THE VOICE OF INTERNATIONAL LITHUANIA
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I love Lithuanian girls!
I let Giedrė Jotautaitė represent the thousands of beautiful Lithuanian girls and women who are not only well-formed by nature, but also do their utmost to keep
their bodies in shape through proper diet, moderate use of alcohol and regular exercise. Many of these girls know very well how to dress and behave, and
they are fully on a par with their male parallels in terms of intelligence and
ability to cope with challenges at work and on a more general basis.
Lithuanian girls are at the very top in the world, in every way!
By Aage Myhre, editor-in-chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
I've been back home in Norway for a few days. I chose to drive this time, and travelled via Riga by ferry to Stockholm in Sweden from where I drove on to Oslo in Norway. On the ferry ride back to Riga, I discovered quickly that Swedish high school students filled most of the ship. Graduation was to be celebrated and this was done with good help of huge quantities of cheap Baltic booze aboard the ferry, the whole night through.
I have little against young people dancing the night away in a rollicking party when they have something as big to celebrate as a final exam. However, what frightened me was to see that far more than half of the adolescents were overweight and apparently had done little, in the course of growing up, to keep in shape. Swedish girls who in the 1950s, 60's and 70's were world renowned for their stunning, sexy looks, seem now to have been replaced by fattish, inelegant girls who also do not care much about how they dress or behave. The boys are no better.
What a contrast it was to get back to Vilnius, sit down on a sunny sidewalk café and study the endless stream of beautiful, slim Lithuanian girls who walked by. Like sitting in the front row of the catwalk for a perpetual Miss World show...
Lithuanian girls have good reason to be proud of themselves and the nation of Lithuania has very good reason to be proud of its magnificent girls and women...
I sincerely hope that young girls from Lithuania do not go into the same trap as so many sisters in the west have already done. Obesity, alcohol and unhealthy habits have unfortunately become a hallmark for many young people in Europe of today.
The development is anything but merry, but luckily the girls from Lithuania show the way for those who want to return to the beautiful, healthy feminine ideals...
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Giedrė is a huge fan of VilNews! |
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Overconsumption of alcohol destroys the lives of more and more young people in Europe
British teenage girls are starting to drink alcohol at the average age of 13,
a new study shows according to The Telegraph. Photo: Christopher Pledger
According to The Telegraph, British researchers have found that today's teenagers start drinking an average of two years younger than women who are now in their mid-twenties did, with most admitting that they had drunk alcohol by the age of 13 or 14.
It is to assume that similar figures apply to many other countries in Europe.
Drinking from a younger age leads teenagers to go on to consume alcohol more heavily, the study also found.
Doctors warn that changes in drinking habits are leading to a rapid rise in the number of young individuals with liver problems.
They say that they are seeing increasing numbers of women in their 20s and 30s with cirrhosis of the liver, a disease virtually unheard of in that age group a decade ago.
A report by a Government watchdog warns that 10 million people in Britain are now drinking at "hazardous" levels.
RELATED ARTICLE
Girls of today are 'stressed, drunk and discriminated against', report finds
Doctors have warned that more people die from alcohol than breast cancer, cervical cancer and MRSA, the hospital superbug, combined.
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Overconsumption of alcohol destroys the lives of more and more young people in Europe
British teenage girls are starting to drink alcohol at the average age of 13,
a new study shows according to The Telegraph. Photo: Christopher Pledger
According to The Telegraph, British researchers have found that today's teenagers start drinking an average of two years younger than women who are now in their mid-twenties did, with most admitting that they had drunk alcohol by the age of 13 or 14.
It is to assume that similar figures apply to many other countries in Europe.
Drinking from a younger age leads teenagers to go on to consume alcohol more heavily, the study also found.
Doctors warn that changes in drinking habits are leading to a rapid rise in the number of young individuals with liver problems.
They say that they are seeing increasing numbers of women in their 20s and 30s with cirrhosis of the liver, a disease virtually unheard of in that age group a decade ago.
A report by a Government watchdog warns that 10 million people in Britain are now drinking at "hazardous" levels.
RELATED ARTICLE
Girls of today are 'stressed, drunk and discriminated against', report finds
Doctors have warned that more people die from alcohol than breast cancer, cervical cancer and MRSA, the hospital superbug, combined.
The study, of 208 women ranging in age from 16 to 24, found that as well as starting to drink at an earlier age, today's teenagers also tended to drink more on typical nights out than women in their twenties.
Overall, three quarters of those asked admitted that they drank more than five units each time they went out, significantly more than the two to three units that women are advised is their daily recommended limit.
In total, six per cent of the women surveyed admitted that they had drunk their entire week's recommended intake in just one night, while one said that she drank 49 units, the equivalent of eight bottles of wine.
The study, carried out by nurses at a sexual health clinic in southern England, also found that the women were more likely to take unnecessary risks after they had been drinking.
