markets. why no one really is happening to the global economy with much stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars report. watching r.t. live from moscow a reminder of the top stories tripoli says it's ready for any political reform provided the current adoptee remains in power to her family media from slipping further into chaos experts say destabilizing the arab world as part of washington's outwards to dominate the region that obvious and boys in europe for talks on a possible solution to the conflict which has dragged on for over a month. there's anger in the u.k. as a country spends millions of pounds on the war in libya while the public sector at

home is neglected and slashed a recent poll suggests nearly half of the population opposes the involvement in libya while british politicians are overwhelmingly in favor of it. and a russian space ship named after the first man in orbit is carrying a crew of three to the international space station to mark the fiftieth anniversary of eureka gardens are supplied to russians and one american will span nearly six months on the ice where they're due to arrive in a few days time. a former member of the soviet union la pierre became independent twenty years ago and our special report we take a look at how the country has changed since gaining in a pants. it seems bland used independence day it's pomp and fanfare good chance of any other

public holiday in the country on this day the republic's top leaders gathered to lay flowers and the freedom monument in latvia's capsule rigaud. informal events like torture sessions held in the evening of the same day people who see themselves as the country's true patriots marched through streets closed to traffic for the occasion the perceptions old and eyes by the radical nationalist party no one has called for much fear. however many people don't identify themselves with the festivities they are russian speaking residents who make up nearly forty percent of the country's population half of them have not yet received citizenship rights.

let me lindemann is a columnist for several months in newspapers he also investigates cases of public interest and publishes reports on them but even though vladimir holds a laugh in pasco it is technically not a fully fledged citizen of his own country manual meus not with the passport cover bears a unique inscription of that order written in latvia and it says your passport of a non-citizen was a reserve note that he was more on the mintage in the english translation it reads alien space our part sometimes we are called just that aliens like we are from another planet even from the viewpoint of international law we are treated as such just the present there are something like four hundred thousand such people in latvia course that have soaked through such. mansfield became an independent state in one thousand nine hundred ninety one after seceding from the soviet union.

barely one month later the country's parliament passed a resolution officially dividing the republic's population into citizens and so-called non-citizens. the latter were denied voting rights they could not be elected to bodies of state or thorson or work in government departments. this applied to not only those who settled down in the country after nine hundred forty but their descendants take. any truth since i don't want to be a second class person i want to be a citizen of the country where i live in this country. any known citizen is free to try to naturalize for that they need to pass exams on the country's history and show the command of the state language and the national anthem if after submitting over necessary papers africans then need to wait for about a year before they get a cherished citizens passport. many people fail to go through the procedure that

a mere lindemann for one was not even allowed to see those exams. for the past five years i spent three of them outside latvia that's why they didn't accept my papers but that excuse was absolutely unlawful. my fight for citizenship rights were never as a bomb are plenty even stage a sit in in this building i spent a day here and refused to leave after office hours when the police force me out. there was a time when victor bergen off a nice to taste and valdez samplers a trauma surgeon who worked in the same hospital. now south loses latvia's president going off as a member of latvia's anti fascist committee. who is also a possibility i can't bear to see the revival of naziism in libya i can see it with the naked eye in the waters of the world upsets me most of all is that so-called

democratic europe closes its eyes to the revival not as a group of the crew it was a. march sixteenth nineteen forty three during the second world war the laugh-in legion was formed. thousands of volunteers in the country signed up to fight for the nazis. off independence every year on the state legion veterans have been officially committees to hold a parade in central region. in two thousand and five big to turn off and several other anti fascist clans and prison rape stood in the way of marching legionnaires. the police dispersed all the empty fascists and let the s.s. veterans put the flowers at the freedom mourning. forces that we believe in

a free country fascists and their followers have no right to bring flowers to a symbol of the state if the state doesn't see itself as a nationalist. to floor actions were in line with the united nations resolution calling for resistance to all forces that promote the waffen s.s. . offer with. some fourteen thousand veterans living in latvia today forts in the soviet army during. war two. give kenichi convinced there was a paratrooper then. as he moved to the monument commemorating the soviet soldiers who lost their lives in the war to make sure the nobody sees his medals. a law passed back in one nine hundred ninety one pounds the public display of soviet symbols. the attitude to us is just a bowman about. there was even a case where a uniformed veteran riding on

a bus on victory day had to leave because the driver stopped the bus and said he wouldn't budge unless the man says that we don't need. the monument to soviet soldiers in riga was blown up in one thousand nine hundred eighty it was later restored the axe and the masterminded by ecosystem he was sentenced to a brief term in prison. now easy again free to walk about central riga together with his son and openly discuss the fate of the monument. it's a myth that some people this is a monument to me it's a disgrace to the latvian nation. the following is nothing that should be simply pulled down to symbolize that we are no longer occupying the stone yet the local buses. in the year when we go to shishkin blew up the monument another event

