Opinions

The complicated
Obama - Grybauskaitė
relationship

In 2010, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė openly disagreed with Obama on a new arms reduction plan, claiming it harmed Lithuanian security, and in a rather shocking move refused to take part in a dinner with Obama in Prague. Grybauskaitė was the only invited president who refused to meet with Obama. The White House reacted to her behavior with disbelief, and she got to feel the cold shoulder that applies when international protocol is broken in such a blatant manner.

Read more…
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Grybauskaitė probably would be more successful in securing an invitation to visit Kremlin than the White House
It could not have been said any better. Unfortunately, the damage done is difficult to repair. All diplomatic efforts to obtain an invitation for Grybauskaite to the White House have fallen on deaf ears. With Obama winning, Grybauskaite probably would be more successful in securing during the next four years an invitation to visit Kremlin than the White House.

Stan Backaitis
Washington, D.C.
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Only way the Lithuanian president would see the inside of the White House would be in a tourist tour
I remember at the time an Obama aide saying that the only way the Lithuanian president would see the inside of the white house would be in a tourist tour.. But I think she is forgiven now :)

Richard Vitkauskas,
New York
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Not some friends’ dinner parties where she can choose to go or not
Fully agree with the Editor, it’s not a right thing to do. Grybauskaite represents the country in the World and this event must be not taken as some friend’s dinner parties where she can choose to go or not.

Nellie Vin,
New York

Opinion: JP Hochbaum, Chicago:
The austerity trap
of the Eurozone

“The effects of the austerity medicine that Lithuanians have been forced to swallow is brutal,” writes JP Hochbaum in an op-ed last week.

Below some of the replies. Read the op-ed and related comments HERE.
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See also
 VilNews Forum

for further opinions and discussions
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I can only congratulate Mr. JP Hochbaum
for his bold article about the dire consequences that the EU austerity program, largely driven by the intransigent German Chancellor Angela Merkel. All over Europe, first ordinary people and now mainstream politicians and elected government officials are demanding a reversal of the austerity policies that have shaken the European Union at its core.

Boris Bakunas
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Very good article and an excellent reply
Lithuania is a small but smart and strong country. It raised its voice against the Soviet oppressor and came out on top. It can and should use its intelligence and strength to make itself stronger and also make the EU stronger.

Bernard Terway
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This is one of the most informative articles I've ever read
on the subject of what's going on in the Lithuanian homeland today. If I were wearing one, I'd tip my hat to Mr. Hochbaum.

Gene Christianson
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Ya, Australia & China did huge stimulus packages
& they have the best economies while others that tried austerity burned (Latvia, Estonia, Greece, Portugal, & UK & Ireland did austerity & all worsened).

Jason Hun
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An interesting and informative article. I have also advocated that Lithuania may be better off in leaving the EU
However, it would have little chance of survival if left to go it alone. I also agree that austerity measures have had their deleterious effect on the populace. However, Lithuania's GDP grew at roughly 2.5% in 2012, and is projected to grow at 3.4% (Bank of Lithuania projections) in 2013. Therefore, the much criticized austerity measures appear to have enabled Lithuania to turn the corner economically.

Jon Plakatis
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Nice attempt to analyze the situation, but the use of terms and the interpretation of facts is completely wrong
Austerity started in 2008-09, not 2004, so emigration could never be its result. Huge debt is permissible to large economies like the US or Japan, but disastrous to tiny economies like Lithuania. The same with an unstable currency. The inflation 'ceiling' is a condition for joining the Eurozone, not the EU per se. In fact, right after the EU entry Lithuania experienced unprecedented growth, and inflation was largely driven by remittances from emigrees and cheap loans. Without the EU, Lithuania would look like Albania or Moldova, not like Switzerland. In today's global economy, such small states never have a real sovereignty - unless, of course, they are protectionist, but I don't think the author wants Cuba here.

Daiva Repečkaitė

New Lithuanian
government vetoed
by President

Last Monday Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite vetoed the proposed left wing coalition government , saying that one of the three parties involved stood accused of serious voter fraud in a weekend election and was therefore unfit to govern.

