Lithuania Quotes
In WWII the Nazis invaded Lithuania and packed 30,000 Jews into the Kovno ghetto where they were systematically starved and were shot if they tried to escape. Only 3,000 survived, one of who was a little child, Aharon Barak, who would immigrate to Israel and become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Throughout history Lithuania has been a football fought over by Poland and Russia both of which claimed a unity of peoples but in actuality discriminated against Lithuania in resource allocation and social and intellectual relations. Throughout, many Lithuanians insisted that they have a separate language and culture and fought for independence which finally arrived after the Cold War. See {640106} for another quotation in this so called union. The fusion of the two territories made great sense to the King, but little to the Poles and Lithuanians who each saw themselves as a very different people and wanted little to so with the other.
Russia, from the old Soviet Union days, had the only gas pipeline into Lithuania and took advantage of their monopoly by charging the Lithuanians 15 percent more than they charged other European nations where the Russians had some energy competition. The Lithuanians, decided to tie up a very large vessel at an island in their harbor to which Liquid Natural Gas (LGN) could be delivered by ship and converted to gaseous form and piped onto the mainland to provide competition for the Russians. However, the island was a bird sanctuary that was not supposed to be used for anything that might change the ecological balance of the island. This quotation shows that in some circumstances, environmentalists are willing to compromise to balance the benefits and costs.
The senator proposed this variation to the ancient Roman maxim in connection with the transfer of Lithuania from Nazi Germany to Stalinist Russia.
See {640107} for another quotation creating this so called union. It made great sense to the King, but little to the Poles and Lithuanians who each saw themselves as a very different people and wanted little to so with the other.
