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Judge Zenonas Birstonas

The president signed today a decree removing Kaunas District Court Judge Arvydas Stankas and Vilnius District Court Judge Zenonas Birstonas from office. Both were accused of discrediting the legal system - Stankus for falsifying documents and Birstonas after he was arrested for public drunkenness. He later wrote a letter of apology to the press and the public, without impressing the president to make her change her opinion about him.

President Grybauskaite removed four other judges from office last year. According to Lithuanian law, a presidential decree is the only way to remove a judge from office.

Let’s hope rule of law soon will start functioning in Lithuania...
 

 That individuals, persons and government shall submit to, obey and be regulated by law, and not arbitrary action by an individual or a group of individuals.

Distinguished from the 'rule of man' where, for example, in a monarchy, tyrannical or theocratic form of government, governance and rules of conduct is set and altered at the discretion of a single person, or a select group of persons.
In a political system which adheres to the paramountcy of the rule of law, the law is supreme over the acts of the government and the people.

Retired (and now deceased) Justice Tom Bingham wrote, in a 2010 book entitled Rule of Law, this of the rule of law:

"The core of the ... principle is ... that all persons and authorities within the state, whether public or private, should be bound by and entitled to the benefits of laws publicly made ... and publicly administered in the courts."

Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius says that Lithuania is considering asking the European Union to impose restrictions on electricity trading by third parties that generate electric power without complying with nuclear safety requirements. Kubilius directly referenced Russia’s constructing a nuclear power plant in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad as well as a planned Russian-Belarusian project to construct a plant in Belarus. Lithuania has vociferously spoken out against the latter project since a deal was signed March 16 between Russia and Belarus — a deal that would allow Moscow to provide roughly $9 billion in financing to construct the nuclear plant.

Read more at:
http://blogs.forbes.com/energysource/2011/03/24/lithuania-agitates-against-russian-nuclear-projects/

There is a "lack of institutional stability and reliability in the EU,” claims Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius.

Lithuania said Wednesday it would sign up to a planned pact on coordinating economic policy among nations that use the euro, despite disquiet about how it was created.
"We are not against joining the pact, although the contents are nothing especially new," Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius told reporters.
The eurozone's 17 members reached a preliminary agreement earlier this month on a so-called "Euro Pact" to coordinate economic policy, which was to be endorsed by all 27 European Union members at a March 24-25 summit.
In return for strengthening debt rescue funds, the pact -- drawn up under pressure from Germany and France -- foresees greater budgetary discipline and economic policy convergence in order to ensure that countries rein in national debt.
"All those instruments -- pension system sustainability and all the other things -- had been mentioned earlier in the European Commission's proposals," Kubilius said, referring to the EU's executive body.
"Therefore, we don't see any substantial added value," he said.
Kubilius also questioned the way the pact had been drawn up, saying it highlighted a problem in the way the EU was run.
He pointed to a "lack of institutional stability and reliability in the EU.
"We believe the appearance of new pacts or initiatives that bring new institutional aspects is not what the EU needs today. In fact, the EU needs consolidation and a certain institutional clarity that would help markets believe in the euro's stability and reliability," he said.

Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis also expressed disquiet.
"We agreed on the 'Euro Pact' and believe that it matches Lithuania's long-term strategy to become a euro member," Azubalis said.
"But I would call the way it was proposed to non-euro members arrogant, as it was 'take it or leave it'," he added, picking up on earlier criticism of France and Germany for they way they pushed the pact through.

“I would call the way it was proposed to non-euro members arrogant,” says Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis.

 
Evaldas Ignatavičius, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania

The FINANCIAL -- VILNIUS. A three-day expert seminar on anti-corruption policy and integrity training, a joint initiative of the OSCE and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), started in Vilnius on March 23. Evaldas Ignatavičius, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, said in his opening speech at the seminar: “The promotion of good governance and fight against corruption are important goals for the 2011 Lithuanian OSCE Chairmanship and the OSCE in general.” He also stressed the important role OSCE field operations play in assisting OSCE participating States to devise and implement anti-corruption strategies on the ground.

To read more, go to
“The FINANCIAL”
http://finchannel.com/

One Lithuanian journalist has hit the limits of press freedom
 
Freedom of the press is an important right in Europe, but not every government welcomes it. In Lithuania, a journalist who wrote critically of the KGB, was found guilty of libel and sent to jail.
 