One said that she would rather spend her last £5 to buy a kebab and walk home alone, than pay for a taxi.
Others said they had unprotected sex, got into cars with strange men, and even seen their friends fall asleep on roundabouts, after a night spent drinking, the study, carried out by researchers at the University of Manchester and highlighted by Nursing Standard magazine shows.
"Women are commencing drinking at an earlier age and are experiencing the negative consequences of alcohol but show no activity to curb this activity," concluded Valerie McMunn, who carried out the study.
"The negative aspects of their behaviour puts their sexual, physical and psychological health at risk," she added.
Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said: "This confirms the worrying trend that young girls in the UK are fast catching up with boys in their drinking patterns. We already know that the younger people are when they start drinking, the more likely they are to have problems with alcohol later in life. UK teens drink more than most of their European peers and the growth in consumption is not showing any sign of slowing down. There is a fast growing drinking culture among young people, and girls find themselves under a lot of pressure to emulate a popular image, which includes being drunk or drinking often. Falling prices of alcohol mean that with typical weekly pocket money teenagers can now buy large amounts of alcohol, and many can still get it with ease from supermarkets and off-licenses."
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Is there a future
for VilNews?
By Aage Myhre, VilNews Editor-in-Chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
It seems, unfortunately, that we may have to stop publishing VilNews later this summer due to lack of economic support and advertising from Lithuanian State, businesses and organizations, this despite the tremendous success we have had when it comes to worldwide readership and general interest.
Ideas and suggestions from you, dear readers who wouldn’t like to see this happen, would be very much appreciated.
When we went online with VilNews 16 months ago, the internet experts predicted that a ‘niche product’ like ours would probably attract no more than 10-15,000 readers per year. Today this is the number of readers we have per week (!), and we have till now welcomed close to 400,000 visitors from 181 countries; a tremendous success both with regards to readership and the great response we have had from Lithuanians and others from literally every corner of the globe. As far as I know, we are now the largest online publication from and about Lithuania in the world…
I have been told that we have more readers than all Lithuanian tourist brochures and presentations altogether.
I have been told that we have been doing more to connect global Lithuanians than all governmental institutions together…
Read the complete article HERE,
and see comments below:
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This attitude from the State institutions is of course shame. Whereas I am not privy to how the State currently dishes out its support to publications, we keep hearing of more millions being allocated to yet another effort Lithuania's image-building. So far, all these millions have resulted in, err, very little?
I suggest that we, readers of VilNews around the world sign a petition to whichever Government foundation to support this publication, and that we send donations (anonymous, please) to support it. Dear Aage, what is the account no.?
With cordial regards from Nairobi, Kenya (currently in Cairo, Egypt)
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A worldwide letter writing campaign might work. Usually, politicians who wish to be re-elected listen to their constituents
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Jon Platakis
A worldwide letter writing campaign might work. Usually, politicians who wish to be re-elected listen to their constituents. Not so sure if that is the case in Lithuania. However, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Aage, give us an address or an email of the person or department where sending communications would be most effective.
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Perhaps there would be people who would like to contribute directly – something similar to what is done by Wikipedia
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See (http://donate.wikimedia.org)
Tautietis
I like Paulius' idea. How about a world-wide fund raiser? Government might help, but perhaps there would be people who would like to contribute directly - something similar to what is done by Wikipedia (http://donate.wikimedia.org)
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The impact that your publications has on the Litvaks is outstanding. Your 400.000 outreach could be the key in November
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Algis Zaparackas·
The impact that your publications has on the Litvaks is outstanding. Your 400.000 outreach could be the key in November
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Israel company Sundor is starting to market El Al schedule flight from Tel Aviv to Vilnius as of 20 June. Flights are scheduled to operate every week on Wednesdays.
Mr. Bezalel Karvat, the president of the company Sundor hopes that the launch of this new flight will mark the beginning of a year-round cooperation and of at least twice a week operation next season. “Sundor is hoping that the Israeli tourists will discover the endless possibilities Lithuania can offer and that the Lithuanian tourists will discover the variety that Israel and the Holly land can offer,” – Mr. Karvat said.
“Direct flights between Vilnius and Tel Aviv show a clear desire for friendly and close communication between people of the two countries,” Emanuelis Zingeris, the Member of the Lithuanian Parliament, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Chairman of the Group for Interparliamentary Relations with the Knesset of Israel, emphasised the importance of the new flight.
Sundor is a full subsidiary of El Al Israel Airlines. It was established in 1977 mainly as a charter operator. The company operates flights to popular holiday destinations, such as ski resorts in Swiss, Italian, French and Austrian Alps, Greece Islands, Cyprus, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona and other. The company also operates charter pilgrimage charter flights mainly from Poland, Slovakia, Italy and Spain.
In 2011 El Al carried around 350,000 passengers.
