Industrial Revolution” </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Transformation_(book"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Transformation_(book</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">) .</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The social catastrophe of the Industrial Revolution was gradually arrested and a kind of temporary society reestablished in place of the traditional community. If before the arrival of the piston engine “…the self-sufficing household of the peasant laboring for his subsistence remained the broad basis of the economic systems…” (ibid), these systems were soon transformed into ones that turned the substance of its labors, labor including, into money.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9KkKnd-wUUeiv3t5sq06AA5XE2C0_O3XQ-ILGtAILwsihjxhLaZMIte-RfhjGVLHf8iWJ5dNwv_850J7H6D_SiKTYO0tYLl2tWzCYG5VsqjJd2VjSrQdz1hW_tHs8goKvSTugpONp3iuK/s1600/DSCF6887.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9KkKnd-wUUeiv3t5sq06AA5XE2C0_O3XQ-ILGtAILwsihjxhLaZMIte-RfhjGVLHf8iWJ5dNwv_850J7H6D_SiKTYO0tYLl2tWzCYG5VsqjJd2VjSrQdz1hW_tHs8goKvSTugpONp3iuK/s400/DSCF6887.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_9yo46j="469" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Moreover, if before the arrival of money as the chief determinate of value, the community had been held together by the limits imposed by slow mobility (the horse, the sail, and objectified land), social rituals established over long periods of time, and the founding violence of the arch-Christian world (later to become neo-Christendom), the arrival of money commoditized even violence. Some of the first great wealth of our times was made by financing wars.</span></div><div class="separator" closure_uid_9yo46j="377" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">War is not a new phenomenon. We only have to recall the Vikings, who roved or sailed to distant lands and pillaged peaceable villages located far upriver of those lands. Indeed, such wars preceded the times of roads, because once the only ‘roads’ that were were rivers or paths along seashores. However, these early wars differed significantly from the wars of our time. While no one to this writer’s knowledge has called these early wars ‘fascist wars’, this is what they were, if we understand that <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fascism </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism_and_ideology"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism_and_ideology</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> can stand for socialism on behalf of small homogenous </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homogeneity_and_heterogeneity"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homogeneity_and_heterogeneity</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span lang="EN-US">communities.</span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">No doubt, early communities were also more or less democratic in the sense that individualism as such was non-existent or was barely perceived as such. Moreover, early communities probably sustained a dual system of self-governance: that of the sacred King being buttressed by so-called community of Elders. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjys7l3cs3WuORF89HwzUyiwEbqBBsIT8EnwDaGDk_iLTpsEI5-mHvH-YNLMwIdyV11IMEEopCSZJhrvJ3xKhJjm8B0YR-oezeqhVcIIpT2ASoVFH5LviQcqtbckMG5r1LkfulHtxstjGQp/s1600/DSCF6888.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjys7l3cs3WuORF89HwzUyiwEbqBBsIT8EnwDaGDk_iLTpsEI5-mHvH-YNLMwIdyV11IMEEopCSZJhrvJ3xKhJjm8B0YR-oezeqhVcIIpT2ASoVFH5LviQcqtbckMG5r1LkfulHtxstjGQp/s400/DSCF6888.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_9yo46j="502" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Sacred King was the scapegoat who legitimized the community by confirming through his death (real, ritualistic, one or both) the community’s will to be (as if to say: ‘The community is so important to me that I am willing to die for it’). The elders of the community (early bureaucrats) were then able to exploit the charisma of the death in an administrative way. Usually, such an ‘administration’ was by way of instituting common gods, ritualistic observations, distribution of supplies in times of emergency, and a network of messengers who distributed such summons as the Sacred King and the Elders issued in the name of the community. The community, often misnamed ‘tribe’, was generally visualized as a totem.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">[The name of the Sacred King was probably John (Janis, Ivan, Huan, Jean, Dion, etc. The name probably derives from the name ‘gans’; re, herdsman. This is why the herdsman, also the Sacred King, is often identified with a lamb.]</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Small community fascism expanded, after the great movement of communities from the East (perhaps originating in some climactic cataclysm) came up against the shores of the </span><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Atlantic</span></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> in the West. With oceangoing ships not yet invented, many of the migrants settled as households (self-contained subsistence level economic units). Relatively peaceable communities at their inception, the governments of the communities—the Sacred King and Elders—soon came under the pressure of violence. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbnNl94ukIeJR0fWMnJjiQrSIWPbmTlQCfi2jLtkabWPT14WH8k1xCdIDgL2_U7mGkL2s9qrdlxHGo8FmF_aatKgQG0pV92vWTH99sOYOmb0J9snaD7mbdHhBmSPzyG21ddsU3h8KYa-X/s1600/DSCF6889.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbnNl94ukIeJR0fWMnJjiQrSIWPbmTlQCfi2jLtkabWPT14WH8k1xCdIDgL2_U7mGkL2s9qrdlxHGo8FmF_aatKgQG0pV92vWTH99sOYOmb0J9snaD7mbdHhBmSPzyG21ddsU3h8KYa-X/s400/DSCF6889.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_9yo46j="531" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For one, the Vikings (and their like) had more prey (settlements) at hand, which they could attack; secondly, the relative vulnerability of a settled community vis-à-vis a gang of marauders increased the role of the messengers. With the arrival of violence, the role of these messengers was transformed. Traveling armed with a stick, we know them to this day as Gendarmes </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Upljy3gks&NR=1"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Upljy3gks&NR=1</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and Janissaries </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ackK2GP8mCk"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ackK2GP8mCk</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> + </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opac9IGV8fM&feature=related"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opac9IGV8fM&feature=related</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">.</span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The proto-Latvian communities had their Jahnihshi (Jānīši) or Johns, too. A Johns Festival song on Midsummer’s Eve or Johns Eve sings of this community’s guardian: “Ai, Jonny, son of the Sun!” Of course, today the word ‘Sun’ is replaced by the word ‘God’’. This is one of the ways that a small community is joined to the empire. Or could it be that one empire, the East, was exchanged for the empire of the West?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Yes, of course. I have frequently mentioned the 1209 attack by Bishop Albert’s knights (of </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Riga</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">) against the proto-Latvian king Visvaldis and the city of </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jersika</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> (</span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jerusalem</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">), which was located in what is now eastern </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. Situated on the left bank of Daugava (Jaunava?), Jersika was but a portage away from the </span><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Volga</span></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, whence the </span><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Black Sea</span></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> and the Orient was wide open.</span></div><div class="separator" closure_uid_9yo46j="581" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg94iLZSQS1mzykGJLjgRdpXwe4KMKzRULYpkjg21dHyksPRNqBcEqQLQmQcMpeDf3nOrrqwYlTsijpfA5Z8HlEr9Nwwpm8Fr_ETmOyOzxok4PWhJ7MqkxdO8m3FSH_-cdWK7VBmXjX1Fo7/s1600/DSCF6891.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg94iLZSQS1mzykGJLjgRdpXwe4KMKzRULYpkjg21dHyksPRNqBcEqQLQmQcMpeDf3nOrrqwYlTsijpfA5Z8HlEr9Nwwpm8Fr_ETmOyOzxok4PWhJ7MqkxdO8m3FSH_-cdWK7VBmXjX1Fo7/s640/DSCF6891.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_9yo46j="561" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span><span closure_uid_9yo46j="625" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Without going through the labyrinth of proto-Latvian history (I do that in my earlier blogs), let us allow ourselves the fantasy of joining the 12<sup>th</sup> and 13<sup>th</sup> centuries in proto-Latvia to our days. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Today the Johns Festival on Midsummer’s Eve is famous for drunkenness by disoriented Latvians or summer concerts beginning with a Spanish song. John himself has been scandalized and was removed to heaven to sit on his hands there centuries ago. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Following a brief period of independence, 1918-1939, </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> was occupied by the </span><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Soviet Union</span></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> and administered on its behalf from 1940 until 1991. Since 1991, after undergoing brain massage by shock and awe capitalism, Latvia is an invalid sovereign country presided over and administered by a President, who cannot escape having a conflict of interest and being under suspicion of being a proxy of Western banks. The same goes for the Finance Minister. Almost everyone pretends that this is not so, but perhaps as many as 20% of Latvians have left the country to work abroad. This ought to serve as proof of incompetence, failure, and ‘sovereign’ power sans charisma.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJhgtSDRf0rKpOpgM4OsQWE-F6OmencONt-sdU-4xKgghjDL110f3oIU9AnTvNaL9wERDyj7AYKXVvoAufrLeWqHEIyysUEbk1mndlHlHAnLo4P6Pd7QcGWXFgEvVfftbz020bBz30_Cp5/s1600/DSCF6895.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJhgtSDRf0rKpOpgM4OsQWE-F6OmencONt-sdU-4xKgghjDL110f3oIU9AnTvNaL9wERDyj7AYKXVvoAufrLeWqHEIyysUEbk1mndlHlHAnLo4P6Pd7QcGWXFgEvVfftbz020bBz30_Cp5/s640/DSCF6895.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_9yo46j="626" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ecce communitas </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communitas"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communitas</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> .</span></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-65591483765383431762011-08-09T08:28:00.000-07:002011-08-10T22:53:10.838-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chickens Running in All Directions</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(IX)</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Pz_s65eY1QJ25Umt7sX7XreJXiB6qWd2Z8qhQ9_pWFRH5ZLDoDU8ZG1p3W377trir7Bw45vHS8eW-ayylBECeDpFpzJxI1Bavk7hkKbLP4-GJF6f1jeOS3drqmIY3BOkAiLjgcmaC1tD/s1600/DSCF6770.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Pz_s65eY1QJ25Umt7sX7XreJXiB6qWd2Z8qhQ9_pWFRH5ZLDoDU8ZG1p3W377trir7Bw45vHS8eW-ayylBECeDpFpzJxI1Bavk7hkKbLP4-GJF6f1jeOS3drqmIY3BOkAiLjgcmaC1tD/s400/DSCF6770.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_c853gr="300" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Judging by the ubiquity of the endearing word in the Latvian language (a number of languages share in this facility), a ubiquity that is now reduced to a potential rather than actual use, the proto-Latvians may be judged to have once been a peaceable people.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">At some point in their history this peaceable people became subject to great violence. This violence appears to have been a prolonged affair, causing Latvians to become the victims of violence. That is to say, the victimization of proto-Latvians turned their descendants into a violent people as well.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If one follows Professor Rene Girard’s thesis <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(this writer to a great extent does so), then the founding violence of the proto-Latvian community—that is to say, their recognition of themselves as a community through the killing of a scapegoat—occurred a long time ago. This initial violence through victimizing, likely, an innocent fellow human, was thereafter transformed into a profoundly felt guilt. Though, no doubt, I make what is known as a ‘forward looking statement’, it may be that the proto-Latvians projected their sense of guilt into their language. I.e., to avoid conflict among themselves, the proto-Latvians enabled their language to endear every noun and even soften verbs. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHh6ehwvHpt4xdn39napkwYcMRymoTnUDtipQSvKRMA2kLcZ0ZHh1hU5qfXm0js9-ExUzzHkpV2az8by8KpWPNeHttoK0R7puzjSSh5wa6QbltKb9H7jqWX9j96ugLxwt7x8va-LlZP-iY/s1600/DSCF6771.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHh6ehwvHpt4xdn39napkwYcMRymoTnUDtipQSvKRMA2kLcZ0ZHh1hU5qfXm0js9-ExUzzHkpV2az8by8KpWPNeHttoK0R7puzjSSh5wa6QbltKb9H7jqWX9j96ugLxwt7x8va-LlZP-iY/s400/DSCF6771.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_c853gr="349" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When speaking, the forebears of Latvians made the use of the endearing word a ritualistic practice by frequent insertions of words of endearment into their conversation. This practice reached a point, when such an insertion of endearments became automatic. This is a time when proto-Latvians and no doubt many of their neighbors created a unique not-violent </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/2009/11/eso-antons-benjamins-not-violent-terror_25.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/2009/11/eso-antons-benjamins-not-violent-terror_25.html</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">culture.</span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One may cite as proof of the endearing culture the fact that the Latvian language does not have such phrases of swear terms as “mother fucker” (widely used by the English speaking peoples) or “yobt via mat” (the same in Russian). Interestingly, the latter expressions belong to people co-opted by empires, which make frequent use of war and prepare their people for it by surrounding them with bare existence conditions. According to the generals of empires, the enemies of empires never value their life, which is, so to speak, ipso facto, why the enemy’s people fuck their mothers. The empires never have peace through conciliation or re-conciliation, but through violence. To the proto-Latvian mind this kind of behavior is a sin against human rights. Such swearing means that (in loose translation) ‘God fucks his mother!’ To imagine such a thing is not worth sacrificing the proto-Latvian language for.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsca-idWaMwSgJeDEOPjRwuQOUI1NMAFWy_T7o3-3LRs6RwCIxKOvfmz80mzrmWZIr0myEVgXnbtWYpuXsWOqg-J0CcVW_5Qo4Bm2MOCxdVvZCW8O8e0t63zknY6gEkisc5Sq26bY0S-_X/s1600/DSCF6773.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsca-idWaMwSgJeDEOPjRwuQOUI1NMAFWy_T7o3-3LRs6RwCIxKOvfmz80mzrmWZIr0myEVgXnbtWYpuXsWOqg-J0CcVW_5Qo4Bm2MOCxdVvZCW8O8e0t63zknY6gEkisc5Sq26bY0S-_X/s400/DSCF6773.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_c853gr="378" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Today the Latvian language is not yet a total sacrifice for the dump, but with the media and officialdom having largely eliminated the endearing word, the Latvian language is being presented as a kind of bastard that can be sold as a slave to whoever is the oligarch of the moment. And when a writer’s novel pays no more than a few hundred lats, it leaves the language to the publicity pimps, who are this very the moment pimping it for whatever it is worth. It is known as the positivist mode.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When I (LOL) laughed out loud that </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> had become an Administrative District in the European Union, I found it more than funny that the first bureaucrats administering the district are foreign bankers even as they play footsie with proxies like the President and Finance Minister of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In short, dear Latvians, the administrators predicted by ol’ George Orwell in his novel ‘1984’ are our overlords. We share them with their equivalents in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Greece</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ireland</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">England</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">France</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Germany</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. In fact, they are all over the world. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdy42oH3871qqTSN3ERJRDwZXwfJNi7ukEr1zpZLIuUlNYUJyVu7E0U7Eef_1XXmrEJcEV1eeaMLdZ_tdoRpA-EepsDi6yR1OFqODGbcIE1M1yf7x6CAa4NVOYDLcmr0Mn6PS8qSw-d_0u/s1600/DSCF6774.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdy42oH3871qqTSN3ERJRDwZXwfJNi7ukEr1zpZLIuUlNYUJyVu7E0U7Eef_1XXmrEJcEV1eeaMLdZ_tdoRpA-EepsDi6yR1OFqODGbcIE1M1yf7x6CAa4NVOYDLcmr0Mn6PS8qSw-d_0u/s400/DSCF6774.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_c853gr="407" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_c853gr="442" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This then comes to the question whether Administrators have the right to send people, any people, to war? Can those, who guarantee themselves death in a down bed, send others to die in their place in wars they have declared? Can the President of Latvia be among the receivers of the highest pensions in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span closure_uid_c853gr="443" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">? By what right does a foreign proxy send Latvians to war and leave men who hardly have visited </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> decide </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’s domestic and foreign policy? Is the foreign policy of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> anything but a charade?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Talking about a charade—is not the tiff with </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Russia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> over whether </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> was “occupied ” by the </span><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Soviet Union</span></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> (1939) based on the (unspoken) fact that President Ulmanis offered the Soviets no resistance, but knowing that resistance was futile, did not offer his own life in lieu of it and as an affirmation that it was not futile? Did </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> avoid becoming an administered district of the </span><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Soviet Union</span></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> by offering no resistance to it?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_c853gr="491" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_c853gr="490" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If the Latvian legionnaires who joined the Germans against the Soviet Union in 1941, whether they volunteered or whether were conscripted, did so for patriotic reasons and in defense of Latvia and the Latvian community, did they also not step into Ulmanis do-nothing trap: Ulmanis did not re-found the State of Latvia by giving his life for it. He left the community fend for itself. The community, left without leadership fell into a legalistic trap: try as they may, they cannot extricate themselves from accusations of being trusted by the Waffen SS and all it implies.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizbChIw-8cdl1uI775MMePr4GZ0uwkfthtZ46w_OQ0WwHYeOHPJdbBHnEuKEIdDa8ntCv-jelvHN_M6xjbLMUokwgyDfMBQJNkTh-ZhYn0DHk4aYIscSk2dBgtOrKmE2cWwIhThGNqQMvs/s1600/DSCF6775.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizbChIw-8cdl1uI775MMePr4GZ0uwkfthtZ46w_OQ0WwHYeOHPJdbBHnEuKEIdDa8ntCv-jelvHN_M6xjbLMUokwgyDfMBQJNkTh-ZhYn0DHk4aYIscSk2dBgtOrKmE2cWwIhThGNqQMvs/s640/DSCF6775.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_c853gr="444" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_c853gr="474" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A great many Latvians died, were sent to Gulags, fled to near and far abroad, but are not requited by the government of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> with a government that knows what it is doing. </span></div><div closure_uid_u7isq6="296" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">#</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_u7isq6="295" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The following article by George Friedman at Statfor is an excellent summary of the political-economic situation in the world—not excluding </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://app.response.stratfor.com/e/es.aspx?s=1483&e=334626&elq=f8bc5d7750824e1c851e140ca5937993"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span closure_uid_c853gr="475" style="color: purple;">http://app.response.stratfor.com/e/es.aspx?s=1483&e=334626&elq=f8bc5d7750824e1c851e140ca5937993</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-82565309033132577342011-08-04T12:36:00.000-07:002011-08-06T01:18:26.053-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chickens Running in All Directions</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(VIII)</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div> <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody closure_uid_egbg0o="379">
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7RyA3tXjM5WWnp-7UJXfSvm3G88MaArRnoClYOWkw6nyj5pexkJqLkK7uEjxtnlLHxQXvt8f2EAMNDof68aX-3bBF39GIENhS28myjU2SrQbWxJRcP52QP1IjezcLQVMJaT4VQMSeFzwC/s1600/DSCF6858.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7RyA3tXjM5WWnp-7UJXfSvm3G88MaArRnoClYOWkw6nyj5pexkJqLkK7uEjxtnlLHxQXvt8f2EAMNDof68aX-3bBF39GIENhS28myjU2SrQbWxJRcP52QP1IjezcLQVMJaT4VQMSeFzwC/s400/DSCF6858.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" closure_uid_egbg0o="362" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">A 'sovereign' Latvian government</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<div closure_uid_egbg0o="311" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the previous blog, I wrote that “The reconciliatory event … must be an event of death …, because only death has sufficient charisma to impress and persuade the skeptical.” </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In our day the reconciliation is of course to be accomplished by means of a democratically elected government. This is well and good. However, what does one do when the democracy turns out to be a self-enclosed system that does not recognize anything outside itself? Such a system victimizes ‘democracy’, and in due course becomes a unipolar government with the people tending more and more to gather on the unacknowledged other end, the other pole. In </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span closure_uid_143daf="295" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> these 'other' people are called “populists”.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I also wrote that </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, its sovereignty in control of foreign banks, was in the process of desacralizing its sovereignty, and on its way to becoming an administrative area of the European Union by the name of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. I pointed out that it was noteworthy that</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Two of the proxies [of European banks] doing the administering are already in place and easily identifiable. One is the President of Latvia, Andris Berzins </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.planetrulers.com/latvia-president/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.planetrulers.com/latvia-president/</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> , while the other is </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’s Finance Minister Andris Vilks </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.mk.gov.lv/en/mk/sastavs/vilks/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.mk.gov.lv/en/mk/sastavs/vilks/</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> .”</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvAvjDH64yeNZUkstOlNGFRqhGaRmKIJET3Sq72Kz_KHIMIVN5BaOemDqYueoqQWitP9cE-4dKqVdO6f9rt0QHBSyWYvXkPnRd7JncQ8MZp7hC5yKtDa-H5nnEyP6pCX1kcE2ibNtruIta/s1600/DSCF6859.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvAvjDH64yeNZUkstOlNGFRqhGaRmKIJET3Sq72Kz_KHIMIVN5BaOemDqYueoqQWitP9cE-4dKqVdO6f9rt0QHBSyWYvXkPnRd7JncQ8MZp7hC5yKtDa-H5nnEyP6pCX1kcE2ibNtruIta/s400/DSCF6859.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" closure_uid_egbg0o="423" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">A gathering of Latvian populists</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div closure_uid_egbg0o="389" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Of course, a federated </span><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Europe</span></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> has many opponents, not least among the Latvians. This may explain the fiction among some Latvians that </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> is still a sovereign country. However, if the supporters of sovereignty are to take themselves seriously, the fact that the President of Latvia and its Finance Minister are, so to speak, Trojan horses of EU banks and the EU, the natives must be spending sleepless nights as they try to figure out how to get the horses removed from Troy’s marketplace. Can the Latvians remove said office occupants from said offices?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Some critics claim that </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> has been stolen from its people. In this writer’s opinion, </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> has not only been stolen, but has been robbed naked (izlaupīta līdz kailumam) as well, </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">what with the banks (plus the IMF and the ECB) encouraging Latvians as yet uneducated in liberal capitalist ways to borrow money that they were unlikely to be able to pay back, thereby rendering them helpless to resist de-sovereignization; </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">not to mention former Soviet apparatchiks blossoming into oligarchs with the help of, among other things, ‘the Harvard Boys’ </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://michael-hudson.com/2011/08/russia%e2%80%99s-economic-interests-part-1/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://michael-hudson.com/2011/08/russia%e2%80%99s-economic-interests-part-1/</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">, a wonder previously presumed only for the fern blossom on Midsummer’s eve;</span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">by cashing in chips of the above, in place not only of the Trojan horses, but by way of said institutions and banks causing unemployment in Latvia, and forcing people (up to 20%) to emigrate to other countries to earn a living;</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">by causing deforestation of Latvia by way of inducing a debt crisis (a half, ~50%, of Latvia’s exports are in wood products, most of it raw timber), at the same time as stopping development of Latvia by permitting only well endowed foreign industries representing the status quo to invest in Latvia (ha, ha);</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">by all the above producing a demographic crisis over which the current Latvian leadership has but hypocritical concern. It is unlikely that the President of Latvia and Finance Minister will turn in their high retirement pay and salary, as the case may be, for </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> regaining sovereignty.