[lbo-talk] Latvia - Economic crisis spawns mass protest

[Chris Doss]

Personally, I think the Georgian government's actions in August opened a lot of eyes in the EU as to the true character of the regimes they were flirting with in Georgia and Ukraine. I think this has a lot to do with the very different media coverage of the current gas dispute and the last one. (And every one going back to 1995.)

(From what I know of Latvian politics, I would imagine most of the protestors themselves are pretty rightwing, so if a rightwing government got into power it wouldn't be a backlash from their POV but the intended outcome.)

--- On Wed, 1/14/09, Wojtek Sokolowski <swsokolowski at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> [WS:] True, but do not expect too much.  To me, it is more
> reminiscent of football hooliganism, which is quite widely
> spread in EU than of any serious political movement. 
> Perhaps I am an incorrigible institutionalist, but mere mob
> violence without proper organizational structure - a party
> or a union capable of sustained political operation after
> the mob violence subsides - is not hopelessly doomed, but
> may have the opposite effect and create a conservative
> backlash (cf. Sarkozy's electoral victory in France).
> 
> A far more interesting development imho is the current gas
> row between Russia and Ukraine - it looks like it is undoing
> the love affair between Ukraine and EU, even the
> "new" EU (Slovakia & Bulgaria).
> 
> Wojtek
> 
> 
> 
>       
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