My “Baltic Journal” today features Pauls Raudseps, one of Latvia’s leading journalists. He is a pleasure to meet. He grew up here in the United States, and went to Harvard. Then he spent a semester at Western Michigan University, in Kalamazoo. I will quote from my journal:
Now, I realize that Harvard is a natural stepping-stone for WMU. But what was Raudseps’s particular motivation? Well, there was a Latvian Studies program.
Kalamazoo — one of my hometowns, I should note — is the Latvian capital of America. There is a summer school there, and other summer activities. To a Latvian, Kazoo (as we abbreviate it) is one of the most famous cities in America.
Which pleases me.
WMU is all over the news. There is my journal, of course. Plus, the university’s football team has been ranked in the Top 25 for the first time ever. (News article here.)
Bonus: Kalamazoo is celebrated in this clip, giving you pretty much the most delightful seven and a half minutes you will ever see or hear (courtesy of Tex Beneke, Glenn Miller, the Nicholas Brothers, et al.).
A final quote from my journal, please:
Raudseps makes a moving statement about the importance of principle in international affairs. At least it is moving to me.
The United States never recognized the occupation and annexation of the Baltic states. Never. All through the five decades or so, we held the line. And this was important, as the Baltic independence movements began. Balts could say, “We have an international status that is different from that of Belarus or Kyrgyzstan or other ‘Soviet republics.’ Our natural and rightful place is in the EU and NATO.”
Putin’s Russia has annexed Crimea. Democracies do not recognize this. North Korea, Syria, Cuba, and a few other such states do — but not civilized ones. This may seem absurd. Russia is not going to pull out of Crimea tomorrow, next week, or next year.
But “we have to hold the line,” says Raudseps. “This is the way we make the world better. The rule of law is what allows us to be free.”