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8 November 2024
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Archive for July, 2011

Hitachi-GE wins Lithuanian nuclear tender

- Posted by - (0) Comment

 

Having been selected as 'strategic investor' for the Visaginas nuclear power project, Hitachi-GE is expected to build a nuclear power plant there for operation in 2020. 

An announcement at the start of June revealed that Lithuanian officials had invited both Hitachi-GE and Westinghouse to submit proposals for Visaginas, which is to be a new power plant to replace generation lost with the shutdown of Ignalina.

After six weeks of consideration, the Ministry of Energy has today said that the evaluation commission has selected Hitachi-GE's proposal, based on the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor. Plans are for a single unit producing about 1300 MWe to begin operation from about 2020.

Partners in the project, Estonia, Latvia and Poland, participated in the evaluation, which encompassed a wide range of factors to determine which of the two proposals was the "most economically advantageous."

Some site preparation work has already taken place at Visaginas, and it already holds positive verdicts on environmental impact assessment and site suitability. The site is close by to Ignalina, where two large RBMK units built in the Soviet era provided some 2370 MWe, setting Lithuania's share of nuclear energy at 70% and giving healthy supply of power for export.

Visaginas is one of several active nuclear projects in the European Union. Single reactors are currently under construction in Finland and France, with more at the planning stage in each country. Two units are nearing completion in Slovakia, while plans for new build are maturing in the Czech Republic, Romania, the Netherlands and the UK.

Source: World Nuclear News

Category : News

Hitachi introduced its bid to invest in Visaginas NPP on 16 June

- Posted by - (0) Comment

 

On 16 June a delegation led by Hitachi President Hiroaki Nakanishi introduced its bid to invest in Visaginas NPP project during a meeting with the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and the Commission for the Implementation of the New Visaginas NPP Project. Hitachi, together with one of its subsidiaries, Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy.

“Our aim is to ensure that development of Visaginas NPP complies with all the international and nuclear safety requirements. Therefore we are delighted at this opportunity to welcome Hitachi, the top-level technology company, to Lithuania; this company has expressed its interest to participate in this project as a strategic investor”, said Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius.

Kubilius also noted that the fact, that it was President of Hitachi Group himself, who had introduced his company’s bid and showed his active involvement in the entire project environment, demonstrated very serious intentions by the potential investor, as well as recognition of Visaginas NPP project soundness.

“Lithuania would be interested in Hitachi’s investment not only into the nuclear power, but also in other sectors, especially high technologies, in our country”, said Kubilius after his meeting with the President of Hitachi.

During its visit in Lithuania, Hitachi delegation also met with representatives of the regional partners of Visaginas NPP project from Estonia, Latvia, and Poland, as well as the European Commission representatives.

The regional Visaginas NPP project is among the most progressive new nuclear power plant projects in Europe. Major part of the preliminary work for the project has already been completed, including the environmental impact assessment, which is in compliance with the ESPOO Convention, and the assessment of the site suitability; conclusions of both assessments were confirmed by expert missions from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well.

It is planed that construction work for Visaginas NPP will start in 2014, and the plant is to start generating power as of 2020.

Category : News

What happened to the spoken Lithuanian language after WWII?

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Jurate Kutkus Burns

On my first visit to Lithuania in 1998 I was struck by 2 major differences between the language I heard spoken at home in the USA and that which was spoken in Lithuania.

My parents pronunciation was much softer, and did not have that hard Slavic edge I heard spoken by young Lithuanians. Also, there were lots of vocabulary words unfamiliar to me.
Jurate Kutkus Burns, Florida

Category : Opinions

- Posted by - (0) Comment

 

Welcome to Klaipėda!

Klaipėda is Lithuania’s third biggest city, situated at the mouth of the Curonian Lagoon to the Baltic Sea. It is Lithuania's only seaport, with major ferry connections to Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Throughout its history, the town has belonged as Memel to Prussia and Germany, and since 1923 as Klaipėda to Lithuania. Some of its older buildings have picturesque frameworkarchitecture similar to that found in Germany, England, and Denmark. The population shrank from 207,100 in 1992 to 187,442 inhabitants in 2005. Popular seaside resorts found close to Klaipėda are Nida to the south on the Curonian Spit, and Palanga to the north. The port of Klaipėda handles some 20 million tons of cargo each year.
From
12521923 and from 19391945 the town and city was named Memel; between 1923 and 1939, and since 1945, it has had the Lithuanian name of Klaipėda. Memel is found in most sources from the 13th century, while Klaipėda is commonly used in Lithuanian sources from the 15th century. The former notion that Memel is a place-name of German etymology is argued by Lithuanians to be contradicted by their evidence that the lower reaches of the Neman River were named either Memele or Memela by local inhabitants. The name "Klaipėda" is seemingly a Samogitian appellation which may refer to the boggy terrain of the town.

www.klaipeda.lt
www.klaipedainfo.lt
www.investinklaipeda.com
www.fez.lt 

„At the beginning there was a sea and a coast. Then, contours of a castle showed up in the swampy ground, in the lower reaches of the river. And a windborne city – as open and unpredictable as the horizon – sprang up.

