go play with your new friends

Azerbaijan warned not to follow Baltic path

"The Baltic states have long tried to make everything possible to limit relations with Russia, trying to hurt it. They have been restricting the rights of Russians residing there. Last year Estonia passed a decision on the transfer of the Bronze soldier," the Central Asian expert said.

"In the end, Russia got sick and tired of it. It ceased oil transit via the ports of Estonia and Latvia (65,000,000 tons of oil per year), rejected the services of the Majekae (Mazeikiu) oil refinery in Lithuania. Now, oil will be transported via the city-port, which is under construction 40 kilometers away from the border with Estonia. The gas transit will be conducted by the North European gas pipeline by the floor of the Finnish gulf.

"The irreparable losses of the budgets of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia makes from $1.5 to 2 bln per year for each of these states. Now terminals in Latvia and Estonia are idle, the oil refinery in Majekae is just a piece of corroding iron. But Baltic states create fantastic and unreal plans of their use, though they are not interesting for anyone, except for themselves. Who will dare to state that this was the result of the wise policy of Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn?"

Both sides are both right and wrong.

I miss the Baltic. And the Baltika.

a beautiful story ends with no glory

We met in Rīga. We weren't exactly looking for each other, but it was love at first sight. Together we got to know the city in our everyday life, together we saw so many other places. I even had the chance to show her some of the coolest spots in Portugal.

We weren't made for each other, for sure. I believe we had different perspectives and expectations about life. Her, with her german style, reliable despite some shortcomings, and I, kind of “we'll see about that later”. But, in spite of all this, we dreamt of being happy, together, forever.

While we were together, we were one, we understood each other as few can. They came the normal, the routine, and the fact that I live in this special little corner of the continent caused what was to be the end of a short and intense relationship. On my part, I think I was careless, but that wasn't the only thing to make this result. Nevermind the details.

When I realised that things had no chance to go back, I made one last move. It went very wrong. The hole that was deep enough, became deeper, and I lost all hope. We didn't see each other for months, and I thought the simple loss of contact would be a waste. We should be together one last time, for a proper farewell. And so it was.

Setting up the meeting was easy. The hard part was to prepare myself for what could go wrong, after such a long time since we had been together. Together and happy, because there was also that unromantic part in between. Anyway, it was worth trying. If you bet, you can lose. If you don't bet, you can never win.

The fact is that as soon as we got together, it felt like we had never been apart. For the good part and the not-so-good part, that is also part of the magic in a relationship. We had a great future ahead of us, but the circumstances did not allow it.

For the farewell, we took a trip, just me and her, without third party distractions. We went to a new place, far away from everything. The best getaway ever. I didn't even take a single photo, because my memory has the power to make everything seem even better. And the closer the end was, the more we dreamt that some twist of fate would make all the problems go away.

Saying goodbye was painful, maybe more so for her than for me. We marked each other's lives. Life goes on, the memories remain. And of those, I keep the best ones.

Goodbye, Rēzna.

nevermind, then

Rēzna has not been saved.
Rēzna is dead.
Long live Rēzna.

Save Rēzna!

http://saverezna.blogspot.com

Vakara Flirts

Latvia is now speed-dating. Which is rather interesting, because I never thought anyone could have problems meeting women in Riga. Some in our group had close to a full year of speed dating!

Read all about here.

I got your back, Vaira!

Ye, it is true, I've been photographed within blessing distance of (then) President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga legitimately!

Volga road trip

Well, it seems I'm writing here again. Amazing. Why? Because I just started reading a very interesting report by a BBC reporter, who is travelling along the Volga River in a Volga car, trying to show how life is in Putin's Russia.

Volga road trip: A Soviet icon
Volga road trip: A dying industry
Volga road trip: Back in the USSR
Volga road trip: Political farce
(I'll add them as they show up)

Apart from the obvious help in understanding Russia, this reminded me of my own road trip across Europe (cheers Danka, Katka, Fred, Žiga and Matevž) and of a warm welcoming in Aizpute, LV, crowned with a nice little trip on a Volga from the 60's (cheers, Jānis)