It seems like the Russians are the new Jews in Latvia.

You knows history, will remember, that the Latvians - with great pleasure - after German troops had arrived, engaged in pogroms, and engaged in beating jews to death on the streets... Latvians also volunteered in the German-SS etc.

Those Latvians seem to have remained what they had always been: racist, fascist and discriminatory.

Import for now is: to collect the evidence, and preserve it for the future. Punishment for Latvia will have to come at a later point in history then... but it will come.

Why should the American government get involved in the internal affairs of another country?

Sorr y, the Latvians need to deal with this themselves.

You're right on the money, JB. And AussieJohn, as usual, is away with the fairies.

The Estonian language isn't difficult, so much as different. It is not an Indo-European language, and is grammatically structured in a way that Indo-European languages are not. But as I've noted previously, I have met numerous foreigners who have learned it fairly quickly. Some did not even live in Estonia, and still managed. There is no excuse for foreigners who do live in Estonia and consider it their home.

Also, please consider: Indo-European languages are just as "different" for Estonians as Estonian is for foreigners. As a result of the Soviet invasion and occupation, approximately 100,000 Estonians fled abroad, mostly with nothing but the clothes on their back. All of them, with the exception of the very elderly, soon learned the "different" language of their country of residence, yours truly included. Are Estonians more intelligent than Russians who, after decades of living in Estonia, still haven't proved capable of learning the language of their country of residence??

AussieJohn wrote: "In neighbouring Estonia, the Education Minister went to sit an Estonian language exam but refused to publish his results. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why he refused to publish his exam results."

It is true that he went to sit an Estonian langauge exam and refused to publish the results. However, it was not the Estonian language exam which you have to pass in order to get cityzenship. It was Estonian language exam for upper-secondary school graduates who speak Estonian as their mothertongue. Those are two completly different exams, first for those who speaks Estonian as a foreign language and latter for those who have learned their Estonian mothertongue for 11 years.

Diffic ult language? Sure, it is not easy. Howerver, it is not more difficult than Finnish. It is a miracle that Russian-speaking people whan working in Finland manage to learn Finnish very quickly. Or maybe it is just question of mentality? Lack of willingness to learn the language their consider inferior because it was treated as such during soviet times?

Useless language? Then what are you doing in Latvia if you think the people and their language is useless? Sorry about your situation but perhaps just step back and see the bigger picture how latvians see you (or estonians for that matter) you are not exactly being humble here. You rave against germans and their deeds but refuse to see what you have done is the exactly same....and some more. Its like going to a rapevictim and tell him/her to "get over it and be nicer to the rapist" I know I know you may not condone what happened and maybe even some of your ancestors fought with latvians side, but look how germans handled it after the war and FOLLOW the example. Despite you being "victors" then why germans are more successful in everything?

I'm finnish. Currently we are fighting for the right to learn something else than swedish as compulsory second language in our schools. Swedish was always seen as "more useful than barbarian finnish language" and the swedish minority ruled Finland even in the times of Russian rule. Now they cry for their rights to get service in their own language. Fine, but trouble is that they force everyone to learn their language in schools.

After reading articles like this, the slogan of RT really comes alive. Came for news, but leaving now with even MORE questions. The main one being that - how can you expect anyone with even the slightest sense of history, basic international law or just plain logic to mistake this kind of propaganda for news? I'm not saying that big western media corporations are any better in providing unbiased reports (the reason i came here in the first place) but stuff like this proves that RT is not in absolutely ANY way different...

terrorists dont need  any pasport. they intrude everywhere or invade.

"The US is the citadel of democracy in the modern world. And they cannot remain indifferent to human rights violations and harassment directed against minorities". This statement pretty much discredited this entire article

With almost no exceptions (Kihnu's post is an exception), ignorance and full-blown anti-Baltic bigotry are on display in this article and its accompanying submissions. I can address the factual errors on which these are based -- anyone can. But only the owners of the bigotry can change their unlovely attitude, and few are likely to.

Regarding factual errors:

(1) The mentioned "Latvian human rights activists" are neither Latvians nor human rights activists, but Russian activists. As for the aim of such activism, visit the Estonian Security Policy home page, click on Annual Reviews, in the 2010 Review read the chapter commencing on page 10 entitled, "Russia's Influence Operations Against Estonia", and in the 2011 Review read the sections on pages 8 through 15.

(2) The Baltics were never a legal part of the Soviet Union, but foreign European countries illegally occupied by Moscow. Soviet rule was established by force on the basis of no constitutional norms of the Baltic countries, was maintained only by terror and force, and was illegal from its first to its last day. Every immigrant to those occupied countries was an illegal immigrant.

(3 ) The Baltics have granted citizenship to hundreds of thousands of such illegal immigrants, and are constantly adding to that number. Claims to the contrary are lies.

(4) The Russian language is not banned in any of the Baltics, and people can speak Russian -- or any other language -- to their hearts' content. There is Russian television, radio, theatre, cinemas, clubs, churches, newspapers, magazines, etc. But the national language of those countries is not Russian. Russian is the national language of Russia.

(5) I have met many people in and outside of Estonia who have learned Estonian perfectly in just a couple of years. Easy if you want to.

(6) I invite "Same in Estonia" and "Gabi" to visit Estonia. Their ignorance will be remedied even if their bigotry won't be.

(7) Foreign identity documents are provided to those Soviet-era settlers who have chosen not to take local citizenship, to allow them to travel and return. In Estonia such people can also vote in local elections and have all the same social security support which every citizen enjoys.

Such are the facts. But as I said, facts cannot cure hateful attitudes.

Soon the Russian and Chinese languages will become A MUST to learn worldwide as the clever western businessmen did and thousands moved over to China (55 000 U.S. companies registered there) and so is hapening with Russia now, but those Baltic looney's are trying to ban the Russian language. Lol... what over-reacting "patriotic" comedia ns those are!

In Estonia the government bans Russian and forces people to learn a useless language that nobody speaks. Instead of promoting the use of Russian so that they can do business with the great neighbour they are forbidding it. This is because Estonia has been bought off, bribed by the EU to receive funds in exchange of letting a NATO basis settle here. Estonian is the most complicated language in Europe and it is useless. Only a bunch of peasants and some people in Tallinn and Tartu speak it. Everybody understands Russian but the government wants to end it. The medicines, the health campaigns of disease prevention are all in Estonian, thus most people don't understand the advices for their health.  The Council of Europe is, of course, the administrative henchman of the US and the EU so they are actually the ones that are enforcing this banning. This is a complete ethnic cleansing.

Th e only thing I found ridiculous in the article is that the Human Rights groups in Latvia come to say that "the US is the citadel of democracy", wtf!

and by the way,i say to these big mouth Latvians and Polish or whoever bad mouthing Russia you better be carefull,don't wake up the big bear or else.

if the Russians in Latvia leave that tiny country its economy will probably collapse,the Russians are the hardest working people there,they run every thing other than state jobs,but expecting the united states to help the Russians is the wrong venue,the americans are no citadel of any thing,it is all an illusion and phoney stuff,the americans are tngeled in their own web of confusion and paradox,they need help themselves..i think Russians should look after their own.