…Because it’s much more palatable than the alternative to returning to Moscow’s rule. This exclusive translation comes from forum.msk.ru, and state propaganda news channel RussiaToday is also having fun with the news.
Latvians asking Sweden to occupy them
2008.12.10Inhabitants of Latvia have placed a petition on the site petitiononline.com addressed to the Swedish state with a request to occupy their country, give Latvians Swedish citizenship, as well as reporting on their readiness to pay taxes and comply with the laws of Sweden.
The petition is presented in two languages: Latvian and English. Below is cited the Russian translation of the text [We'll first give you our translation of the Russian translation, followed by the original Latvian and English texts, so you can see for yourself just how accurately they were translated into Russian--Trans.]:
“We, the undersigned inhabitants of Latvia, want to askthe Swedish state to occupy us. We consider that the Latvian statethrough the fault of its leaders has completely lost the meaning of itsexistence.
We are prepared to accept and comply with the laws of Sweden and to paytaxes to the Swedish state. In our turn, we would like to receiveSwedish citizenship, as well as social and civil rights that othercitizens of Sweden delight in.
We are not happy that we are compelled to ask about this, but we see no other way out.
Respectfully, the Undersigned.”
[And now here are the real texts--Trans.]
Mēs, zemāk parakstījušies Latvijas iedzīvotāji vēlamies lūgtZviedrijas valsti, lai tā mūs okupē. Uzskatām, ka Latvijas valsts tāsvadītāju dēļ ir pilnībā zaudējusi savu jēgu. Esam gatavi pieņemt unievērot Zviedrijas likumus, maksāt nodokļus Zviedrijas valstij; pretimvēlamies saņemt Zviedrijas pilsonību, kā arī tiesības saņemt tās pašassociālās tiesības un pilsoniskās brīvības, ko bauda citi Zviedrijaspilsoņi. Neesam priecīgi,ka mums,kas tāds ir jālūdz, bet citas izejasneredzam.
We, people of Latvia would like to ask Sweden to occupy Latvia. Weconsider that Latvian state has no reason to exist. We would like tobecome Swedish citizens and promise that we will comply with Swedishlaws; in exchange we would like to get Swedish citizenship and sharethe same rights that Swedish people have.
As the portal Mixnews reports, at the given moment 869 signaturesstand under the petition [And as the blog www.robertamsterdam.comreports, there are actually 3652 signatures under the petition as ofthis writing--Ed.]
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3 Comments
shit can happen
I do not see a gigantic discrepancy between the “translation of the Russian translation” and the original text. I think it’s sad an ironic how it has become so popular to point finger at Russia as the “bad guy on the block”. Slavs complianed while under Russian rule, now they have received their much-saught-after freedom, and they still complain. These are econimically dependable, weak countries. This just proves that they have to remain occupied in order to survive.
There is allready 12 000 more signatures there…