More blogs examine free speech violations in Latvia

They keep on coming...

I have found more blogs referring to the violation of the freedom of speech in Latvia by the Security Police (with the consent, I am sure, of the government):

The American Sentinel (a libertarian-leaning blog)

The openly libertarian blog, The Beacon, is worth quoting:

If the U.S. government were to attempt such suppression of criticism, it would have a big job on its hands. In this country, criticism of the government, the economy’s major institutions, and the present state of affairs is nearly universal, so a mass arrest might create a situation in which each guard had to oversee a million prisoners. But, of course, the government would not need to go to such extremes, because of little bit of well-publicized suppression goes a long way in persuading a multitude of potential critics to hold their tongues and keep their fingers off their keyboards.

The conservative National Review Online also mentions the incidents in Latvia.

A slightly strange German-language blog Porky's also writes extensively about this with the headline, freely translated: A Finance Crisis? TO JAIL!!!

The Norwegian internet newsletter E24 also picked up the story.

Nothing has gotten as much negative publicity and ridicule for Latvia in recent years as this idiot move by the Security Police and the government behind it. 

More blog references to laughingstock Latvia

Another couple of mocking blog references to Latvia, deserved, unfortunately:

Blogging Stocks (stock market commentary in the US)

The American Spectator (blog on the portal of a conservative American magazine)

Under The Name of Reason (a personal blog)

And so I hope it will go on. Must the Latvian government be trained like a puppy by having its nose rubbed in...

Nobel prize winner, NYT columnist mentions Latvia case

Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize - winning economist and columnist/blogger for The New York Times mentions in passing (a link to the Wall Street Journal article) the detention of Dmitrijs Smirnovs by the Latvian Security Police. Krugman jokes that this might a way for the Bush administration to deal with critics of its economic policies.

The blogosphere bubbles about the repression in Latvia

Here are some blog posts on the repression in Latvia, a number quoting publications already noted here.
Marathon Pundit ( a US political blogger whose wife, it appears, is from Latvia).
The Bruges Group Blog (a rather long post, quotes the Wall Street Journal)
The Fundmastery Blog (on investing/?/) also quotes the WSJ)
Mostly Economics (a blog focussed on India, but free speech matters)
The Mises Economics Blog (free market economics)
Dispatches (another blogger with some link to Latvia)
UK Top Secret (another personal blog)

The sad thing is that the provincial, narrow-minded, inferiority-complexed (deservedly?) people in the Latvian government who approved this operation as well as those in the Saeima (parliament) who think this is OK are unlikely to read any of this, even to be aware of this. Basically, these authoritarian boors don't give a flying f**k what the outside world thinks of them.

"Arrest the Economists" --more ridicule of the banana republic

The liberal American "journal of politics and the arts", The New Republic (TNR), has noted the detention of Dmitrijs Smirnovs for his comments on the Latvian economy and currency. A blog, The Plank, on the TNR website draws the clear and simple conclusion:

"There is no excuse for such a breach of civil liberties, particularly in a country well on its way to full membership in the club of the west."

This is a simple enough English sentence for most of the Latvian government and even some of the parliament, the Saeima to read and understand. 

Thanks to an email from a friend for bringing this to my attention. The full post on the TNR blog can be read here (yes, the author does say there is  "an explanation" for Latvia's behavior).

Latvian police actions bring shock, disgrace and ridicule

Shock, disgrace and ridicule of the Latvian authorities and the country's purported democracy and freedom of expression are the result of the actions of the Security Police.

The latest to write about the recent detention of an academic and interrogation of a musician is Germany's leftish TAZ.

Meanwhile, blogger  Edward Hugh, who closely follows the Baltic economies, writes in one of his several blogs European Economonitor:

And it is my opinion that, despite all the attendant difficulties, devaluation is the best option among the unappetising list of unpleasant options presently available to Latvia (and the other Baltic states, and Bulgaria). Unfortunately, having reached this point there are simply no "pleasant" options available.

The curious thing is that for voicing this opinion I could go to prison in Latvia.

According to the Baltic Course online newspaper Ventspils University College lecturer Dmitrijs Smirnovs was detained for two days recently on suspicion of spreading rumors about the devaluation of the Latvian currency. He was detained in connection with an opinion that he had expressed during a debate about the development of the Latvian economy and the future of the Latvian banking and credit system. His arrest followed the publication of his opinion in Ventspils' local newspaper.

Largely citing Edward Hugh, the liberal American blog The American Prospect reports on the activities of the Latvian Security police.

I have already posted about the Index on Censorship Free Speech blog noting what is happening in Latvia.  Some of the first reports in English of the detention of Smirnovs, however, came from a local publication The Baltic Course.

While I am writing, the Google news search has also popped up an item on the Monsters&Critics portal. 

That's about it for now.