Opinions

VilNews e-magazine has been online for just under 12 weeks but has, in all modesty, already become a tremendous success, connecting Lithuania-related people in virtually every single corner of the world..

We have now readers in 109 countries around the globe, we've had close to 60 000 visits and we have so far had 3.3 million article hits.

But perhaps even more important is that VilNews engages its readers in good communication with each other and with us in the newsroom in a way hardly seen before.

We do therefore believe that our success is very much due to our unique combination of daily news, social media (blogs, commentaries, discussions, information exchange) and a vast background material of historical and contemporary character.

If VilNews had been printed, we would have been a book of about 5,000 pages!

VilNews is simply a living, active medium that truly engages its readers in a whole new way, even by world standards, while also presenting a huge, unbiased information basis for opinions and comments from our readers. We believe this is the main reason for our success, and we think many media around the world will follow in our footsteps for the years to come.

We believe this is the way professional journalism and open, systematized dialogue will create the future of the media, as well as the way people are achieving true freedom of speech and participation in real peoples’ democracy.

Have your say!

 
Differs very much from all we read!
Salonas Jaukūs Namai,
Kaunas

Debate topic no 2:

Lithuanian tourism sector is haunted by poor leadership!

How can a fantastic place like Vilnius with its 500,000 plus inhabitants and Lithuania with its 3 million plus inhabitants have a smaller tourism budget than a mountain village in Norway of 450 people? Read more…
Thomas Danielsen

Jan Einar Krakevik

Wise words from the man who really know a thing or two about tourism. !

Kim Bartholdy 

Dear Thomas. Naturally your point is obvious – it is with Tourists as with FDI – If Lithuania want it, then do something about it instead of talking.

 Wyman Brent 

I believe a lot of it has to do with incompetence and poor management. There is still very much the Soviet mentality which holds back Lithuania from becoming a real member of the European Union.

 Grant Gochin 

LT is a fabulous tourist destination, but unfortunately Wyman is correct. That mindset pervades so much of LT Government and institutions.

 Lars Persen 

It tells two things: that Norway has way too much money and that Lithuania has poor management....

 Aage Myhre 

Thomas, I think you are making many good points in your article, and I know that many within the tourism industry of this country completely agree with you. This is a sector where the infrastructure and more already is in place, capacity is good and the attractions just are waiting for more people to come, see and experience... No no investments needed, just start coordinating some good marketing efforts... But, as you say, let's see what our new Vilnius Mayor, Arturas Zuokas, can do about it.

 Elitre Wiki 

That's still nothing. Vilnius was European Capital of Culture in 2009. An amazing event (I think I can say that, I witnessed it in 3 months). But the official website and any mirrors are nowhere to be found now. As if nothing had ever happened. The Internet is writing mankind's history nowadays: deleting such a resource is such a waste of time and money. If I was Lithuanian I'd be mad for this.

 Thomas Danielsen 

If I knew how, I would write a longer article about "Vilnius 2009". It is just one out of many total failures and example of totally lack of management and understanding of tourism and its impact on the society and country as a whole... Once in a lifetime opportunity gone to waste! (I now live in Tallinn they are capital of culture this year... and this year they are capital of culture. It’s nice to see that they, as usual, understand the importance of this

 Elitre Wiki 

What I witnessed, April to July, was good. Tons of events, most of them free, almost every day or so. I heard there were troubles at last, but still, I really had a good time, went to many concerts, art exhibits, street events, guided visits... I am writing a post (in Italian) about my experience and will cover that as well.

 Thomas Danielsen ‎

...there were no events, concerts, exhibitions etc in 2007. 2008, 2010, 2011? (It’s a city of 550 000 people!).

Nothing makes me more happy, Elitre if you had a good experience while in Vilnius! Many people, once they actually get here, love the place! Thats pretty much my point, the ones that do get here, love it! Why can we not share it with the world?

(it comes down again to marketing and management!)

Elitre Wiki 

Thomas, if you take a look at my pictures, you'll see that I was able to enter a place which is usually locked for tourists. Even the guides were amazed that I was able to book for the visit as it was not on the Vilnius 2009 English page (I had to translate the Lithuanian one with Google). Once there, the guys "guiding" were not prepared to explain things in English, but at least they tried. I think I know what you mean, after all, Vilnius did not look/behave like a big European capital (you might find hundreds of events in one night only in cities such as Rome ;) ), but that aspect was among the ones I love of it.

 Inga Klimaite 

Of course, Thomas, we know that Lithuanian tourism industry is still developing ;) However, economic recession affects tourism (f.e. Flylal went bankrupt & it caused problems with direct connections between LT and other countries). Still, there are number of other challenges the society is faced with... But I really hope that the tourism industry will develop! Hope Zuokas will give you a call ;)

 Thomas Danielsen 

Dear Inga, why do you think FlyLAL went broke? Recession? Why did Air Baltic leave then? They did not go broke. Ever thought about that? Vilnius airport was one of the most expensive airport in Europe. Did you know that?

