Opinions

Text: Aage Myhre, Editor-in-Chief

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We have no time to lose. 

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

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

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

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

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

Read Saulene’s barbecue article HERE

Peter Modeen

Dear Saulene,
Very nice lyrical picture of spring and summer in Lithuania. We used to live with my wife in Vilnius for almost ten years and came to love the country very much. The lakes and the forests reminded us of our native country, Finland. I used to do orienteering with Lithuanian friends and the events often took place in the lake district. We have visited Lithuania several times since we moved to Costa del Sol in Spain in 2005. But the last time was two years ago and your story made me long for visiting your beautiful country soon again.

Peter Modeen
Spain

Dear Peter,
I'm very grateful for your comment, it made me very happy :) It's very nice to get a feedback on what you doing and especially such a great one.

Hope you'll be able to visit Lithuania as soon as possible :)

Saulene Valskyte

Boris Vytautas Bakunas (left)
has much good to say about
Frank Passic’s “Chicago
article” here in VilNews
(See Section 11)

Dear Mr. Frank Passic,

How can I thank you for your article How Chicago Became Lithuania’s Second Capital?

Its scope is as vast as the waves of Lithuanian immigrants who crossed the ocean to start new lives thousands of miles from their native land. .

Until I read your article, I didn’t know that Bridgeport, the Chicago neighborhood, where I spend the happiest years of my childhood, is said to have gotten its name from Ansas Portas, who owned land on the south side of the Chicago River.

Nor did I know of the 18 men who were the first Lithuanians to set foot on Chicago as part of a railway crew. I can easily imagine the grime on their faces and their calloused hands as they trudged home to their families after toiling all day in the railroad yards.

Nor was I aware of the small token “chips” that struggling Lithuanian societies issued in order to raise meager sums to support the building of their cultural institutions. Those meager sums added up and helped pay for the bricks that built institutions where Lithuanians gathered to preserve their customs and worship in their native tongue.

Your article is a source of inspiration for all Lithuanians and their descendants. It shows how fiercely Lithuanian immigrants fought to preserve their cultural heritage. With little money but with great determination, they established organizations, published Lithuanian newspapers, built churches, schools, and centers of culture.

Read more…

I have been visiting your website and have enjoyed reading the various items. I think it is a very useful resource especially for people of Lithuanian background living outside Lithuania - as it gives them a chance to interact and hear opinions etc. from locals and others.

I like the interviews and the historical info the best - the banter and dialogue can be interesting too - but it can easily get dominated by a personality or two.

But it is a very great thing you are doing and I am very happy to see you seem to have a growing base of advertisers which suggests that the site can be self supporting and even flourish.

I find the whole issue of identity quite fascinating and something that is often underestimated or assumed ... but really is quite important and your site can certainly help to illuminate this issue for Lithuanians living both here and abroad.

Vytas PACAS
(LT-Canadian)
Vilnius

Go to our Section 5 to participate in the discussion

Book author: Sarunas Liekis

In a commentary to our VilNews article series "Lithuania and the Soviet Union 1939-1940" (Section 10 - HISTORICAL LITHUANIA) Tony Mazeika from Mission Viejo in California writes the following:

"It is necessary to read the full account of Lithuania's leadership response to Soviet demands and occupation in 1940. The book, "1939, The Year that Changed Everything in Lithuania's History", Arnas Liekis, reveals the unflattering response by the top leadership, their abdication, and flight from the nation, leaving the population defenseless...without any responsible and effective resistance. It's as if independence never happened. Lithuania, together with Latvia & Estonia, make no formal military resistance knowing that Finland fought in 1939-1940 and survived a Soviet onslaught. Much more need to be disclosed about those "patriots" who chose to run rather than fight for their nation."

Tony Mazeika

Our VilNews Associate Editor, Vin Karnila, has edited the four articles we have presented on the topic "Lithuania and the Soviet Union 1939-1940" from the personal memoirs of Juozas Urbšys. Here is his response to Mr. Mazeika's commentary:
Easy to say that they should have organized formal Military resistance – and get slaughtered

Vin Karnila

I would like to thank you Mr. Mazeika for sharing your thoughts with us and making us aware of what I'm sure is a very interesting book written by Arnas Liekis.

You bring up a topic that has been discussed many times throughout the years following 1940. The members of the Lithuanian delegation that were involved in the negotiations with Russia have always claimed that they knew that Russia at any time they chose could have invaded Lithuania. They also felt that if Russia did in fact invade, whether there was organized military resistance or not, this would result in catastrophic consequences for Lithuania and its people. Throughout the negotiations they said that what they were trying to achieve was the best possible outcome for Lithuania. In the end what they achieved was the best possible outcome that Russia would allow.

