Podcasts about Vilnius University

The creation of a landmark gene editing drug used to treat a baby with a rare genetic mutation which could help transform personalized medicine. Blood tests showed baby KJ had sky-high levels of ammonia, a toxic substance the body usually expels. The root cause was his genes - or more particularly a specific gene mutation. The race was on to try and treat him before his condition took a firm hold. His doctors came up with a radical solution - for the first time ever, they designed and applied a gene-editing drug in record time, specifically for him. Have we seen breakthrough in preventing genetic diseases? With Fyodor Urnov, a professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Department at the University of California, Virginijus Šikšnys professor at the Life Science Center of Vilnius University, Waseem Qasim from the UCL Institute of Child Health in Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and Jennifer Doudna, Professor, University of California, Berkeley and founder of the Innovative Genomics Institute. Presented by Tanya Beckett. Produced by Bob Howard. Researched by Mauve Schaffer Edited by Tara McDermott.

Welcome to episode 730 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast! This question was sent by Benas, our student at Vilnius University organ studio "Unda Maris" and he writes:After learning to play Bach's Trio Sonata in Eb major, I found myself reluctant to try and explore the rest of the Trio sonatas. What could I try to overcome this fear? Last year, I played Bach's Trio Sonata in E-flat major (BWV 525) at Vilnius University Unda Maris Studio Recital in winter. I found the entire learning process extremely difficult compared to any other piece I tried to learn. Usually, when I am learning to play any piece of music, at some point I get a certain feeling that it's all going to come together eventually and that has been a good predictor of whether I will perform it well in the concert. However, with this piece, I could not feel that at all and my concert performance was really not up to my liking, making an underwhelming result after practicing it for about a year (although I must admit, the practice schedule was not very rigorous). As a result - I am really reluctant to try to learn the rest of the Trio Sonatas. However, at some point in life, I would still like to learn them. Any tips to overcome this "fear" and strategies for my next practice sessions? Many thanks!!!More information: https://organduo.lt

Are We Ready for AI Twins? Legal and Ethical Challenges Ahead: Innovation, Privacy, and the Future of Digital Identity — Explore everything behind the topic in the latest Arqus podcast episode!What are AI twin assistants and how could they change the way we work, create, and interact? What legal and ethical questions do they raise around data privacy, ownership, and identity? These are the core questions addressed in this episode of the Arqus Knowledge Pills podcast.In this brand-new episode, we welcome a very special guest: Dr Paulius Jurčys, senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law of Vilnius University and expert in data privacy, copyright, and emerging technologies.Together, we explore the fascinating world of AI twin assistants: digital versions of ourselves that can write, speak, and act on our behalf. How do they work? Who owns the content they generate? And what are the legal and ethical risks when our voices and identities can be cloned?From data ownership to AI-generated creativity, and from deepfakes to digital fairness, this episode dives into the evolving intersection of artificial intelligence, law, and innovation. Tune in to discover how AI twins could reshape our understanding of creativity, fairness, and personal data in the digital future and why now is the time to think critically about the rules that will shape it.Learn more about Paulius Jurčys:Paulius Jurčys is a senior lecturer at Vilnius University Law Faculty where teaches data privacy and copyright law courses at Vilnius University Law Faculty and serves as an affiliate fellow with Harvard's CopyrightX program. A technology lawyer and admitted to practice law in California. He is also a co-founder of Prifina, a San Francisco company that builds personal-data technologies for individuals. Paulius Jurčys holds an LL.M. from Harvard and a Ph.D. from Kyushu University, and in 2025 became a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley School of Law. In 2025, he won the MyData Global “Thought Leadership” award. He served as an expert member of the International Law Association committee on Intellectual Property, which drafted the 2021 Guidelines on Intellectual Property and Private International Law. 

