cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7224815
From January 1, 2026, Latvia is set to prohibit the teaching of Russian as a second foreign language in schools.
Starting the same date, Russian-language TV and radio broadcasting will be banned in state media. Additionally, the VAT on sales of Russian-language books will increase to 21%.
These measures aim to reduce the presence of the Russian language and strengthen the role of the Latvian language in society.
Russian is the native language for 36% of Latvians.[1]
Ok…but this sounds like the exact thing that Russia would use as a pretext for an invasion. Are they stupid?
They do not fear the Russian invasion at all, and all the fearmongering it’s just coverup for extreme chauvinism, stuffing their pockets on military money and to keeping their corrupted asses on their offices.
History started in 2022. US proxy war good. Mmm, burguer.
Buddy, I agree with you. Please gain some reading comprehension instead of trying to get sick dunks in.
I think their point was that your comment seems based in an exaggerated idea of what the country of Russia would consider acceptable pretext for an invasion
Let me clarify then, because I think people want to look at rhetorical signifiers more then actual history.
The collapse of Socialism in Eastern Europe produced an immense amount of material suffering. Angst about that suffering, in the wake of a both Socialism and Capitalism being seen as failures, has produced a political millieu that hinges very heavily on various nascent fascisms and ethnic nationalisms.
In Ukraine, tensions between ethnic Ukrainians in the west, and ethnic Russians in the east simmered for long time, and one of the things that caused tensions to rise was a law very similar to this Latvian one, which clamped down on the language rights of Russian speakers in the east.
Ukrainian parliamentary representatives got into whole ass brawls about it, Russian separatist movements began brewing, and the west, seeing an opportunity to influence a country on Russia’s borders, helped give a considerable push to the Maidan in 2014.
Russia, in turn, backed the Russian separatists in the Donbas, citing the protection of ethnic Russians, among other things.
The internal contradictions within Ukraine, stoked by the west, escalated external tensions with Russia such that Russia saw the need to invade, and create a buffer between themselves and NATO.
The Baltic States love nothing more then to screech about Russian oppression, but they’re proceeding to reproduce the same internal contradictions that spiraled out and led to war in Ukraine.
My question “are they stupid?” Is rhetorical
Tl;dr - Capitalism is incapable of solving the national question
Believe me, Putin doesn’t care about Russian speaking people. The pretext could be anything. Probably it will be something like denazification, as Latvia still holds a parade for heroes of SS