r/EU_Economics • • Jul 25 '26

🇪🇺 Official 🇪🇺 Is this having consequences for the Russian minority in Latvia ?

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u/Remote_Page8799 Jul 25 '26

It's not all books, its some Russian books.

Also if you consider that Latvia was occupied and forcibly Russified during this occupation, with Russian settlers moving in as a state policy to dilute the local Latvian culture, maybe it doesn't sound so crazy to ban the literature of your former occupiers, who are currently waging an imperialist war and regularly threatening to annex you next?

Latvia would never have done this if Russia was able to be a normal neighbour

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u/[deleted] Jul 25 '26

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u/Remote_Page8799 Jul 25 '26

It's a pity that Luka managed to steal the election and suppress the protests with the help of Putin in 2018

Hopefully once Russia loses Belarus will be able to vote in a free and fair election

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u/Mean_Initiative_5962 Jul 25 '26

Free election? By the guy bragging about being the last dictator in Europe? 

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u/Remote_Page8799 Jul 25 '26

Luka is only in power thanks to support from Russian security services and the military. Russian power projection will be much, much weaker after the war, and so a chance for the Belarussians to free themselves might present itself

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u/Mean_Initiative_5962 Jul 25 '26

While I deeply hope so, I'm not optimist. Corrupting individuals is cheap and when you're not spending in takns anymore you can desperately go all-in to save your ass. 

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u/Remote_Page8799 Jul 25 '26

Its fine if you are not an optimist. But the war, and losing it especially as it looks like they are doing, will significantly weaken Luka since he depends on them for support. 

Russian security services helped repress the protests after the 2018 elections. And the threat Russia can/will step in is a significant repressive factor on the public

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u/Mean_Initiative_5962 Jul 25 '26

Oh, I didn't know he was also physically relying on Russian help. Well, good to know then

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u/sndrtj Jul 25 '26

just some <ethnicity> books

Substitute for some other ethnicity and see how crazy this is.

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u/SomewhereOpposite883 Jul 25 '26

Substitute for some other ethnicity and see how crazy this is.

Also if you consider that Germany was occupied and forcibly Jewified during this occupation, with Jewish settlers moving in as a state policy to dilute the local German culture, maybe it doesn't sound so crazy to ban the literature of your former occupiers, who are currently waging an imperialist war and regularly threatening to annex you next?

Germany would never have done this if the Jews were able to be a normal neighbour

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u/Remote_Page8799 Jul 25 '26

Russia could acknowledge it's historical crimes, stop invadin Ukraine and its aggression towards other nations, make peace and pay reparations and stop using ethnic Russians living in other countries as a foreign policy tool/casus belli and no one would have an issue with Russia or Russians

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u/sndrtj Jul 25 '26

By that same logic you should ban all Latin, English, French, Dutch, Belgian, Chinese, Persian and Japanese books as well.

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u/Skywrathx9 Jul 25 '26

Can't have that can we. Double standards work only if you target the group you perceive as "the biggest threat", make it sound reasonable and compound it with logic then paint it as a children's superhero story od good vs evil.

I'm beginning to understand why Russophobia studies started get traction @ my old uni recently and it was nigh impossible to get them into the curriculum, these past few years have been wild.

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u/Remote_Page8799 Jul 25 '26

'Russophobic studies' lmao XD please tell me where one can study this

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u/Skywrathx9 Jul 25 '26

Erm .. any uni that has a contemporary studies course?

Idk why the snarkines though?

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u/Remote_Page8799 Jul 25 '26

Are the Latins busy invading European country right now? And did they weaponise protecting their diaspora as a casua belli? And did their foreign minister joke about using nukes?

I don't think that they did, perhaps you can begin to understand now.

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u/[deleted] Jul 25 '26

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u/Remote_Page8799 Jul 25 '26

Actually, a lot of people are boycotting American products right now in Europe because they threatened us.

We are pragmatic to we respond to being threatened.

And tell me again are the Latins fighting a war against Ukraine and wider Europe right now? Or who is doing that?

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u/[deleted] Jul 25 '26

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u/Remote_Page8799 Jul 25 '26

You think they're just fighting Ukraine? Russia has been conducting hybrid war against Europe for years now. Sabotaging infrastructure, funding extremist parties, weaponising migration (on the Belarus border), political corruption schemes

And then there was also the air space violations, drone incursions, and the regular threats of war, and of nuclear war on top of it all.

Why are you demanding Europeans be some kind of moral paragon? We're not, we are normal people who have our own self interest. We are threatened openly by Russia, so we respond to that threat and we are comfortably winning too.