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Is there a future for VilNews?
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There will be no updates of VilNews e-magazine for |
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By Aage Myhre, VilNews Editor-in-Chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
It seems, unfortunately, that we may have to stop publishing VilNews later this summerdue to lack of economic support and advertising from Lithuanian State, businesses and organizations, this despite the tremendous success we have had when it comes to worldwide readership and general interest.
Ideas and suggestions from you, dear readers who wouldn’t like to see this happen, would be very much appreciated.
When we went online with VilNews 16 months ago, the internet experts predicted that a ‘niche product’ like ours would probably attract no more than 10-15,000 readers per year. Today this is the number of readers we have per week (!), and we have till now welcomed close to 400,000 visitors from 181 countries; a tremendous success both with regards to readership and the great response we have had from Lithuanians and others from literally every corner of the globe. As far as I know, we are now the largest online publication from and about Lithuania in the world…
I have been told that we have more readers than all Lithuanian tourist brochures and presentations altogether.
I have been told that we have been doing more to connect global Lithuanians than all governmental institutions together…
If VilNews was printed on paper it would become a book of 7,000 pages, thicker than the Bible, making it the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of, and source for, historical and contemporary information about the nation called Lithuania. This does, however, not impress the country’s State leaders or businesses.
When we have asked companies and the State authorities for economic support, the answer is either NO, or we get no answer at all (which is the most common ‘response’).
So far, we, the owners/shareholders, have subsidized the publishing, but I’m afraid our general meeting later this summer will be negative to do this much longer.
I think it would be sad if this enormous collection of Lithuania-related information would be lost, and I think it would be a sad day for our many readers who no longer will be getting their daily manna and access to a freestanding, democratic communication platform for good debates and the sharing of thoughts, memories and much more.
It would almost be like burning down a national library, wouldn’t it?
At the moment I am not very optimistic, but I would still be happy to hear if you, dear readers, have any ideas that could help keeping VilNews alive and online.
It is ten years since VilNews was established as a newsletter for VIC (Vilnius International Club – started 2001). Over the years, the newsletter got attention and readers from a worldwide audience far beyond the spheres of the club, and grew from having a few hundred readers to an estimated readership of more than
10,000 by the end of 2010.
Against this background, it was in September 2010 decided that VilNews should be separated from the club and established as a separate corporation and publisher, with the aim to turn the newsletter into an online e-magazine with a broad scope of issues and coverage.
VilNews e-magazine went online 15 February 2011, and has during the 16 months that have passed since then achieved a very solid, global success, now with close to 400,000 readers in no less than 181 countries!
Lithuanians around the world have united through VilNews. Thanks to you all, for the massive, wonderful feedback throughout the time we’ve spent together. I sincerely hope that this is not the end!
Kindest Regards,
Aage Myhre
Aage Myhre
VilNews Editor-in-Chief
Tel: +370 699 33 222
www.VilNews.com
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
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BELOW: A few out of many comments received regarding VilNews: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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An important, noble thing for the country Congratulations on the VilNews debut in this new, expanded format. It looks very good indeed, is highly informative, and I wish you much success with it. The sheer amount of effort and dedication that must have gone into getting this undertaking off the ground is quite awe-inspiring. You are doing an important, noble thing for the beautiful country you love. It is indeed an exceptionally interesting, genuinely fascinating country, with a turbulent past and difficult present -- a place that, despite (and in part, due to) the many still-unresolved issues of history, never is not-interesting, where "the past is not dead. It isn't even past," to quote Faulkner -- and as someone who also has been held under its thrall for many years, I share your desire to see as many people as possible the world over to discover it, come visit -- and fall in love with it, too, and keep coming back. My very best wishes to VilNews.
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We really needed something like this long ago Let me express my warmest greetings for such a wonderful job. I’m sure it will contribute a lot to creating a better image of Lithuania in the world. We really needed something like this long ago.
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Maintaining the pride of being Lithuanian We, at the National Lithuanian American Hall of Fame, are extremely appreciative of the superb job you did in prominently displaying our articles in your publication.
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Thank you for sending me VILNEWS. It is very well produced, informative and a very good read for me as I wish to stay in touch with Lithuania life and business. I receive the daily Baltic News but it is inferior to VILNEWS as it is always biased towards Latvia and has many mistakes in the English. VILNEWS is much more professional and absorbing.
