A Whirlpool of a Cloud on the Horizon.

December 5, 2111

Map of the Baltic states during the Great Northern War (1700-1721): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Northern_War_Part1.png

The history of Eastern and Central Europe is among the least explored histories. For practical purposes, it is an unknown history. At this time , this “known unknown history” is rather harmful to the people living in the region. The reason for this “known unknown” is attributable to the political interests, which have fought over the possession of the region over a long period of time.

Since the author was born in Riga, Latvia (1933), his interests are concerned with the fate of the Latvian people. His original knowledge of the history of the Baltic region was taught to him in Latvian schools, while he resided as a refugee in Western Germany, the history that he became familiar with is the version that traces Latvia's beginnings to the founding of the City of Riga in 1201 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/503392/Riga by Bishop Albert, who had landed there in 1199 with 23 ships filled with [the Order of the Brothers of the Sword , whom he attached as a branch unit to the Teutonic Knights in 1237). to wage a Crusade against the (?) Eastern pagans or perhaps Christians.



The Whirlpool of a Cloud is Caught by the Rake Formed of Dead Trees.

The interpretation of the early period of Riga (and Latvia) continues to be hazy for reasons of persistent obscurantism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obscurantism , its repressive force fed by numerous religious interests to this day. The pervasive repression in the Latvian culture of religion continues to this day (affecting all sectors of society),

http://www.makslasvesture.lv/index.php/Att%C4%93ls:Baumanu_Karlis_Ligo_1874.jpg

View of the Temple Honoring Destroyed Forests from the West.

While Latvia is said to be largely under the aegis of the Lutheran Church, it must not be forgotten, that the foundation of the Lutheran Church is Catholic, and remains Catholic in its outlook to this day (the Lutheran archbishop of Riga, Vanags http://news.frut.lv/lv/ppl/107258 , recently discussed making an alliance with the Catholic Church that had once dominated in Latvia’s eastern part, which was for a long time under Polish control. One of the unanswered myseries of the attack on Jersica is whether the inhabitants of Jersika were, as those of Carcasonne in France  http://www.cathar.info/1202b_chronolgy.htm , Cathar Christians, who—like those in Languedoc—may have had Slavic roots.

The diversion of the Slavic-Baltic language connection probably goes back to this time. Indeed, the linguistic split may not have taken place until the times of the so-called “Great Schism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East%E2%80%93West_Schism ,” in which conflict the agressor, the Roman Catholic Church, appears to taken the upper hand. The Catholic background of Livonia continues to favor (even in academic circles in our day) the prejudice held by the pro-Catholics prejudice, which may explain the Latvian  prejudice that “wills the ways of the West” (facilitated by aggressive behavior) and “offs the East”.

Religious obscurantism continues to influence the way the Eastern-Central part of Europe thinks about its history to the present day. If it is true that the famous sash of Lielvarde http://baltic-crossroads.com/store/index.php?p=product&id=301 is of Cathar origin (they were known to be fabulous veawers), the mystery of who inhabited Jersika is explained.

V iew of Temple Honorings Johns from the East.



In this writer’s opinion deliberate obscuring of history begins not only to camoflage the events surrounding the arrival of the Crusaders in Riga, but their attack in 1209 against the city of Jersika (likely a native colloquialism for Jerusalem), located up-river of the Duna (?Juna). The attack on Jersika coincides with the beginning of the Albigensian Crusade, especially the siege of the Cathar city of Carcasonne in Languedoc, France. While the attacks on Riga and Jersika were led by German knights, the attack against Carcasonne http://www.cathar.info/1202b_chronolgy.htm was led by knights from Northern France. No one is known to have survived the attack on Jersika.

Of some interest is the fact that the Cathars of Languaedoc could escape east to Croatia and Serbia, where the the religious were somewhat protected from the onslaught of the Crusaders because the area was a stronghold of the Slavs, who traced their religious influence to Byzantium or Constantinople (destroyed in the (?) 4th Crusade of 1204).

