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

[Dorene Cornwell]

Long ago in grad school I had the peculiar occasion to watch a bunch
of people from various Baltic republic financial entities in action at a
conference. As I remember, the Latvians were the most gonzo of any of them
about IMF recommendations, but I have not kept up properly on the situation
now. So the question is, when Latvia had to take out a loan form the IMF,
was that because they were beating the rush as far as something about the
global collapse or was there some internal reason to do so more or less
unique to Latvia?

The riots fo course are something, but I also would not assume what without
knowing more.

DC
Seattle WA

On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 10:34 AM, Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com>wrote:


> 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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>
>
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