A little solidarity with Croatia

Croatia, neither a European Union nor a NATO member state, can "afford" to behave like an East European Slobbovia, and indeed, it has, by detaining and persecuting someone who put up a Facebook group rather harshly criticizing the Prime Minister of Slobbo... er Croatia.

The story is told here.

We, who, despite being both in the EU and NATO, have a government that sanctions Slobbovian actions by Latvia' s Security Police can only express our solidarity with the victims of the Croatian police action. Interestingly enough, the Slobbo...er Croatian police may have been inspired by one of the earliest reports in English on the free speech issues raised by the detention of the Latvian college lecturer. It was published here on a Croatian portal. It seems that someone was inspired by this...

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.

Mention the financial crisis, go directly to jail (and the kangaroos laugh)

Now they know Down Under. This is a piece by AFP's Riga correspondent Alex Tapinsh. The full text is available here. More laughs for the kangaroos.

"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).

Journalists publish open letter on free speech in Latvia

More than 20 Latvian journalists and media-related persons have published an open letter defending the freedom of expression against the actions of the Latvian Security Police.
The text of the letter can be found here. It is likely that other newspapers, besides Diena, will publish it. There is also an English-language version being prepared (I am the main author of both letters, others have contributed and edited).