Visegrad and the Baltics

George Friedman provides a very interesting article about a new development in Central Europe. In my opinion this underlines the recent trends in the former Communist ruled Europe. And that trend is that not all countries in "Eastern Europe" are the same or should be treated the same. As the article points out, in Visegrad countries Poland is emerging as a leader - as perhaps it should be - it is a big country with rich and dramatic history.

The Baltic countries are not drawn into this military alliance. Of course, they are less populous - I think the combined population is less than the Czech republic alone - but I still think the fact is important.

This could be one of these events that push Lithuania further away from Poland - even though these countries were like Siamese twins for about six centuries. Does that mean that the new relations will form with our other neighbours across the Baltic sea and beyond?

In a roundabout way to me this just confirms that "Eastern Europe" does not exist. Now the question is - do "Baltic states" exist? Or is this just a short-hand, the same type as "Eastern Europe"?

Jan Widacki about Poles and Lithuanians

Gazeta Wyborcza has the following article that provides the opinion of Jan Widacki:
* in English
* in Polish
* in Lithuanian

This whole affair does not look serious. I guess one could say that it could be described as barely civilized.

The issue revolves about two items:

1. The so called "forced assimilation" of Poles. This is related to the current school reform that increases the education in Lithuanian in the Polish minority schools - from 5% now to about 30%. Which I believe still would be better than the minority schools in Poland. Nevertheless, Poland has problems with it.

2. The second item revolves about the Lithuanian Constitution, no less. The Constitution declares that the official language in Lithuania is Lithuanian. Therefore, in the official documents as they relate to Lithuanian citizens only the Lithuanian alphabet is used. Even though the Lithuanian alphabet is based on Latin alphabet, in dropped several letters (x, q, w). This is not unique, just to wit the Polish alphabet does not have "v", for example. Now in the documents the names are written based on "as pronounced" basis. So, "Waldemar Tomaszewski" is written as "Valdemar Tomaševski", and this apparently causes a considerable discomfort to this person. I can see that - and I think he should be accommodated - there is no harm to anybody, perhaps save some bureaucrat who got lost in his or her Kafkaesque world of bureaucratic laws or procedures and has a difficulty deciding whether a person's name belongs to the Lithuanian language or not.

This "letter issue" should have been resolved long ago, IMHO. Even though the Constitution says that the official language in Lithuania is Lithuanian, there is no harm if the Latin alphabet letters are used in passport. I would not accept the use of "ł" or other "funny" letters that are not in Lithuanian alphabet (Lithuanian language itself has enough of these "funny" letters, so why complicate matters?), but why not use "w" or "q"? There is no harm that people write their names based on Latin alphabet letters. Stupidity of some Lithuanian bureaucrats and/or politicians is partially responsible for soured relations between Lithuania and Poland.

I would think once this silly letter issue is put behind, the recent decision regarding minority schools in Lithuania would be very easy to defend. There are 120 Polish minority schools in Lithuania (out of ca. 170 Worldwide outside of Poland) and a Polish university - and yet the Polish minority in Lithuania is significantly smaller than e.g. in Germany. What kind of assimilation are you talking about, panowie?

Although you never know - perhaps some other problem would pop up and Poland's foreign minister would be unhappy again?

Klausimas Lietuvos profesionaliajai žiniasklaidai

Kodėl niekas nerašo apie Dominique Strauss Kahn skandalo pasekmes Europai ir Lietuvai? Ar Christine Lagarde geras kandidatas iš Lietuvos perspektyvos?

Vilnus mayor does Vilnius on Segway

This is supposed to be a new Monday tradition - I like it ;)

T.H.Ilves kalba

Kaip rašiau anksčiau, gana daug atgarsio susilaukė Estijos prezidento T.H.Ilves kalba.

Kalba gana įdomi, ji paliečia dabartines revoliucijas arabų pasaulyje ir tarp kitų dalykų nori perduoti vieną idėją: tos šalys kurioms nesiseka pasiekti demokratijos daro įvairias ir skirtingas klaidas, o tos kur pasidaro sėkmingos padaro tai darydamos daugmaž vienodus dalykus. Jis bando suklasifikuoti kuriuos dalykus reikia daryti kad šalis būtų sėkminga.

“All successful post-despotic countries reformed alike. Each unsuccessful country finds its own excuse.”

Taigi čia pora idėjų ko reikia sėkmingai šaliai Europos kontekste:
1. parlamentinis, o ne prezidentinis valdymas: sėkmingos šalys turi silpną prezidentą (įdomumo dėlei galima prisiminti kad tūlas R.Paksas agitavo už stiprų prezidentą);
2. daugpartinė sistema: sėkmingose šalyse yra daugiau nei dvi partijos. Tas sumažina valdžios aparato politizavimą ir politiškai motyvuotą kadrų kaitą po rinkimų.