Ukrainians have resisted Russia's aggression for years. Since the full-scale invasion of their country in 2022, Ukrainian women in particular have taken on important roles on the frontlines, in civil society, and at home. Gražina Bielousova's research examines how Ukrainian leftist feminists advocate for their causes at home and abroad, facing distinct challenges as they attempt to defend their country. The Ukrainian case is also distinct from Latvia and Lithuania, whose organizing takes on different shapes for the same cause. Bielousova joins Ben Gardner-Gill to explain these interactions and discuss the ongoing process of decolonization in Baltic Studies.Transcript Ben Gardner-Gill: Hello, and welcome to Baltic Ways. I'm your co-host, Ben Gardner-Gill. Today we're talking with Gražina Belousova. Gražina is a feminist scholar of race, religion, and gender in post-Soviet Europe. She earned her PhD from Duke University in 2022. Currently, she is a postdoctoral scholar at Vilnius University's Institute of International Relations and Political Science and a researcher at Vytautas Magnus University.Her current research project focuses on leftist feminisms in East Europe in light of Russia's war against Ukraine, which will culminate in her first book, What's Left of Feminism in East Europe.Gražina, welcome to Baltic Ways.Gražina Belousova: Thank you so much for having me, Ben.BGG: So let's kick off by just hearing a little bit more about your background. I know you finished your PhD pretty recently. Could you tell us a little bit more about how you got into academia, sort of your research interests, and what you're working on at the moment?GB: Right. Yes, I just defended my PhD in 2022. It's hard to believe that it's been nearly three years now. In my PhD, I focused on historical matters. My PhD was in religion and cultural anthropology. And one of the things that I found missing when I was trying to theorize the part of the world that I call home and that most of the world calls Eastern Europe—I realized that I was lacking a solid theory that would bridge economics, anthropology, and religious studies.I wanted to understand how religious difference, especially perceived religious difference, played a role in creating the space that we call Eastern Europe today. And that took me to 18th and 19th century travel writings by Western travelers, oftentimes who were on an official mission, to the edges or to the depths of the Russian Empire.So I've read a lot of ambassadors' letters. I've read a lot of dispatches from St. Petersburg and Moscow, trying to understand how Westerners thought about that religious difference and how that thinking structured their understanding of what this place was and why it was different. What I tried to argue is actually that perceived religious difference was at the root of thinking of Eastern Europe as something different.Now, when I chose to embark on that topic, I had to put another topic aside, which was the question of very contemporary matters, the question of leftist political thought and feminism. At that point, it felt to me more pertinent to write the kind of theory that I felt was missing. When I was given the opportunity to pursue a postdoctoral position at Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science, I pitched this idea to them.And we very quickly pulled together the application. And the next thing I knew, I was embarking on a project on leftist feminisms in Eastern Europe in light of the war in Ukraine. So, the path was windy, but here I am today, knees and elbows deep, in the project on leftist feminism.BGG: Wonderful. I mean, a windy path is going to be familiar to so many people listening.So, no surprise and no surprise as well that the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has really impacted your work and your life as it has for many of us. So tell us a little bit more about that.Over the last three years, we've been watching and seeing the horrors in Ukraine. From your perspective, from your academic work, what are some of the main things that you're looking at?GB: One of the things that I'm particularly interested in is the way that groups that are on the edges of society, on the margins of society, such as leftists, such as feminists, and especially leftist feminists—when the two come together and try to articulate their social and political vision and explain to themselves and to their fellow compatriots and oftentimes foreign donors, in my case, also Western leftist feminists, their relevance, how they're trying to articulate their position.War has a penchant for heightening nationalist tendencies. And this is not some kind of particular Eastern European pathology. War anywhere is going to produce these results. That is normal. People defend themselves and articulate themselves on the basis on which they're being attacked, on the basis on which they're being bombed.So this is what we are seeing in Ukraine. Leftism in Eastern Europe, because of the Soviet past, is often associated with Soviet nostalgia. Feminism, on the other hand, is oftentimes seen as something antithetical to national identity, something that is imported from the West, and something that either has no relevance or can be dangerous, especially when questions of national unity, questions of national defense come about.That is one of the reasons why I embarked on this journey, and this is one of the reasons why Ukraine had to be part of this picture. Because while the other countries that I'm looking at—Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Moldova—experience the threat of invasion, Ukraine is under attack.And one of the things that I'm finding is that Ukrainian leftist feminists are incredibly resourceful and incredibly gifted at articulating their relevance.One of the things that I'm going to say that stems from that understanding of leftist feminism that's erroneous, but that's pervasive, is that Ukrainian leftist feminists do not debate the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state. What is in question is the way things are happening under the conditions of war.The questions of most vulnerable people—so questions of what happens with people with disabilities, questions of what happens to single mothers, questions of what happens to the elderly people who are maybe unable to evacuate, questions of what happens to the working class people—all of these things are at the forefront of their minds. They're trying to be the advocates of their pleas to the larger society, while at the same time trying to articulate Ukraine's right to self-defense to Western leftist feminists.BGG: So they have both this tension, maybe tension is the wrong word, tell me if it isn't, but they have this tension internally where they're trying to advocate for what they see as justice or what is right with a domestic audience who, understandably, may be more frequently focused on what's happening at the front lines.And then there's also this international question, the foreign audience for these Ukrainian leftist feminists, who have a very different perspective on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. And I specifically use that verbiage instead of Russia's invasion of Ukraine because they're going to think about it very differently.So let's split those out a little bit, and I want to start with the domestic. You talked about the advocacy of these leftist feminists for the most marginalized groups in society, for those who are most vulnerable.In your view, where have they been most successful, perhaps? Where have they seen actual progress happen from their advocacy?GB: One of the things that immediately comes to mind, and many of my interlocutors were directly involved with, is the nurses' movement–the unionization and self-organization of the nurses.There is a movement called Be Like Nina, referring to one of the nurses seen as a pioneer of resisting exploitation. And, of course, under the conditions of war, the labor of nurses is incredibly valuable and needed, but not always appropriately compensated. This is what we can call essential labor, especially when we talk about the front lines, where people are wounded.Many of them are wounded very badly on a daily basis. However, there are other things that are happening in the background as well. While a lot of the resources are pulled to the front, there are people who are experiencing regular daily struggles with their health. And the nurses are being stretched very thin.And this was something that was really amazing to me. This was really one of the very few instances where I saw academics who are leftist feminists actually touching the ground with their ideas: where they got involved with helping the nurses organize, but not taking the center stage, where they acted as support, as a resource, but not overtaking the movement, rather creating the conditions under which nurses themselves could articulate what it was that they needed, what their goals were.And that was incredibly impressive to me because healthcare is severely underfunded across the whole region, and to achieve such tangible goals as wage increases and regulations that empower nurses to do their job was truly impressive. With every conversation with a woman—because I specifically talk only to women—I just felt sheer amazement, because this is so contrary to so many imaginations of what civil society, self-organization, or networks are like in Eastern Europe.This is so contrary to what some have called ‘uncivil' society. What is happening is really self-organization and civil society at its best, organized by women who are oftentimes stretched very thin, not just at work, but also at home, women whose husbands are potentially on the front lines.So to me, I really cannot think of anything else that, in terms of real life impact and in terms of transforming people's lives, has been grander (I'm going to go for that word) than this.BGG: That's remarkable, and thank you for bringing that. I had very little idea of this progress and this happening.So you use the term civil society, which I think is quite apt, and Western conceptions of civil society in the region that we call Eastern Europe can be highly misguided. Let's just put it like that. I think back to a webinar that the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS) hosted on Ukrainian civil society, democratization, responses to the war, and we have this comparative Ukrainian and Baltic perspective, where we looked at how Ukrainian civil society was responding.We looked at how Baltic civil society was responding, and you're doing something similar in your research here. You're looking at Latvia and Lithuania as two of the other case studies, in addition to Poland, Moldova, and, of course, Ukraine. One thing that I think we can all observe just from watching the news, let alone being in the countries as well, is that civil society across the region has had this really robust response in the last few years.So could you speak a little bit more to that in the comparative cases outside of Ukraine that you're looking at in your research, especially Latvia and Lithuania?GB: For sure. I think that in order to theorize civil society and the region in general, we need better theory than has been used often to talk about civil society at large.Here, for example, I'm thinking about Emily Channel Justice and her work and the way that she articulates the notion of self-organization. The way that she thinks about Ukraine, especially in the context of Maidan. The way that it left a self-organization, but that can be applied also to any form of civil society, regardless of ideology, is really a network of decentralized, self-organized people's groups.If you were to look for some kind of central organizing pattern, or some kind of centralized way of doing things, most likely you're not going to find it because it's based on personal network, connections, and localized issues. And I think that's definitely something that I'm seeing in Ukraine.One of the things that I'm seeing in Lithuania and Latvia is that it's going to differ slightly because there are going to be more central organizing figures. If we talk about organizing support for Ukraine, one of the things that we're going to see is that people are going to point to nationwide initiatives.Right now in Lithuania, there is an initiative called Radarum, which is a play on words, on radar and on darom, which is a Lithuanian word for let's do it. And it's a nationwide initiative to collect funds to purchase drones and anti-drone equipment for Ukraine. And there are particular faces that we associate with this initiative.National television is running ads for it. So there's a little bit more of a centralized sense to it. But once again, I would say that this is the mainstream way of organizing civil society, which, of course, with Westernization, has taken on some of the patterns that are similar to the West.If we look towards the left, we're going to see very much that it is self-organized, small groups of people who take different initiatives, such as raising funds for medical care, such as raising funds for queer people in Ukraine. So the more mainstream we go, the more patterns that are akin to those that we see in the West we're going to see.That is also going to be true in Latvia. The further left we go, the more organic, grassroots, self-organized cells of people we're going to find who participate in smaller, less visible initiatives. So that's probably the best way that I can explain the difference.BGG: Got it. We see this distinction of centralization and decentralization.One could consider these different types of movements organic in their own ways, but different in different ways. When one thinks of leftist organizing, which has a long and rich history, organic is sort of one of the key words.It's perpetual, and these society-wide initiatives, like what's currently going on in Lithuania, that we've seen across other countries over the last few years, are maybe a little bit less frequent and less common. So there's an important distinction there.So I want to pivot to the international dimension of how the Ukrainian leftist feminists are talking, especially with Western counterparts. And by Western, we mean Western Europe. We mean American and Canadian. We mean Western, as in not Eastern Europe. So could you talk a little bit about the challenges they're facing there?I think I alluded to it earlier. You alluded to it earlier, but could you dive a little bit more into that discourse, that dialogue between the Ukrainians and their counterparts?GB: This is the main point of contention. What does it mean to be leftist? How much does local experience shape being leftist?What is the relationship of the left to the national question? And I think this is where we are seeing the real tension. Underlying this tension, of course, is the question of Russia. Let me try to unpack this. And I'm going to start from the other end than I listed, which is with the question of Russia.Eastern European in general, and Ukrainian in particular, leftist feminists have a very different understanding as to what Russia is in terms of geopolitics than the Western counterparts are going to have. This stems from very different histories. Western leftism—especially the new wave of leftism that arose in the sixties and the seventies—in many ways has redefined itself not just through the questions of class, which I would argue were lost to some extent. They lost their centrality.And they redefined themselves through the anti-colonial, anti-racist struggle. And that struggle was particularly important because after the fall of the formal colonial system, the colonial patterns of economic exploitation, of social exploitation, of brain drain still very much persisted. And naming that and defining themselves against Western neoimperialism or neocolonialism in the Global South was one of the most defining features of the Left, both in the Global South and in the West. Now, Russia at that time had positioned itself as the ally of the colonized countries. And some of it was pure show, and some of it was actual money, resources, and help that were sent, for example, to Angola. And that made a real difference. Whether that was genuine concern for the colonized people or whether that was an ideological tool is a matter of debate.Whatever it was, it had a profound impact on the way that Western leftists relate to Russia. They continue to see Russia out of that tradition, in many ways, as an ally against Western capitalism and imperialism. Their empire, against which they define themselves, continues to be in the West, and oftentimes is seen as centered on the United States.The empire against which we define ourselves in Eastern Europe is Russia, because Russia was the colonizing power in a very real sense in the region. It was our empire that subjugated us. It was the colonial power that engaged in just about every single practice in which any colonial power engages in the region.For us, if we think outside of ourselves, Russia continues to be the colonial power in the way that it relates to Central Asia, in the way that it relates to the indigenous people of Siberia, in the way that it continues to conduct business. So both the left in the West and the left in the East continue to define themselves against the empire, but disagree on who the empire is.The fundamental difference is the question of Russia. Because of the way that Western leftists, and particularly Western leftist feminists, have been taught to see the world, the way that they have been habituated to see the world, they're unable to see Russia as an aggressor. They're unable to change their narrative about how NATO might act.And of course, the criticisms of continued Western abuses of power, especially when they center on the United States—such as Afghanistan or such as Iraq, but also here in the European context, intra-European context, Serbia is another context in which that comes up—are highly debatable questions, but they're seen a certain way. They're understood in a certain way by Western leftists. And because of Russia's criticism of the West, Western leftists see it as a natural ally, or at least as an equally guilty party.BGG: That's a really great explanation. I think the way that you've laid that out makes a lot of sense.It also harkens back to where I want to bring this, which is the debate that has been going on in Baltic studies and other academic fields, especially those focusing on the region, about thinking about Baltic history in particular as a colonial history and thinking about what it means to decolonize Baltic studies as a field, to decolonize our academic thinking. There have been a lot of discussions.I know that we were in the same room at the AABS panel at Yale last year on that fantastic panel about decolonization. Where do you think this leads with regard to your research specifically? There's already this trend in this field. I get the sense that you are an advocate and moving forward in land seeking for the field as a whole to move in that direction.What do you think the next steps are? What paths do you think could be taken? What do people need to be thinking about that they may not already be thinking about?GB: Well, I think for me, the key question when we are talking about Baltic studies and decolonization is what is it that we talk about when we talk about decolonizing Baltic studies or Baltic countries?Because I think sometimes we're talking about four different things. We are talking about the question of colonialism and coloniality. That's one. We are talking about imperialism, Russian imperialism, and Russian imperiality. We are talking about Russification and what it means to de-Russify. And we are also talking about Sovietization and what it means to de-Sovietize.And I would argue that while these four concepts are very much interrelated, they have very different agendas. So, I think it's a question of definitions. How do we define what our agenda is? Which of the four do we have in mind when we talk about decolonizing Baltic countries, Baltic studies, or anything else?And I would say that each of the four has its place and is significant. But the flip side of that, especially if we stay with the question of decolonization, is the question of Western theory, practice, and scholarship as it relates to Baltic studies. Because if we go back to the early questions in the conversation of what is civil society and whether there is a civil society, Baltic countries and the region as a whole are pathologized.Because the concept of what civil society is, or is not, was based on Western understandings and Western practices. And it rendered civil society in the region invisible. In what ways does the production of scholarship and knowledge about the region continue to be based in very unequal power relationships, in such a way that it continues to pathologize the region?And these are very uncomfortable questions, because much like, you know, in the late eighteenth century when the Lithuanian Polish Commonwealth was divided between the three powers, we're facing the same question: Who is our ally? Because we have learned that Russia is definitely not, but the West is also a problematic ally.This is where I think the question of what it means to center the study of the region in the theory, in the practice, in the questions that actually originate from the ground up, are so important. And I'm not ditching all Western scholarship out the window. That would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.But I'm saying, what does it mean to balance? What does it mean to center? What does it mean to change the parameters of the conversation?BGG: Those are some weighty questions. I think they're good questions that the field is, I would say not even starting to engage with, but is engaging with, which is really excellent, but it's a long path.As anyone who is a scholar of decolonization will tell you, it doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen over a decade. It's sort of a continuous process. So, I think that is where we're going to have to leave it, knowing that there is so much more we could have talked about. But, Gražina, thank you so much.This has been a fascinating conversation. Thank you for joining Baltic Ways.GB: Thank you so much for having me, Ben. It's been a privilege.BGG: Thank you for listening to this episode of Baltic Ways, a co-production of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies and the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI). A note that the views expressed in this and every Baltic Ways episode do not necessarily reflect those of AABS or FPRI.To ensure you catch the next episode of Baltic Ways, make sure you're subscribed to your podcast feed or wherever you get your shows. Thanks so much, and we'll see you next time. Get full access to FPRI Insights at fpriinsights.substack.com/subscribe