- Opening phrase from the booklet „Signs of culture in Klaipėda“

Category : Blog archive

Gazprom denies Lithuania ‘political’ price claims

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Gazprom spokesman
Sergei Kupriyanov

Russian giant Gazprom on Wednesday hit back at claims by Lithuania's president that the gas prices it applied for the Baltic state are were political and not based on economics.
"Lithuania's gas prices are not political," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said in a statement released in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
"They are the result of a gas pricing formula which was agreed between our Lithuanian partners -- including the Lithuanian government -- and Gazprom back in 2004," he said.
On Tuesday, Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite had fired a new shot in a verbal war between the nation of three million and Gazprom, its sole supplier, suggesting it was being treated unfairly.
"Gazprom's prices have a political character, not an economic one," Grybauskaite said.
"The difference in price for Lithuania and on global markets has a purely political tone," she added, blaming "the attitude of Russia's leaders towards cooperation with Lithuania."
In January Lithuania asked Brussels to probe Gazprom for allegedly abusing its market clout in the 27-nation European Union.
The price set in Gazprom's supply deal with Lithuania is confidential, but Grybauskaite has estimated that it pays 30-40 percent more than Germany, for example.
But Kupriyanov rejected the charges.
"The principle of this (gas-pricing) formula is by no means used only in Lithuania, but in all European countries," he said.
"The gas price in Europe can vary between different buyer countries and may change at different times within a signed contract," he explained.
"All of this is pure economics and has absolutely nothing to do with politics. Lithuania must be well aware of it," he added.
Lithuania's reliance on Russia for gas is a legacy of five decades of Soviet rule, which ended in 1991. Lithuania joined the EU in 2004.

Read more at:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5haAHGhobpcNwnqavK3bFAv9cnn9g?docId=CNG.672921cf040c5c718fe8bdbe7ea930e8.1b1

Category : News

Not only do I smile a lot, I love to laugh

- Posted by - (0) Comment

 [Ref. our article: https://vilnews.com/?p=7150]

I really enjoyed reading this commentary. I feel I have had someone validated me and my personality, for not only do I smile a lot, I love to laugh. It is hard to be seen this way in a wave of gloomy faces, and I have sometimes thought it a sin to be too happy. I am of Lithuanian descent, and I do know of some to whom the concept of even a hint of a smile is considered not something appropriate in public. Maybe more conducive to something you do indoors. I don't think it really pertains to culture. Maybe just a matter of temperament, because there are gloomy people all over this planet of ours.

Ramute Juska

Category : Opinions

Ieva needs information about Lithuanian Jews

- Posted by - (3) Comment

 
I am Ieva – the producer of the project
“Phenomenon of Civilization: Jews, Litvakes, Lithuanian Jews”.

Letter from Ieva Sabaliauskaite, United Kingdom

Only with the awaken memory the nation can preserve its history. Our Lithuanian history has deep imprints of Jews, who made this country flourish through their sincere spirit and unique approach to religion, culture, education and economics. Now they are undeservedly out of our memories… Our project aims to enlighten today’s society about great achievements and unique culture of Jews’ in our country and in the whole world.

Since the Middle Ages the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had been a safe place for Jews from wild anti-Semitism that was burning in neighbouring countries. With granted special rights, the Litvakes – Jews of Grand Duchy of Lithuania - were allowed to reach a degree of prosperity unknown to their Polish and German co-religionists at that time. Litvakes were settled in Stetls – towns there Jews made up a significant proportion of the population. Majority of cities’ businesses and factories belonged to them. Those cities had particular coloration of Jews’ spirit, but now it’s impossible to find a single living sign of Jews apart of signs to genocides places.

Litvakes had massively emigrated from Lithuania, and from those who stayed, only a few thousands have left. But there were over the million of them scattered throughout the world and most of them never forgot their roots. Their unique approach to life is being passed through generations, giving births to new talents and achievements. In fact, Litvakes are distinguished in the whole world in various fields. There are many Nobel Prize winners, art, music, politics, cinema and literary stars, such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Michael Douglas and numerous other Litvakes. The name of Vilna Gaon is known to all, even to little educated Jews, as well as to other nations’ people. Litvakes are considered as the elite of Jews. What is the reason of this phenomenon? To discover that, we must take a look at a picture of Jews in general.