Aš manyčiau kad šios dvi idėjos neapima visų sąlygų reikalingų tam kad sukurti sėkmingą šalį. Juk daug kas pasakytų kad Estija skiriasi nuo Lietuvos savo pasiekimais, bet tuo pačiu metu abi aukščiau patiektos sąlygos yra išpildytos?

Keletas papildomų idėjų:
- sutelkta ir bendrai paėmus nesupriešinta visuomenė;
- tarpusavio pasitikėjimas; tikėjimas tais kuriuos renki ir reikalavimas atsakomybės;
- pagarba bendrapiliečiams;
- mokesčių mokėtojų išlaikomo biurokratinio aparato "pastatymas į savo vieta"; mažas visokių kontorų ir inspekcijų aparatas?
- išsilavinusi ir teigiamą kaimynų patirtį pasiruošusi perimti biurokratija bei politinis elitas (čia gana įdomus Aage Myhre's straipsnelis apie bandymus perduoti Norvegijos patirtį Lietuvoje)
- ...

Gal dar kas turi idėjų?

Keli geri straipsniai

1. Gana įdomus E.Lucas'o straipsnelis "The Economist'e". Iš tikro - ar jei mes norim kad mus gintų nereikia prisidėti daugiau? O gal to NATO ir nereikėjo - būtume kaip Suomija ir vargo nematytume?

2. Prezidentas T.H.Ilves kalba L.Meri konferencijoje.E. Lucas savo facebook'e rašo kad konferencija buvo pilna. Prezidentas Ilves sėdėjo ant grindų. Įdomu ar atsirastų nors vienas Lietuvos politikas kuris galėtų tą padaryti? Platesnis konferencijos aprašymas yra čia, o pati kalba - čia.

KGB website - Lithuania

Lithuania recently has made public the KGB archives as related to Lithuania. This includes the structure of the organization and the people who worked there. The names of those who have not stepped forward and declared what they did are made public. For example, one of the departments has this lengthy list. It is said that some of the archives were destroyed or moved to Moscow during the last days of the Soviet power in Lithuania.

The KGB was the organization that everyone feared. They could decide that one is not loyal to the state and put that person to prison for some reason - for example "treason". A milder case would be that they would deem a person untrustworthy and basically ruin any career or professional possibility for him/her and their family - as everything was state owned - and one could not hire a person without KGB approval.

As a note aside - it is interesting to note that the predecessor of this organization was Cheka - which in turn was established and run by no other than Felix Dzerzhinsky - a person who spent his youth in Vilnius and Kaunas (Wikipedia uses Russian version - Kovno).

V. Radžvilas apie lietuvius ir lenkus

Geras straipsnelis kuris bando perteikti V.Radžvilo mintis.

P.S.
Čia neseniai pamačiau Lenkijos URM atstovės straipsnelį apie Lietuvą ir Lenkiją. Lenkiškai nemoku, bet išgelbėjo "google translate".
Kažko kritiškesnio turbūt sunku laukti - man atrodo visi Lietuvos URMe - pradedant ponu Ažubaliu - turėtų rimtai susirūpinti. Aš nesakau kad reikia tapti mažesniais savo krašto patriotais, bet kartais reiktų pažiūrėti kokias pasekmes visai šaliai atneš vienas ar kitas pasakytas žodis. Kaip lietuvių išmintis sako "žodis žvirbliu išlekia, o jaučiu sugrižta". Sakyčiau teisybė, ypač kai tuos žodžius leidžia tokio kalibro politikai.

O čia A.Bumblauskas kalba apie lietuvius ir lenkus.

The Constitution of May 3, 1791

Today marks the 220th anniversary of the Constitution of May 3, 1791 (the Lithuanian version of the Constitution is here.) The Constitution tried to centralize the power and do away with "liberum veto" - the right of nobles to veto practically any law that was being passed in the Parliament (Seimas, Sejm). This was too late - the Commonwealth soon was swallowed by stronger and better organized neighbours.

We could only wonder what would have happened if the Commonwealth has stayed alive. Would we have the Lithuanian language and nation today? Or would have we followed the way of the Scots - who perhaps share as many historical similarities with England as Lithuanians do with Poland - know who we are but use Polish in everyday life? Would the choices that people made in 1918 be relevant back in the day if the Commonwealth was alive?

Is that good or bad? Well, I do not know. That is the way it is - and I am not going to give up my Lithuanian identity any time soon.

Happy Constitution day!

Pokalbis su V.Adamkumi

Geras pokalbis su buvusiu Lietuvos prezidentu Valdu Adamkumi.