 Thomas Danielsen 

Point is that sure, tourism industry is developing, but point is that there is already so much developed and does not need more development, just management! THATS the point! It’s useless management of resources already existing! It’s not being utilized! That’s the point! ;)

 Jan Einar Krakevik

It’s so typical to say "we know that..so who cares...?" it looks like people here have just given up their country...big shame.

 Jan Krogh 

For 20 years I have heard that "We have so many other problems in Lithuania that we cannot give this matter any priority." But it is true, the people is now more paralyzed than ever before. Look to market cashiers, border lines (96 hours line at land border to get from Lithuania to Kaliningrad and back again) , emigration (population is decreasing with 5000-10,000 persons pr month) etc. Increased tourism will create ripple effects for all business.

Kim Bartholdy

It is with Tourism as with FDI - If Lithuania really want it, then do something serious about it

 Bo B. Randulff 

Maybe they just don't want it...

 Kim Bartholdy 

I do think some of the Ministers do - unfortunately many Civil Servants seem to have other priorities. It's about Leadership - the Cabinet need to take charge, explain the population what is right and wrong - and be good examples

 Michael Z. Dalgaard 

So true - Lithuania have so much to offer for tourism travellers.. but need proff people to run the business.--.

THE INK OF THE SCHOLAR

The quote you have chosen is poignant beyond words

Nancy Wright Beasley

The quote you have chosen is poignant beyond words. It is up to us, the writers of the world, to leave a record to that effect. Thanks for your contribution, and that of your daughter's, on this day. It is sad, indeed, when the world rejoices at the death of another human being. Early in the day on May 1, 2011, I was privileged to spend time with Justice Gabriel Bach where he was honored by the Virginia Law Foundation at the Virginia Holocaust Museum in Richmond, VA. Justice Bach, who lives in Jerusalem, was named the deputy prosecutor for the upcoming trial of Adolf Eichmann, some 16 years after the end of World War II. Justice Bach is the sole surviving member of the legal team that brought Eichmann to justice 50 years ago. After he was named as the recipient of the Rule of Law Award, which is given to an individual who has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to promoting the rule of law as the foundation of peaceful, stable, and prosperous nations, Justice Bach announced that the sole surviving judge of the Eichmann trial had just died. It is fitting that Bin Laden was buried at sea in the same manner that Eichmann's ashes were interred.
Nancy Wright Beasley

What we do as adults by our actions to set an example for our kids

Ellen Carmichael

Thank you for your article. That is a great quote. In my mind, what's even more sacred than even the written word is what we do as adults by our actions to set an example for our kids. At this time, it's important that kids be aware of current events, but adults do a disservice by portraying these events with an alarmist attitude. We should be aware of what is going on the world, but also how we as individuals and countries are uniting in difficult times. Kids need to learn that it's important to understand what's going on around us, but it's also important to know that nobody is just sitting back doing nothing, being scared.
Ellen Carmichael

VilNews became inspirational with today's edition!

David Telky

Just had to write to say, your usually brilliant VilNews became inspirational with today's edition!

The educational input to minimise hatred through ignorance is a common theme in your writing and has been a measure of your great ability as a fact finding journalist.

Today your analysis of the start and development of Islam puts a calm face on a religion that is causing mainly unfounded hysteria in the world.

Thanks again for your great paper and your perceptive and human analysis of so main interesting current issues.

David Telky
Managing Director
Pentland Baltic UAB/
Pentland (Scotland) Ltd

Two Words:

1) A NOKIA
2) EMIGRANT POPULATION

A brand name that unites Lithuania's creative, scientific, and business minds. NOKIA was born in a nation with a population of 5.4 million people. Lithuania's current population is a couple million short of that, but add to it its emigrant population and it is equal or even better. Look at what Harvard Business Review (December 2009) has to say about innovators:

"One of the most powerful experiments innovators can engage in is living and working overseas. Our research revealed that the more countries a person has lived in, the more likely he or she is to leverage that experience to deliver innovative products, processes, or businesses. In fact, if managers try out even one international assignment before becoming CEO, their companies deliver stronger financial results than companies run by CEOs without such experience - roughly 7% higher market performance on average."

Lithuania needs its emigrant population!

Best regards,
Jennifer Lambert,
Washington, USA

 
Dealing with Russian occupation, as difficult as it was, may have been easier than dealing with ourselves

Dear Editor,

There has been a lot of negative commentary in Vilnews recently from some of your readers and even from Regina Narusiene in the recent piece about the need for change in attitudes toward what the Lithuanian diaspora can do for the country and what volunteerism can do within Lithuania.

