Sveiki, all! For now we're back to our mid-week publishing schedule. :-)

It was a busy week in the »news, a week featuring more Russian frustrations (real and imagined) with Latvia; briefly (details below):

• New Russian Port »Causes Concerns; there's unfair competition (oil to the new port is charged a lower transporation rate than through to the Baltics), there's the environment (port is next to a nature preserve), plus tankers are double-hulled but not protected against ice, and the new traffic control system won't come on line until 2004
• Russia May Revise Participation In Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces; if the Baltics don't join the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, then »Russia would be forced to arm itself more heavily, "forcing" it to violate the treaty; it's really quite remarkable how the Russians seem to come up with endless reasons why they would have to arm themselves to the teeth against the Baltics
• Russia says U.S. was unfair in lifting of computer export restrictions; »they find the lifting of restrictions to Latvia particularly irksome and "discriminatory"; after all, aren't we all buddies now, with Vladimir's visit to George W.'s ranch and all?
• The real thing?: Coke cashes in by producing nostalgic drink; following the classic capitalist model, if you can't beat kvass, »buy out the producers and make it yourself;! (even our local bodegas in Brooklyn are sporting Baltic kvass these days)
• Russia Considers Prosecution Of Anti-Fascist Veterans; the »Russians play the "anti-Soviet" equals "anti-anti-Fascist" equals "pro-Fascist" equals "Nazi" equals "Latvians" game, therefore Latvian anti-Soviet freedom fighters are (helpers of the Nazis), Q.E.D. As a news story mentioned last week, the Russians still insist Latvia volunteered to join the Soviet Union.
• Leaders of Baltic States Meet in Riga; »Ruutel, Adamkus, and Vike-Freiberga meet to discuss the state of affairs before Adamkus departs for the U.S. and to lobby for NATO admission for the Baltics
  
  and, regionally,
  
  
• Estonia's president says »new government on track; after last week's chaos, Ruutel says everything is moving forward; common purposes cause political opposites to attract in building a new coalition
• Joseph Stalin was a dictator -- Putin; »but he did "win the war," after all; and Stalin's quest for personal power does explain "a lot", really, Stalin was "more like Tamerlane"--perhaps we're confused here, didn't Stalin kill off the entire army staff, causing the army to disintegrate into chaos? And does understanding Stalin's quest for power include understanding outright genocide? And "more like Tamerlane" (the last of the great Mongol rulers)? Puh-leez! That one you can read up on and judge for yourself at the Silk-Road Foundation site: "Tamerlane (1336 -- 1405) -- The Last Great Nomad Power," at:
  »http://www.silk-road.com/artl/timur.shtml

In a follow-up to last week's news mention of the murder of Latvian journalist Gundars Matiss, you can read details of that news story at the latviansonline.com site:

     »http://www.latviansonline.com/columns/cm011213straumanis.shtml

Our thanks to Andris Straumanis for the link and his story.

This week's link continues last week's travelogue theme.

This week's picture returns to one of the grandeurs of Riga.

As always, AOL'ers out there are invited to join AOL Lat Chat Sundays, starting around 9:00 to 9:30 (we confess to watching X-Files and joining at 10:00), running until 11:00 or so. AOL'ers can follow this link: »Town Square - Latvian chat. And thanks to you participating on the Latvian message board as well: »LATVIA (both on AOL only).

Ar visu labu,

---

Bernard Cloutier's travel page on Latvia (he's done 184 countries and counting, with 141 countries up on his web site!):

     »http://berclo.net/page97/97en-latvia.html

COMTEX Newswire Wednesday, January 09, 2002 11:26:00 AM
HART'S EUROPEAN FUELS NEWS, Vol. 6, No. 1
Copyright 2002 PBI Media, LLC