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Good job with VilNews, actually a unique one globally! - Valdas Samonis PhD, CPC (USA - Canada),
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Far away from home, we need a publication different from the mainstream news portals Congratulations with VilNews! Far away from home, we need a publication different from the mainstream news portals, which are often permeated with negative attitude and serving narrow, short-term interests. Your interest to history and the international dimension of Lithuania has made your publication a very engaging reading. I trust VilNews will remain enthusiastic, honest and insightful. Please rest assured that you have a dedicated reader in Africa. - Paulius Kulikauskas, Nairobi, Kenya
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Your critical comments on, and wishes for, Lithuania in this issue are excellent I agree with every word, and can only hope that more Lithuanians would take your very informed, friendly, and insightful message to heart! I intend to translate most of your remarks, published in VilNews, into Lithuanian as part of my international press review this Wednesday. As I said before, I think your remarks are very valuable and reflect an enlightened attitude that should be broadcast as widely as possible to a Lithuanian audience. - Professor Mykolas J. Drunga, Broadcaster at Lithuanian State Radio
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Fundamental, personal values, sharp vision, continuous commitment, and hard work Some world leaders loud the phrases "yes we can" and "change you can trust (what change: good or bad?)"... However, what they fail to understand is that to achieve great results it takes fundamental, personal values, sharp vision, continuous commitment, and hard work. That is why they fail and You succeed!
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Professional looking site and highly informative publication. |
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Immense damage after 50 years of oppression: You have seen it, recognized the problem and tried to repair the damage |
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The 50 years of communist oppression has done immense damage not only to the economy, but perhaps more so to the social fabric of our country. You have seen it, recognized the problem and tried to repair the damage. People who know you and respect you are grateful for all that you have done. You are needed, because you are making a difference and have so much more to give. I hope you will not allow the less than cordial atmosphere to stop the good that you are doing. Aage, I think that the good you make in the lives of very common people is what really counts. I urge you not to be discouraged and don’t give up doing the good that you are doing. The VilNews project is excellent. Warm Regards,
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More than all government bureaucrats together |
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You have truly done more service to your adopted country than all the government insensitive bureaucrats put together. You have 150,000 admirers in 114 countries. Close to 50,000 are living in Lithuania and reading VilNews with enthusiasm. Sincerely
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Most valuable and useful to and in Lithuania today |
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You have been an unprecedented star of optimism, the window of fresh air, and the bridge that Lithuania so badly needs to understand itself, where it stands in the world and how others see it. I have admired your attitude towards Lithuania and in many conversation used you as an example of what a man, even not a native to the country, can do voluntarily to raise Lithuania's image in contrast to the army of bureaucrats and consultants who achieved nothing upon spending millions for that purpose. It is so sad that the Lithuanian government and/or the politicians have not been able to raise their heads above the mock they are in, to recognize the immense contribution to the community dialog and Lithuania's visibility in the world you generated, that literally no money can buy. You have united through VILNEWS so many people from so many countries to a common purpose to share their thoughts and feelings on one issues that are dear to their hearts. It is unprecedented and no money can ever duplicate, because you have done it from your heart and soul. You are the most valuable and useful person to and in Lithuania today, even if those in power are blind to see and deaf to hear it. Dear Aage, please grow and nurture the VILNEWS, for it is better than any world news organization could ever produce. It is a beautiful and one of the most important gifts that anyone could have given to Lithuania. And we are immensely grateful to you for that. Best regards, Stan Backaitis
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Keep the good work going. I’m impressed. |
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Thanks for the newsletter. It has renewed my interest in Lithuania at a time when I am more involved in other countries. Keep the good work going. I'm impressed. Keith
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You are doing something that Lithuanian officials ought to do
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Dear Aage Myhre, I got the address of VilNews from my American friend. Best congratulations. You are again doing something that Lithuanian officials ought to do. Sincerely, |
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Pulling extraordinary minds & brains together for the purpose of “rescuing” Lithuania
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Is there a future
for VilNews?
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There will be no updates of VilNews e-magazine for
the period 9 – 22 June 2012.
By Aage Myhre, VilNews Editor-in-Chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
It seems, unfortunately, that we may have to stop publishing VilNews later this summerdue to lack of economic support and advertising from Lithuanian State, businesses and organizations, this despite the tremendous success we have had when it comes to worldwide readership and general interest.
Ideas and suggestions from you, dear readers who wouldn’t like to see this happen, would be very much appreciated.
When we went online with VilNews 16 months ago, the internet experts predicted that a ‘niche product’ like ours would probably attract no more than 10-15,000 readers per year. Today this is the number of readers we have per week (!), and we have till now welcomed close to 400,000 visitors from 181 countries; a tremendous success both with regards to readership and the great response we have had from Lithuanians and others from literally every corner of the globe. As far as I know, we are now the largest online publication from and about Lithuania in the world…
I have been told that we have more readers than all Lithuanian tourist brochures and presentations altogether.
I have been told that we have been doing more to connect global Lithuanians than all governmental institutions together…
If VilNews was printed on paper it would become a book of 7,000 pages, thicker than the Bible, making it the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of, and source for, historical and contemporary information about the nation called Lithuania. This does, however, not impress the country’s State leaders or businesses.
When we have asked companies and the State authorities for economic support, the answer is either NO, or we get no answer at all (which is the most common ‘response’).
