Archive for May, 2012

You were too negative

- Posted by - 13556(0) CommentYou+were+too+negative2012-05-23+12%3A58%3A490df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13556

You were to negative. It may have been the family's wishes to keep his body here in Cleveland, since they are still here. However, we do not ever see any of the members of the Smetona family at any Lithuanian functions.

Lith Klubas,
Cleveland, Ohio

Category : Opinions

Lithuania still has a long way to go until it achieves the same level of independence and self-determination it had under Smetona. That’s why to repatriate the remains of President Smetona and Sofija Smetoniene will not happen soon if at all.

- Posted by - 13553(0) Comment2012-05-23+11%3A55%3A270df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13553

Andris Jonas Dunduras

Firstly- Everyone needs to understand the facts about why things are the way they are with the crypt before making baseless statements. Here are the basics:

#1 The crypt remains the property of the Smetona family, and they are very conservative. The decision to repatriate the remains of President Smetona and Sofija Smetoniene are theirs, and nobody else's. From what I've heard, they have declined all offers of such a transfer, and probably aren't even open to dialogue about it. Read on for the reasons..

#2 We must understand that the Smetona regime was a nationalistic (Lithuania first) one, which would be VEHEMENTLY opposed to: A) All elements of communism still present in the Lithuanian government today. These people would have been public enemy #1 during Smetona's rule. B) Lithuania's membership of the European Union is completely contrary to the ideals of Smetona's movement also. C) This is just the tip of the iceberg... we also have terrible poverty, graft, corruption, racketeering by the soviet style nomenclature that still exist in all levels of government (even if in name only), mass exodus and brain-drain by those whose dreams have been shattered by those bloodsuckers, the list goes on... Until the last one of these traitors are gone from power, I think there is ZERO chance the remains will be repatriated, nor would it be appropriate. Take this as a quiet sign that Lithuania still has a long way to go until it achieves the same level of independence and self-determination it had under Smetona.

#3 The crypt is indeed very much visited. You see no flowers on the wall because the family always wanted to avoid it becoming a pilgrimage site, however those wishing to pay quiet respects and a moment of reflection on Lithuania are encouraged to do so. It is that way for a reason. My grandparents and thousands of others who died in exile are buried nearby. No visit is complete without stopping at the mausoleum afterward- I do it, and so do many others.

Most of us in Cleveland's Lithuanian community are aware of these matters relating to the Smetona family crypt, and now you are too. If somebody doesn't know the facts, they should ask, or do a little research instead of proceeding to post meaningless blatherings on their blog.

Thanks for reading, and share with others!

Andris Jonas Dunduras
Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Category : Opinions

- Posted by - 13852(1) Comment2012-05-21+14%3A13%3A090df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13852

Juozas Ambrazevicius -
Brazaitis is no hero

Darius Udrys

Opinion: Darius Udrys

If there’s one thing civilized people should all be able to agree upon, one would think that it would be not to make heroes out of Nazi collaborators. Yet here in Lithuania we are about to witness just such a moral travesty.

Somebody apparently decided it would be a good idea to move the remains of Juozas Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis, acting prime minister of Lithuania during the first months of the Nazi occupation, from the United States to Lithuania. Buried previously in Putnam, Connecticut, he has been exhumed and will be reinterred in Kaunas this Sunday with as much fanfare as can be mustered among the clueless and the callous.

Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis is no hero.

Click HERE to read the article and see more comments
___________________________

Well said Dr. Udrys

Grant Gochin·
Well said Dr. Udrys.
These actions by the Lithuanian Government and religious institutions will stand as a mark of shame on Lithuania for another generation. The commemoration of the facilitator of mass murder is a heinous offense against all civilized people.
___________________________

Thank you, God, that Darius Udrys can speak out at least about this obvious attempt by the Lithuanian government to "double-game" this Nazi collaborator

Geoff Vasil·Thank you, God, that Darius Udrys and the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum can speak out at least about this obvious attempt by the Lithuanian government to "double-game" this Nazi collaborator.

As I understood the issue, the Brazaitis family has been pushing for this since forever. Initially it was supposed to be a private ceremony. How the Lithuanian state got mixed up in this, I don't know.

It's a little hard for me, as what I consider myself to be, a rational person, to believe that Brazaitis-Ambrazevicius was somehow a misguided young man who initially believed Nazi promises (following the handover of Memel?) and became disenchanted later and formed an "anti-Nazi resistance." His unelected "government" was formed by Nazi supporters in Berlin. He "hid" in Germany when things got hot in Lithuania. He signed off on the creation of the TDA, Auxiliary Police and the Kaunas concentration camp/ghetto. After the war, writing under a pseudonym, from the safety of occupied West Germany, he cried about "the loss of a people," but not about the Jews he helped murder. He seems to have created organizations on paper but not to have done anything to stop the Nazis. Like so many war criminals, he seems to have become an "anti-Nazi" sometime in late 1945. Maybe Hitler himself was also an "anti-Nazi?" At least Hitler did more to stop the German war machine, subverting it from within and exposing it to Allied attack.