occurred that course the world's attention. former soviet past has done for silly kononov had been brought before a latvian court to face criminal charges face actions in world war two it did it over the years this is the order of lenin or they gave it to me for blowing up sixteen german trains when i was a partisan issue krishna judicial. in more than latvia the ex parties and was declared an enemy and spent almost two years behind bars. for taking part in the killing of local volunteers they were helping the germans. kononov was acting on of the station taken by parties and tribunals and nine hundred forty three. when radical nationalists came to power after the regime change their lackeys started a massive campaign against info fascists people who had fought in the entire hitler coalition because they were able to review the elcom of the war in order to

whitewash naziism and fascism and as usual pushes a. ivers garder is leader of a political organization called the national front of latvia the front publishes a newspaper founded by him. better weekends and during public holidays volunteers hand out free copies to anyone willing to read the paper. its name contains three d's they stand for d. or q. patient d. colonise sation and d. russification. for a long time dr goddard taught ethics at the academy of culture some of his former students are regular contributors to the newspaper. now under their chief editor's guidance they spend no effort in a bid to oppose what they call russian dominance in latvia. and nick lothians make up fifty percent of the population of their own country back to the other fifty

percent are occupiers backs about russian. police it's necessary to create uncountable contentions for the us the we need a situation where latvian society rejects occupiers moreover we need a law on the call is asian we must say to each of them we give you a deadline to get out of here so. cameron north a british filmmaker decided to make a personal investigation into. the into ethnic relations between russians and latvians. in short a documentary called latvia in hitler's footsteps way draws uncomfortable parallels between present day latvia and nazi germany. but also. during the second world war and of the sort of broader the must go. of it was it was a must be rather than

a one off board and i. think that it would like to say its nationals to. be the languages of the things that they have. the things about the rights and not for if you're not a citizen because some of the jobs and the combination of things where you are discriminated against because your impure. yury alex sanz mother is latvian but his father is russian he has a perfect command of both languages he received an excellent education both as an engineer and as a journalist his son is a school people. papa just tell me what percent and smeared. the show eel is often at the loss when he tries to figure out his math textbook it's written in latvia. the internet translator says it needs headlines well yes that's

a possibility. a country schools were formed in the middle of the past decade. russian textbooks were hastily replaced with latvian ones. now more than half of the subjects in russian language schools are supposed to be taught in latvian. for those who've grew whenever a russian teaches with a poor command of the letter in language teach such difficult subjects mathematics physics and chemistry to russian schoolchildren it brings misery which are both teachers and students which even within your tenure. in the course of education reform nearly all the old textbooks were revised and many russian language schools closed down numerous protest acts had no effect the decisions of life is education ministry were final. so far inspectors haven't shown up in many russian schools

and all subjects are still taught in russian. matfield language textbooks approved by the education ministry can be seen in full view but they are only for show. new shook off is the first russian mayor of riga since independence twenty years ago he too had to close schools down including schools for russian speaking students but it didn't lead to any actions of protest in that instance schools were shot soley for economic all round the demographic reasons half of the classrooms in one third of all schools had no pupils. morgan freeman. many of the decisions taken by the previous mayor were largely politically motivated that was the basis for decisions about whether schools should be closed down walls because when we merge schools we make a great deal of effort to accommodate all the children in the new building since we

also do all we can to retain jobs for the teachers i was most but in the old days they just closed schools down and that was lapse. the fact of the russian was elected mayor of the latvian capital in the summer of two thousand and nine surprised many politicians analysts put it down to the economic crisis. those who had felt his. severe impact we're not taking as much notice of the nationality of a politician as they used to. use the move if in the early one nine hundred ninety s. they have not made the mistake of dividing the people into citizens of unknown citizens were able to politicians would have been compelled to talk about the economy social issues and structural reforms instead of harping on the theme of black the ins and russians every two or four years we're going to should we would have been able to deal with pressing issues much earlier and much more efficiently or personal have to contend with economic issues corruption and many other things.

despite its small size there was scores of major industrial plants and soviet latvia. three of them which employ between ten and fifteen thousand workers each specialized in electronics. another one made minivans which were used as ambulances throughout the soviet union. today their production line stand idle. factory workers an engineer is going to small business. plants vs highly skilled professionals have left the country in search of a job. world . renewed the latest in science and technology from around russia.

we've got the future covered. under the soviets this factory provided jobs for twelve thousand workers had made radio sets radio cassette players and tape recorders to cater to the needs of people across the soviet union. by the late one nine hundred eighty s. several plans making radio an elec tronic equipment had been set up in latvia they were the soviet union's most advanced enterprises. i know of a goober in soviet times i worked in

a similar oratory for about fifteen years ago to go through with all the break up of the soviet union in europe there were close to eight hundred employees in the design bureau where i myself was employed but you have no you see what's left of its former splendor the only one design a working year. when lanphier achieved independence the republic's government began closing down its industrial giants the new regime expected more than compact and mobile enterprises to replace the old sluggish and largely outdated soviet factories but they were never built in aliquid numbers. during the first five years of independence many enterprises would turn to despair of measure over the levee has sold off cheap in lived off the money real estate and land or also a soldier in his time which was a somewhat biggest source of funds during another five year period he will probably have to rely on lines just before the country join the european union and avalanche

