What the pretext of democracy is worth. In Latvia and elsewhere

The not so deep ancestry of the European Union is rooted in Nazism; the EU itself is essentially continuation of the Third Reich or rather the reincarnation of the Third Reich's pan-European project albeit one achieved by so far somewhat less violent means.

But there are things in and about the EU that would even give old good Nazis a pause. One essential thing to governance, to the manner how societies  are governed and function, is the consent of the governed. In the Soviet Union, which had elections, and was more democratic than the United States has ever been (strikingly so before 1960s) but was far from the ideals of the Athenian democracy (which I don't hold for an ideal), opinion and ultimately consent of citizens was sought on even  most trivial of issues, such as trade names for new automobile models. Any monarchy operates with consent of the governed. When the consent is not there, in times of crisis, either the monarch is assassinated, dynasty replaced or some sort of revolution happens if there is no peaceful mechanism to change the state of affairs to which people do no longer give their consent.

What I find most remarkable about the European Union is the total utter contempt for the opinion of its inhabitants below the political strata. It is striking, how often politicians even in supposedly liberal minded entities like Germany or Austria, never mind pure Eastern European ethnocracies like SS-states of Estonia and Latvia, invoke the mantra of democracy and how little respect they have for the thing. Democracy seems to be a religion but an odd one. Unlike many a religion it is devoid of much meaning, can be found self-contradictory by any impartial observer, like the majority's opinion may be declared anti-democratic and vice versa, but unlike a true religion, also devoid of any promise and any hope.

The contempt for democracy or contempt for what population thinks is the feature of the European Union's life that is probably unprecedented on the wider historic scale.

The former Soviet Republic, and an now an ethno-Nazi satrapy of so-called Latvia, a tribal state did not exist less than a mere century ago and which genesis lies with the Bolsheviks, is about to join the Reichsmark zone (now it is called "adopting the euro"). Curious is the difference on how Russian Federation media and media that is either pro-Nazi or pro-American covered the news.  News outlets (I can only consult those online) in the Russian Federation reported that 67% of  Latvians oppose the euro while pro-Nazi or America media rejoiced - the support for euro rises to 33%.

The decision to abandon a pretext of monetary independence is a momentous one. It is probably as grave a decision as a territory can take on becoming independent (not that anyone earnestly asked the denizens of what is now Latvia about whether the territory should be independent or not, it is not, or not that they had any power to affect the matter). But even in the Soviet era referenda were held on the most important issues and no Soviet authority would ever attempt to change the daily lives of inhabitants in a radical fashion  while facing the opposition or lacking consent of what  in real terms approaches 70% of Latvians.

Latvia is an ethnocracy, a rare species of states and statelets that emerged after the catastrophe of the First World War on the western periphery of Russia and along the eastern periphery of the Austrian Empire  and are currently confined to the Eastern Europe which alone has the ethnostate as its dominant model (by a stretch of imagination one can call Israel an ethnostate, Israel's roots are also Central and Eastern European, not Middle Eastern,  but would be stretching it because Israel has such a strong element of theocracy to it.  One can become an Israeli without being Jewish and one can become Jewish in Israel by converting to Judaism. One can become Austrian, and his kids would be seen and treated as Austrians in Austria, merely by fulfilling a few criteria and swearing allegiance in  one form or the other - either  to the ruling dynasty in the past, to the republic currently. One can never become an Estonian or Latvian without being born to the pool of peasant tribesmen or their Soviet-urbanized offspring who were promoted to the rank of "nations" with the help of the Bolshevks. A Latvian can become a Frenchman, an Austrian or an American but has no chance of becoming an Estonian and vice versa). In today's Latvia the civil rights and the right to vote or the right to be asked about any matter is confined to "ethnic Latvians",  peasants and their descendants of three Russian governorate who speak  Baltic dialects related to or "invented from" Lithuanian. Some 40% of Latvia's inhabitants are denied the right to vote because they are deemed to be of wrong ethnicity. Those are Russians but there Russian is anyone who does not belong to the titular tribe (Jews are Russians and are discriminated against in a manner reminiscent of the Third Reich under approval and protection of the Third Reich's European heir, the European Union).