Ukrainians have resisted Russia's aggression for years. Since the full-scale invasion of their country in 2022, Ukrainian women in particular have taken on important roles on the frontlines, in civil society, and at home. Gražina Bielousova's research examines how Ukrainian leftist feminists advocate for their causes at home and abroad, facing distinct sets of challenges as they attempt to defend their country. The Ukrainian case is also distinct in comparison to Latvia and Lithuania, whose organizing takes on different shapes for the same cause. Bielousova joins Ben Gardner-Gill to explain these interactions and discuss the ongoing process of decolonization in Baltic Studies.TranscriptBen Gardner-Gill: Hello, and welcome to Baltic Ways. I'm your co-host, Ben Gardner-Gill. Today we're talking with Gražina Belousova. Gražina is a feminist scholar of race, religion, and gender in post-Soviet Europe. She earned her PhD from Duke University in 2022. Currently, she is a postdoctoral scholar at Vilnius University's Institute of International Relations and Political Science and a researcher at Vytautas Magnus University.Her current research project focuses on leftist feminisms in East Europe in light of Russia's war against Ukraine, which will culminate in her first book, What's Left of Feminism in East Europe.Gražina, welcome to Baltic Ways.Gražina Belousova: Thank you so much for having me, Ben.BGG: So let's kick off by just hearing a little bit more about your background. I know you finished your PhD pretty recently. Could you tell us a little bit more about how you got into academia, sort of your research interests, and what you're working on at the moment?GB: Right. Yes, I just defended my PhD in 2022. It's hard to believe that it's been nearly three years now. In my PhD, I focused on historical matters. My PhD was in religion and cultural anthropology. And one of the things that I found missing when I was trying to theorize the part of the world that I call home and that most of the world calls Eastern Europe—I realized that I was lacking a solid theory that would bridge economics, anthropology, and religious studies.I wanted to understand how religious difference, especially perceived religious difference, played a role in creating the space that we call Eastern Europe today. And that took me to 18th and 19th century travel writings by Western travelers, oftentimes who were on an official mission, to the edges or to the depths of the Russian Empire.So I've read a lot of ambassadors' letters. I've read a lot of dispatches from St. Petersburg and Moscow, trying to understand how Westerners thought about that religious difference and how that thinking structured their understanding of what this place was and why it was different. What I tried to argue is actually that perceived religious difference was at the root of thinking of Eastern Europe as something different.Now, when I chose to embark on that topic, I had to put another topic aside, which was the question of very contemporary matters, the question of leftist political thought and feminism. At that point, it felt to me more pertinent to write the kind of theory that I felt was missing. When I was given the opportunity to pursue a postdoctoral position at Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science, I pitched this idea to them.And we very quickly pulled together the application. And the next thing I knew, I was embarking on a project on leftist feminisms in Eastern Europe in light of the war in Ukraine. So, the path was windy, but here I am today, knees and elbows deep, in the project on leftist feminism.BGG: Wonderful. I mean, a windy path is going to be familiar to so many people listening.So, no surprise and no surprise as well that the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has really impacted your work and your life as it has for many of us. So tell us a little bit more about that.Over the last three years, we've been watching and seeing the horrors in Ukraine. From your perspective, from your academic work, what are some of the main things that you're looking at?GB: One of the things that I'm particularly interested in is the way that groups that are on the edges of society, on the margins of society, such as leftists, such as feminists, and especially leftist feminists—when the two come together and try to articulate their social and political vision and explain to themselves and to their fellow compatriots and oftentimes foreign donors, in my case, also Western leftist feminists, their relevance, how they're trying to articulate their position.War has a penchant for heightening nationalist tendencies. And this is not some kind of particular Eastern European pathology. War anywhere is going to produce these results. That is normal. People defend themselves and articulate themselves on the basis on which they're being attacked, on the basis on which they're being bombed.So this is what we are seeing in Ukraine. Leftism in Eastern Europe, because of the Soviet past, is often associated with Soviet nostalgia. Feminism, on the other hand, is oftentimes seen as something antithetical to national identity, something that is imported from the West, and something that either has no relevance or can be dangerous, especially when questions of national unity, questions of national defense come about.That is one of the reasons why I embarked on this journey, and this is one of the reasons why Ukraine had to be part of this picture. Because while the other countries that I'm looking at—Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Moldova—experience the threat of invasion, Ukraine is under attack.And one of the things that I'm finding is that Ukrainian leftist feminists are incredibly resourceful and incredibly gifted at articulating their relevance.One of the things that I'm going to say that stems from that understanding of leftist feminism that's erroneous, but that's pervasive, is that Ukrainian leftist feminists do not debate the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state. What is in question is the way things are happening under the conditions of war.The questions of most vulnerable people—so questions of what happens with people with disabilities, questions of what happens to single mothers, questions of what happens to the elderly people who are maybe unable to evacuate, questions of what happens to the working class people—all of these things are at the forefront of their minds. They're trying to be the advocates of their pleas to the larger society, while at the same time trying to articulate Ukraine's right to self-defense to Western leftist feminists.BGG: So they have both this tension, maybe tension is the wrong word, tell me if it isn't, but they have this tension internally where they're trying to advocate for what they see as justice or what is right with a domestic audience who, understandably, may be more frequently focused on what's happening at the front lines.And then there's also this international question, the foreign audience for these Ukrainian leftist feminists, who have a very different perspective on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. And I specifically use that verbiage instead of Russia's invasion of Ukraine because they're going to think about it very differently.So let's split those out a little bit, and I want to start with the domestic. You talked about the advocacy of these leftist feminists for the most marginalized groups in society, for those who are most vulnerable.In your view, where have they been most successful, perhaps? Where have they seen actual progress happen from their advocacy?GB: One of the things that immediately comes to mind, and many of my interlocutors were directly involved with, is the nurses' movement–the unionization and self-organization of the nurses.There is a movement called Be Like Nina, referring to one of the nurses seen as a pioneer of resisting exploitation. And, of course, under the conditions of war, the labor of nurses is incredibly valuable and needed, but not always appropriately compensated. This is what we can call essential labor, especially when we talk about the front lines, where people are wounded.Many of them are wounded very badly on a daily basis. However, there are other things that are happening in the background as well. While a lot of the resources are pulled to the front, there are people who are experiencing regular daily struggles with their health. And the nurses are being stretched very thin.And this was something that was really amazing to me. This was really one of the very few instances where I saw academics who are leftist feminists actually touching the ground with their ideas: where they got involved with helping the nurses organize, but not taking the center stage, where they acted as support, as a resource, but not overtaking the movement, rather creating the conditions under which nurses themselves could articulate what it was that they needed, what their goals were.And that was incredibly impressive to me because healthcare is severely underfunded across the whole region, and to achieve such tangible goals as wage increases and regulations that empower nurses to do their job was truly impressive. With every conversation with a woman—because I specifically talk only to women—I just felt sheer amazement, because this is so contrary to so many imaginations of what civil society, self-organization, or networks are like in Eastern Europe.This is so contrary to what some have called ‘uncivil' society. What is happening is really self-organization and civil society at its best, organized by women who are oftentimes stretched very thin, not just at work, but also at home, women whose husbands are potentially on the front lines.So to me, I really cannot think of anything else that, in terms of real life impact and in terms of transforming people's lives, has been grander (I'm going to go for that word) than this.BGG: That's remarkable, and thank you for bringing that. I had very little idea of this progress and this happening.So you use the term civil society, which I think is quite apt, and Western conceptions of civil society in the region that we call Eastern Europe can be highly misguided. Let's just put it like that. I think back to a webinar that the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS) hosted on Ukrainian civil society, democratization, responses to the war, and we have this comparative Ukrainian and Baltic perspective, where we looked at how Ukrainian civil society was responding.We looked at how Baltic civil society was responding, and you're doing something similar in your research here. You're looking at Latvia and Lithuania as two of the other case studies, in addition to Poland, Moldova, and, of course, Ukraine. One thing that I think we can all observe just from watching the news, let alone being in the countries as well, is that civil society across the region has had this really robust response in the last few years.So could you speak a little bit more to that in the comparative cases outside of Ukraine that you're looking at in your research, especially Latvia and Lithuania?GB: For sure. I think that in order to theorize civil society and the region in general, we need better theory than has been used often to talk about civil society at large.Here, for example, I'm thinking about Emily Channel Justice and her work and the way that she articulates the notion of self-organization. The way that she thinks about Ukraine, especially in the context of Maidan. The way that it left a self-organization, but that can be applied also to any form of civil society, regardless of ideology, is really a network of decentralized, self-organized people's groups.If you were to look for some kind of central organizing pattern, or some kind of centralized way of doing things, most likely you're not going to find it because it's based on personal network, connections, and localized issues. And I think that's definitely something that I'm seeing in Ukraine.One of the things that I'm seeing in Lithuania and Latvia is that it's going to differ slightly because there are going to be more central organizing figures. If we talk about organizing support for Ukraine, one of the things that we're going to see is that people are going to point to nationwide initiatives.Right now in Lithuania, there is an initiative called Radarum, which is a play on words, on radar and on darom, which is a Lithuanian word for let's do it. And it's a nationwide initiative to collect funds to purchase drones and anti-drone equipment for Ukraine. And there are particular faces that we associate with this initiative.National television is running ads for it. So there's a little bit more of a centralized sense to it. But once again, I would say that this is the mainstream way of organizing civil society, which, of course, with Westernization, has taken on some of the patterns that are similar to the West.If we look towards the left, we're going to see very much that it is self-organized, small groups of people who take different initiatives, such as raising funds for medical care, such as raising funds for queer people in Ukraine. So the more mainstream we go, the more patterns that are akin to those that we see in the West we're going to see.That is also going to be true in Latvia. The further left we go, the more organic, grassroots, self-organized cells of people we're going to find who participate in smaller, less visible initiatives. So that's probably the best way that I can explain the difference.BGG: Got it. We see this distinction of centralization and decentralization.One could consider these different types of movements organic in their own ways, but different in different ways. When one thinks of leftist organizing, which has a long and rich history, organic is sort of one of the key words.It's perpetual, and these society-wide initiatives, like what's currently going on in Lithuania, that we've seen across other countries over the last few years, are maybe a little bit less frequent and less common. So there's an important distinction there.So I want to pivot to the international dimension of how the Ukrainian leftist feminists are talking, especially with Western counterparts. And by Western, we mean Western Europe. We mean American and Canadian. We mean Western, as in not Eastern Europe. So could you talk a little bit about the challenges they're facing there?I think I alluded to it earlier, and you alluded to it earlier, but could you dive a little bit more into that discourse, that dialogue between the Ukrainians and their counterparts?GB: This is the main point of contention. What does it mean to be leftist? How much does local experience shape being leftist?What is the relationship of the left to the national question? And I think this is where we are seeing the real tension. Underlying this tension, of course, is the question of Russia. Let me try to unpack this. And I'm going to start from the other end than I listed, which is with the question of Russia.Eastern European in general, and Ukrainian in particular, leftist feminists have a very different understanding as to what Russia is in terms of geopolitics than the Western counterparts are going to have. This stems from very different histories. Western leftism—especially the new wave of leftism that arose in the sixties and the seventies—in many ways has redefined itself not just through the questions of class, which I would argue were lost to some extent. They lost their centrality.And they redefined themselves through the anti-colonial, anti-racist struggle. And that struggle was particularly important because after the fall of the formal colonial system, the colonial patterns of economic exploitation, of social exploitation, of brain drain still very much persisted. And naming that and defining themselves against Western neoimperialism or neocolonialism in the Global South was one of the most defining features of the Left, both in the Global South and in the West. Now, Russia at that time had positioned itself as the ally of the colonized countries. And some of it was pure show, and some of it was actual money, resources, and help that were sent, for example, to Angola. And that made a real difference. Whether that was genuine concern for the colonized people or whether that was an ideological tool is a matter of debate.Whatever it was, it had a profound impact on the way that Western leftists relate to Russia. They continue to see Russia out of that tradition, in many ways, as an ally against Western capitalism and imperialism. Their empire, against which they define themselves, continues to be in the West, and oftentimes is seen as centered on the United States.The empire against which we define ourselves in Eastern Europe is Russia, because Russia was the colonizing power in a very real sense in the region. It was our empire that subjugated us. It was the colonial power that engaged in just about every single practice in which any colonial power engages in the region.For us, if we think outside of ourselves, Russia continues to be the colonial power in the way that it relates to Central Asia, in the way that it relates to the indigenous people of Siberia, in the way that it continues to conduct business. So both the left in the West and the left in the East continue to define themselves against the empire, but disagree on who the empire is.The fundamental difference is the question of Russia. Because of the way that Western leftists, and particularly Western leftist feminists, have been taught to see the world, the way that they have been habituated to see the world, they're unable to see Russia as an aggressor. They're unable to change their narrative about how NATO might act.And of course, the criticisms of continued Western abuses of power, especially when they center on the United States—such as Afghanistan or such as Iraq, but also here in the European context, intra-European context, Serbia is another context in which that comes up—are highly debatable questions, but they're seen a certain way. They're understood in a certain way by Western leftists. And because of Russia's criticism of the West, Western leftists see it as a natural ally, or at least as an equally guilty party.BGG: That's a really great explanation. I think the way that you've laid that out makes a lot of sense.It also harkens back to where I want to bring this, which is the debate that has been going on in Baltic studies and other academic fields, especially those focusing on the region, about thinking about Baltic history in particular as a colonial history and thinking about what it means to decolonize Baltic studies as a field, to decolonize our academic thinking. There have been a lot of discussions.I know that we were in the same room at the AABS panel at Yale last year on that fantastic panel about decolonization. Where do you think this leads with regard to your research specifically? There's already this trend in this field. I get the sense that you are an advocate and moving forward in land seeking for the field as a whole to move in that direction.What do you think the next steps are? What paths do you think could be taken? What do people need to be thinking about that they may not already be thinking about?GB: Well, I think for me, the key question when we are talking about Baltic studies and decolonization is what is it that we talk about when we talk about decolonizing Baltic studies or Baltic countries?Because I think sometimes we're talking about four different things. We are talking about the question of colonialism and coloniality. That's one. We are talking about imperialism, Russian imperialism, and Russian imperiality. We are talking about Russification and what it means to de-Russify. And we are also talking about Sovietization and what it means to de-Sovietize.And I would argue that while these four concepts are very much interrelated, they have very different agendas. So, I think it's a question of definitions. How do we define what our agenda is? Which of the four do we have in mind when we talk about decolonizing Baltic countries, Baltic studies, or anything else?And I would say that each of the four has its place and is significant. But the flip side of that, especially if we stay with the question of decolonization, is the question of Western theory, practice, and scholarship as it relates to Baltic studies. Because if we go back to the early questions in the conversation of what is civil society and whether there is a civil society, Baltic countries and the region as a whole are pathologized.Because the concept of what civil society is, or is not, was based on Western understandings and Western practices. And it rendered civil society in the region invisible. In what ways does the production of scholarship and knowledge about the region continue to be based in very unequal power relationships, in such a way that it continues to pathologize the region?And these are very uncomfortable questions, because much like, you know, in the late eighteenth century when the Lithuanian Polish Commonwealth was divided between the three powers, we're facing the same question: Who is our ally? Because we have learned that Russia is definitely not, but the West is also a problematic ally.This is where I think the question of what it means to center the study of the region in the theory, in the practice, in the questions that actually originate from the ground up, rather than are solely important. And I'm not ditching all Western scholarship out the window. That would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.But I'm saying, what does it mean to balance? What does it mean to center? What does it mean to change the parameters of the conversation?BGG: Those are some weighty questions. I think they're good questions that the field is, I would say not even starting to engage with, but is engaging with, which is really excellent, but it's a long path.As anyone who is a scholar of decolonization will tell you, it doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen over a decade. It's sort of a continuous process. So, I think that is where we're going to have to leave it, knowing that there is so much more we could have talked about. But, Gražina, thank you so much.This has been a fascinating conversation. Thank you for joining Baltic Ways.GB: Thank you so much for having me, Ben. It's been a privilege.To ensure you catch the next episode of Baltic Ways, make sure you're subscribed to your podcast feed or wherever you get your shows. Thanks so much, and we'll see you next time.(Image: Facebook | Феміністична майстерня)Baltic Ways is a podcast from the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies, produced in partnership with the Baltic Initiative at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of AABS or FPRI. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fpribalticinitiative.substack.com