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQlLTbAelN_o0XWJF62jNNZDxmIypSAxuMPKFPgylqozsi4f30eq2VEOx8rkk1K0O1XEe-reOpebpkGpYjeiQnMGidDNkhViewCvOaczEwtSgdr9iNlsSwzHVxnxEgn44p3mJQavXbzuM2/s1600/DSCF6867.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQlLTbAelN_o0XWJF62jNNZDxmIypSAxuMPKFPgylqozsi4f30eq2VEOx8rkk1K0O1XEe-reOpebpkGpYjeiQnMGidDNkhViewCvOaczEwtSgdr9iNlsSwzHVxnxEgn44p3mJQavXbzuM2/s320/DSCF6867.JPG" t$="true" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" closure_uid_egbg0o="453" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Banks keeping Latvians employed</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div closure_uid_egbg0o="425" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Thus, when speaking of death, we are actually speaking only of the death of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> as a sovereign nation. Whether an individual’s death as a scapegoat can re-found a nation through a sacrificial death in our time, as Karlis Ulmanis had an opportunity to do and become (but failed to) is doubtful.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Professor Rene Girard, whom I have quoted in a number of preceding blogs with regard to the scapegoat, is insightful not only in his analysis of the scapegoat syndrome. He also tells us that much of the literature of the Middle Ages is a ‘victimage mechanism’. Latvians are not yet conscious of this mechanism. For example, few Latvians realize that the 13<sup>th </sup>century Chronicle of Henry (Indriķa hronika) </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.indopedia.org/index.php?title=Chronicle_of_Henry_of_Livonia"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.indopedia.org/index.php?title=Chronicle_of_Henry_of_Livonia</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">seeks to victimize ‘pagan’ (actually, pa-yan) proto-Latvians and that the victimization causes a substantial slaughter of native inhabitants and the destruction of their culture—of which their religion is a part. </span></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT5_qqv-5N2293WBWjQokCAEcmJAUO3IqZeDLVmARefUljycWWDF1QscIsZrVEA4etJh7IwULqRRpEMsJafYc4_Z_xrlvnujSthZvYpHkbBw7X41T8GSonkLxFX1CwZAU4gica75wOV8m0/s1600/DSCF6871.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT5_qqv-5N2293WBWjQokCAEcmJAUO3IqZeDLVmARefUljycWWDF1QscIsZrVEA4etJh7IwULqRRpEMsJafYc4_Z_xrlvnujSthZvYpHkbBw7X41T8GSonkLxFX1CwZAU4gica75wOV8m0/s400/DSCF6871.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" closure_uid_egbg0o="490" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">A road somewhere in Latvia</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div closure_uid_egbg0o="454" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As a consequence, Latvians today are greatly influenced by the victim syndrome. The best example of victimization is imprinted in the Latvian language itself. A language rich in endearing words (dear may become dearie, etc.), today this facility has become a grammatical formality (called a diminutive), a phenomenon vaguely remembered, seldom used. The endearing word is only rarely seen in the media. With all the proof that is necessary to call this linguistic phenomenon of the Latvian language a ‘term of endearment’, even the embodiment of the proto-Latvian people’s religion, the victims’ descendants chose to call a diminutive instead. No wonder we note with amazement the passivity (hailed by the apparatchiks of the Latvian government) of the Latvian populace when it comes to making political demands.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The victim of course cannot victimize, because to be a victim means to be inhibited, and any desire to act is tied in a Gordian knot </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_9_01.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_9_01.html</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">. The state of finding one’s self a victim is a form of death that is sometimes known as living death.</span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is why the question for Latvians is not how to be healed of the victim syndrome, but what steps to take when that syndrome has let slip out of hand national sovereignty and sees it replaced with a novel substitute: </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> as an Administrative District of the European Union. The living dead then find themselves in an altogether ‘other’ state, perhaps as cooks in a kitchen trying to write a recipe for a system that transcends the unipolar world.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody closure_uid_egbg0o="525">
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwRR8BovbtgPnXgGOhUUQ4znV_Mn2ObDgSbuljFwshGKgWoNQkZaHbgIrS7KGGJ0_omkHElXrBFiHFgzx1kNOrsl09VPeRxLAlBTjlSd-PP2TCaE-xvdWig8WX50l9xJwlQhJnFjnHr_Mb/s1600/DSCF6875.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwRR8BovbtgPnXgGOhUUQ4znV_Mn2ObDgSbuljFwshGKgWoNQkZaHbgIrS7KGGJ0_omkHElXrBFiHFgzx1kNOrsl09VPeRxLAlBTjlSd-PP2TCaE-xvdWig8WX50l9xJwlQhJnFjnHr_Mb/s640/DSCF6875.JPG" t$="true" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" closure_uid_egbg0o="524" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">A burning issue at the core of Latvian applewood</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div closure_uid_egbg0o="491" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><div closure_uid_143daf="296"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Is </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span closure_uid_143daf="297" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> perhaps on the verge of untying the Gordian knot of political inactivity into which they have been tied by their unipolar government? Sometimes when something is untied, it unravels or a cover comes off with a whoosh.</span></div></div><div closure_uid_egbg0o="281"></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-12745219722666903672011-08-02T02:55:00.000-07:002011-08-02T02:55:33.994-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chickens Running in All Directions</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(VII)</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgElEEP5iVbehDu5G7ZC8o8KnyRPV3G31rUMvEslsd-tPm63mR3li6n_IeHkVlSfAt7-2e1oPC9ykzpOAaxEgMGJJjpBXSF5ff0IkceL4CQ-sAK1iF4RxL6ukK8UaAnw_e96GfRHCW2GKlS/s1600/DSCF6857.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgElEEP5iVbehDu5G7ZC8o8KnyRPV3G31rUMvEslsd-tPm63mR3li6n_IeHkVlSfAt7-2e1oPC9ykzpOAaxEgMGJJjpBXSF5ff0IkceL4CQ-sAK1iF4RxL6ukK8UaAnw_e96GfRHCW2GKlS/s400/DSCF6857.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_rr2mi8="309" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As the desacralization and deconstruction of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’s sovereignty continues apace, </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> may already no longer be a nation, but an area under the administration of proxies working for foreign banks. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Two of the proxies doing the administering are already in place and easily identifiable. One is the President of Latvia, Andris Berzins </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.planetrulers.com/latvia-president/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.planetrulers.com/latvia-president/</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">, while the other is </span></span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’s Finance Minister Andris Vilks </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.mk.gov.lv/en/mk/sastavs/vilks/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.mk.gov.lv/en/mk/sastavs/vilks/</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">. </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Both of said men are former employees of Swedish banks. Both men support the “system” of neo-liberal economics, even though that system is arguably a manifest failure. Both men are among the core of men and women who have the privilege to put </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> on its feet, but who instead stand for abysmal failure of example. Indeed, today a public example from the leadership may be the only thing that may inspire the despised ‘populists’ (re people) to endure as Latvians.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhSz54mB1twb_i_pNlxdHW0GZPB3LPtQTKnHO1lW1kUYH5lgohLB8FmAlnmm2gEcpoTeJrshP31Igd3h0JS33aXRhnA8bkxPc7g7mXMy-ADM2G1-AwY4pe1o4NauFYjgHACM85mkCnrUR5/s1600/DSCF6856.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhSz54mB1twb_i_pNlxdHW0GZPB3LPtQTKnHO1lW1kUYH5lgohLB8FmAlnmm2gEcpoTeJrshP31Igd3h0JS33aXRhnA8bkxPc7g7mXMy-ADM2G1-AwY4pe1o4NauFYjgHACM85mkCnrUR5/s320/DSCF6856.JPG" t$="true" width="320" /></a></div><div closure_uid_rr2mi8="356" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The difficulty facing </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> as a sovereign nation is touched upon by Imants Lancmanis, director of the </span><place><placename><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Rundale</span></placename><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span><placetype><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Castle</span></placetype></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> complex in the Zemgale region. </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://ltvzinas.lv/?n=video&id=4903"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://ltvzinas.lv/?n=video&id=4903</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> [Interview is in Latvian. The part relevant to this text begins at the </span><time hour="3" minute="12"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">3:12</span></time><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> min mark.] However, this writer is not persuaded that the ‘new generation’, which the director mentions, will bring about anything more than continued deconstruction of the community and cement a naked money based secular administration more securely in place. Some will say, well and good, because, after all, all of </span><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Europe</span></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> is in the process of being denationalized. Perhaps so.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">However, the answer of those who are not persuaded that fiat money is able to create a community that lasts and can endure an economic crisis through the strength of its communal bonds is to point out that a pseudo community necessarily worships exponential growth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dependency on such growth necessarily leads to a catastrophe and collapse. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4jCI_npuDUd8Un8-8BdTL7RO5VjwpvGfIfsRxRW1ZnvNd2-1y1ps2kYFa2eKTDWbARWPotvAwmNnXdAJc5SUhvnJHLt-6dZNUvea8dMuUB-vQWLExT03QgM2y7DTfFulk2X_AgOCD7v2K/s1600/DSCF6855.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4jCI_npuDUd8Un8-8BdTL7RO5VjwpvGfIfsRxRW1ZnvNd2-1y1ps2kYFa2eKTDWbARWPotvAwmNnXdAJc5SUhvnJHLt-6dZNUvea8dMuUB-vQWLExT03QgM2y7DTfFulk2X_AgOCD7v2K/s320/DSCF6855.JPG" t$="true" width="320" /></a></div><div closure_uid_rr2mi8="381" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">While the world of our culture is only at the beginning of its final catastrophe, the event is of a nature more felt than critically perceived. The situation brings about an intensification of mimetic rivalry, because in better days an increase in such rivalry was said to give rise to progressively more elaborate and humanized forms of culture. In other words, while a complete rollover in exponential growth has not yet occurred, but tremors and quakes of it are clearly felt, many people continue to opt for frenzied exponential growth in personal ‘liberty’ in the mistaken belief that it may prevent the crisis or that it does not even exist.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Alas! Exponential growth of “humanized forms of culture” (human rights as absolute rights), when such growth is based on debased former cultures and fiat money, cannot escape the moment at which it must reverse direction. It is at the peak (the hour of it no one knows) of this phenomenon that our fiat culture must either launch the societies under its umbrage into wars of surrogate victimhood that re-found or allow for changes in said culture or in order to avoid war, it must find a re-founding mechanism that allows for the substitution of mass victimhood with a reconciliatory event. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The reconciliatory event however must be an event of death (a symbolic death can be stretched only so far), because only death has sufficient charisma to impress and persuade the skeptical. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTchRnySj93KvgQo0d7CtgFBJ24vJnpKSWeTiv1tc0oPqijt8FjUYKSjgzqx2r34mJv3GRZCxZ8T2YftrJYODGu6LF9aJOPsME5bVl2JQDOs5SBPzjkEQs62AY2j09Vvv5xnJfSEYAMGCM/s1600/DSCF6853.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTchRnySj93KvgQo0d7CtgFBJ24vJnpKSWeTiv1tc0oPqijt8FjUYKSjgzqx2r34mJv3GRZCxZ8T2YftrJYODGu6LF9aJOPsME5bVl2JQDOs5SBPzjkEQs62AY2j09Vvv5xnJfSEYAMGCM/s640/DSCF6853.JPG" t$="true" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_rr2mi8="406" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The least damaging death to all concerned is a single death. As Rene Girard points out in his work (“</span><span class="ft"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World”</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">), such a death in past societies was discovered by seeking and finding a victim who was then stoned and killed. Indeed, the scapegoat or victim enabled through his-her death to increase the time necessary to think things over. Thus, a re-conciliatory death (a delay or cessation of the death threat) encouraged from times way back, both, a growth of the human brain in a child and development of human culture itself.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the previous blog [Chickens Running in All Directions (VI)], I suggested that in spite of the fact that a surrogate victim may be found by the lottery method [Adolfs Buķis </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.politika.lv/508/did/16931/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.politika.lv/508/did/16931/</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">, a publicly unacknowledged self-sacrifice, may serve as an example if we allow that chance may become a synonym of the unexpected], Latvia now has the opportunity to substitute the unacknowledged man with two well known men, President Berzins of Latvia and the mayor from Ventspils, Aivars Lembergs. Both men are millionaires. Occasionally people call both men oligarchs. However, in terms of money, the President of Latvia is worth a few million, whereas the Mayor of Ventspils is said to be worth a few hundred million.</span></span></div><div class="separator" closure_uid_rr2mi8="437" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjQthYOojGsOeQ2zgwggLG0X_78VvpcUW7usGwYFqgW3VIkeRanBOiMrw5Vd6MJS-YzRitQcBoc1SlheNEotRcRi8kYemFZ2q5APRbXiUMX4dGqkV6V_pVHXINYKXigVEzSg89_mknqold/s1600/DSCF6854.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjQthYOojGsOeQ2zgwggLG0X_78VvpcUW7usGwYFqgW3VIkeRanBOiMrw5Vd6MJS-YzRitQcBoc1SlheNEotRcRi8kYemFZ2q5APRbXiUMX4dGqkV6V_pVHXINYKXigVEzSg89_mknqold/s400/DSCF6854.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_rr2mi8="435" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If the story that Lembergs had the first and last word as to who was to be Latvia’s next President (after the incumbent Valdis Zatlers was passed over) is true, it becomes intriguing to learn whether the voting public will side with Lembergs </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/245657"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/245657</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in his choice of who is to be Latvia’s surrogate victim and reconciliator (the President of course), or is the President of Latvia going to be able to foist the cadaver onto Lembergs.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Some people may mistake blood money for blood and blood in office for prestige, when in fact the option may be that 1) that a certain sum of money from the Ventspils mayor will to go to the restoration of the North Vidzeme Biosphere Region (starting with a 200 million lats contribution), and 2) the President of Latvia will resign from (sacrifice) the Office of President lest he be impeached by the new Saeima. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNSaWwKDxE_TZ1LplN6LEK6Yznxs3pQo40sSoQCskxJ9qXEVsPL0wRnEtq3aC80mR2CpF_YlQQXeIXmuQlYyAy7YOZ2D3p_rvNO1RjlE4ch_ZKgSnZ1W4qTbGlv17J0kXdqsCPmqaRWXnw/s1600/DSCF6852.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNSaWwKDxE_TZ1LplN6LEK6Yznxs3pQo40sSoQCskxJ9qXEVsPL0wRnEtq3aC80mR2CpF_YlQQXeIXmuQlYyAy7YOZ2D3p_rvNO1RjlE4ch_ZKgSnZ1W4qTbGlv17J0kXdqsCPmqaRWXnw/s640/DSCF6852.JPG" t$="true" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_rr2mi8="465" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_rr2mi8="495" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Incidentally, the election of the new Saeima is less than two months away on </span><date day="17" month="9" year="2011"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">September 17, 2011</span></date><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.</span></div><div closure_uid_rr2mi8="496"></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-62818474720213080442011-07-31T06:23:00.000-07:002011-07-31T06:23:21.898-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div closure_uid_9q89yu="359" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chickens Running in All Directions</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(VI)</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSfRrHyk4WaGD01LdNzwpvoIXb8I6poFUOgSUrxE9Ud26u1R9j9AWQt94URzHG8CGpYe88dsJxUBBE9UIK1a2RM_eTCzOFb8VDv898xHsNTODtMTYWJlZTns3UWMsVD-_5qrvOGYyNI6Bm/s1600/DSCF6849.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSfRrHyk4WaGD01LdNzwpvoIXb8I6poFUOgSUrxE9Ud26u1R9j9AWQt94URzHG8CGpYe88dsJxUBBE9UIK1a2RM_eTCzOFb8VDv898xHsNTODtMTYWJlZTns3UWMsVD-_5qrvOGYyNI6Bm/s640/DSCF6849.JPG" t$="true" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_9q89yu="306" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_9q89yu="358" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Since an existential crisis in a community’s and nation’s life is necessarily a moment closely tied to founding violence, or ‘re-founding violence’ as the case may be, can Latvians find the mechanism of peace in a re-founding sacrifice? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Though the answer may be in the affirmative, before we come to it, we must see what the scapegoat mechanism with regard to </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> may be. There are many variants as to who is the victim who will serve a community driven to the blink of an eye before it dies. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One of the mechanisms is games of chance or lottery. An old game of chance is known as King’s cake </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">: only one of the slices of the cake will contain a bean or a piece of coal. He who gets the piece with the bean or coal is the “chosen” one. As Girard points out, games of chance are the only games specific to man, and closely related to sacred rituals. Whoever chance chooses is also the chosen reconciliator of the community, i.e., sacrifice. </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Often however the reconciliator is a person already in the public’s eye, and this may be the case of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, if only because the anonymous reconciliator Adolfs Buķis (d. 1993) was implicitly dismissed as a person of doubtful mental health and the media has conspired with the government to forget him. In other words, the fact that </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’s leaders at the time of the foundation of the nation chose a parliamentary form of government continues to dismiss the average citizen as one who may participate in determining the future course of the nation unless officially selected for some office in government by the government.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WIenyilDhpZgu_cN_kJ2_A1H6xDD_JPQHzIxRqdpA0hBQX4YBadG-IH_MM1ajYIZMo6Z5JdTXspL4lYfNSk-Nkqd6cy0SsmnpwYKcscKu6-dW2CVnMnzxe4pQOwp5yGChaqRuRl3sOKq/s1600/DSCF6850.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WIenyilDhpZgu_cN_kJ2_A1H6xDD_JPQHzIxRqdpA0hBQX4YBadG-IH_MM1ajYIZMo6Z5JdTXspL4lYfNSk-Nkqd6cy0SsmnpwYKcscKu6-dW2CVnMnzxe4pQOwp5yGChaqRuRl3sOKq/s640/DSCF6850.JPG" t$="true" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_9q89yu="403" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In short, the symbolic King’s cake, when ready to serve, goes to the first person in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. Such a first person is of course the President of Latvia. Since July 8th of this year, the office of the President of Latvia is belongs to Andris Berzins </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/06/03/51236385.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/06/03/51236385.html</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">. </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Interestingly, while President Berzins has become citizen number #1, this was not clear to the rest of the world at the time of his election (June 2<sup>nd</sup>). </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When the news of Berzins elevation to the post of President of Latvia first reached foreign ears, many thought that Berzins was another Berzins </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.diena.lv/sabiedriba/politika/ekspremjers-andris-berzins-kluvis-par-saeimas-deputatu-775757"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.diena.lv/sabiedriba/politika/ekspremjers-andris-berzins-kluvis-par-saeimas-deputatu-775757</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> . The mix-up occurred because Berzins the President came as if out of the woodwork. This is not to say that the man was not around, but he was never particularly noticed for either initiative or excellence. He was simply there, so to speak, waiting to serve </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">How did Andris Berzins star pop up so suddenly? By all signs, he was chosen quickly and in circumstances shrouded by secrecy. In fact, those closest to Berzins and Berzins himself were not quite prepared by the honor. This was particularly noticeable during the President’s first days in office.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When Berzins had a photo-op with high ranked visitor from </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Estonia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, the visitor had to indicate to President Berzins that perhaps the photo-op had lasted long enough and it was time to leave the stage. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The President’s common-in-law wife (until July 4<sup>th</sup>, when a hasty marriage was arranged) was barely acquainted with the idea of her companion becoming </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’s next president. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It appears that the new president craves invisibility, what with opting not to spend his off hours at the Jurmala residence of presidents, but preferring an Old Town Riga apartment instead. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is understood that the new President’s out of </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Riga</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> residence on weekends will be his countryside home. Given that the new President is—among other things—a pensioner receiving Latvia’s highest pension (~ Ls 4500), one may wonder how great the number of visible and invisible police to protect him from irate pensioners who receive Ls 200 per month and less.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">To discover the answer for Berzins sudden rise to power, there is an interesting, even plausible story. This writer has it from a well placed and believable source.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The story does not however begin with President Andris Berzins, but the mayor of the City of </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ventspils</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, </span><place><city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Aivars Lembergs</span></city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, </span><country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></country-region></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’s richest ‘oligarch’, a man enmeshed in litigation in </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">London</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> over the ownership of a certain number of shares in a company called Vitol.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The story tells that the bets among legal minds favor the possibility, even likelihood, that Aivars Lembers will be arrested when he appears in court in </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">London</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. While preparing for this turn of events, the mayor of Ventspils took certain steps to protect himself. In effect, he put his weight behind Andris Berzins to make sure that the man from the “Valmiera bunch” (known by Latvians as the Valmiera Group) became the next President of Latvia. The story adds that Lembergs is well acquainted with people of the mentioned former group.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The story then takes another interesting twist. It appears that if the court in </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">London</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> orders the arrest of the mayor of Ventspils, he may be released from jail in </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">London</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> for a jail in the country of his origin, </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. Mayor Lembergs’ release to </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> at a time his man is the President of Latvia means that the mayor escapes the worst of the law, and goes pretty much free. Of course, a story is but a story. Nevertheless, along with deniability as to its veracity, it also is not without certain credibility.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_9q89yu="502" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">If President Berzins is suspected of being in office as a result of a deal with mayor of Ventspils, in other words, if the story above has veracity, who of the two—Berzins or Lembergs--becomes the scapegoat?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbINoVb7kLdsi2VcYFUKr5rlunIXmtgwQaf8WwdzcUfw2br95K5J9Ce9QrUVxyNkIVZAX_-jGRwdtX1gvJRINSVJPHSzotEpote95m3PnH1NzFI1tUZsMAZDN3Abjgbk_LUb5BHd9SE_nm/s1600/DSCF6851.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbINoVb7kLdsi2VcYFUKr5rlunIXmtgwQaf8WwdzcUfw2br95K5J9Ce9QrUVxyNkIVZAX_-jGRwdtX1gvJRINSVJPHSzotEpote95m3PnH1NzFI1tUZsMAZDN3Abjgbk_LUb5BHd9SE_nm/s640/DSCF6851.JPG" t$="true" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_9q89yu="475" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">As in a sacred game of chance, we can toss the coin. Call your choice: heads or tails. On the other hand, we may remember that </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> is lacking a re-founding sacrifice ever since President Karlis Ulmanis failed to make it in 1939 when </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> was overrun by the </span><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Soviet Union</span></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Does the President of Latvia Andris Berzins have cause to remember President Ulmanis failure, or does he rather remember the why and wherefore he came into office? </span></div><div closure_uid_9q89yu="545"></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-11710256513556927242011-07-30T04:44:00.000-07:002011-07-30T04:44:08.452-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chickens Running in All Directions</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(V)</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZk-NQQqAfvkgiVKJa3BlQ4yLcCiNrJqOgXV7yrHm1KEHhvUVDjo8hxY0jj7adh7v7S9bxpmHaUCLx0cGJ4uRLPRwBzkOyvzGCvWDloI2PsuJhS6OKpVwDwRNXK5sBO7lVTDhNn8pJVCT/s1600/DSCF6844.