THE VOICE OF INTERNATIONAL LITHUANIA
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Three Lithuanias
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By Kestutis Eidukonis
In my travels and musings about Lithuania and Lithuanians it has become quite clear to me that there is no such entity as a single Lithuania anymore. Any serious writing or treatment of the subject matter has to recognize this reality.
The singular Lithuania my parents knew and described to me no longer exists. Lithuania has been transformed into at least three different and distinct entities. Each with its own good and bad characteristics. When I discuss Lithuania with friends and relatives it is like the blind men describing the elephant. Depending on who you talk to. Lithuania is either beautiful, hopeful or beyond redemption.
Last week I my wife Siga, and a mutual friend from Japan, Sakae Wade were privileged to get a tour of the Palace of the Dukes of Lithuania (Valdovū Rūmai). Over the years we have watched as this palace was reconstructed amid controversies and supposed scandal. A lot of Lithuanian media was very critical of the expense, delay and fraud and corruption associated with the Palace. One could not turn on the TV without hearing negative comments about this undertaking. I am ashamed to admit, even I, was taken in by some of this "agitprop". The Palace will open to the public in a few days and I believe visitors will be pleasantly surprised by the beauty and history that will confront them. After taking the tour I was no longer surprised by the amount spent on the Palace.
Had it been a simple question of re-creating the Palace a la Disneyland, I don't think it would have cost the amount of money it did. Fortunately for the posterity of Lithuania, the past as much as possible, was preserved along with the re-creation. The Palace rests on the original foundations and mirrors them as much as possible. The preservation of the original must have cost a fortune. The basement chambers are all climate controlled to preserve the original foundations and other fragile findings. I strongly advise every tourist to Lithuania to deeply explore this marvel. The work done to preserve the original archeology has been praised by experts from all over the world. Yes a lot of things could have been done cheaper - but I think the results were worth it. I and Siga were very much touched by the passionate words of the Deputy Director of the Palace, Dr. Jolanta Karpavičienė, who challenged anyone who wanted to spit on this work and on Lithuanian history to come and take the tour and then if they still wanted to do so to go ahead! I was very impressed by the passion of all the people associated with not only the Palace, but the entire staff who worked in State Cultural Reserve of Vilnius Castles. A lot of very dedicated people fighting very hard to preserve Lithuanians heritage with limited funds and lots of political strings.
The Palace to me symbolizes Vilnius. Vilnius is one of the Lithuanias, it is a charming city seething with prosperity, renovation, construction, pride and liberal doses of corruption and politics. The amount of money being lavished on this city is phenomenal. Tourists in the thousands flock to the Old Town every day! It is truly one of the most architecturally beautiful and unique cities of the world. Vilnius truly is an international city. As one meanders through its winding cobblestone streets one hears a cacophony of languages. Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Polish, Yiddish, English and many others being spoken. I feel very good and comfortable when I come back to this city. All of Vilnius is not this nice. There are indeed many Soviet style apartments and areas that indeed are a little bit depressing. I have been told that Kaunas is just as nice and more Lithuanian than international, but that is another story. I think Kaunas is more like Vilnius than the rest of Lithuania.
The rest of Lithuania is symbolized by the area where my mother-in-law lives. She lives in a beautiful area of Lithuania that happens to contain the highest point in Lithuania. There farmers are eking out a living. The area is reachable only by turning off of the highway and following first a rock paved road, then a dirt road. First to the town of Stakliškės where Midus is made, than to the farming village of Užuguostis, and finally turning of the rock road onto a dirt road passable by only one car. The wooden carved sign at this point says Gedanonių Kalva, 4.2 km. Arriving at Gedenonių Kalva one is struck by the difficulty of reaching the place, the isolation, the greatness,, and the natural beauty, the wild flowers, the plowed fields and the overgrown fields surrounding the place. One is also struck by how abandoned and overgrown this recently constructed land mark has become. Over a hundred thousand Euros were spent on this "Landmark". The already bad road was further ruined by the construction and a very bad winter, along with improperly done maintenance. I have only seen tourists there once. They did not have much good to say about this monument. The rumor among most of the inhabitants is that this was simply a money-laundering proposition to obtain money from the EU.
The area is administered by a district administrator who has her hands full. The population is declining. From about 3000 inhabitants during Soviet times to about 500, nowadays. She still has to plow the roads, keep culverts clean handle local disputes and other headaches. Half of the population works hard, the other half hardly works. They get by on 350 LT a month unemployment. When one lives in the countryside, getting food and firewood is not a problem. Most people grow their own or a relative grows something and shares it for helping out in the fields. Some people still live in dirt floor homes, others are a bit more prosperous, The only bill some people have to pay is for electricity. This leaves quite a bit left for moonshine and contraband cigarettes. People do odd jobs for some of the more prosperous people in the area, but for the most part it is very difficult to find help or to get people to work. The feeling most of the people have here is that they are not a part of Lithuania. The politicians only look after Vilnius and each other. The EU is looked upon as a waster of money, and a creator of lazy people, who figure out to milk the system. The feeling one gets when one visits this area is that the abandonment will only accelerate. There are already quite a few abandoned farmhouses, where people don't come or only visit occasionally. The contrasts could not be more stunning - beautiful nature - abandoned farms. This area is such a contrast to Vilnius. Some people might prefer this to living in Vilnius. I hope they do make the move. I am sure there are a lot of opportunities for people who want to tame the countryside.
I know for a fact that there are a lot of Lithuanias like this out there. But here in some of these villages I sometimes find the Lithuania of my parents - the people who take care of each other. While some of these people long for the bygone Soviet era - most are patriotic Lithuanians who happen to be totally disenchanted by their government and their representatives and the promises that were made to them. Gedanonių Kalva symbolizes the Lithuanian Government to these people.
The third Lithuania is the diaspora - what a story that is. If the diaspora ever decides to return then Lithuania will be an unbeatable and unstoppable country. I know all the arguments for why they should have stayed in Lithuania. I also know the reasons most of them left. It is truly a desperate step to voluntarily exile oneself from the land of your birth, the land of your friends and relatives. What kind of person does this. Well, let me tell you that most of the people of the Lithuanian diaspora I have met truly only did it as a last resort. I do not think leaving Lithuania was a first choice for any of them. The thing that amazes me the most is that most of these third wavers still love Lithuania, even after all the agonizing things Lithuania has put them through, they still talk and dream of someday returning to a different Lithuania one that doesn't say to them you left - don't come back. You are no longer one of us. I remember a conversation with a Lowlander (Żemaitis) who told me, "Kestuti, you don't understand - they (the people in government) do not want dual citizenship - they do not want you and other Lithuanians who grew up elsewhere. They are afraid that a lot of you will vote. They are afraid that a lot of you will run for office. They are afraid of losing their power base. After all over a third of Lithuania is the diaspora, just think of what this diaspora could do if they all retained or got their citizenship. What if they all voted? It would change the political dynamic of this country. That is why the politicians will never let it happen!"
I believe my friend had a point. If I were sitting in Russia, I could not have devised a better strategy to insure Three Lithuanias! Divided between rural, city and diaspora. A Lithuania I can easily dominate with my oil money! Where my agents will be leaders. Where corruption of the legal system is allowed to flourish. Where people do not trust their government. Where crooks and embezzler's rights are more important than the ordinary Lithuanian's desire to maintain his citizenship and his links to Lithuania. Where is the Leadership of Lithuania? Where is the person or persons who can unite the country? Ah but that is why we have three Lithuanias, a dozen parties - more emigration, more loss of economic freedom. Divide and conquer! E Unum Pluribus!