This week on Chain Reaction, we feature an installment of the Baltic Ways podcast. Host Indra Ekmanis welcomes back professors Margarita Šešelgytė (Vilnius University), Daunis Auers (University of Latvia), and Andres Kasekamp (University of Toronto) for a roundtable discussion on the first two months of Donald Trump's second term and the US administration's impact on the Baltic countries and broader Europe. This episode was recorded on March 14, 2025.You May Be Interested InBaltic Roundup | March 2025 A look back on the month's major political, cultural, and economic events in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.Explore more from FPRI's Baltic Initiative here. Baltic Ways is a podcast from the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies, produced in partnership with the Baltic Initiative at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of AABS or FPRI. Get full access to FPRI Insights at fpriinsights.substack.com/subscribe

The Baltic Ways podcast welcomes back professors Margarita Šešelgytė (Vilnius University), Daunis Auers (University of Latvia), and Andres Kasekamp (University of Toronto) for a roundtable discussion on the first two months of Donald Trump's second term and the US administration's impact on the Baltic countries and broader Europe. This episode was recorded on March 14, 2025.“It's a bit of a shock therapy…and we have to reconsider who we are security-wise in this different situation.” -Margarita ŠešelgytėBaltic Ways is a podcast from the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies, produced in partnership with the Baltic Initiative at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of AABS or FPRI. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fpribalticinitiative.substack.com

Join Lithuania's former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis immediately following his departure from government, and Hoover Senior Fellow H.R. McMaster, as they discuss the outcome of the 2024 Lithuanian parliamentary election and the opportunities and challenges facing the new coalition governing the country. Amid growing geopolitical tensions, Landsbergis reflects on Russia's sustained campaign against Europe and the Free World, the global threat from China, North Korea and Iran, the importance of sustained support for Ukraine and whether Ukraine can prevail, Lithuania's role in countering authoritarianism in Eastern Europe, and the future of U.S.-Lithuanian relations. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Gabrielius Landsbergis most recently served as Lithuania's Minister of Foreign Affairs. Minister Landsbergis was elected Chairman of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats in 2015, a role he served in until October of 2024. In 2020, Landsbergis became the Minister of Foreign Affairs under the leadership of Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė (see Battlegrounds Episode #42). Landsbergis previously held roles at the Lithuanian Embassies in Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as at the Office of the Government. Landsbergis has been a member of the Seimas (Parliament) of Lithuania since 2016 and is actively involved in the European Council on Foreign Relations. He holds a Master's degree in International Relations and Diplomacy and a Bachelor's degree in History from Vilnius University. H.R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and lecturer at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. He was the 25th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs. Upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1984, McMaster served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018.

This week on Baltic Ways - The US election is approaching quickly with implications for America's allies in the world. Professors Margarita Šešelgyte (Vilnius University), Daunis Auers (University of Latvia), and Andres Kasekamp (University of Toronto) join a roundtable discussion on the impact that a Kamala Harris or Donald Trump presidency could have on the security and future outlook of the Baltic countries and broader European, and how people in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are feeling about the state of democracy in the US. This episode was recorded on September 25, 2024.Explore more from FPRI's Baltic Intiative.Baltic Ways is a podcast brought to you by the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies, produced in partnership with the Baltic Initiative at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of AABS or FPRI.

