In May 1985, I wrote the following statement in a Canadian Latvian maga-
zine: “In 5-, 20- or 50-years’ time the Soviet Union will be gone from Latvia.”1
Back then, I was just a young lawyer and political scientist—a researcher at
the University of Kiel in Germany—having emigrated from the USSR-occupied
Latvia 13 years earlier. I took an active part in the political life of Latvians in
exile. Most believed that the bipolar world in which the nuclear superpowers of
the West and East faced off would never change. So, why was I convinced that
the Soviet Empire would collapse?
Topic:
Defense Policy, Development, Law, Democracy, Justice, and Post-Soviet Space