The topic of the courageous people of Finland and their organized military resistance to Russia's invasion of their homeland in relation to the fact that Russia's invasion of Lithuania in 1940 occurred without a shot being fired has also been discussed many times. The question remains how much did Lithuania know or did not know about Finland's armed resistance to Russia in what is known as the "Winter War"?

3 October 1939 the Lithuanian delegation flew to Moscow to begin the negotiations with Russia. 30 November 1939 Russia attacked Finland to begin the "Winter War". By March of 1940 both sides began to negotiate a peace treaty. Did Lithuania know that in spite of the great courage of the Finns the primary factor in Finland's success was that the Winter War was fought in some of the harshest of winter weather conditions and in equally harsh terrain? This harsh terrain the Finns knew like the back of their hand and the weather conditions to them was normal winter weather? Did Lithuania know that if Russia attacked across the gentle rolling hills and flat farmlands of Lithuania in spring or summer that the advantage of weather and terrain, that so greatly helped the Finns, would only make Russia's evil task easier? An invasion of Lithuania by Russia in the spring or summer of 1940 would have been a military situation completely the opposite of the Finland's and Russia's Winter War. Did Lithuania know that whatever peace agreement Finland and Russia came to that it would end up being short lived? Had Lithuania taken notice of the fact that no Western power had come to Finland's aid with any meaningful support? From all reports, Lithuania realized that their Military, no matter how courageously they fought, was no match against the might of Soviet Russia's army.

Many comments have been made and questions asked about the large number of government and Military top officials that left after 15 June 1940. Why didn't they stay? Why didn't they stay and resist? How could they leave their homeland? I would say that the real answers to these questions can only be answered by these top officials that left. Some left almost immediately as if they knew what would happen once Russia occupied the country. Others left after they saw what Russia was doing now that they occupied the country. In fact many people that had the means to do so left once they understood what their future would be at the hands of Russia.

All these questions to all these situations I have asked myself over and over. Again and again I come to the conclusion that more than seventy years after these events occurred, while I'm sitting in the comfort of my home and while I can walk the streets of Vilnius without (for the time being) having to worry about being run over by a Russian tank, shot by a Russian soldier, kidnapped by the NKVD, put in a gulag or executed, I am really not in a position to judge people who were trying to do the best they could for our country and simply trying to survive during very difficult and dangerous times. I guess it could be kind of easy for some to say that they should have organized formal Military resistance – and got slaughtered. It could also be easy for some to say that the top officials and the people of means should have stayed – and got executed, imprisoned, put in gulags or sent to Siberia. Personally I can't judge these people for their actions because I wasn't alive then and I wasn't involved in these dangerous and difficult times. I also refuse to be a "Monday morning quarterback" and go on and on talking about all of the "should haves" for the same reasons I just stated. The opinions of others about these matters though are something I am very interested in.

Having said all this I must say that the discussion of what happened, what did not happen, why it did happen and why it didn't happen during these times are matters that will continue to occupy my thoughts – I'm still trying to understand and make sense of all of it. Again I would like to thank you Mr. Mazeika for sharing your thoughts with all of us and I would also like to thank you for letting us know about the book by Arnas Liekis - 1939, The Year that Changed Everything in Lithuania's History. I'm sure that I am not the only one out there looking for more information about this period of Lithuania's history and I'm sure that I'm not the only one looking for more information about this so that I can try to make more sense of everything.

Dear readers, I'm sure that Mr. Mazeika and I are not the only ones out there that are interested in what happened during these times and we are not the only ones with opinions. We would please invite you to share information and your opinions on this topic with all our readers throughout the world. I'm sure this is something we all are trying to understand better.

Su pagarbe
Vin Karnila
Associate editor

Cover of the book by Dr. Alfonsas Eidintas, “President of Lithuania:
Prisoner of the gulag (A biography of Alexander Stulginskis).”

Aleksandras Stulginskis, the first constitutional president after Lithuania had declared its renewed independence on 16 February 1918, was kidnapped at his home by Stalinist forces in June 1941 and deported to a Siberian Gulag. After he was released from the inhuman captivity, he was still for years forced to live in Siberia’s deep forests, until 1956.

Lithuania’s President Aleksandras Stulginskis built this Siberian log cabin by his own hands, living here with his wife Ona until 1956.

How could it be that a former head of state of a free and independent country could be kidnapped in his own home and taken around half the globe to imprisonment in a labour camp where cruelty and inhumanity were the principal characteristics?

How could it be that the rest of the world chose to ignore such an assault against a splendid leader who proudly had been fighting for democracy and independence in a nation that before the Second World War was fully on par with its neighbours in Scandinavia and Northern Europe, both economically and as an independent state?
Just think of what would have been the reactions from the international community if one of the other state leaders from the 1920s had become victims of such a cruel abuse?

Read more at
https://vilnews.com/?p=6539

Open letter to Mayor Zuokas from Gene Emmer:
We need playgrounds
in Vilnius Old Town!

Read the letter, and comments…