      Jan 09, 2002 (HART'S EUROPEAN FUELS NEWS/PBI Media via COMTEX) -- On 27 December, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, formally inaugurated the new oil terminal of Primorsk on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, although the first tanker actually left on Christmas Eve. Formerly known as Koivisto, the new terminal has been built by the Russian company Transneft at a cost of EUR 550 million on land taken over by the Soviet Union at the end of the last war. The facility consists of 10 large oil tanks each with a capacity of 50,000 t of oil brought by pipeline from the oil fields of Siberia. Initially the Primorsk terminal will handle about 12 mt of oil, equivalent to about 240,000 b/d, but this figure is expected to rise to 30 mt in 2003.
      However, the opening of this new terminal has raised concerns in a number of areas. First, since Russia now has its own oil port, it reduces its dependence upon the harbours of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia that have previously been used. There has also been some concern that the prices that are being charged to get oil to Primorsk are significantly less than those charged by the Baltic States, thereby setting up unfair competition.
      The second area of concern is from the environmentalists as the harbour has been built next to a nature reserve and is seen as a potential threat to the habitats of seabirds and seals. WWF Finland is proposing the establishment of a working group to improve the capabilities of fighting oil spills, including a vessel capable of dealing with wintertime oil accidents and massive oil spills. Finnish, Russian and Estonian officials have already decided to consider the possibility of setting up a common facility on the Russian island of Suursaari in the eastern Gulf of Finland to fight oil spills.
      According to Jorma Rytkonen, group manager for maritime and mechanical engineering at the Technical research Centre of Finland (VTT), the terminal has been well constructed and is properly equipped. He has said that, while all of the tankers will be of a double-hull design, none are reinforced against ice. In addition, as far as he knows, there are no ocean- going tugs at the terminal.
      To improve maritime safety and avoid collisions in the busy lanes, Finland, Estonia, and Russia are working on a new marine traffic control system for the Gulf of Finland. This Vessel Traffic Service, or VTS system, would assign specific routes for all ships sailing in the Gulf of Finland. However, the VTS is not scheduled to begin operations until 2004.

COMTEX Newswire Friday, January 11, 2002 8:51:00 AM
Copyright (C) 2002, RosBusinessConsulting

      Moscow, Russia, Jan 11, 2002 (RosBusinessConsulting via COMTEX) -- Russia may reconsider the conditions of its participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, a well-informed source reported to RBC. It will be done if the Baltic States enter NATO without joining this treaty. In this event NATO will approach Russia's borders and trigger changes in the military and political situation. Eventually Russia will have to increase the number of arms and military vehicles stationed in the Leningrad military district, thus violating restrictions imposed by the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. The source stressed that the admission of the Baltic State to NATO without their joining the treaty would destroy its concept, because it provides for the forming of a so-called "grey zone", which could be filled with a huge number of arms. In the opinion of the source, the most acceptable variant for Russia is the joining of the treaty by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the coordination of all arms limitations and then admission into NATO.

AP WorldStream Friday, January 11, 2002 11:06:00 AM
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press

      MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday criticized a U.S. decision to relax Cold War-era restrictions on the export of computer technology as not going far enough, especially in light of warming U.S.-Russian relations.
      In a move sought for months by the technology industry, U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday raised the threshold for government approval of exports of the most popular and powerful U.S. computer technology to Russia, China, India and Pakistan.
      These countries are in the so-called "Tier 3" category -- and Russia says it shouldn't be in that trading group at all, calling the nations "far from the most reliable in the sphere of nonproliferation," according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
      The rules are part of the Export Administration Act, legislation controlling commercial exports that could be put to military use. The act expired in 1990 and has since been kept alive through temporary extensions.
      Bush on Wednesday removed the former Soviet republic of Latvia from the list of Tier 3 countries and reclassified it as Tier 1, putting it in league with Western European and other U.S. allies whose computer imports from the United States require no prior government review.
      In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry said: "We would like to hope that in the conditions of the course announced by the Russian president and the U.S. president on forming new strategic relations, the American administration will soon review this discriminatory decision."
      Under the relaxed standards, Intel's upcoming Itanium microprocessor can be exported as well as several Apple and Dell laptop computers.

