Comments by "duncan smith" (@duncansmith7562) on "Latvian Foreign Minister on the Ukraine war and his country's Soviet legacy | DW Interview" video.

Latvia needs to pay attention to only one thing if it wants security and peace with Russia. Latvia needs to guarantee full language rights to all Russian speakers in Latvia, just as Kazakhstan has done, but the opposite to what russophobic/nationalistic Ukraine did. With full language rights in place, Latvia has nothing to worry about.
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@Funkywallot Switzerland, formerly occupied by Napoleonic France, has French as an official language. Besides, Latvia has never been occupied by the Russian Federation. Language rights have nothing to do with who once occupied or didn't occupy a country. Language rights are all about granting the same rights to citizens no matter what language they speak. it's called human rights. It's called Freedom of Speech. In Switzerland, Italian is an official language, although only 4% of the Swiss speak Italian. Time for Latvia to copy Switzerland, if Latvia were decent.
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@lauravilsone5554 so, to sum up your position, an Italian speaking kid in Switzerland gets to be educated in Italian, guaranteed, and that's a good idea because Switzerland is a federated state. a Russian speaking kid in Ukraine is compelled to be educated in a second language, and that is a really good idea too, because Ukraine is not a federated state. this all makes sense to you?
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@Blanka1100 The list of horrific things Germany has done to Poland and the Baltics FAR outweighs anything the Russian Federation has ever done, yet Germanophobia doesn't exist! We should always care what Russia wants because it is the big boy on the block and it can destroy any neighbor it wants. Yep, language rights. instead of dismissing language rights, maybe actually enforce language rights in places like Latvia, and then the Russian menace will disappear.
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@testsalv4366 yes, of course I believe what I wrote. I agree, Kremlin did not invade JUST because of that, but it was a major reason of the list of reasons. same as it was the major reason in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Transnistria. Kazakhstan has Russian as an official language alongside Kazakh, there is no discrimination based on language in Kazakhstan, and KZ cooperates well with Russia. Ukraine and Latvia should copy Kazakhstan. too late for Ukraine.
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@lauravilsone5554 I am not mixing anything up at all. "your native language in a foreign country" so, Russian speaking Ukrainians are in a foreign country? i think we understand, from your attitude, why Russian speakers in Ukraine feel that Ukraine abandoned them! Are French speakers in Switzerland using their native language in a foreign country? "at the expense of the native population"...what would be the cost to Ukrainian speakers that a 90% Russian speaking community be educated in Russian?
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@lauravilsone5554 do French speaking Canadians have the "right" to get all their interactions in their native language in a foreign country? hmmm. yes, they do. maybe Russian speaking Ukrainians should have the same right as French speaking Canadians?
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@lauravilsone5554 In Switzerland, only 4% of the people speak Italian as a native language, but Italian is an official language of the country. Would you advise Switzerland to follow Ukraine's example and compel all Italian speakers to use ONLY Swiss German in schools, courts and government?
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@lauravilsone5554 given you mention French speakers in Belarus, it IS perfectly legal for a French speaker to walk into a pharmacy and be served in French in Belarus! But in Ukraine, it is ILLEGAL for a Russian speaker to walk into a pharmacy and be served in Russian, even if the pharmacist is Russian speaking! See how nationalistic and russophobic Ukraine's laws are and have been since 2014!?
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@lauravilsone5554 maybe you should have done your homework before trying to ridicule me! now you want me to do your homework for you? to start your project, google "language policies in Ukraine" as you dig deeper you will find there are several spheres where only Ukrainian can be used, even in Russian speaking areas where both speakers are Russian! One such sphere, where only Ukrainian can be spoken, is in the sphere of medicine, which includes pharmacies. So, by law, in Donetsk, a 90% Russian speaking oblast, by law, a Russian speaking customer would have to ask the Russian speaking pharmacist for a prescription and advice in a second language, Ukrainian. slowly you will understand why Donbass Russian speakers want nothing to do with Kiev ever again.
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@lauravilsone5554 pharmacies aside, you seem to have ducked the big question. why should French speaking Canadians be allowed to have full education in French in a country where 80% have English as a first language? Surely, if Kiev's language policy is such a great idea, all French Canadians should be forced to use only English throughout their educational life.
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@lauravilsone5554 So as per Ukrainian law, according to your research, in a community like Donetsk, 90% Russian speaking, a pharmacist MUST be able to perform duties in the language that only 10% speak as a native language! And said pharmacist has no duty or obligation to ever speak the language of 90% of that oblast! And this makes sense to you? In Wales there are counties where 95% of the population speak English only, no Welsh. Does it make sense to you for the Welsh Senadd to pass a law that says all pharmacists in Wales must speak Welsh, and may refuse to serve in English if they so choose? Really?
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@lauravilsone5554 French speaking Canadians can go through their whole life and are never compelled to speak English (the language of 80% of Canada). Russian speaking Ukrainians are now compelled to speak and use Ukrainian in education, in government spheres and in the legal system. Russian speakers are discriminated against, by law, in their homeland, where French speakers are NOT, in Canada, in Belgium, or in Switzerland. Now, if you are too dumb to see the difference, I can't help you.
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@lauravilsone5554 I didn't say you were embarrassing me. I am not the type to feel embarrassed. I said ridicule me. so now I understand your position. IF a state is a federated state, then it is absolutely fine to allow citizens to be educated in their native language, but if the state is NOT a federated state, then citizens fully deserve to be compelled to be educated in the one official language of the state, even in communities where second language speakers form the majority. Belgium is not a federated state. So you urge Brussels to compel all French speakers in Wallonia to be educated in Flemish, right?
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what about Catalonia. Catalonia is but a region of Spain. In Catalonia, you would urge Madrid to compel all Catalan speakers to be educated in Spanish and in Spanish only, correct?
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@push4300 it's totally crazy and discriminatory. it really is like some English speaking Canadian official showing up at a French speaking school in Montreal and telling all staff and kids that, as from tomorrow, every word spoken in the classroom must be English. Yet this is the policy the West and Kiev think is inclusive, fair and democratic.
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