THE VOICE OF INTERNATIONAL LITHUANIA
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Archive for September, 2011
I am new to your newsletter, but I find your observations thought provoking, which is always good, whether one agrees or not, as it provides a basis for growth. So much in circulation in today's media is just fluff with little meaning or value.
One point in counterbalance. There is a lot of criticism of Lithuania's government, and while I agree that things could have been done better, we should be very, very glad that our leaders have been financially conservative, unlike the leadership of Vilnius, which has created huge debts for our children to pay, while goods and services were bought at inflated prices that helped cronies.
People look to the fantasy of the US and think that government can spend freely. The US is truly living in a fantasy world that works so long as they can convince foreign countries to hoard US dollars and keep them off the domestic US market. This option is not available for Lithuania. The result, sooner or later, is super inflation like what existed in Germany around 1923 when the taxi drivers purposely drove their fares by a bak so they could adjust the rate by the latest mark value. I myself have a couple billion marks from that time.
Iki,
Arturas Baranauskas
Vilnius
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Easier to obtain an audience with the pope than with a minister for foreign affairs of Lithuania
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I enjoy your positive articles about Lithuania and send them to some 70 friends around the world. The less positive, I keep to myself.
You have lived long enough in Lithuania and must realize that many of the problems of the present day Lithuania are due to their reluctance to learn from the Western countries or accept advice from Lithuanians who lived and studied in the West. The relative success of Lithuania after World War I was largely due to the replacement of Russian educated officials by those who got their degrees in the West. My own father was the first Lithuanian with a degree in forestry from a Western university and introduced major reforms in the forest management, which survived even during the Communist occupation.
Alas, after 20 years of restoration of independence to paraphrase Kipling "The East is East, the West is West and the twain shall never (so far) meet". I spoke to a number of Lithuanians with degrees from top Western universities, who don't want to return to Lithuania - according to them, the "natives" know everything better.
I might add that for me it was easier to obtain an audience with the Pope, than with a Minister for Foreign Affairs of Lithuania.
Yours sincerely,
Ambassador Algirdas Zemaitis
Vilnius – Rome
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Listen to Scandinavian advice, not arrogantly assuming that we the Lithuanians know best
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I have just read the latest edition of VilNews, thank you for another good job. I agree with your editorial comments. In particular: "Being a Norwegian, I believe Norway and the other Scandinavian countries would have been willing to stretch to great lengths to provide help and advice for the crisis–hit Lithuania and the two other Baltic States. But they had to be asked. Our Lithuanian leaders should refrain from arrogance and avoid ignorance by seeking advice where good help and advice is to be found, domestically and internationally. Can they do that, there is every reason to foresee a bright future for this nation."
I have two comments to make on that. First, I believe that even now it's not too late to ask the Scandinavian countries for help. But you are exactly right: the Scandinavian countries would want in return a guarantee that whatever help they give will be used wisely, listen to Scandinavian advice, not arrogantly assuming that we the Lithuanians know best. Closely linked to this is the second thing: no one wants to give help if they think it's going to be wasted corruptly. Lithuanians need to be able to give the Scandinavian aid-givers a chance to supervise what is going on, the right to inspect and audit, to make sure that the aid is being used as agreed, and not to build the villas of mafiozai and corrupt politicians and public servants on land that they have misappropriated from public forests and lakefronts.
Which brings me back to my key theme (sorry if I'm repetitious): Lithuania will not make much serious progress until bigger efforts are made to stamp out bribery and corruption.
Best regards
Gintautas Kaminskas
Wollongong, Australia
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“Dummheit und stolz wachsen auf einem holz”
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Thank you for the fine arrogance story. Along the lines of your airport comparison, attached is another shameful blemish on the airport. I wholeheartedly agree that the airport is the first image of a country to the visitor. The dungeon like interior structure for processing the arriving passengers certainly doesn't leave much of an image.
I wrote a story in Draugas on robber like taxi fees from the airport to downtown Vilnius. Also that the taxicabs are drenched with nicotine odor and loud blaring Russian radio music listened by mostly Russian speaking taxicab drivers, causing my daughter to ask whether we really have arrived in Lithuania.