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZk-NQQqAfvkgiVKJa3BlQ4yLcCiNrJqOgXV7yrHm1KEHhvUVDjo8hxY0jj7adh7v7S9bxpmHaUCLx0cGJ4uRLPRwBzkOyvzGCvWDloI2PsuJhS6OKpVwDwRNXK5sBO7lVTDhNn8pJVCT/s400/DSCF6844.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_konhjf="304" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">The Latvian people have a saying that—to paraphrase—goes something like this: “We Latvians are a hardy people. We have survived many catastrophes before; we will survive this one also.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">What the people forget is that the origins of the phrase come from a forest and agricultural society, a society that is no longer in existence. Though the Latvian people have indeed survived many catastrophes in the past by hiding in the forests, today most of the forests are gone and the people have been driven off the land by modern technology and the requirements of market mercenaries. While in the past one could hide in the forest and survive on game and the milk of a cow, the same people today have been forced off the land into an urban society. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Forcing the people off the land is not a new phenomenon in the world or in </span><country-region><place><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">, but in </span><country-region><place><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> it has taken its most dramatic turn during the last twenty years, the very years since the renewal of the </span><place><placename><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Latvian</span></placename><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><placetype><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Republic</span></placetype></place><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> in 1991. Worse, the Latvian people have not migrated to </span><country-region><place><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">’s urban centres, but have bypassed these by moving directly to foreign lands. The abandonment of </span><country-region><place><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> by its own has never reached such numbers before. While the precise figure awaits reports from the Census Bureau, the loss of people to Latvia is estimated to be anywhere from 250,000 to 500,000; in short, about 20% or one fifth Latvians have gone abroad, most of them for good.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5E0CYqt3Jqb7WsdoPg8vLYQ3gY5heQ2A_2F4s5P8vkpyW2Fkdg8gWKVr-qe67821no-PpehZtd2ZXkito0HZRuPs6DsOOcGkrGnTBIxnNC5TDcAvzth779mv8Yqio_BB7QMxXhmOuQ2hU/s1600/DSCF6845.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5E0CYqt3Jqb7WsdoPg8vLYQ3gY5heQ2A_2F4s5P8vkpyW2Fkdg8gWKVr-qe67821no-PpehZtd2ZXkito0HZRuPs6DsOOcGkrGnTBIxnNC5TDcAvzth779mv8Yqio_BB7QMxXhmOuQ2hU/s400/DSCF6845.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_konhjf="353" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Given that the demographic loss has happened accompanied by silence, with the Latvian government giving the phenomenon no attention except for the last year or so, and the Latvian media taking its cue from the government, the knowledge of events and trends by the majority of Latvians is notable for its absence. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">In effect, while the Latvian government takes umbrage from criticism by insisting that it is the mirror of Latvian society (you get what you elect), it is the Latvian government that imitates a democracy of chickens let roam the field. It is freedom embodied in anarchy. Given the absence of a rooster and an experienced farmer, the hens and the chickens soon become pray to the first hawk to notice them.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">The hawks that noticed the Latvian chickens first were foreign banks. Seeing that the government of </span><country-region><place><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> was acting like a rooster without a head (in effect, leadership has been nonexistent), the hawks dove for the Latvian pocketbooks. While the robbery did not occur in broad daylight in order to avoid legal complications, it occurred by a sort of paradox: the foreign banks deliberately loaned the Latvians more money than they could repay, even as they knew repayment was legally binding, and would be enforced by such institutions as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGTyzCcT9iqkPuw2BFi2vuJv46q8U-bUcV0z50l2iZpGW9WjAVkabvmDBiSt50Q_wsNTwQGH3NJQIskN29BtXc5WaVFwuWkNfupdzhEFRmIaJH12xrJOM5mXs0PcjrCdGw01EUt6-Sqrdg/s1600/DSCF6846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGTyzCcT9iqkPuw2BFi2vuJv46q8U-bUcV0z50l2iZpGW9WjAVkabvmDBiSt50Q_wsNTwQGH3NJQIskN29BtXc5WaVFwuWkNfupdzhEFRmIaJH12xrJOM5mXs0PcjrCdGw01EUt6-Sqrdg/s320/DSCF6846.JPG" t$="true" width="320" /></a></div><div closure_uid_konhjf="382" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">The logic of the manoeuvre by the foreign banks somewhat resembles that of a shrike impaling a mouse (the logic is of course not that of a shrike, but entirely human): See, I am not eating the mouse raw, but I am impaling it </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq8MAEBP8Ac"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq8MAEBP8Ac</span></a></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> in order to marinate it in legal chicanery. Or to put it another way: Look, we are not depriving the Latvian people of their sovereignty; we are letting them cook in their own juices before we come to eat them.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">The example of the bank shrike’s way with the Latvians (surely an ethologist’s </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethology"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethology</span></a><span style="color: #703219;"> </span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">observation) is a good place to insert another observation by Rene Girard (see previous blog) concerning the uses of stones: </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">“The reduction of canine teeth to their current dimensions occurred a long time before the appearance of homo sapiens, suggesting that stones had replaced dentition in most of their uses, including inter-species combat.”</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxqrP0N8xJP_FIc00n5rkddS-WMp7QU1sGXbI2nZDs1L-aKjbwodyWgLktOMc6c0UMsbsZl_lOySVv4qeibsAKC9SKJVqAXYh6tfRNAiZ3MkIpsKgLMJxQ4mSR2yaXnHLEDB7JVi7VXlxX/s1600/DSCF6847.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxqrP0N8xJP_FIc00n5rkddS-WMp7QU1sGXbI2nZDs1L-aKjbwodyWgLktOMc6c0UMsbsZl_lOySVv4qeibsAKC9SKJVqAXYh6tfRNAiZ3MkIpsKgLMJxQ4mSR2yaXnHLEDB7JVi7VXlxX/s400/DSCF6847.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_konhjf="473" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Peace is not however at hand. Girard continues: “Animals are capable of engaging in rivalry and combat without fighting to the death because instinctual inhibitions assure the control of natural weapons, the claws and teeth. One can hardly believe that the same type of control was automatically extended to stones and other artificial weapons the day that hominids began to use them. The violence that goes unchecked by instinctual inhibitions… will become fatal the moment these same adversaries are armed with rocks.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">What makes Rene Girard’s work interesting is that through a combination of ethology </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethology"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethology</span></a><span style="color: #703219;"> </span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">and </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">ethnology </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnology"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnology</span></a><span style="color: #703219;"> </span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">, he perceives coming into being <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a uniquely human culture of, if you will, mimetic diasporas. To put it in another way, Girard enables us to see how from the actions of the shrike and the users of stone, we arrive at the rigid symbolic rituals of early hominids, from which—in due time—arises the symbolic framework that allows human beings to engage in mimetic rivalries that the rigid rituals of earlier times forbid.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">However, the increase in mimetic rivalries brings with it an increase in crises that lead to violence. According to Girard, such violence could be averted only through the mechanism of finding a scapegoat, which was then murdered by the whole community participating to preserve communal peace. This is why [see previous blog (V)] the first human pyramid was the result of a stoning of the scapegoat. It was through such sacrifices, which averted greater communal conflict, that there arose what we today call a complex society.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_konhjf="566" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Let us now think back to the actions of foreign banks in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span closure_uid_konhjf="565" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, and of similar actions by the banks in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Greece</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ireland</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Iceland</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, and others. Though these actions are camouflaged by legalisms, they have brought </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> (and others) to an existential crisis. Does this not suggest that we are living at a time that is looking for a scapegoat?</span></div><div class="separator" closure_uid_konhjf="555" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEbQ6da5TWmtXOfW8hGBC8Gkq1LI4HsKnWXQHGiypmu1kf_NSq1N8Hi9gzzHx72OCfDMXphp9_h36rLNK6q2e6YUt21dDg2kjeP-EDirTzdIKFUMBTOFyIOk5LZfJGcxF86YLLnxWPK5cZ/s1600/DSCF6848.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEbQ6da5TWmtXOfW8hGBC8Gkq1LI4HsKnWXQHGiypmu1kf_NSq1N8Hi9gzzHx72OCfDMXphp9_h36rLNK6q2e6YUt21dDg2kjeP-EDirTzdIKFUMBTOFyIOk5LZfJGcxF86YLLnxWPK5cZ/s640/DSCF6848.JPG" t$="true" width="640" /></a><span closure_uid_konhjf="532" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">However, if scapegoating is a matter of times past as many allege, then what is the mechanism by which it is to be averted?</span></div><div closure_uid_konhjf="564"></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-89905580613093192512011-07-28T04:39:00.000-07:002011-07-29T00:18:06.944-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chickens Running in All Directions</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(IV)</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifoRn9Ai6ahPkiB8LOX5DreW8qJUGQvbMuI55-CwociS6b5_Jq7jCwIxPLBtSiT1yD4-jZOWnlyF9W7Qtrzb8AHtCZGR6sdSLeniH7xjihx3USiYjQbILQGXXlhms1MnDYYKnLizFYS6R8/s1600/DSCF6801.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifoRn9Ai6ahPkiB8LOX5DreW8qJUGQvbMuI55-CwociS6b5_Jq7jCwIxPLBtSiT1yD4-jZOWnlyF9W7Qtrzb8AHtCZGR6sdSLeniH7xjihx3USiYjQbILQGXXlhms1MnDYYKnLizFYS6R8/s400/DSCF6801.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_fqasf3="301" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_fqasf3="407" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_fqasf3="707" style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Breaking down political stagnation is not necessarily a ‘natural’ thing that happens because people may be sick and tired of it and in a mood for rebellion. Sometimes it takes hard work to dissipate the stagnant pools of water that move neither hither nor thither, but grace a pond with green slime that administrators in a house on the hill admire and even bless by occasionally dipping in it their walking stick.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">A potential leader among the Latvians to lead and shape the people’s antipathy toward their government (95% voted for the dismissal of the Saeima in the recent Referendum) emerged recently when a former President of Latvia formed a new party in his name, re the “Zatlers Reform Party”. Alas, Zatlers is neither a liminal </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/liminal"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/liminal</span></a></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> figure nor an agitator whatever his own subjective fantasies may be, and the new party was stillborn even as it registered its presence.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_fqasf3="288" style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">According to political analyst Joseph Lowndes </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #703219;">http://yalepress.yale.edu/book.asp?isbn=9780300121834</span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> , such a situation of stagnation, in his case among New Deal Democrats, faced </span><country-region><place><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">America</span></place></country-region><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> in 1964. While this writer has little sympathy for George Wallace, Lowndes analysis of Wallace’s tactics in breaking down the old coalition and his analysis of politics as such is most interesting and comparable to the current political stagnation in </span><country-region><place><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpmJbXYtITr-MOUuOxPRWFSLMdWRZFPFxfTWtyzqnJZhUIxPCSABqGF4nX89S2ATOl8_ScDw4pGau7rRpB3R4uFvhALIwbKNh2vLy6gmeUqnnoTctbFOE5gLp_mYx-JamFFMpp5s6hntJZ/s1600/DSCF6802.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpmJbXYtITr-MOUuOxPRWFSLMdWRZFPFxfTWtyzqnJZhUIxPCSABqGF4nX89S2ATOl8_ScDw4pGau7rRpB3R4uFvhALIwbKNh2vLy6gmeUqnnoTctbFOE5gLp_mYx-JamFFMpp5s6hntJZ/s400/DSCF6802.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_fqasf3="351" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Writes Lowndes: “The fashioning of this [Wallace’s] new anti-government populism was a moment of founding violence for the new right, and its power was the result of its opposition to the existing political field as a whole. The Wallace juggernaut was successful to the degree that it was politically disruptive, because creating a new collective political identity involves rending people out of old traditions and political identifications. Wallace did so by combatively cutting new cleavages across the electorate, dissolving old political bonds and forging new ones.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Former President Zatlers did not take advantage the three weeks available to him (after he initiated the Referendum vote and after a vindictive Saeima voted him out of office) to agitate and stir the Latvian people (long praised for their docility by internal and external observers) into action. Though it is impossible to be certain that the result of agitation would have resulted in re-‘founding violence’ (in the sense of Lowndes, see above), Zatler’s lameness (he had stated on many previous occasions that he was opposed to ‘populism’) is the death knell of Latvia as a state able to rise from the social chaos following the demise of the Soviet Union.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxMOtFdehgjOYJb30q_nX5FkyB1KEwFxQAQ0Qwa9FmYCPxBFuBIg2hJTaVHcq2z8Dci_5_m1e03bAd6vevqSqWljHdiYZmuvraVtSd3sh9pP4x4Vy4pIPiTgWF-m1ReMgiuskNz0Nn1ZbX/s1600/DSCF6803.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxMOtFdehgjOYJb30q_nX5FkyB1KEwFxQAQ0Qwa9FmYCPxBFuBIg2hJTaVHcq2z8Dci_5_m1e03bAd6vevqSqWljHdiYZmuvraVtSd3sh9pP4x4Vy4pIPiTgWF-m1ReMgiuskNz0Nn1ZbX/s320/DSCF6803.JPG" t$="true" width="320" /></a></div><div closure_uid_fqasf3="381" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">No doubt, the death knell that has been sounded by Zatlers may be in fact recognition that the bell had been tolling all along, and it took a lame man at this particular time to make it obvious.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Whichever answer we may favor, we can be sure that currently there is no re-‘founding violence’ afoot, even if it were the kind of symbolic violence as in George Wallace’s case. And while Zatlers’ had the nerve to describe the inclusion of his name in the party (ZRP) as a sacrifice by him to rally supporters, his use of the word ‘sacrifice’ reveals that he has no understanding that ‘founding violence’ is a synonym for ‘founding sacrifice’. In other words, the current ‘renewed’ State (Republic) of Latvia is basing its authority (spiritual) and ‘potestas’ [military—pautiņi (balls) as the Latvians might say] on thin air or, better if cruder, masturbatory fantasy.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Neither moral authority nor power (written, juridicial, police, military) are today able to reconcile the chasm separating the government from the governed, because there is yet no death that has appeared as the healer. The absence of death as a healer and reconciler plays a major role in the Latvian diasporas that have existed at least since the failure of President Karlis Ulmanis </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C4%81rlis_Ulmanis"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C4%81rlis_Ulmanis</span></a></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> of the original (as opposed to the current ‘renewed’) Latvian republic to oppose the occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union by either declaring war against it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">de jure</i> if not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">de facto</i>, and in place of war <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">de facto</i>, seal its <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">de jure</i> aspects with a sacrifice of his life. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAyR-MzKPz6TGQ3zxq9MxYh8XRdZGlEdDdETzzCjAcpSw0JntbLQj9ercGuMP4KoX9lXxwSp-QxzH4jNvm2tgpy2_gy9nBlXTbsBTP7j9MsE58FLEt5h6lerXhy-mX3Ih5oCXrm_5pXAMR/s1600/DSCF6804.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAyR-MzKPz6TGQ3zxq9MxYh8XRdZGlEdDdETzzCjAcpSw0JntbLQj9ercGuMP4KoX9lXxwSp-QxzH4jNvm2tgpy2_gy9nBlXTbsBTP7j9MsE58FLEt5h6lerXhy-mX3Ih5oCXrm_5pXAMR/s640/DSCF6804.JPG" t$="true" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_fqasf3="432" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_fqasf3="708" style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">President Karlis Ulmanis failure to offer his life for his country, in spite of the fact that he claimed that he was “married to </span><country-region><place><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">”, has played a decisive role in the separation of the Latvian people from their government. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">While the Latvian elite suffered relatively few losses (Konstantins Chakste being a notable exception </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://latvianhistory.wordpress.com/"><span style="color: purple;">http://latvianhistory.wordpress.com/</span></a></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> ), the sacrifices of the Latvian people (just because they were Latvians) were massive while participating in wars of liberation (1<sup>st</sup> and 2<sup>nd </sup>WW) or due to executions during numerous repressions which included mass deportations. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">The last civilian death among Latvians who opposed the corruption in their government occurred in April of 1993, when a tool and dye maker from Jelgava took his life on the steps of the </span><place><placename><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Latvian</span></placename><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><placename><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Freedom</span></placename><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><placetype><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Monument</span></placetype></place><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> in </span><city><place><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Riga</span></place></city><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">. The Latvian government took immediate steps to repress the event by not mentioning it once the storm of initial news of the death were past and the police promised an investigation. Of course, no investigation ever happened.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><div closure_uid_o3brir="278"><span closure_uid_o3brir="277" style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Because few Latvians have ever been exposed to either the anthropologists’, or theologians’, or psychologists’, or politicians’ views of the role of death in human affairs, especially in the building of a society, this writer here offers a lengthy quote from Rene Girard, a French literary critic and university professor in America. <span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Since the quote is an answer given as part of a dialogue among several academicians, I trust the reader will absorb the gist of the argument, and go for details to the book (Rene Girard: “Things Hidden Since The Foundation of the World””) </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Girard"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Girard</span></a></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> that I lift the quote from.</span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizjFM7TBT6PaukKqsqfQsv3z8TJPH9VB4q5daF_c6Ro5HdlgFEXsmASTsQWQ8PBG4WzSg9bY_HKWm75DctUCtxbmxn9_qiU-TFJVJkKAlsanJbyehi5y7XJSjME4btfaQFbaQac9ryZsfu/s1600/DSCF6799.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizjFM7TBT6PaukKqsqfQsv3z8TJPH9VB4q5daF_c6Ro5HdlgFEXsmASTsQWQ8PBG4WzSg9bY_HKWm75DctUCtxbmxn9_qiU-TFJVJkKAlsanJbyehi5y7XJSjME4btfaQFbaQac9ryZsfu/s320/DSCF6799.JPG" t$="true" width="320" /></a></div><div closure_uid_o3brir="278"></div></div><div closure_uid_fqasf3="575" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Says Rene Girard: “What is essential is the cadaver as talisman, as the bearer of life and fertility; culture always develops as a tomb. The tomb is nothing but the first human monument to be raised over the surrogate victim, the first most elemental and fundamental matrix of meaning. There is no culture without a tomb and no tomb without a culture; in the end the tomb is the first and only cultural symbol. The above ground tomb does not have to be invented. It is the pile of stones in which the victim of unanimous stoning is buried. It is the first pyramid.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">This writer will delay his comments on the quote until the next blog, here suggesting only that while the pile of stones may indeed be the result of having sought a scapegoat to fix (reconcile) whatever wrong society felt deserved fixing, was followed by a pyramid of smoothed stones, because the first founding violence was almost immediately followed by the first founding sacrifice.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOkq1Jew79ses0CqYZ2FpXfZ6nGadSI_8qQ2RihHD8ZMJH-Bg-iylGizsqQmZalDk3N4ifcWr_lTwFWa8Bl7cYiJ2M7aBQtyrBV7kIrJD4M3dY7dGG6KPxk9xubGtcL_Trp855mVvc29Ti/s1600/DSCF6800.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOkq1Jew79ses0CqYZ2FpXfZ6nGadSI_8qQ2RihHD8ZMJH-Bg-iylGizsqQmZalDk3N4ifcWr_lTwFWa8Bl7cYiJ2M7aBQtyrBV7kIrJD4M3dY7dGG6KPxk9xubGtcL_Trp855mVvc29Ti/s640/DSCF6800.JPG" t$="true" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_fqasf3="523" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"></span></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-84485882530352676262011-07-24T04:17:00.000-07:002011-07-24T22:31:52.797-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div closure_uid_plwtof="284" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chickens Running in All Directions</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(III)</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisKnDOA7BsqiBWfEV3d64g25VA9XlZyT3sS4G-rM6keeXqtQSjSm4hL3yuKhBKF28li9JTsrIwNKq-V_Twa3I4KSEyxKn5hRh5nmLz20lGV0-eEOe1viWGC4eQpHWKpQV9zx9DWFJDgLqp/s1600/DSCF6831.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisKnDOA7BsqiBWfEV3d64g25VA9XlZyT3sS4G-rM6keeXqtQSjSm4hL3yuKhBKF28li9JTsrIwNKq-V_Twa3I4KSEyxKn5hRh5nmLz20lGV0-eEOe1viWGC4eQpHWKpQV9zx9DWFJDgLqp/s400/DSCF6831.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_plwtof="284" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="NormalWeb1" style="background: white; margin: 3pt 0cm 6pt; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt;"><span closure_uid_jqenx3="274" style="font-size: 14pt;">While the Referendum to dismiss the Latvian Saeima, initiated by the former President of Latvia, Valdis Zatlers, was successful and the numbers of voters participating was respectable (688,246 or 44.62% of eligible voters participated; 94,3% voted for dismissal, while 5,49% voted against), the net result in this writer’s opinion signals “more of the same”. That is to say, the immediate past is likely to continue in the immediate future even as social disintegration picks up speed.</span></div><div class="NormalWeb1" closure_uid_plwtof="335" style="background: white; margin: 3pt 0cm 6pt; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt;"><span closure_uid_jqenx3="275" style="font-size: 14pt;">Reason for expecting no more than “more of the same” is the Referendum initiator’s (Zatlers) subsequent failure to agitate on behalf of his initiation at the populist* level. Such an agitation would likely have increased voter participation. If participation had reached past the 50% level, say 60%+, it could have become an expression of popular demand, rather than but a popular opinion, which is where matters stand now.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYXYkiC3nKZt8kx2Ss9FdydEL7BdJDcVyAmWNVqdDYBqnGS0HN1VuLCxLpbHVRVBCr6ah520H0pULbdQU3odo9_CyUv0FDQ8ZFdbcGDe7xOAYxoCrkzaPy0yvqA6C6P6kQNxs8tDJqPkoq/s1600/DSCF6832.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYXYkiC3nKZt8kx2Ss9FdydEL7BdJDcVyAmWNVqdDYBqnGS0HN1VuLCxLpbHVRVBCr6ah520H0pULbdQU3odo9_CyUv0FDQ8ZFdbcGDe7xOAYxoCrkzaPy0yvqA6C6P6kQNxs8tDJqPkoq/s640/DSCF6832.JPG" t$="true" width="640" /></a></div><div class="NormalWeb1" closure_uid_plwtof="335" style="background: white; margin: 3pt 0cm 6pt; mso-line-height-alt: 13.5pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">*[Former president Zatlers made a personal gesture toward the unorganized populist citizenry by saying (to paraphrase) that he had finally had enough of the Saeima and that his innards had revolted and had pressed him to publicly suggest its dismissal </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/244659"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/244659</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> . However, the gesture was weak; it had no follow-through.]</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">While social disintegration in Latvia is the result of corruption, greed, and blatant dishonesty among the Latvian ruling elite, the worst of it, a lack of public trust in government (now a hot potato in the new President Andris Berzins hands), will continue to worm its way through the remains of society*, delivering, in the end, a sterilized wreck at a hospital named “Brussels”. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">*[Society: in the sense it was perceived by Robert Owen </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Owen"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Owen</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">, in the words of Karl Polanyi: “He was deeply aware of the distinction between society and state…. emphatically (he did) not (believe the state ought to perform) the organizing of society.”]</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJM0MKGMkYmnReHEH16ZbZlRVQr-qsqArgtv_9f2mUxWd1O_uO555rN2GcWWKkzGM1Y4lcxCtnUG5oWK38K7ZxnmAQ-cKsVxNBRJvnoZdul8CJosy8jCJS4mlos2a4cSx6dF86CAVbWdqI/s1600/DSCF6833.