satellite burns down house

The trip started out like any other. I drove into Manhattan and the car overheated when I got there. My dad took over driving from there, and we went the rest of the way to Newark the heat on full blast. I made it to the airport about an hour late, but check in went fine. In stockholm, I heard my first Lithuanian of the trip. Always an interesting moment when this happens. I usually catch myself paying extra close attention when I hear foreign tongues and had been doing so, but not understanding the Swedish.

The first Lithuanian I heard, of course was political debating on the presidential races which the impeached president was getting ready to run in. I began listening lest the group of 10 or so Lithuanians mention anything Ilona Stulpiniene - Liberal Center Union candidate for parliament from Siauliai region (meaning RURAL). After a sufficient amount of eavesdropping, I gathered up the nerve to strike up a conversation with one of the women, Antanina, who, it turns out lives near Siauliai and had heard of Ilona. Antanina, by the way owns a cafe in which she keeps a live brown bear!! (Miško Užeiga in Kelmės raj., Lithuania: +370 699 53 261)

I spoke with a girl and a guy there too, and they were both pretty nice. The guy was from Siauliai too, and said he would vote for Ilona, but that he's actually from Siauliai city, not the region. I sat next to him on the flight from Stockholm to vilnius, and we traded stories on car accidents. Turns out he's much more lucky to be alive than I am...although I guess we both are, as the propellor plane flight from Stockholm to Vilnius was...vibracious.

I arrived in Vilnius at around 1000, and the rest of that day was a blur of activity. First to the apartment to drop off my stuff and mistakenly fall asleep during the hour that I wanted to wash up. From there, it was off to the Mayor's office, which recently moved into Vilnius' first skyscraper (click for a photo...it's the non-round skyscraper). Of course, I met the Mayor (Arturas Zuokas - notice all the people staring at him in the photo), unshaven, smelly, worn, and dressed like a schlub. It just so happens that that day I also shook hands with Arturas Paulauskas (acting President - the one getting some chin makeup), Valdas Adamkus (former President and current candidate for President), Brazauskas (PM - far right), Petras Auðtrevicius (presidential candidate), and the top lawyer in the country.

From my mom's office, we grabbed a quick dinner at the new mall right next to the new skyscrapers in Vilnius, and then booked it over to the main Cathedral Square, where a large event was taking place to welcome Lithuania into the EU (at midnight). That's where I met all those bigshots. The event was organized by the Lithuanian equivalent of PBS, and was not too bad...kinda boring though. Lithuanian reactions, while vastly improved from even a couple years ago where noticeably "clap weakly for your favorite band"-ish. One problem with the event was that another concert was taking place simultaneously...get this...with the same bands playing at both. Don't ask me to get into the skinny of it, but it had to with some nasty politicking by the Mayor's opponents.

The same opponents organized a promotion where they distributed tons of these lights to people all over the country. At 2140, people were supposed to turn on all their lights and point them to the sky as a satellite's orbit passed over Europe, making Lithuania the brightest country in Europe as it joined the EU. The only problem...minor detail...the satellite wasn't scheduled to fly over until 2240. Duh. I didn't see anyone flashing any lights in Cathedral Square at 2240, but that's probably because everyone had entered that zombie mode Lithuanians get into when there's a promise of fireworks. (turns out there was no news the day after about the outcome of the lights thing, except that some guy in Panevezys left his lights on when he left his house in order to ensure the satellite would see, and his house burned down. go figure).

After that I went to start drinking with a couple girls who my mother and Ilona had met while bar hopping the week before. We got flaming Metaxas and debated women's rights, etc. I must say that they are some of the first Lithuanians I have met who I probably couldn't tell were Lithuanians if I just saw them on the street. Jurga fell asleep towards 4am, and Vaida got her a cab. Meanwhile, I had to get back into the apartment without keys or a phone, and my mom out carousing with her crazy artist/rich friends. I figured out where she was and got the keys, but not after getting dragged into the apartment to spend a couple of really uncomfortable moments watching millionaires and eccentrics do their thing. Mind you I hadn't slept since the beginning of this blog, and had only slept 4 hours between the 48 hours before that.

I got home around 0400, only to have to go let my mom in at 0700!

-dr-

on the road

Thanks to all of you who sent me wishes for a safe journey. The way things have gone during my last few trips, I'll need a lot of well-wishing.

I write this on my laptop during the flight to Stockholm, and I wish that the monitor in my seat had Tetris (although it has reverso, checkers, bakgammon, and blackjack). Time to get some rest before celebrating Lithuania's entry to the EU!!

I can't stand getting that yogurt or orange juice cup that has built up outward pressure on the plane. You KNOW that it's gonna squirt you no matter how hard you try.

-dr-

lithuanian prostitutes

I will not usually make posts like this one.

As a citizen of Lithuania - a country more often mentioned in "Oddly Enough" stories than serious front-page stories - I typically refrain from purposely bringing to light embarassing stories like the one I will write about here. My friend Aras steadfastedly adheres to this "rule" as well - he refers to the embarassing impeachment of president Rolandas Paksas as "Lithuania's shining moment as a truly functioning democracy." I like this way of putting it. But not everyone is looking out for Lithuania's public appeal. That said, AP recently ran a story with the headline "Lithuanian Prostitutes Overcharging NATO Troops."