So in those terms, the 33% - 40 equation roughly would signifies that some 17% to 18% support the incorporation into the euro which in turn means that over 80% of Latvia's inhabitants, if we to recalculate the date in an honest manner, oppose Latvia's final absorption into the new Reichsmark's zone. That is the kind of treatment usually accorded to the population of an occupied territory. Though labeled a democracy by the US/EU democracy grading mechanism, the territory of Latvia is anything but. Not just there you have a widespread institutionalized ethnic and linguistic discrimination on the scale that would put both old South Africa under apartheid  and parts of Nazi Germany to shame, but the opinion of the the pseudo-Aryan and supposedly privileged tribesmen, the Latvians, is apparently of no concern to anybody.

It looks that ethnofascist juntas that usurped power in the periphery statelets annexed by the European Union  and the EU itself are determined to ignore popular opinion of its underlings at all costs when pushing forward with the Reich's centralizing agenda or imposing imperial designs on the hapeless. Even in larger subjugated nations on the continent referendums or referenda are only allowed to go forward when the results of the referendums are known in advance to be favorable to the EU's agenda. If not, then a referendum would be derailed. If somehow a referendum or public vote takes place and succeeds against all odds, and the results are not favorable to the EU, then the heir to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, headquartered in the largest city of the Austrian Netherlands, and the Third Reich rolled in one, would threaten the misbehaving state and its population with sanctions and assorted future hardships,  push for another vote, and then for another, and for another, until results favorable for or to the EU are obtained. But in case of minor, artificial statelets such as those carved in the Russian territory and then annexed as strategic Brückenköpfe, the population, even of privileged ethnic stock, is not even asked, its opinion seems to hold same non-material value to the proprietors as  the opinion of their  farm animals would be, in fact considering everything it is amazing that farm animals are even permitted to have an opinion. 

There is a good post by Leoš Tomíček on Ukraine's integration with the EU or rather lack thereof. Leoš's are so far without an exception very good: both a joy to read and a source of enlightenment with an accent on one moderately unfortunate region and its denizens.
 
I wrote a comment, am unsure it wasn't lost so I'd reproduce here because it applies as much to the relationship not just between the Ukraine and the Russian Federation, but in a sense to the skewed nature of relationship, that I'd call the disbalance of power, between the Russian Federation and the ethnostates on its periphery. It seems that Russia (the Russian Federation that is because Russia itself is larger than the Russian Federation) under current authoritarian regime and regime is the word that I'd choose despite all of its negative connotations, is reluctant to convert its vast economic strength, which does not only consist of gas and oil but foremostly of the entitlement of access to Russia's domestic market, a privilege that is now granted to anyone,  friend or foe, just by asking as if it were indeed a right,  into foreign policy influence. On the other hand, Russia's civilizational enemies,  such as the United States, have enormous foreign policy leverage despite very modest economic presence in the region.  While the EU's influence over Ukraine's economy is immaterial -there are few products  the Ukraine produces that the EU needs  or wants to buy  from it, the power the EU sways over Ukraine's politicians is astonishing as is the desire of Ukraine's Soviet elite to do any kind of imaginable harm to their own country in exchange for the promise of being on some later occasion granted  the collective honorary title of nominally white men.

So why does EU refuse to integrate the Ukraine while doing everything it its power to prevent any meaningful rapprochement of Ukraine with the Russian Federation (though read Leoš Tomíček's post first)? The second part is easy. The  EU junta is largely anti-European, pro-fascist, pro-Nazi in its spiritual and historical roots and Atlantist in its present   and it is natural for it to see Russia as its' chief enemy, hence of of course any integration of Russia with anything even toxic to EU itself is seen as a bad thing. But the answer to the first part of the question, why doesn't it take in Ukraine in the way it adopted little Baltic ethno-Nazis is somewhat trickier:

There are two issues here and here's how I see them:


- the first one is that  the EU has difficult time digesting all the noxious garbage it consumed recently, the toxic refuse it ate up from the little ethno-Nazi creeps in the Baltics to megarich Bulgaria as devoured all the  trash    sweeping it clean from the Baltic to the Black Sea.