Astonishing facts prove their greater brilliance comparing to other nations: although Jews constitute only about 0.2% of the world’s population, they won 29% of the Nobel Prizes in literature, medicine, physics and chemistry in the second half of the 20th century. So far this century, the figure is 32%. The extraordinarily high proportion of Jews in such fields as medicine, law, finance, literature, science, creative arts and the media is as obvious as it is devastating.

Maybe Jews really are “God’s Chosen People”? Or does a distinction of Jews lie in their religious roots? Maybe Jews’ traditionally responsible approach to progeny and education is a cornerstone of their huge talent? Or could it be that those prosecutions and genocides caused exclusive development of Jews’ intellect? Or is there rather freedom and granted special rights that is a reason of Jew's great intellectual and cultural development?

Our project seeks to reveal the superiority of Jews and to bring back to our memories the forgotten Litvakes’ contribution. Our website http://litvaks-lithuanian-jewish.com . Litvakes. Lithuanian Jews.is created to collect any kind of information about Jew’s lives in Lithuania. With collected information we intent to shoot a TV documentary scrutinizing Litvakes issue in the context of all Jewish community, while capturing interpretations of various fields’ experts, as well as interviewing famous Litvakes and illustrating that with documentary material about them: their mores, religious and cultural traditions, their lives in Stetls, etc.

We are strongly motivated to awake this sleeping history realm of Jews in Lithuania, so that the memory of us becomes alive and universal, but not selective, not judging, not stereotyped. Your comprehensive contribution is invaluable to us: your ideological support, any kind of historical material you could share. We would be thankful for anything that could support this project. Please join us on http://litvaks-lithuanian-jewish.com/forum/  and on our Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/Jews.Litvakes.LithuanianJews

Phenomenon of Civilization: Jews, Litvakes, Lithuanian Jews. Be part of us! We are waiting for your suggestions and comments!

Category : Litvak forum

The Lithuanians who do not smile are, in general, just fun, outgoing, friendly people

- Posted by - (0) Comment

Dear Sir;

First of all, I’d like to say how much I enjoy VilNews.  Thank you for your effort.

I am a Lithuanian, although I have lived in the U.S.A. since the times when Lithuania was still in the depth of the Soviet occupation.

Just a little aside regarding smiling/ not smiling.

True, the Lithuanians are not in the habit of smiling easily to strangers, but I rather think it is more cultural than anything else.   I am writing this because of my own encounter with some other cultures, in this case, Mexican. When my husband and I were getting ready to visit Mexico for the first time, we read much about the country, its  history, culture, customs, etc.  I remember being surprised  at reading that it was not customary to smile in Mexico at strangers, in shops, restaurants, museums, etc. and it was suggested to try not to smile because the Mexicans find it strange and puzzling to see a total stranger smiling at them.  Somebody said that people who do not like kids are not all that bad. The Lithuanians who do not smile are, in general, just fun, outgoing, friendly people. You simply have to get to know them. Then, they are all smiles.

Cheers and a big smile!

Irena Cade
Amherst, MA
U.S.A.

Category : Opinions

Today’s news from:

- Posted by - (0) Comment

 

Implications of Lithuania's Unbundling of Gazprom-Controlled Pipelines

July 7, 2011

Lithuania has become the first EU country to start implementing the EU's Third Package of energy market liberalization laws. Estonia is considering a move in the same direction, possibly by October. Meanwhile, Latvia has...

[more]

Lithuania Decides to Unbundle Pipelines From Gazprom's Control

July 7, 2011

On June 30, the Lithuanian parliament adopted legislation barring the supplier of natural gas (in this case, Gazprom) from owning or operating pipelines in the country. This conforms with the European Union's Third Package of...

[more]

Lithuania Enlists US Companies for Gas Supply and Transportation Projects

July 5, 2011

Attending the Lithuanian-chaired, Community of Democracies annual event in Vilnius on July 1, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed Lithuania's energy security strategy on its three levels: the national, regional, and...

[more]

Category : News

Irishman on trial accused of Lithuania arms deal on behalf of the Real IRA

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Michael Campbell (38)
Photo: REUTERS

Lithuanian prosecutors last Friday asked for 16-year prison sentence for an Irish citizen accused of trying to buy weapons for the Irish terrorist group.