It IS a travesty that this dyed-in-the-wool Lithuanian Nazi is being commemorated by the Lithuanian state and the Catholic Church and the City of Kaunas. If the Kubilius government believes it is alright to commemorate Holocaust perpetrators and that ethnic cleansing is acceptable, someone outside Lithuania ought to set them straight. What a shame.

Category : Opinions

- Posted by - 13842(0) Comment2012-05-21+13%3A28%3A460df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13842

A wonderful May visit to:

Text and photos: Aage Myhre
aage.myhre@VilNews.com

The long pier that stretches out into the Baltic Sea is the hallmark of Palanga. It is still relatively spacey now in May, but it will soon become the crowded promenade path for intense summer evenings when the sun sets over the Baltic Sea. It is a real breakwater, struggling against the never-ending waves rolling in towards the sandy coast of Lithuania where the more than fresh breeze often does it very best to blow the sand further inland, but with the high dunes behind the beaches effectively stopping it. It is early summer in Palanga, and I simply love the freshness of the sea water, the breeze and the air that now feels healthier than ever.

In Lithuanian language the pier is called a bridge, and I am thinking that for the long years of Soviet oppression, the Palanga pier may have been like a real bridge for the people of this country, a bridge of imagination on how it would be to walk over to the Swedish shore on the other side - to the freedom and prosperity that for so many years had to be no more than a dream for the Lithuanian people.

Palanga town itself is calm and relatively quiet, perfectly well protected from the wind by the tall bowed pine trees that grow along the coast line. The leaves on the deciduous trees behind are still keeping their fantastic glowing red and yellow colours, even if many of them already have fallen to the ground, preparing to fertilise the soil for a new spring next year.

Spring in Palanga is for me even more attractive than the very summer when the huge crowds of tourists arrive here. Now I can see the beauty of the nature in a far more undisturbed way, and each breath of the wind seems now more soothing and healing.

Read and see more…

Category : Featured black / Front page

- Posted by - 13838(1) Comment2012-05-21+13%3A28%3A410df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13838

A wonderful May visit to:

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Text and photos: Aage Myhre
aage.myhre@VilNews.com

As so many times earlier, I am thinking that Lithuania is the country than cannot be understood until one knows at least something about the enormous changes and upheavals that took place on the soil and shores here over century after century throughout the entire history of the country, or at least until the Soviet lid was closing, hiding the truth about Lithuania to the rest world.

Looking out to the Baltic waves I remember the legendary story about how the fleet of the Danish king Valdemar came to Palanga in 1161, becoming the first known conqueror of these shores. Later more Vikings coveted these lands, followed by 13^th and 14^th century crusaders, who to a high degree devastated the area and the settlements here. Only after the Grunwald battle in 1410, a peace contract was concluded, stopping the invasion of the Order to Lithuania. In accordance with the peace contract of Brest in 1435 Palanga became Lithuanian.

The following centuries saw a relatively flourishing Palanga where the inhabitants earned for their living by fishing and gathering of amber which was cast ashore from the sea, trading it with other towns of Baltic coast. Baltic Sea traders visiting Palanga exchanged their goods to amber, honey and furs, all going well until neighbouring port towns got jealous and convinced the Swedish fleet to destroy the Palanga and Sventoji ports.

In 1795, the Russian Empire annexed Lithuania, including Palanga, and then, in 1824, a strange business deal took place when a colonel in the Tsar's army, earl Mykolas Tiskevicius, simply bought the complete Palanga. The earl’s later contribution, however, to the development of the town is very apparent. He established the now famous Palanga Park, including an amazing palace; a new port was made, a brick factory was established, a church was built, and the resort with sanatoriums as we know it today was established.

After the First World War, when Lithuania became an independent state again, there was a disagreement with Latvia regarding the territory of Palanga and Sventoji, but the towns eventually became Lithuanian again.

Walking here, down the lively Basanavicius Street, I am also thinking of Jonas Sliupas, father of my friend Vytautas Sliupas. From 1933 to 1940, Jonas Sliupas served as mayor of Palanga. He returned to this office briefly during the Nazi occupation of 1941, until ousted because of his protest against the destruction of Lithuanian and Jewish lives. How different must not the emotions of those days have been compared to today’s relaxed atmosphere in freedom.

