The Case for Latvia. Disinformation Campaigns Against a Small Nation: Fourteen Hard Questions and Straight Answers about a Baltic Country. (On the Boundary ... Freedom, & Moral Imagination in the Balt

By Jukka Rislakki

Book Overview

What do we know about Latvia and the Latvians? A Baltic (not Balkan) nation that emerged from fifty years under the Soviet Union - interrupted by a brief but brutal Nazi-German occupation and a devastating war - now a member of the European Union and NATO. Yes, but what else? Relentless accusations keep appearing, especially in Russian media, often repeated in the West: "Latvian soldiers single-handedly saved Lenin's revolution in 1917", "Latvians killed Tsar Nikolai II and the Royal family", "Latvia was a thoroughly anti-Semitic country and Latvians started killing Jews even before the Germans arrived in 1941", "Nazi revival is rampant in today's Latvia", "The Russian minority is persecuted in Latvia..."
True, false or in-between? The Finnish journalist and author Jukka Rislakki examines charges like these and provides an outline of Latvia's recent history while attempting to separate documented historical fact from misinformation and deliberate disinformation. His analysis helps to explain why the Baltic States (population 7 million) consistently top the enemy lists in public opinion polls of Russia (143 million). His knowledge of the Baltic languages allows him to make use of local sources and up-to-date historical research. He is a former Baltic States correspondent for Finland's largest daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat and the author of several books on Finnish and Latvian history. As a neutral, experienced and often critical observer, Rislakki is uniquely qualified for the task of separating truth from fiction.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9042038772
• ISBN13: 9789042038776
• Release Date: January 2014
• Publisher: Brill
• Length: 316 Pages
• Weight: 1.03 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

About time!

I am only halfway through this book but can't resist recommending it now. I have spent my whole life having to deal with insensitive and sometimes downright derogatory comments, including media comment, about Latvia, my parent's homeland, which of course has affected my feelings about my identity and self-worth. For many years I hid the fact that I was from Lativan heritage and now, with this book which answers to all the slander and inflammatory material which is said about Latvia and the Latvian people with such well-researched facts and reason, I can finally begin to feel okay about such a large part of who I am. The only thing is, this book examines many myths about Latvians (and blatant, criminal campaigns against them) I was unaware of, and so I have been feeling so much anger about it all. I only hope many people have a chance to read this as it will help to redress the balance of the mass of disinformation out there. I only wish my grandparents and other relatives were still alive to read this, who suffered so terribly at the hands of the Soviets who obliterated Latvia's statehood and mass-murdered its people, and afterwards under Nazi occupaton during which the Nazis exterminated Latvia's Jews (and ethnic Latvians also), and then under another 50-year Soviet occupation which has almost destroyed the country and the spirit of the remaining people (no other European nation lost such a high proportion of its population during WWII). The book is relevant for anyone interested in how easily false information can spread and become accepted as truth - something we should all be aware of in this information age where information is power. The consequences of failing to examine the sources we take our information from are so clearly revealed in this book. It is frightening how easily this has happened.

An objective, useful insight of today's Latvia

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in discovering more about Latvia. Both if you know much about it or if you don't, reading this is useful in order to have a wider view of present Latvia's issues. Although this country is indeed small, the author leads you through its obscure and complex recent (and less recent) history. The book contains no straight judgements, but tries to present historical and political (ofter controversial) facts as they were. It aims to objectively discuss the different views existing upon every single question, and in my opinion it succeeds.