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJM0MKGMkYmnReHEH16ZbZlRVQr-qsqArgtv_9f2mUxWd1O_uO555rN2GcWWKkzGM1Y4lcxCtnUG5oWK38K7ZxnmAQ-cKsVxNBRJvnoZdul8CJosy8jCJS4mlos2a4cSx6dF86CAVbWdqI/s320/DSCF6833.JPG" t$="true" width="320" /></a></div><div closure_uid_plwtof="369" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">While the Latvian Kulturas Ministry may play </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Brussels</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’ bureaucrats Copland’s ‘Fanfare For the Common Man’ as they reverently celebrate the funeral of Latvian society </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzf0rvQa4Mc"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzf0rvQa4Mc</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> , the Ministry’s complicity in the loss of cultural bearings by Latvians is significant. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_jqenx3="287" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I have previously noted the eradication of former cultural orientations such as by Bishop Alberts Crusade, by the Herrnhuters, followed by the Lutherans (and other neo-Christian sects), followed by nationalist founding violence, followed by True Believers (Dievturi), followed by the Soviet occupation, followed by occupation of liberal capitalist banks, followed by the unread, followed by Pop ‘culture’, followed by a dominance of views as expressed by a corrupt Saeima. And this is not to say that there are no other cross-cultural currents at numerous intersections of what once was mainstream or proto-Latvian. The collective brain of Latvians quite simply has been overcome by the overload of disintegrations, and has now broken down and died. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_jqenx3="288" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Of course, one may wish to think that the listed series of cultural stages make</span><span closure_uid_jqenx3="288" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">s for an inheritance the size of the </span><place><placename><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ganges</span></placename><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span><placetype><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">River</span></placetype></place><span closure_uid_jqenx3="289" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. However, the actual result is a history of serial marriages suffering from forgetfulness of previous relationships, which has in effect led to near total loss of memory of history among Latvians. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbPfcy2m6Yn2byOJ6lV4J18wJI3HMsYb4EQooLUricp34c6sCXkhWW7j-_HTzlIhn_sOmgv6PFTJnix0dcOZAjF1sTOB5WBkpUkbT5S7T56QZSdWuPONWDS5DyVGAbJlybmibiTveXyWTF/s1600/DSCF6835.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbPfcy2m6Yn2byOJ6lV4J18wJI3HMsYb4EQooLUricp34c6sCXkhWW7j-_HTzlIhn_sOmgv6PFTJnix0dcOZAjF1sTOB5WBkpUkbT5S7T56QZSdWuPONWDS5DyVGAbJlybmibiTveXyWTF/s400/DSCF6835.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_plwtof="428" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Any effort by patriots to connect the present to the past is imagined by zealous supporters of liberal individualism as certain deviants sneaking off to the woods to have sex with fascists. And who can deny that following a system’s lockup everything outside the system becomes heretical and sinful? Institutional bureaucracy, having by now come up with its own recipe for ‘society’ and keeping the lid on the kettle to over cook it (to rid it of any vitality), does not remember ever having had an orgasm except perhaps at the time of the nation’s long ago founding. That event, however, has become abstracted and is no longer part of active collective memory. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><div closure_uid_jqenx3="291"><span closure_uid_jqenx3="292" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Whatever the sorrows of those who support the rule of society over the rule of individualism, the leaders of Latvian society today act as if they are chickens entrusted with globalization. The fattest chickens are, naturally, strutting as if they were ‘oligarchs’, while the most henpecked chickens, the poor and mothers with children, are left to create the foundations of Latvian ‘society’ with a language few understand as having roots other than in the naked present.</span></div></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Is there then a chance of survival for Latvian ‘society’ (whatever it may be like at this point) at this time of sacrificial crisis </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/pmahon/Girard.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/pmahon/Girard.html</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span closure_uid_jqenx3="293" lang="EN-US">short of renewed founding sacrifice? In this writer’s opinion—not. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span closure_uid_jqenx3="293" lang="EN-US">Some form of founding or re-founding sacrifice has to take place. While many, perhaps fearing the attractions of a fascist orgasm, are likely to object (especially those for whom ‘human rights’ have become a religion), the attractions of society when society is breaking down are likely to override the objections.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIFvLPS0iFxyUuKthV1zR3ZgLh85TiJKIojKabnIU5pjgtGpbQFsR0BXUp6U0_8RGWdR_4XYRVQa2UnOIPRXlxcfs_fAWW4TJnvZqqMn6Inpt2-PVqrKXy6C-GVPmrikLoAStgZVit3vRh/s1600/DSCF6836.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIFvLPS0iFxyUuKthV1zR3ZgLh85TiJKIojKabnIU5pjgtGpbQFsR0BXUp6U0_8RGWdR_4XYRVQa2UnOIPRXlxcfs_fAWW4TJnvZqqMn6Inpt2-PVqrKXy6C-GVPmrikLoAStgZVit3vRh/s400/DSCF6836.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_plwtof="544" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span closure_uid_jqenx3="294" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What then might ‘founding sacrifice’ be like in our day—if it takes place outside of what formerly was—most of the time—known as <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘founding war’ or scapegoating of an innocent? To find the answer, we must look at several authorities concerned with this question. </span><br />
<br />
<span closure_uid_jqenx3="294" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This blogger will continue develop this theme in the upcoming next sev</span><span closure_uid_jqenx3="294" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">eral blogs.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div closure_uid_plwtof="493" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">This blog may also be found at <a href="http://the4thawakening.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: purple;">http://the4thawakening.blogspot.com/</span></a></span></div><div closure_uid_plwtof="270"></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-44643101185477943452011-07-21T03:30:00.000-07:002011-07-21T03:30:21.706-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Recommended essay (in Latvian): </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.delfi.lv/news/comment/comment/gundars-davidsons-slazda.d?id=39645309"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.delfi.lv/news/comment/comment/gundars-davidsons-slazda.d?id=39645309</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div><div class="separator" closure_uid_16k3oj="333" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEuJr3Vm2-nnNTlMkFcEGdRv5kFO_WtJG7jBKeVFjqBkE9Pq9vHe6lILutxj0ewZj__XCD5T1FIyHfAWWJEFB-DiqE2dw93xEcROSbmPN8-NsYnfQgV-Qi9hxoUAEjnqglExj9wonhR_mc/s1600/DSCF6820.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEuJr3Vm2-nnNTlMkFcEGdRv5kFO_WtJG7jBKeVFjqBkE9Pq9vHe6lILutxj0ewZj__XCD5T1FIyHfAWWJEFB-DiqE2dw93xEcROSbmPN8-NsYnfQgV-Qi9hxoUAEjnqglExj9wonhR_mc/s400/DSCF6820.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chickens Running in All Directions</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(II)</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Latvian people’s response to their government’s presumptuous liberal capitalist economic policy is to continue to emigrate. The government, but for an occasional crocodile tear, has no objections. One Latvian delegate to the European Union even expressed her displeasure of such emigrants by suggesting that she is skeptical about their loyalties to </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. In other words, if you cannot suffer the government’s failures, perhaps Somalian refugees will make better citizens than those Latvians who now live in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ireland</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">England</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Germany</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, etc.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This brings us to yet another Polanyi observation about the rise of institutional standardization in the nineteenth century, one that I closed the previous blog with, re: “Not economic exploitation, as often assumed, but the disintegration of the cultural environment of the victim is … the cause of disintegration.”</span></div><div class="separator" closure_uid_16k3oj="407" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVyT9pNpMPj0hiTBVU6dfrhercz6eWI85G0WUqgIcPpR9uP7CIBsMn3Oa_t_8NlbITPf0SeX1QsoRdAgcCcdqDU30xbvr1pFlE1DlHHPZ54_sz2A9OFviD_rld2iNI4oBhCx_sXvJmW5jI/s1600/DSCF6822.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVyT9pNpMPj0hiTBVU6dfrhercz6eWI85G0WUqgIcPpR9uP7CIBsMn3Oa_t_8NlbITPf0SeX1QsoRdAgcCcdqDU30xbvr1pFlE1DlHHPZ54_sz2A9OFviD_rld2iNI4oBhCx_sXvJmW5jI/s400/DSCF6822.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_16k3oj="384" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There can be no doubt that Latvia is experiencing yet another step on the continuum of victimization that is due less to economic difficulties than the disintegration of the cultural environment. I have pointed this out in many earlier blogs. As this writer sees it, the cultural disintegration of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> has gone through a number of stages, beginning as early as 1209 (Bishop Alberts crusade against Jersika) and continuing on through our own time.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Whether the current stage of cultural disintegration is due to accidentally bad economic choices, or due to an undue influence of oligarchs (taking the place of former “barrons”), or pro-urban prejudices among poorly qualified urbanite ‘cultural ministers’ may, for some, be a matter of debate. However, there is no doubt that Swedish banks have seized for themselves a notable say over Latvia’s sovereignty due to the Latvian government’s uncritical acquiescence in letting a self-regulating global market take its course.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When ‘economic exploitation’ is put next to ‘institutional standardization’, the latter can be seen for the cultural exploitation it is. This exploitation was first expressed clearly by the Latvian “culture workers” under the Soviet system. It was, for example, the cultural worker who diminished the significance of the Johns Festival at midsummer and instituted ‘folk dances’ to a degree never practiced or imagined by the forebears of Latvians. This form of cultural exploitation (pretended to be an unknown) by urbanites at the expense of rural traditions, necessarily results in the diminishment of the latter, but is almost never accompanied by a critical evaluation of its long-term effect.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-CILhu2q8JRx_6hVqfcnmp158r3VVF0E0iqxfWkheqlC4joRPd04GvyQAc0gPeyEwCdj5c2O039Y7R4XSS0EAtyZmfv1IRat1A3G4H2gYT6rkUg1ds9KOBkz7wjlHh07iPu9AthiAVLv0/s1600/DSCF6825.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-CILhu2q8JRx_6hVqfcnmp158r3VVF0E0iqxfWkheqlC4joRPd04GvyQAc0gPeyEwCdj5c2O039Y7R4XSS0EAtyZmfv1IRat1A3G4H2gYT6rkUg1ds9KOBkz7wjlHh07iPu9AthiAVLv0/s400/DSCF6825.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_16k3oj="451" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Another known unknowns that Latvians pretend not to remember, is the turning of the festival of Johns (midsummer) into folklore. This ‘change’ begins no later than the nineteenth century with the arrival in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> of the Herrnhuters, but picks up pace when the neo-Christian Lutheran church began to marginalize the Herrnhuter </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravian_Church"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravian_Church</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">movement. The marginalization was carried out by the Lutheran church presuming for itself the authority of “religion of State”. Support from the state was of course received. This is not to say that the Russian Orthodox Church did not play a role in the marginalization, but that is quite another story.</span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is amazing how quickly under Lutheran tutelage the Latvians forgot about the Herrnhuter movement, which for all its neo-Christian elements was founded on an earlier arch-Christian layer of belief in the West. Assuming that the Children of Johns, Herrnhuters, Hussites, et all occupied a transitional ground in the evolution of modern Christianity, the Latvian Children of Johns may be presumed to have been connected, both, to Eastern arch-Christians and orally communicated Christianity </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.rbc.org/questionsDetail.aspx?id=59980"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.rbc.org/questionsDetail.aspx?id=59980</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">. This is not to say that such a memory was convenient to either the Herrnhuters or the Lutherans, but all three of said Christian sects represent three separate ways of interpreting Christianity. The reader may check out the history of the Hussite movement </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07585a.htm"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07585a.htm</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. It is possible that the Hussites and others bear the meme of rebellion passed to the future by the existential will of the “heretic” Cathars’ </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussite"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussite</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to live.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqsrT_MfL1NOW3GC5V3NbF7I4rQb4NGcJan9qWswTf7iEhpif_tgICXXP2DhZB9SdfjsfH2HLaeB1xO96ULQIE2UKvOxtxNQmlbR4wbTj_gHGsox18Z4wLQP8C8xJ0QUJOhGvfegIz6i1N/s1600/DSCF6826.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqsrT_MfL1NOW3GC5V3NbF7I4rQb4NGcJan9qWswTf7iEhpif_tgICXXP2DhZB9SdfjsfH2HLaeB1xO96ULQIE2UKvOxtxNQmlbR4wbTj_gHGsox18Z4wLQP8C8xJ0QUJOhGvfegIz6i1N/s400/DSCF6826.JPG" t$="true" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_16k3oj="517" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">To return to the political scene in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> today. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Though change is natural and inevitable, it does not imply a repetition of the past as a catastrophe. Unfortunately, in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> ‘change’ has come to mean a catastrophe, because violence has been such a constant. The latest catastrophe to visit Latvians is through a now former President Zatlers and recently installed President Berzins.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Zatlers’ failure to follow through on his initiative to dismiss the Saeima with aggressive argumentation means the letting go of perhaps the last opportunity to discuss in depth what ails </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. Without questioning the sincerity of the former President, his failure to debate, at the same time that he presumes to name his reform party in his name (a name as yet untested in political arts) is a presumption that suggests an almost unbelievable lack of familiarity with things political, popular and populist in nature.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As for President Berzins, he is, among other things, a former banker. It is not by chance that he takes office at a time </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> is continuing to experience a boom in out migration. Indeed, it is apparent that President Berzins has no will to reverse the boom, because by all evidence he is a “market man” and knows how a self-correcting market operates. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVfLQqtz6hYUWZaeAbbbUO3oeb6BROT7rZGSYYKuUhjGd-irAqKlBE9kN8klnh2gNPY9IOGju0TADpi1voxn-8g2UJi4Bx9uh1dN85sNNKCSTEBfpZx3_8g9W5z-sU3u0IX97jbEK5xv8M/s1600/DSCF6828.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVfLQqtz6hYUWZaeAbbbUO3oeb6BROT7rZGSYYKuUhjGd-irAqKlBE9kN8klnh2gNPY9IOGju0TADpi1voxn-8g2UJi4Bx9uh1dN85sNNKCSTEBfpZx3_8g9W5z-sU3u0IX97jbEK5xv8M/s640/DSCF6828.JPG" t$="true" width="640" /></a></div><div closure_uid_16k3oj="591" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><div closure_uid_16k3oj="592"></div></span></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-82626788379911924952011-07-19T10:02:00.000-07:002011-07-19T10:02:36.823-07:00<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Recommended essay (in Latvian): </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.delfi.lv/news/comment/comment/gundars-davidsons-slazda.d?id=39645309"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.delfi.lv/news/comment/comment/gundars-davidsons-slazda.d?id=39645309</span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeIvAjdL-alEjNb2akoTIJN1a5G7xhgTu-G7JwafmRwCVlE4QQGm6_jGgk2VxtaXZ3TC8EVgRQTGvZPBL1xei-knkxYwF79JKZ7wQivLn-ycVoEEj9SwuhoAxhjYv7TSXZBbpihAoOuE6Q/s1600/DSCF6794.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeIvAjdL-alEjNb2akoTIJN1a5G7xhgTu-G7JwafmRwCVlE4QQGm6_jGgk2VxtaXZ3TC8EVgRQTGvZPBL1xei-knkxYwF79JKZ7wQivLn-ycVoEEj9SwuhoAxhjYv7TSXZBbpihAoOuE6Q/s400/DSCF6794.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chickens Running in All Directions</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(I)</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">To continue :</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">According to the economist Karl Polanyi (1886-1964) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://uncharted.org/frownland/books/Polanyi/POLANYI%20KARL%20-%20The%20Great%20Transformation%20-%20v.1.0.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://uncharted.org/frownland/books/Polanyi/POLANYI%20KARL%20-%20The%20Great%20Transformation%20-%20v.1.0.html</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">“…by the end of the nineteenth century the peoples of the world were institutionally standardized to a degree unknown before.” </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Though Polanyi refers to the 19<sup>th</sup> century, what he had in mind was not only that one century or the universal bureaucratic infrastructure crabbing and sterilizing governments, but how that same standardization “…enforced [a] uniformity of domestic systems [which] hovered as a permanent threat over the freedom of national development….”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The result was, as Polanyi calls it “anarchistic sovereignty”, which became “…a hindrance to all effective forms of international cooperation….”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The failure of the international system in the 1920s and 1930s or as Polanyi says, “the passing of capitalist internationalism”, then “…let lose the energies of history …, the tracks of which were laid down by the tendencies inherent in a market society.”</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPQq1Mw9P61DciB5oRnEGK0JDiMU0-kCPRZ7gxCoYrD771Kp3k-8Y3mvYiSIBIPwIEtYqB5pOkr6O6WxR6K35zXR9Bs2PHRdHF46a0Skq2HAm9vxFGS4hey9RJKo4huEW2j0WghY-s1k_9/s1600/DSCF6795.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPQq1Mw9P61DciB5oRnEGK0JDiMU0-kCPRZ7gxCoYrD771Kp3k-8Y3mvYiSIBIPwIEtYqB5pOkr6O6WxR6K35zXR9Bs2PHRdHF46a0Skq2HAm9vxFGS4hey9RJKo4huEW2j0WghY-s1k_9/s320/DSCF6795.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The above thought may be carried forward to Latvia today, because the Latvian government has for all these years of failed capitalist internationalism presumed to join (in the name of Latvians) that very failure, justifying the course as the only way to escape the Bolsheviks. While such a presumption is not of all Latvians, it was presumed such by those who bought into the system of institutional standardization, which had preoccupied so much of the energies of the 19<sup>th</sup> century.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The standardized system became the system in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> today by way of liberal capitalism teaming up with individual rights and buying with ‘good’ money a sustained period of growth. Even so, though a significant number of people in the West have indeed had access to ‘good’ money, their sustainability and their money is illusory. The Latvian government however does not see it thus and has no intentions of hiring scholars and other experts to research alternatives for any eventuality.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Too, both liberal capitalism and human rights became identified with ‘freedom’ as sold by a more or less libertarian </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">America</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> in a fit of temporary success. The Latvian-Americans who arrived in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">America</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> mid-20<sup>th</sup> century were </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">America</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’s vanguard. They were not ones to discover the ebb in the tide of a free and self-controlling market and, therefore, in of the potential damage to their own that an ebb in their prescribed course would bring. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk3UKDibA_R4QgDEUvb5Kl3S4mbyv-Hrv7jqeUgRg013tEEH_PCWGAuAA35vizkEym6Bj-DTP79tYML0WBzBWMw06esrUDwV5fIjLz2rlqzs6MARgUmZBDtAtyqqo7OSlqdVo0s_TI7BlL/s1600/DSCF6796.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk3UKDibA_R4QgDEUvb5Kl3S4mbyv-Hrv7jqeUgRg013tEEH_PCWGAuAA35vizkEym6Bj-DTP79tYML0WBzBWMw06esrUDwV5fIjLz2rlqzs6MARgUmZBDtAtyqqo7OSlqdVo0s_TI7BlL/s320/DSCF6796.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Most Latvians fleeing the Soviets went to </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Germany</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> (mostly) and then migrated to other Western countries (particularly the </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">U.S.A.</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. As their arrival in America coincided with America’s and Western Europe’s post WW2 economic boom, the ‘right way’ of both politics and the economy for Latvians became what Polanyi called “failed capitalist internationalism”. In other words, few people, let alone Latvians, remembered Polanyi’s observation or perceived it as prescient </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://ardictionary.com/Prescient/11143"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://ardictionary.com/Prescient/11143</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">.</span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is one of the reasons why the Latvian government, having escaped the clutches of the </span><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Soviet Union</span></place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, continued with its rightward tilt. Not surprisingly, </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> is now caught up in the collapse of capitalist internationalism the second time around, this time however known by the name ‘globalization’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a la</i> neo-liberal capitalism. And not surprisingly, Latvian politicians and business leaders continue to insist that no such collapse is taking place or is ever likely to take place. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">All the same, the economic collapse of the West along with the value of its monies—the dollar and the euro—is foreseeable more clearly than ever. Given that economically </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> is among the last of the European Union’s countries, it ought to be among the first to jump off the wagon known to be running out of tracks.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is interesting that with the passing into retirement of President Valdis Zatlers [assuming that Zatler’s Reform Party will fail due to an early stall] and the aggressive implant of President Andris Berzins as the new President by the market forces, the opportunity—perhaps the last—for Latvians to escape death as a singularity has passed. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj65cwkTetkjvf71-g2NkWjXzShqYDn9hW-rWURmqow7COzYDwXaQANDJo9xY_1saNlULKA0cB6Qf8YPcnPb2liz80gnGgA6Ab-g3aYLRs-56w6ejsfmaQvy6XFOOfnOYjYgReraSHGJx8-/s1600/DSCF6797.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj65cwkTetkjvf71-g2NkWjXzShqYDn9hW-rWURmqow7COzYDwXaQANDJo9xY_1saNlULKA0cB6Qf8YPcnPb2liz80gnGgA6Ab-g3aYLRs-56w6ejsfmaQvy6XFOOfnOYjYgReraSHGJx8-/s320/DSCF6797.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Currently the ‘word’ of the Latvian government is best expressed by the mantra: “</span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> is an example to the rest of the world”, sometimes also called “The Latvian Option” </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/20/latvia-debt-economy-europe-austerity%20/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/20/latvia-debt-economy-europe-austerity</span> /</a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> . The Prime Minister has written a book called</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">“How Latvia came through the financial crisis” </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjn59w_latvian-prime-minister-launches-his-book-about-financial-crisis_news"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjn59w_latvian-prime-minister-launches-his-book-about-financial-crisis_news</span></a></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> , though no crisis has as yet been overcome. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">No, no one in </span><country-region><place><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"> is jumping off the wagon or the system. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcyKmjl_N1nDwoRs9uO1upW7-9umW_33LR12t5npRrA5mJnvBGs7uDDt3dEfKRaAz3eYF16ISN4acunfs1x-uyStuoG6j7eO0J30j6EDcJQLSS9Wkc_h8o0mA1JHg66_2_FJIsBUT3-ahY/s1600/DSCF6798.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcyKmjl_N1nDwoRs9uO1upW7-9umW_33LR12t5npRrA5mJnvBGs7uDDt3dEfKRaAz3eYF16ISN4acunfs1x-uyStuoG6j7eO0J30j6EDcJQLSS9Wkc_h8o0mA1JHg66_2_FJIsBUT3-ahY/s320/DSCF6798.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Though </span><country-region><place><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">’s wagon has no engine, it rolls on</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #703219;">. </span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">Though the system is now run by bad or fiat money, and few Latvians of former times would recognize themselves in the world of today, the cultural vacuum or debasement smiles on. To end with the words of Karl Polanyi: “Not economic exploitation, as often assumed, but the disintegration of the cultural environment of the victim is … the cause of disintegration ”.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Part 2 to follow. </span></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-50149102044199276902011-07-14T08:21:00.000-07:002011-07-15T23:19:35.636-07:00<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Ding dong! </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Who is there?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Ditch Zatlers!</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1S1X22wKDxvkExmqV2mSIIxMrayYjxdvn2Pe2jNO5-JqPN8aNrZ4rt-Qr3kLn-9EioF_T3SWfMlas2yVMOrfilWgZKvQFproK_OY8uFkQvhg0L51-j2RhTqsLJZkO8dlKKKUGhdVcXnTF/s1600/DSCF6789.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1S1X22wKDxvkExmqV2mSIIxMrayYjxdvn2Pe2jNO5-JqPN8aNrZ4rt-Qr3kLn-9EioF_T3SWfMlas2yVMOrfilWgZKvQFproK_OY8uFkQvhg0L51-j2RhTqsLJZkO8dlKKKUGhdVcXnTF/s400/DSCF6789.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dill blossoms.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">For the most part, there are two ways of playing “ding dong ditch”. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">One of the ways is to ring the door bell and run. When the homeowner opens the door and sees no one, perhaps even walks around the house to make sure, the kids break out in loud laughter and run like hell to wherever they came from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVjIRHlobFw&feature=related"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVjIRHlobFw&feature=related</span></a> .