After the storms of two wars, and a 20-year period of freedom in between, in 1944-45, Soviet army occupied Lithuania and Soviet authority was set in also in Palanga. The result was that private villas were nationalized, and instead of them state sanatoriums and relaxation houses were established. In 1952, when Palanga was qualified in Republic subordination, a new project layout of the resort was composed. The relaxation and treatment base of resort was adapted for working all year round, and Palanga became one of the most popular resorts and health centres on the Baltic coast.

In 1991 the Palanga resort opened a new page of history. Nationalized buildings and land were returned to their just owners, the relaxation houses and hotels became private, and people started building modern private villas, detached houses, hotels and restaurants. Every year since, Palanga has gained great popularity as a summer hot-spot.

I am here when the summer season has not yet started, but I am happy to see that there is an increasing popularity for Palanga also at this time of the year. In the hotel lobby I read that a well-known company with headquarter in Vilnius is having a seminar in the hotel’s conference room, on the pedestrian paths through the forests I see many on foot and bicycles, many are still enjoying the sunrays on the park benches after having fed the swans, and there is still teeming life and laughter in Basaniviaus Street every evening.

To visit Palanga, any time of the year, is a healthy and fun experience, truly worth a try!

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Palanga restaurants

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The fantastic Palanga beach

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Fishing at the Palanga pier

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The Palanga Park

This landscaped garden is one of the prettiest, best-preserved, and best-kept parks in Lithuania's coastal region. In 1987 Count Felix Tiskevicius founded this park around the palace built the same year. The park was designed by the famous French landscape architect and botanist Eduard Fransua Andr‚ (1840-1911), who spent three summers in Palanga with his son Ren Eduard Andr (1867-1942) supervising the park's construction. They were assisted by the Belgian gardener Buyssen de Coulon.

Andr's talent and the natural and historical uniqueness of the park's setting successfully blended to create a piece of art.

The scenic park offers a variety of views and moods. The palace is set between a pond and the legendary hill of Birute - an ancient Lithuanian sacred place - that offers a glorious view of the sea. The natural foundation of the park, both in earlier times and now, are relicts of ancient pine forests. Little paths and squares with beautiful flower arrangements are laid out skillfully among the trees.

The contrast of scenery is emphasized by the palace's regular shape: the north side opens onto a magnificent terrace and steps leading into the park. Flowers and a fountain complete the effect. The south side of the palace is surrounded by an oval rose garden that is connected to the palace's terraces by stairs.

Experts guess that the park's founders planted about 500 different kinds of trees and bushes. Trees were brought to Palanga from Berlin, Karaliaucius and other European botanical gardens. Today - as before - pine trees dominate the park. Firs and dark alders grow in the more humid areas. About 250 imported and 370 native plant species are represented. 24 of these are included in Lithuania's list of endangered species (1992 data).

The park has survived two world wars and a number of natural disasters. It has also been extended and restored. However, with the exception of a few details, the park has kept the atmosphere created by Andr, as Florence Andr Kappelin, the head of the E. Andr association, confirmed during her visit to Palanga in 1996.

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Category : Featured black / Travel Lithuania!

Lithuanian coin dedicated to basketball recognized world’s most beautiful

- Posted by - 13825(0) Comment2012-05-21+13%3A13%3A070df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13825

One litas coin dedicated to basketball won the award of the most beautiful circulation coin in the Mint Directors Conference, which takes place every two years, the Bank of Lithuania said.
During the XXVII Conference, which took place in Vienna this year, the coins minted in 2011 and 2012 were evaluated. They competed for the nomination of the Most Beautiful coin and the Most Technologically Advanced coin in the categories of commemorative gold coin, other commemorative coin and circulation coin. The Lithuanian coin received an international award for a perfect expression of the theme, simplicity and clarity of the visual expression.

"Commemorative coins of the Bank of Lithuania frequently become winners of various international competitions, however, a circulation coin was awarded for the first time," said Audrius Misevicius, Member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, Chairman of the Currency Design and Production Commission.

Read more…

Category : News

Juozas Ambrazevicius – Brazaitis is no hero

- Posted by - 13813(0) Comment2012-05-17+11%3A56%3A050df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13813

Darius Udrys

Opinion: Darius Udrys

If there’s one thing civilized people should all be able to agree upon, one would think that it would be not to make heroes out of Nazi collaborators. Yet here in Lithuania we are about to witness just such a moral travesty.

Somebody apparently decided it would be a good idea to move the remains of Juozas Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis, acting prime minister of Lithuania during the first months of the Nazi occupation, from the United States to Lithuania. Buried previously in Putnam, Connecticut, he has been exhumed and will be reinterred in Kaunas this Sunday with as much fanfare as can be mustered among the clueless and the callous.

Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis is no hero.

Read more...

