West to the sun - or East to goodness knows what?

This afternoon I had a long phone call from a Latvian who liked my Blogs. It was good natured and educative. But I had a strange feeling from his words that I am inhabiting a strange parallel world here in Riga that many Latvians do not see. Everyone and everything was to blame except normal Latvians for the crisis. I could easily blame the Latvian language. When you translate Articles, Blogs and comments it is clear that no one here knows how to say anything straightforward. The future is never discussed. We go through every historical twist and turn, every shred of irony and call on every allegory we can think of. Every politician stinks, is to blame for something and is dishonest. Or worse all are secret Skele or Lembergs moles under deep deep cover to re-emerge like butterflies from the chrysalis at some later time. Emerging of course to return the country to darkness. And the EU and IMF are totally to blame for all this. No Latvian ever seems to blame themselves, even those who voted for the most corrupt. The language mix is simply impossible to follow for a foreigner. No wonder the Russian speakers stick to Russian to communicate.

But I wonder if we are not reaching a point where something here has to change. This week the Finance Minister Einars Repse has tried (or has actually succeeded - we have to wait and see) to sack the head of the State Revenue Service, Dzintars Jakans. The man has actually been dragging his feet badly on reform. This could be for many reasons and the conspiracy theorists will find loads, but I suspect that he is another past political appointee who like many in power simply has no clue what to do at all. Reform = cuts, doesn't it? The Peoples Party aided by the Goons and Farmers want to use this sacking as an excuse to bring down the government, but conveniently they say they will wait until after the budget is finished at the end of the year. I don't think they know how stupid and weak that makes them look. They had all day Friday to act if they thought they had a real case, but they showed what cowards they are by doing nothing. I guess that's because they know the only person who can do the real budget work is Repse and they have to wait until he is finished.

The real opposition forces in the form of the Oligarchs have been plotting too and Lembergs, Slessers and Skele (he came back the week before last amid trumpets, dancing girls and ribbons to save us all) have formed a new political Axis. Perhaps in half hearted opposition, former President VVF has also thrown her political hat into the ring and started with education reform. The comments were mixed. Many were saying thank God she is back whilst others were more vitriolic about the "Canadian" noting that she was in charge during the 7 fat years and did nothing. Mind she is not an economist!

So what next. If the coalition is going to fall we could be seeing a major turning point in Latvian politics. The end game might be closer than we think. A left turn to corruption and closer ties with Russia, or a right turn to honest government and a chance of a better future. The choice might just come down to the stubbornness of Repse and the decisions of the President. But it is clear that whoever holds the levers of power as we go into the election next summer will have the scope to bribe and fool the population. The big prize is to steal the EU and IMF money - and there are those who eye this greedily.

Sadly, I suspect that good Latvians will wait much longer before they really fight back. They would much rather sing their way to democracy than be active. But that will not work this time folks. The enemy are Latvians too and understand the weakness of this. Those in the countryside just hope the IMF or EU will come on white horses and save them. The Russian speakers keep their heads down and try to get by or even earn enough to live well. Latvian weakness is their political opportunity. And the forces of evil will rub their hands with glee as Latvia becomes more like a failed African state every day. They know that if good men and women continue to do nothing they will be the eventual winners.

And all the while, Russia waits and watches like a hungry vulture.

Taxi! How much to the airport please? 100lats - cheap at the price!

Ten yours after the last "taxi war" there is taxi trouble again on the streets of Riga. The stimulus has been the production of a fleet of Air Baltic coloured taxis operating out of the airport and trying to deliver (for now) a service that does not cost and arm and a leg.

For far too long, Riga taxis have been ripping off tourists, charging criminal amounts for the short journey too and from the airport. This has not been helped by the appalling bus service. Thankfully the new Mayor of Riga, Nils Ushakovs cut the ridiculous baggage charge on the bus route. The idiot inspectors were pouncing on unwitting tourists and fining them, thereby ensuring that they never darkened the doors of a Riga hotel again. Now at last something sensible is happening. Hopefully the Interior Ministry, police and Riga council will settle any political differences they may have and get us a taxi service we can all afford to use. I suspect that this may take some time though.

Ushakovs also this week went round the Old Town night clubs and read them the riot act. We shall see how much effect this has. At least he is trying.

So now the summer sales have finished and the new winter clothes are in the shops. Some clothes shops have started to discount already and I have seen 70% off already in several places. Sadly I cant afford to buy everything I want! It is clear that we still have huge overcapacity. There are enough jeans on sale to keep all of India happy, and there are more badly made and expensive cheap-cloth suits than Latvia could ever want.

Flat prices appear to be dropping more slowly this month. One reason might be that there have been lots of moves into cheaper flats already reducing demand. The medium priced new flat owners (most with larger debts) are hanging on and trying to avoid the inevitable. But when the utility bills come in many will have to bite the bullet to get a tenant. A Russian firm has gone round offering cash for flats in our block. I guess they have gone everywhere. I forecast a spate of cheap cash sales in about two months.

I have seen another couple of businesses not taking credit cards. I wonder when un-taxable cash will truly become King in Riga (as it is already in the regions).

The anti corruption bureau is now also inevitably being squeezed for funds. I would have thought that this was one of the last things that should go. It shows that the government still has not got joined up policies. There are far less important things to cut than this, especially at the moment with lots of free IMF money sloshing about.

More beggars - but in town still no children. This used to be a feature in the past. I guess the police are stopping them. There is though a growing number of clearly homeless mentally ill people roaming the streets. They are a terribly sad sight as they drag dozens of full plastic bags around. Many of these people, and the normal beggars are physically handicapped in some way which says much about the social system here. We have so so far to go.