The focus of political conflict in Latvia these days is the Latvian-Russian languages issue. The issue was discussed in more detail in the previous blog. Even today, the President of Latvia, Andris Berzins, said that he will resign his Presidency http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/257837 if the Russian language Is to ever get a Constitutional foothold in Latvia, that is. if Russian were to ever become the 2^nd language in Latvia. The Latvian Constitution (Satversme) states that the Latvian language is the only language of Latvia, and does this no less dogmatically than the Pope insists that he remains the ultimate authority of all matters that concern Christianity.

What if we consider the possibility that the Latvian language is not only a matter of ethnic identity for Latvians, but also performs a repressive function against all things Cathar and early Christian, that is to say, insists that it does not  perceive divinity in “dualistic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualism_(philosophy_of_mind) ” terms. In the instance of present-day Latvia, the dualistic view likely belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Black John, the Victim in Situ.

It may be argued that the proto-Latvian viewpoint is “dualist”, once expressed by the congregations of the Children of Johns, a priest of who is visible in the Latvian “Līgo” flag. If prejudicial views are denied in favor of equal rights, the image of the priest who presides over the congregation, visible in the far background of the illustration, is the same as one may imagine is likely to be presented by a Russian (?or Greek) Orthodox priest http://www.makslasvesture.lv/index.php/Att%C4%93ls:Baumanu_Karlis_Ligo_1874.jpg residing with the people in the countryside. For those who wish to dispute this tie, the picture also proves that a Christian priest need not hold in his hand a crucifix, but a greening branch will do.

As for dualism, the Latvian language, too, is “dualistic” by its nature—especially when one considers the cultivated autism (the Gordian knot on the Latvian mind) fostered by the “schism” between its official language and endearing words. (See discussion in above blogs). By the way, the Russian language has no shortage of endearing words.

Volodya, at Temple Honoring Destroyed Forests: Latvia; with the apple trunks he saved.

December 3, 2111

As the host of “100.panta preses clubs” (in Latvian), Dzintris Kolāts introduced those present http://ltvzinas.lv/?n=zinas&id=4204 Šovakar „100. panta preses klubā” – diskusijā par krievu valodu Latvijā - Sandra Kalniete, Eiropas Parlamenta deputāte („Vienotība”), Nikolajs Kabanovs, Saeimas deputāts (SC), Kārlis Seržants Saeimas deputāts (ZZS) Žurnālisti: Eduards Liniņš (Latvijas Radio), Māris Antonevičs („Latvijas Avīze”), Andrejs Hotejevs, („Telegraf”) Raidījuma vadītājs – Dzintris Kolāts.

Described as a show that will discuss the place of the Russian language in Latvia (following the gathering of signatures of whether  to hold a referendum:  Whether the Russian language should be given 2^nd language status in Latvia. The guests included no academic language experts or experts of subjective opinion (writers or poets).

As always, the Latvian communications media makes no concessions to Latvian populists. In fact, strong attacks against populism were waged by EU Deputy Kalniete and Saeima deputy Serzhants. The only pro populist statements heard came from Kabanovs and Linins.

The exclusion of all who might in the past have displayed any anti-elitist views is typical of the oligarch representatives in the Latvian Saeima. This was pointed out by Linins from Latvian Radio, who also drew attention to the fact of the Latvian language and ethnicity are taboo subjects par excellence.  Linins stressed (at 9:50 min) how language and ethnicity were the subjects most avoided by Latvian politicians. Linins himself did not inhale the word, however, danced around it.

The opening up of the populist pomegrenade as a result of the exclusion of populist interests close to the Russian speaking public may not stop or be checked at this juncture. As several participants in the show pointed out, the ultimate Referendum (likely to be held sometime in April 2112) may split the population 60/40% or roughly 800,000 vs 300,000 [which = potentially 1,100,000 voters or the adult population of Latvia.]

Another reason why the opening of a populist heart-land is likely to backfire is because the questions  likely to be asked include economic questions as well. The economy may in the end be the decisive one, yet, because it is well enough known that the Oligarch representative packed Latvian Saeima has avoided the question of Latvia’s economic development with determination.

Why have the Latvian elite politicians stayed away from the economic question with such determination?