</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The other way is to ring the bell, and when the owner opens the door, he finds himself facing Ra-gana, the old Halloween witch, who screams: “Trick or treat!” The word “trick”, if taken serious, means: “If you don’t give me candy, I will whack you with my broomstick” <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSY2f2Wt9BU&feature=related"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSY2f2Wt9BU&feature=related</span></a> .</span></div> <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdF4jLAaSN99rtMv7KmyC1WU3N8WT_zxDaCLD7c0ZftTom9QZ0YDSgn-iT4euaQYdUrsq7fTiKqEJzTH5D4CgYpkU_9QCw-xMQf2ETW7qcCxxsoTCf0_5up44rhfEoBgjwz_OLpsoY1a9/s1600/DSCF6790.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdF4jLAaSN99rtMv7KmyC1WU3N8WT_zxDaCLD7c0ZftTom9QZ0YDSgn-iT4euaQYdUrsq7fTiKqEJzTH5D4CgYpkU_9QCw-xMQf2ETW7qcCxxsoTCf0_5up44rhfEoBgjwz_OLpsoY1a9/s400/DSCF6790.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">More dill blossoms.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">There is also the Zatlers’ way. You go to the door, ring the bell, and when the homeowner opens the door, he, Zatlers, surprises me and says (not really, but in my/ our imagination): “I suggest that the time has come do dismiss the Senate. On the 23<sup>rd</sup> of July, there will be a Referendum, when you can vote and tell me and everybody whether you agree with me and everybody or no.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">When the ding dong (me and you) heard Zatlers message, he-she yelled “Līgo! Līgo! I love you, Zatler. Right on! Out with the crooks! Līgo!”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“Good,” says Zatlers and closes the door. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The ding dong then says to him-herself: </span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“This is wonderful! Those lawmakers have been stealing and selling Latvia off bit by bit to foreign banks. Here, I am near telling Latvians to lease Riga to China, so that after selling off Latvia, we are not asked to yet thank them. At least if China leases Riga, say, for a century, Latvians will be debt free and start a new life. In return for our liberty, we are ready to start out with a straw roof in a forest home, and nothing much more than a coconut or two to chew on. ”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">However, your thrill quickly evaporates. </span></div> <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggltNUkuBAwh7CLQEAys_Qw-v6WZlG6NF5uKtenl40LROcujwBe2fWO6QjnFV_1DN4koZzOXxiljPEqyiFdY_HYyLyqu_1P4xvJPhAWcmtM_9fmJt-bwzSLfFIcAvcQ8h4sMYeaf_hZJ-o/s1600/DSCF6791.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggltNUkuBAwh7CLQEAys_Qw-v6WZlG6NF5uKtenl40LROcujwBe2fWO6QjnFV_1DN4koZzOXxiljPEqyiFdY_HYyLyqu_1P4xvJPhAWcmtM_9fmJt-bwzSLfFIcAvcQ8h4sMYeaf_hZJ-o/s400/DSCF6791.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">At the edge.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">After knocking on every door on your street and telling every homeowner what you have just been told, the whols street awakens and whoops it up, or as the Latvians are wont to say "go Līgo".</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">However, after closing the door, Zatlers goes eats his supper, and goes to sleep. In the morning, after he wakes up, Zatlers has breakfast, speaks with his press secretary, who then goes out on the front porch of Zatlers apartment. Thence she announces to reporters standing around in the yard waiting for Zatlers to make some further thrilling announcement. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Zatlers’ Press Secretary announces that Zatlers is forming “The Zatlers’ Reform Party” (ZRP) <a href="http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/243786?ref=theme"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/243786?ref=theme</span></a>. “Zatlers is the first and until now only Latvian politician since Latvia renewed its independence, who has decided to take such a radical step by opportuning the people to activate themselves and not permit [the Saeima] to repeat earlier mistakes.” </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Zatlers Press Secretary goes back into the apartment and finds the former president is fast asleep on the couch. She awakens him and asks: “Anything else, sir?”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“No. Thank you. That was great. We are on the roll now.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“Yes, sir, I understand. However, should we not now get together a band and march down the streets of Riga and byways of Latvia and trumped and get out the vote for the July 23<sup>rd </sup>Referendum?”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“I do not believe so,” answered the new political hero. “We are not populists.”</span></div> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtcNb0UTN2GJy8RX3Re7XZpxXUnb8XB7-mQnuiGWd5LsU2gUxOZIAg2hWhgRFTPAXkM8nLR9f4VUwQDCt0myJ1lcNaxfGRNoUGrM6EEFSYSVRbYC08-UOKyIDBM2ik6njKLnz7W_4nPpJk/s1600/DSCF6792.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtcNb0UTN2GJy8RX3Re7XZpxXUnb8XB7-mQnuiGWd5LsU2gUxOZIAg2hWhgRFTPAXkM8nLR9f4VUwQDCt0myJ1lcNaxfGRNoUGrM6EEFSYSVRbYC08-UOKyIDBM2ik6njKLnz7W_4nPpJk/s400/DSCF6792.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Climbing up my legs.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“But, sir, it was the populists who thrilled to your message. You should take your advantage and fire them up to go and VOTE!”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“I do not wish to repeat myself again,” said the New Hero. “I am not a populist. I believe that populists are communists, or fascists, or chauvinists, and who knows who else. They are no better than the crooked Saeima.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“Who then will be the voters?” asked the Press Secretary.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“Latvians, of course.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Well, yes, sir, however, what if all Latvians—except government employees and media people—are populists?”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“That cannot be. Latvians do not like populists. No Latvian ever says a positive thing about them.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“But, sir, I read that without populists there cannot be democracy. Besides, you are moralizing. Moreover, here is one Chantal Mouffe </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chantal_Mouffe"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chantal_Mouffe</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">, a political scientist, who writes that “….moralization of politics leads to the emergence of antagonisms that cannot be managed by the democratic process…. It is clear that when the opponent is defined in moral terms, it can only be envisaged as an enemy, not an adversary. With the ‘evil them’ no agonistic debate is possible.” [See: "The ‘End of Politics’ and….]</span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“She is a Marxist. The two things that Latvians like least are Marxists and Populists. When in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, we must think like Latvians do. I am a Latvian. Few Latvians are ever Marxists. It is for sure that no Latvian can be a Populist.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Alright, sir, however, there is no campaign going on in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to turn out the vote on Referendum day, July 23<sup>rd</sup>. We are missing out on a great opportunity to stir the Populists, the (presumed) majority of Latvians. Not since the rebirth of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, sir, has anyone been as brave as you. Lead on, sir! Lead on! Time is wasting. Make noise, sir! Trumpet and repeat the reasons for the dismissal of Saeima.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“I cannot do so until after the Referendum vote happens.”</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8N3DtGOx7-15zEzOdcS1znvab733IJQyCNBBROfvV4O7xKz4tzzAkVPduJ78GMRfODsi0luiMrct9Bn_gLxglhKTllDeC93HNQODkE_llziMFdDlEbX66nwL2RjEhB6QWEchnk-aCjzoV/s1600/DSCF6793.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8N3DtGOx7-15zEzOdcS1znvab733IJQyCNBBROfvV4O7xKz4tzzAkVPduJ78GMRfODsi0luiMrct9Bn_gLxglhKTllDeC93HNQODkE_llziMFdDlEbX66nwL2RjEhB6QWEchnk-aCjzoV/s640/DSCF6793.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the wink of an eye.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Why not, sir?! Do you think that selling off </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to foreign banks is only a ‘mistake’? Perhaps the Latvian people think that it is more than a mistake. What do you say to Ernesto Laclau </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernesto_Laclau"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernesto_Laclau</span></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US">, who insists that “…populist discourse does not simply express some kind of original popular identity; it actually constitutes the latter”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How will you ‘reform’ without knowing what the popular identity of the Latvians is, sir?</span></span></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-67167514441611525822011-07-08T09:39:00.000-07:002011-07-11T08:19:09.809-07:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">Stealing </span></b><country-region><place><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">Latvia</span></b></place></country-region><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">, Final Episode</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16pt;">Sixth & Final part of Ra-gana’s story</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihD2PTj_p-ndUznujd6uN0BTm5smktDk-aGF7yWGGn-k6SeeP81aMmSpoG1edPVw-FVrP6RKCYyXsqEzsn1ac1LzJwuST_QasYwcGmOA5YkuiQYyY3s0aY27A7K5T_fcOlcr2grAtR5eeY/s1600/DSCF6781.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihD2PTj_p-ndUznujd6uN0BTm5smktDk-aGF7yWGGn-k6SeeP81aMmSpoG1edPVw-FVrP6RKCYyXsqEzsn1ac1LzJwuST_QasYwcGmOA5YkuiQYyY3s0aY27A7K5T_fcOlcr2grAtR5eeY/s640/DSCF6781.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Good bye, dear Latvians, said Ra-gana and gave a wave with her right hand. The left hand was clutching the broomstick.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Though your eyeballs were tasty, and you look properly stupefied standing there together with a blind new president as one, I have—as always— much to do. Stumble on the best you can.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">I am off to </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Sweden</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> to bathe and turn from being all black to being all white. After that, I will start taking Chinese language lessons. The Minister of Education in </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Sweden</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> says that within the next ten years all Swedish children will be able to study Chinese <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sweden-chinese-2011-7"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.businessinsider.com/sweden-chinese-2011-7</span></a> . I will be one of the first Swedes to speak Chinese.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“How can that be?” asked the Latvians. “Did you not say just a short while ago that your origin is proto-Latvian, and that proto-Latvians thought of you as the Sun (Ra) herding (gana) her sheep?”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“There is no contradiction,” answered Ragana. Raganas are also in </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Sweden</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">. The Swedes call us “wise women”. Unfortunately, after proto-Latvians became Latvians and then Latvians became neo-Latvians who do not think their history is worth a serious study, I can see that I am not held in any great esteem here. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">We were listening to your story with great attention, answered several neo-Latvians. We thought that it was rather fascinating.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">I know it, said Ragana, unfortunately, you did not take the advice that I gave you. Here you have one Andris Berzins as your next President, while I told you (and him!) not to take the post until after you all vote in the Referendum on July 23. If you claim that you are not so blind and see that the Saeima is corrupt and guilty of the accusations of the former President Zatlers (click on speech <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT6944am6IY"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT6944am6IY</span></a>), then a massive vote by you FOR DISMISSAL of the Saeima would surely indicate that President Berzins is in office on a near perfect “fake” of hands by those who have repressed you all these last twenty years and more. But no such massive vote seems at hand. If you had the courage of your convictions and had seen that “fake”, I would have given you back your eyeballs, and the Sun would again be shining over </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“Ding dong ditch”, said the Latvians.</span></div> <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIRb7TSMhdk8p6zoUpLC3UwRQBSmowvU7_hztwWQCsA76QVXRrVZXLKMGiUVZ9tR-1DRRmLYnNnjPRHid246MnMrk4G0efN5eV1yxmSP2S-EeqSmYpwzqBfqLxWLIbaeU6ny98L7rnhbk4/s1600/DSCF6779.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIRb7TSMhdk8p6zoUpLC3UwRQBSmowvU7_hztwWQCsA76QVXRrVZXLKMGiUVZ9tR-1DRRmLYnNnjPRHid246MnMrk4G0efN5eV1yxmSP2S-EeqSmYpwzqBfqLxWLIbaeU6ny98L7rnhbk4/s320/DSCF6779.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">A lively city-state</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">I passed the ball to you. True, it was but a paper airplane thrown from the top of the </span><place><placename><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Eiffel</span></placename><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><placetype><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Tower</span></placetype></place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">. You were supposed to catch it.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">You mean a long shot?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Yes, of course. However, neither Zatlers of Berzins have the courage to do the unexpected. They are nerds to the trodden path, not leaders able to face risk. The Swedes, however, got an eye-hold on the airplane.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">You mean, the Swedes are giving Chinese lessons to all Swedes who speak English? In short, teach Chinese to all who speak English—even Latvians?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Yes, answered Ra-gana, ra-zhena in her thoughts. I am like a mound of hot peppers <a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2753/4520081028_6d7df3de9d.jpg"><span style="color: purple;">http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2753/4520081028_6d7df3de9d.jpg</span></a> . I am wealth and misery spilling over. I am horrified by the military returning to combat combat and violence traumatized soldiers <a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5966/p/salsa/web/tellafriend/public/?tell_a_friend_KEY=2572"><span style="color: purple;">http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5966/p/salsa/web/tellafriend/public/?tell_a_friend_KEY=2572</span></a> .</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">The Latvians looked at each other taken aback by Ra-gana’s speech. They were even more taken aback by the fact they saw nothing. Their memory was gone. They remembered nothing of how their eyes had turned black and flown down their cheeks as yellow puss for the witch to lick. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfxWfHwUgDEl1MazslglYJT2ZaU_ymJP-iLPQBIlH2ZDxtxxmhfmVkd0Xv8aha6AHoCpf3jheWghp6foGgNuzmFLnSL4p2o96DKT4Gu4gezpufdMW6AFqg11oqvn_1ni_eUMuGbrd3IxqI/s1600/DSCF6780.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfxWfHwUgDEl1MazslglYJT2ZaU_ymJP-iLPQBIlH2ZDxtxxmhfmVkd0Xv8aha6AHoCpf3jheWghp6foGgNuzmFLnSL4p2o96DKT4Gu4gezpufdMW6AFqg11oqvn_1ni_eUMuGbrd3IxqI/s400/DSCF6780.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Suddenly, there was a great silence over the space known as Latvia. Ra-gana had flown and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">paradolia </i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D8aeaeSMZY&feature=related"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D8aeaeSMZY&feature=related</span></a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was the rule of the day again. The sun threw her shine over the planet Earth still, but the Earth was noticeably turning from green to rusty grey. This was the result of the great deforestation project <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaQ5_9G-33k"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaQ5_9G-33k</span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of deforestation companies. Even though only half of </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">’s export (7.5% last year) is timber and other forest products, think how much forest will be exported in ten years at 3.75% of gross exports. And what about all the previous years?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">The Latvians began to talk among themselves.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Did you hear that the Chinese have offered </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> 100 billion euros if we rent out </span><city><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Riga</span></place></city><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> to them? Over the next hundred years, they will pay even more to us--depending on the agreement. Perhaps we should think of moving their capital city to Jelgava.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">I never heard of such a thing. No Latvian would ever buy into such a story.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Yes, I know, it's a pity. However, it is a real enough story. I read about it in a blog on the internet. Even if such an offer is not real, it is a idea worth a thought. So far, </span><city><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Riga</span></place></city><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> has been stealing most of </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">’s money. Maybe ‘stealing’ is not the right word, but even the former Latvian President Zatlers mentioned in his good-bye speech <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT6944am6IY"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT6944am6IY</span></a> how the regions of Latgale and Vidzeme were not getting their share in development aid.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">I agree that if everyone rode to </span><city><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Riga</span></place></city><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> in a two-story bus and sat on the second tier, they would see past the stubble along the roadside and see the no-forests and vast clear-cuts beyond. If the trip between Valmiera and </span><city><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Riga</span></place></city><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> (a 140 km stretch) does not suffice, Latvians can tell reporters of similar sites of roadside deadness.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">I would have the Latvian Minister of Trade give the Chinese a hint that the idea may be worth an exchange of views. If the Chinese laugh it off, then there is no way that </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Sweden</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> can be beat at becoming the teacher of Chinese. Stockholm would gladly become the Hong Kong in Europe.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">On the other hand, if the Chinese make </span><city><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Riga</span></place></city><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> their capital in </span><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Europe</span></place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">, the Swedes lose. It is the Latvians who then will teach Chinese to Europe. Surely, a lease of </span><city><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Riga</span></place></city><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">, say, for a hundred years, to the Chinese (or the highest bidder) will include a clause that when it comes to employment, the job preference goes to Latvians.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Ding dong! Who is at the door?</span></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-86371958105283682112011-07-07T07:37:00.000-07:002011-07-07T07:37:50.857-07:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">Stealing </span></b><country-region><place><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">Latvia</span></b></place></country-region><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">, Final Episode</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16pt;">Fifth part of Ra-gana’s story</span></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_k6rVGjqGdARUn6REF5gHnWwGysFuJTe-Es64KUTtSTjhsh12RpsqPe-Nc4gXyTofamyhTgIMJZXFTo1z00DwqTH82zQjwinMgugMtTGqKxLE5at7rzI1bbBhzsA4PBf7MkuOyDnRKeO4/s1600/DSCF6785.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_k6rVGjqGdARUn6REF5gHnWwGysFuJTe-Es64KUTtSTjhsh12RpsqPe-Nc4gXyTofamyhTgIMJZXFTo1z00DwqTH82zQjwinMgugMtTGqKxLE5at7rzI1bbBhzsA4PBf7MkuOyDnRKeO4/s640/DSCF6785.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Getting on a bike.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Ra-gana again apologized for her fits of Turett’s <a href="http://twinbeech.com/images/turret_truck/Turret_truckrearweb.JPG"><span style="color: purple;">http://twinbeech.com/images/turret_truck/Turret_truckrearweb.JPG</span></a> . These fits come and go. It is not as often as you think that I want to f*** you <a href="http://twinbeech.com/images/turret_truck/Turret_truckrearweb.JPG"><span style="color: purple;">http://twinbeech.com/images/turret_truck/Turret_truckrearweb.JPG</span></a> . I am doing it in the interest of keeping your attention.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">So, here it is the last day of Valdis Zatlers, the President of Latvia for the last four years, skulking off the stage in a well acted scene of abject failure making a dignified exit <a href="http://www.delfi.lv/news/referendums-2011/saeima/zatlera-partijas-nosaukums-varetu-but-reformu-partija.d?id=39438673"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.delfi.lv/news/referendums-2011/saeima/zatlera-partijas-nosaukums-varetu-but-reformu-partija.d?id=39438673</span></a> The link links to a “possible” Reform Party. How utterly thrilling your intentions are, President Zatlers.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">It was just on June 28, that Zatlers openly urged a Referendum on whether the Saeima should be dismissed or kept as is. </span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3IOM6juq5idREEdEs1VKYKlY-91Rq8z1yQYTngsCyBbDMHJyDnwFvWrdAeeu9TkU2dyA10p4bWWAUwLr7ZyAZMbSVCQtvXEVE6R4qVRzd-SBrq-67-42mFrR20AHcvHbzWgerJNUBmPxH/s1600/DSCF6783.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3IOM6juq5idREEdEs1VKYKlY-91Rq8z1yQYTngsCyBbDMHJyDnwFvWrdAeeu9TkU2dyA10p4bWWAUwLr7ZyAZMbSVCQtvXEVE6R4qVRzd-SBrq-67-42mFrR20AHcvHbzWgerJNUBmPxH/s400/DSCF6783.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Must catch up.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">The Saeima voted in a new President-Elect Andris Bērziņš, who will succeed President Valdis Zatlers tomorrow.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Now what of a*** (hole) do you have to be to fail to understand that some serious f*** party is going on. Or are they all simply flat out on their beds as limp you can be and pretending that no one has stolen anything?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Ra-gana has suggested in previous blogs that Andris Bērziņš should refuse to accept his election to the presidency as valid, until the Referendum vote on July 23 reflects the people’s choice whether they believe Valdis Zatlers long list of reasons for dismissing the Saeima or whether they continue to put its trust in an institution whose present state of body is accused of corruption. </span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmyDcIKnoak5jsoPHNVfiaf3xISz5eM-KhLCkdb-5Y1CVwnN2GU072lfn0Tgp9Gwgi1dUs_NGE4GQpxSOEj5wM9If__OL1o_lkg_pjWnIZJuvC0h8No3kh73MODlYmE6c-LGPFw91HRT39/s1600/DSCF6786.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmyDcIKnoak5jsoPHNVfiaf3xISz5eM-KhLCkdb-5Y1CVwnN2GU072lfn0Tgp9Gwgi1dUs_NGE4GQpxSOEj5wM9If__OL1o_lkg_pjWnIZJuvC0h8No3kh73MODlYmE6c-LGPFw91HRT39/s400/DSCF6786.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rolling.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">If the people vote to dismiss the present Saeima, then President-Elect Andris Berzins has been put in office by a government body that the people have just voted as being corrupt. The implications of the Referendum vote on the Saeima are serious enough that a President-Elect of that Saeima should refuse the honor. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Else, the corruption of the Saeima has projected itself into the future a kind of cocoon of itself in the shape of an oligarch, the highest paid pensioner, a former bank president, a militant neo-liberal with a conflict of interest tilting in behalf of </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Sweden</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">. More can be added. Certainly one may say that Berzins is attached to a view that the sovereigns of the Earth are not the people, Latvians in this instance, but a class of oligarchs who have amassed their wealth by encouraging irresponsible growth.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXExPLoRlrwviNCyyy00Mh0XmKa7QhrcQPODXIxoz-Sqy36e1HclrEMq1KMiK64cDfDJPdgA_FgwBQCHd0NMzYeqy5He5ZSOzAcMKj9SsBqlY2oL9yrrW4FhlXx5H4Ns4Re1GnvM3Kw44S/s1600/DSCF6787.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXExPLoRlrwviNCyyy00Mh0XmKa7QhrcQPODXIxoz-Sqy36e1HclrEMq1KMiK64cDfDJPdgA_FgwBQCHd0NMzYeqy5He5ZSOzAcMKj9SsBqlY2oL9yrrW4FhlXx5H4Ns4Re1GnvM3Kw44S/s400/DSCF6787.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon of irresponsible growth. In </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">, it is a shining ambition even if it goes unreported. Rip the forests down, no shortage of chainsaws here. My neighbour reported this morning that eight good sized wild pigs had marched 20 meters from his house on their way to his potatoes field. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">If President-Elect Andris Bērziņš lets pass the moment when he is not officially President, </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> is as good as dead—especially in view of the near 500,000 of the last twenty years that the government has forced into economic emigration. The exile is evidence of a failure of either a long-term policy or vision. It is leadership floundering in the not so gentle ebb tide of the economies of the West.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Of course, one way of doing it is to do it in the last hours. Here is the scenario.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">President Valdis Zatlers turns out not to be a wimp. The President calls for a press conference, at which he announces that he believes that President-Elect Andris Berzins should not accept office until the popular Referendum reflects the peoples’ view of things.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Such a call by Zatlers would send the media into an immediate twitch. The worm will wriggle. Everyone now wants to know what President-Elect Andris Berzins will do. Will he agree and top it off with a suggestion that both he and Zatlers be candidates in a popular election?</span></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjpbdL27wEWZeiTIiIq_gwuL5-ggsZVVw2He8LREV1zP5cg3_7tMRdFcQC-9Tl5YYtil3wRB90Iez-OGS3yWw-R7RKuVMHYrQ7iB7x9JbRW7O7An9BY7i4RS5f3exM45yd5UMYXNPn68cX/s1600/DSCF6788.