Dispatches from Vilnius

My first thought when Putin said let's turn the clock back to 1997 was fine, you weren't president then.  You weren't even prime minister.  You were just a deputy chief in Yeltsin's administration, in charge of managing his property.  Not even a significant player yet.  Yea, let's go back to that time. It was the year I came to Vilnius.  It was a cold October.  What little heat there was coming from the radiators escaped through the attic roof, as there was only a tarp on it.  The building was in the process of being repaired.  I huddled next to the radiator to keep my hands warm so that I could at least sketch drawings for the interior remodeling.  Whenever Daina would come by, we would immediately peel off our clothes and jump into bed, wrapping ourselves in the thick duvet to give each other warmth.   I remember all the talk swirling around about NATO at the time.  Most of the Eastern European countries saw it as an insuranc...

We heard the crowd as it moved along Birutė St. toward Nemtsov Square in Žverynas.  We call the park the Duck Pond, a place were parents take their kids and dog-lovers walk their dogs.  On the other side of the pond is the Russian embassy, an imposing building with its double-eagle crest on the broad gable.  One of the reasons for naming the park after Boris Nemtsov is to constantly remind the Russian officials of his murder on the streets of Moscow in 2015.  Soon, the park was swelling with persons waving flags and banners not just of Lithuania and Ukraine, but also Georgia, Belarus and Moldava, countries that have also seen the tyranny of Russia in recent years.  " Slava Ukraini! Heroiam Slava! " an estimated 10,000 persons shouted out to Russian officials.  "Glory to Ukraine!  Glory to heroes!" There was a makeshift podium and large screen set up that allowed various speakers and musicians to offer their support of Ukraine.  National anthems w...

What struck me about Putin's speech was his unbridled anger.  This is a guy who is normally able to control his emotions, but he seemed to regard Ukraine as an ungrateful child, having the audacity to claim a cultural heritage of her own.  In his addled mind, whatever Ukraine had was given to it by the Soviet Union, including Crimea, and the country had no right to think differently.  It didn't matter that he messed up a little bit in his telling. Crimea wasn't "given" to Ukraine until 1954, long after Lenin had been embalmed and put on display in Red Square. Even more surreal was the way in which this speech was given.  It was apparently supposed to be a discussion, but after rambling for over an hour, his ministers were at a loss of words as to what to offer in response, other than their agreement.  Sadly, one minister stammered a bit, unable to properly express what exactly Putin wanted him to say, so Vlad coached him from behind his white desk, as the speake...

We had avoided the Olympics for the most part, but in the end got curious and found ourselves watching pairs skating last Friday.  I oddly found myself rooting for the Chinese pair of Sui Wenjing and Han Cong .  It was not just because they were so beautiful to watch but because I didn't want the damn Russians to win, who were sitting in first through third places in the Kiss and Cry booth.  I got a perverse pleasure knowing that one of them would soon be left to cry over a lost medal.  It's not like I was fan of China either, but given the choice I took the Chinese pair.  This is my sad take from the Olympics.  Russians very much became the bad guys, not just because of the the threat of war hanging over Ukraine, but the ongoing doping scandal that saw Kamila Valieva reduced to heaving sobs when she fell to fourth after a disastrous free skate.  Meanwhile, her young Russian teammates bitterly contested who should have won the gold, as second place Ale...

Daina and I have marginally been following the Olympics.  We watched the short program of the ice dancing the other night, pleased to see that our favorite French couple was as good as ever.  There is something really special about Gabrielle Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron that moves us each and every time.  So happy to see they won gold today!   However, we were both bemused that the young Russian ice skater, Kamila Valieva, was reinstated despite what seemed a rather obvious case of doping.  Very curious what these " exceptional circumstances " are.  Maybe the IOC worked out a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine? I was reading an article the other day where Russian super-coach Eteri Tutberidze has a history of "one and done" with young figure skaters, pushing them beyond the breaking point to achieve extraordinary results.  This includes the use of the illicit heart medicine trimetazidine, which is supposed to give athletes greater stamina....

They say everything is relative, but Jon Stewart seems to be taking it to the absurd , comparing his stance on Iraq with Joe Rogan's stance on vaccines and effective treatments.  Stewart is one of many comics who have come out against "cancel culture," fearing that they will have nothing left to make fun of.  After all, comedy is all about being irreverent.  However, it is a little different when comics purposefully spread disinformation, getting paid $100 million in the process.  This is what musicians like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell are complaining about, and why they pulled their music from Spotify.  It isn't so much about cancel culture as it is about stating your position, which is what Jon has done many times in the past.  These musicians knew perfectly well Daniel Ek would never pull Joe Rogan. One of the things COVID has revealed is the sad nature of our society today.  We no longer seem to accept facts as binding, but rather as something we ...

I heard on the news that the storks are returning to Lithuania.  Definitely beginning to feel like Spring in Vilnius.  I tried out my new Vallon Hazelwood sunglasses yesterday, as the sun poked out of the clouds in the afternoon.  I had been debating for weeks over the different pairs in the facebook ads, before finally settling on this vintage tortoise shell model.  So nice to feel the sun shining on my face. I chipped away more of the ice from the driveway so that at least two tires gain traction.  The worst thing about the snow is the way it forms a sheet of ice in late winter that takes forever to melt, so I get out there with my pointed Fiskars shovel and peck away it.  Fortunately, the ice usually breaks away in big chunks.  The water underneath having loosened it from the concrete paving blocks.  The city should take care of the sidewalks, given it now charges to park in Žverynas, but they do so only sporadically, so I cleaned the entrance ...

My wife hasn't trusted my political opinion ever since the election of Trump.  It doesn't matter that it was one of those rare conflagrations of events that ushered him into the White House, which so few could have predicted.  In fact, very few did, but I was wrong just the same. I suppose that is why she doesn't trust me when I say that Putin's threat to invade Ukraine is nothing more than a means to garner the world's attention.  He wants everyone to see how important he is, especially Russians.  Nothing feels better than having a captive audience in the President of France , telling Boris Johnson to fuck off , and forcing Biden's hand in Washington .  On top of it all, he forged a historic alliance with China, mutually condemning NATO as part of their " Pact against the West ."  Who's the big man now?   They say that politics make for strange bedfellows and there are no stranger bedfellows than Xi and Putin, except for maybe Trump and Kim Jong-...

There was some worry whether China would let the Lithuanian Winter Olympic Team into the country, given the ongoing diplomatic spat over recognizing the Taiwan representative office in its own name .  China has been exerting a lot of pressure on Lithuania to take back this unwarranted action.  However, Lithuania has a long history of standing up to oversized bullies, so no surprise that the House Speaker, Viktorija Čmilytė, has no intention of complying with Beijing's order. Unfortunately, this meant my wife was not going to get a refund on the leather carry-on bag she ordered, mistakenly thinking it was from Turkey, and not China.  It was pretty ugly and not at all like that shown in the picture, but China has blocked packages from Lithuania, so it just would have ended up in a customs warehouse.  She oiled it and gave it to her brother. The business community is notably upset, petitioning the President to step in and end this fiasco.  Like many countries, Lith...