Temple Honoring Destroyed Forests:
Apple-tree-trunks have taken this corner of the  Guest Room.

The answer has been pointed to in these blogs before. One only has to look at the influence of Swedish banks on the political circles, starting from the President of Latvia Andris Berzins down to the Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, who signed off on a notoriously pro-Western banking book by a Swedish neo-economist Andreas Aslund.

If Saeima deputies like Serzhants question (11:03) the source of advertising and promotion for the signature campaign by suggesting we look East and the political campaigning going on in Russia, the populists who hold dear the Russian language can with justification point to the West and the economic and deptors’ crisis in Latvia caused largely by Swedish banks through their local oligarch-controlled  affiliates.

Given that

·        the oligarch representative-dominated Latvian Saeima (banking interests among them)- was voted to be dismissed by the Latvian voters in a Referendum earlier this year (but received no satisfaction for their trouble), and the signature gathering campaign for the April Referendum is professionally waged, one would not be surprised if the vote went 300,000 for vs 800,000 against the Latvian language—a result, arguably, a disaster for the Latvians;

·        lest we forget that possibly up to a half a million Latvians have left Latvia and neither they, not their at-home relatives feel especially indebted to the their oligarch representatives in the Saeima;

Elves dancing at the Temple Honoring Melnays Jahnis, in Latvia.

Leader of the Elves, Col. Yonderman, at the Temple Honoring Destroyed Forests, Latvia.

·        could turn the neglect of the Latvian economy into a rich (1%) vs poor (99%) issue in Latvia that may be exploited by the Russian speaking Latvian public into their favor. All one needs do is point to the railroads. Currently, the West is spending lots of money advertising the North-to-South Railway (Helsinki-Warsaw) line, whereas a West-East or Riga-Moscow line is arguably to greater economic advantage to the people of Latvia.

·        one of the populist segments of the people of Latvia are the people of the region of Latgale, who have suffered during the current financial-economic crisis most. Moreover, they have been humiliated in the Saeima, by the refusal of the body's Chairwoman to accept the inflection of Latgalian as part of the Latvian language. A deputy from Latgale was forced to reread his oath, because he pronounced one of the words in the oath in the Latgalian dialect.

A tool shed, said to be the site where in past years two men made their exit from this world,

November 22, 2111

As per blog of November 20, the ultra-nationalist Latvians have failed, because they have failed to understand the profound difficulties of maintaining the Latvian language as a projection of a Latvian religion, and because they have failed to extend the period of time available for a purely nationalist solution by failing to facilitate Latvia’s economic development and prosperity.

The failure of Latvian ultra-nationalists is their failure to understand Latvia’s geopolitical potential. They fail to see that their geopolitical potential is not for them alone to solve, but that they must perceive the geopolitical advantages of their given territory and of the territories of surrounding nations and be able to facilitate and mature the geopolitics of all.

The geopolitics of Latvia is not about the RIX of Riga or Riga as a shipping port. While these may be important elements in the picture puzzle, a more important element may be the Riga stock exchange http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riga_Stock_Exchange . The latter is a Riga institution that receives hardly any attention. Why?

The reason for the failure of the Riga stock exchange (NASDAX OMX Riga) is, for one, that it is part of the NASDAQ network. Centered in New York, USA, NASDAQ is a trough and through a Western oriented imperial institution. Its Riga exchange is extension to the edge of the world.

NASDAQ and other western institutions are working toward absorbing the Rest of the World into the Western World some time in the future. The “some time”-clock when on Western time is actually on Catholic Time, a camouflaged Crusade led by market interests, may strike noon tomorrow or a hundred years from now, but the clock does not know the word “never”. For Latvia this is a crucial presumption, one that it ought not ever have accepted as a matter of principle, not even if a Western world were to eventually become the world of tomorrow.

The uncertainty of whether the world is to become “Western” is paralyzing to anyone on whom falls the burden. The uncertainty of whether the burden is a weight for a day or a hundred years is as paralyzing on all of the days. Being defined as being a border town on the Eastern border of a presumed Western Empire and finding acquiescence to that role in the Foreign Ministry of Latvia, makes NASDAQ OMX Riga a lesser exchange. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1jhF7KlESE .