There is no cash pay-phone at the airport. To make even a local call one has to buy an expensive multiple call pay phone card, and how would a non-Lithuanian speaking visitor find out about that. Moreover, lack of an official non-commercial welcome and information center or booth to the arriving non-Lithuanian speaking foreigner is another striking example of not understanding the impact of an image that a foreign visitor receives.
On arrogance. Several months ago I had arranged a visit between the minister of energy and a CEO of an important nuclear reactor manufacturer. The meeting was supposed to be for the benefit of the minister on information of what is forthcoming in the future, particularly in small reactors and the possibility of establishing a European affiliate of the company in Lithuania.
The minister graciously extended an invitation to the CEO, but the minister's secretariat refused to extend even the slightest courtesy to this visit, such as picking up the visitor from the airport and transporting him to the meeting, setting up a meeting agenda, or even providing to the visitor's office the address of the ministry. They claimed that this was just another sales visit, and the visitor should take care of everything on his own. As a result the CEO canceled the meeting and eventually went to London. The European affiliate was established in the UK. Thus through such arrogance another opportunity was lost.
There is a lot truth in the German proverb "Dummheit und Stolz wachsen auf einem Holz".
Best regards,
Stan Backaitis
Washington, USA
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31 AUGUST – 18 SEPTEMBER
You find all the latest updates at:
http://www.eurobasket.com/
For 2011, LITHUANIA has been chosen as the host country for one of the most prestigious Sport’s Tournaments in Europe and the World. This is the second time in the Tournament’s rich history that Lithuania has been chosen to host the Basketball Championship of Europe. First time was in 1939, when Lithuania also won the gold medal.
EuroBasket 2011 will crown the Basketball Champion of Europe. While this is an important event for all European countries, it is especially important for a country like LITHUANIA that proclaims Basketball as its “Second Religion”.
The EuroBasket Championship saw its first tournament held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1935. Since then, every two years the greatest teams and talent have met for the “bragging rights” of Europe.
Throughout the history of the tournament our Lithuanian Team has done very well.
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2 September:
Lithuania beats Turkey
75-68 at Europeans
Captain Hidayet Türkoğlu and his team lost, rather unexepectedly. Lithuania and Spain are now the only undefeated teams in Group A.
Lithuania handed Turkey its first defeat at the European Championship on Friday, beating its Group A rival 75-68.
The victory for the host leaves Lithuania and Spain as the only undefeated teams in Group A, by far the toughest in the tournament. Turkey is now 2-1.
Darius Songalia led Lithuania with 12 points, while Simas Jasaitis and Rimantas Kaukenas each had 11.
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SUMMER SUMMARY
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Smoked fish in Nida.
One warm August evening I stood looking out over the Baltic Sea. I stood at the pier in the seaside resort of Palanga from where I caught the above motif through my camera lens. I thought of Palanga’s two great sons, Count Tiškevičius and Mayor Šliupas, who also certainly often were looking out to the endless waves rolling towards the white sandy beaches of Lithuania’s fantastic sea coast. I felt pleased that the summer in Lithuania this year had been pretty good and warm; the summer climate here is in fact normally very good.
And I thought that maybe the summer of 2011 will be remembered as a turning point - that perhaps now again better times are coming for Lithuania and the Lithuanian people.
I wish you, dear readers, a warm and successful autumn!
Aage Myhre, Editor-in-chief
aage.myhre@Vilnews.com
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1 September:
Poland chanceless against Lithuania
Lithuania's Tomas Delininkaitis (R) blocks Poland's Piotr Pamula during the EuroBasket 2011 first-round group A qualification match.
TORONTO - Lithuania had an easier time on the second day of the FIBA EuroBasket competition and as a result, Jonas Valanciunas saw more action.
The hosts rallied from an early three-point deficit to hammer Poland 97-77.
Poland was overmatched, conceding 69% shooting to Lithuania, while being outrebounded 41-19.
A day after getting just four third-quarter minutes of action, going scoreless with a pair of rebounds in a closer than expected victory over Great Britain, Valanciunas, got three minutes in the first half and 15 in the final two quarters when the outcome was no longer in doubt.