I guess I don't disagree at all, however…

Sitting here on the shores of Lake Erie in Cleveland I'm reminded of the battle flag of Commander Oliver Hazard Perry, USN during the decisive battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. On the blue flag were the words "Don't Give Up the Ship" which he had to transfer from his sinking flagship to the sistership, Niagara. Commander Perry ultimately won that battle against the Royal Navy and altered the military balance on the Great Lakes. In his report to superiors he stated "We have met the enemy and they are ours".

To all my Lithuanian friends and friends of Lithuania I exhort "Don't Give Up the Ship" . And especially to my Lithuanian friends I quote the "Pogo" cartoon paraphrase of Perry " We have met the enemy and he is us!" Maybe our modern Lithuanian example of heroism needs to be Bishop Valancius who came to the conclusion that in the mid 19th century Lithuanians needed to sober up before they came to any national reawakening or effective resistance to Russian domination.

Dealing with Russian occupation, as difficult as it was, may have been easier than dealing with ourselves. But we have sort of been here before, haven't we? Onward!

Rimantas Aukstuolis,
Vice President Structured Trade Finance Fifth Third Bank, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Yes, it is much easier to blame others for our own shortcomings, so perhaps Lithuania faces the "Tall Poppy Syndrome" and therefore , perhaps, it is a time to leave the past behind and focus on establishing new linkages between the two nations and focusing on rebuilding the future? Nonetheless also re-examining and re-evaluating its own behaviours and have the courage in admitting own mistakes, as it will assist to rebuild the nation!

Barbara

About the ‚Tall Poppy Syndrome‘:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome

 
Ambassador Algirdas Žemaitis

You have lived long enough in Lithuania and must realize that many of the problems of the present day Lithuania are due to their reluctance to learn from the Western countries or accept advice from Lithuanians who lived and studied in the West. The relative success of Lithuania after World War I was largely due to the replacement of Russian educated officials by those who got their degrees in the West. My own father was the first Lithuanian with a degree in forestry from a Western university and introduced major reforms in the forest management, which survived even during the Communist occupation.

Alas, after 20 years of restoration of independence to paraphrase Kipling "The East is East, the West is West and the twain shall never (so far) meet". I spoke to a number of Lithuanians with degrees from top Western universities, who don't want to return to Lithuania - according to them, the "natives" know everything better.

I might add that for me it was easier to obtain an audience with the Pope, than with a Minister for Foreign Affairs of Lithuania.

Ambassador Algirdas Žemaitis,
Vilnius – Rome

 
Victor Vytautas Pakalnis

Reminds me of the 90's in Ontario , Canada when the head of the Ontario Public Service , Rita Burak got so frustrated at the quality of customer service within the public service that firm email / phone standards were put in place : phone calls had to be answered within 3 rings and if it went to voice mail , the person receiving it had to indicate today's date and when a call would be returned , usually 1 working day unless they were on vacation . There was always a " 0" option to get to a live operator . And in spite of grumbling at the senior ranks - new habits were formed and new expectations realized within one year - particularly since the service standards became part of every public service executives’ pay for performance plan. It was tracked - audited and rewarded or corrected . Every public service in the world strives to improve its service to its citizens - The Institute for Citizen Centered Service ( Google: ICCS Canada ) found the leading determinant of quality public service is TIMELINESS - the others : professionalism , courtesy , fairness , going the extra mile , outcome...

Victor Vytautas Pakalnis, P..Eng. Canada

 
Vytautas Sliupas

Lithuania's business people and government officials are yet to learn the necessity of good communications. Without a two way communication there is no possibility for further contacts. One of the most frustrating experiences I had was in e-mail (before that it was in regular "snail mail") communications. I would write and write but receive no reply (with only a few exceptions). When I was working, our management had a rule - "answer all letters received in not more than three daysIf there is no answer to be given, then at least acknowledge the receipt".

One of my American colleagues, who was sincerely trying to help Lithuania, said "Sending e-mail to Lithuania is like sending it to the black hole of the universe. Everything goes one way and nothing comes back". No wander he is now disenchanted and helping others

Vytautas Sliupas, P.E.
www.aukfoundation.org
Burlingame, California

 
Rūta Vainienė

The Government has given the go-ahead to the idea of the bankruptcy of natural persons, but it still needs to be endorsed by the Parliament. Therefore we warned the legislators once again that this move would be unsound since it would foster people’s irresponsibility, provoke living above people’s financial capacities and engender other negative results. The government is constantly speaking about improving the business climate; however, speeches remain speeches and, on top of that, authorities devise new regulations and sanctions for corporate executives. We strongly oppose such “improvement” of business conditions and propose other solutions.
We reminded the policy makers about the inveterate flaws of the social security system (Sodra), also highlighting that sweeping changes need to be undertaken to amend the situation.
More information on our activities can be found in our webpage www.freema.org.