As sharp an eye Latvians may have for an investment, when transferred to Latvia, said eye is prone to make misjudgements, because hunger for money soon spells “rapshi” which are beans to make diesel oil from.  The Lithuanians still have the cattle and the nuclear energy plant. While the latter is a risk that will never find insurance for the year 101, for the moment deludes the mind and keeps its focus off reality. This brings Riga and Latvia to a stand still. 

Another reason why the West blocks the way of Latvia developing in the geopolitical direction best suited for it is NATO. The military alliance--at one time a useful tool in opposing the Soviet Union--endeavours to become a tool of Western expansion today. When in agreement with such a policy, Riga cannot fail remain but a border town. Even more, Riga cannot pretend to achievement in the lifetime of any Latvian living today if the Latvian Foreign Ministry keeps cracking empty nuts.

I have already noted the failure of the Latvian ultra nationalists to recognize the endearing word—so essential to and such a major part of the Latvian language—to re-engrain itself in the language after the ultras have had their ways with it. So far, one must conclude that the “Latvian language” of Latvian public media is not capable of projecting the language as it was created by the proto-Latvian people's populist sentiment (subjective agreement among all of the users-imitators of the language) does not re-absorb Latvian as the language was understood by their forebears, but goes its own “ultra” liberal path. I call this the zionationalist or post-proto-Latvian path.

The failure of post-proto-Latvians to further the cause of the development of their language [ultimately a mental kind of seizure with regard to the faculty of mimesis] is the result of isolationism. By presuming to extract the Latvian language from the hardships it would face and would have to endure if it was to survive on its own—at the same time redefining Latvian as an language that agrees to exclude all endearing words—is “ingenious”, a word that spells the ultimate of disasters.

What will survive of Latvians as they conceived themselves in earlier times is a cancerous cell, because as it attempts to restore itself to preeminence, it necessarily faces becoming an isolated and vulnerable cell. There are cases of government supported languages before the Latvian language takes this course. The Latin of the Catholic Church is one such language that can be restored with the help of a dictionary. Moreover, the endearing word casts its psychic spell over many languages, not least Russian and German.

This is why this writer is for a Latvia out of NATO (unless it includes Russia), all the languages competing for dominant positions necessarily conceiving of themselves as instruments of the middle ground (between the East and West)—of which the bet on the one most suitable for bringing economic development to Latvia and Latvians is English.

However, if  the isolationists prevail, there is the “Rent Out Riga to the Highest Bidder Program”; the one plan that will move The Capital of Latvia to Jelgava.

Besides paying off monies Latvia owes the IMF and ECB, and offering a percentage of Riga’s income to Latvian pensioners, Riga (rented for a hundred years to Germany or China) could as additional incentive offer to dig a navigable canal for ships (as the water level is sure to rise as the end of this century comes closer) from Jelgava to the Baltic sea.

If such a geopolitical program were to appear on the world stage, it is likely to become an attractive way to mime (and mine by way of mimetic activity) success. Such an alternative is surely more interesting than the sterile ultra nationalist mime that only pretends to it

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A tool shed, said to be the site where in past years two men made their exit from this world,

November 25, 2111

A major tragedy of the post proto-Latvian Latvia is the failure of mimetic transference of customs, behavior, and above all a sense of community between generations. There are a number of ways of measuring this failure among Latvians http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/mimesis.htm . The failure of the presaent to grasp the past, it is a common experience among Latvians living in Latvia and Latvians coming to visit Latvia from abroad.

There are a number of ways to explain the failure of the mimesis among Latvians.

For this writer, the a ‘small’ way this takes place became manifest, when in 1940 at the age of seven, he was forced to move by Soviet occupation of Latvia to a countryside farmstead of a relative. Having up to that time lived only in Riga and familiar with the the beach suburb of Riga, known as Jurmala http://sanatorij.lv/mce/uploads/tmceimages/More.jpg , the life in the Latvian countryside was a totally new experience. Above all, it was a sentient experience, what with the  farm animals, of which above all the horses http://www.missvelvet.com/bimages/farm.jpg were the ones which put one in touch with what  even today we call “horse power” or for that matter “horse smell http://www.smellshorsey.com/2007/11/does-anything-s.html ”.