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjpbdL27wEWZeiTIiIq_gwuL5-ggsZVVw2He8LREV1zP5cg3_7tMRdFcQC-9Tl5YYtil3wRB90Iez-OGS3yWw-R7RKuVMHYrQ7iB7x9JbRW7O7An9BY7i4RS5f3exM45yd5UMYXNPn68cX/s640/DSCF6788.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Home in the wood.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">At this moment, the ball is yet in Valdis Zatler’s hands. Will he let it drop? Or will Andris Berzins drop it?</span></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-79668931632595142662011-07-05T14:48:00.000-07:002011-07-05T14:48:02.269-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">Stealing </span></b><country-region><place><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">Latvia</span></b></place></country-region><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">, Final Episode</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16pt;">Fourth part of Ra-gana’s story</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDjm2JuVE_SCmnrzGYAmEsqoTJfw5parbXD98tRsgnqTU0QipMSfm_ZkvoqJCPF_mUvwQPJ_yerKa9ifkqzhfIjD7Idgn5w5uBrgvUQJp6GxmuOXVOhs4V2BCXRUzJqP-gYaCJzJX-5xHF/s1600/new+073.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDjm2JuVE_SCmnrzGYAmEsqoTJfw5parbXD98tRsgnqTU0QipMSfm_ZkvoqJCPF_mUvwQPJ_yerKa9ifkqzhfIjD7Idgn5w5uBrgvUQJp6GxmuOXVOhs4V2BCXRUzJqP-gYaCJzJX-5xHF/s400/new+073.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Driving home one evening.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Ra-gana bared her teeth—though none of the blinded Latvians could see them. Raw heat flowed from her mouth and as soon as her words struck the ears of her listeners, their empty eye sockets twitched as if the black eggs that filled them were hatching black chickens infected by Turret’s. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">The chickens jumped to the sunlit ground and formed a whirl of black feathers, but instead of “pihp, pihp,”, the customary ‘chirp’ of chickens, one heard “behp, behp” of an automobile. As if this was not sufficiently dreadful, a chronal event joined the chickens honking with the rat-ta-tat of a machinegun, the squish of moss in a swamp, and, for good measure, the rattle of tank treads and an earthquake. It made one think of Latvian ghosts of who knows what wars come alive to mix it up with Lady Gaga.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“How on Earth!...” howled Ra-gana, “could the Latvians, co-inventors of the endearing word, have sunk to such corruption? How on Earth did the sons and daughters of the Sun, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Saules meitas un dehli</i>, the zhenchinas, the Tochtern aus Elisium <a href="http://younghill.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/image018.jpg"><span style="color: purple;">http://younghill.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/image018.jpg</span></a> become such suckers for cream of shit manufactured in Brussels, Stockholm, and other overfed places of the world?”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">No problem to answer that one, yelled a listener. The angels got raped <a href="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/100/a/6/Tochter_aus_Elysium_by_Venty_chan.jpg"><span style="color: purple;">http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/100/a/6/Tochter_aus_Elysium_by_Venty_chan.jpg</span></a> and lost their wings. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">We are living in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">millennium horriblis</i>, said Ra-gana. The Pavlovians are still shoving a peppered broomstick between my legs and calling the Sun in her chariot a witch on a broomstick.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp3Nh-DaO0exkCqm1Gg2mbrQ6arStCeeD5xQzy8zowiz8d-npi2KOCmzICFSyOYYk9aZXpjYK43ojTdMbfBDg8NZmW7adMX1RoIR2NG2D6ZXZ8mCchuVCL6yXGHjxS-HP_2I74Owg2AgvC/s1600/new+072.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp3Nh-DaO0exkCqm1Gg2mbrQ6arStCeeD5xQzy8zowiz8d-npi2KOCmzICFSyOYYk9aZXpjYK43ojTdMbfBDg8NZmW7adMX1RoIR2NG2D6ZXZ8mCchuVCL6yXGHjxS-HP_2I74Owg2AgvC/s400/new+072.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Driving along a country road.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> is no longer an existential question for Latvians. Did you see those cow licked fans of outgoing President Valdis Zatlers come to wimp it up at the </span><place><placetype><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Garden</span></placetype><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> of </span><placename><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Fates</span></placename></place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> (Liktendārzs)? The umbrellas of the so-called “umbrella protest” a few years ago were replaced by summer parasols making make-believe that it was time for the rainbow.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">However, the President’s good bye and farewell wishers were put in their place by the incoming Viceroy<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">*</b> Andris Bērziņš <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">[*before he came out of retirement, Berziņš was president of Uni Banka, an affiliate of Swedish SEB </b><a href="http://www.sebgroup.com/pow/wcp/sebgroup.asp"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.sebgroup.com/pow/wcp/sebgroup.asp</span></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> . This is why his interests are conflicted, motives may be questioned, and service may be contrary to the interests of Latvians </b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andris_B%C4%93rzi%C5%86%C5%A1_(Latvian_President-elect">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andris_B%C4%93rzi%C5%86%C5%A1_(Latvian_President-elect</a>) <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">]</b>, who trumped the outgoing President by marrying his girlfriend, a Latvian doctor, who does not understand why she should not have married—given that she had not been in a hurry to do so before Berzins sudden rise to fame. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Ra-gana was visibly eclipsing herself. Those who were listening to her saw neither the sun nor the moon.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Did the doctor weigh the existential question, i.e., whether she should be wife of a president who may not be averse to the de-sovereignization of </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">? Not surprisingly, the news media were interested in the banker on his way to becoming the President of Latvia, not the non-event of the near ex-President at the </span><place><placetype><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Park</span></placetype><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> of </span><placename><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Fate</span></placename></place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> (Liktendārzs).</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Ra-gana’s questions, many of a rhetorical nature, because they implicitly questioned the President-Elect loyalties, reverberated through </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> with a “ker-plunk” that has no bridge overhead to echo it. Though the questions are rhetorical, mere thinkable unthinkables few think about, they are actually weighty enough for President-Elect Andris Bērziņš to refuse the Presidency, confound a corrupt Saeima that elected him, and call for direct popular elections to take place simultaneously with the Referendum on the dismissal of Saeima.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">I know that my enemies are calling for Garth Wader, shouted Ra-gana, but I love the Latvians. They are among the last of indigenous peoples, and not much is left of them.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">So, what else is new?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">One may readily imagine an alternate future for </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">, one more advantageous to her as a sovereign nation than a nation de-sovereignized and stuck for public view in a bottle of formaldehy. Is freedom being bought at the price of seeing one’s self de-Latvianized enough to be indistinguishable from Latvian tourists touring their own country <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdYwAXZh0ME&feature=related"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdYwAXZh0ME&feature=related</span></a> . Many Latvians do not agree that the life of their community is being put in jeopardy by debts, many of which were accrued by oligarchs and those with tendencies to imitate them.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-EjTwTz5KaLZYXnif_F1TF46PcsFlxPal041Z1tla0QBjw8BkpwjrfMPblO5LbLQd_WrYSk5_NTe8nSpilVOG_DFO5L5VGF8LKlHoOQYJftoPXwhVIkJctctTbcJ72vSlKfP0vUXX99rk/s1600/new+071.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-EjTwTz5KaLZYXnif_F1TF46PcsFlxPal041Z1tla0QBjw8BkpwjrfMPblO5LbLQd_WrYSk5_NTe8nSpilVOG_DFO5L5VGF8LKlHoOQYJftoPXwhVIkJctctTbcJ72vSlKfP0vUXX99rk/s640/new+071.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Driving into it.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Why should Andris Bērzins want to preside over a system, where the heirs of Latgale region are paid for their labour with a bottle of ‘krutka’ and piece of fatty sausage? The suicide rate in </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> under the government in operation for the last twenty years (where suicide is a way of sacrificing one’s self to Gods of one’s forebears to keep from being miserable under the present One) is rather impressive. One should check out whether President-Elect Andris Bērzins, as a banker, repossessed the farms of some who protested by killing themselves.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Not that Berzins would admit to ever having heard of such a thing, someone shouted. He will say that the Swedes love Latvians.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">The corruption problem of the Latvian government (some say it began in 1993, when Adolfs Buķis from Jelgava killed himself at the foot of the </span><place><placename><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Freedom</span></placename><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><placetype><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Monument</span></placetype></place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> in </span><city><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Riga</span></place></city><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">) is the result of a visionless government marching into the future looking backward and full of faith in the short-lived post-World War Two economic story. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Much of the present march into oblivion is the result of the uneducated optimism of Latvian exiles (trimdinieki), the hidden greed of former communist apparatchiks, people living in belief (still) that liberal and self-regulating capitalism is a system for forever, and abandonment of community in favour of anarchy of individualism will be sustained by good money also forever. While the success stories of Latvians living abroad is impressive, few knew enough about the history of economy to oppose the shock capitalism advocated by America and other Western countries in the early 1990s or are themselves committed to a unipolar world view.</span></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQWKCLz5mX5pv70JQujfUbYtn4Atlzy96cqPkEKELO1kAxCTmIWzfGBYZLCzS9fcJxWEstElzxTRa9jSjygacCLl_ZTmRU6dpcjRiIzyqAOceXz9KzMbLkxmRdNoZWneKc5qFwi4_LnJZ-/s1600/new+074.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQWKCLz5mX5pv70JQujfUbYtn4Atlzy96cqPkEKELO1kAxCTmIWzfGBYZLCzS9fcJxWEstElzxTRa9jSjygacCLl_ZTmRU6dpcjRiIzyqAOceXz9KzMbLkxmRdNoZWneKc5qFwi4_LnJZ-/s400/new+074.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">One more bend in the road and I am home.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">President-Elect Andris Bērzins is of oligarch vintage, a careerist—as we see—even as a retiree. Why are we to believe that the answer to the question (as yet unasked by the media) that he is free of conflict of interest on behalf of </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Sweden</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">, when so much of the evidence (true, indirect and inferred, not objectively proved) leads one to infer the opposite or at least investigate it as the Latvian media does not do.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Ra-gana was out of breath as she came to the finish of her story to the blind. “Oh, do not go gentle into that good night,” she screamed at the top of her voice. “Make rage at what you have been made to become!”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Many windows in </span><city><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Riga</span></place></city><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> opened as people looked to see who that Crazy Jane, a pa-yane for sure, was doing in depopulated </span><city><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Riga</span></place></city><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">. Unfortunately, the windows opened to the dark of night, and an echo that sounded very much like “On July 7<sup>th</sup>, the President of Latvia will be Andris Bērzins. </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> is making a great leap forward. De-sovereignization, here we come. What crisis? There is no crisis.”</span></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-69789325450577232192011-07-01T09:12:00.000-07:002011-07-02T00:02:57.699-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">Stealing </span></b><country-region><place><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">Latvia</span></b></place></country-region><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">, Final Episode</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16pt;">Third part of Ra-gana’s story</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEPBSUwQLh2sl7NZUi2trhQhbqGGpyFJq0HdDDliMG9-fyjHUzSk3mHeeLr0rloe8sA5d0a4l9PAbvupQkvda87tx2qUM46YJhowrjKJbYprDiC5GkQh9LA4eUuSiV4zbkJLIYw9ZHtSd/s1600/DSCF6764.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEPBSUwQLh2sl7NZUi2trhQhbqGGpyFJq0HdDDliMG9-fyjHUzSk3mHeeLr0rloe8sA5d0a4l9PAbvupQkvda87tx2qUM46YJhowrjKJbYprDiC5GkQh9LA4eUuSiV4zbkJLIYw9ZHtSd/s400/DSCF6764.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Truck at the crossroads in Vilzeni</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Ragana apologized for her fit of Turettes (see previous blog about the worms and all), then continued to tell her story to the impressed Latvians:</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“The proto-Latvian witch Ragana was the Sun. “Ra” as you know is Egyptian for the Sun, while “gana” (really pronounced yana) is a herdess (as in cowherd), re Sun the Herdess of life on Earth. Another word which the proto-Latvians derived from “ra-gana” was “ra-zhena”, meaning productive. “Zhena” is of course the same as “</span><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Yana</span></place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">”, just differently pronounced. Zhenchina is Russian for a young girl or woman, which is equivalent to the Latvian “saules meita”.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“Where do you get all this stuff,” asked a Latvian.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“It’s all in the language,” answered Ragana, “all you have to do is open your ears. Did you know that the Latvian word for ‘birch’ is ‘behrzs’, which comes from the word ‘berzeht’, to rub?”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“You are making this up,” said someone in the audience.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“Not at all,” answered Ragana, “all I do is use my imagination. You see, once upon a time everyone from </span><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Kamchatka</span></place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> to </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> who went to the sauna or sweat house used birch branches in place of sponges. They dunked leafy birch brooms in hot water and whacked their limbs with them to loosen the old skin. The fragrance is divine. This was called ‘berzēt’, to birch one’s self.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“Alright, I get it,” said one of the Latvians, “except it’s the other way around: the word ‘berzeht’ comes from ‘birch’.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“You are right,” granted Ragana, “I sometimes get so excited that I get things backward, though—you must know—when I go backwards, I really am going forward. That is how screwed up the world is.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“So, what else have you to tell us? Why are you telling us about birches?”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“Ahh”, said Ragana, “that has to do with the new Latvian President-Elect Andris Bērziņš or Andris Birch, if you will. I told you before that Berzins ought to think twice before he accepts his election to the Presidency by the Latvian parliament as a valid. That is, of course, if the Latvian people vote to dismiss the Saeima in the coming Referendum.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ38N6KEkzPt0ByLrteymGGUsn3FjmCKEwSzFA-aYgn0UqMqCJKUJOSB1dgOANLPxz9LjOoVSxXwg0ZLj97Htas8Erbqw6BWGex2petKuzFk1q8xjifMpCsBJRUjH4Md0LJyeN0j63ifEU/s1600/DSCF6765.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ38N6KEkzPt0ByLrteymGGUsn3FjmCKEwSzFA-aYgn0UqMqCJKUJOSB1dgOANLPxz9LjOoVSxXwg0ZLj97Htas8Erbqw6BWGex2petKuzFk1q8xjifMpCsBJRUjH4Md0LJyeN0j63ifEU/s320/DSCF6765.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Same truck, same place</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Why should the Latvian people dismiss the Saeima? It has such nice people. Some former deputies were and still are well known musicians. Everyone looks so well scrubbed.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">I will tell you why, said Ragana.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">It is because the Latvian Saeima is engaged in—yes, it is true—surreptitious (secretive) de-soverenization of </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">. This mouthful of words are the words that make </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> disappear. After de-sovrenization is complete, the Swedish banks—to which the Latvian neo-liberals owe so much money, they can never repay it—will join Latvia to Sweden by way of the Nordic Battle Group. The Swedes never accepted their defeat by </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Russia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> in the Great Winter War (1700-1721) <a href="http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/slkrig_eng17b.htm"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/slkrig_eng17b.htm</span></a> . The Swedes are planning their moment of revenge as we speak <a href="http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/sl_kartor_sv1700.htm#Poltava"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/sl_kartor_sv1700.htm#Poltava</span></a> .</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZPBA_nhLpOc-zbWm-dNavSZQDUneFaoAF-q6loJYRRImLNc30eT2fH3NtyDPskcnYZhOq8yj6VjI4LsFeMRAA1eUoElF_NSC1uScEJZQJlvnBWzSZFBWTIIqDOUgWBT5aGE8s_DSegCPC/s1600/DSCF6766.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZPBA_nhLpOc-zbWm-dNavSZQDUneFaoAF-q6loJYRRImLNc30eT2fH3NtyDPskcnYZhOq8yj6VjI4LsFeMRAA1eUoElF_NSC1uScEJZQJlvnBWzSZFBWTIIqDOUgWBT5aGE8s_DSegCPC/s400/DSCF6766.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Two cars at the bus stop waiting for guests.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Ten rolls of thunder! You mean that President-Elect Andris Berzins is planning to become the Swedish Viceroy of </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Something like that, said Ragana, like almost a king, yes. Maybe he will be called governor, like a governor of one of the states in </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">America</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">But that is ridiculous? We are in the 21<sup>st</sup> century. Everyone knows that Latvians sang their way to freedom from out of the clutches of the </span><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Soviet Union</span></place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">. It was a great miracle.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">I know what you mean, said Ragana, however, it is not as strange as you think. I just read in Stratfor’s geopolitical intelligence sheet on the internet <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/print/198089"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.stratfor.com/print/198089</span></a> that the alliances of the past centuries have not been forgotten. In a section called “</span><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Europe</span></place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">’s Spheres of Influence”, researcher Marko Papic <a href="http://www.qfinance.com/contributor-biographies/marko-papic"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.qfinance.com/contributor-biographies/marko-papic</span></a> , writes: </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“The Nordic regional bloc</span></i></strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia): These mostly non-eurozone states generally see Russia’s resurgence in a negative light. The Baltic states are seen as part of the <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20090629_geopolitics_sweden_baltic_power_reborn"><span style="color: black;">Nordic sphere of influence (especially Sweden’s)</span></a>, which leads to problems with Russia.”</span></i></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNkTwQE2hKa7P4rcPajpBBPq-mihmKYrClv6VNn-ZaUcY_ZU5kRjhZFu3WIbgFHT8fA1AV83FpoxAQBHMKznd-XtWKzSCUCi_IGfylqoAMcox9boAO_ShapAeoooNxYzySiTfpuk0eXkaz/s1600/DSCF6768.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNkTwQE2hKa7P4rcPajpBBPq-mihmKYrClv6VNn-ZaUcY_ZU5kRjhZFu3WIbgFHT8fA1AV83FpoxAQBHMKznd-XtWKzSCUCi_IGfylqoAMcox9boAO_ShapAeoooNxYzySiTfpuk0eXkaz/s400/DSCF6768.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Almost high noon</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Wow! said the Latvians. Why does no one tell us ‘the Swedes are coming’? That is a centuries old dream of Livonians.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Well, answered Ragana, that is because the blind are united in their blindness. The Latvians forsook their Sun Goddess, the symbol of their forebears that stood for the light of the universe. Moreover, they also no longer know they used to call themselves Children of Johns, the sons and daughters of the Sun—answered Ra-gana. You and I, all Latvians, are the goose for the gander in Sweden. One of our own, Andris Vilks, our Finance minister <a href="http://www.eib.org/about/news/andris-vilks-new-governor-for-latvia.htm"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.eib.org/about/news/andris-vilks-new-governor-for-latvia.htm</span></a> may soon be the Swedish Viceroy's Vice-President of Latvia.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Holy cow!</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The Swedes will deny any wrong-doing, continued Ragana. And, strictly speaking, they are right. How could they be wrong if the Latvian Saeima writes laws to their liking? Only a few days ago (7/29) the Chair of the Saeima, Gundars Daudze, insisted (NTV3) that the Saeima must continue to allow to vote in secret, else it will put the Populists in power. He was responding to Ilma Čepane, </span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">a deputy, who believes that Saeima’s votes should be public; that people ought to know who the deputies vote for.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Who are the Populists? asked the descendants of Latvian populists who had lost their historical bearings. We hear the word all the time, yet all we know is that it is a very bad word. Neither the media or anyone in Latvian government ever explains it. Can you tell us what the populists do?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">They eat fish (reņģes), answered Ragana. It makes their armpits smell different from those of a minister and most journalists. They are poor people whose children are not encouraged by their schoolteachers to move ahead unless it is to move out of the country. Populists do not make lots of money unless they win the lottery.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">But surely Andris Berzins will never give up being President-Elect of Latvia. If he did, then the prihvatization of Latvia could come to a stop and Latvia could go from a parliamentary democracy to a people’s democracy, that is to say, a populist democracy. It may even happen that the populists put a stop to the deforestation of Latvia. After all, the Latvians used to call their freedom fighters “forest brothers”.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">I would like to see that happen, said Ra-gana, and began to recite a famous, but forgotten folksong. Because the song has been forgot, Ragana put it in her own words:</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBoTs8t2kjheubxKj1xW79QFmQGQjVrDziiQRCGJaf_sZuP00vrpAq3fz1NZGWvC-zXqbbYnGJnQ3iZo3rqQjv8RLuStiJsv3gihKhXyvWIA4Q56DrSschGjnJv4-3rJKFuZr1O-JycDPh/s400/DSCF6778.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The potatoes are blooming.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Over the dense tree tops of Tahlava,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">rides Ra-gana with glistening shears in her hands. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The linden and oak trees kiss the blades of the light </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">that bids them good night with so gentle a snip.</span></div> <br />