The US election is approaching quickly with implications for America's allies in the world. Professors Margarita Šešelgyte (Vilnius University), Daunis Auers (University of Latvia), and Andres Kasekamp (University of Toronto) join a roundtable discussion on the impact that a Kamala Harris or Donald Trump presidency could have on the security and future outlook of the Baltic countries and broader Europe, and how people in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are feeling about the state of democracy in the US. This episode was recorded on September 25, 2024. TranscriptIndra Ekmanis: Thank you everyone for joining me in this discussion today. As we all know, the US presidential campaign has been rather unprecedented on many fronts this cycle. There's been the late change in the candidates at the top of the Democratic ticket from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris. And now we've had already multiple assassination attempts on the Republican candidate Donald Trump.And we know that whatever happens in November will certainly have effects on Americans, but it will also have reverberations around the world. And so I'm very glad to today be in discussion with you all about the potential impacts in the Baltic countries. But before we jump in, I'd like to ask you all to briefly introduce yourselves.Andres Kasekamp: I'm Andres Kasekamp. I'm the Professor of Estonian Studies at the University of Toronto. I used to be the Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute in Tallinn and a Professor at the University of Toronto.Daunis Auers: Hi, I'm Daunis Auers, a professor at the University of Latvia and also the director of a new think tank Certus in Riga.Margarita Šešelgytė: Hello, I'm Margarita Šešelgytė, and I'm a professor of security studies, but also a director of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University.IE: Well, thank you all. So, I'd like to start with what is perhaps top of mind when people are thinking about the impacts of the US elections on the Baltic countries, and that's security, NATO, and Russia's war in Ukraine.So if we start with NATO: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania marked two decades in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization this year. The alliance itself is now 75 years old, celebrating at its summit in Washington, D.C., hosted by president and at that point in time, still beleaguered Democratic candidate Joe Biden, where Biden underscored NATO unity. And during the summit, it was widely reported that the allies were working to “Trump proof” the Alliance as polls showed that Biden was slipping in the presidential race.Trump, of course, is remembered as deriding the Alliance, threatening to pull out entirely during his presidency. And at the same time, he is also somewhat credited with pushing member states to up their defense spending. With Biden out, of course, the calculus has perhaps changed a little bit.Vice President and now candidate Kamala Harris represents some measure of continuity with the Biden administration, though we know that her foreign policy experience is not necessarily as deep as Biden's. But a Harris presidency would be more compatible theoretically with the tradition of America as a stable leader in the transatlantic relationship.And obviously a strong NATO is critical to the security of the Baltic States. So, I wonder how you perceive the candidate stances on NATO and how they align with Baltic interests.AK: All right, briefly, Trump would be a disaster and Harris, indeed, would represent continuity with, with Biden. It goes back to the nature of the candidates, right, that Trump is a purely transactional individual, and doesn't seem to understand how NATO works.He's always said that the NATO countries owe the Americans money. It's not an organization where you pay a membership fee, so he simply doesn't get it. It is sort of partly true that European members who weren't doing enough spending on their own defense budgets, have been frightened into contributing more.Trump has something to do with it, but it has more to do with Russian aggression, in the region. So starting already in 2014 when Russia seized Crimea, European countries started increasing their spending. With the Harris presidency, it would be sort of more of the same, which is better than Trump, but it's certainly not as good as America could do, because Joe Biden has been failing Ukraine recently and placing these unreasonable restrictions on Ukraine's right to strike at Russian targets to defend itself.And hopefully Harris wouldn't continue that weak kneed policy.DA: I agree with what Andres has said, but I think it's quite interesting to look at the perspective also of Baltic Americans who after all will be voting in the election, unlike, I presume, the three of us—Margarita, Andres and I—who, as not being American citizens won't have a vote in the elections.And traditionally, there's been quite a lot of support for the Republican Party amongst the Baltic diasporas, because during the Cold War, the Republicans were seen as having the strongest backbone in defending Baltic interests. And much of this support actually carried over into the Trump era with a significant portion of Baltic Americans, especially from the older generation, still holding out support for Trump.And what I thought was interesting was that after Trump announced J.D. Vance as his vice-presidential candidate, the attitudes of many Baltic Americans actually changed because a lot of the affection for Trump is deeply personal, connected to his charismatic personality, the way he speaks, the way he does business, the way he calls back, sort of an ancient era of essentially a white America, from the 1950s.J.D. Vance doesn't have this affection. And when J.D. Vance was announced as the vice-presidential candidate, people were bringing out his notorious op-ed in the New York Times on April 12th, which was very defeatist in its nature, calling out various quotes that he had of not really caring who won in the war between Ukraine and Russia.And this was the moment that a number of Baltic Americans turned away from the Republicans and turned towards the Democrats. So, I would perhaps highlight the role of J.D. Vance in furthering support for the Democrats at least amongst the Baltic community in the United States.MS: I totally agree to what has been said already, but then I'd like to look from a more systemic perspective, and just to add to what has been said: We live in a very volatile security situation at the moment and this dynamism, security-wise, will not be changing pretty soon because there are some changes in the balance of power the rivalry between autocracies and democracies.So where do we stand as Baltic countries? We are small countries, and we have a major war in our region. And therefore, for us, it is essentially important to have our allies strong and to have our allies helping us. The United States is our main ally when it comes to security. Yes, we are members of NATO, but in terms of deterring Putin, one has to think about deterrence as a psychological concept.Putin is less afraid of NATO as overall organization than he is afraid of the United States of America. So having this in mind, the one who sits in Washington D.C. in the presidential position for us is essential as well. In Athena, we had already two elections this year, presidential and European Parliament elections, and the parliamentary elections are coming in October.But we're joking that the elections in the United States are more important than the elections in Lithuania and the change would be felt stronger of who comes to power in the United States.Interestingly enough, one of our media outlets just recently published a survey asking Lithuanians: Who would be a better president for Lithuania in the United States, Trump or, Harris? The majority of Lithuanians, 66 percent, said Harris and only 12 indicated that that could be Trump. So, for us, it's very important. It matters. We follow this election very, very closely.And I would say there are two points which are particularly important for Lithuania. Yes, NATO and US presence in the region. And we don't know what position Harris will take or if she will be more involved in the Pacific. But it's about stability. That's important.And another very important question, and it's very intertwined, is the war in Ukraine. And we already heard what Trump was saying about Ukraine, that when he becomes the president, he will seek for a certain deal. And for us Baltics, it's clear that no deal with Putin can be achieved at the moment, and it would be dangerous, and it would endanger our situation. So it's not acceptable.IE: You're actually running into kind of my next question here, which is exactly about Russia and Ukraine. And as we know, the Baltic states have been among the most ardent supporters of Ukraine following the full-scale invasion in 2022. Also, we know that the Baltic leadership has been quite hawkish warning about Russia for some time.And as you just mentioned, Donald Trump has refused to say that he wants Ukraine to end the war. He often talks about his rapport with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Harris, on the other hand, has called Putin a dictator who would, “eat Trump for lunch.” She has condemned the Russia's actions in Ukraine as crimes against humanity and underscored the US commitment.But as you also mentioned, there has been a slow roll of US advanced weaponry and providing the ability for Ukraine to hit targets deeper into Russia, something that is actually being talked about right now at the UN General Assembly.Could you say a little bit more on the candidates' stances on Ukraine and Russia and in the war more broadly, what that means for Baltic leaderships and Baltic publics?DA: I think that the presidential debate, which I think looks like being the only debate between the two candidates, pretty accurately sketched in the difference, between the candidates. President Trump very much was hooked into the Kremlin narrative.He said that he was for peace, which we understand here in Europe as meaning you are for Russia because you bought into the narrative. He even mentioned that the United States holds some responsibility for the war as opposed for it to be a decision made by Russia to invade a sovereign country.I think we quite clearly saw that one of the candidates is, despite the macho image, quite soft on Russia. And the other one is fixing more clearly with the governing elites in the Baltic States perspective on, the war on Ukraine. One thing we should mention, however, there is an undercurrent of support for Trump in the Baltic States.In, Latvia, there is a political party named Latvia First—where did they get that name from—which sits in the parliament in opposition and is clearly Trumpian. They managed to have one MEP (Member of European Parliament) elected to the European Parliament. And in one of the debates, he was asked a very technical question about how he would vote on a trade deal with certain countries.He said, “well, I would do whatever Trump does. If it's good enough for Trump, it's good enough for me.” And he pretty much attached this to any other form of foreign policy. Now, this is a minority party, but we should recognize that there is some support for the Trumpian position albeit not in a governing position in the Baltic states. I'll hand over to Andres now.AK: Well, the same applies for Estonia, where the major opposition party EKRE (Conservative People's Party) on the far right is very clearly