Michael Campbell (38) was arrested in January 2008 in an international sting operation, and is accused of trying to buy guns and explosives for the Real IRA from undercover agents.

While the proposed sentence was revealed on Friday, Campbell's legal team will only present his final defence at hearings in the middle of September.

Lithuania's overloaded courts usually postpone hearings until the autumn because of their summer recess.

In the last hearing in May, Campbell told the court in the Lithuanian capital that he was set up by British intelligence and denied he plotted to boost the arsenal of the Real Irish Republican Army, led by his elder brother.

His trial opened in August 2009. Open hearings have been rare due to a blackout when Lithuanian and British intelligence witnesses testified.
Campbell's family ties are crucial to the prosecution case because his brother Liam, 47, is one of the four leaders of the Real IRA found liable by a civil court for a 1998 bombing in Omagh, Northern Ireland, which killed 29 people.

The Real IRA broke with the Provisional IRA - once the main armed group opposed to British rule in Northern Ireland - in 1997 over the latter's support for a peace deal with London.

Category : News

Travel magazine elects Vilnius Old Town among “66 Beautiful Small Cities & Towns In Europe”

- Posted by - (9) Comment

 The online travel magazine ‘Flexijourney’ has picked their favourite small cities and towns in Europe, and Vilnius Old Town is one of them!

Here is what they write:
The Old Town of Vilnius (Lithuanian: Vilniaus senamiestis), one of the largest surviving medieval old towns in Northern Europe, has an area of 3.59 square kilometres (887 acres). It encompasses 74 quarters, with 70 streets and lanes numbering 1487 buildings with a total floor area of 1,497,000 square meters. The oldest part of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, it has developed over the course of many centuries, and has been shaped by the city's history and a constantly changing cultural influence. It is a place where some of Europe's greatest architectural styles – gothic, renaissance, baroque and neoclassical – stand side by side and complement each other. Pilies Street is the Old Town's main artery and the hub of cafe and street market life. The main street of Vilnius, Gediminas Avenue, is partially located in the Old Town

Read the article at:
http://www.flexijourney.com/blog/66-beautiful-small-cities-towns-in-europe/

Category : News

‘The Independent’ chooses Palanga beach as one of the 50 best in Europe

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'Lithuania is yet to really take off with British visitors, which is all the more reason to head there,' says the newspaper...

'The country's big summer resort is Palanga - a fantastic 10km stretch of beach set against pine trees and sand dunes [which] remains a hotspot for the country's young and beautiful, well justifying its reputation as Lithuania's party capital.'

Category : News

OPINIONS

Have your say. Send to:
editor@VilNews.com


By Dr. Boris Vytautas Bakunas,
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:

- "50 years of Soviet rule has ruined an entire generation of Lithuanian.

- "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."

Could such stereotypical, emotionally-charged accusations be one of the main reasons why relations between Lithuania's diaspora groups and their countrymen back home have become strained?

Read more...
* * *


Text: Saulene Valskyte

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.

New year predictions
* If during New Year eve it's snowing - then it will be bad weather all year round. If the day is fine - one can expect good harvest.
* 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.

Read more...
* * *

* * *
VilNews
Christmas greetings
from Vilnius


* * *
Ukraine won the historic
and epic battle for the
future
By Leonidas Donskis
Kaunas
Philosopher, political theorist, historian of
ideas, social analyst, and political
commentator

Immediately after Russia stepped in Syria, we understood that it is time to sum up the convoluted and long story about Ukraine and the EU - a story of pride and prejudice which has a chance to become a story of a new vision regained after self-inflicted blindness.

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.

Read more...
* * *
Watch this video if you
want to learn about the
new, scary propaganda
war between Russia,
The West and the
Baltic States!


* * *
90% of all Lithuanians
believe their government
is corrupt
Lithuania is perceived to be the country with the most widespread government corruption, according to an international survey involving almost 40 countries.

Read more...
* * *
Lithuanian medical
students say no to
bribes for doctors

On International Anticorruption Day, the Special Investigation Service shifted their attention to medical institutions, where citizens encounter bribery most often. Doctors blame citizens for giving bribes while patients complain that, without bribes, they won't receive proper medical attention. Campaigners against corruption say that bribery would disappear if medical institutions themselves were to take resolute actions against corruption and made an effort to take care of their patients.

Read more...
* * *
Doing business in Lithuania

By Grant Arthur Gochin
California - USA

Lithuania emerged from the yoke of the Soviet Union a mere 25 years ago. Since then, Lithuania has attempted to model upon other European nations, joining NATO, Schengen, and the EU. But, has the Soviet Union left Lithuania?