- the second cause  is probably racism and civilizational animosity or a mixture of both substances - the folks from Russia Minor are still deemed somewhat Russian in the eyes of the Fourth Reich's unelected officialdom (I know that must be immensely troubling to the indigenous Ukronazis or their overseas relatives or, in turn, their proprietors) and by virtue or misfortune of being somewhat Russian, the entire statelet is therefore condemned to a category lower than Rumania. This forces Ukraine into the position of poor Turkey or even worse,something alike Egypt, the Fourth Reich would perhaps go for amputation of impoverished Galicia and the Carpathian region only for the sake of imperial glory but otherwise it might have learned its history lesson and merely wants to stabilize the front line at the positions of late 1941.

The destruction or dissolution of the EU, something that of course would also be a great boon to humanity in the longer term, is the only hope for the Ukraine's integration with the rest of Europe.

And yes, the hypocrisy, particularly on the part of American establishment, is astounding. They expect Russia to have no voice in internal or external affairs of the Ukraine but they want to subsidize Ukraine's very existence, something, true enough, the Russian Federation has been doing all those years, and those generous  subsidies did not just cover Ukraine because the Russian Federation has faithfully been feeding a host of adopted honorary Europeans, nourishing hostile regimes from failed states around the Black Sea to the Nazi statelets on the eastern shore of the Baltic.

Forcing foreign corporations that engage in discrimination in the ethno-Nazi states of Estonia and Latvia to disengage from it

An improvised hence an informal message I  wrote to the Fiat (first through their online submission form, then to their public relations office, c/-ed to a dozen of so executives)  that  pertains to the issue of multilayered ethnic and linguistic discrimination in  Estonia and Latvia, and also, something that I strongly believe in, that the discrmination could be countered and reversed if the Russian speakers themselves were both willing to confront the Nazis in areas where third parties are involved and by their behavior as consumers. The latter could force those who collaborate with Estonian and Latvian Nazis (and Estonia and Latvia are Nazi states under EU and NATO protectorate, at least for the time being) to mend their ways. The point is that the Russian speakers should not do business with those who discrminate against them and, secondly, the most potent weapon in the arsenal of fighting the Nazis in this area would be to pass a law by the Russian Federation parliament, something that I thought of like almost ten years ago (Duma wasn't ready for something so major then and is probably not ready to do anything now due to the very strong American and Nazi/EU lobbies in it) that would  first fine and then prohibit commercial activities of the violators  in the Russian Federation and confiscate assets  of those companies that persistenly engage in voluntary language discrimination or demonstratively exclude Russian language from packaging, product instructions, advertising material in the Baltic states. On the other note I believe that much of this is caused by the ignorance and stupidity, not illwill, in the state of total apartheid like Estonia, foreign executives are likely to deal first with representatives of the ethnocracy, individuals of certain tribal affiliation, that push the made up and make believe picture of monolingual Estonia and Latvia, in reality two bilingual societies,onto hapless foreigners who don't know any better.

Here is the improvised message. I am quite sure it will get across to the intended recipient.

Buongiorno, Mi scuso perché scrivo in inglese. I just want to buy a Fiat for a small company in Estonia (I already bought a number of Fiats in the Czech Republic and in the Russian Federation) and my partner and I were looking for a company car. I am a long time fan of Fiat. However I discovered that ww.fiat.ee website is only available in the tongue known as Estonian. This is a pity because  40% of inhabitants of the former Estonian SSR speak Russian. After all this has been the civilized language of the province for soon 300 years. In some towns like in the Northeast of the territory close to 90% of population are Russian speakers and I am sure that everyone who comes to the Fiat , and there are not many in that region (I am not a resident of the ethno-Nazi satrapy) if he or she is a Russian speaker, and that is close to the half of your potential customers in Estonia, and considering the cultural differences perhaps 90% of your likely customers, are repulsed by the in-your-face display of contempt for the Russian speakers and for your policy of ethnic and linguistic discrimination as expressed in the fiat's website (www.fiat.ee).  I understand that the cause of this crime could be ignorance, not malice or if there is malice it is that of the Estonian Nazis whom the Fiat contracted to conduct its promotional affairs in the territory.  It is true that today Estonia is an ethno-Nazi statelet run by ethnic fascists, an ethnocracy, however although Russians or Russian speakers and the Russian language itself are all subject to intense and grotesque discrimination in and by the ethnofascist entity, a private company, like the Fiat, does not have to discriminate. For example your competitor, Toyota. has a website in Estonia that is both in Estonian and in Russian (and two more regional languages) - you can compare Fiat's sales vis-a-vis Toyota's to find out if that matters. Likewise, the site of Renault's distributor in Estonia is also bilingual - http://www.citymotors.ee