AP WorldStream Sunday, January 13, 2002 7:32:00 PM
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press
By J. MICHAEL LYONS
Associated Press Writer

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- During the communist era, people in the Soviet republics lined up at sidewalk kiosks to quench their thirst with kvas, a cloudy brown concoction with a similar texture and taste of dark beer, minus the alcohol.
      The drink nearly disappeared following the breakup of the Soviet Union, but now it's back. And it's at the center of a marketing war between local companies and the behemoth of the world soft-drink marketplace, Coca-Cola Co.
      Not everyone is happy that kvas has become a mass produced item.
      "It's nothing more than cola," grumbles Vyacheslav Shamarin, who nevertheless brews a mass-market kvas.
      The drink used to be made from locally grown rye, beet sugar, yeast and stale bread. It had a short shelf life, so it couldn't be bottled and street vendors sold it by the glass.
      Today, kvas producers use a syrupy concentrate imported from Germany, and the drink is pasteurized and sold in bottles.
      Many fans of the drink say they preferred Soviet-era kvas because it tasted fresher and was more authentic. While quality may be open to debate, what isn't is the impact kvas has had on the regional drink market in recent years.
      After the Soviet Union dissolved at the end of 1991, Latvia's new health laws banned its sale on the street and post-Soviet economic disruptions forced kvas factories to close. For most of the 1990s, kvas virtually disappeared in this Baltic state of 2.4 million people.
      Coke moved in and quickly dominated the market with its popular carbonated soft drinks.
      Local drink makers struck back in 1998 by introducing a kvas that could be bottled and launching aggressive advertising campaigns. Kvas is also cheaper, at about 30 santims, or 48 cents, for a 1.5 liter bottle -- about half the price of Coke.
      In just three years, kvas rebounded to account for more than 30 percent of Latvia's soft drink market, market researcher AC Nielsen Latvia says.
      Coke watched its market share fall from 65 percent to 44 percent and had losses in Latvia of about dlrs 1 million in 1999 and 2000. Similar trends have occurred in the two other Baltic republics and in Russia.
      "Some older consumers shifted from Coke to kvas, which they became accustomed to during Soviet times," said Aki Hirvonen, Coke's Baltic marketing manager.
      Unable to beat the kvas makers, Coke joined the competition, or rather started buying it up. It purchased several kvas brands from the Baltics to Siberia, refitting some plants to produce kvas along with its standard soft drinks.
      Last year, for instance, Coke bought the most popular kvas brand in neighboring Estonia, where the drink is known as kali. Linnus Kali made 60 percent of the 8 million liters (2 million gallons) of kvas sold in Estonia in 2000.
      An ever-more cramped market has forced producers to diversify.
      Gutta, a Latvian juice maker, now sells vitamin-enriched kvas aimed at children and a sugarless kvas "light" for dieters. It also changed the name of its first kvas brand to "Klassik," reminiscent of how Coca-Cola renamed its original cola Coke Classic.
      "We are on the same playground as Coke and we have to have the same tools when we go into the stores and try to sell," said Gutta's general manager, Uldis Ronis.
      Shamarin complains that all the posturing undercuts the traditions of kvas, which dates back 1,000 years to when Slavic hunters began fermenting boiling water and stale bread. "Kvas" derives from a Russian word for "sour."
      "You can't carbonate wine and call it champagne," Shamarin said.
      Shamarin oversees kvas production for Kok and Co., a condiment maker that started making the drink three years ago.
      Squeezed into a white frock stained brown with kvas, he won't reveal his recipe but insists its the closest version of the real thing left in Latvia.
      But he concedes the kvas he produces is pasteurized, too, giving it a slight mass-produced flavor. And his firm did recently succumb to competitive pressures and start making what Shamarin calls "healthy" kvas.
      "The kids love it," he says.
      Leaning in, he sheepishly reveals its appeal: "More sugar."
      -- -- --
      On the Net:
      Coca-Cola Co.: http://www.coca-cola.com
      Gutta: http://www.gutta.lv

COMTEX Newswire Monday, January 14, 2002 5:31:00 AM
Copyright (C) 2002, RosBusinessConsulting

      Moscow, Russia, Jan 14, 2002 (RosBusinessConsulting via COMTEX) -- An official representative of the Foreign Ministry of Russia issued a statement in connection with court proceedings against anti-fascist veterans in Latvia. According to the Press and Information Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the statement reads, "Judging from reports from Riga, the Latvian authorities have intensified court proceedings against anti-fascist veterans. This causes a quite understandable concern. The fact of handing over the respective 'cases' to courts in remote towns on the pretext that the Riga District Court is overburdened is remarkable. Therefore, the elderly veterans are exposed to additional physical hardships and sufferings, and new difficulties in the organization of the defense and the participation in the court proceedings are created for them. Our principal position on the continuing court proceedings against war and military service veterans in Latvia is well known. It is a matter of an obvious 'political order,' which allows for the return force of laws, biased investigation and portraying anti-fascist fighters as 'occupants,' whereas helpers of the Nazis are called 'freedom fighters.' The Russian party will continue to give its firm and consistent support for the veterans being prosecuted in Latvia and to strive for the lifting of all the groundless charges filed against them."