of capital and low interest credit came. when they were not meant to develop production instead they were channeled into land in real estate as a result wind up in the situation. similar process is were going on in agriculture under the soviet government latvian collective farm supplied the republic with basic foodstuffs today half are imported. he is the from spain is a matters of from the netherlands the pieces from spain with the the cucumber from the netherlands to. be hard to find to mystically produced vegetables here true danger in pineapples don't grow. were already being grown in latvia when the netherlands did not yet exist. after the declaration of

independence the latvian government downsized angra culture and bet it on individual farms land belonging to collective farms was given back to former owners all their descendants under restitution plan. but most of them simply didn't bother to get into the difficult business of farming and instead prefer to sell off a newly acquired land or mortgage it. just listing your legal have been abandoned in the farmsteads like that have already abandoned about sixty percent of them as young people are not keen to go back to the countryside here some get an education others find a job and school brought to make commitments of things that workers. the village of qana believe is in let's go into one of the country's poorest regions and local peasants used to regard themselves almost as urban dwellers they lived in flats with all modern amenities and now one in every two flats is vacant. but

the local boiler house plants doesn't work the few people who still live here have to heat their homes with fire which. sometimes though such firewood once a day sometimes i do it twice a day and then i don't do it for three or four days my grandchildren give me a helping hand when they were little i would bring firewood by cart. and lisa has five children none of them live in latvia now they are trying to make money in the west and europe. and faeces spends her pension to feed her grandchildren she likes talking about her big family which is now scattered around the world that i work with this is my daughter to give me a that's. in the field. and here is a good lama and. the idea is my granddaughter but when i went to london to

work there she left these little things in my care this boy was one year old and that one was in the third grade. their dads god knows where so i raise them on my own. people have no jobs towns and villages are becoming deserted pig sties encountered so collapsing and the fields overgrown with weeds. this is now in the morning began victoria marina's plans until two thousand and eight. flats in a nineteenth century building in the old parts of riga was once considered prestigious but where you young people are spent on the move they paid back of course. after latvia declared independence old houses were given back to their former owners and their restitution plan. they were

quick to realize that managing an apartment house was difficult. selling a building itself was easy but dealing with tenants was the main hurdle. the standard solution was that the new owners simply made sure that the building falls into a state of total disrepair and then its tenants were evicted under a court ruling. today three years later there isn't any electricity in the house where victoria used to live she gave up and rented a small flaten a new building a school and i have to visit my old apartment regularly to see if everything isn't that because the landlord has habit of breaking in and replacing the locks on the doors i also take some of i don't dance with me. the tenants of the house have seen the landlord only once since they filed a lawsuit against him in two thousand and six so far there are attempts to win

their case have been unsuccessful the landlord lives in germany he came to latvia for the first time to receive a properties are difficult. thanks. the land in central riga is the most expensive in the country. this huge trading center is the private property of a norwegian building company. it buys the most profitable pieces of land in lanphier and builds hotels and supermarkets there. for us now is the best time to invest has been very profitable. for but they also have what they call the grey economy so that that's not really showing up on the statistics. often memphian joining the european union in two thousand and four the economist started to warn of a new threat. they maintained that there are public might lose its economic sovereignty . about seventy percent of its farmland belongs to foreign investors they countries

face school system depends on foreign banks. so when you put a huge skid a scandinavian capital controls some seventy or eighty percent of the country's banking capital this means it controls just as much of its financial system of what it clearly regrettably of a nation has lost its ability to work in manufacture things that used a lot of latvia was on the point of leaving the soviet union it was one of its most advanced territories with zero tax was going to win gold today the picture is the oldest son the brother got a king. in january two thousand and nine mass protests way the latvian capital. the world economic crises had a huge impact on the country's economy people demanded the resignation of the government when it couldn't stabilize the situation. moreover pensions lookouts as

well as salaries and social diminished. his bullshit of the crisis is the result of the country's split into twenty years ago to call you mr i mean that's why half of the nation plays no part in the country's laws. or otherwise this is one cause of the deep crisis we're going through with the kooky. according to europe against its six lanphier it is the poorest country in the european union today. as local nationalists look to blame russian speaking nonresidents people are leaving the country in large numbers in search of a better life. clashes population has shrunk on move them fifteen percent since independence according to latvia as foreign policy institute each year some twelve thousand people leave the country for good. the u.k.

is their most popular destination. the british filmmaker cameron north described the problem in his documentary. with a lot of things comes. first the only reasons is the economy nothing. in life not as much was a pretty good living partly because of nationalism being mad about nash's and robin building economy another reason is that they get very good social rights in the u.k. . it's now been twenty years since latvia g. sovereignty. but still independence day is the most celebrated holiday and the freedom monument its main national icon alien to hoffer of the country's population

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