It sometimes seems that life was easy for those who were responsible for setting the strategic goals for Latvia in the 1990s and 2000s. All they had to do was look at a list of international organizations and pick which which one we should join next. We pocketed WTO membership in 1999, and pulled off an impressive stunt in 2004 by ticking off both the EU and NATO.
We would like to take the opportunity to wish "Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus" to all of our readers around the world. Whatever you celebrate and however you celebrate it, we hope you have a wonderful time.
Latvian President Raimonds Vējonis will face a tricky decision in the near future when he will have to nominate a potential Prime Minister to attempt to form a new government coalition.
With more than nine-tenths of the results in Latvia's 13th Saeima elections counted, the share of the vote won by each party looks clearer by the minute. Harmony topped the poll with 19% of the vote followed by newcomers KPV LV on 14%, the New Conservatives on 13%, For Development/For! on 11%, the National Alliance on 11%, the Greens and Farmers Union on 10% and New Unity on 6% (based on incomplete data).
With so much attention currently focused on parliamentary elections due to take place October 6 - despite the common opinion that that they will result in very little change - it is possible that some more important, if less obviously significant events are taking place under our noses right now.
In Brussels on February 23 Latvian Prime Minister Māris Kučinskis was on a damage limitation exercise. For a week newspapers across Europe and beyond had been running front-page stories about sensational developments in Latvia's financial sector involving allegations of money-laundering, bribery, conspiracy, corruption and even, according to the government's own sources, a "probable" co-ordinated campaign to defame Latvia's name - which is a bit like saying everyone is making too much out of the money-laundering, bribery, conspiracy and corruption.
Next time a bank tells you how clever it is, how it uses all the latest technology, how its accounts are super secure and how slick and smart and highly-trained its employees are, you might choose to disbelieve the claim.
February 1 saw the launch of new research from the Center for East European Policy Studies (CEEPS or APPC in Latvian) examining the similarities and differences between Latvian-language and Russian-language coverage of international news in the Latvian media space.
"Smile, it's going to be alright!" Riga vice-mayor Andris Ameriks (Honor to Serve Riga) told me, happily, as he went back to a meeting where the 2018 Riga budget was being passed on a late Wednesday afternoon, after he had had a hearty meal at the Rātslaukums cafe opposite to the City Hall.
On October 2, we ran a story about an extraordinary series of emails published online between American oncologist David Gorski, and Lelde Lapa, Assistant of the business development department of the International Virotherapy Center (IVC) which has an office in Riga but is officially based in Dubai.
It is unthinkable that a medical professional -- or even a business professional -- would intentionally foist a bogus cure onto a cancer patient.
Back in January 2016 LSM reported on Riga-based Peace Ambassadors for Iraq (PAFI), an organization that describes itself as "an internationally-oriented, non-governmental organization that is dedicated to achieving peace in Iraq and the Middle East."
In recent years I have developed an obsession, probably unhealthy, with 'Latvian Radio Theater'. These are radio plays exhumed from the archive and broadcast after 10 p.m. in order to fill up time that would otherwise be hard to fill. They deserve a wider audience.
We lose our moral standards if we don't ask how the wealthy came to their riches, says Sarah Chayes of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in an interview to LTV's World Panorama series.
Exciting news June 14. Latvia will have another European Capital of Culture in 2027. That gives us just ten years of flattery and free goody bags in order to win an honor that would be ours anyway.
Really I should have taken the bus to Daugavpils, as this started at a bus stop. Specifically, it started at a bus stop in Cesis, a smallish town located in what might be described as north-central Latvia. It ended in Daugavpils, a large-ish city in what could certainly be described as the far south-east of the country.
As another March 16 prepares to roll around, exactly the same sequence of events as usual is set to unfold - hopefully. Because any deviation from the norm can only mean trouble.