Lithuania | openDemocracy

“Only war makes it possible to mobilize all of today’s technical resources while maintaining the property system.”

- Walter Benjamin, 1936

Lithuania: a road between misery and austerity

Lukas Mikelionis 27 December 2012

For the last two years, the Baltic states have been role models for pro-austerity organisations such as IMF or EU. But there is an increasing and urgent need to deflate the myth of the austerity success story and tackle growing economic fractures.

There and back again? Media freedom and autonomy in Central and Eastern Europe

Václav Štětka 18 December 2012

Collusion between the press and politicians is not confined to western Europe. Central and Eastern European countries are also plagued by their own mini-Murdochs – and in these more fragile democracies, they represent an even bigger threat.

Life under the Soviets and after: a photographer’s story

Masha Karp 4 September 2012

London’s Pushkin House has been showing an exhibition of work by the renowned Lithuanian photographer Antanas Sutkus. Masha Karp looks at why his work of the 1960s-70s is still relevant now.

Mob justice in Lithuania: who can stand up to the madding crowd?

Violeta Davoliūtė 11 May 2012

Next year Lithuania assumes the European presidency. Host to international conferences and a role model for other ex-communist countries, the country is currently gripped by a titillating case of alleged child abuse. It is being played out against a background of mob rule, support from politicians and complicity on the part of the police. How can this be? asks Violeta Davoliūtė

"Political technology": why is it alive and flourishing in the former USSR?

Andrew Wilson 17 June 2011

Since the 1990s, post-Soviet elites have used manipulation, corruption and the government machine to maintain their grip on power. But with countries' paths diverging over time and with little opposition to speak of in many cases, Andrew Wilson asks: why is there still a need for these dark arts?

Vilnius Poker: Ideas for Eastern Europe

Chris Parton 28 July 2010

Since the anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall last year there has been a renewed interest across Europe about the intellectual ferment of those years, with the publication of a host of previously untranslated writers. One such author is the Lithuanian Ricardas Gavelis. His Vilnius Poker, first published in 1989, was translated into English last year by Open Letter Books and shortlisted for the Three Percent Translation Prize. Rereading it, Chris Parton finds many lessons for today.

France approves sale of high-tech warship to Russia

Dries Belet 9 February 2010

International concern about sale of French amphibious warship to Russia. US aims for new sanctions on Iran “within weeks”. 197 people indicted for murder over Philippine massacre. Sir Lankan opposition leader treated “like an animal”. All this and much more in today’s security briefing.

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Niki Seth-Smith is a freelance journalist and co-editor of OurKingdom.

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