So why offend and insult your potential customers? In my case, the language issue matters.  I had checked Fiat Latvia site and it is also monolingual, the Russian language is not present.  In a bilingual state where Russian speakers have most money, and are close to represent half of the population, but are politically oppressed, Fiat chooses not to be neutral and impartial and to stand on the side of the ethnocratic oppressors. In my opinion it is not nice to play together with the Estonian and Latvian Nazis, and I think this fact alone would probably  hurt your reputation in greater Russia, where this might or would become eventually known.

I urge you to stop discrimination and to make both sites for Estonia and Latvia bilingual, that is that both sites should also be available in Russian. I also urge you that your distributors in those statelets employ Russian speaking personnel, maintain Russian language websites and do not engage in obvious discrimination. Although I bought five new Fiats in the last few years and have been a dedicated a loyal customer this is one thing that would most certainly cause me to defect to another marque unless the situation is rectified.

Best regards,

What is a victory?

Though this has more to do with the Russian Federation than with Estonia (with which it nominally has nothing in common), the subject matter is what Estonia and Latvia and other East European states are all about or rather about differences of civic and tribal identities. 

Here is the "inspirational" piece: 
Re: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/08/15/russia-the-ugly-side-of-olympic-nationalism/

Excerpt -

This has prompted an online poll , comparing an ethnic Armenian competing for Russia and an ethic Russian competing for Kazakhstan. The poll asks a simple question: "What do you view as a victory? The gold medal of Russian Federation citizen Arsen Galstyan? Or the gold medal of ethnic Russian Aleksandr Vinokurov?" Over eighteen thousand people have voted so far, and the results are 80% in Vinokurov's favor. Coincidentally, ethnic Russians make up around 80% of Russia's population.



I think this article  is remarkable, the poll results are revealing but they could be different if the ethnic Armenian had a Russian name because a lot of this  is superficial.  Second important consideration: through activities of the Putinist state and because of the Soviet "nationalities" policies before that, when and where all nationalities and ethnicities were in the past and are now entitled to their autonomy in one form or the other and (Great) Russians are deliberately denied it though forced to a system that was by no means a melting pot but an ethnic zoo, we are now facing the rise unstoppable rise of ethnic nationalism of the Latvian or Croatian fashion (this is an incredibly dark force -  just look at the size of Russia's - even Poland is not strictly an ethnic state, neither is Germany though it is somewhat close to the model, of course France and Great Britain are not ethnocracies and neither are India, Argentina or the USA), this popular ethnic nationalist movement, born out of Soviet and post-Soviet regimes own criminal policies,  perhaps might transform Russia into the world's largest ethnostate of the Central and East European model.  The Estonisation or Lettization of Russia  would mean a sad end for the great  Russian State's historic journey but admittedly even that outcome would be preferable to  the current status quo  with a kleptocratic semi-Bolshevist Nomenklatura-capitalist centralized Muscovite steppe khanate that is despised from inside and outside of the country's borders.

*****

and Mike Averko's commentary / conclusions from reading that piece differ from mine

"
Put mildly, there's reason to doubt how well the above excerpted conforms with actual reality - which isn't to say that intolerance doesn't exist in Russia.

For openers, one might ask why Vinokurov didn't (apparently) make an effort to represent Russia? The Kazakh born Russian ice hockey goalie Yevgeny Nabokov was able to successfully petition and compete for Russia.

One senses that most patriotically inclined sports fans the world over root for their country, with ethnicity being of little importance. The historical recollections I've come across indicate that in an era of Jim Crow laws, 1930s white America at large enthusiastically rooted for Joe Louis against Max Schmeling and Jesse Owens' performance at the 1936 Olympics.

