Monday, November 14, 2005

Latvian Green parliamentarian: Soros group out to smear Latvia

A lot of this is unsubstantiated, but this sounds like the George Soros I know.

From the Baltic Times last week, an excerpt:

The controversy surrounding earlier visits by Russian exile Boris Berezovsky, as well as his recent banning, became more muddied last week when the head of Parliament’s national security commission, Indulis Emsis, announced that a clandestine network structure was operating in the country, and that billionaire George Soros was part of the conspiracy.

Emsis, a member of the Greens and Farmers Union and a former prime minister, said he would consult foreign security agencies as to the possible existence of a secret anti-democratic group in the Baltic state.

The group, or so he claimed, has exercised power partly through the Soros foundation and other NGOs. The “network structure” does not confine itself simply to Latvia’s borders, but exists in a number of “new democracies” the head of Parliament’s national security committee explained.

He mentioned former Lithuanian President Rolandas Paksas’ impeachment and the Ukrainian orange revolution as examples of the types of work sown by clock and dagger.

“The Soros Foundation’s goal to attack coincides with the state’s unfavorable goals – that is to discredit the state and its official structures,” Emsis told the Baltic News Service on Oct. 30.

He said that he wanted to determine and identify “this web’s conductors, and their intentions.” One goal, he said, might be to torpedo Latvia’s chances of hosting an upcoming NATO summit.

Emsis’ attack was followed by an equally strong statement by Ventspils Mayor Aivars Lembergs, who called Latvia “a Soros subsidiary.” Lembergs is believed to be a major financial supporter of the Greens and Farmers Union.

The comments were preceded and complemented by similar accusations from Berezovsky himself, who held that Soros was personally responsible for his blacklisting.

Soros and Berezovsky were once allies but had a falling out in 1997.

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