So far, we, the owners/shareholders, have subsidized the publishing, but I’m afraid our general meeting later this summer will be negative to do this much longer.
I think it would be sad if this enormous collection of Lithuania-related information would be lost, and I think it would be a sad day for our many readers who no longer will be getting their daily manna and access to a freestanding, democratic communication platform for good debates and the sharing of thoughts, memories and much more.
It would almost be like burning down a national library, wouldn’t it?
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The passiveness by the Lithuanian authorities laid the foundation on which Snoras finds itself today, in bankruptcy with its owners facing criminal allegations. Above: Snoras Bank President R.Baranauskas
The massive fraud at the collapsed Snoras bank and Latvijas Krajbanka will cost the taxpayers in Lithuania and Latvia hundreds of millions of euros before the cleanup is complete. Bankruptcy administrators have only just begun to sift through the debris.
While Vladimir Antonov was playing a big shell game, building an empire of financial institutions, sports enterprises and car interests, propped up by bank customer deposits, regulators in both countries not only were slow to act on growing warning signs reaching them, but missed supposedly clear signals they sent to each other.
Officials at the Bank of Lithuania (LB) received a shocking message from Swiss banking authorities in the summer of 2011. It was in a reply from the Swiss banking supervision institution to a request sent by LB. After the Lithuanian central bank’s new chairman, Vitas Vasiliauskas, took office in the spring of 2011, with strong support from state President Dalia Grybauskaite, one of his efforts was to force the fourth biggest bank in the country, Snoras, to become more transparent, to meet Western standards. But neither he, nor his close aids, could believe that the fraud committed by the bank owners had gone so far.
Pieces of the puzzle in Switzerland
The many documents in LB’s Snoras file included two appraisals from two Swiss banks. They were presented to LB by Snoras in a routine asset declaration procedure. These appraisals, from Swiss bank ‘A’ and Swiss bank ‘B’ (the banks’ identities are classified), were Snoras’ balance sheets giving a snapshot of the value of all Snoras assets in the two banks as of an earlier date. The appraisals showed that the assets totaled around 1 billion litas (290 million euros). The new leadership at LB wanted to know if these securities still had the same value, so they asked their Swiss colleagues to check into it.
The answer they received was not what they had expected. The Swiss banking supervision institution determined that Snoras had no securities at the stated value in these banks. Bank ‘A’ had no account of Snoras at all, and in bank ‘B’ the Snoras account was empty.
During the summer, on July 19, a concerned Vasiliauskas met with the main shareholders of Snoras, Vladimir Antonov and Raimondas Baranauskas, who was also the director of the bank, and asked, so as to get the accounts in order, that the securities of interest be moved to the Lithuanian Depository of Securities. Though he already had the bad news from Switzerland, he didn’t betray this knowledge to the Snoras owners. The two agreed with the proposal. In actuality, this was a last chance given to the bank owners to correct the discrepancy.
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VilNews SECTION 11:
Healing wounds between LT-Americans and homeland Lithuania…
The relationship between Lithuania’s diaspora groups in the U.S. and the home country Lithuania is not always the best. Many here in Lithuania still believe that those who left, whether for economic or political reasons, had very comfortable lives compared to those who stayed behind and had to fight through several decades of inhuman oppression and abuse by the Soviet occupiers.
Many Lithuanians in the United States believe in turn that the mother country does not welcome them to return or collaborate on improving the development of the nation called Lithuania, and have been critical about ongoing corruption, that rule of law is still not working effectively, etc.
VilNews did through much of April and May focus on this topic, and we do hereby, now as the series is over, invite all of you having views on this topic to prepare responses or information you think might shed light or be beneficial to the relationship. The goal is to build bridges and contribute to reconciliation!
To read more, go to our
SECTION 11
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In the early 1990s Algirdas Brazauskas lectured the international body
of economists and management specialists that the Soviet system was
an equally good alternative to any Western market economy…
To continue the Soviet-style thinking, is to lose Lithuania as a country
Valdas Samonis
Opinion: Valdas Samonis
With no anti-Soviet lustration, the former Soviet communist nomenklatura returned to power in LT in 1992. They started running a "tight Soviet ship" (LT needs experience in government, they argued; and we know what kind of "experience" communists had) and no Western "contaminated" professionals needed to apply for government, academia or even business positions. For just one example of the communist purge: with no notice or explanation, I was thrown out of a scholarly reviewer function at LT Science Fund (Mokslo ir studiju fondas) when a Brazauskas comrade found out that I had such a "bad" anti-Soviet past.
At one international conference at Vilnius University, a former communist party first secretary Mr. A. Brazauskas lectured the international body of economists and management specialists that the Soviet system was an equally good alternative to any Western market economy and the Soviet system brought obviously great achievements to the LT people. I left that conference early not being able to cope with my shame (as a Lithuanian) before my distinguished international colleagues!
