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| | CAULDRON DIPLOMACY |
 | | While watching the ceremonies and press briefings, one couldn't help but feel that President Vaira Vike-Freiberga did not really want to be standing next to the Uzbekistan President Islom Karimov, a man who presides over a regime that is consistently given the worst marks for human rights abuses by nearly all independent organizations. |
 | | Indeed, Karimov represents everything Latvia's democratic leadership, no stranger to the horrors of repression and torture, disdains and, since gaining independence since 1991, has persistently spoken against - Chechnya and Belarus being the best examples. |
 | | Second, the trip confirms what many have been speaking about for months now: namely, now that the Baltic states are members NATO and will be in the European Union, they are destined to play a crucial diplomatic role with other former Soviet republics. |
| www.baltictimes.com /news/articles/9860 (437 words) |
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