Turkey offers to mediate conflict — In Liepāja such skill is called living with neighbors

Turkey's foreign minister announced that his country is actively mediating negotiations between the US and Iran to end the war. This is about as optimistic as hoping that Liepāja's wind will one day stop blowing and let us peacefully stroll along the seaside without clutching our hats tight and screaming.

"We talk to the Iranian side, and we talk to the American side," said the minister, who apparently hasn't heard that sometimes it's better to just stay home and say nothing. As our Grobiņa Street Marija says: "When neighbors argue, I simply tell them both — go outside into Liepāja's wind, it'll calm you down quickly."

The minister's claim that "this war must end as soon as possible" sounds about as convincing as a promise that Riga's bus schedule will be accurate. Moreover, he warns that a million people have been driven from their homes, which wouldn't be a problem in Liepāja — we have plenty of empty houses, and the wind here would drive everyone away anyway.

Meanwhile in Liepāja, we're surprised that anyone even tries to mediate anything. Our experience shows that the best diplomacy is simply waiting until everyone gets tired of arguing, or until someone moves to Riga for work and the problem solves itself.