This nifty story came a week after Lithuania officially joined NATO (the official part being the arrival of four NATO F-16's and over 100 apparently sex-starved service personnel). What I didn't like about the story was its light/funny tone. The increased presence of sex-workers is obviously directly correlated to the arrival of these troops. The story does not make mention of attempts by NATO administration to curb the ILLEGAL activities of their troops. It focuses solely on Lithuania's police cpmmissioner's comments on trying to take care of the problem..The despicable part of this story is not that prostitutes are charging the NATO troops triple, but that NATO troops are buying prostitutes, and at triple price.

Unfortunately, the story portrayed Lithuanian authorities as tolerant of prostitution, sympathized with the "discriminated against" troops.

Just heard U2 song that made me think of the planes in Sharon.

Lithuanian reaction to 4 planes in Siauliai - charge the 100(!) soldiers there triple for prostitutes.
2 NATO troops get beat up...what kind of troops are those?!

Since I want to portray my country positively, my headline would be "NATO troops graciously, despicably pay extravagantly for prostitutes."

By the way, my friend Aras is looking to work for a company in Lithuania that pays American-styles wages. Click here for his CV...any takers?

April 8, 2004

Lithuanian prostitutes overcharging NATO troops

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) - The NATO troops dispatched to this Baltic state are being discriminated against, the country's police commissioner said Thursday, by prostitutes who charge them more than three times as much money as Lithuanian clients.

In recent days, prostitutes have been arriving in the city of Siauliai, where 100 NATO soldiers are stationed, part of a team to service four Belgian F-16s that patrol the skies above Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Police Commissioner General Vytautas Grigaravicius told journalists.

He said that the sex workers were hiking their rates for the western troops, who come from Belgium and Norway.

"Prostitutes take 100 litas (about $45 Cdn) an hour from Lithuanian citizens, while NATO troops are asked to pay 350 litas (about $160 Cdn) an hour," he said, calling it a clear case of discrimination. Prostitution is illegal in the country of 3.5 million residents.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were inducted into the U.S.-led alliance on March 29 along with four other ex-communist countries. Moscow expressed particular anger at the entry of the Baltics, which share borders with Russia, and criticized the deployment of the NATO fighters.

Last week, two NATO soldiers were beaten up, prompting outrage across Lithuania and calls for better protection for troops sent to defend the country.

Grigaravicius met with acting Lithuanian president Arturas Paulauskas on Thursday and pledged to boost the number of police in Siauliai, 200 kilometres northwest of the capital, Vilnius.

pre-flight

Yesterday, on the last day at my nine month internship (unpaid) with Trickle Up, one of my coworkers was sending me off with questions about my newfound job. My favorite was something to the effect of "what's the deal with corruption over there."

I had to think for a moment.

Obviously, politics will be different in a country that was under Communism for over 60 years. But Lithuania has had it's independence for over ten years now as well. Just how clean would these elections be?

I have a couple of frames of reference I would like to share here. One is my view inside a political campaign - that of Dan Grabauskas for State Treasurer. Dan's behavior during the campaign convinced me that he was the cleanest politician around. There were frequent arguments in the campaign HQ about whether to cash this check or whether so-and-so had reached their donation limit. We were often checking in with the campaign lawyer and checking websites to bone up on the law. The staff worked diligently to get the former head of the RMV elected. They constantly met with the press, the PR guy was sending out media kits left and right, and letters-to-the-editor were sent in by grassroots supporters.

Contrast that with a recent book I read: Darkness at Dawn: The Criminalization of the Russian State -by David Satter. The book frighteningly chronicles the rise of the Russian mobster, and the officially-sanctioned takeover of private industry and government by (literally) gangs. Satter details assassinations, arson, non-payment of wages, criminals' political campaigns, and general disregard for human life. The book actually gave me nightmares.

As for Lithuania, I have heard stories of politicians ranging towards both ends of the spectrum. Let us compare Lithuania's acting president Arturas Paulauskas and recently impeached president Rolandas Paksas. Paulauskas' bid for President was my first exposure to a political campaign. With a new party: Naujoji Sajunga (New Union), Paulauskas was embarking on a campaign that (in 1998, at least), would be the closest run for president anyone had seen. Paulauskas had gathered a "ragtag" group of supporters who worked hard at building the party, attracting supporters, and running events. I saw Paulauskas, the former Attorney General of Lithuania who took down major mafia groups, as the epitome of a respectable politician out there to make peoples' lives better.

This has hardly been the modus operandi of all Lithuanian politicians. Recently former president Paksas was the first European president to have been successfully impeached. On April 7, Seimas (Parliament) voted him out on 3 seperate counts, including promising favors to a shady Russian helicopter dealer. Paksas has been accused of numerous wrongdoings that I won't get into here, but for me, he represents the other end of the spectrum of Lithuanian politics, the epitome of tainted politics.

I told my colleague that I think that the level of corruption depends on what the in-country sentiment is. I have heard that in Lithuania, politicians can buy favorable news articles for an established standard rate. Would my candidate refrain from such practices and risk fostering a rabid press corps (in this case consisting of two reporters), or will she buy good news? My colleague advised that this may be a good opportunity not only to learn how to run a campaign, but also to test my own limits in terms of corruption. How clean will I be myself?

I hope I have the strength to do what is right (not to mention actually do my job to begin with).

-dr-