Gintaras Visockas has worked as a journalist for 20 years. He's seen a lot in that time; among other posts, he was a correspondent in the North Caucasus during the first war in Chechnya. Since then, the 43-year-old has covered military topics.
One of the recurring themes in his current publication, an internet newspaper called "Slaptai" ("Secret"), is the closeness of Lithuanian politicians to the old secret police of the Soviet Union, the KGB. Recently, an article Visockas wrote about the former presidential candidate Ceslovas Jezerkas got the journalist into hot water. Jezerkas was previously an officer in the Soviet army, and eventually became a general. Visockas wrote that he participated in martial arts.
 

Long defunct, the KGB still wields influence
"I said in my article that in the Soviet Union, all the talented martial artists were controlled by the all-powerful KGB. I never wrote that Jezerkas worked for the KGB. I wrote 'controlled,'" said Visockas. "We can look in any dictionary and see that there is a big difference between these two words. The KGB controlled everything back then, not just martial artists but journalists and chess players, too."
 
A court in Vilnius saw things differently, though, and allowed Jezerkas to file a libel suit in 2009. The court ruled that "the average reader" would take away the impression that Jezerkas had worked for the KGB if they read Visockas' article. Visockas was sentenced to a 10,000 euro ($14,200) fine. He couldn't pay the money and had to spend 40 days in jail.
 
'We're not free'
Dainius Radzevicius, the head of the Lithuanian journalists' union, says this decision by the court is indicative of the situation for many journalists in the country...
 
Read more at:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14937688,00.html

Children sex trafficking is a sickening trade hidden away in British backstreet brothels, where children from the world’s poorest countries are held against their will.
Some are under 10 years old, unable to speak a single word of English and separated from their families on the fake promise of a better life in Britain.
Sold as commodities to be bought by pimps when they arrive here, they have little chance of escape.
Their bleak journey begins in the poorest nations of Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.

“Audra was 17 when she was recruited by a trafficker from a children’s home in Lithuania.
When she arrived at Dover, in the UK, with four other girls in 2007, they were taken directly to a brothel in north west England and forced to work as prostitutes.
She was then moved to another brothel in south west Wales. Within 24 hours of arriving Audra was rescued by police from the Welsh brothel and placed in a safe house - after she contacted Lithuania and desperately appealed for help to return to the children’s home.”
 
The UK ‘Mirror’ newspapers have this week started a ‘crusade to end horror of child sex trafficking.’ 
 
YOU an help by signing their petition!

Read more at: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/03/15/crusade-to-end-horror-of-child-sex-trafficking-sign-our-petition-today-115875-22990327/#ixzz1HEvVoR9W 

Lithuania has raised its economic growth forecast for this year and next as export growth accelerates. Gross domestic product will probably rise 5.8% this year, compared with a September forecast of 2.8%, the Finance Ministry said. Growth will slow to 4.7% next year, compared with a previous estimate of 1.2%. The budget deficit will probably average less than 5.3% of GDP this year, compared with a budget plan of 5.8%.
In the long run, the continued rapid growth in exports and economic recovery spreading to other sectors will inevitably grow wages. The projection of average wage for 2011 was increased by LTL 61 up to LTL 2,064, and LTL 188 for 2013. The fastest wage growth - 7.8% - is likely to be observed in 2014 on a fall in the labour force supply. The Finance Ministry predicts that this year the unemployment level will drop to 14.9%. The increased consumer purchasing power will also contribute to a general level of price growth in later years. In 2011-2014, average consumer inflation is expected to remain stable at about 3.3% due to different factors.

Lithuania wants a regional court in Vilnius to investigate operations by Lietuvos Dujos (LDJ1L) AB management, including representatives of shareholder OAO Gazprom, as the state continues a dispute with the Russian gas supplier.

Chief Executive Officer Viktoras Valentukevicius, Chairman Valery Golubev and board member Kiril Seleznev ignored the interests of Lithuania and didn’t negotiate a fair gas price for supplies from Russia, the Vilnius-based Energy Ministry said in an e-mailed statement today.

Read more at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-17/lithuania-to-ask-court-to-investigate-lietuvos-dujos-management.html

Last year, Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaite openly disagreed with the U.S. on a new reduction plan for the Eastern European missile defence system, planned by the Bush administration, and in perhaps the most shocking move, snubbed U.S. President Barack Obama at a dinner in Prague, even though nearly every other Eastern European president attended.

Since becoming Lithuania's president in 2009, she has wasted no time defining her leadership. "Yes, you have to be a strict and loud partner if you want to be heard in the conversation," Grybauskaite, 55, told The Associated Press in an interview this week.

After the Obama administration, along with Russia, unfurled a strategic missile reduction plan — dubbed New Start — Grybauskaite was the only ally who criticized it, claiming the plan harmed Lithuanian security.

"Lithuania is not used to a straightforward, terse, forceful way of making statements. I admit using this style in pushing NATO defence plans for the Baltic states," she said.