<div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">(To be continued.)</span></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-41252805951759695682011-06-28T06:27:00.000-07:002011-06-29T22:34:22.470-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">Stealing </span></b><country-region><place><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">Latvia</span></b></place></country-region><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">, Final Episode</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16pt;">Second part of Ragana’s story</span> </div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsH19pTJ6OKa9vaWNyoT7svkLhYW0V5fTM3Bf_rw3Ub5v0JoaMdaJir9E2iU05vW7ifN1BLY29_YrgaxG3Cizq8UnEcqfOEkXgS69huEEQuyR4v0pQH7qLf3OimWa_O3_QybHrp1t4k3oI/s1600/DSCF6731.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsH19pTJ6OKa9vaWNyoT7svkLhYW0V5fTM3Bf_rw3Ub5v0JoaMdaJir9E2iU05vW7ifN1BLY29_YrgaxG3Cizq8UnEcqfOEkXgS69huEEQuyR4v0pQH7qLf3OimWa_O3_QybHrp1t4k3oI/s640/DSCF6731.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gate West, Temple to Black John in Memoriam of Lost Forests</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">The Latvian witch <a href="http://www.zemgaletourism.lv/bildes/ragana.JPG"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.zemgaletourism.lv/bildes/ragana.JPG</span></a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>paused and looked around to see what impression her story had made on the Latvian tourists touring </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">The witch was delighted by what she saw: almost no one had been listening to her. However, all were spellbound by the bleached mask over her face, which was made of torn old cardboard weathered in the rain and sun for over a year.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“Glory be!” said the Witch. “The worms will ream your arse. Listen up, marines! If you wish to come out alive, you must kill the enemy.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“Go tell them, mother,” someone from the audience called.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“I am only kidding,” replied the witch. “I don’t want anyone killed, but I would hang them by their balls and pussies if that would help.” The witch took a deep breath and then continued with her story to the Latvians, who she had just bewitched and blinded. Her breath still reeked of eyeballs turned into rotten eggs.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">She began by reminding everyone about the need of sacrifice.</span></div> <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTn12QbcZyj6E4rs2nk5vd6xS-P13xK6R1HoGdW7SLuoBIDQ_UAp9FHCGYivXbE3y8xkefsTQTAmtew6wQElb-XrFTPpcTobdsETKijFmzXLVaJlxQU9gCaCHfzZtrIL-MwWYPanMINi0/s1600/DSCF6732.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTn12QbcZyj6E4rs2nk5vd6xS-P13xK6R1HoGdW7SLuoBIDQ_UAp9FHCGYivXbE3y8xkefsTQTAmtew6wQElb-XrFTPpcTobdsETKijFmzXLVaJlxQU9gCaCHfzZtrIL-MwWYPanMINi0/s640/DSCF6732.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">If trees let grow, in ten years it will look very different</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">When on May 28, President Zatlers made the speech that initiated the dismissal of the Latvian Saeima <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT6944am6IY"><span style="color: black;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT6944am6IY</span></a> , he used the word “sacrifice” a number of times. The President mentioned that among the sacrifices made by the Latvian people, which sacrifices had pulled Latvia out of the economic crisis were lower wages, higher taxes, and unemployment. He did not mention the 300,000 to 500,000 Latvians who had been driven out of their country by liberal economic policies of the Latvian government. Of these none were returning yet, though the President mentioned “improved economic conditions”. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Nonetheless, to mention the word “sacrifice” is a noteworthy departure for President Zatlers. He had seldom used the word before. The reason for its disuse is, of course, the liberal capitalist economy, which is presumed to be “self-regulating”. In other words, if liberal capitalist economy is self-regulating (the economists of the </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">U.S.A.</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"> swear it is so), so is the governing of the state. There is no need for any kind of radical intervention by sacrifices such as people make in times of war or at times they are laying the foundations of their nation. In a liberal democracy self-regulation is the word. As we know, today foreign banks are regulating Latvians, which is to say, they are easing Latvian sovereignty out the door by not saying a word about it. Mum is the word; and surprisingly, Latvians are mum about their sovereignty.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwX-PwmLBlBXTaHj6xYr7SM8YVtxM7Pc41g_q1_ylNgNXel_pRFwxhlbpjhYUX4oVCCQ9YemrybZ-32836cuPHxbK-p3fe9qNI2qxHVy1_G3FPZC3cb84ynRbn1WhQaT3pIhteupgZdpOM/s1600/DSCF6733.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwX-PwmLBlBXTaHj6xYr7SM8YVtxM7Pc41g_q1_ylNgNXel_pRFwxhlbpjhYUX4oVCCQ9YemrybZ-32836cuPHxbK-p3fe9qNI2qxHVy1_G3FPZC3cb84ynRbn1WhQaT3pIhteupgZdpOM/s640/DSCF6733.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The walk to the temple.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">In his speech, President Zatlers mentioned the word “radical” with regard to himself. This is not to say that he is, though he may have thought so. After all, privatizing a nation is as radical a step as must be the nation’s reaction to such an effort.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">That President Zatlers had turned a sceptic about liberal capitalist economy and its advertised democracy was picked up quickly by the more sensitive ears among the ruling elites. Andris Grutups, a lawyer of note among Latvians, reacted almost immediately <a href="http://www.delfi.lv/news/referendums-2011/referendums/grutups-zatlers-ar-savu-vieglpratibu-nolicis-valsti-mulkiga-stavokli.d?id=39093605"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.delfi.lv/news/referendums-2011/referendums/grutups-zatlers-ar-savu-vieglpratibu-nolicis-valsti-mulkiga-stavokli.d?id=39093605</span></a> .</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“With his light headedness and short sightedness, Zatlers has put the State into a foolish position. There was no reason to dismiss the parliament…. The only pleasing thing is that the parliament quickly elected Andris Berzins as the next President. What he will be like only the future knows, but as far as finances and economy are concerned, he is at least three times smarter than Valdis Zatlers,” said Grutups.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">After quoting Grutups, the Latvian witch looked at all the Latvians whose eyeballs she had eaten and lowering her voice said: “When you have got no eyeballs, it is much easier to lobotomize you. All you have to do is scoop it out. Surreptitious desovereignization is the very essence of globalization.” </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“Wow!” said the listening Latvians. “If your name is Yane or Zhane, we want you as our next President.”</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWFxtUKXHhGd3jV78nXIFVVtrYxEiT8ypphz5qAXFtIPXO3tW6oPJM80wUyyfCXx2QpPxNDzdXKGDRkvVvzy1pNomHyzpyhzYlSzNAWeZpYUaTAX1S8O-kp_Uzu-Miedq3j7DW753kDYct/s1600/DSCF6749.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWFxtUKXHhGd3jV78nXIFVVtrYxEiT8ypphz5qAXFtIPXO3tW6oPJM80wUyyfCXx2QpPxNDzdXKGDRkvVvzy1pNomHyzpyhzYlSzNAWeZpYUaTAX1S8O-kp_Uzu-Miedq3j7DW753kDYct/s640/DSCF6749.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">To see one's shadow.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“Of course you know,” said the Latvian witch, “that the witch in Latvian is spelled ‘ragana’, that is to say ‘Ra-gana’ or Sun-herder. If you really would like, I would be your Sun gladly. When I am the President, our national hymn will start with the words ‘Dear Sun, bless </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">’.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“Go, mother, go!” yelled someone in the audience.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“I will marry Clever John, and he can succeed me as President.”</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“Wot!” cried another voice, obviously that of a Populist.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">The logic is quite simple, continued the witch Ragana. Latvians must take heart. The President-Elect, Andris Bērziņš must think twice before he accepts his office. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">If in the Referendum vote, the Latvians vote for the dismissal of the Saeima, then surely the Saeima was in the eyes of the voters illegitimate at the time it presumed to elect the so-called next president. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Attorney Grūtups should know that while the law cannot be subjective, a sovereign may. And the Latvian people surely are the sovereigns of their nation. The Latvian Saeima and its parliamentary democracy is not the State’s sovereign. The Latvians are </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">’s sovereigns, because without sovereignty, the Latvians are without a community of their own.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">If President-Elect Andris Bērziņš is let stand as </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">’s President after the Latvian people vote to dismiss the Saeima (which means that the People are also seconding the reasons that Valdis Zatlers gave for asking its dismissal), the surreptitious evolution of the undisclosed cancer continues to devour </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">’s sovereignty. The casket may be made now.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“Wot, wot!” cried several Populists.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“I think that it is high noon for </span><country-region><place><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">,” said the witch Ragana. </span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZs7LK_doXi-5PGVkJZYPtbaugBHbmo8STkEPGVM6qMNjI7WF9G1Cm90u3pDQToA7hyphenhyphenmcT9BSIrauFGVIpuier0np4msTmzEqm0cjhNmMQ1R8dHQFbjPrwNznnsV0D9r69xGmifpu12WED/s1600/DSCF6754.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZs7LK_doXi-5PGVkJZYPtbaugBHbmo8STkEPGVM6qMNjI7WF9G1Cm90u3pDQToA7hyphenhyphenmcT9BSIrauFGVIpuier0np4msTmzEqm0cjhNmMQ1R8dHQFbjPrwNznnsV0D9r69xGmifpu12WED/s640/DSCF6754.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Consider the weed.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;">“Is your name Gary Cooper, the late American actor?” one of the blinded Latvians asked. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">“No,” answered Ragana, “he’s the one sang to me “Oh my darling.” </span> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4a_1UhwgFU&feature=related"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4a_1UhwgFU&feature=related</span></a> .”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">(To be continued.)</span></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-89536603715343142862011-06-27T08:59:00.000-07:002011-06-27T08:59:04.385-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">Stealing </span></b><country-region><place><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">Latvia</span></b></place></country-region><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt;">, Final Episode</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16pt;">First part of the old witch’s story</span></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4bksmwKaULTczrSFGEvJ9Cjd5RY-E6pKQGGjFyR6UjG0WpoxI1B9GJGzFrfgCxAjM3xI1iCP0BOD2VT3AK89IhkZ4R9cui8x9uKmHhJeD3wRBJGRp032vIVJ21Ok844bnWxF88ZNZi6pb/s1600/DSCF6726.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4bksmwKaULTczrSFGEvJ9Cjd5RY-E6pKQGGjFyR6UjG0WpoxI1B9GJGzFrfgCxAjM3xI1iCP0BOD2VT3AK89IhkZ4R9cui8x9uKmHhJeD3wRBJGRp032vIVJ21Ok844bnWxF88ZNZi6pb/s640/DSCF6726.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Of ducklings and grasses</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> was stolen with the help of a helpless Latvian President.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">This is a funny story but also sad. Both little children and grown-ups who tell children this story will laugh and cry.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">So, here it goes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Once upon a time in a country called </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">, there lived a real witch. The witch wore a black sheet over her otherwise bony and teatless body. Color black made the witch both invisible and horrible looking. The more invisible the witch was, the more horrible she became to the imagination. </span></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI3gGFvqI83OyeStT6kdhyccHeHwJnbC-nsrRq_qkiiBhPz1-5reoc9ArK5HzRjy016aTAyIxuWPVvMVxEe1oTVGqkpkAWOxb2uTulYcXg0rYqm0ya8c1V6Yo12VwBOty3lCWy3h-IErmz/s1600/DSCF6727.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI3gGFvqI83OyeStT6kdhyccHeHwJnbC-nsrRq_qkiiBhPz1-5reoc9ArK5HzRjy016aTAyIxuWPVvMVxEe1oTVGqkpkAWOxb2uTulYcXg0rYqm0ya8c1V6Yo12VwBOty3lCWy3h-IErmz/s400/DSCF6727.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A group of about a dozen came marching through the meadow, <br />
but I had to drive on and know not whence they came or went</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Many people were struck blind by the sight of the witch—even if she stood in the shadows. There may be to this day blind people alive in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">, who can tell what happened when they had their fateful encounter with the witch. The moment she appeared was when she wanted to eat human eyeballs. This is when she (or he?) became visible to Latvians.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">The moment the witch’s victims saw the witch, their eyes turned black and teary and flowed from their sockets as rotten eggs. Even as the people screamed, and the smell of rot filled the air, the witch came over to the horrified victim, and licked its eyes right off its cheeks. Many say that the witch smacked her lips and made sounds that sounded like “Nyam, nyam”. The witch then took the opportunity to sit the shocked and blinded victims down wherever it was it all happened and tell them a story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">This is what the witch told.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Once upon a time </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> was a country covered by great forests. The Latvians themselves were people living in the forest, where they made small clearings to build their houses. The Latvians subsisted mostly on salted mushrooms and cabbages (in the winter) and wild strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, milk, and honey (in the summer). </span></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIuoUNj723z_oGPCbGrSxcqcXmLCUBNThva1TniPxd6nGPQFsqXXmdbx2ppa221hDZM8Qy6_MCRlBIgpZ6Lb2JLDDHn-bXbpO3Qm3F2NQdUJt3RHFrepvIIvI8tRywaT-bRxDP7vfiO56A/s1600/DSCF6728.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIuoUNj723z_oGPCbGrSxcqcXmLCUBNThva1TniPxd6nGPQFsqXXmdbx2ppa221hDZM8Qy6_MCRlBIgpZ6Lb2JLDDHn-bXbpO3Qm3F2NQdUJt3RHFrepvIIvI8tRywaT-bRxDP7vfiO56A/s400/DSCF6728.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">A midsummer heaven of daisies</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">The Latvians of former times ate no meat, because they did not like to kill anything alive. The one occasion when the Latvians were willing to kill was at certain high noon times, when the Sun—the goddess who represented the wonders of the universe for them—was directly above them. Trapped in the glowing moment of </span><time hour="12" minute="0"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">noon</span></time><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> was like being trapped within the Sun herself. To make themselves feel real again, the Latvians gathered a crowd of witnesses (other Latvians), and then asked if one in their midst wanted to die.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">“Hee, hee!” laughed the Latvian witch, and continued:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Quite often no one came forward and said “I”. Who in his right mind would? But then why ask the question. This was a moment of truth. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">If no Latvian came forward to say that he-she loved </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> as much as him- or herself, then there was no community of Latvians. Then all those Latvians who had come together on Johns Eve and on Midsummer Day stood at high noon on privatized Gaizinkalns were just a lot of curious tourists watching some silly ritual or other.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">There came a time, however, when in fact no one came forward. The Latvian tourists did not in any way feel themselves more real than real feels at high noon at any other place, and evidence for that reality was in the lats, dollars, and euros they left behind at the inn. Oh, yes, the inn was called “Pagan”. </span></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIl2G1-2cHI5OFh_sj-Ec8hj0XMEOyB79DtkBneW_-I6qqgU8tfaCZTQowrXIVOH4uW29ja-U5WrfYDyofv8ILOkUx00__SBt1V0WLY-fzat1GSifsmm7T7l7mYPYjIxXg12iYBSWgqoYT/s1600/DSCF6729.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIl2G1-2cHI5OFh_sj-Ec8hj0XMEOyB79DtkBneW_-I6qqgU8tfaCZTQowrXIVOH4uW29ja-U5WrfYDyofv8ILOkUx00__SBt1V0WLY-fzat1GSifsmm7T7l7mYPYjIxXg12iYBSWgqoYT/s640/DSCF6729.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Clover in bloom</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">The tourist brouchure does not explain that “pagan” stands for pa-yan. Yan had been the name by which the original proto-Latvians designated a man and a human being. Women were included through a trick of the Latvian language: it could turn almost every word into a feminine word by adding a vowel. In this case, Yane, sometimes Zhane, stood for all women. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Thus, the word “pagan” is actually “Yan” and “Yane” demoted to being pa-yan and pa-yane, and then again to pagan. “Pa” is a prefix that diminishes the significance of who ever bears the word by half or more. While Saule stands for the Sun, pa-saule stands for the planet Earth.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">When the day came that all Latvians became tourists in their own country (and many tour right out of it, say, to </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">China</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> or </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Ireland</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">), then something needs to be done for Latvians to recover themselves as something more than tourists. If this does not happen, Latvians turn into soap bubbles and everything goes Pop! This is a great time for witches to drink blood.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Of course, I am not talking of real blood. If sometimes the blood is real, most of the time it is symbolic.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJIqXPT7wJtcAKIb0IVTu_ecBU_QdBS1J7wQu-w4Lb20KjBIWOqWGoD3JEMKXbAGZ-HnHobwHweNIZuPoITFMdMVSNWoxUZJErSEJDc5I5zpnPKwfFDR4fLw1j-L9DGwU_fDXIjRKNPEPc/s1600/DSCF6730.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJIqXPT7wJtcAKIb0IVTu_ecBU_QdBS1J7wQu-w4Lb20KjBIWOqWGoD3JEMKXbAGZ-HnHobwHweNIZuPoITFMdMVSNWoxUZJErSEJDc5I5zpnPKwfFDR4fLw1j-L9DGwU_fDXIjRKNPEPc/s400/DSCF6730.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The fragrance is like that of a mild honeysuckle</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">For example, if Latvians do not become real, the time will be lost to rent out </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Riga</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> for the next hundred years to the Chinese as their capital in </span><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Europe</span></place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">. Right now the Chinese are all over </span><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Europe</span></place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/article/china-says-it-will-bailout-insolvent-european-countries"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.zerohedge.com/article/china-says-it-will-bailout-insolvent-european-countries</span></a> saying they are ready to save floundering economies and worthless currencies. If insolvent </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Riga</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> and Latvians become real and play their cards right, </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">China</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> could bail the Latvians out of their debt and turn </span><city><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Riga</span></place></city><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> into </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">’s taxi meter for Chinese passengers. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">With the tax money, the </span><place><placetype><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">land</span></placetype><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> of </span><placename><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></placename></place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> could be turned into a forest again, and Latvians could again be a forest people. Don’t you know that if you want a real democracy, you must live in a forest? The barons got the best of proto-Latvians when they got them to cut down their forests and their machineguns could move down anything that crossed the field.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">“Hee, hee!” laughed the Latvian witch. “To this day, I hide best behind trees. When in a forest, you will never know when I jump out from behind a tree.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">There is even more to tell. </span></div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR43z406F81JakKIUW1ER8r_NazA_GeXoF7XlJ5OSq2tE05m2zAz7vLYips34S3-bC51muv2hmNKWwQAwd30iP5nuwt6Zi310bsmAtVBewuI4C9fLCtbkygZHDuLbl_vqKjgLXCfIkcj8f/s1600/DSCF6731.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR43z406F81JakKIUW1ER8r_NazA_GeXoF7XlJ5OSq2tE05m2zAz7vLYips34S3-bC51muv2hmNKWwQAwd30iP5nuwt6Zi310bsmAtVBewuI4C9fLCtbkygZHDuLbl_vqKjgLXCfIkcj8f/s640/DSCF6731.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gate West of the Temple to Black John</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Not being too smart and tied into a knot known as “the oligarch”, the Latvian parliament elected a new President, one Andris Bērziņš. The reason the Latvian Saeima (Parliament, sort of) did this was because the new President had been the head of a Latvian bank, drew the highest pension of anyone in Latvia, and was an adventurer, a Don Juan who did not distinguish between women and people when it came to a chance for a tryst.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">You know what I mean, said the witch. Hear this!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">When President Zatlers suggested in his State Directive #2 (based on the 48<sup>th</sup> Pants of the Latvian constitution) that the people decide through a vote in a Referendum whether to dismiss the Saeima or not, his mind was hoping he was reading the mind of the People right, that is, that the Saeima is really deserving of dismissal. President Zatlers gave a long list of potentially anti-Latvian acts of the Saeima, one of which is a surreptitious evolutionary form of privatization of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">, which in due course will surprise Latvians by turning </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> into a non-State. This can be achieved if the sovereign of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> is not the People, but the Saeima. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Quite a witchy story, is it not? hee heed the witch. It is also high noon.</span></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw3YjZAMDUChYl5VDJdT7Eaf3GXobDm-9NI5KQSaj5vMtbVUF9X63weOEqzeLPZH_OoXGk2UqlxnTMs4M3IRH4pvenvHeFqd0qZftc_DWBDDWaS_yRAPzgYi7Ui0k1nE2WngDVAZmeO-6S/s1600/DSCF6748.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw3YjZAMDUChYl5VDJdT7Eaf3GXobDm-9NI5KQSaj5vMtbVUF9X63weOEqzeLPZH_OoXGk2UqlxnTMs4M3IRH4pvenvHeFqd0qZftc_DWBDDWaS_yRAPzgYi7Ui0k1nE2WngDVAZmeO-6S/s400/DSCF6748.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Black John on Johns Eve, Midsummer 2011</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Could the man to step forward as a sacrifice at this high noon be President-Elect Andris Bērziņš? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">It is not Bērziņs life anyone wants, but the Presidency he holds is wanted back in the hands of the sovereign People again. The 17<sup>th</sup> of September vote for the new Saeima should include a vote of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">’s sovereigns for their next President. Of course, Andris Bērziņš can be given a place on the candidates list. So can Valdis Zatlers. So can others.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">(To be continued.)</span></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-61143916209363910412011-06-26T07:45:00.000-07:002011-06-26T07:45:07.087-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span><span style="color: #703219; font-size: large;"><strong>The President-Elect of Latvia, Andris Bērziņš, </strong></span></span><br />
<span><span style="color: #703219; font-size: large;"><strong>must question the validity of his election!</strong></span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnxzD2pY8qMC8v22OfP4li8av5Hz0X6q3c8gKhd_faRvPOMK1DOCHiPBrfDymvway-6sEf-KZhe7DwWlns-IywAX29rlU2z6-l8G2Z_k0ZEtJuGxcHzXlMQQ_5KUtjJtKRLEsNUi3j1Nw6/s1600/DSCF6710.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnxzD2pY8qMC8v22OfP4li8av5Hz0X6q3c8gKhd_faRvPOMK1DOCHiPBrfDymvway-6sEf-KZhe7DwWlns-IywAX29rlU2z6-l8G2Z_k0ZEtJuGxcHzXlMQQ_5KUtjJtKRLEsNUi3j1Nw6/s640/DSCF6710.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">The last knot</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #703219;">The most obvious thing that can be said about the outgoing President of Latvia, Valdis Zatlers, is that he is a sentimental </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentimentality"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentimentality</span></a><span style="color: #703219;"> man. To quote from the link: “…</span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">current usage defines it [sentimentality) as an appeal to shallow, uncomplicated emotions at the expense of reason.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #703219;">”</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #703219;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">To be criticized for being sentimental does not mean that one questions the patriotism of a patriotic sentimentalist. I do not doubt that President Zatlers is patriotic. However, I do question whether the President—overcome by sentimentalism manifest as inaction—has any sense of what it takes to set the State of Latvia upright again and unify the people who constitute the body of the nation known as </span><country-region><place><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="font-size: 14pt;">. In effect, I question whether he knows the reasons why for the last four years, he was the President. The public knows, he has struggled with himself with that question. There are some positives.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #703219;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Indeed, Presidents Zatlers ma</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #703219;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">de himself noteworthy when a few years ago, following a demonstration now known as “the umbrella revolution” (also “the 13<sup>th</sup> of January demonstration”), we heard him vow to ask for the dismissal of the legislative body of </span><country-region><place><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="font-size: 14pt;">, the Saeima. The President appeared to have overcome his sentimental feelings about the future of </span><country-region><place><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> in favour of action. The People would vote on the question in a Referendum or so they were in anticipation of.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #703219;">Unfortunately, the President reneged on his promise (call it an implied promise), until only a few weeks ago, near the end of his presidential term (it did not look that he would receive the necessary votes to be re-elected to the next term), on the 28<sup>th</sup> of May, he made his promise to the demonstrators on the 13<sup>th</sup> of January, 2008, real </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT6944am6IY"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT6944am6IY</span></a><span style="color: #703219;"> and asked for the dismissal of the Saeima. If the majority of the electorate agreed with him (in a nationwide Referendum to be held on July 23), then came September 17, there could be popular elections for a new Saeima.</span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMJyYrLtwXxSfKpDQI350LMEurAEdCa8WXNc8lpbkVL5ytkIC_1ikQIhPOkNPrgi_r1EWJI93TWb2TPcmLkIGo3Z9-mXbzQDf1zweXsH93W57bFUArQqkNuI0HIvDwnQOW_p7dEiuK3Sr/s1600/DSCF6713.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMJyYrLtwXxSfKpDQI350LMEurAEdCa8WXNc8lpbkVL5ytkIC_1ikQIhPOkNPrgi_r1EWJI93TWb2TPcmLkIGo3Z9-mXbzQDf1zweXsH93W57bFUArQqkNuI0HIvDwnQOW_p7dEiuK3Sr/s400/DSCF6713.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Checking it out</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #703219;">The immediate reaction from the public was ecstatic. Many still are to this day. Nevertheless, the anti-populist voices in the media reacted and were heard almost immediately. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #703219;">Populism was derided on all fronts. The very force, the popular sovereign, to which the President had just made his appeal ti, was derided as undesirable, surely a constituency of irresponsible elements. The Latvian media breathed the wrath of liberal capitalism. It never mentioned that behind it stood the ad man in the service the so-called <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘oligarchs’. One show (Jaunā nedēļa / The New Week), made it a point to deride “populism” by declaring itself against it more than three times in rapid fire succession, then filling the other half of the time slot for the show with a pro-nuclear video analysis of Latvia’s future energy needs.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #703219;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Note that in the Latvian President’s speech (click above link), President Zatlers gives a long list of decisions by the Saeima detrimental to the future of the </span><place><placename><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvian</span></placename><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><placetype><span style="font-size: 14pt;">State</span></placetype></place><span style="font-size: 14pt;">. He begins the list with the Saeima refusal to confer the authority of the “Generāl-Prokurators” of the State to the man chosen by the Latvian equivalent of the Supreme Court in the U.S. (Augstākā tiesa), and ends by mentioning the Saeima acting on behalf of certain private interests and of putting the State in danger of being privatized.</span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfOUHWIFCspW5y3H05ufLn0pg733WXpsu839Jo7hq7ENSJLRvsjLJMDey55uSk5DhFTj6G2YePhc7kA7Hkvc9x5cnDg8hO9k6zaTO2lzKYAn6X2OFtXq2UVZiADWyEPZ29Eb0k9K9P20nC/s1600/DSCF6716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfOUHWIFCspW5y3H05ufLn0pg733WXpsu839Jo7hq7ENSJLRvsjLJMDey55uSk5DhFTj6G2YePhc7kA7Hkvc9x5cnDg8hO9k6zaTO2lzKYAn6X2OFtXq2UVZiADWyEPZ29Eb0k9K9P20nC/s400/DSCF6716.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Volodya and Black John</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<span style="color: #703219;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></span><span style="color: #703219;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">As President Valdis Zatler’s predicted, came June 2<sup>nd</sup>, the Saeima did not reelect him, but in his place elected a flower on the wall, a complete surprise to the popular sovereign public, one Andris Bērziņš. A former banker, a pensioner drawing the highest pension of anyone in </span><country-region><place><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="font-size: 14pt;">, a Don Juan of sorts, this narcissist had to yet try becoming the President of Latvia. And the Saeima gave him his wish.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #703219;">One would think that the popular sovereign public and President-Elect-Out-of-Office would scream foul. What is wrong with calling for President-Elect Andris Bērziņš to refuse to accept his election as valid, and have him and President Zatlers call for an immediate popular elections of the President? </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #703219;">–even if the Constitution does not provide for such a course, and “there is nothing juridicially wrong” with a corrupt (and dismissed) Saeima projecting its corrupt seed onto the future through Andris Bērziņš.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #703219;">The argument that the election of Andris Bērziņš to the Presidency of Latvia is a corruption of the spirit of the dismissal of the Latvian Saeima by the popular sovereign is surely valid. One may argue about the issue, but one cannot silence it. Mr. Andris Bērziņš should reflect twice about his vainglorious ambitions. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #703219;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">President Valdis Zatlers, on the other hand, ought to forego a farewell garden party and make an outright appeal for President-Elect Andris Bērziņš to refuse to accept the Saeima’s election of himself as </span><country-region><place><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span style="font-size: 14pt;">’s President—the day after the public votes in said Referendum to dismiss the existing Saeima from office. To not do so and choose a garden party is choosing to be sentimental.</span></span><br />