Was her decision correct, democratic?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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Rimas Pileika I thought it showed a lot of guts. Keep the light shining on the truth with respect to all corruption.
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Vyto Be She should stand up to the vote fraud. But since her credibility is quite low, one could suspect she's merely trying to co-opt and integrate the winners into the corrupt establishment, diluting their power...
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Daina Vasiliauskas If she is certain of the fact, adopted the correct measure because voter fraud already puts the opponent unable to govern.
 

Is today’s Lithuanian youth having too good a life?

In a comment to this Nellie Vin photo, titled "Once they were young and fresh as paint", Carol Luschas writes in our VilNews Facebook page

 VilNews Notes & Photos

- They are so cute! Generally speaking Lithuanians are hard workers!!! I only hope this strong work ethic can be carried on in future generations...so far that doesn't seem to be the case! :-( The youth have it too good!

- My answer to Carol was that youth in Lithuania does not have a good or easy life. Most of them, at least. The government's dramatic cuts during the financial crisis have hit hard, and therefore we see that large flows of young people are escaping from the country. There is also a significant increase in the number of young people living below the poverty line, while youth crime, trafficking, smuggling, and violence continues to increase in scope. In many ways perhaps the older couple in the picture had a better, simpler adolescence...

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Read more, see Nellie Vin’s photos

Gintė Damušis, newly appointed Ambassador at Large for relations with the Lithuanian World Community, interviewed in VilNews

See https://vilnews.com/?p=17187

IN OUR INTERVIEW WITH HER WE BROUGHT UP A PREVIOUS VILNEWS ARTICLE: 
“No LT leaders called to tell they love me,” said Rimgaudas P. Vidziunas (65) from Arizona (see https://vilnews.com/?p=13633).

He is one among thousands of Lithuanians born in German camps for displaced people after World War II. Why do you think nobody called him or sent him a note of recognition and appreciation?

GINTĖ DAMUŠIS ANSWERED:
Mr. Vidziunas‘ life experience is one of so many thousands of interesting, unknown stories. It never fails to amaze me just how important and central Lithuania is to so many people like him. We need to build bridges to reach him and other motivated Lithuanians, to optimize those emotional, professional and other ties more effectively, because Lithuania and the diaspora are inextricably linked.

Read the interview…

FOR COMMENTS SEE:

 VilNews Forum

Pleased and proud to be part of the Lithuanian American Community (LAC)

I am very pleased and proud to be part of this wonderful organization. I invite others in LAC to send in their articles and impressions.
Kestutis Eidukonis

Read more…

“Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.”
Swami Sivananda

An article written especially for VilNews by Ronald Stiles

Read more…
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Psychologists who have studied happiness have learned that material gain boosts happiness for only a short time
Mr. Styles,

When I read your article, many thoughts flashed through my mind. Let me just share a few: 

My heart skipped a beat when I read what you wrote about success: "I believe that a successful individual is one who does things that bring him or her satisfaction, things that allow a person to put their heart, mind, and soul into even the smallest act..." I recall one of my relatives who regarded herself as a failure, because she believed that cooking and cleaning house were not regarded as meritorious occupations. Yet she was a marvelous housekeeper. I never saw a speck of dust in her apartment. Her cooking was not only delicious, but extremely healthy -- and the results were immediately apparent. All of her friends marveled at how she looked fifteen years younger than her years would suggest. Having cleaned house, cooked my own meals, and cared for my son when he was a toddler and I was unemployed, I know how challenging the chores of daily life can be. But done regularly, chores become effortless habits. In the words of the great philosopher Aristotle, "We are what we repeatedly do. Virtue {excellence in living] is not an act, but a habit" 

Psychologists who have studied happiness have learned that material gain boosts happiness for only a short time. Dr. Philip Brickman studies a group of happiness and found that while they experienced a temporary boost in mood, within as short a time as a month, they returned to their former levels of mood. People in many prosperous countries like the United States, reported being no more happy during the economic boom of the nineties than they were decades ago. In fact, the incidence of depression, especially among young people, has skyrocketed. 