While Latvians claim to be great fans of the theatre, which is a mimetic art par excellence, one wonders where mimesis has disappeared to in the every day life among Latvians today. One may safely say that until the occupation of Latvia by the Soviets, Latvian writers, playwrights, and artists projected their sense of identity in mimetic works of art.. Though there were plenty of differences that separated the works of Rainis, from Skalbe, Virza, Blaumanis, Peksena http://www.biblioteka.valmiera.lv/lat/piedavajam/literati/151 , to my own grandfather’s play that centered on instructing society of the dangers of alcoholism and lack of motivation it resulted in, the works were embraced by similar concerns that allowed the public to identify with the artists and their work as having something to do with their community and society. One of the connecting ties of mimesis in the late 19^th  and early part of the 20^th was agrarian populism, which was based on life in a more or less stable commune (saime), something akin to, but not quite as intangible as a household http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household  of a nuclear family of our day.

The art of mimesis became untied from the Latvian agrarian environment and became  bound to the city in the course of the Soviet occupation of Latvia. While this writer does not claim any great familiarity with the Latvian theatre of today, the latter has, indubitably, removed itself to the urban environment, where influenced by globalization, Latvia's own government acts to denationalize Latvia through subscribing to (copying) a globalized market economy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_economy .

To a Latvian returning from abroad in the 2010s upon first reacquaintance with Latvia [Riga actually, because its environs are where the airplane lands] the most impressive thing (though not necessarily immediately apparent to the critical faculties) is the absence of anything particularly reminiscent of or identifiable as being Latvian in the nature of the site. In short, Latvia does not project itself as a place where a Latvian born in the 1930s (suffienciently far back to see Latvia in perspective) would identify with.

There are  a number of reasons why mimesis has failed  Latvians so thoroughly and completely.

The first reason that comes to mind is the Soviet economy, which was if not a market economy, certainly a money economy. If money was still in somewhat short supply during the Ulmanis regime (what with silver 5 lati Laima monikers), the Soviet regime, given its socialist ideology, was sufficiently large to flood the pockets of every Latvian with money. It was this flood of money—money being a tool of mimesis to the degree that money, paper money especially, can be mechanically copied and printed, ad infinitum.

As money made every agrarian populist feel himself ever less distinct from  a citizen in Riga (or Moscow for that matter), the human instinct for mimesis succumbed to the lassitude in attitude common to a modern society’s impersonal, robotized and virtualist ways. The Latvians easily persuaded themselves to cease calling any portrayal of the figure of the Goddess Laima “Milda” instead. This is singularly notable with respect to the figure standing with three stars in her hands on top of the Monument of Freedom in Riga. The name of secularized “Milda” echoes to the popular song “Matilda”. It is here that we can see the proto-Latvian agrarian past  become an urban post-Latvian populist past.

The genie in the bottle of Latvian ultra nationalists secretly wishes to return to calling “Milda” as “Laima” the Goddess. While such an attempt is not taking place overtly, it is implicit in the ultra nationalist insistence that the Latvian language as currently used be  given an immortal existence (as defined by the Latvian Constitution). As every Latvian ought to instinctively know, the mimetic value of the Latvian language is imbedded in the “endearing word”, the word that turns a leaf through an inflection [njsh; akmens <akmentnjsh] into a leaflet.

The ability of language to directly engage itself in an act of mimesis is not unique to the Latvian language alone. Russian and German languages, too, have this facility.

However, since the language that is on the mind of the Latvian ultra nationlists is in not a facilitator of mimesis, one wonders over the presumption that overtakes those who do not know their language as a mimetic language, but whose Latvian is a carbon copy of the language spoken among bankers and in business circles. If the latter is a true reflection of the “culture” mirrored  back at the urban secularist mindset, it is a cold moon that mirrors the Sun back to Earth. While moonlight http://www.pureanimegallery.com/d/2102-2/the-sif-moonlight.jpg may be the light of romance for two sexually shy individuals, for a community of lovers meeting at all stages of its members’ lives, it may be a cold and icy light.