PICTURES FROM THE ROYAL PALACE:
LITHUANIAN COUNTRYSIDE:
Arriving at Gedenonių Kalva one is struck by the difficulty of reaching the place, the isolation, the greatness,, and the natural beauty, the wild flowers, the plowed fields and the overgrown fields surrounding the place. One is also struck by how abandoned and overgrown this recently constructed land mark has become. Over a hundred thousand Euros were spent on this "Landmark". The already bad road was further ruined by the construction and a very bad winter, along with improperly done maintenance. I have only seen tourists there once. They did not have much good to say about this monument. The rumor among most of the inhabitants is that this was simply a money-laundering proposition to obtain money from the EU.
LITHUANIA’S DIASPORA:
Faces of the Lithuanian diaspora.
Photo; Justinas Bartkevicius.
Faces of the Lithuanian diaspora.
Photo; Justinas Bartkevicius.
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The beggar woman
of Kaunas
By Boris Vytautas Bakunas
It was bitterly cold in Kaunas that December of 2003 during my first visit to the land of my ancestors. Driven by gusts of bone-chilling wind, I sought warmth inside a delicatessen just off Laisves Aleja.
The old woman stood so close to the door that I nearly crashed into her. Snow swirled in behind me like a white cape, sending its flakes towards the last-minute Christmas shoppers inside. Several cast glances at me, and seeing nothing unusual, turned away.
I could barely hear the muttering, hushed tones the old woman spoke...She was so small that I had to bend my head to see her. A frayed white headscarf tightly hugged a wrinkled face – a face battered by at least 70 years of hard living.
Her lips were moving in cadence with her head, which bobbed up and down ever so slightly as if she were saying her rosary. But there were no beads in the cupped hands that stretched towards me. It was then that I understood she was begging.
I had seen beggars before. I remember one legless beggar sitting in child’s little red, steel wagon in front of a dime store in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood where my family moved just as soon as my grandfather found work in the steel mills. No matter how poor we were, my mother always found a quarter to give him, and he always greeted her gleefully when he saw her coming his way.
I fumbled through my pockets finding only a few litai. The old woman took them. Then she humbly clasped my hands in hers. Her hands were old and gnarled like the roots of an ancient oak clutching the earth.
“Dekuj, dekuj,” she muttered, her head bowing in gratitude. “For what?" I wondered. “A few litai?”
A wave of anxiety swept through me. You know that sinking feeling which calls up a memory flash so brief that you forget the details, and all you are left with is cold dread.
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The beggar woman
of Kaunas
By Boris Vytautas Bakunas
It was bitterly cold in Kaunas that December of 2003 during my first visit to the land of my ancestors. Driven by gusts of bone-chilling wind, I sought warmth inside a delicatessen just off Laisves Aleja.
The old woman stood so close to the door that I nearly crashed into her. Snow swirled in behind me like a white cape, sending its flakes towards the last-minute Christmas shoppers inside. Several cast glances at me, and seeing nothing unusual, turned away.
I could barely hear the muttering, hushed tones the old woman spoke...She was so small that I had to bend my head to see her. A frayed white headscarf tightly hugged a wrinkled face – a face battered by at least 70 years of hard living.
Her lips were moving in cadence with her head, which bobbed up and down ever so slightly as if she were saying her rosary. But there were no beads in the cupped hands that stretched towards me. It was then that I understood she was begging.
I had seen beggars before. I remember one legless beggar sitting in child’s little red, steel wagon in front of a dime store in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood where my family moved just as soon as my grandfather found work in the steel mills. No matter how poor we were, my mother always found a quarter to give him, and he always greeted her gleefully when he saw her coming his way.
I fumbled through my pockets finding only a few litai. The old woman took them. Then she humbly clasped my hands in hers. Her hands were old and gnarled like the roots of an ancient oak clutching the earth.
“Dekuj, dekuj,” she muttered, her head bowing in gratitude. “For what?" I wondered. “A few litai?”
A wave of anxiety swept through me. You know that sinking feeling which calls up a memory flash so brief that you forget the details, and all you are left with is cold dread.
I feverishly searched my pockets again. Empty.
“Wait here,” I said. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.
I skidded across the icy street to a bankomat and got – I don’t know how much – maybe sixty dollars worth of litai.
Then I rushed back. Would the old woman still be there when I got back?
I shoved a crumpled ball of paper money into her hands. As she began unwrapping it, I tried to leave. But a hand tore into my sleeve. All I remember were the tears running in rivulets down her wrinkled face and the words “Dekuj, dekuj” and something about how she and her daughter who was ill would have heat this month and could celebrate a real Christmas.
“Ner už ką,” I blubbered. “It’s nothing, nothing really.”
The living room of my cousins’ apartment was decked with a feast you’d expect to find on a luxury liner. Though far from rich, they had spared no expense to greet their relative from abroad. My aged aunt, the youngest sister of my dead father, marveled that I had not forgotten my native tongue. Toast followed toast. Laughter rung out like the sound of Christmas bells and chimes.
I laughed, too. But my thoughts were elsewhere. I had come to Lithuania bearing the ashes of my mother, in fulfillment of her wish to be buried in her beloved Kaunas. And now I thought of my last days with her and the gifts she had given me.
The gift of her labor, the seemingly endless of hours of toil she spent working in factories for a pittance during our first decade in America.
The gift of her words, the words she spoke to me just before I started school, telling me that if I worked hard one day I would work in an office or maybe even be a teacher myself..
And I remember her gift of compassion. No matter what our circumstances, she always managed to have something left over to give to others -- a donation to a charity, a Sunday offering to the Church, and always a quarter to every beggar she saw.
I have seen beggars wherever I’ve been. I have seen lame beggars, beggars without legs, beggars with bent backs. I’ve seen young beggars barely out of their teen-aged years, their arms pitted with scabs and their hands swollen from drugs. I’ve seen healthy, strong beggars. And beggars who smelled a saloon.
I have heard people say, “Don’t give him a cent. He’s healthy. He’s strong. Why doesn’t he find a job and work like the rest of us?”
“He’ll just waste it all on drink.”
And I remember my mother’s words, “How sad it is that the only joy some men can find in life comes in a bottle.”
And now I remember the old woman with the frayed white headscarf in Kaunas during the winter of 2003 muttering “Dekuj, dekuj” and weeping, and I remember thinking of her sick daughter. Did they have their real Christmas in a warm apartment that year? I hope so. Was it their last Christmas? I hope not. Oh God, I hope not.
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Baltics path to euro in
a sea of Eurozone turmoil
 Dr. Stasys Backaitis |
Lithuania will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2013, starting from the 1st of July. VilNews has on this background asked readers to annotate and analyze factors that have to do with Europe, the EU, the euro and Lithuania. This is one of the posts we have received. An article by Dr. Stasys Backaitis, |
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EU Eurozone (17) |
The promise
For most of the southern EU countries the euro may seem like chains to a captive, but for Latvia’s and Lithuania’s governments and their elites, acceptance into the eurozone (EZ) symbolizes freedom and independence. To the Baltics, membership in the EZ reinforces each country's integration into the west and is the final big step in liberation from their historical tormentor, Russia. Following Latvia, Lithuania is eagerly awaiting the green light to be admitted to the EZ in the next year or two. That was also the message by the Nobel Committee last year, when it awarded the EU the Nobel Peace Prize for its role in “the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights as well as political freedom”. The message echoed by the Continent’s politicians, in the words of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is the choice between continued integration or a return to “centuries of hatred and blood spill”.