U.S. cables released by WikiLeaks earlier this year show NATO privately decided in January 2010 to expand a NATO defence plan for Poland to cover members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

"I am afraid that if I had chosen a different tone, Lithuania and its neighbours would be still waiting another six years for these," she said to the Associated Press, giving herself credit for USA’s and NAYO’s new strategy as revealed by WikiLeaks.

It remains to see how her latest claims of successful ‘forceful statements’ will be received and viewed by the White House, but the U.S. – Lithuanian relationship has hardly been strengthened by her comments.

It is four weeks since VilNews was launched as an online e-magazine - on the 15th of February.

And what a development hasn’t it been since then!

We have had around 12 000 unique readers, 20 000 visitors all in all. Our different pages have been opened 125.000 times, and our articles have been opened no less that 1,5 million times!

We think it’s fair to call this a tremendous success...

USA and Lithuania were for some time competing every day about being the leading nation among our VilNews readers. But when March came, USA jumped ahead and is now in a clear lead.

These are our reader figures of today:

15. South Korea
16. Poland
17. Spain
18. Denmark
19. Ireland
20. Estonia
21. Netherlands
22. Latvia
23. Russian Federation
24. Turkey
25. Finland
26. Switzerland
27. Czech Republic
28. Italy
29. Brazil
30. United Arab Emirates
31. Romania
32. Pakistan
33. Hungary
34. Portugal
35. Ukraine
36. Egypt
37. Belarus
38. Bulgaria
39. Republic of Serbia
40. New Zealand
41. Vietnam
42. Indonesia
43. Greece
44. China
45. Nigeria
46. Philippines
47. Singapore
48. Iceland
49. Moldova
50. Lebanon
51. Georgia
52. Saudi Arabia
53. Iran
54. Ghana
55. Malaysia
56. Venezuela
57. Slovenia
58. Luxembourg
59. Austria
60. Kazakhstan
61. Argentina
62. Sri Lanka
63. Colombia
64. Cyprus
65. Malta
66. Croatia
67. Jordan
68. Ivory Coast
69. Kenya
70. Thailand
71. Saint Vincent & Grenadines
72. Mexico
73. Slovak Republic
74. Peru
75. Hong Kong
76. Albania
77. Botswana
78. Benin
79. Nepal
80. Turkmenistan
81. Mauritius
82. Tajikistan
83. Oman
84. Macedonia
85. Qatar
86. Taiwan
87. Costa Rica
88. Senegal
89. Cameroon
90. Uzbekistan
91. Maldives
92. Isle of Man
93. Syria
94. Azerbaijan
95. Bosnia-Herzegovina

Statistics Lithuania reports that Lithuanian exports in January 2011 amounted to U.S. $ 5 billion, imports - U.S. $ 5.7 billion.
Foreign trade deficit of Lithuania amounted to EUR 0.7 billion, which is by 64.8 per cent more than in the same period in 2010.
In January 2011, against January 2010, exports and imports increased by 59.6 and 60.2 per cent, respectively.
Excluded mineral products, exports and imports grew by 51 per cent and 56.7, respectively. Exports of goods of Lithuanian origin grew by 53.2 per cent, mineral products excluded - 37.4 per cent. The increase in exports was influenced by a 92.5 per cent Increase in exports of petroleum products, 2.5 times - Ground Vehicles, 75.2 per cent - fertilisers.
The increased import was influenced by a 76.3 per cent increase in imports of crude petroleum, 2.9 times - Ground Vehicles, 2.1 times - boilers, machinery and mechanical Appliances.

 
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev turned 80 this week

More than twenty years ago I was standing on Moscow’s central Manezh Square and watched in amazement as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators protested the massacre of pro-independence Lithuanian demonstrators in Vilnius on January 13th 1991. At the time everyone in Russia’s chaotic pro-democracy movement was certain – Mikhail Gorbachev was to blame for this horror. For those of us who lived and acted in the 1980s, Gorbachev has two images.

RIANOVOSTI weekly column by Konstantin von Eggert
http://en.rian.ru/columnists/20110302/162828866.html

Columbia University's Robert Legvold says historians will argue about why the Cold War ended or why the Soviet Union collapsed.
“My own view is that when you look at the story, especially when you try to explain the timing, that is why it occurred from 1985 to 1989 as opposed to 10 years later, 15 years later, when you try and explain the timing, I think it is very difficult to do that without giving a lot of credit to Gorbachev and what he did during that period," he said.

Washington Post
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Gorbachevs-Foreign-Policy-Changes-Map-of-Europe-117417398.html