Borderlands (IV)

Protesti pie Saeimas pret Abrenes iztirgošanu 2007.05.17. from Kursis LV on Vimeo

A protest against the ratification of the Border Agreement at the Saeima, Latvia's Parliament, this morning, organized by the far-right "Visu Latvijai!" ("All for Latvia!") party. The Border Agreement was ratified (70:25) despite the fact that its constitutionality is being challenged in the Constitutional Court -- the President has said she will sign it into law, which means that the Satversme, Latvia's Constitution, may have to be amended. If a referendum to amend it fails, Latvia will be stuck with an unconstitutional Agreement, because Russia will almost certainly have ratified it and international law would require the consent of both countries to renounce it. My previous posts on the issue are here -- I, II, III.

Borderlands (III)

Well, today is the day -- the Republic of Latvia and the Russian Federation in the persons of Kalvītis and Fradkov have signed the Border Agreement. Opinions vary (my previous posts about the issue are here and here), but all I have to say today is that this is a day to think about the abrenieši -- the people who lived in the area severed from Latvia, and their descendants, who are real people losing something real today... something they built, a physical place, now lost in rhetoric and legally yet further from Europe (whatever that is), a place that was raped, "cleansed," and basically decimated by Russia (Soviet Russia, the USSR). At All About Latvia, Aleks offers a translation of the notes of a spy.

RIA-Novosti, at least, is getting friendlier.

The image is of the town seal.