The EU message is hammered home relentlessly by the EU
politicians,
who believe their citizens face a stark choice, in the words
of Chancellor
Angela Merkel of Germany, between continued integration and a
return
to “centuries of hatred and blood spill.”
Benefits of membership
This euphoria seems to be rather a strange contradiction, as deep financial problems in Greece, Portugal, Spain, and several other countries have rattled the foundations of EU and particularly the integrity of the eurozone. Now that the Czech Republic, Poland as well as Hungary are having second thoughts of joining the euroclub, and England is outright rejecting the thought, why are the Baltic countries so eager to join it?
Lithuanian Finance Minister, Rimantas Sadzius, echoed Dombrovski, by saying in a Bloomberg Brussels interview on May 13, 2013 that joining the euro will help his country’s economy by boosting its ability to attract international financing. “We would have a huge improvement of the investment climate in Lithuania almost overnight,” Sadzius said. He noted that “Lithuania risks isolation if it slows its march to the common currency, now that Finland and Estonia have joined the 17-nation euro bloc and Latvia has been invited to join it in 2014.” Assuming it can meet all economic and fiscal targets, Lithuania is aiming for acceptance into the eurozone in 2015. “We want to participate in the decision-making of the euro zone,” Sadzius said. “We see our future here.”
According to the Guardian, Latvia's prime minister, Valdis Dombrovskis,” joining the euro makes economic sense”. It will bring budget savings, promote foreign direct investment and underpin the recovery from an economic collapse in 2008-11. But it's not all finance and economics. For the Baltic States, long at the mercy of an imperial Russia, whether tsarist or communist, and now wary of Vladimir Putin, the euro would affirm gain rather than loss of sovereignty.
The Baltic States wanted to join the eurozone in 2008, but was stopped by the financial collapse in the EU. Their housing and consumption bubble, fuelled by cheap credit from the Swedish and Danish banks that dominate the Baltic banking sector, burst and sent the economy into a tailspin, more in Latvia and Lithuania and somewhat less in Estonia. Their economies shrank by nearly 25%, civil service jobs and wages were slashed, numerous social, education, and health services frozen and some axed. As a result unemployment tripled, property prices collapsed by up to 70%, and an estimated 10% of the population, mainly young people, emigrated.
Yet in the last year and a half, the Baltic countries went back from bust to boom. Because of their previous belt tightening economic policies and self imposed fiscal constraints, they became the fastest growing in the entire EU region, up to 5% last year.
Dombrovskis and his Lithuanian counterparts argue that, unlike Greece and the other southern rim eurozone members, the recovery of their countries is solid and sustainable, based on manufacturing and exports and not by easy credit of the boom years of the last decade. The achievements are something no other eurozone members have managed to pull off, by imposing austerity measures and spending cuts as tough or tougher than any in the eurozone without causing public unrest or social upheavals.
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Lithuanian Finance Minister, Rimantas Sadzius, said in a Bloomberg Brussels interview on May 13, 2013 that joining the euro will help Lithuania’s economy by boosting its ability to attract international financing. “We would have a huge improvement of the investment climate in Lithuania almost overnight,” Sadzius said. He noted that “Lithuania risks isolation if it slows its march to the common currency, now that Finland and Estonia have joined the 17-nation euro bloc and Latvia has been invited to join it in 2014.” |
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Managing hazards
Are the Baltic States over the hump, and will not experience the euro sickness that is shaking the southern EU rim? Based particularly on Greece’s and Portugal’s debilitating experience, there is convincing evidence that euro’s initial lure leads most financially unendowed, less industrialized and poor in natural resources countries, subsequently to very painful downfall.
Estonia’s Prime Minister Andrus Ansip noted at the Baltic Development Forum in Riga on May 30, 2013 that Latvia and Lithuania’s joining the euro area will make the Baltic States even more attractive to investors and will boost economic growth in the region. “Joining the euro area was and is very important to us. After joining the euro area, foreign investment in Estonia went up 10.4% within a year while unemployment decreased significantly”. According to the Prime Minister, the use of a common currency also increases trade with other European Union member states and generates economic growth.
In a 1961 paper Robert Mundell noted that common currency is a matter of balancing advantages against disadvantages. Economically, the advantages are reductions in the costs of trade-eliminating the need to buy and sell currencies, to hedge exchange rate risks with futures or swaps, and the like. Economic disadvantages stem from the fact that a country with a shared currency cannot respond independently to external shocks by using monetary instruments like changes in interest rates or exchange rates. Mundell also recognized a role for political factors in the choice of currency arrangements. Interestingly, at that time, he saw the question of common currency as purely academic, “hardly within the realm of political feasibility that national currencies would ever be abandoned in favor of any other arrangement.” Little did he know of what would happen in 2000 and beyond years.
If joining the eurozone stimulates economies and helps to reduce unemployment, why is the opposite happening to the southern rim of EU?* People in the southern rim countries appear to believe that the euro project has locked them in economic chains, rather than advancing democracy, liberalism, and human rights. As is, the euro has taken the weaker less industrialized member states to an extraordinary test of resilience. Large segments of the southern EZ citizens see themselves cast in an economic prison, with Germany as the jailer and the common currency as the bars. They view the future as continued stagnation, characterized by aging societies with expensive welfare burdens and large segments of the young people sitting idle and , unable to find work.. It is a horrendous stress, unseen in the history of modern Europe, and particularly devastating to the youth segment. Of the population. In the Continent’s sick-man economies, the jobless rate for those under 25 now staggers the imagination: more than 40 percent in Italy, more than 50 percent in Spain, and more than 60 percent in Greece.
If
joining the eurozone stimulates economies and helps to reduce
unemployment,
why is the opposite happening to the southern rim of EU?
Stepping stones to success
Upon joining the eurozone, countries such as Greece, Spain, Italy, and Portugal are almost certainly no better off than if they would have kept their own currencies a decade ago. "The introduction of the euro created a lot of wrong signals and distortions," says Uri Dadush, an economist at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington, DC and author of the excellent new study “Paradigm Lost, The Euro in Crisis”. The euro provided benefits, such as reduced transactions costs, inexpensive loans to finance internal projects, etc., but also caused very serious problems at pay-back time these countries now face."
Monetary union has damaged their economies in two major ways. First, inexpensive borrowing, that made the euro look so appealing, caused booms in domestic consumption. However, it also raised enormously overall costs, especially for labor. As a consequence it lowered dramatically their competitiveness both compared to stronger euro zone members such as Germany and France and with respect to countries that didn't join the euro like Britain and Sweden.
Second, the easy credit enticed the southern rim governments to borrow and spend lavishly. As a result, they are now struggling with potentially ruinous levels of debt. Both problems were just what Friedman would have predicted, that, a single monetary policy and one-size-fits-all interest rates simply won't work for economies as different as mighty Germany and as wobbling as Greece or Spain. It turned to be ruinous even to the more prosperous Italy and Ireland, whose stronger economies suffered from the same wrong signals.