Under the unrelenting nomenklatura propaganda, that is how Western Lithuanians started being shunned by LT people. I personally know most of those in diaspora who tried to do something good for LT in LT in the last over 20 years; almost all of them (except President Adamkus) left LT in disgust and returned to their Western countries!
Don't Come Back to LT! You will Steal my Job!
As a Soviet legacy, most LT people subscribe to the "lump of labor" fallacy, as the economic jargon has it: allegedly there is a limited and unchangeable number of jobs in the economy and you have to fight others to get your job in this zero sum game.
If you, a Lithuanian from the West, come from abroad (either in physical or digital way or both), you will steal at least part of my job, so I will do everything that you do not come from abroad to work for LT. Stretching this "Soviet logic" to the very end, the last man to leave LT is in the best situation: all jobs are available to him/her. The trouble is that this job is very specialized: turning off all the lights in LT:)
As a Soviet legacy, most LT people do not yet understand that most jobs are created not via the communist party or other official agency decree but via the interaction of people in innovative processes in both the private and public sectors, the more diverse and intensive the interaction, the better the job creation, in LT for LT people!
To continue the Soviet-style thinking, is to loose LT as a country. Nobody will wait for change much longer.
Tertium non datur.
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To continue the Soviet-style thinking, is to lose Lithuania as a country
Opinion: Valdas Samonis
Around the time of Lithuania's declaration of independence in 1990, I decided to use my extensive global contacts in the West to give totally unprecedented opportunities for learning/experience in the West for the prospective Lithuanian leaders. I thought that in this way I now should continue my earlier struggle for LT freedom that started when I was just 14 years old: arrested, thrown out of high school, further persecuted by the joint KGB/SB forces in the Seinai region, then communist Poland; that was 15 years before the Solidarity! Then, with my US Fulbright Scholarship (only 10 students selected from all disciplines in the whole of Poland) my life and opportunities changed dramatically forever. Glory to God!
While in North America, for 5 years, out of my University of Toronto professorial office, at my own cost and on my unpaid time, I was regularly sending the Samonis Opportunities List (SOL) to practically all the LT universities and many government institutions, even businesses; I have tons of letters thanking me for that volunteer activity. I know for a fact, that a number of good young Lithuanian students and older professionals went to the West to obtain additional formal education and experience, many of them returned to LT to work there. Examples: former Prime Minister A. Abisala and former leading LT parliamentarian Prof. K. Antanavicius, many other leaders from LT and other postcommunist countries.
Based on my SOL work, I also developed a database of prospective LT future leaders that were working either in LT or abroad; I used to update the database and regularly talked to many capable people on it.
Nothing came out of it.
With no anti-Soviet lustration, the former Soviet communist nomenklatura returned to power in LT in 1992. They started running a "tight Soviet ship" (LT needs experience in government, they argued; and we know what kind of "experience" communists had) and no Western "contaminated" professionals needed to apply for government, academia or even business positions. For just one example of the communist purge: with no notice or explanation, I was thrown out of a scholarly reviewer function at LT Science Fund (Mokslo ir studiju fondas) when a Brazauskas comrade found out that I had such a "bad" anti-Soviet past. At one international conference at Vilnius University, a former communist party first secretary Mr. A. Brazauskas lectured the international body of economists and management specialists that the Soviet system was an equally good alternative to any Western market economy and the Soviet system brought obviously great achievements to the LT people. I left that conference early not being able to cope with my shame (as a Lithuanian) before my distinguished international colleagues!
Under the unrelenting nomenklatura propaganda, that is how Western Lithuanians started being shunned by LT people. I personally know most of those in diaspora who tried to do something good for LT in LT in the last over 20 years; almost all of them (except President Adamkus) left LT in disgust and returned to their Western countries!
Don't Come Back to LT! You will Steal my Job!
As a Soviet legacy, most LT people subscribe to the "lump of labor" fallacy, as the economic jargon has it: allegedly there is a limited and unchangeable number of jobs in the economy and you have to fight others to get your job in this zero sum game.
If you, a Lithuanian from the West, come from abroad (either in physical or digital way or both), you will steal at least part of my job, so I will do everything that you do not come from abroad to work for LT. Stretching this "Soviet logic" to the very end, the last man to leave LT is in the best situation: all jobs are available to him/her. The trouble is that this job is very specialized: turning off all the lights in LT:)
As a Soviet legacy, most LT people do not yet understand that most jobs are created not via the communist party or other official agency decree but via the interaction of people in innovative processes in both the private and public sectors, the more diverse and intensive the interaction, the better the job creation, in LT for LT people!
To continue the Soviet-style thinking, is to loose LT as a country. Nobody will wait for change much longer.
Tertium non datur.
Valdas Samonis
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Ars longa, vita brevis
Art is long, Life is short.