Category : Featured black / Front page

- Posted by - 13812(22) Comment2012-05-17+11%3A56%3A030df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13812

Juozas Ambrazevicius -
Brazaitis is no hero

Darius Udrys

Opinion: Darius Udrys

Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis is no hero. As prime minister he took responsibility over the short-lived Provisional Government that sprang up in 1941 as the Germans pushed the Soviets out of Lithuania. That government was formed by an organization in collusion with German authorities from the start—the infamous Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF).

The LAF hoped to take advantage of the German advance to restore some semblance of Lithuanian independence and, as stated in one of its publications, “carry out an immediate and fundamental purging of the Lithuanian nation and its land of Jews.” Lithuania’s own International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania puts it plainly: "The anti-Semitic views of the Provisional Government and the Lithuanian Activist Front are well-documented.”

The Provisional Government (PG) was populated with officials who sympathized with the Nazi worldview. Historian Saulius Suziedelis notes in particular its “public alignment with the Reich” and “its fawning rhetoric of gratitude to Hitler and ‘Greater Germany’.” Even worse: according to Suziedelis, newly discovered protocols of PG cabinet meetings make plain that “while it had no plan to kill the Jews en masse, it was ready to enact anti-Jewish economic measures modeled on the Third Reich's infamous Nuremberg Laws of the 1930s.”

Those Lithuanians who glorify the PG and the anti-Soviet uprising that spawned it go to great lengths to downplay its association with the Nazis. This contributes to a general lack of understanding among ordinary Lithuanians of what went on during that period and who was responsible.

When pressed, PG apologists excuse the Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis government by claiming that it only collaborated with the Nazis pragmatically and for noble reasons (to restore Lithuania’s sovereignty), that not every member of the LAF sympathized with the hard-line views of the Berlin leadership, that the PG “self-disbanded” as soon as it realized it would be no more than a Nazi puppet, and, anyway, there was nothing the PG could have done to prevent the Holocaust. Some have gone so far as to suggest that when the LAF instructed Jews to “get out of Lithuania,” perhaps it was simply warning them to take measures to protect themselves. Needless to say, this flies in the face of copious evidence in the LAF’s own words that its aims were far more sinister.

Whatever the moral casuistry, the bottom line is that there is no reasonable way to decouple the Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis government from the words and deeds of the LAF and the Nazis. The Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis government never publicly distanced itself from the killings of Lithuania’s Jewish citizens and signed off on orders approving their dispossession, isolation, and other measures that facilitated the Holocaust.

All of this notwithstanding, and for reasons impossible to comprehend, the Government of Lithuania as well as the Mayor of Kaunas Andrius Kupcinskas and Archbishop of Kaunas Sigitas Tamkevicius have lent their support to this week’s ill-conceived commemoration of Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis’s legacy. The Government provided 30,000 Litas or about $11,000 in funding for the reburial and the Mayor is head of the organizational committee. Archbishop Tamkevicius had particularly warm words for Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis, who will be reinterred in a place of honor at the Church of the Resurrection of Christ—this from the same ecclesiastical leadership that refused former Lithuanian prime minister Algirdas Brazauskas a Catholic burial because, according to Archbishop Tamkevicius, he showed no remorse for his communist past.

This is not only deeply hurtful and offensive to the families and the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, many of which were rounded up and murdered by LAF activists. To allow this travesty to proceed gravely compromises our country morally and confirms the already widespread perception that Lithuania is unwilling to face its own history honestly and sincerely.

Whether or not one holds Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis responsible for what was perpetrated under his Provisional Government, it does no one a service to hold up as a hero a man who utterly failed the test of a good leader: standing up for what is right and for the innocent.

Someone should have had the wisdom and the courage to say no to the request for public funding and support for this reburial when it was first made. The Government, Mayor of Kaunas and the Catholic Church should cancel and publicly distance themselves from any events resembling a commemoration of Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis’s legacy.

Category : Featured black / Lithuania in the world

- Posted by - 13808(0) Comment2012-05-17+11%3A48%3A070df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13808

Member of Parliament Petras Gražulis:
Let’s chase ambassadors
and gays out of Lithuania

Juliaus Kalinsko
„15 minučių“ photo / Petras Gražulis

By: Eglė Digrytė / / 15min.lt

Lithuanian MP Petras Gražulis, who has earned notoriety for his homophobic statements and a police record for his behavior during a Gay Pride event in Vilnius in 2010, has made another stunt right in the Parliament building.

On Wednesday, Gražulis turned up at a press conference – attended by LGBT rights advocates and foreign ambassadors – and burst out with comments on necrophiliacs and zoophiles, insults at foreign ambassadors, and declarations that all gay people should leave the country.