Since joining the eurozone, the southern EU economies have lost ground to their stronger trading partners in competitiveness. Their costs for making products or even growing fruits and vegetables, especially for export, have increased sharply and became uncompetitive The best measure, called Real Effective Exchange Rate or REER index, calculated by the EEC for 35 nations, indicates that the main culprit in the unbalance is the cost of labor.
Since 1989, the competitiveness ratings fell 9% for Greece, 16% for Spain and Italy, and 26% for Ireland, which was renowned as a mighty exporter. Now, everyone of them is struggling with costs that are between 16% to 31% above the norm. According to the index, labor and other expenses in Italy and Spain are now one-third higher than in the UK. This indeed is not a good denominator for resolving high unemployment problems.
Latvia’s and Lithuania’s integration into Europe must be viewed through the lens of powerful historical forces and very dangerous and unpredictable neighbors. For both countries deeper integration into the EU is the only right way to go. But the euro evidently might not be necessarily the right symbol of that forward movement, or if it is, it must be handled with extreme sense of balance, which in a climate of intense political rivalry is very difficult to carry out. The euro is most often viewed as a political project, one that will bring the nations of Europe into a greater and deeper union. But joining the euro at a moment when history is fiercely contesting this vision, might be euphoria to some and disaster to others. The majority of Baltic populations is on the cautious side and wants to see first how the EZ will resolve its own problems. Will politicians listen?
Although Latvia and Lithuania appear to meet the criteria set by EU to be admitted to the eurozone club, it does not tell the whole story. Membership in the eurozone may not always be easy, because each of the countries faces unique problems and because the euro itself is in a highly fragile circumstance.
First; it is not likely that inflation in both Latvia and Lithuania will continue to stay as low as it is now. Experience by southern rim euro countries indicates that a relatively poor country with a fixed exchange rate, upon availability of “cheap” money, will experience faster inflation than its larger trading partners. Yet to counteract these negative effects, the euro member countries cannot use monetary policies and exchange rates to manage their changing inflation rates.
Second; faster real growth and faster inflation will make management of fiscal policy more difficult. During the boom years of cheap and easy money in 2004 to 2007, the governments, yielding to populist pressures, raised government salaries, minimum wages, and social benefits with little worry about consequences. The resulting overheating of the economies intensified the crash that followed the global economic crisis in 2008 and 2009. As a result, even more severe austerity measures were required than would otherwise be needed. To avoid repetition of that scenario careful fiscal management is an absolute necessity.
Third, both Latvia and Lithuania face a difficult demographic situation. The population reproduction rates in the last decade are well below replacement levels, accompanied by steadily increasing number of retirees per worker. The rising burden to support pensions, increasing healthcare needs of the aging population, and lack of employment opportunity induced emigration of large numbers of mostly young people. As a consequence, falling revenues, increasing outlays, and high unemployment made the financial situation very difficult to control.
Since
joining the eurozone, the southern EU economies have lost ground to their
stronger trading partners in competitiveness. Their costs for making products
or even growing fruits and vegetables, especially for export, have increased
sharply and became uncompetitive The best measure, called Real Effective
Exchange Rate or REER index, calculated by the EEC for 35 nations, indicates
that the main culprit in the unbalance is the cost of labor. Since 1989, the
competitiveness ratings fell 9% for Greece, 16% for Spain and Italy, and 26%
for Ireland, which was renowned as a mighty exporter. Now, everyone of them is
struggling with costs that are between 16%
to 31% above the norm. According to the index, labor and other expenses in
Italy and Spain
are now one-third higher than in the UK.
The bottom line
The governments of Lithuania and Latvia appear to realize that they are dealing with a very fragile economic and geopolitical situation, but in their judgment, the quest for insuring security and protection of their countries’ sovereignty are worth many sacrifices and hardships. In their many speeches, the respective politicians suggest that success in dealing with the 2008-2012 world economic crisis is a living proof that the austerity measures taken were sufficient to navigate safely through extremely devastating situations, and that the recipes of the European Commission do work and helped to achieve the planned results.
If becoming eurozone members is a way for the Baltic countries to insure security and protection of their sovereignty, then it is a reasonable risk, provided it is guarded by good governance and sound administration of fiscal policies. Of most importance is that the Baltic politicians do not succumb to the lures of easy money and irresponsible spending. Even when debt is incurred, the borrowed funds should be invested in long-term economic growth and job creation, improved competitiveness, quality of work, and with focus of achieving positive balance of trade. The Baltic politicians need to realize that their small countries are not equipped and cannot compete in traditional mass manufacturing with highly industrialized countries. Rather the countries can excel by being frugal and competing through product uniqueness, excellence in quality, innovation and unexcelled services. Their success of rising from economic ashes of 2008-2012 is a proof of their ability to meet these challenges.
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Baltics path to euro in
a sea of Eurozone turmoil
Dr. Stasys Backaitis |
Lithuania will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2013, starting from the 1st of July. VilNews has on this background asked readers to annotate and analyze factors that have to do with Europe, the EU, the euro and Lithuania. This is one of the posts we have received. An article by Dr. Stasys Backaitis, |
|
EU Eurozone (17) |
If becoming eurozone members is a way for the Baltic countries to insure security and protection of their sovereignty, then it is a reasonable risk, provided it is guarded by good governance and sound administration of fiscal policies. Of most importance is that the Baltic politicians do not succumb to the lures of easy money and irresponsible spending. Even when debt is incurred, the borrowed funds should be invested in long-term economic growth and job creation, improved competitiveness, quality of work, and with focus of achieving positive balance of trade. The Baltic politicians need to realize that their small countries are not equipped and cannot compete in traditional mass manufacturing with highly industrialized countries. Rather the countries can excel by being frugal and competing through product uniqueness, excellence in quality, innovation and unexcelled services. Their success of rising from economic ashes of 2008-2012 is a proof of their ability to meet these challenges.
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Lithuania’s European Presidency
It’s an honour!
|
Lithuania will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2013, starting from the 1st of July. VilNews has on this background asked readers to annotate and analyze factors that have to do with Europe, the EU, the euro and Lithuania. This is one of the posts we have received. An article by Dr. Rimas Slavickas |
 Dr. Rimas Slavickas |
It is an honour for such a small country like Lithuania to fulfill the role of EU Presidency. By accepting this responsibility to diligently fulfill this task may further enhance EU’s unity to be as ‘one’, yet retaining the strengths, resiliencies and differences of autonomous ‘individual nations’ with their own respective historical identities. Lithuania has an opportunity, during its tenure, to raise the European bar – standards, even higher by setting examples for others to follow. The further pursuance of practical ideals and solutions which include government and economic stability, wrapped in democratic principles of justice, freedom of expression and human rights would provide even a greater global attention and exposure for both EU and Lithuania. Namely, by setting aside human frailties of individual self serving political esteem and associated benefits and thereby provide a perception of greater national unity and strong leadership to further enhance the positive moral direction by affectively addressing European challenges. Such efforts would be globally recognized that integrity, sincerity, goodwill and determination of purpose, even from a relatively small nation, can achieve much. This attribute is especially relevant to Lithuania which historically has seen many years of political turmoil, world wars and more than half a century of suppressed occupation and yet has retained its rich cultural heritage, religious beliefs and basic democratic principles. Such national determination initiated the ending of the official Soviet system and today stands out to others as an example of perseverance and that ‘it ‘can be done’, irrespective of the magnitude of the perceived challenge.