Would most ethnic Russians root for Moscow born ethnic Russian Nastia Lukhin of the US against ethnic Tatar Alija Mustafina of Russia, in a hypothetical Olympic gymnastics gold medal showdown?  
"

Another message to Sokos - a new revelations, and I feel like an ignorant jackass - tourism to Tallinn, Estonia

Dear Harry Põder

First of all let me express my gratitude for such a prompt response.

I believe I made two mistakes for which I have to apologize.

There are fewer Russian visitors than Norwegians. I did not know that. Thank you for letting me know that the number Norwegian tourists in the Sokos Viru Hotel is greater than the number of Russian tourists?  It does sound however highly implausible judging by the number of transport connections and other factors but if you say that then I guess I would take it for granted, namely that Russian Federation passport holders are the fifth group by number at Tallinn (Sokos) Viru hotel.


My second misconception was about the Viru hotel itself. I was under a false impression that the Viru Hotel was constructed by the Moscow-based Intourist and is almost identical to a building they put together in Togliatti at the same time and Moscow-based Intourist hired companies from   Finland and Finland (though not exclusively Finnish) contractors participated in the building project for which they were of course most handsomely paid.  I just finished my own small hotel project in Moravia, in Czech Republic, in which I converted an old building (the foundation may be dates from the 14th century) to a small hotel / bed and breakfast use. I had different contractors working at the site, but I'd say I put this hotel together (there is a fine German word for it, Bauherr) and, let's say, not Hungarians, although I had one gentleman working who might have been of Hungarian origin or he at least confided that.  From what you implied the Viru Hotel was not built by Moscow-based Intourist but was a donation of the Finns. Sadly I was  unaware of that part story -I did not know that the building was a gift of the Finno-Ugric inhabitants of Finland (of course not just Finns live in Finland) to their Southern brethren. This would obviously be a fantastic marketing asset for the hotel, I was not aware of the fact and I apologize for my ignorance. I would certainly publicize this act of a historically unprecedented collective ethnic generosity.

As you've mentioned the much maligned USA - I must say you are absolutely right, I am a US national (and I spent a few years in Austria and I live in the Czech Republic), with a disclaimer that  Americans of Russian descent or those who were born there are Americans and not "Russians in America"  and I'd say that  in Austria (which is not an ethnic state) someone who has an Austrian passport is an Austrian (it is so believe me)  and I guess in the Czech Republic that tends also to be the case -  sometimes even if you don't have the Czech citizenship (as I don't) - I feel very much like a local.  I speak Czech but when I didn't I don't believe I had any encounters of the kind I had at your much esteemed establishment or in today's Estonia.  So while you are correct that someone of Russian descent would consider the flag of the United States as his or her as it would right be or someone who is of Russian background but is a citizen of France (I know that country also well) he would certainly feel French, I am not quite sure it is the case in Estonia - not at least after I talked to a few locals here.

Once again, thank you very much for your prompt response.
There are two points that I noted
first that at this time the number of Russian overnight visitors is smaller than of Norwegians though that might change in the future.
secondly (an important point to keep in mind and to spread around) that the Viru Hotel was a gift of the Finnish speaking nationals of Finland.

Warmest regards,


 

Response from the Sokos

(Now there are a few Finnish companies I want to pester about things that I find frankly outrageous, Sokos is probably the mildest offender).