The press conference was held on the eve of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO). It was organized by Marija Aušrinė Pavilionienė, social democratic MP, and Lithuanian Gay League (LGL), LGBT-rights NGO. It was attended, among others, by Dutch ambassador Kornel Willem Spaans, US Embassy Policy and Economics Department head John Finkbeiner, Amnesty International representative Helle Jacobsen.

Category : Front page

Look to Norway!

- Posted by - 13803(0) CommentLook+to+Norway%212012-05-17+11%3A42%3A500df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13803

Text: Aage Myhre, Editor-in-Chief

When I came to Lithuania for the first time from my native Norway, more than 20 years ago, this country's political leadership was in the process of drafting the new law book that would be the legal framework for the modern democracy this country was supposed to become after all the years of Soviet occupation. Our small delegation from Norway suggested that one simply could translate our Norwegian legislation, of a free and functioning democracy, but Lithuania's politicians chose not to follow our advice, and used instead many years to develop their own laws. This country's leaders have, for better or worse, an extensive belief in their excellence and ability to reinvent the wheel even when it would have been so much easier to seek advice and help from good neighbours.

Many Norwegian delegations have appeared over the 20 years that have elapsed since that time. They have come and gone without seeing the relationship between Norway and Lithuania thus has become particularly warm or close. In several instances, I know that the Norwegians have travelled back home, headshaking.

Fortunately, has there in 2010 and 2011 been opened new doors, and I feel now much more optimistic regarding bilateral cooperation between my two home countries.

It's for Lithuania now time more than ever to seek closer cooperation with Norway, in many areas, and I encourage President Dalia Grybauskaite and Prime Minister Kubilius to follow up the successes of the latest two years.

Norway is one of the world's richest countries, and also a neighbouring country that in many fields can both understand and help to find solutions to the many challenges still facing Lithuania. I sincerely hope that Lithuania now seizes the opportunity to develop a systematic structure for a very close cooperation with my home country.

The time of emergency measures connected to the crisis and depression are over. Now we need pragmatic, bilateral action.

A good and close cooperation must naturally involve benefits to both parties, and I can imagine many areas where that may be possible. Let me mention a few:

ENERGY
Norway is an energy nation of world format; in oil, hydropower, wind power, solar energy and energy efficiency. Lithuania is in the process of developing their own systems and structures, but could move infinitely faster forward by collaborating with Norwegian companies and institutions.

INDUSTRY
I see it as likely that many Norwegian companies could outsource much of their production to Lithuania. What we need is a skilled professional, who knows Lithuania’s opportunities in manufacturing, who can travel around Norway to discuss possible cooperation projects with Lithuanian companies.

SHIPPING / OFFSHORE
Norwegian companies are increasingly active in Klaipeda port. New ships are being built, others restored, every day, very often with Norwegian principals. An area that can been expanded to a considerable extent and scope.

AGRICULTURE
In the interwar years Denmark and Lithuania competed to be leaders in northern European agriculture. Today, agriculture in countries like Denmark and Norway at a very high level, whereas Lithuania desperately needs new investment and new technology. A collaboration with Norwegian farmers and agricultural organizations could come to mean endlessly much in this process.

FISHERIES
A Norwegian friend of mine is the director of a fish factory in Klaipeda. The owner is the Bornholm company Espersen.
The factory was built new in Klaipeda's Free Economic Zone a few years ago. Now an extension of the factory is underway. This is an excellent example of how Lithuanian labour can do a good job for a company that processes fish for European markets.

TOURISM, COURSES AND CONFERENCES
I am convinced that Lithuania would attract many more Norwegian tourists if they had a person or a group of professional sales people that toured throughout Norway with presentations of what Lithuania has to offer. Not least, this applies to the training and conference sector, which is incredibly large in Norway. Lithuania should clearly be able to come up with very attractive and competitive offers.

Another example: The former Reval Hotels (now operated by Radisson BLU) in Lithuania are Norwegian-owned, and a close collaboration with the owner, the Linstow group, should be investigated further.

SCHOOLS
The Lithuanian school system desperately needs improvement, and collaboration, school-to-school, with Norway, would undoubtedly be useful. I got an excellent example of how useful such cooperation can be when a few years ago I visited the headmaster at the Birštonas Secondary School, Alvydas Urbanavičius. This school, having 800 students, is famous throughout Lithuania for its high level of education. When I asked the headmaster about the reason for this his reply was cards and cash, "We were very lucky to be 'adopted' by a Danish school already in the early 1990s, and the Danes taught us how to run a modern school and also gave us important funding so that we could avoid many of the problems that other Lithuanian schools and the very educational system here is still fighting with."

In terms of higher education, Norway is otherwise heavily involved in Lithuania already. The ISM Universities (University of Management and Economics) in Kaunas and Vilnius, for example, are owned by Norwegian BI (Norwegian School of Management).