Therefore, let the Lithuanian decision makers brace themselves to this privileged task and recognize that this tenure is not only a challenge but also an opportunity to help both the EU concept and also the Lithuanian nation. The strengthening of the idealistic concepts of European Union would also enhance Lithuania’s global credibility and fundamental concepts of national unity abroad and at home.
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Lithuania’s European Presidency
It’s an honour!
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Lithuania will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2013, starting from the 1st of July. VilNews has on this background asked readers to annotate and analyze factors that have to do with Europe, the EU, the euro and Lithuania. This is one of the posts we have received. An article by Dr. Rimas Slavickas |
Dr. Rimas Slavickas |
It is an honour for such a small country like Lithuania to fulfill the role of EU Presidency. By accepting this responsibility to diligently fulfill this task may further enhance EU’s unity to be as ‘one’, yet retaining the strengths, resiliencies and differences of autonomous ‘individual nations’ with their own respective historical identities. Lithuania has an opportunity, during its tenure, to raise the European bar – standards, even higher by setting examples for others to follow. The further pursuance of practical ideals and solutions which include government and economic stability, wrapped in democratic principles of justice, freedom of expression and human rights would provide even a greater global attention and exposure for both EU and Lithuania. Namely, by setting aside human frailties of individual self serving political esteem and associated benefits and thereby provide a perception of greater national unity and strong leadership to further enhance the positive moral direction by affectively addressing European challenges. Such efforts would be globally recognized that integrity, sincerity, goodwill and determination of purpose, even from a relatively small nation, can achieve much. This attribute is especially relevant to Lithuania which historically has seen many years of political turmoil, world wars and more than half a century of suppressed occupation and yet has retained its rich cultural heritage, religious beliefs and basic democratic principles. Such national determination initiated the ending of the official Soviet system and today stands out to others as an example of perseverance and that ‘it ‘can be done’, irrespective of the magnitude of the perceived challenge.
Therefore, let the Lithuanian decision makers brace themselves to this privileged task and recognize that this tenure is not only a challenge but also an opportunity to help both the EU concept and also the Lithuanian nation. The strengthening of the idealistic concepts of European Union would also enhance Lithuania’s global credibility and fundamental concepts of national unity abroad and at home.
It is my sincere hope that through this governance process, during and after Lithuania’s term has expired, the experiences gained and results obtained will include a greater recognition, by all Lithuanians, the importance of political unity and greater national bonding. That also political leaders and other Lithuanians of national influence will gain a greater recognition of the importance of differentiating between what is essential and what is not and what should change and what should remain the same in both the short and long term national best interest.
Such comprehensive endeavours would provide a further stimulus for Lithuanians to better understand their obligations and more effectively address the many challenges within and outside this relatively small, yet very gifted Baltic country. Therefore, irrespective where we reside or are separated by either large or small geographical distances and irrespective with what accent we speak, nevertheless as Lithuanians and associated descendants, let us all boldly and passionately support this undertaking.
Therefore at the end of Lithuania’s EU presidency, the judgement should not be a polite whisper by some but boldly proclaimed by all:
“WELL DONE LITHUANIA!”
Dr. Rimas Slavickas
Director
Energy Infrastructure and Partnerships
Power Center for Utility Explorations
Department of Electrical Engineering
University at Buffalo
332 Bonner Hall
Buffalo, NY, 1420-1920
Direct: 905 – 735 – 5600
Can. Cell: 905 – 932 – 5127
USA Cell: 716 – 361 - 7570
Office: 716 – 645 – 1052
Email: lpa@collaborative-research.com
http://www.eng.buffalo.edu/Research/PCUE/PCUE/Home.html
Vice President
Energy Initiatives and Collaboration
Global Energy Institute
Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus Innovation Center
640 Ellicott St
Buffalo, NY, 14203
Direct: 905 – 735 – 5600
Can. Cell: 905 – 932 – 5127
USA Cell: 716 – 361 - 7570
Office: 716 – 645 – 3064
Email: lpa@collaborative-research.com
http://www.bnmc.org/energizebnmc/global-energy-institute/
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GameChanger
A film about Lithuania's
nonviolent resistance
By Aage Myhre
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
American-Lithuanian Rima Gungor (25) will reside in Lithuania throughout this summer to conduct a series of interviews and recordings that will crystallize in a movie planned launched to a worldwide audience in March 2014. The film bears the name GameChanger, and will shed light on Lithuania's postwar fights against occupying superpowers from the start of World War II until the final independence in the early 1990s. An important point will be Lithuanians remarkable nonviolent and successful uprising against the Soviet invaders in 1990-1991.
“Yes, the idea is to chronicle and analyze the history of resistance movements in Lithuania and show how and why they developed into the final and successful non-violent resistance movement,” she tells us.
“While at North Central College in Chicago I won a Richter grant which allowed me to research and complete a paper on Lithuania’s resistance movements. I wrote my thesis on nonviolent resistance movements and how they can be successful using Lithuania’s nonviolent movement as an example. The nonviolent resistance movement in Lithuania is one of the least recognized and least talked about freedom movements, however, it was one of the most successful in several decades.”
The film will analyze Lithuania’s freedom movements starting from the armed resistance during and after World War II, the protests during the 1960’s and 1970’s, and finally the nonviolent movement in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The goal is not only to tell Lithuania’s story, in a historical, but also personal and intimate way through interviews with participants both inside and outside of Lithuania, and to apply it to a global context to inspire other movements around the world.
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GameChanger
A film about Lithuania's
nonviolent resistance
By Aage Myhre
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
American-Lithuanian Rima Gungor (25) will reside in Lithuania throughout this summer to conduct a series of interviews and recordings that will crystallize in a movie planned launched to a worldwide audience in March 2014. The film bears the name GameChanger, and will shed light on Lithuania's postwar fights against occupying superpowers from the start of World War II until the final independence in the early 1990s. An important point will be Lithuanians remarkable nonviolent and successful uprising against the Soviet invaders in 1990-1991.
“Yes, the idea is to chronicle and analyze the history of resistance movements in Lithuania and show how and why they developed into the final and successful non-violent resistance movement,” she tells us.
“While at North Central College in Chicago I won a Richter grant which allowed me to research and complete a paper on Lithuania’s resistance movements. I wrote my thesis on nonviolent resistance movements and how they can be successful using Lithuania’s nonviolent movement as an example. The nonviolent resistance movement in Lithuania is one of the least recognized and least talked about freedom movements, however, it was one of the most successful in several decades.”
The film will analyze Lithuania’s freedom movements starting from the armed resistance during and after World War II, the protests during the 1960’s and 1970’s, and finally the nonviolent movement in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The goal is not only to tell Lithuania’s story, in a historical, but also personal and intimate way through interviews with participants both inside and outside of Lithuania, and to apply it to a global context to inspire other movements around the world.
Here is what Rima has to say about her background and reasons for making this movie:
While at college, I wanted to write about this part of Lithuania’s history in a broad sense, however I decided to narrow down the topic to the peaceful resistance movement in the 1980’s and 1990’s and use it as a successful example of Dr. Gene Sharp’s academic approach to nonviolent resistance. I used the grant toward a three week research trip to Lithuania. It had been almost four years since my last trip to Lithuania and my first time traveling internationally on my own.
