By Vitaly PORTNYKOV, The Day
Many in the media regarded former Canadian citizen Vaira Vike-Freiberga
being elected President of the Latvian Republic with a degree of irony;
well, the Balts have elected God knows who just to spite Moscow, their
Soviet past, and all things Russian (Ms. Vaira, a noted polyglot, has one
flaw; she does not know Russian).
Yet the new female President proved to be a politician to the bone literally
from her first day in office. As soon as she settled in the Castle of Riga
she promised to start taking Russian lessons. "Wait and see, I'll start
speaking Russian faster than you do Latvian," she told her Russian-speaking
fellow countrymen. (Of course, they felt sure that she would.) And she
refused to sign the official language bill which had caused so much chagrin
at the Kremlin and even among international human rights organizations.
She did so after meeting with OSCE Commissioner Max van der Stoel, accepting
his argument, proving wiser than many of the sage Latvian politicians sitting
in Parliament.
Why? Because she is a woman? Or maybe because she was raised in a different,
far more tolerant society? This makes the distinction between Mmes. Vaira
and Natalia [Vitrenko] especially conspicuous, although both were engaged
in the scholarly realm before taking up politics.
They were, but in different environments. Thus Mme. Natalia promises
to send all her enemies to the devil and Mme. Vaira is concerned about
her country's prestige and accord among her citizens. This is why Mme.
Natalia is so popular in Ukraine and Mme. Vaira will be popular in Latvia.
This is why Latvia will eventually be among the countries considering Ukraine's
desire to join Europe and not vice versa.
The fact remains that Mme. Natalia has always lived in Ukraine and Mme.
Vaira in Canada. Perhaps if Natalia Vitrenko had lived all her life in
Canada we would never recognize her; she would dress differently, use different
makeup, have a different complexion, different views on the economy, and
a different approach to the people and her country.
If she were that way, this charming woman would be worthy of being elected
the next President. We would have no reasons to feel ashamed before the
rest of the world.
Or before Mme. Vaira.