Trumpian. There's also, more alarming in this case, a lot of the mainstream media, like Postimees and the foreign news desk of the national broadcaster seem to normalize Trump.They don't point out his really deviant and demented behavior but treat him like a normal candidate. So, I also feel that there are plenty of people in Estonia who think that Trump has some good ideas, or at least they're so angry at the woke folks, that they're willing to entertain Trump, not recognizing the great damage that Trump would do to the Transatlantic Alliance and how he would put NATO deterrence, its credibility, in question.And I think that's what Margarita was saying earlier, right? Deterrence is psychological. It's not only what we do, it's what Putin believes, right? If Putin believes that the United States is ready to defend us, then he will be deterred. And that's, that's the bottom line.And with Trump, that's the one thing that's been consistent. I mean, he flip-flops on everything, criticizes everything, but the one thing he's been consistent on, he's never said a bad word about Putin, which really is not just odd, but quite alarming.MS: Well, I just want to add on what has been said in terms of the differences between the Harris and Trump. We don't know exactly what the policies of Harris will be because we don't know her so well, but for us, the most important thing is the stability, because if Trump becomes US president, it's not only what he does, but what kind of messages he sends.Andrus was already mentioning the messages for Putin, what's happening in Putin's head, understanding what Trump's messaging is. But also for the world, we are more secure and stronger together in European Union, in NATO, as transatlantic family and community.If Trump comes to power, the world will become a more dangerous place, because there will be more rifts and disagreements between allies, and we will be seen as weaker as a transatlantic community, not only by Russia, but by China, by Iran, by North Korea. So, it is a very dangerous scenario for us small states, because we cannot change the system. The system affects us.DA: And in the event of a Trump victory, I think there would be a much greater focus from policymakers in the Baltic states on the diaspora community in the United States. The diaspora community played a very important role in the Baltic accession to NATO in the late 1990s, early 2000s. And clearly one thing that Trump does listen to is voters, supporters, and interest groups in Washington. And I think the role of JBANC (Joint Baltic American National Committee) and also the three national lobby groups of American Latvians, American Lithuanian, and Estonian Americans will simply grow in importance, hugely. We can expect them to have quite a lot of communication and cooperation with our foreign ministries and with our embassies, even more so than at the moment.IE: Yeah, that's a really fascinating point too, that the impact of the diaspora lobbying groups in the United States. You all are touching on something that I also wanted to get at, which is the impact of the US elections on European solidarity. You mentioned how Trump's America first agenda has also emboldened right wing politicians in Europe and the Baltics.He has a close relationship with Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary. Who has also even spoken at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference in the United States, but has been in some ways a thorn in the side of the European Union particularly around Russia.During his presidency, Donald Trump also often tried to bypass European institutions, kind of favoring a bilateral approach and personal appeals to national leaders. Harris presidency represents more of a stable transatlantic relationship, but there's also the concern that, as Margarita mentioned, that there's going to be a shift in attention to the Indo-Pacific. The People's Republic of China is seen kind of as this coming-up threat.So, some questions here. What is the situation of the European Union? How united or divided might the block be with either candidate? How is Europe thinking about retaining the focus of the United States as opposed to a shift to other global regions?Where do the Baltic states fit into that? Maybe we start from the Lithuanian perspective this time.MS: It's a very tough question. I think that when the war in Ukraine started, the European Union has surprised itself by its unity. And over the last three years, I think that this unity pertained, and we continue to be united.We sometimes disagree on how fast Europe has to be in providing certain aid for Ukraine. We sometimes disagree on how strict we have to be on punishing Putin in terms of sanctions, et cetera, et cetera. But in general, there is a consensus that we're sitting in the same boat, and this is a European war andI think that this is very important.Therefore, there is an appetite to continue supporting Ukraine until the end of the war, until the victory. But the problem is that there is this unity, which is very strong on the decision takers, decision-makers' level. But if you scratch the surface, you see that there are many different opinions.Businesses, communities, general society, different players do not share the general decision-makers' opinion, not in every country. States of the European Union are facing their own economic, political, and identity problems. And what makes me anxious is the tide of radical populism in certain European countries, and in particular in the biggest countries who matter a lot in the decision-making of the European Union.And maybe in the next two or three years, we won't be seeing those radicals overtaking the government. Well, let's hope fingers crossed that in Germany, the elections will not bring AfD (Alternative for Germany) to power. However, it reduces certain policies, international policies, foreign policies, to a minimal level rather than emboldening them.So there could be some steps back, which might be quite dangerous in these final stages of the war, or what we are seeing now, when at least Ukrainian side is trying to search for certain agreements. So, yes, there is a unity that also benefits the Baltic countries.European countries are listening to what we said more and Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, in her State of the Union speech, said we should have listened more to the Baltic countries. But I guess the appetite to listen to Baltic countries is shrinking a bit for the time and also when we propose certain solutions, they still seem very provocative and more provocative than some of the EU countries would like to take.AK: Let me just add that in American debate, when they talk about Europe, they talk about Europe as kind of lagging behind and being a slacker in support for Ukraine, which is absolutely false, right? The United States is obviously spending more in absolute terms than any other country in terms of military. But as a whole Europe is providing more altogether.And of course, we should really be looking at the contribution in terms of the percentages. And here, the three Baltic states, from the beginning, have been the leaders, along with some other countries like, like Denmark and Sweden, who have given a percentage of their defense budget to Ukraine, which is much greater than the percentage that the Americans are giving.Americans are actually being quite miserly, even though the sums sound huge. And of course, in the American case, the money, which in the US political debate seems that it's just being handed over to Ukraine, is actually going to American manufacturers. And a lot of the money is actually just nominal sums, which are old American armament, equipment, and ammunitions, which were destined to be written off. In any case they're given some monetary value.So, this is something that's really caught on in the narrative in the US: The Americans are paying so much, and the Europeans are doing so little, which is certainly not the case. When you look at the three Baltic states, which have been, continue to be in the lead, and that leads to what Margarita was highlighting.Our establishments, our political leadership in the Baltic States are very firm on Russia, but as a society, there's a cost to that. If we've all raised our defense spending, that means cuts in societal programs, and that leads to dissatisfaction and unrest.So, that's difficult for the governments to keep a check on.DA: Europe is changing. We see this in the European Parliament elections in 2024, that you have this growing support for political parties on the fringes, which we sometimes call as populists, and the support for the centrist mainstream parties, which we typically understand as the liberals, the center right, the Christian Democrats, or the European People's Party and the centrist socialists are declining.Now, they still make up a majority, and we see this in the European Commission as well. The European Commission, which is likely to be approved over the next couple of weeks under Ursula von der Leyen, is still a centrist European Commission, but Europe is changing. And I think it's quite interesting if we look at the Baltic States here.30 years ago, as the Baltic States were just beginning to build democracies and capitalistic systems after 50 years of Soviet occupation, they were quite crackpot, right? I was reading some newspaper articles from the early 1990s, and the one that stayed with me—it's a casual throwaway article written sometime in late 1992 about, oh by the way, 62 prisoners escaped to prison yesterday, and they haven't been caught yet.And the next day, it's not even on the front page of a newspaper, because there's some kind of mafia killing that's being reported on. And that's how things were 30 years ago. Today, the Baltic states are a sea of tranquility. We see that our political systems are actually far more stable, if you look at recent indicators, than the Nordic states.You look at the profile of our governments, the female prime ministers that we had in office in the summer, Europe's first, openly gay president. We have very progressive political systems, and it's Western Europe where democracy is declining in quality, where crackpot political parties are appearing, where you have extremely dodgy political leaders being elected to lead governments and extremely odd parties coming into governments or propping up minority governments.Europe is changing quite a lot, which is unfortunate for the Baltic States in a sense, because just as we have achieved a level of normality. Lithuania is achieving huge economic success as being the fastest growing economy in Europe in the 21st century, the rest of Europe is fraying.Fortunately, there's still a majority, let's say a mainstream majority, which favors support for Ukraine and whose policies broadly align with the very centrist and mainstream policies that all three Baltic governments have long been adopting. But things are changing and there is a risk that the longer the war possibly drags on in Ukraine, the more—I'm sure that opinion in the Baltic states won't change because this is such an existential issue for us—but elsewhere in Western Europe, we might see these radical populist forces rise even further and perhaps begin to fray away at the coalition, which is still broadly supportive of Ukraine. But it is being chipped away at almost monthly, I would say.IE: I want to put a pin in some of the things that you just touched on around the state of democracy, maybe we can turn back to that in a moment.Perhaps we can briefly turn to