I would like to follow some accounts from the #Baltics and eastern Europe, so from #Latvia, #Estonia, #Slovenia #Lithuania

Tips? #Mastodon Fediverse #Baltics

The day began with a couple of hours by FLIRT : First, the RE33 got me from 🇪🇪 Narva to 🇪🇪 Tapa, where I changed to the RE45 bringing me to 🇪🇪 Valga / 🇱🇻 Valga with the transfer to the 🤝🏽 Pesa 730 ML bringing me via 🇱🇻 Riga down to 🇱🇹 Vilnius - my final destination for tonight.

Despite all the joy of being back in 🇪🇺 Europe, the bitter breeze of nationalism, oppression and fascism blowing around the globe can be smelled even here : Our universal freedom of movement is violated here as everywhere with the Estonian police illegally racial profiling the arriving train from 🇱🇻 Riga.

Illegal border checks are no minor issue. No privileged complaint. Fighting police checks is fighting for fundamental human rights. Arbitrary identity checks are the open port of entry for fascism, for hazardous oppression.

I'm terrified of this because I've just seen what this road leads to during my journey across 🇷🇺 Russia and 🇨🇳 China.

We need to fight this. Every single of us must fight this. If you do not fight this, you collaborate with the autocrats. This is our civil duty. Our fight for a liberal Europe.

It's 13:12 🕐 !

P.S. : If you wanna glimpse on what this does to a democracy, I'd kindly suggest to read this : https://mullvad.net/and-then/

🌈✊🏽

#FOSSRail #CrossBorderRail #Schengen #SchengenUltra #Estonia #Latvia #Lithuania

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A Skoda RegioPanther parking in Tapa.

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Narva railway station in sunshine.

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An LTG Pesa 730 ML next to an Elron FLIRT in Valga.

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The Elron FLIRT next to the beautiful, white station building of Valga.

This Soviet diver training tank sits inside a narrow, decaying three-storey building in Latvia.

A tight spiral stair wraps around a tall concrete tank with portholes for monitoring trainees. At the top, the open tank drops three storeys and still holds water, with a radiator fixed to prevent freezing.

Abandoned suits, masks and other equipment remain. Documents reference the SVU-3 diving system from the 1970s.

#Latvia #Diving #History #Soviet #Scuba #Photography #LostPlaces #UrbanExplorer

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Circular pit with low wall around it, inside a ruined room

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Old diving suit

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Gas mask

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Old floats

Māris Riekstiņš, permanent representative of #Latvia to #NATO, replied to the Financial Times morons who just can’t go beyond these “former Soviet” cliches:

Another example of ignorance or arrogance, this time from FT. “Former Soviet Republic”- what is the point to highlight this? 35 years (!) have passed since we restored our independence after soviet occupation. Does your office in Frankfurt report on former East Germany too?

Others have chipped in too:

Do they refer to Belgium as the Former Nazi state because it was occupied as well? If not, why not?

The USA, the former Native American land, occupied by European settlers.

Exactly. It’s like referring to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1980 as “post-Nazi country”.

I genuinely don’t get it, are they following some editorial standards written in 1950’s?

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FT article speaking of Latvia as "former Soviet republic?

Deeply disappointed to read this.

"The Latvian Parliament on Thursday voted to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty [1] aimed at supporting women who are victims of violence."

Another populist win against the values of the European Union. Putin smiles. Latvia becomes the second country to leave the Istanbul convention. The first country to do that was, ironically, Turkey.

https://www.dw.com/en/latvia-votes-to-exit-treaty-opposing-violence-against-women/a-74564065

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_Convention

#Latvia #IstanbulConvention

#Latvia picks of the day (continued):

The account below is a discussion group. Follow the group to see its discussions in your timeline, mention the group to post to it. (More info about how to use Fediverse groups: https://fedi.tips/how-to-use-groups-on-the-fediverse)

➡️ @latvija - Discussion group about Latvia

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS PART OF THE THREAD, IT MIGHT SPAM THE GROUP.

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#Latvia picks of the day (continued):

🌤️ Weather accounts for Latvia (in Latvian, continued):
@kraslava
@kuldiga
@liepaja
@ludza
@madona
@ogre
@olaine
@preili
@priekule
@rezekne
@riga
@rujiena
@sabile
@salaspils
@saldus
@sigulda
@skrunda
@smiltene
@stende
@subate
@talsi
@tukums
@valka
@valmiera
@vangazi
@varaklani
@ventspils
@viesite
@zilupe

You can find Fediverse weather accounts for cities and towns around the world at https://fedimeteo.com

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🇱🇻 #Latvia picks of the day:

➡️ @mikrotik - Manufacturers of computer networking equipment etc based in Latvia

➡️ @aviofotolv - Aviation photography in Latvia (in Latvian)

➡️ @www.lsm.lv - News feed of the Latvian public broadcaster LSM (in Latvian)

🌤️ Weather accounts for Latvia (in Latvian):
@aizpute
@akniste
@aluksne
@ape
@baldone
@balozi
@bauska
@cesis
@cesvaine
@dagda
@daugavpils
@dobele
@grobina
@ikskile
@ilukste
@jekabpils
@jelgava
@jurmala
@karsava
@kegums
@kekava

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