The Raptors draft pick didn't look entirely comfortable, a couple of balls slipped through his hands, but he still managed seven points, a couple of rebounds and a block. On the negative side, he fouled out and had five turnovers. The ultra-competitive Valanciunas disagreed with some of the calls and glared at the referee for a long moment after fouling out.
Mantas Kalnietis led Lithuania with 19 points, six rebounds and six assists.
The team will get a huge test on Friday when it takes on Turkey, which is also 2-0 and has been getting excellent play out of Hedo Turkoglu and centres Enes Kanter and Omer Asik.
In the game of the day, Germany beat Italy 76-62 with a great fourth quarter. Chris Kaman went off for 17 points and 17 rebounds, Dirk Nowitzki added 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Andrea Bargnani led Italy with five rebounds, but shot just 2-for-9 for eight points; In other significant games, tournament favourite Spain beat Portugal 87-73 behind 20 points from Pau Gasol; Tony Parker led France over Israel 85-68 with 21 points and eight assists: Turkey beat Great Britain 90-61 despite 10 points from Toronto's Kyle Johnson, Greece dropped Finland by 20, Russia defeated Georgia 65-58 and Macedonia upset Croatia 78-76.
Turkey-Lithuania and France-Germany will be Friday's heavyweight clashes.
Read the Toronto Sun article at: http://www.torontosun.com/2011/09/01/lithuania-big-v-blow-out-poland
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The US Ambassador to Lithuania,
Anne E. Derse
US embassy officials in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania issued a statement commemorating the 20th anniversary of President George H. W. Bush's announcement that the United States had formally reestablished diplomatic relations with the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
It was on September 2, 1991, several days after the coup that brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union, that US President Bush announced the formal recognition of Baltic independence.
Read more at:
http://news.err.ee/politics/2700d0d7-119a-46ed-9249-2b2f60f8e303
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31 August:
Battling Great Britain sunk by Euro hosts Lithuania
Great Britain began their Eurobasket campaign with an 80-69 defeat to hosts Lithuania in Panevezys.
In front of a crowd of 7,000, GB gained the respect of their hosts with a resilient performance that threatened an upset in the third quarter.
Luol Deng scored 25 points for GB and Dan Clark added 15 in his best performance of the summer.
After slipping behind, Lithuania proved too strong and experienced for GB, closing out the game with a 20-6 run.
Coach Chris Finch's team started the game with confident threes from Deng and Reinking and held a 16-10 lead before a Ksistof Lavrinovic three-pointer at the end of the first quarter gave the hosts the lead.
Lavrinovic hit two more in the second quarter as Lithuania began to hit their stride, opening a 10-point lead. GB's frustration in the second quarter boiled over into a technical foul for Finch, but the players showed little sign of losing their cool.
But the third quarter was all GB - they held Lithuania scoreless for almost six minutes after Songaila opened the scoring and Deng, Freeland and Clark combined for a 10-0 run. The lead came on the last minute of the third quarter as the hard-working Freeland swooped to the basket.
Down 57-54 at the end of the third quarter, Lithuania took back the lead immediately at the start of the fourth and when Simas Jasaitis hit a three with 6:27 left to play, Lithuania took a lead that they never lost.
Read more at BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/basketball/14740720.stm
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2 NATO jets crash during military exercise
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French Mirage fighter and
Lithuanian jet L-39 (inset)
Image Credit: nato.int
By LIUDAS DAPKUS, Associated Press VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Two military jets collided above Lithuania during a NATO exercise Tuesday, but one managed to land and the other crashed in an unpopulated area after its two pilots ejected. No serious injuries were reported.
The collision of the Lithuanian and French aircraft occurred near the Zokniai air base in northern Lithuania, home to NATO jets patrolling the skies over the Baltic countries.
The French Mirage fighter was only "lightly damaged" and landed safely at the air base, NATO said.
The Lithuanian pilots successfully ejected from their L-39 Albatros jet after the collision at 10:30 a.m. local time (0730 GMT), according to NATO.
"The two Lithuanian pilots walked away from the crash without serious injury and are currently under medical supervision," the military alliance said in a statement.