In those three weeks, I had learned more about our history than from any book I had ever read. I really wanted an in-depth look at the peaceful resistance movement and to not only read about, but also discuss its success with those directly involved. During my research trip, I was lucky enough to interview Vytautas Landsbergis, Angonita Rupsyte, Dr. Gene Sharp, and many others involved in Lithuania’s independence struggle. These personal, face to face interviews helped me gain greater insight into how the peaceful resistance movement came to be and what factors led to the decision to remain nonviolent.
When the Soviets reoccupied Lithuania in 1944, Lithuanians decided to defend their nation by using force. That partisan resistance movement was severely crushed with impunity. The last partisan resistance fighter was caught and killed in 1956.
Many of the partisans fighting during Lithuania’s long and bloody ‘guerilla war of 1944-1953 were young men returning to Lithuania from the West to fight for their beloved home country. Here are three of them, with their official and nick names: K. Sirvys - "Sakalas", J. Luksa - "Skirmantas", B. Trumpys - "Rytis". Very few ‘Western partisans’ returned to their homes in Europe or the U.S.. Almost all of them were killed by the Soviets.
After the armed resistance movement ended, Lithuania went through a period of uncertainty with respect to resistance efforts in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Underground movements started to form and the human rights protests began, publicly highlighted by the self-immolation of Romas Kalanta in 1972. The groups that formed were not connected under one banner for some time due to differences in viewpoints and logistical issues. It was not until 1988 that a unified movement of diverse groups was formed under Sajudis. One point that was understood amongst all of the members was that nonviolent resistance was the method they would use to gain Lithuania’s freedom and independence. As Vytautas Landsbergis put it to me in our interview, “violence did not work in our favor the last time so we knew we had to try peaceful resistance. It was the only logical choice.”
The protest movement took on several public forms including large gatherings, public demonstrations, singing of Lithuanian cultural folk songs in the streets, throwing Soviet paraphernalia in piles in the streets, etc. Behind the scenes the work to organize and keep the movement moving forward was difficult and dangerous, especially since independence was not the end goal but the structure of the country under democratic guidelines was. Once independence was gained it would require even more commitment and hard work to maintain it.
Then came the night of January 13th, 1991, also known as the January massacre. At this point, Soviet tanks and soldiers had entered into Lithuania as a sign of aggression against Lithuania’s peaceful resistance movement. The people took to the streets, stood in front of the tanks, protested, but never once turned violent in any fashion. Soviet soldiers continued the act of aggression and ended up killing 13 civilians. Some were run over by Soviet tanks. It was a gruesome evening that only ended once Gorbachev was persuaded by members of his staff that it was best to end it. This act of aggression by the Soviet Union was not received well by the West. It showed the USSR to the world as the evil empire it was portrayed as.
I returned from my trip and immediately got to work. My uncle had to ship the 30 odd books I bought in this enormous box because I could not carry them home! I was absorbing as much about Lithuania’s history as I could in order to do it justice in my thesis. While I was in Lithuania, I decided to record all of my interviews on camera so it would be easier for me to integrate the quotations into my paper. About eight months later, I was sitting with my grandmother eating lunch when she paused for a moment and said, “Rima, you recorded all those interviews you did, correct?” I nodded and asked her if she wanted to see them. She replied, “Well of course, but I think the rest of the world just might want to see them too. You’re sitting on a pretty high mountain of history, you know.”
What she said stuck with me for about a year before I decided that it was finally time to do something. The catalyst was actually another documentary called The Other Dream Team. While that documentary focuses on the story of basketball and Lithuania, it also touched on the difficulties of Soviet occupation, the peaceful resistance movement, and Lithuania’s relentless push toward freedom. It was around that point in which I decided that it was time to tell our story. However, I didn’t just want to tell it to our community, I wanted to apply Lithuania’s success to a more global context and show others that peaceful resistance is a viable option to gain freedom and independence. And that rather than a glamorous, idealistic effort that succeeded by using songs it was a long, difficult, dangerous road requiring hard work discipline, commitment, and the will to move forward in spite of all the obstacles that could have brought it down.; that every sacrifice was worth it; and that every struggle for independence does not end with its declaration.
I took the plunge to make this documentary on March 20th of this year when we launched our Facebook page, website and Kickstarter page. The positive feedback has been overwhelming and with each interview I do reinforces my need to tell our story. I am also very lucky to have the dedicated team that I have. They are with me every step of the way and believe in this project as much as I do. Our Kickstarter page was fully funded four days early, making a little over $10,000 in about 27 days. We were thrilled and we know our second Kickstater round will be just as successful. Currently, we are wrapping up our North American interviews. We have filmed in Toronto, Chicago, Madison, Cleveland, Lansing and Seattle. We depart on June 10th to Lithuania to film interviews, collect archive footage, and film historical sites. We expect to return September 10th and immediately move into production to have the trailer ready for November of this year. We expect the film to be ready by March or April of next year. It has been an incredible experience so far and we cannot wait to continue our next part of the journey. To find out more, visit our website and Facebook page at www.gamechangerfilm.com and www.facebook.com/GameChangerFilmLT. We will have our new Kickstarter link on both pages once it’s ready. This Kickstarter round will go for three months instead of 30 days. We would like to thank everyone for their support of our endeavor!!
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Rima Gungor (25) about her relations to Lithuania
I come from an old family. My family, the Tallat-Kelpsai, suffered as a result of the occupation. Part of my family experienced incarceration in the labor camps and deportation to Siberia, and the other part fled and were in displaced persons camps for five years while waiting for some country to take them in. In those days immigrants had to have a sponsor that guaranteed that they would not be a burden on the U.S., had to pass health exams, etc. so it could take quite a few years to be able to leave the DP camps. Once here the adjustment was not easy, especially for the dispossessed immigrants. They could not communicate with close family in Lithuania so they did not know for long periods of time what happened to them, they could not go home until Lithuania became free, and they were completely unfamiliar with the nation they had emigrated to with almost nothing. Although some of my family spoke English and were university educated, their education was not accepted fully by their new homeland which made making a living harder. And within a short time of being here, although not yet a citizen, one was drafted into the US Army, so the family lost an important member while beginning to put down roots. My family which remained in Lithuania struggled as exiles, and upon returning to Lithuania. Both parts of my family survived, struggled, and continued to be good as well as successful people. As a child, people in the U.S. did not ask me so much about Lithuania; it started more when I was a teenager and as I became older and went to university. Most of the time, I would speak about Lithuania in history or political science classes and at conferences where my paper was accepted, explaining the history, about the occupation and its relevance to and the impact on the international community. This year I will be presenting at the Baltic Studies conference in Estonia on the Lithuanian independence movements. Americans interest varied. There was greater interest when they knew someone who was Lithuanian, were basketball fans, or had read about it or seen a film and had questions. They are interested in hearing about Lithuanian basketball and its stars, swimming, and technology especially due to the success of GetJar. I usually stress the importance of Lithuania’s history the most, but also its achievements of the past 20 years, and its art, culture, and food- both in Lithuania and the diaspora. I talk about its beauty, the preservation of its historical landmarks, and nature reserves, the ocean and its beaches, its forests, its museums and unusual spots. I discuss its flaws and its strengths. I feel deeply connected to the culture - it has been a big part of my life for many years through folk dance, academics, cooking, reading, programs like LISS and Refresh Lithuania and family and friends. Lithuania means home wherever I may be.
