Lithuania to remove remaining Soviet-era statues in capital

[Larry1]

From time to time we read about non-Russian FSU countries removing monuments built by Soviet officials when the Soviets ruled these countries. It sometimes happens in countries, including Poland and the Czech Republic, which were not part of FSU but were under Soviet domination. The latest example of this is in Lithuania:

Lithuania is removing all the Soviet statues remaining in its capital, prompted by renewed calls to take down the symbols of an oppressive Soviet occupation amid the Ukraine crisis.

... Lithuania started removing hundreds of Soviet-era symbols after it broke away from Moscow in 1990, but several statues remain in the capital, Vilnius.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/8894ab1a850d4341972e8c0d914bc04b/lithuania-remove-remaining-soviet-era-statues-capital

[jone]

Aren't there six or seven Russian speakers in Lithuania that need to be protected against persecution by Russian tanks?

[ML]

I was in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on several business trips back 12 to 17 years ago.

The ethnic natives and Russian interlopers were working fairly well together in public.

In private, the natives voiced displeasures about having to learn Russian language in the past to progress in careers, favoritism shown toward Russians (pre-1990s), etc.

The Russians, in turn, were annoyed that the locals didn't show more gratitude that they (actually their parents and grandparents) had been transferred in to save the country and fix it up.

The Russians were particularly upset that they were being asked to pass exams concerning local history, etc., to gain citizenship.  Don't know how that all played out, if the rules were changed, etc.

[2tallbill]

Some other Lithuanian news

Lithuania plans 15 joint army drills with US in the next two years
By Damien Sharkov 7/6/15 at 7:02 PM
http://europe.newsweek.com/lithuania-plans-15-joint-army-drills-us-next-two-years-329867


Hackers post bogus plan to attack Russia on Lithuanian Defence Ministry site
http://europe.newsweek.com/hackers-post-bogus-plan-attack-russia-lithuanian-defence-ministry-site-328583


Russia Arrests Russian-Lithuanian National Suspected Of Treason
http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-lithuania-treason-arrest/27093297.html

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2011/02/worldwide-wednesday-the-10-hottest-women-from-lithuania/


And of course I would be totally remiss if I didn't point out this article about
The 10 Hottest Women From Lithuania
BY TARA AQUINO

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2011/02/worldwide-wednesday-the-10-hottest-women-from-lithuania/

Edita Vikeviciute



Don't follow this link because Lithuanian model Edita Vilkeviciute shows
her boobies
http://oohlafemme.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/edita-numero9.jpg

Don't follow this link either Reda Lapaite with her boobies

http://www.bloggang.com/data/sdayoo/picture/1415492673.jpg

[Larry1]

Wow, Edita is gorgeous. I can't fault them for ranking her number 1 on their top ten list. Thanks for such a nice contribution.

From the article is this bit about Lithuanian history:

On this day in 1918, the Council of Lithuania signed the country's Act of Independence, otherwise known as the Act of February 16, which proclaimed the restoration of the sovereign state. The act marked the end of a series of resolutions pertaining to the country's freedom from the Russian and German empires. Although Lithuania would have to re-establish independence from the Soviet Union on March 11, 1990, its first proclamation is widely recognized as the country's greatest success. We beg to differ. After further research on the country, we'd propose that its greatest success is the amount of beautiful and talented women resting within its borders. Check out our ten sexy counterarguments.

Read the entire article here:

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2011/02/worldwide-wednesday-the-10-hottest-women-from-lithuania/

I love the Lithuanian names.

[2tallbill]

Wow, Edita is gorgeous. I can't fault them for ranking her number 1 on their top ten list. Thanks for such a nice contribution.

From the article is this bit about Lithuanian history:

Read the entire article here:

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2011/02/worldwide-wednesday-the-10-hottest-women-from-lithuania/

I love the Lithuanian names.

I was still editing when you posted

A youtube video

[ML]

I wasn't in the woman hunting mode when I was in the Baltic countries.

However, I am a man and I did notice some things.

The native women in Estonia and Latvia were not at all warm and sensual.  The Russian women there, were however.

It was said to me, by both native men and women, that Estonian and Latvian people are by temperament rather cold, somewhat similar to people in Finland.

The native women in Lithuania seemed more warm and sensual than the ladies up north.

[Larry1]

I wasn't in the woman hunting mode when I was in the Baltic countries.

However, I am a man and I did notice some things.

The native women in Estonia and Latvia were not at all warm and sensual.  The Russian women there, were however.

It was said to me, by both native men and women, that Estonian and Latvian people are by temperament rather cold, somewhat similar to people in Finland.

The native women in Lithuania seemed more warm and sensual than the ladies up north.

My friend who persuaded me to begin my FSUW search visited a beautiful girl in Riga. It was his first time in FSU. He told me that he saw on every block a girl more beautiful than he would see in a year back home.* He said it was very difficult not to turn his head to look at each one, until he realized that he would see another one in just a few minutes.

I used to work with a Lithuanian guy here. His cousin from Lithuania visited his family for an extended visit. After the cousin returned home he was walking with a friend of his. The friend asked him why he was staring at so many girls.  He explained - you don't understand. I was in America for months and so I'm not used to seeing all these beautiful girls.**

* To be fair, he lived in a County in SW Florida where the average age is 84
** He visited Detroit, not South Beach, Los Angeles, Dallas, or NYC.

[mendeleyev]

It was said to me, by both native men and women, that Estonian and Latvian people are by temperament rather cold, somewhat similar to people in Finland.

Dang climate strikes again! Hopefully, global warming will change that. 

[Larry1]

I wrote the initial post in this thread so I thought I would post excerpts from this article for which an ethnic Russian living in Lithuania was interviewed:

Russian-speaking Lithuanians upset at plans to remove Soviet-era monuments

Vilnius mayor says four statues on the city’s Green Bridge will be removed for repairs, but rumours abound that they will never be returned

They are four sculptures that bring a nostalgic dollop of socialist realism to the heart of an EU capital: on the Green Bridge over the Neris river in Vilnius the approaches are dominated by monuments to heroic Soviet archetypes: soldiers, workers, farmers and students.

But for how much longer? Plans to remove the badly corroded monoliths for repairs are proving highly controversial in Lithuania, particularly among the Russian-speaking minority.

... The newly elected mayor of Vilnius, Remigijus Šimašius, has insisted that the sculptures will be taken away, probably by the end of July, for repairs. But rumours abound that once removed, they will never be returned.

The sensitive cultural situation has echoes of a similar case in Estonia eight years ago, when the Tallinn authorities relocated a monument to the Red Army commonly known as the Bronze Soldier. The decision resulted in two nights of riots and a siege of the Estonian embassy in Moscow.

Larisa Dmitriyeva, a member of the Lithuanian parliament and one of the leaders of the Lithuanian Union of Russians, an ethnicity-based political party, is categorically against the removal of the four sculptures. She thinks the sculptures should serve as a reminder of the country’s past.

“I really don’t like this idea. The decision is absolutely populist. This is our history and there’s no way we can change it,” Dmitriyeva said.

She accuses the new administration of Vilnius of acting in a Bolshevik manner. “It is sad that our Lithuanian artists’ pieces will now be removed just because some political decision has been made. Fighting metal or stone is an act of ignorance. If we follow such logic, our supreme court’s building has to be demolished as well. You know, it’s a Bolshevik kind of attitude: demolish everything,” she said...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/16/russian-speaking-lithuanians-upset-plans-remove-soviet-era-monuments