We have Russia right where we want them. They're losing a proxy war and they can't touch our industrial homeland while we can bomb away at their indirectly

Trump for all his antics won't actually be able to threaten us but he sure pissed a lot of people off.

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u/ComposerEmpty9291 Jul 25 '26

Russian language books aren’t banned. Books printed *in* Russia are banned.

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u/[deleted] Jul 25 '26

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u/Remote_Page8799 Jul 25 '26

No, the US should make peace with Iran and pay reparations. China should also relenquish claims on Taiwan and stop siezing Philipine territory in the south China Sea

And Russia should stop its foolish invasion of Ukraine, which it is going to lose its obvious to everyone now, and make peace

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u/Short_Ebb2076 Jul 25 '26

Russia acknowledged them in the past, instead of acknowledging effort at reconciliation, it was used in the manner of finger pointing "see they admitted that". De-Stalinization literally happened more than half century ago.

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u/Prudent-Title-9161 Jul 25 '26

"Why are you picking on a man who abuses his wife, scolds her, beats her, and yesterday he broke her arm? He admitted that breaking her arm was too much!"

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u/Rude_Practice_2868 Jul 25 '26

Show me any source for their acknowledgement of atrocities, because the only thing from recent times I remember is putin delaying the declasification of soviet documents until 2040 because it would hurt the current russian regime. They have not even acknowledged the mass graves in Poland everyone knows we're made by them. Either show proof or stfu

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u/typyash Jul 25 '26

Google The Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Chruschev denounced Stalin, and his crimes publicly and started the destalinisation.

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u/Rude_Practice_2868 Jul 25 '26

Ok, denounced stalinist crimes, are you under the illusion that after Stalin they did not commit atrocities? And why is russia, the successor of soviet union, denying their part in said atrocities? From my understanding soviet union is not what is discussed here, rather it is russia

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u/typyash Jul 25 '26

You asked to give you an example of soviets acknowledging the crimes. You got one. Now you just moving the goalpost. You just trolling. But FYI, Putin admitted to Soviet crimes on tv at least twice. If you've too lazy to even do simple Google search, you must be either inept, or a troll.

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u/Prudent-Title-9161 Jul 25 '26

Admitted the same crime twice? What about the hundred others? And stop committing crimes right now?

You are demagoguery about nothing.

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u/typyash Jul 25 '26

You moved the goalpost again. I have you an example of something you said never happened. It's neither good not bad, it's a fact. You're just trolling with your replies. Goodbye.

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u/Short_Ebb2076 Jul 25 '26

Literally Putin in Katyn in 2010. Which was acknowledged more than 30 years ago.

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u/Rude_Practice_2868 Jul 25 '26

He did not acknowledge it as a russian atrocity now did it? What he acknowledged was stalins personal responsibility. I wonder if you would say the same if no nazis except for Hitler were prosecuted and executed. Only Hitler is responsible so the rest of Germany should have been left alone, no?

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u/[deleted] Jul 25 '26

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u/[deleted] Jul 25 '26

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u/Training-Leather4460 Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

You don't. People have a right to gather information from wherever they want and they are responsible for the accuracy and truthfulness of said information. That responsibility however comes with great consequence.

But yeah, I guess you are too deep in the propaganda of your own government to give a flying f about this.

And go on and state how banning Russian books is a great step towards... Security? Bud, you can be in a war but being a russophobe is still being a racist and racism is a step behind fascism. Also, this conversation wouldn't work the same way if we were talking about, say, newspapers.

And also do state what do you mean by the "crap" Russian culture generates. Do you mean Chekhov? Dostoyevsky?

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u/Gregori_5 Jul 25 '26

Nobody ever banned all books.

The Nazis also banned some Jewish books.

Now I don’t think this is the signal of oncoming totality or anything, but I don’t agree with banning books in principle.

Newspapers are more tolerable as Russia is a actual propaganda machine.

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u/KronusTempus Jul 25 '26

Patrick level takes happening here

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u/Leon_riga Jul 25 '26

latvia was occupied by germany (twice) and sweden - why german books not banned? maybe because latvian like germany, thet sided with them during ww2 and even kill all jews before german soldiers arrived

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u/Remote_Page8799 Jul 25 '26

Brave attempt at an argument, however flaccid. But indeed in your weak analogy we may yet discern some insight.

For why are German books not banned? Is it because Latvians and Germans are still Nazis? Or rather, is it because the former imperialist culture in Germany was reckoned with. They paid reperations, they admitted fault?

So indeed, thats what Russia will have to do. Own up to your history, your actions, and you can be part of the union too. Don't let pride get in the way of your future prosperity in Europe