Professor of Creative Writing and American Short Story at Concordia University, Canada, the founder and main organizer of the SLS, and author Mikhail Iossel.
Photo: Kestutis Pleita
Professor Mikhail Iossel interviewed by Eglė Kačkutė
This summer, July 15-28 and August 29-12, the 14th edition of Summer Literary Festivals known as the SLS will be held in Vilnius for the 3rd time running. Literary workshops will be conducted by experienced and well known North American writers; famous photographers, artists and researchers will be taking part in the program. SLS is the biggest independent creative writing program in the world that brings together an impressive number of talented teachers and writers to be. The creative writing phenomenon is rife in Europe, too. The first British Creative Writing course graduate in the UK is legendary Ian McEwan who continues to reap the plentiful fruit of his studies at East Anglia University thirty odd years ago. Creative studies are known to be more that just a means to get better at writing, they also serve as an initiation into complex and competitive world of publishing, providing writers to be with much needed references.
Eglė Kačkutė is talking to professor of Creative Writing and American Short Story at Concordia University, Canada, the founder and main organizer of the SLS, and author Mikhail Iossel.
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OPINIONS
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Ph. D., Chicago
A wave of unity sweeps the international Lithuanian community on March 11th every year as Lithuanians celebrated the anniversary of the Lithuanian Parliament's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. However, the sense of national unity engendered by the celebration could be short-lived.
Human beings have a strong tendency to overgeneralize and succumb to stereotypical us-them distinctions that can shatter even the strongest bonds. We need only search the internet to find examples of divisive thinking at work:
- "Those who fled Lithuania during World II were cowards -- and now they come back, flaunt their wealth, and tell us 'true Lithuanians' how to live."
- "Lithuanians who work abroad have abandoned their homeland and should be deprived of their Lithuanian citizenship."
In Lithuania Christmas Eve is a family event and the New Year's Eve a great party with friends!
Lithuanian say "Kaip sutiksi naujus metus, taip juos ir praleisi" (the way you'll meet the new year is the way you will spend it). So everyone is trying to spend New Year's Eve with friend and have as much fun as possible.
Lithuanian New Year's traditions are very similar to those in other countries, and actually were similar since many years ago. Also, the traditional Lithuanian New Years Eve party was very similar to other big celebrations throughout the year.
The New Year's Eve table is quite similar to the Christmas Eve table, but without straws under the tablecloth, and now including meat dishes. A tradition that definitely hasn't changes is that everybody is trying not to fell asleep before midnight. It was said that if you oversleep the midnight point you will be lazy all the upcoming year. People were also trying to get up early on the first day of the new year, because waking up late also meant a very lazy and unfortunate year.
During the New Year celebration people were dancing, singing, playing games and doing magic to guess the future. People didn't drink much of alcohol, especially was that the case for women.
Here are some advices from elders:
- During the New Year, be very nice and listen to relatives - what you are during New Year Eve, you will be throughout the year.
- During to the New Year Eve, try not to fall, because if this happens, next year you will be unhappy.
- If in the start of the New Year, the first news are good - then the year will be successful. If not - the year will be problematic.
* If New Year's night is cold and starry - look forward to a good summer!
* If the during New Year Eve trees are covered with frost - then it will be a good year. If it is wet weather on New Year's Eve, one can expect a year where many will die and dangerous epidemics occur.
* If the first day of the new year is snowy - the upcoming year will see many young people die. If the night is snowy - mostly old people will die.
* If the New Year time is cold - then Easter will be warm.
* If during New Year there are a lot of birds in your homestead - then all year around there will be many guests and the year will be fun.
Christmas greetings
from Vilnius
and epic battle for the
future
Philosopher, political theorist, historian of
ideas, social analyst, and political
commentator
Ukraine was and continues to be perceived by the EU political class as a sort of grey zone with its immense potential and possibilities for the future, yet deeply embedded and trapped in No Man's Land with all of its troubled past, post-Soviet traumas, ambiguities, insecurities, corruption, social divisions, and despair. Why worry for what has yet to emerge as a new actor of world history in terms of nation-building, European identity, and deeper commitments to transparency and free market economy?
Right? Wrong. No matter how troubled Ukraine's economic and political reality could be, the country has already passed the point of no return. Even if Vladimir Putin retains his leverage of power to blackmail Ukraine and the West in terms of Ukraine's zero chances to accede to NATO due to the problems of territorial integrity, occupation and annexation of Crimea, and mayhem or a frozen conflict in the Donbas region, Ukraine will never return to Russia's zone of influence. It could be deprived of the chances to join NATO or the EU in the coming years or decades, yet there are no forces on earth to make present Ukraine part of the Eurasia project fostered by Putin.
want to learn about the
new, scary propaganda
war between Russia,
The West and the
Baltic States!
believe their government
is corrupt
students say no to
bribes for doctors
During Soviet times, government was administered for the people in control, not for the local population, court decisions were decreed, they were not the administration of justice, and academia was the domain of ideologues. 25 years of freedom and openness should have put those bad experiences behind Lithuania, but that is not so.