Like you, I have learned that the happiest moments of my life have not been associated with the achievement of success as defined by the society I live. After passing my oral examination for my doctorate, I was surprised that instead of feeling jubilant, I felt strangely detached, almost empty. When was I happiest? As a child playing with my friends in a poor working-class neighborhood in Chicago, or when I first discovered the joys of learning on my own and spent an entire summer, sneaking into the adult section of our local library. As a teacher when I saw the gleam of sudden understanding flash across a student's face when she or he grasp a difficult concept. As a mountain hiker, beholding the beauties of the verdant valley below. Harvard psychologist Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar has noted his best-selling book "Happier": "Meaningful and pleasurable activities can function like a candle in a dark room... For a single parent, a happiness booster in the form of a meaningful outing with her children over the weekend can change her overall experience of life..." 

Although material things are important in so far as they help us obtain the necessities we need to survive, neither they nor fame will bring us success, which to me seems like a very dangerous word due to its ambiguity. As you have observed, if we cannot take joy in the acts we do today, when will we experience the happiness we seek?

Boris Bakunas

The totalitarian mindset

Dr. Boris Bakunas wrote in our previous VilNews issue a thought provoking article he had called ‘The totalitarian mindset’.

He writes:
“When the Soviet Union collapsed, a totalitarian regime had crumbled, but the Totalitarian Mindset -- which demands absolute conformity in thought, word, and deed – survived, and in many quarters, continues to thrive.  How do we explain this spike in political and religious intolerance, hate-speech, and violence?  Why does the Totalitarian Mindset exist even after a century in which mass murderers like Hitler, Stalin, and Mao Zedong turned much of the globe into a mass grave?”

Read more…
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Great article!
Hope everyone reads it. 
Kestutis Eidukonis
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My hope was that its message would find the perfect home in VilNews
Thank you for your gracious words, Kestutis. I am very glad that you liked the article "The Totalitarian Mindset." My hope was that its message would find the perfect home in VilNews, an e-publication with a worldwide readership and a policy of continuing to act as an outspoken voice for democracy, freedom of expression, and a renewed Lithuania that faces the future with courage and determination. I look forward to an opportunity to speak to you by phone, or perhaps in person if we are ever in Lithuania at the same time.

Boris Bakunas
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I found this article very true to how I try to practice living in general
As someone who has a fascination with psychology and other social sciences I found this article very true to how I try to practice living in general. 

For many years I was a frequent blogger and forum poster on Myspace and was frequently posting in anger and other combative type emotions. I found that posting in that way had many negative consequences. It brought discussions away from the topic, caused my posts to be tainted by a negative previous history, and in the end my learning process and the learning process of others was stunted. Luckily I was able to change this style and behavior and I started to see a more positive response to my writings, and this article reminds me of the type of changes I implemented (particularly items 1-3) 

When people respond to anything in anger or other emotions it generally creates another emotional response. As soon as this occurs it creates an emotional divide, and things start to divert from the topic and even worse it diverts from logic. When I started my evolution in writing style I noticed that my writing improved and that the responses to my writing improved in many ways as well. People were more positive responsive, respectful and more open to discussion. Whereas, before this change, the majority of responses were terse, negative, and it caused topic dilution. When you rely on logic and being nice people will respond in the same way. Read more…

JP Hochbaum
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I think there is a different dynamic operating, however, when societies and the body politic gets 'out of whack’ and takes a totalitarian turn
Boris
I couldn't agree more. However, your well put commentary clearly addresses individual actions and attitudes regarding the ways to control aggression, violence, hatred etc. Obviously, society is made up of individuals and one would surmise that if individuals could better control such impulses, society would be better off. I think there is a different dynamic operating, however, when societies and the body politic gets 'out of whack" and takes a totalitarian turn. Hitler, Stalin and Mao (to name only a few recent prominent prototypes) I don't think, were necessarily psychotic killers like Breivik although the results were many times more horrific. Considering leaders of bloody minded mass political movements as psychopaths may blind us to the development of societal psychopathy and political extremism, which may be a different (albeit related) phenomenon.