But there is much that can be further developed in many levels and learning areas.

HEALTH CARE
A very large number of Lithuanian physicians and other health professionals are today working in Norway. Maybe there could be an idea if one instead tried to find forms of cooperation between Norwegian and Lithuanian health care so that this country would not be completely drained for health professionals for the benefit of rich Norway? Norway has a very important task to fulfil in this aspect, and it should be imposed on Norwegian health policy makers to take this issue far more seriously.

CULTURE, SOCIETY
Lithuania has a wonderful culture that should be experienced by a large number of Norwegians. An extensive cooperation between the cultural sectors of our two countries would mean microns for both parties. As an architect, there is much on my heart to find help to preserve the great Lithuanian wooden houses and other old architecture, and I hope the right institutions in Norway would be ready to help…

During my visit to Lithuania in January 1991, while the Soviet troops surrounded the Parliament and the TV tower in Vilnius, our Norwegian delegation brought with us a letter from Oslo's mayor confirming that Oslo was ready to be Vilnius' first sister city in the west. Later, many Lithuanian and Norwegian cities, municipalities and counties have established friendship agreements. But in most cases only with words, little action.

Now is the time for action. President Grybauskaite’s state visit last year was a good step forward, and I hope PM Kubilius and his government now realise that Norway is a land of opportunity – also as Lithuania's closest friend and ally. A comprehensive and professionally planned cooperation structure on many levels should be prepared.

We have no time to lose.

Category : Opinions

Global financial meltdown? Not in Norway

- Posted by - 13795(0) Comment2012-05-17+11%3A36%3A480df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13795

One European nation escaped the worldwide financial meltdown and recession more or less unaffected. That was Norway, a country which saved its money - rather than spent it - through the boom years. As a result of frugal financial management, Norwegian housing prices and consumption have been on the upswing and interest rates affordable also during the deepest global crisis the latest years. Norway’s fiscal responsibility of its income from enormous oil and gas reserves has allowed the nation to build one of the globe’s largest investment funds.

After large deposits of gas and oil were discovered in the 1970s, Norway didn’t go on a spending spree, and channelled its revenues into a state investment fund (The Government Pension Fund). As of the valuation in June 2007, it was the largest pension fund in Europe and the fourth largest in the world. As of 31 December 2010 its total value is NOK 3,077 billion ($525 billion), holding 1 per cent of global equity markets. With 1.78 per cent of European stocks, it is said to be the largest stock owner in Europe. The government - with very few exceptions - can spend only four percent of those revenues annually.

Beyond its oil and gas revenues, strict banking regulations - tightened after a banking crisis in the early 1990s - shielded Norway from the credit crisis. Norwegian banks made loans wisely and stayed away from exotic investments and financial products over the past decade. “They (the United States) got all the bright guys to make all kinds of fantastic products. Very creative. And it turned out it was maybe not the best solution in the end,” Mr. Amund Utne, a director of Norway’s Finance Ministry, said, with typical Norwegian understatement. “I think Norwegian banks are not as creative. In this situation, it may be good to be somewhat boring.”

Norwegian unemployment rate remains stable, around 3,0%.

Norway has also been immune to the housing bubble. Housing prices are up. Consumption is up. Banks are lending normally to the household sector and interest rates are staying low.

Category : Opinions

- Posted by - 13792(1) Comment2012-05-17+11%3A30%3A590df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13792

The below case is now
being discussed in our

VilNews Forum

Lithuanian pedophile case:
Riot police helped a mother regain custody of her 8-year-old daughter this morning

Riot police helped a mother regain custody of her 8-year-old daughter on Thursday in a tragic case that has riveted Lithuania for three years and led to three deaths.

Thirty-nine protesters were detained as they tried to prevent the police from carrying out a 5-month-old court order saying the mother should regain custody of her daughter from a house where relatives were keeping her.

Many Lithuanians in the southern town of Garliava violently opposed the order because they allege the girl’s mother, Laimute Stankunaite, is part of a pedophile ring.

Protesters had long prevented authorities from taking the girl…

Read more...

Category : News

Because the Soviets were allies of the United States during the war, the nasty chapter of Russia’s occupation of Lithuania is not well-known in the USA

- Posted by - 13788(0) Comment2012-05-17+11%3A22%3A310df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13788

By Daiva Simonis Miller

My parents, Marija and Jonas Simonis, were married Feb. 3,1940, just before the Russians invaded and occupied Lithuania during World War II.

Because the Soviets were allies of the United States during the war, this nasty chapter of history is not well-known in the USA. The extent of Soviet war crimes and the suffering of the victims have only been revealed to the west since the fall of the USSR in the early 1990s, but those who lived in occupied countries during those times learned to live in fear, as their lives were on the line.