COMTEX Newswire Tuesday, January 15, 2002 9:29:00 PM
Copyright 2002 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

      RIGA, Jan 15, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Estonian President Arnold Ruutel and Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus met here Tuesday to discuss with their Latvian counterpart Vaira Vike-Freiberga some urgent issues concerning the foreign policies of their countries.
      The three leaders agreed to coordinate their positions on joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU), and exchanged views on developing friendly ties with Russia.
      Later, the three heads of state stressed at a joint news conference that relations among Baltic countries were good, and they would further develop cooperation among the three countries.
      The leaders also expressed their hopes of developing stable, good, and pragmatic relations with Russia.
      The summit meeting was initiated by Lithuanian President Adamkus, who was to travel to the United States on Wednesday. He hopes to present U.S. President George W. Bush with the Baltic countries' resolution to join NATO and the EU in a bid to win Washington's backing for their NATO membership at the NATO Summit to be held in fall this year.

Reuters World Report Wednesday, January 16, 2002 12:00:00 PM
Copyright 2002 Reuters Ltd.

      RIGA, Jan 16 (Reuters) -- Estonian President Arnold Ruutel said on Wednesday talks on a new government should yield a ruling coalition strong enough to ensure European Union entry preparations are completed on time.
      "We should get a workable coalition...I hope the parties will come to an agreement to suspend some of their differences, otherwise they cannot push draft (laws) through parliament," Ruutel told a news conference.
      Prime Minister Mart Laar resigned last week to end infighting sparked by revelations of secret local government alliances that a ruling coalition partner, the Reform Party, negotiated with the opposition Centre Party.
      Laar said he did not want to become an obstacle to the country's EU and NATO membership bids at a crucial time. NATO is likely to issue invites to Baltic states at November's summit in Prague and EU entry talks are set to conclude in December.
      Pro-business Reform and leftist Centre are now in talks to form the next government. They stand on opposite sides of the political spectrum but both support EU and NATO membership, as have all of Estonia's post-Soviet governments.
      "I would like to assure you that whatever kind of government we will have, the foreign policy priorities will remain the same," said Ruutel, who was on a visit to the Latvian capital.
      He said he expected an agreement by Friday that would allow a prime ministerial candidate to be designated. Under Estonia's constitution, Ruutel picks the prime minister.
      The seven million people in Estonian, Latvia and Lithuania largely see the EU and NATO as guarantors of independence won from the Soviet Union just 10 years ago. All three Baltic states are striving hard to meet tough entry conditions.
      Reform party leader and outgoing Finance Minister Siim Kallas is seen by many as the next prime minister, but Ruutel stressed that he had not made a decision on his candidate yet.

COMTEX Newswire Tuesday, January 15, 2002 2:31:00 PM
(c) 1996-2002 ITAR-TASS

      MOSCOW, Jan 15, 2002 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- Joseph Stalin was a dictator, but one should not forget that he was the leader when the country won the Second World War, President Vladimir Putin has told Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza and TVP television channel on the eve of his official visit to Warsaw.
      "Stalin was obviously a dictator. There is no doubt about that. He was the man guided, in the first turn, by the interests of keeping his personal power. And, to my mind, that explains a lot," Putin said.
      But the problem is that the country won the Second World War under his leadership, and that victory is connected to his name to a large extent, Putin said. "It would be silly to ignore this circumstance," he remarked.
      As for the suggestion to compare Stalin with Ivan the Terrible or Peter the Great, Putin said, Stalin was closer to Tamerlane.

It's somewhere around a quarter to three at St. Peter's in Riga. All the years Peters has taken pictures, he never noticed there's only a hour hand on the clock!