This blog necessarily ends with a question: may any language with little or no mimetic function (given that such a function was given it by its originators), be accepted for a legalistic quick-freeze? As demanded by those belonging to social circles whose aim it is to impose themselves on shoulders of Latvia by secular (albeit legalistically enunciated) force?

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November 26, 2111

One may argue that a language that fails to display mimetic activity is a “dead language”. Why then does the ultra nationalist Latvian party by the name of “Everything For Latvia” (Visu Latvijai) presents the proposition that being in possession of a “dead language” [secured a place in society by legalistic means (by legalistically excluding Russian) is better for Latvians than living with realities as a competing language?

Exclusionism is a tendency among most groups that feel themselves threatened or ultimately facing a minority role. One may add that this tendency is enlarged when it flies on the wings of previously successful jingoist tactics, which reduced the mimetic capacity of Latvians.

In Latvia—as this writer has pointed out in a series of blogs at http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/  exclusionism has manifested its regressive influence several times in history.

1.     was about the 13^th century (1209), when the Roman Church led two successful Crusades against arch-Christians. The pincer of one Crusade was against the Cathars in French Languedoc region. The other pincer was thrust in 1209 against the Arch-Christians in Jersika, in then of Livonia. Jersika, a colloquialism for Jerusalem, was the likely headquarters for the Johns of  Children of Johns as the Latvians still call themselves on Midsummer Day or the Johns Eve Festival

2.     took place with the arrival in Latvia of the Herrnhuters in the 18^th century (1732). A Christian Reform Movement The Brethren came to Latvia to reconstruct by living example. The Herrnhuters came to Livonia to stay and mix with the agrarian populists in the countryside, the very ones who carried on whatever was left of the Children of Johns movement untouched by the Inquisition led by the zealots from and of Rome. The Herrnhuters, the writer’s own ancestors among them, reconstituted some of the moral fibre of the proto-Latvian people; however, beginning the second half of the 19^th century, when the Lutheran Church began to feel threatened by the successes of the Herrnhuters, the arch-Christian Children of Johns among Latvians were further repressed.

3.     In 1873 as this http://www2.la.lv/lat/arhivs/vesture/latvijai_90/images/Foto200712/Karogs_LV1.jpg picture confirms, the flag of the 1^st Latvian Folk Festival shows its leader as John, a native arch-Christian priest, in those days likely an orthodox (Russian) priest among the agrarian populists. Known as the “Ligo Flag” or Ligo Karogs, the image first appeared in a book called by that name, re “Līgo”. The book was rapidly repressed, said on the orders of Russian authorities, but most likely egged on by the Germanic ‘Catsholic’ Lutheran Church. While Latvian historians do not cover this period in any detail, the ‘repression’ ascribed to the Russian tsar would have been among those curiosities, when a central authority acts against its own interests. According to Matthew Raphael Johnaon, an authority on the Russian Orthodox Church http://www.amazon.com/Third-Rome-Russia-Tsarism-Orthodoxy/dp/0974230308 , this was the time when the Russian tsar Nicholas I attempted to regain from the German oligarchs in Livonia some of the influence lost to them in earlier centuries. While Nicholas I failed in his effort, the Latvians through the loss of their agrarian priests (due to the actions of Nicholas I successor Alexander II) lost all connection to their ancient arch-Christian roots. Today the role of the priests of the Latvian language is presumed for themselves by ultra nationalists  with no in-depth understanding of their own language.

If there was not a little doubt about the wisdom of Latvian ultra rightists, one might suspect their attack on (concealed as defense of) the Latvian language hints at preceeding from and leading to a ‘deep event ending’ as recent events in Norway a la Breivik http://japanfocus.org/-Peter_Dale-Scott/3590 , who, too, was concerned over the drift of the youth of Norway away from rigid adherence to nationalist orientation.

What is left over from a barn for pigs of Soviet times.