Rimantas Aukstuolis
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Few doubt that Hitler would have ever attained power had it not been for economic hardships
Rimantas,
Your point about entire societies taking a totalitarian turn as a result of a complex dynamic is well-taken. Many factors seem to coalesce in order for totalitarian societies to emerge. Few doubt that Hitler would have ever attained power had it not been for economic hardships resulting from the stringent reparations imposed on Germany by the Versailles Treaty and the stock market crash of 1929 in the United States that caused many investors to call in German loans. Add to that the power struggle between German politicians like Von Sleicher and Von Papen, which Hitler was able to exploit. Neither would the Bolsheviks been able to seize power without the chaos resulting from World War I. Certainly, economic and political events play a major role in the ascent of totalitarian dictators. Read more…

Boris Bakunas
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I was surprised at how short my temper was when I encountered opinions that challenged deeply-held beliefs that I thought were self-evident
To Jp Hochbaum: 
Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences as an experienced blogger and forum poster. They mirror my own. 

When I first started posting on Facebook, I was surprised at how short my temper was when I encountered opinions that challenged deeply-held beliefs that I thought were self-evident. Like you, I responded before my anger had time to cool. And all I accomplished was to provoke angry word from others, or in a few cases, got defriended and blocked. 

One happy exception was a Facebook friend who never defriended me no matter how many jibes I flung his way. He just kept coming back, and I began to respect him for his unusual hardiness. Read more…

Boris Bakunas

776 years since the Sun Battle in north Lithuania

The Livonian Confederation in 1260, showing where the Battle of Saule (battle of the sun) took place, near today’s Šiauliai in Northern Lithuania.

Read the article…
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We need more pictures bringing to us memories of Lithuania's past

Thank you for publishing the Siauliai (Saules musis) battle that took place 776 years ago. Stories like that make us proud of our ancestors. This battle is more than just a nice reading to me, i feel personally connected with it. According to my father, the Sliupas's family, long, long time ago lived in the Medininkai forests (present day Medenos miskas), which is just a few kilometers from Meskuiciai, which in turn is just 5 kilometers from the described battlefield. I am sure that my ancestors fought in that battle to save their homes and lives of their loved ones. Even today in the area one finds living people with Sliupas name and the cemeteries are full with those proud relatives of mine.
I hope that sometime you will find space to write about the 1362 battle of the Blue Lakes (Melynuju Ezeru musis), in the present day Ukraine, where Lithuania's Grand Duke Algirdas defeated Murad Khan's raiding armies belonging to Kipchak Khanate of the Golden Horde.

Vytautas Sliupas, P.E.
Burlingame, California
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It's articles like this that make VilNews a great source of information about Lithuanian history
It's articles like this that make VilNews a great source of information about Lithuanian history. Even many third and fourth generation Lithuanian-Americans have expressed their delight in learning about the land of their ancestors. Most of them don't speak Lithuanian, but they retain childhood memories past down from generation to generation about the land their families came from. Thank you, Aage!

Dr. Boris Bakunas, PhD
Chicago
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The surviving Livonians were killed as they tried to flee the battlefield for Riga
48 to 60 Knights were only a small portion of the Livonian Sword Brothers army.. they had amassed a large army composed also of troops from Pskov Republic, Livonians, Latgallians, Estonians. Their lightly armed allies fled the battle and the surviving Livonians were killed as they tried to flee the battle field for Riga.

Source: 
http://mongoliad.com/wiki/
Battle%20of%20Schaulen

Richard Vitkauskas
New York

Vilnius' old city wall
– seen from outside
See: https://vilnews.com/?p=17006
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We need more pictures bringing to us memories of Lithuania's past

Congratulations on your beautiful photos of the old Vilnius wall. We need more pictures bringing to us memories of Lithuania's past. Also enjoyed reading about the 1410 Zalgiris battle where we crushed the might of Kryziuociai (Teutonic Order). Now I look forward to read about the Saules musis that took place in September 1236 where we decidedly defeated Kalavijuocius (Order of Swardbearers). They never recovered after this battle.
Vytautas Sliupas, P.E.
Burlingame, California
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Irene Simanavicius
What a wonderful job you have.....:)
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Boris Bakunas
Fantastic colors! Great composition. I feel as if I'm walking the street already.
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Rimgaudas Vidziunas
great photos...thanks for posting!

Lithuania’s postwar face of cruelty
Antanas Sniečkus, leader of Lithuania’s Communist Party for the period 1940-1974 sent tens of thousands of his own countrymen to inhuman suffering and death in Siberian labour camps.