the impacts of either candidate on US trade policy and energy.MS: It's a global issue. And globally, it is important when it comes to the general situation in transatlantic community, the feeling of trust. But when it comes to Baltics, I don't that it has this direct link to what is important for us. I believe that neither decision-makers nor society are looking in particular what Trump or Harris are saying in terms of energy policy and trade.Okay, he [Trump] can increase tariffs for Latin products, but there are now so many going to the United States.DA: For the Baltic States, our biggest trading partners are our Western neighbors. In the case of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, are one and two. Then the Nordic countries, Poland, Germany, and so on.I took a look at the data for 2022, and the United States was Latvia's 11th biggest trading partner: small, single digits. Latvia for the United States was the 117th biggest trading partner. So, when it comes to economic relations, including also energy, it's not a critical relationship.Politically, the relationship is very, very important. But economically, when it comes to trade, it's marginal.AK: Well, let me just add that for the bilateral relationship, it's not important, but the tone that the US administration sets is not a good direction for the Baltic states. Trump initiated this protectionism, and Biden unfortunately has continued in that same vein.And we don't really know how Harris will continue Biden's legacy on that front. But in any case, the world has become more protectionist. And the three Baltic states have been amongst the biggest champions and beneficiaries of free trade, right? And for an open, globalized economy. This wave of protectionism, which Trump initiated, and Biden has continued in a general picture, is bad for the world and bad for the Baltic states.DA: There is an alternative view to that, Andres, which is that, because of the policies, the global value chains are becoming more compact, they're becoming more localized. And as the global value chains are, let's say, semi-returned to Europe, away from Asia, then the Baltic States together with Poland and other countries are expected to be the big beneficiaries of, say, manufacturing returning to Europe.I don't think it's such a black and white picture, but a collapsing global trade is necessarily bad for the Baltic States. It depends on the domestic policies which are adopted that can seize the opportunity in a sense.MS: And when it comes to energy, if the United States chooses to become the major player in the world in terms of energy supply, it could change and change in general, the picture of the world that we have.But that is a big question: the tracking issue, getting further away from the green plan or implementing this plan. There are advantages and disadvantages of either path.In order to stop climate change, I think fracking would be quite a bad decision because it's increasing dependency on this fuel. But when it comes to changing the power balance, that could be the way to end the war in Ukraine, pushing Russia to the corner, because the bulk of its budget comes from natural resources.This would add more competition: increasing the supply of energy resources in the world's market.IE: For a non-question, that actually was a quite interesting response.But to come back to the idea—Donna you were talking about people's feelings of democracy and the shift in the way that the Baltic states perhaps are perceiving or showing off their strength, in democracy—you all sort of mentioned attitudes on the ground.I'd like to explore that a little bit more. I mean, Margarita noted that people think of the American elections as potentially more consequential than the upcoming elections in Lithuania. Do you feel that on a day-to-day basis? Is it just in surveys or are people paying attention? Do they care?And how do they view the state of democracy in the United States, which I think is a big question on this side of the Atlantic.DA: Well, I think we clearly see that the media in Latvia, at least, are following this election much more closely than previous elections. Certainly, that's because of the nature of the election taking place at a time of war, not so far away from us.But it's also because of the candidates and especially Trump. I mean, Trump is news. He's magnetic. And there is a feeling about, “Wow, look at this guy.” Some people look at him in awe. I would say a majority look at him in confusion as to, as to why is it that he's so attractive to American voters.But certainly, the nature of the candidates, as well as the context of the election, is something which draws public attention. And we see a lot of newscasts, a lot of discussion shows, both on television and online portals, dedicated to the American elections more so than in previous years.AK: In fact, as soon as we finish recording this, I will have to go to an Estonian webcast to discuss the US election. So, indeed, there's plenty of interest and a realization that this matters to us in the Baltic states quite a bit, but that's been the case for previous US elections as well.Trump just adds this more of a circus atmosphere to it that was perhaps not present and a sort of polarizing view. But when you talked earlier about the impact of Trump on Europe, I can remember back to when Obama was elected, right?And the response in Europe was: Western Europeans loved him. Eastern Europeans were a little bit more skeptical, but even the Western Europeans who loved Obama were very disappointed by the man because he was focused on a pivot to Asia. And he didn't give the Europeans the deference and the time of day that his predecessors had.So that's already a shift that's been going on for quite some time and Biden has been the throwback to the way things were, but I think we can expect that Biden will be sort of the last real trans-Atlanticist American president.MS: Yeah, I just want to pick what Andras was mentioning in terms of the policies of the potential US leader, President Harris or President Trump, and the consequences for the Baltic countries. I think that this pivot to Asia is very consequential, and the consequences are increasing with time.And first of all, it was more economic and political, but now it's also related to defense. We've seen, one of the former advisors of Trump, Elbridge Colby, say that Taiwan and the security of Taiwan, would be a more important issue than the security of Europe or Eastern Europe and that he would advise Baltic countries to not stop at 3 percent spending from GDP, but continue spending more for defense and reaching perhaps 10 percent, which is a lot of money.And I don't think it's attainable in the near future. However, the US Pivot to Asia had an effect on Lithuanian policies. If your major ally pivots to Asia, you have to pivot there as well. I think that there is more Asia in Lithuania and there is more Lithuania in Asia in the Indo-Pacific at the moment.First of all, it started with the hosting of Taiwanese representation in Vilnius under the name of Taiwan, which became a major issue for China. A major argument with China ensued on economic, secondary sanctions that China was threatening with political ranting and a lot of other things.But then due to this disagreement, we discovered a lot of potential for cooperation in this area. At the moment, the economic relationships with Indo-Pacific countries are increasing quite speedily. And there are more of those countries, like South Korea and Japan, in Lithuania, both politically, but also economically.And we are also discussing our security corporation, particularly in the era of cyber security. I think that this is an important turn for Lithuania, probably for other Baltic countries to a less extent, but still, and this is also a certain security net for us. If there will be some more speedy pivot to Asia under the Trump presidency, we might also try to ask our friends in Taiwan to say some good words about Lithuania and our security to the ear of Trump, because Trump most likely will listen what Taiwanese are saying.IE: Well, you've kind of tackled the last question head on, which is what are the Baltic States doing to ensure their own futures? Regardless of who ends up in the White House in November. I want to open it up for any last words or thoughts on the subject.Any final conclusions that you'd like to share?DA: Well, I think a big development, possibly a positive outcome from the events in Ukraine, is the additional impetus for Baltic cooperation. Because Baltic cooperation really has lagged for the last 30 years. If we compare the way in which the Baltic states work with each other to our closest neighbors, the Nordics, we don't really cooperate. We've imitated some of the institutions of the North, but we haven't really enacted them. We haven't sort of like full-bloodedly, adopted them. But we can see that when it comes to defense, there are some very serious initiatives, which have moved ahead recently.I think procurement is one of the big areas where we see Latvia cooperating with Estonia, for example, in air defense systems, in buying training grenades. We also have a cooperation between Latvia and Lithuania on respirators. We have the Baltic defense line—although that seems to be being executed individually by each state—but it was still a common announcement with a common aim, and so on. It would be great if this was an impetus for even further Baltic cooperation, because there are many areas where we would benefit from cooperating with each other in a sort of Nordic style politically, economically, culturally, and so on.Because we are an extremely dynamic region of Europe, especially if we look at the Lithuanian economy, which is to an outsider, an amazing story. What's happened there over the last 20 years is a story to tell, and there is a common identity and common political structures which can be built upon, beginning with this enhanced military cooperation, but taking that to various political and economic levels as well.So that's one thing that I would end on attempting to be more positive.AK: I would just add and expand on Daunis, for the regional cooperation, of course, is much wider. It's a Nordic Baltic cooperation, which is the most intense and active at the moment. And the one good outcome of Putin's invasion of Ukraine has been Finland and Sweden joining NATO, which has given a real impetus to Nordic Baltic cooperation, which was already strong in all other fields.But now with defense cooperation also, we're all much closer together in the region and it's one of the most dynamic regions in the European Union.MS: I guess I'm obliged to step even further on the European level. I don't know how strong this political will and commitment in the European institutions and in some European countries will continue to be. I guess it will depend at the end of the day on the level of a threat—but we will not be living in a less threatening environment in the future—and the appetite to build strong defense industry and defense in Europe.That's a very, very important step forward. And if one thing is to come from the Ukrainian War, I would say that this would be a very, very important thing for the future of the European Union as the player in international politics.IE: Well, Professors Kasekamp, Šešelgytė, Auers. Thank you so much for your time for your commentary and we really appreciate you taking the time to speak on this subject. Thank you very much. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fpribalticinitiative.substack.com

