Latvia uses police to quash talk of economic collapse
Fri, 20 Mar 2009
Summary:
How’s this for gratitude? Dmitrijs Smirnovs, a Latvian economics professor, published an essay predicting that Latvia’s economy was on the same doomed road as Iceland’s.
Instead of heeding his prediction which eventually came true, The Latvian government jailed him. The charge: spreading unrest and destabilizing Latvia’s financial and banking system.
Also, there was similar problems for Latvia pop star Valters Fridenbergs who joked at a concert one night about bank runs, and the secret police paid him a visit too.
With Eastern Europe’s economies in bad shape, look for panicky governments throughout the region to take harsh steps to keep order.
[Posted By shades]
By Jeffrey White
Republished from Christian Science Monitor
EU leaders met in Brussels for a two-day summit on how to help struggling Eastern European economies, such as Latvia.
VENTSPILS, LATVIA – Last November, Dmitrijs Smirnovs, a young economics professor in this coastal university town, published an essay in a leading Latvian newspaper warning that the country was heading for a financial collapse to rival Iceland’s.
Soon after, the secret police showed up at his home. They held Mr. Smirnovs for two days. The charge: spreading unrest and destabilizing Latvia’s financial and banking system.
“I said we are bankrupt. I wrote that people should not have their money in banks, and they should not keep their money in Latvian lats,” Smirnovs recalls, sitting in his cold office, the heat turned off, he says, to save money. “That was enough to have me detained. They are still investigating me….
Source: Guerrilla News Network
Fri, 20 Mar 2009
Summary:
How’s this for gratitude? Dmitrijs Smirnovs, a Latvian economics professor, published an essay predicting that Latvia’s economy was on the same doomed road as Iceland’s.
Instead of heeding his prediction which eventually came true, The Latvian government jailed him. The charge: spreading unrest and destabilizing Latvia’s financial and banking system.
Also, there was similar problems for Latvia pop star Valters Fridenbergs who joked at a concert one night about bank runs, and the secret police paid him a visit too.
With Eastern Europe’s economies in bad shape, look for panicky governments throughout the region to take harsh steps to keep order.
[Posted By shades]
By Jeffrey White
Republished from Christian Science Monitor
EU leaders met in Brussels for a two-day summit on how to help struggling Eastern European economies, such as Latvia.
VENTSPILS, LATVIA – Last November, Dmitrijs Smirnovs, a young economics professor in this coastal university town, published an essay in a leading Latvian newspaper warning that the country was heading for a financial collapse to rival Iceland’s.
Soon after, the secret police showed up at his home. They held Mr. Smirnovs for two days. The charge: spreading unrest and destabilizing Latvia’s financial and banking system.
“I said we are bankrupt. I wrote that people should not have their money in banks, and they should not keep their money in Latvian lats,” Smirnovs recalls, sitting in his cold office, the heat turned off, he says, to save money. “That was enough to have me detained. They are still investigating me….
Source: Guerrilla News Network