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.

Read more...
* * *
Greetings from Wales!
By Anita Šovaitė-Woronycz
Chepstow, Wales

Think of a nation in northern Europe whose population is around the 3 million mark a land of song, of rivers, lakes, forests, rolling green hills, beautiful coastline a land where mushrooms grow ready for the picking, a land with a passion for preserving its ancient language and culture.

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.
MADE IN WALES -
ENGLISH VERSION OF THE
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS.

Read more...
* * *
IS IT POSSIBLE TO
COMMENT ON OUR
ARTICLES? :-)
Read Cassandra's article HERE

Read Rugile's article HERE

Did you know there is a comment field right after every article we publish? If you read the two above posts, you will see that they both have received many comments. Also YOU are welcome with your comments. To all our articles!
* * *

Greetings from Toronto
By Antanas Sileika,
Toronto, Canada

Toronto was a major postwar settlement centre for Lithuanian Displaced Persons, and to this day there are two Catholic parishes and one Lutheran one, as well as a Lithuanian House, retirement home, and nursing home. A new wave of immigrants has showed interest in sports.

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
* * *

As long as VilNews exists,
there is hope for the future
Professor Irena Veisaite, Chairwoman of our Honorary Council, asked us to convey her heartfelt greetings to the other Council Members and to all readers of VilNews.

"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
HERE.
* * *
EU-Russia:
Facing a new reality

By Vygaudas Ušackas
EU Ambassador to the Russian Federation

Dear readers of VilNews,

It's great to see this online resource for people interested in Baltic affairs. I congratulate the editors. From my position as EU Ambassador to Russia, allow me to share some observations.

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.

Read more...
* * *

The likelihood of Putin
invading Lithuania
By Mikhail Iossel
Professor of English at Concordia University, Canada
Founding Director at Summer Literary Seminars

The likelihood of Putin's invading Lithuania or fomenting a Donbass-style counterfeit pro-Russian uprising there, at this point, in my strong opinion, is no higher than that of his attacking Portugal, say, or Ecuador. Regardless of whether he might or might not, in principle, be interested in the insane idea of expanding Russia's geographic boundaries to those of the former USSR (and I for one do not believe that has ever been his goal), he knows this would be entirely unfeasible, both in near- and long-term historical perspective, for a variety of reasons. It is not going to happen. There will be no restoration of the Soviet Union as a geopolitical entity.

Read more...
* * *

Are all Lithuanian energy
problems now resolved?
By Dr. Stasys Backaitis,
P.E., CSMP, SAE Fellow Member of Central and Eastern European Coalition, Washington, D.C., USA

Lithuania's Energy Timeline - from total dependence to independence

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.

Read more...
* * *

Have Lithuanian ties across
the Baltic Sea become
stronger in recent years?
By Eitvydas Bajarunas
Ambassador to Sweden

My answer to affirmative "yes". Yes, Lithuanian ties across the Baltic Sea become as never before solid in recent years. For me the biggest achievement of Lithuania in the Baltic Sea region during recent years is boosting Baltic and Nordic ties. And not because of mere accident - Nordic direction was Lithuania's strategic choice.

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.

Read more...
* * *

It's the economy, stupid *
By Valdas (Val) Samonis,
PhD, CPC

n his article, Val Samonis takes a comparative policy look at the Lithuanian economy during the period 2000-2015. He argues that the LT policy response (a radical and classical austerity) was wrong and unenlightened because it coincided with strong and continuing deflationary forces in the EU and the global economy which forces were predictable, given the right policy guidance. Also, he makes a point that LT austerity, and the resulting sharp drop in GDP and employment in LT, stimulated emigration of young people (and the related worsening of other demographics) which processes took huge dimensions thereby undercutting even the future enlightened efforts to get out of the middle-income growth trap by LT. Consequently, the country is now on the trajectory (development path) similar to that of a dog that chases its own tail. A strong effort by new generation of policymakers is badly needed to jolt the country out of that wrong trajectory and to offer the chance of escaping the middle-income growth trap via innovations.

Read more...
* * *

Have you heard about the
South African "Pencil Test"?
By Karina Simonson

If you are not South African, then, probably, you haven't. It is a test performed in South Africa during the apartheid regime and was used, together with the other ways, to determine racial identity, distinguishing whites from coloureds and blacks. That repressive test was very close to Nazi implemented ways to separate Jews from Aryans. Could you now imagine a Lithuanian mother, performing it on her own child?

But that is exactly what happened to me when I came back from South Africa. I will tell you how.

Read more...
* * *
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