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EXPLORING EUROPE (2 of 10)
Switzerland & Italy
Tour guide, writer and photographer:
Editor-in-Chief Aage Myhre aage.myhre@VilNews.com
My daughter Cassandra tries, unsuccessfully,
to fix the leaning tower of Pisa, Italy.
Today we start our little tour of Europe. Over the next few weeks, I invite you on a journey from north to south, from east to west. Some sections will dwell with history. Some with Lithuanian contact points in various countries. I have travelled across here with camera and notepad for nearly 40 years, and hope you will enjoy seeing and reading about some of my experiences. We start today's tour in Switzerland, and then continue to the south of Italy.
Go to our SECTION 11 to read more…
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EXPLORING EUROPE (2 of 10)
Venice shows me that architecture
first of all is about life
Venice is a perfectly beautiful city. The smells, the sounds, the narrow alleys, canals, bridges. Places suddenly, often unexpectedly, opens as you go. The music, The gondoliers’ songs, vaparettos, taxi boats. I feel well. It is as if I'm in the middle of the very architectural being.
I was once one of many who believed that architecture is primarily about buildings. Venice shows me that architecture first of all is about life. Our human life. How it is the architecture which gives us the framework and background for how best to walk, sit, eat, sleep, work, meet with others, experience beauty.
I understand that the spaces between buildings are as important as the houses themselves. That the widths, heights, depths and connections between everything we surround ourselves with are important. The relationship between them. Interaction. Venice makes me feel that the physical is in total harmony with life itself. Also the spiritual.
It is as if the body, intellect and spirituality converge. I feel an intense happiness. Maybe this town is the world's leading symbol of what an architect should strive to achieve in his work. Maybe it has something to teach us about ourselves. About how important it is to think holistically, holistic in the way we plan our environment and our lives.
"A great architect is not made by way of a brain nearly so much as he is made by way of a cultivated, enriched heart," said the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Venice tells me that he is right. One does not become a good architect, no matter how much knowledge is acquired, without having talent and an inner inspiration that drives one to draw very good environment for real people interacting with each other. Empathy. Synergy. Proximity. Emotions. In a living symbiosis.
“Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union,” says Lloyd Wright also. He emphasizes that "Art for art's sake is a philosophy of the well-fed." "Get the habit of analysis -analysis goodwill in time enable synthesis two become your habit of mind. All fine architectural values are human valueselse not valuable," he concludes. Venice is to me proof of that…
Go to our SECTION 11 to read more…
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EXPLORING EUROPE
Tour guide, writer and photographer: Aage Myhre, Editor-in-Chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
Click the READ buttons or the article headlines below to access the articles:
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Aage Myhre is
leaving Lithuania
Architect Aage Myhre, VilNews editor-in-chief,
interviewed by Ramunas Kontrimas, news2biz
www.news2biz.com
ramunas@news2biz.com
Some of architect Aage Myhre’s projects in Lithuania
over the last 20 years.
Aage Myhre, 60, is the Norwegian architect, journalist, publisher whose community building skills have made him a small expat phenomenon in Vilnius. He is about to return to his home country after twenty two years in Vilnius, taking along his Lithuanian spouse and two daughters, but leaving his other object of admiration, Vilnius' Old Town, behind.
news2biz met Aage to ask him to reflect on his Lithuanian stay that lasted much long than he expected.
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Aage Myhre is
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Some of architect Aage Myhre’s projects in Lithuania
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Architect
Aage Myhre, VilNews editor-in-chief,
interviewed
by Ramunas Kontrimas, news2biz
www.news2biz.com
ramunas@news2biz.com
Aage
Myhre, 60, is the Norwegian architect, journalist, publisher whose community
building skills have made him a small expat phenomenon in Vilnius. He is about
to return to his home country after twenty two years in Vilnius, taking along
his Lithuanian spouse and two daughters, but leaving his other object of
admiration, Vilnius’ Old Town, behind.
news2biz
met Aage to ask him to reflect on his Lithuanian stay that lasted much long
than he expected.
How
did your Lithuanian story begin?
I
used to have my architect’s office in Oslo that I shared with 15 other local
entrepreneurs, lawyers, politicians and the like. One day in 1990, a ponytailed
young man comes in, says he’s an advisor to the then president Vytautas
Landsbergis of the country that we’d hardly heard about, Lithuania. He’d been
told – to our surprise – that we are a group of leading lobbyists in Norway,
and that Landsbergis’ wants Norway to be the country of his first official
visit to the West, so he needs our help in arranging – but he has no money.
Three
of us in Oslo agreed to help, and with the support of Statoil, other big
companies and the Oslo Municipality we managed to arrange a successful visit
for Landsbergis’ a couple of months later. During his visit, Landsbergis
invited us to Lithuania and we went there in November 1990. Our task was to
negotiate and arrange the installation of the Norwegian satellite telephone
system at the Lithuanian Parliament. At the same time I was helping Statoil to
get acquainted with the Lithuanian and the Baltic market.
During his first visit to Lithuania, in November 1990, Aage
took this picture at Rotušes aikštė (Town Hall Square) in Vilnius. This was probably the very last
picture ever made of the statue of Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas.
Next morning the statue had been knocked down by local
activists…
19 January 1991: Aage with President Vytautas Landsbergis in
the
Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas), while the Soviet troops
and tanks continued to surround the building.
During
this stay I, being relatively newly divorced, met Egle, my future Lithuanian wife.
That was not all – I also fell in love with Vilnius’ Old Town. As an architect,
I saw the beauty of the place where others saw buildings falling apart, and
decided that that was my chance to help bring the best out of it.
I
got into renovation projects right away, and some of the earliest Old Town
building renovation projects are mine. There were no good-quality building
materials at that time in Lithuania, so I had to import windows, doors, paints
etc, and for a couple of years I think I was a leading importer of Norwegian
products to Lithuania.
New
projects followed and eventually I had too much interesting work on my hands to
return home, so I started my architect’s business in Vilnius with my new
father-in-law.
Aage
met his coming wife Eglė already during his first visit to
Lithuania,
in 1990.
In 1992 they married in the St. Peter & Paul Cathedral in Vilnius.
Why
have you decided to leave?
There
are a number of reasons. I’ve been investing in Lithuanian real estate, with
own money too. The crisis of 2008-2010 hit me really hard, while today there is
so little happening in the local property development market – it’s not
interesting enough for me anymore.
Another
reason is family. I have three grown-up children in Norway and two daughters here.
I would like to unite them and have my big family around me as much as I can.
The
third reason is my Lithuanian children. As children, they have dual Lithuanian
and Norwegian citizenship now but Norway only allows one for adults; to qualify
for that you need to have spent certain time in Norway. The social safety
system in Norway is probably the best in the world, and I want my kids to enjoy
it. Then there’s education – Lithuanian high schools are good, but university
education is generally not up to standard yet.
What
is your take on modern Lithuanian architecture?
I’m
a classic style architect, and few of modern buildings in Lithuania have
impressed me. Local architects or property owners seem to be more interested in
building monuments to themselves, to the point of looking funny.
