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July 21 - Loving Lithuania
LITHUANIA DOESN'T SUCK
Everybody I talked with, especially in Latvia and Estonia, gave me the
impression that
Lithuania was the ugly sister in the Baltic trinity.
I met one Lithuanian in Finland who said that Latvians have a saying,
"You're as dumb as
a Lithuanian."
Demonstrating their profound originality, the Lithuanians have their
own saying, "You're
as dumb as a Latvian."
This dumb Lithuanian that I met didn't impressed me when she was
"surprised by how many
black people there are in Finland."
I said, "What black people?"
I talked with one black guy from DC who had been living in Finland for
8 years and he
said his mom asked, "So are there any other brothers in Finland?"
He answer, "Yeah, there's another one. We're good friends."
So when this Lithuanian said with such disdain that there were so many
blacks, I started
believing the Latvian expression.
However, when I finally arrived in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, I
was blown away by
its beauty, history, and grace. The streets are enchanting and the
architecture is
spectacular. It's bigger and more stunning than any other city I've
seen in the Baltics.
Indeed, it's one of the best cities in Europe.
OK, the city is great but you still gotta wonder about the Lithuanians
themselves...
LITHUANIAN LOGIC
Some credit the Lithuanians with causing the collapse of the Soviet
Union (they were the
first Baltic country to challenge the Russians in the late 1980s).
However, at their
first democratic elections in 1992 they promptly voted in the
ex-communist leader. That
makes sense, right? Maybe to the Lithuanians.
LITHUANIANS ARE STUBBORN
About 100km west of Vilnius is Lithuania's second city: Kaunas. This is
the Town That Was
Just Not Meant To Be.
Founded in the 13th century, Kaunas has been reduced to ashes an
amazing 13 times before
WWII. And, as you would expect, it received yet another pummeling
during WWII.
Why the residents don't get a clue and just give up on their idea of
having a town in
that location, I just don't know. Forget about guys, it's just not
gonna happen!
But no, there are 415,000 stubborn denizens in Kaunas today, eagerly
awaiting the day
they can rebuild their city for the 15th time.
But there's two reasons you should visit Lithuania's beautiful capital
and white sand
beaches now and not later:
1) OVER HERE, U.N. INSPECTORS!
A terrifying arsenal of decomposing chemical weapons could wreak damage
to the coast of
Lithuania - and poison the entire Baltic Sea. About 40,000 bombs and
mines lie on the
seabed 70 nautical miles off Kaipeda where Soviet forces sank German
ships. I ate some
fish here while I could.
2) COMING SOON TO LITHUANIA: CHORNOBYL II
Lithuania, the most nuclear power-dependent country in the world, gets
80% of its
electricity from the plant near the Belarus border. Experts rank it
among the world's
most dangerous nuclear installations. As Scotty on Star Trek would say,
"Captain, I don't
think I can hold her together much longer, she's gonna blow!"
It's not the first time Belarus has an unstable nuclear power plant on
its border.
Chornobyl, in Ukraine, blew up in 1986 and most of the nuclear debris
landed on Belarus.
Given the winds, the same will happen if Lithuania's power plant melts
down. Real estate
agents in Belarus have a tough sell.
Despite the EU spending $250M in the last decade to improve the plant's
safety, it's
still not good enough. The EU now wants to completely shut it down, but
doing that costs
a staggering $3.5 billion!
Given that Lithuania's annual tax revenues are a paltry $1.5 billion
(and they have $6.5
billion in debt), there is no way they're gonna pay for it. Maybe
Belarus will pay...
INTO BELARUS
Speaking of Belarus, that is my next stop. I excited because this
country is almost
impossible to get into. So it's gotta be good, right?
Um... I'll find out.
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