Today, it is a matter of expectation that court pronouncements will be governed by ideological dictates. Few, if any Lithuanians expect real justice to be effected. For foreign companies, doing business in Lithuania is almost impossible in a situation where business people do not expect rule of law, so, surely Government would be a refuge of competence?
Lithuanian Government has not emerged from Soviet styles. In an attempt to devolve power, Lithuania has created a myriad of fiefdoms of power, each speaking in the name of the Government, each its own centralized power base of ideology.
Chepstow, Wales
Doesn't that sound suspiciously like Lithuania? Ah, but I didn't mention the mountains of Snowdonia, which would give the game away.
I'm talking about Wales, that part of the UK which Lithuanians used to call "Valija", but later named "Velsas" (why?). Wales, the nation which has welcomed two Lithuanian heads of state to its shores - firstly Professor Vytautas Landsbergis, who has paid several visits and, more recently, President Dalia Grybauskaitė who attended the 2014 NATO summit which was held in Newport, South Wales.
ENGLISH VERSION OF THE
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS.
Although Lithuanian activities have thinned over the decades as that postwar generation died out, the Lithuanian Martyrs' parish hall is crowded with many, many hundreds of visitors who come to the Lithuanian cemetery for All Souls' Day. Similarly, the Franciscan parish has standing room only for Christmas Eve mass.
Although I am firmly embedded in the literary culture of Canada, my themes are usually Lithuanian, and I'll be in Kaunas and Vilnius in mid-November 2015 to give talks about the Lithuanian translations of my novels and short stories, which I write in English.
If you have the Lithuanian language, come by to one of the talks listed in the links below. And if you don't, you can read more about my work at
www.anatanassileika.com
http://www.vdu.lt/lt/rasytojas-antanas-sileika-pristatys-savo-kuryba/ https://leu.lt/lt/lf/lf_naujienos/kvieciame-i-rasytojo-59hc.html
"My love and best wishes to all. As long as VilNews exists, there is hope for the future,"" she writes.
Irena Veisaite means very much for our publication, and we do hereby thank her for the support and wise commitment she always shows.
You can read our interview with her
Facing a new reality
Dear readers of VilNews,
For a number of years, the EU and Russia had assumed the existence of a strategic partnership, based on the convergence of values, economic integration and increasingly open markets and a modernisation agenda for society.
Our agenda was positive and ambitious. We looked at Russia as a country ready to converge with "European values", a country likely to embrace both the basic principles of democratic government and a liberal concept of the world order. It was believed this would bring our relations to a new level, covering the whole spectrum of the EU's strategic relationship with Russia.
The likelihood of Putin
invading Lithuania
.jpg "lithuania today")
Founding Director at Summer Literary Seminars
Are all Lithuanian energy
problems now resolved?
Lithuania as a country does not have significant energy resources. Energy consuming infrastructure after WWII was small and totally supported by energy imports from Russia.
First nuclear reactor begins power generation at Ignalina in 1983, the second reactor in 1987. Iganlina generates enough electricity to cover Lithuania's needs and about 50%.for export. As, prerequisite for membership in EU, Ignalina ceases all nuclear power generation in 2009
The Klaipėda Sea terminal begins Russia's oil export operations in 1959 and imports in 1994.
Mazeikiu Nafta (current ORLEAN Lietuva) begins operation of oil refinery in 1980.
Have Lithuanian ties across
the Baltic Sea become
stronger in recent years?
The two decades that have passed since regaining Lithuania's independence can be described as a "building boom". From the wreckage of a captive Soviet republic, a generation of Lithuanians have built a modern European state, and are now helping construct a Nordic-Baltic community replete with institutions intended to promote political coordination and foster a trans-Baltic regional identity. Indeed, a "Nordic-Baltic community" - I will explain later in my text the meaning of this catch-phrase.
Since the restoration of Lithuania's independence 25 years ago, we have continuously felt a strong support from Nordic countries. Nordics in particular were among the countries supporting Lithuania's and Baltic States' striving towards independence. Take example of Iceland, country which recognized Lithuania in February of 1991, well in advance of other countries. Yet another example - Swedish Ambassador was the first ambassador accredited to Lithuania in 1991. The other countries followed suit. When we restored our statehood, Nordic Countries became champions in promoting Baltic integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions. To large degree thanks Nordic Countries, massive transformations occurred in Lithuania since then, Lithuania became fully-fledged member of the EU and NATO, and we joined the Eurozone on 1 January 2015.
Have you heard about the
South African "Pencil Test"?
But that is exactly what happened to me when I came back from South Africa. I will tell you how.
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