The pilots catapulted themselves out of the L-39 combat training aircraft after aiming it toward an unpopulated area to avoid causalities on the ground, Lithuanian defense chief Arvydas Pocius told reporters in the capital, Vilnius. They returned to service after medical checks, he said.
The plane crashed in a forested swampland near Rekyva lake, which is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the air base, Defense Minister Rasa Jukneviciene told the Baltic News Service. There were no reports of injuries on the ground.
Read the Associated Press article at:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jSsa_iYOxJUl01TKrPIoqaxGUPAg?docId=eabc614521684f2b8c3ddc8eb8eee608
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Vilnius vs. Gazprom in Swedish court
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Gazprom workers welding the final joint of the Minsk – Vilnius – Kaunas –Kaliningrad gas pipeline in 2009.
Gazprom has filed a request to the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce to consider the conflict with Lithuania’s Energy Ministry. The Russian company wants to receive a compensation of damage from the ministry following an earlier court proceedings Vilnius initiated against Gazprom.
In March, official Vilnius went to court with the request to investigate the activities of Lietuvos Dujos company, in which Gazprom holds one of the main stakes, and to oblige Gazprom to reduce price for gas it supplies to Lithuania.
The Lithuanian government complained that Russia had set higher gas tarriffs than the tariffs agreed upon during the privatization of Lietuvos Dujos.
Now Gazprom has filed a counter claim seeking compensation for damage it suffered due to Vilnius’ claims. According to general director of the Russian Fund of national energy security Konstantin Simonov, Gazprom has good chances of having his counter claim satisfied.
"It is a common practice to go to arbitration when the parties fail to agree. Such an option is always set in contracts. In this situation, Gazprom is acting in a European way and it will definitely be able to stand up for its rights. Judging from the content of the contracts I think that Gazprom has good chances to win."
It is difficult to say exactly what Gazprom means by damage. But it has been calculated that in the first quarter of 2011 Lietuvos dujos gas sales dropped by more than 1/3. All the experts interviewed by “Voice of Russia” said that the higher gas price for Lithuania is quite grounded. According to Bloomberg news agency, earlier this year Gazprom said that Lithuania, unlike neighboring Latvia and Estonia, won’t receive gas-price cuts because the country plans to begin unbundling ownership of its gas industry
Read the ‘Voice of Russia’ article at:
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/31/55465155.html
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S. Darius and S. Girenas, the two famous American-Lithuanian pilots, have again reason to smile from their 10 litas note.
Lithuania’s economy expanded at a faster rate in the second quarter than previously estimated, driven by recovering consumption and the construction industry.
Gross domestic product grew 6.3 percent from the same three months of 2010, compared with a preliminary estimate of 6.1 percent released on July 28, the Vilnius-based statistics office said in an e-mailed statement today. Output rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent from the previous quarter.
Lithuania’s economy, part of the Baltic region that suffered the world’s deepest recession in 2009, is growing at the second-fastest rate in the European Union after Estonia, driven by foreign demand for its products and strengthening domestic consumption. The central bank andSwedbank AB (SWEDA) both raised their 2011 GDP forecast for Lithuania in the past month.
“Unsurprisingly, private consumption continued to grow briskly, while export and import growth slowed, but remained at good levels,” Annika Lindblad, a Helsinki-based analyst with Nordea Markets, said in an e-mailed note. “We remain confident with our forecast of around 6 percent growth this year, as the domestic economy continues to gain strength and exports are still doing well.”
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KLAIPĖDA OPINIONS
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17 – 24 July was our week with 'Focus on Klaipeda’. Below we bring a selection of comments and perceptions we were presented to from people who responded to us during the week.
Aage Myhre
Editor-in-Chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
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Great to see an issue on Klaipeda, Lithuania’s window to the world. As usually well done.
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StanB
Washington D.C. – USA
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KLAIPĖDA MAYOR
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Mayor of Klaipeda,
Vytautas Grubliauskas
A few days ago I interviewed the new Mayor of Klaipeda, Vytautas Grubliauskas. and I am in the following repeating three of the questions and his answers.
- Aage Myhre, Editor-in-Chief
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OPINIONS
Have your say. Send to:
editor@VilNews.com
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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