For
instance, Vilnius’ biggest new commercial development around the Europa office
tower and shopping centre looks so messy to me. One particular area looks like
a stone desert, there’s nothing there that makes you want be there. The
neighbouring Konstitucijos Avenue is one big transport artery that completely
blocks the Old Town on the other side of the Neris River from the new central
business district. I think placing it underground and creating a green oasis wouldn’t
have cost much more while creating a much friendlier place.
I
believe in holistic architecture – how buildings, the surrounding area and
people interact with each other is as important as designing an interesting
building. I like to compare modern Lithuanian architecture to a casino – you
throw the dice and get an assortment of numbers-buildings, you have no control
over them and therefore urban planning suffers from that. The more classic
style architecture I compare to chess – every move has intelligent consequences
to the game.
How
has it been for you, a foreigner, to run a small business here?
It’s
been different from Norway, yes, and there have been many challenges. Many
foreigners who come here start complaining, especially about corruption. Of
course, corruption exists here but personally I have never paid a single Litas
in bribes to any local politician or bureaucrat during my projects. If you
behave like a normal person with a certain degree of politeness, you don’t have
to go into these traps. But if you come with your nose poked in the air, you
will quickly face problems.
If
you have a positive attitude, Lithuania is a fantastic place to be and do
business, especially now with the country’s low taxes – you don’t even have to
do business here, only have your base and do business wherever you like.
The
Vilnius International Club that you are the founder of, the VilNews
English-language online magazine about Lithuania – they seem to be more about
history and for older Lithuanians living abroad rather than about current
affairs and for young people.
It’s
just like human being – they have various interests, and so we at VIC and VilNews
try to offer a mix of everything – history, politics, culture, business. I
admit, VIC was not as active when I was deeply involved in launching VilNews as
a newsletter for VIC but now it’s again a vibrant community. As the basis for
VIC activity, I’ve been using borrowed slogans from two well-known brands,
Nokia’s Connecting People and Nike’s Just Do It.
VIC
members break down 50/50 between Lithuanians interested in foreign affairs and
the local expat community. I believe VIC today is the best forum for any kind
of local-foreign discussion – it’s not just a chamber of commerce, it’s not
only a culture institute.
And
we are certainly going to have more young faces at VIC and VilNews, it
just takes time for me to walk them through.
In
Norway, Lithuanians last year became the second biggest immigrant community.
How do you feel about it?
What I don’t like about Norwegian authorities is that
they are discussing only what advantages (low-cost skilled labour) or
disadvantages (crime) the Lithuanian immigrants create for Norway. I never
heard somebody say, ‘This is so bad for Lithuania that we take their best brains’.
If this issue was discussed from both sides early on, the authorities could
have become more focused on it and could probably come up with some solutions.
Obviously,
many Lithuanians wouldn’t have left their country if it wasn’t for the Andrius
Kubilius’ Conservative government’s austerity policy that started in 2008. It
was like putting brakes on in a car that was already standing still. I
personally urged Kubilius to write to Scandinavian prime ministers to seek some
kind of assistance. For instance, to a country like Norway to support Lithuania
would have cost very little. Later I met Norway’s Conservative Party leader
Erna Solberg and asked if Kubilius ever asked for help and support to deal with
the crisis or the energy prices pushed up by Russia. She said, no, never.
In
general, I believe Lithuania and the Baltics should seek closer cooperation
with Norway and Scandinavia. The EU is fine but it is such big and unwieldy
machinery. Scandinavia owes you so much because it pretended not to notice that
Lithuania’s anti-Soviet resistance, the bloodiest post-war conflict in Europe,
was taking place 60 years ago at their very doorsteps.
ANDRIUS
KUBILIUS ERNA SOLBERG
Aage
personally urged Prime Minister Kubilius to write to Scandinavian prime ministers
to seek some kind of assistance when the crisis hit in 2008. Later Aage met
Norway’s Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg
and
asked if Kubilius ever asked for help and support to deal with the crisis
or
the energy prices pushed up by Russia. She said, no, never.
We have talked to
Aage
Myhre aage.myhre@vilnews.com
Tel
+370 699 33 222 (mobile)
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Can good come
from selfishness?
During a trip to Lithuania a few years ago, Boris went to the North Lithuanian city of Siauliai to see his grandmother’s sister before she died. At 97 she was the oldest surviving member of his family.
By Boris Vytautas Bakunas
I want to tell you a true story. During a trip to Lithuania a few years ago, I drove to the city of Siauliai to see my grandmother’s sister before she died. At 97 she was the oldest surviving member of my family.
My reason for visiting her was not only selfish, but it was based on an illusion. By meeting her, I believed that I could reconnect in some mysterious way with my grandmother whom I had loved very much. My motive was selfish because I visited the old woman so I could feel good. I did it for me, not for her.
I didn’t really expect any reaction greater than customary courtesy and perhaps even mild interest. Was I surprised!
When I entered the small cottage where she lived with her daughter and her son-in-law, I saw a table decked with delicacies, juice, brandy, and beer. A bright red candle had been lit in my honor. The room was so small that we had to huddle closely together around the table. My great aunt and my cousin sat beside me.
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Can good come
from selfishness?
During a trip to Lithuania a few years ago, Boris went to the North Lithuanian city of Siauliai to see his grandmother’s sister before she died. At 97 she was the oldest surviving member of his family.
By Boris Vytautas Bakunas
I want to tell you a true story. During a trip to Lithuania a few years ago, I drove to the city of Siauliai to see my grandmother’s sister before she died. At 97 she was the oldest surviving member of my family.
My reason for visiting her was not only selfish, but it was based on an illusion. By meeting her, I believed that I could reconnect in some mysterious way with my grandmother whom I had loved very much. My motive was selfish because I visited the old woman so I could feel good. I did it for me, not for her.
I didn’t really expect any reaction greater than customary courtesy and perhaps even mild interest. Was I surprised!
When I entered the small cottage where she lived with her daughter and her son-in-law, I saw a table decked with delicacies, juice, brandy, and beer. A bright red candle had been lit in my honor. The room was so small that we had to huddle closely together around the table. My great aunt and my cousin sat beside me.
I quickly sensed that age had taken a toll on her faculties. “How nice it is to see you again,” she kept saying over and over as if I had just walked through the door.
As I looked at her worn, wrinkled face, battered by years of hard living, I saw a gleam in her eyes that beckoned back to the beautiful young girl she had once been. Her eyes shone like drops of morning dew after a cold night. All the while I was there, she kept looking gently at my face. Her soft sliver of a smile threw gentleness and love my way. I thought of an aged Mona Lisa.
After my cousin and her husband went into the garden, my cousin asked, “Do you know why my mother kept staring at you like that?”
“No, tell me,” I said.
“She thinks that you are her son, and you’ve just returned home from a trip.”
Her son had died years ago.
Was I disappointed? Did I feel bad that I had come too late for my great aunt to recognize me, or even remember that I existed?
Not at all! Instead my heart surged with amazement at this mysterious life we lead. I had made this journey out of selfishness – to satisfy my own desire. I wanted this meeting for myself, not for her.
But my selfishness, born out of the illusion that I could once again feel the glow of my grandmother’s love, had created joy in the heart of another human being, a joy also born out of the illusion that I was her long lost son.
I did see my grandmother’s love once again. I saw it in her aged sister’s eyes. And she saw her son.
Even out of illusion and selfishness good can come. What a mysterious existence we live!
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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.