See:
https://vilnews.com/?p=6598
https://vilnews.com/?p=16983
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All in all - Sniečkus was quite brutal in suppressing the mass discontent after the Soviets took over, but he was the person who prevented the mass influx of Russian speaking population into Lithuania

Evaldas Žvinys
Wikipedia has a very good description of A.Sniečkus. A. Štromas - who was raised by Sniečkus' family - provides a very good assessment of Sniečkus in his book "Laisvės Horizontai", and he puts it in a broader context in his "Totalitarianism and the Prospects for World Order: Closing the Door on the Twentieth Century". All in all - Sniečkus was quite brutal in suppressing the mass discontent after the Soviets took over, but he was the person who prevented the mass influx of Russian speaking population into Lithuania. Also, some argue that due to his policies Lithuania developed a network of medium-sized cities while limiting the growth of one or two biggest cities - which apparently makes Lithuania different from Latvia and Estonia. 

Petras Griškevičius is a leader who in my mind fits the Brezhnev era well. Nothing was happening, and I think he just was rubber-stamping the orders from Moscow, no? 

Now, A.M. Brazauskas had his own ideas about what is good for Lithuania - the Lithuanian Communist Party was the first party to seceed from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. If that was not a big gamble for this Communist bureaucrat, I do not know what is - had the Soviet Union not fallen apart, this would have been an equivalent to a political suicide - with the loss of all privileges that come with it. He wanted to do a gradual transition to a market economy, and in my mind this is his greatest shortcoming. When doing it gradually, he allowed the former comrades and buddies to stay on top - and thus the old power structures were not fully taken apart. IMHO his political instinct and the ability to maneuver is unmatched to this day.

Tautietis

Rimgaudas Vidziunas:
Do any VilNews readers have any memories of traveling Historic Route 66?


Jenifer C. Dillis i vaguely remember selling my soul to the devil at The Crossroads......Sorry. It was pre-Canon days. No photo proof:(


Eric Ember no, but Im a real fan of the show which was broadcast from 1960 through 1963. Ive thought often of buying a 1962 Corvette and retracing the episodes.


Rimgaudas Vidziunas "Route 66" became available on dvd this year. tv series ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964.


Eric Ember I know! I have the DVDs for 1961. Although there were some good episodes after George Maharis left the show, for the most part they seemed to lack the philosophical and cultural underpinnings that were so crisp in the first 2 and one half seasons. My two favorite episodes were The Mud Nest and Good Night Sweet Blues. Living in Baltimore I was able recently to retrace the route and also find some of the locations in The Mud Nest.


Rimgaudas Vidziunas We immigrated to the USA in 1949 settling in Santa Monica. In the early 1950's we traveled Route 66 to our new home in Chicago, Illinois, several years later lived in Lexington, Illinois right on Route 66.


Jon Platakis Had travelled it many times from my home in Chicago. You can see the start of Route 66 in downtown Chicago.


Rimgaudas Vidziunas Thanks Jon Platakis, makes it start in Chicago at the corner of Jackson Boulevard and Michigan Avenue ending in California at Santa Monica Pier.


Frank Passic In April, 1964 I rode with my father out to California the entire length of Rt 66 in a brand new 1964 T-bird. In Southern Illinois we hit a hailstorm and nearby tornado that blew the vinyl adhesive top off the hard top. In AZ a blizzard in the mts. In CA a sandstorm in the Mohave desert that pitted the windshield. By time we got to LA the car was totalled with weather/ sandstorm damage and we sold it and flew back to MI.


Boris Bakunas Never got to travel it. But as a kid, I loved the t.v. show. Thanks, Rim.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_ykDw-06H8


Sandra Abramovich Have been on small sections of it, primarily in Arizona, but never did the entire route.


Vyto Be did that whole trip before it was (too) hip about '74 and '88. Its probably time to revisit it, but I hear it's too self-consciously touristy now...


Viktorija Ruškulienė I traveled just Illinois and Arizona sections of Route 66.


Richard Vitkauskas I traveled it once when I was 11 years old.. still remember falling in love with the daughter of a motel owner.. ( musta been cause she looked like Annette Funicello).. I can just the imagine the number of places that had to go out of business when the interstate came along.


Boris Bakunas Every kid in Bridgeport was in love with Annette Funicello. Come five o'clock and the streets were empty.