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Latvian lessons 127

Posted on October 24, 2013 by

Latvia has been ruled by others for most of the past thousand years, with Riga even being the largest city in Sweden until they carelessly lost it to Peter the Great in 1710. Independence from Russia came in 1918 and then from the Soviet Union in 1991.

latvia

I arrived in Riga a few months later and stayed for a year and a half. At the time I joked that, apart from my paid work, I was there to observe what they were going through and to take notes for when Scotland became independent. It’s been a long time but some things, I hope, will be relevant to the process over the next year.

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    • Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “Scotland will always be in the state it is in whilst it clings to the socialist ideology that has enslaved…Sep 7, 14:27
    • Northcode on Anything But That: ““What date did the treaty of union find it was spent and expired…” 1st May 1707.Sep 7, 14:23
    • James Che on Anything But That: “What date did the treaty of union find it was spent and expired, can anyone that states it is no…Sep 7, 14:03
    • Northcode on Anything But That: ““I like your turncoat attitude more and more.” Thanks, James. Your agreement with my structural analysis of ‘no longer relevant…Sep 7, 13:57
    • James Che on Anything But That: “Including Scotland, Wales or Ireland requiring permission to remove themselves from a spent treaty.Sep 7, 13:51
    • James Che on Anything But That: “I have to admit I am enjoying the mythical theory that Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland hold no such 1707…Sep 7, 13:46
    • Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “I mind when I learned that Tolkien was invalided out of the front line in the Great War and never…Sep 7, 13:31
    • Young Lochinvar on Anything But That: “HMcH @ 8.56 Try the de-caff..Sep 7, 13:24
    • James Che on Anything But That: “The 1707 treaty of union had economics and financial collections, taxation and revenues, Treasury benefits wrote into it that benefited…Sep 7, 13:18
    • Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Some see it as a very clear indicator of an over regulatory state pursuing a punitive taxation regime in order…Sep 7, 13:14
    • Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Surely if you believe the oppressed ethnic group are primarily Scots speakers, Alf, there’s little point in quoting Fanon, Hechter,…Sep 7, 13:07
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    • Captain Caveman on Anything But That: ““This implies that some colonially-minded people may reject their own liberation totally irrespective of any ‘economic case’, as arguably occurred…Sep 7, 12:31
    • Alf Baird on Anything But That: ““Assuming there is a convincing economic case” We should not forget that ‘independence is a cultural emotion’ (Fanon), which explains…Sep 7, 12:06
    • Willie on Anything But That: “And whilst we are talking about British economic success stories like JLR shedding thousands of jobs due to declining sales…Sep 7, 11:47
    • Willie on Anything But That: “And whilst we are talking about British economic success stories like JLR shedding thousands of jobs due to declining sales…Sep 7, 11:45
    • Willie on Anything But That: “China, now there’s a country that developed and grown its economy to where it is today. Yes around one in…Sep 7, 11:36
    • Northcode on Anything But That: “A Tolkienian metaphor: One emerald tapestry of stories woven from the past, One land of songs and dragons, One untamed…Sep 7, 10:43
    • Captain Caveman on Anything But That: ““Assuming there is a convincing economic case.” Well, quite. Said case needs to be credibly and comprehensively made, preferably by…Sep 7, 10:43
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