Dear Eugene Soukharnikov,

Thank You for Your concerning question. We are very sorry, if You feel that Russia, Russian language or Russian tourists have been discriminated. We understand that any mark can be interpreted as an insult, therefore please let us explain. We sincerely hope that insulting us was not Your aim as well. 
Flags one can see in front of our hotel are selected by the client groups mostly staying in our hotel. Yes, Russians are very important group as well and we sincerely hope to meet them more and more in Tallinn and in our hotel. Comparing to Finns, Swedish, Norwegians and Germans, the percentage of Russians is still lower in our hotel and as mentioned - we hope it is going to change. The times, when there are much more Russian tourist in our hotel, for example New Year and beginning of January, we have also Russian flag welcoming them. This is not about Russian or Estonian history, but simply common policy - in the Autumn we had a week when we had half of visitors from India, so we had accordingly Indian flag. All the other times we have flags by statistics of our hotel visitors in past year. As You understand - whom should we prefer from our clients, if there are ten persons from Austria, ten from Russia, ten from Australia, ten from USA etc - we have 516 rooms and may be 100 nationalities at a time. Estonian flag is a National flag also for local Russians, like US flag is the national flag for local Russians in USA or the Russian flag National flag for Estonias living in Russia.
In Sokos Hotel Viru there is four languages demand for our employees - Estonian, Russian, English and Finnish. We tend to call them local languages, because for our hotel staff it is so. But it is about language, not about state. We are truly sorry, if You have been insulted somewhere because of Russian language or some other way, but we hope and believe it has not been in our hotel.
We hope that our explanation convinced You that we take all our clients as very welcomed guests, no matter what kind of passport he/she has or what language one speaks. You are also very welcome to visit our hotel museum, the first hotel museum in Estonia. There are tours in four languages (including Russian) and we are telling there about 1970-80ties, about our hotel history (built in 1972 by the Finns) and also about the role of KGB in our hotel life. You can find articles about the museum for example in Izvestja, Echo Moskvõ or in English from BBC, Euronews or in German from Deutche Welle or NDR. So You can be also convinced, that we value our past and with our Russians friends we have also good laughs about things from our common past, what non of us liked - like KGB watching in every hotel in Tallinn, Moscow or Leningrad. But this is past now and we are happy to share the common stories. 
Welcome to Tallinn and to Sokos Hotel Viru!

Sincerely Yours,

Harry Põder
Majutusjuht / Hotel Manager 
Sokos Hotel Viru
AS Sokotel, Viru väljak 4, 10111 Tallinn, Estonia
Tel +372 680 9301, Fax +372 680 9304
GSM +372 56 809 301
Sokos Hotel Viru Sales Service, Tel +372 680 9300
www.sokoshotels.ee

A letter to the Sokos (Finland-based) hotel chain

(let's wait for the answer):

Sokos Hotels
P.O. Box 1, 00088 S GROUP, Finland
Switch board: Tel. +358 10 76 8011

To Whom It May Concern:

I recently walked by the Viru Hotel in Reval, Tallinn, which was built by the Soviet Union in the 1972s (or about that time). There are enormous, staggering flagpoles on the side of the hotel displaying the flags of the Estonian ethnostate as well as Finland, Germany, Sweden, Norway and of the European Union.

As far as I know after Finnish tourists the largest group of people who stay at the Sokos Viru are Russian Federation nationals,  however the flag of the Russian Federation is conspicuous by its absence.

Would you please explain why the largest group, after the Finnish passport holders,  the greatest spenders by volume who collectively support your establishment financially is being discriminated against by your hotel chain? What would the reason be of such manifest and seemingly mindless, ungracious Russophobia?


Although I am not nominally a Russian passport holder I am informally studying the instances of corporate discrimination in the post-Soviet Baltic statelets, the purpose behind this effort is to single the most obvious and brazen offenders out  - those who discriminate against Russian language, Russophone speakers, or even, inexplicably, the flag  (discrimination here means that someone or something is treated differently from others even when demographics and history would warrant otherwise or in case of Estonia for instance only accepting the Estonian ethno-Nazi narrative as only one) and to punish them by organizing boycott in the Russian Federation itself or by leveling legal sanctions against by passing law on anti-discrimination in the former Russian Empire and the republics of the Soviet Union.

While I am not making any judgment yet, I believe that the number of Russian customers of Sokos Viru in Reval (today's Tallinn), a city where over one of inhabitants speaks Russian natively which has been a part of the Russian state or of the Soviet for close 300 years is probably somewhat greater than that of Norwegian - with all due respect to Norwegian visitors (I happen to like Norwegians a lot) and that begs the question why would the Norwegian - or the German flag - be displayed publicly, but not the flag of your Russian customers?



Sincerely yours,





PS: employees at Sokos Viru also refused to speak to me in Russian - that happened in the Mexican themed bar and another bar - it is obvious that hiring someone bilingual would make sense in a city where at least one third of inhabitants speak Russian natively and the second largest foreign group are Russian speaking tourists. Unfortunately the personnel does not speak German or French either.