</div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-48166210289055569842011-06-23T07:25:00.000-07:002011-06-23T07:25:42.004-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Johns Eve, June 23, 2011</span></strong></span></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmfmX1pkuJP1h_cnfTWBO1_A44CCJ3nV2O1TKNp1m0q04IbmbeuNkIowQ8h5azbcBfYk1zePvUoSCpZy2qZ0cx_5tYYegz4jc5dE7aVjU32oY9gA7BktjlG3QFJeLSJIT1eyJ6F1CNxzvt/s1600/DSCF6725.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmfmX1pkuJP1h_cnfTWBO1_A44CCJ3nV2O1TKNp1m0q04IbmbeuNkIowQ8h5azbcBfYk1zePvUoSCpZy2qZ0cx_5tYYegz4jc5dE7aVjU32oY9gA7BktjlG3QFJeLSJIT1eyJ6F1CNxzvt/s640/DSCF6725.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Johns grasses</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">The Latvian politologues, a term suggesting political expertise, but in fact being a term applied by hosts of news shows to anyone he-she pleases to so elevate. Judging from the stuff that Latvian politologues say and opine, most of them have some education in the art of politics. However, none of them has heard (at least not in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">) of the word “populism” as a term that plays a significant role in the politics of just about every country but </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">This matter of the “populists” and “populism” being a word beyond ken is another matter that causes </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> to distinguish itself as an exception among nations. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">If the government in North Korea is sometimes thought of in terms of being brutish and nasty, and those damn landlocked Afghanistan’s are unbeatable because of their populist notions of themselves, and add those commie populists who brought on the Soviet Revolution, and the poor and unemployed Germans following the First World War with their load of reparations to pay, and one soon comes to the Latvian notion that the word “populist” is not mentionable as having any sense of meaning, except contemptible.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Such notions concerning Populism pervade the Latvian establishment from the President down to every talking head on television. Apparently no Latvian politician when engaged in protecting his moral image through self-gratification can see in his dreams any other woman than a breasty half naked Dame Liberty with raised sword leading the rabble into battle against “talking heads” of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">. Populism is, in short, an unmentionable mentionable, a synonym for protecting the existing political system from politics.</span></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg08l0QbegE5-0WArye8pKFv5nAcixc_XeiVG4qaxpA3yP98hWaWqAHOMnjHhtW3I_OFLe0GXssA20LU7GRU5zrwG5zZ5EYzUggvoZH1GnGiMn5ub0E_5m8iMrTX1hFgM3rdMBCF1D3OssY/s1600/DSCF6724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg08l0QbegE5-0WArye8pKFv5nAcixc_XeiVG4qaxpA3yP98hWaWqAHOMnjHhtW3I_OFLe0GXssA20LU7GRU5zrwG5zZ5EYzUggvoZH1GnGiMn5ub0E_5m8iMrTX1hFgM3rdMBCF1D3OssY/s640/DSCF6724.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Jane</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">As I suggested in several preceding blogs, the Latvian President-Elect ought to refuse to accept his election as the next President of Latvia by parliamentary Saeima (a Senate sort of), which the incumbent President (in office until July 7) has suggested be dismissed (for any number of anti-State acts) through a public Referendum to be held on July 23.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">I have also suggested that such a refusal by the President Elect is desirable, because it is likely to have the effects of a religious revival, i.e., it will bring Latvians another step closer to the re-founding of their nation. I stated that in spite of the legitimacy of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> as a state, there are certain questions that refuse to go away. One of these questions (because it is being treated as if there can be no such question) is why the Latvian government—ever since the declaration of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> as a State in 1918—has tilted center-right?</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTKlIYssbPq4kSrfnTQCxBJ0KK02T_6Hy26PPR9GND1An5WG2urlMPnMyFr5DdJtNXkd02-2yblfG5bFCMLXivfJnX-jyUUnJMByiM1iJ6KyR3U8c9JodcUKvFBV5kuCWSxkf-2EPytkK_/s1600/DSCF6708.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTKlIYssbPq4kSrfnTQCxBJ0KK02T_6Hy26PPR9GND1An5WG2urlMPnMyFr5DdJtNXkd02-2yblfG5bFCMLXivfJnX-jyUUnJMByiM1iJ6KyR3U8c9JodcUKvFBV5kuCWSxkf-2EPytkK_/s400/DSCF6708.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making the Johns crown (vainags)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">What is so right about center-right and so wrong with Populism?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">There is a bevy of scholars, writers and teachers, whose contributions to political theory challenge the one sidedness of Latvian politologues and politicians. Here is a quote from Chantal Mouffe, a professor at </span><place><placetype><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">University</span></placetype><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> of </span><placename><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Westminster</span></placename></place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">: “The legitimacy of modern liberal democracy is grounded on the idea of popular sovereignty, and those who believe that it can be discarded are profoundly mistaken.” <a href="http://www.cccb.org/rcs_gene/mouffe.pdf"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.cccb.org/rcs_gene/mouffe.pdf</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Apparently, Latvian politicians, politologues, and the media believe that “populism” is a word that can be discarded. A Latvian right center government has constituted the government of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> all the years of Latvian independence, except of course during the time </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> was occupied by the </span><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Soviet Union</span></place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">. Moreover, the center-right—given that it has a mindset perpetually locked onto an Earth created in its image, re monopolar or a half a ball makes a ball—will always raise the question: “Hey, what about those popular sovereigns, err, those populists?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">In spite of questions, for most of Latvian politicos and ruling classes Populism remains something of a synonym for shit (sūds), which is why one may not hope that the President Elect Andris Berzins will voluntarily surrender his crown (bestowed on him by what the Populists call “oligarchs” and a partidocratic Saeima) of the Latvian presidency. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">One of my unkind comments about Latvian oligarchs is that “oligarchs screw oligarchs”. Of course, oligarchs, i.e.—the system of liberal democracies in which individual rights have been secured by corporations—will likely prevail and maintain the democratic deficit in Latvia as it has for all these years. After all, it is private property over popular sovereignty, halleluiah! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">In short, why should the President Elect not stick with the screws of the ship of state turning the ship in a perpetual center-right circle? Was the wheel not turned center-right from day one? Moreover, who can prove that the soft coup d’etad of “53+” was indeed a coup? It is unlikely that it can be proven in a juridical sense. </span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO3PzCCNNtsCEw-DLtp7uIhVogu7g2Jmxw4UMJfBZcCJqsSzEPrbMNp8ZZzSISoYpP6yxs8MqcRf2U9lsNz0sd08xrRl0jHKlst_qNCI4v_BeM7RV8j88fCEF9SoUJNh6NOjclahZe0QsY/s1600/DSCF6715.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO3PzCCNNtsCEw-DLtp7uIhVogu7g2Jmxw4UMJfBZcCJqsSzEPrbMNp8ZZzSISoYpP6yxs8MqcRf2U9lsNz0sd08xrRl0jHKlst_qNCI4v_BeM7RV8j88fCEF9SoUJNh6NOjclahZe0QsY/s320/DSCF6715.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A son of Johns</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">However, the history of liberal democracy in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> tells a different story. Indeed, one may draw a parallel between de facto <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_facto"><span style="color: purple;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_facto</span></a> segregation in America after the Civil War (1861-1865) with regard to black people, which war allegedly freed them from slavery, but, alas, only in a de jure sense. Racial segregation in the </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">United States</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> de facto ended only a century later. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">One has only to listen to the anti-populist, anti-popular sovereignty statements from Latvian government officials and the news media to know that the Latvian people constitute a segregated element, the Latvian democratic deficit.</span></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1479863190813439228.post-34171429893672913172011-06-20T13:57:00.000-07:002011-06-21T13:28:10.459-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgupSR7uRINTxG5_BRrtoELr8Qxk_wQwqbPE-_4OuHuMMnZpknZXHkQEVUzmO29NnUWzd4QQkqzqCSihGI5vMYRAKdcf_dtfkC-SfMTrjPOAMINCR-rpGV3O5G_j5LSAn_FfoMsFXp8tlwr/s1600/Temple2011+2+006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgupSR7uRINTxG5_BRrtoELr8Qxk_wQwqbPE-_4OuHuMMnZpknZXHkQEVUzmO29NnUWzd4QQkqzqCSihGI5vMYRAKdcf_dtfkC-SfMTrjPOAMINCR-rpGV3O5G_j5LSAn_FfoMsFXp8tlwr/s640/Temple2011+2+006.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Home Sweet Latvian Home</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">If back in 1920, a center right government in Latvia was at least partly the result of expediency necessitated by war <a href="http://helios-web.saeima.lv/Informacija_eng/likumdeveju_vesture.html"><span style="color: purple;">http://helios-web.saeima.lv/Informacija_eng/likumdeveju_vesture.html</span></a> , the circumstances of the election of the Constitutional Assembly is (as a hunt for information <a href="http://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvijas_Satversmes_sapulce"><span style="color: purple;">http://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvijas_Satversmes_sapulce</span></a> reflects) a nebulous affair. For example, who were “the registered voters” who elected it? This blogger finds no information on the matter on the internet.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">While apologists of the Latvian government find reasons enough to claim legitimacy for Latvia’s founders and the Constitutional Assembly (mostly by way of its recognition by a number of foreign governments, Britain including), the centre right orientation of the Latvian government remains a matter of contention to this day. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">The lack of clarity in the above matter is all the more onerous to apologists and critics alike, because official assertions of legitimacy are as quickly negated by subjective negation of democracy extending beyond parliamentary circles. One of the negations involves the notion that Populism as a legitimate element of democracy is not a legitimate notion. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit3J4z8_tyWbIb8weR5OM0coPI_TUSCaUBONVUbS1azLDZR5o5w-FvbQYIAmrUlk5FsB9f5MZJe5VBnohgvauhfxOZ6FdT2W-UD7-10FIDLNMPXsK-sAwyWrHooIT5vK3jPQTF3FiofbhL/s1600/Temple2011+2+018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit3J4z8_tyWbIb8weR5OM0coPI_TUSCaUBONVUbS1azLDZR5o5w-FvbQYIAmrUlk5FsB9f5MZJe5VBnohgvauhfxOZ6FdT2W-UD7-10FIDLNMPXsK-sAwyWrHooIT5vK3jPQTF3FiofbhL/s400/Temple2011+2+018.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A humble new pavillion in the making</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">The latter view is widely held from the incumbent President on down to the media, which is owned by a known to be an unknown. However, what if democracy without an element of populism is not a true democracy? <a href="http://www.jstor.org/pss/3687930">http://www.jstor.org/pss/3687930</a> --say, as the article of the link has it, when it has us read “civic populism”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">While “civic populism” is a matter of rhetorical dissembling of “populism” pure and simple, the dissembling is acceptable in the instance of the Latvian government. It fears that it may or may not be the usurper of the sovereignty of the Latvian state—per the dissembling events at the foundation of the Latvian state. Therefore, the government in power tries to wipe away the fog by means of overshadowing it with silence or assertions of legitimacy that are not in the realm of being beyond any question.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">What is the role of “civic populism” in determining who possesses Latvian sovereignty? The question is the impossible step forward that must be taken if democracy is to prevail in </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">. If one allows a one year grace period for adjustment, in post-Soviet </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"> the silence has now lasted twenty years.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">How does such a step forward project itself on the screen, when stated in terms of dispelling any doubts about the legitimacy of the government? This is an embarrassing question in light of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">’s sovereignty put in private hands and foreign banks.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFHpT7J_VI6o1_sz-Mh_EkEFbcYhFgDMPWrdBkMC5RKu4n5lue8o8ougy08UM5zaunx5Olmc_2L11lS7gY1ddlCX6cRnHlHneQXQfoxsBZ1zuPEPvauQqfL3e1nF1nwbh0RYHg1G9un-z4/s1600/Temple2011+2+017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFHpT7J_VI6o1_sz-Mh_EkEFbcYhFgDMPWrdBkMC5RKu4n5lue8o8ougy08UM5zaunx5Olmc_2L11lS7gY1ddlCX6cRnHlHneQXQfoxsBZ1zuPEPvauQqfL3e1nF1nwbh0RYHg1G9un-z4/s400/Temple2011+2+017.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The posts and struts of it</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">The blogger’s answer to the question was given at the end of the previous blog, which called the current Saeima’s (the one the incumbent President has suggested be dismissed) President Elect, Andris Berzins, to reject his election to the Presidency of Latvia, and call, along with the incumbent Prezident, Valdis Zatlers, for the election of the next President by a popular vote. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">What if the electorate becomes aware of itself as a “civic populist”? What if populist rights have been transgressed through an invasion by government of the “internal foreign territory” of populists as Benjamin Ardidi argues in his essay “Populism as an Internal Periphery of Democratic Politics”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if this invasion of internal foreign territory also constitutes an invasion of human rights? Surely everyone has a right to his-her subjective evaluation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">At present, the incumbent President of Latvia apparently does not intend to question the authority of the Saeima he has called to be dismissed. One gathers from the news that he intends to do no more than have a going away party <a href="http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/241549?ref=news-btn-1"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/241549?ref=news-btn-1</span></a> , which he calls “</span><span lang="LV" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: LV;">Tas vārds, kam spēks</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">” (trans.: the word with authority).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Without in any way questioning the legitimacy of the State (Valsts) of </span><country-region><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Latvia</span></place></country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">, the call by the incumbent Prezident Valdis Zatlers for the dismissal of the Saeima is a golden opportunity to set the record straight by inviting the civic populist electorate to think for itself. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Mr. Andris Berzins would do Latvia a great service if he came forward and refuse his election to the Presidency by a discredited Saeima and, at the same time, call, both, for a popular vote for the next President of Latvia and a Constitutional Convention to rethink, rewrite, and reconnect the Latvian Constitution to the rights of the Latvian people to be the unquestioned sovereigns of their nation.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ohLogFeWnfeDEmEG-jMulVylSly-kHlyz4nYuwz0W3dNGneJdG3suD3YES5V5nCHlP0USAwa2sdk9U3eu8p8sHkE-XnHlAaeqbTgcmcqsGByngKLc-axjwRzOxlwQyih1eL2kAO7VdU4/s1600/Temple2011+2+016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ohLogFeWnfeDEmEG-jMulVylSly-kHlyz4nYuwz0W3dNGneJdG3suD3YES5V5nCHlP0USAwa2sdk9U3eu8p8sHkE-XnHlAaeqbTgcmcqsGByngKLc-axjwRzOxlwQyih1eL2kAO7VdU4/s640/Temple2011+2+016.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The roof is humble pine, but the posts are of oak</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Below is the translation of above text in Latvian.</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Seko tulkojums latviešu valodā.</span></strong><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Ja 1920tā gadā Latvijas pa labi no centra valdība bija vismaz daļēji tāda kara iemeslu </span><state><place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">dēļ</span></place></state><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">, Satversmes Asemblijas ievēlēšana (kā to var izprast prêt pilnībā nepieejamās informācijas <a href="http://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvijas_Satversmes_sapulce"><span style="color: purple;">http://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvijas_Satversmes_sapulce</span></a> ) bija visai miglaina afēra. Pa piemēram, kas bija “reģistrētie balsotāji” kuri to balsoja? Šī migla noliedz iespēju šādu informāciju atrast internetā.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Kamēr valdības attaisnotāji atrod pietiekami iemeslus, lai apstiprinātu Latvijas valsts dibinātāju un Satversmes assemblijas leģitimāti (vistiešāk ārvalstu, speciāli Lielbritānijas atzinumā), pa labi no centra valdības orientācija paliek strīdīgs jautājums līdz šai dienai.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Augšā minēto situāciju rada neērtības kā attaisnotājiem, tā kritiķiem, jo oficiālie apgalvojumi attiecībā uz leģitimāti tiek noliegti ar subjektīvu vērtējumu, kas nosaka, ka demokrātijai ir jāierobežojās ar Parlamentu un tam tuvākām aprindām. Viens no subjektīviem liegumiem ir<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>neaizstāvēts apgalvojums, ka populisms nav leģitīms demokrātijas elements.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL2nT3zaiIY2vCi15UGI_63_m2_ZI9MvqZFAo0bjhgU9YF-QTKpgNJ-yw6D_17AJLEw2A0pMGfTAf2bnooMPesp-76H64Rmg5fYAf7uD7hFvThynsijYV9zUNa4sd2KeBitPGMJTWCF4Ug/s1600/new+072.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL2nT3zaiIY2vCi15UGI_63_m2_ZI9MvqZFAo0bjhgU9YF-QTKpgNJ-yw6D_17AJLEw2A0pMGfTAf2bnooMPesp-76H64Rmg5fYAf7uD7hFvThynsijYV9zUNa4sd2KeBitPGMJTWCF4Ug/s400/new+072.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The road home</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Šāds uzskats par populismu pārvalda visu oficiālās varas telpu, sākot ar Prezidentu līdz ziņu mēdijiem, pēdējie kuri pieder nezināmai, kā arī neatzītai tirdzniecības varai. </span><span lang="NL" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: NL;">Bet kas notiek tad, ja demokrātija bez populisma nevar būt patiesa demokrātija? </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://www.jstor.org/pss/3687930">http://www.jstor.org/pss/3687930</a> -- kā rakstīts linkā, kurā populisms tiek mīkstināts liekot populisma priekšā vārdiņu ‘civic’, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>re “civic populism” vārdkopu, kura tulkojās kā civīlais/pilsonīgais populisms.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Lai gan ‘civīlais/pilsonīgas’ populisms ir (vairāk vai mazāk) retorika, kas mīkstina populisma tiešumu, terminoloģija ir pieņemama, jo valdība baidās, ka varētu kļūt vai arī nekļūt atklāts, ka<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>latviešu tautas soverenitāte tika pārkāpta valsts dibināšanas laikā, jo tautas piedalīšanās nenotika visā pilnībā.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Lai tādas domas netiktu cilātas, valdība tagad mēģina segt miglu ar slēgtu muti vai autoritāniskiem apgalvojumiem, ka leģitimitāte atrodās sfērā, kur šādiem jautājumiem nav nekāda nozīme.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Neskatoties uz autoritārismu, kāda loma ir civīlam/pilsonīgam populismam, kad runa ir par Latvijas suverenitāti? Šis jautājums ir acīmredzami vēl neiespējams solis, kurš tomēr ir jāsper, ja vēlamies, ka demokrātija Latvija ir īsta un ne tikai segvārds citai (Ai, mistērija!) varai. Pēc-Padomijas Latvijā mēmums par valsts patiesiem īpašniekiem ir ieildzis jau divdesmit gadus.</span></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijKeJFbM18sRCCKx6yZnC1t209hJHeenZ6lvzQN5vvdp_vz3I9gbL5RM1xbctbQHCJ5NOAiYFN2K4Jm6fBSrbS4fgLj3Z_Zr3w9_jGUzwLnuXNWhJSngNtMmOA2w6J6tJIyyfAXcO4Twrx/s1600/new+073.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijKeJFbM18sRCCKx6yZnC1t209hJHeenZ6lvzQN5vvdp_vz3I9gbL5RM1xbctbQHCJ5NOAiYFN2K4Jm6fBSrbS4fgLj3Z_Zr3w9_jGUzwLnuXNWhJSngNtMmOA2w6J6tJIyyfAXcO4Twrx/s400/new+073.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thunder clouds</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Kā nepieciešamais solis uz priekšu izskatās, ja mēs to formulējam kā nepieciešamību pārvarēt šaubas par valdības leģimitāti? Šāds jautājums ir īpaši prasīgs laikā, kad Latvijas suverenitāte tiek nodota privātās un ārvalstu banku rokās. Vai tas ir attaisnojams?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Šīs slejas rakstītājs atbildēja uz šo jautājumu kādā citā rakstā (iepriekšējā blogā), kur viņš pieprasija, ka nākošais Prezidents Andris Bērziņš noraida savu iebalsošanu Presidenta amatā, un līdzās ar Prezidentu Valdi Zatleru pieprasa, ka nākošais Latvijas presidents tiek ievēlēts ar visu balsotāju piedalīšanos.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Kas notiek, ja balsotāji sevi atpazīst kā civīlie/pilsoniskie populisti? Kas notiek, ja tiek saskatīts ka populistu tiesības ir pārkāptas, jo ir notikusi valdības invāzija tā sauktā “iekšējā ārvalsts teritorijā”? Šis termiņš ir politiskā zinātnieka Benjamiņa Ardidi arguments esejā, kuru sauc “Populisms kā iekšejā perifērija demokrātiskā politikā” (autora tulkokums). Ka ir, ja šīs iekšējās ārvalsts teritorijas invāzija ir cilvēktiesību pārkāpums no valdības puses? Vai ikvienam nav tiesības uz saviem subjektīviem ieskatiem un lēmumiem?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Dotā brīdī, Prezidents Zatlers, acīmredzot netaisās apšāubīt Saeimas autoritāti, kaut viņš ir ieteicis to atlaist kā nekompetentu. No ziņu mēdijiem nāk ziņojums, ka Prezidents rīko neko vairāk, ka atvadu ballīti <a href="http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/241549?ref=news-btn-1"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/241549?ref=news-btn-1</span></a> , kuru sauks par “</span><span lang="LV" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: LV;">Tas vārds, kam spēks</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Lai arī rakstītājs neapšauba valsts leģimitāti, Prezidenta Zatlera aicinājums atlaist Saeimu ir zelta izdevība izmantot suverenitātes jēdzienu un pieprasīt politiķiem un mēdijiem atzīt civīlos/ pilsonīgos populistus ka nepieciešamus, ja Latvija nākotnē būtu patiesa demokrātija. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Andris Bērziņš nodarītu Latvijas valstij lielu pakalpojumu, ja viņš atteiktu sevis ievēlēšanu par Prezidentu. Jo pastāvošās Saeimas autoritāte ir apšaubāma. Kā Bērziņš, tā Zatlers var pieprasīt, ka nākošais Prezidents ir visu pilsoņu (pilsonīgo populistu) ievēlēts. Saprotams, ir vērts ieteikt Satversmes assembli, kas vēlreiz pārdomā un pārraksta Latvijas Satversmi, un ka par to balso visi Latvijas pilsoņi, kuri ar savu piedalīšanos pierāda visas pasaules priekšā sevi kā ir patiesie Latvijas suverenitātes īpašnieki. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB-WDz0rJ0gweWolTZTIz51e-H3fJVrx-zcafBsnwRP-vSPKcW9R8xOSKwOkPsSd_I0YuYpymbQL67Kv_vMKPKR-SjIDrfbK8PTJfO9qgE1h9wCFU4dJ7YkSV_m-RU5o2Haq1D6k8m2RhS/s1600/new+074.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB-WDz0rJ0gweWolTZTIz51e-H3fJVrx-zcafBsnwRP-vSPKcW9R8xOSKwOkPsSd_I0YuYpymbQL67Kv_vMKPKR-SjIDrfbK8PTJfO9qgE1h9wCFU4dJ7YkSV_m-RU5o2Haq1D6k8m2RhS/s640/new+074.jpg" width="640" /></a></div></div>E Anton Benjaminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10284694966964779639noreply@blogger.com0