Rūta Vainienė
President,
Lithuanian Free market Institute

 
President Dalia Grybauskaite and King Harald V of Norway attend the official welcoming ceremony at the Royal Palace during Lithuanian state visit to Norway in early April.

Norwegian Aftenposten writes today that craftsmen from Lithuania worked 210 hours for NOK 3400 (EUR 425). – A bad example of social dumping, "says the Norwegian Labour Inspection to the newspaper.

Two craftsmen worked 209.5 hours for NOK 3400 (EUR 425) by the company Norwegian Batilja Service Team (NST) . This equates to an hourly rate of NOK 16 (EUR 2).

Norwegian labour authorities call it "a bad example of social dumping." Legal adviser in the Norwegian Labour Inspectorate, Kjersti Marie Gjerde, says to www.Aftenposten.no that NST already in 2008 were caught in a similar case, a case still pending in the courts.

NST Batilja, which is part of the NST group, took legal action after receiving the Labour’s order in 2008, but lost the case in the Oslo City Court at the end of 2009. The company appealed the case to the High Court.

On its web site writes that the NST Baltija is "a company located in Vilnius, Lithuania, with business units in the rental of workers from Eastern Europe to Scandinavia, as well as activities within the health, care and domestic services."

Managing director Jan Thorstensen in the NST Group tells www.Aftenposten.no that he will not comment.

I have personally heard of several such cases in recent years, and I’m afraid that it is a rather widespread phenomenon that Eastern European craftsmen and workers within other fields are exposed to ‘slave wages’ and degrading working conditions in many Western European countries.

An extensive clean-up should be implemented as soon as possible – in close cooperation between the countries involved.
Aage Myhre
VilNews Editor-in-Chief

 Ref article: https://vilnews.com/?p=4748

This is absolutely right! We wish there were more people like Mr. Kaminskas: 1) Being able to recognize the problem, 2) Being able to speak about it openly and freely as people in democratic societies should! Kaminskas is 100% right saying that this time we need "revolution from below." We agree with him that we probably will not see the change in our life time but while we are here we should work on it and do not give in to populist/neo-liberal/19th century capitalist ideologies that prevent today in Lithuania.
America Ltv

Dear Gintautai!
Thank you very much for sharing your life story. It was brave of you to do this. Will print it and send to my brother Gintautas who is "displaced" by his own will in USA and dreams of returning to Lithuania.
Each one of us has to decide what is important and prioritise. Is climate and fishing most important? family security?
I think when you move to a new unknown country, you have to accept the new culture-it is very important to let your roots in, regrow them - love the new country with all its pros and cons. Leave no space for longing of things you can't have anymore.
When my 18 year old daughter met Lithuanians from Lithuania, real Lithuanians like she said- they were not like she expected them to be. She grew up in South Africa and only knows Lithuania from stories of others.
Gintautai- now you live in the country which is on the wish list of many people and I hope you feel at home there.
Yes, Lithuania has it's magic attraction, that's why we are here-reading and sharing our stories.
Thank you VilNews, Aage and all the best to all readers.
Kind regards
Virginija Shimkute
Paihia, New Zealand

Dear Mr Kaminskas,

I was touched by your thought provoking letter to my friend Aage and it made me cry how agonising your experiences were in your ancestral country. This is the Country that people like Aage and myself and many more like us have adopted as we too had dreams of living in a country which held many promises and hopes and our frustrations are not different than yours.

I however take the Liberty to touch upon some of the points raised by you and believe me your observations are 100% true.

Warm Regards to you Mr Kaminskas.
Read more…
Raj Chaudhary
Owner Director Sues Indian Raja Restaurant, Vilnius

Dear Mr Chaudhary

Thank you for your sincere and very interesting feedback. If you have not already done so, I would urge you to give Aage permission to publish your comments. The 'revolution' to achieve Lithuania's independence in 1990-1 needed leadership from the top, but Lithuania needs a new 'revolution' now. This one has to start at the 'bottom', among the people. Lithuanians have to start admitting what is wrong with the country and not just shrugging it off any more: they have to start demanding change. As I have already told Aage, I firmly believe the path to change and reform is first popular demand, followed by the initiative being taken up by journalists and other professionals, including that rare beast "politicus honestus" – if they are not totally extinct in Lithuania.

Best wishes, ypatingai „geros sveikatos“ !

Gintautas Kaminskas
Wollongong, Australia