When the Soviet army rolled into Alytus, Lithuania, in June of 1940, Marija and Jonas quickly moved their few belongings from their apartment into Marija’s parents’ home to prevent the Soviets from quartering soldiers there.

Read more…

Category : News

Nazi – not Nazi?

- Posted by - 13777(0) CommentNazi+%E2%80%93+not+Nazi%3F2012-05-15+18%3A29%3A070df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13777

Juozas Ambrazevičius or Juozas Brazaitis

The controversial case of Juozas Ambrazevius Brazaitis' (1903-1974) remains being returned to Lithuania for re-burial this week

Juozas Ambrazevičius or Juozas Brazaitis was a Lithuanian literary historian, better known for his political career and nationalistic views. He was acting Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of Lithuania, the so-called Nazi puppet government, from 23 June 1941 to 5 August 1941.

He later joined an anti-Nazi movement, until he escaped from Lithuania by the end of WWII.

A document by the US Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, from January 1975, states that Brazaitis was removed from the list of Alleged Nazi War Criminals and that further investigations had been stopped. But Efraim Zuroff, leader of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Israel, says: "At the time the Americans didn't have the data that clearly point to his connection to the Nazis and to anti-Jewish violence." Here is a copy of the 1975 document...

Read more...

Category : Featured black / Front page

Nazi – not Nazi?

- Posted by - 13779(7) CommentNazi+%E2%80%93+not+Nazi%3F2012-05-15+18%3A29%3A040df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13779

Juozas Ambrazevičius or Juozas Brazaitis

The controversial case of Juozas Ambrazevius Brazaitis' (1903-1974)
remains being returned to Lithuania for re-burial this week

Aage Myhre President Adamkus honoured Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis with "Lietuvos didžiojo kunigaikščio Gedimino ordino Didžiojo kryžiaus" (the highest order of the Lithuanian State) on 6 July 2009. This obliges the government to honour him with a State funeral.... Which will take place Sunday 20 May. No ceremony in Vilnius as it has been stated by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz...

Read the Haaretz article here:

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/glorifying-a-nazi-collaborator-in-lithuania-1.430508

$Description: C:\Users\Aage\Pictures\2012-05-15\001.jpg$

Linas Johansonas

There's a documentary film being released this weekend about Juozas Ambrazevicius-Brazaitis <> Here's what the producer of the film says about Brazaitis:

"Gaila, kad tokie žmonės nėra įvertinti visuomenės. Juozas Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis yra apdovanotas valstybiniais apdovanojimais ir įvertintas kaip vienas iš svarbiausių kovų už Lietuvos laisvę dalyvių. Bet šio jausmo nėra mūsų visuomenėje. Jaunimas tiesiog jo nežino, tad pasirinkimas buvo natūralus. Kitas svarbus dalykas, kad Juozas Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis pagaliau bus perlaidotas tėvynėje – tai labai svarbus įvykis mūsų istorijoje ir būtų gėda niekaip neįamžinti šios datos."

rough translation:

"It's a shame the people like him aren't appreciated. Brazaitis was awarded the nations highest honors, & is appreciated as one of the most important fighters for Lithuania's freedom. But this feeling is missing in our society. Todays youth knows nothing about him. Another important thing, his body will finally be laid to rest in Lithuania, which is a very important event in our nations history, & would it would be shameful not to immortalize this date"

(I'm posting this not as a supporter of Brazaitis, which i'm not, but for everyone to understand why some Lithuanians honor him)

Dokumentinio filmo premjerą pristatantis Saulius Bartkus: tai – šioks toks patriotizmas | 15min.lt

www.15min.lt

Televizijos laidų prodiuseris Saulius Bartkus, be laidų prodiusavimo, labai domisi istorija ir prieš keletą metų pradėjo kurti dokumentinius filmus.

Lars Persen
This is a huge dilemma for Lithuania. Since the Soviet opression was both so hard and long quite a few Lithuanians rank the time under Germany the better, in stead of expressing an equally strong historical condemnation of both Nazi Germany and communist Soviet. Considering both sides destruction of Jewish communities in Lithuania and their atrocities, nor German or Soviet collaborators should be acknowledged! Giving Brazaitas a post-mortem re-funeral in Lithuania is surprising and sad.

One can in 1941 understand his action, when one takes to account that the German at the time challenged the Soviet occupation. But in retrospect no Nazi collaborator should be honored, no matter what his intentions were!

Linas Johansonas ‎Lars Persen wrote: "One can in 1941 understand his action, when one takes to account that the German at the time challenged the Soviet occupation. But in retrospect no Nazi collaborator should be honored, no matter what his intentions were!"

