Baltics

Yesterday, Latvia was downgraded to junk. Despite its diminutive size, this is a big deal. Fist, it is a harbinger of what is to come for the rest of Eastern Europe. But, more importantly it is a signal that Western European banks…

As this deepest of recessions takes hold, an increasing number of countries are seeing outbreaks of civil unrest. First it was Greece. Later, we saw unrest in the Baltics in Riga and Vilnius. Now, Iceland is experiencing the same. These…

The riots on the streets of Vilnius and Riga in the Baltics are not being covered in the least in the U.S. media (Hat tip Ken). I believe they should because, as with Greece, the social unrest we are witnessing in those countries is the…

A friend living in Latvia wrote that he was "stunned by the chaos that broke out in Riga this evening." I had heard absolutely nothing about it until he told me. Apparently, a peaceful protest outside Parliament turned bloody when the…

Has Paul Krugman been reading my stuff? He is certainly thinking like me regarding emerging market risk. He has a post today talking about Latvia as the new Argentina.

Last night an article by Niels Jensen of Absolute Return Partners caught my eye. In it, he made a very strong case for worrying about European bank exposure to emerging markets and its potential for creating systemic risk. I would like to…

While I am markedly more upbeat of late about economic matters, I still harbor some deep concerns about the direction of both the global economy and resultant political stability. The Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum has summed…

Baltic currencies are overvalued, which has led to hot money flows and unsustainable levels of consumption. A crash is all but inevitable. The Baltics want in to the Euro, Estonia and Lithuania in particular. They are willing to…

Late last month, I made a big to-do about the Baltics becoming the next Argentina. Well, part of that mess is unraveling as we speak. Estonia is in recession and Latvia is headed for recession.Read my translation of a Dagens Nyheter article…