Shouldn't the same apply to those who collaborated with the Russians?

Aurelijus Baltušis

Extracts from a Report by Einsatzgruppe a in the Baltic Countries:
“It was no less important to establish as unshakable and provable facts for the future that it was the liberated population itself which took the most severe measures, on its own initiative, against the Bolshevik and Jewish enemy, without any German instructions being evident.

In Lithuania this was achieved for the first time by activating the partisans** in Kovno. To our surprise it was not easy at first to set any large-scale anti-Jewish pogrom in motion there.
Klimatis, the leader of the partisan group referred to above, who was the first to be recruited for this purpose, succeeded in starting a pogrom with the aid of instructions given him by a small advance detachment operating in Kovno, in such a way that no German orders or instructions could be observed by outsiders.[...]
Both in Kovno and in Riga evidence was taken on film and by photographs to establish, as far as possible, that the first spontaneous executions of Jews and Communists were carried out by Lithuanians and Latvians.”
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Einsatz_Baltic.htm

Darius Udrys Since when do civilized countries make heroes out of Nazi collaborators? Brazaitis failed the most important test of a good leader: to protect the innocent and stand up for what is right. This adulation is an instance of staggering moral imbecility.

Category : Featured black / Lithuania in the world

- Posted by - 13766(0) Comment2012-05-15+18%3A13%3A180df53x21http%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D13766

No Lithuanian leaders called to say they
love me

Rimgaudas Vidzunas, Arizona

Rimgaudas Vidzunas’ story is similar to those of many other Lithuanian- American children who were born while their parents fled Stalin's Red Army.
Rim has been back in his parents' homeland and do much to keep the memory alive. Still it is with a certain soreness he answers NO when I ask if he ever heard from the Lithuanian authorities. Not a single letter, no phone call from the home country's leaders. No one from home has told Rim and many other refugee children that they are loved by the ancestral homeland, that they are welcome back now that the communism yoke is lifted off. It seems, unfortunately, that today’s Lithuanian leadership has not done much to restore contact with this most valuable of all resources, namely its own people around the globe.

Read Rim’s story HERE
and see also the below comments
___________________________

Rim, “We love you!”

Jenifer C. Dilis

Rim, "We love you!"
It may be from this complete stranger, but it is still genuinely sent...:)
Keep going back to Lietuva...Nothing is stopping you and "the others" from visiting.
I know NOTHING of politics, government policies, grudges held from one to another...
I DO know that we are all human beings who seek to belong, to fit in, to feel welcome.
IS there truly an unspoken disregard for "Displaced Lits" among those who stayed behind for whatever the reason?!?
I am confused...I am in love with MY Lietuva because it is the homeland of all four of my grandparents. I know they all were HERE in the US by 1930, when my parents were born. Does that mean that I should love MY Lietuva any less, if my grandparents were not there much past their own teenage years? And worse, does My Lietuva love ME less for this limited immediate linkage to it?!?!
I am suddenly saddened...
Sorry I went off track...I do that quite often...oops...:)
Rim, I love you....GO VISIT YOUR LIETUVA!!! :)

Jenifer C. Dilis,
Massachusetts
___________________________

Rim, You've helped create a real sense of unity among us

Boris Bakunas

DPs Rule! Thanks for starting this great thread of comments. You've helped create a real sense of unity among us. I can identify with everyone one of the comments posted, and I wish all of you well.

"My mom stepped off the ship in Boston with a suitcase in one hand and me in the other. Grandfather washed dishes at the Waldorf Hotel Cafeteria. When we moved to Chicago, we lived in a basement -- not a basement apartment, but a basement with a concrete floor, an iron-cast sink, and bed sheets hung on ropes to separate the sleeping area from where we ate."

So many of us have similar childhood memories.

So many of us worked hard, saved money, sent money to Lithuania just as soon as it was allowed, and bought our own homes. So many or us graduated college and earned higher degrees, or our children have.

So many of us finally got to reunited with those of our relatives who survived the Soviet occupation.

Good Wishes to All!

Boris Vytautas Bakunas,
Chicago

Category : Opinions

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?

* * *

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.

* * *

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.

* * *

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.

* * *

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.

* * *

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.

* * *

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.

* * *

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.

* * *

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.

* * *

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.

* * *

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.

* * *

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.

* * *

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.

* * * Click HERE to read previous opinion letters >

Archive for May, 2012

A wonderful May visit to:

Juozas Ambrazevicius - Brazaitis is no hero

Member of Parliament Petras Gražulis: Let’s chase ambassadors and gays out of Lithuania

OPINIONS

Juozas Ambrazevicius -
Brazaitis is no hero

Member of Parliament Petras Gražulis:
Let’s chase ambassadors
and gays out of Lithuania