After the rise of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, what are the key challenges organisations face in balancing flexibility with maintaining team cohesion? And what role can scientific research play in improving the future of remote work? These are the questions at the heart of Jurgita Lazauskaitė-Zabielskė's podcast episode of the Arqus Knowledge Pills. As the demand for telework continues to rise, organisations must address critical challenges such as ensuring productivity, balancing flexibility with structure, and supporting employees' mental health. The discussion explores practical strategies for overcoming these hurdles and emphasises the importance of research-based approaches to improving telework implementation. For the 33rd episode of the Arqus Knowledge Pills “How will teleworking shape our work in the future?”, Professor Jurgita Lazauskaitė-Zabielskė shares her experience with remote work and offers a glimpse into how scientific research can guide the development of more sustainable, flexible work models. -- Jurgita Lazauskaitė-Zabielskė is a professor at Vilnius University and heads the Organizational Psychology Research Centre. Her research focuses on the impact of flexible work arrangements on employee well-being and performance, with particular attention to work engagement burnout, and work-life balance.

Timestamps: 6:32 - Race car driving & building a business 11:55 - How NordPass stood out in the market 23:10 - Catering to customers vs staying focused 31:32 - From Lithuania to the world 43:54 - Is Lithuania a startup-friendly country? Resources mentioned: Blackbox Thinking, Matthew Syed Click here to enjoy three months of NordPass Business for free with the code “swisspreneur”. About Jonas Karklys: Jonas Karklys is the co-founder of Nord Security, and the CEO of its password management company NordPass. He holds a BA in Business Administration and Management from Vilnius University, but before his university studies he was already an accomplished race car driver and had also run Infosport, a Lithuanian sports news website. After university, Jonas went on to co-found 50Garage and invest in F-1.LT before co-founding Nord Security and launching NordPass. NordPass is a password management solution, part of Nord Security, the world's leading cybersecurity company and the creator of NordVPN, NordLayer, NordLocker, and other well- known products in the market. Currently with offices/representatives in 26 markets, Nord Security offers its services globally, and is Lithuania's second unicorn. Don't forget to give us a follow on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there's no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.

  Stand Up is a daily podcast. I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 700 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous souls On today's show! Ieva Jusionyte (Ph.D., EMT-P) is a legal and medical anthropologist and a certified emergency medical responder. She is the Watson Family University Associate Professor of International Security and Anthropology at Brown University. Born and raised in Lithuania, Jusionyte earned her B.A. degree in political science from Vilnius University and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in anthropology from Brandeis University, in Massachusetts. Before coming to Brown, she was John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University. Jusionyte studies borders, law, and violence, and is the author of three books, including multiple-award winning Threshold: Emergency Responders on the U.S.-Mexico Border (2018), which received the 2019 Victor Turner Prize In Ethnographic Writing and the 2020 SAW Book Prize. Her new book, Exit Wounds: How America's Guns Fuel Violence Across the Border, is coming out in April 2024. Jusionyte has held fellowships from the Harvard Radcliffe Institute and the Fulbright program, and her fieldwork and writing have been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Andrew M. Mellon Foundation, the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, and the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center. In addition to research articles published in flagship scholarly journals (Cultural Anthropology, American Anthropologist, Political and Legal Anthropology Review, and others), Jusionyte's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and The Guardian, and she's been the featured guest on NPR's “The Takeaway” and “Forum.” Apart from her scholarly pursuits, Ieva Jusionyte is a trained EMT, paramedic, and wildland firefighter, and spent five years volunteering in fire and rescue departments in Massachusetts, Florida, and Arizona. She lives in Boston. Ieva Jusionyte explains how firearms made and sold in the United States have played a significant role in the perpetration of violence across the border in Mexico. Mexico strictly regulates the sale of semi-automatic rifles at the federal level, but these weapons are easily available across the border in states like Texas and Arizona. Organized crime groups use funds obtained from illegal drug sales to smuggle weapons purchased in the U.S. into Mexico with devastating consequences. An estimated 200,000 to 500,000 weapons are smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border every year, and 70% of firearms recovered from crime scenes were purchased in the U.S. Turns the familiar story of trafficking across the US-Mexico border on its head, looking at firearms smuggled south from the United States to Mexico and their ricochet effects. American guns have entangled the lives of people on both sides of the US-Mexico border in a vicious circle of violence. After treating wounded migrants and refugees seeking safety in the United States, anthropologist Ieva Jusionyte boldly embarked on a journey in the opposite direction—following the guns from dealers in Arizona and Texas to crime scenes in Mexico. An expert work of narrative nonfiction, Exit Wounds provides a rare, intimate look into the world of firearms trafficking and urges us to understand the effects of lax US gun laws abroad. Jusionyte masterfully weaves together the gripping stories of people who live and work with guns north and south of the border: a Mexican businessman who smuggles guns for protection, a teenage girl turned trained assassin, two US federal agents trying to stop gun traffickers, and a journalist who risks his life to report on organized crime. Based on years of fieldwork, Exit Wounds expands current debates about guns in America, grappling with US complicity in violence on both sides of the border. Pete on Tik Tok Pete on YouTube Pete on Twitter Pete On Instagram Pete Personal FB page Stand Up with Pete FB page All things Jon Carroll  Follow and Support Pete Coe

Rimas Uzgiris is a poet, translator, and critic. He is the author of North of Paradise, published by Kelsay Books (2019). Tarp, a collection of his poetry in Lithuanian translation was published by Kauko laiptai. He is translator of Caravan Lullabies by Ilzė Butkutė, Then What by Gintaras Grajauskas, Now I Understand by Marius Burokas, The Moon is a Pill by Aušra Kaziliūnaitė, and Vagabond Sun by Judita Vaičiūnaitė. Uzgiris has contributed significantly as editor and translator to two anthologies: How the Earth Carries Us: New Lithuanian Poets, and New Baltic Poets. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an MFA in creative writing from Rutgers-Newark University. Recipient of a Fulbright Scholar Grant, a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Translation Fellowship, and the Poetry Spring 2016 Award for translations of Lithuanian poetry into other languages, he teaches translation at Vilnius University. Find North of Paradise here: https://kelsaybooks.com/products/north-of-paradise As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/rattlecast/ This Week's Prompt: Write a poem that tells a story about a silent interaction with a stranger. Next Week's Prompt: Write a poem entitled, “A Brief History of [X],” where X is a word that needs to be translated, and the poem is less than a page. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Noura Al-Mawed and Michael Rantisi, students from Vilnius University and Vilnius Tech, are two of only a few Palestinians living in Lithuania. In this episode of NARA podcast they share their hopes and grief, as the destruction of Gaza continues. Conversation hosted by Karolis Vyšniauskas and Austėja Pūraitė. See the full description and photographs. Support NARA's journalism: https://contribee.com/nara 

30 October 2023 - As COVID-19 and flu season descends on the northern hemisphere, we talk with three new research group leaders who work, among other topics, on host-virus interactions: Hsiao Han Chang at National Tsinghua University in Taiwan, Gytis Dudas at Vilnius University in Lithuania, and Hedvig Tamman at the University of Tartu in Estonia. Their work ranges from the population genetics of viral spread in vertebrate hosts, to the biology of spillover events, to the tiny arms-races between bacteria and phage. Chang is a part of the EMBO Global Investigator Network; both Dudas and Tamman were awarded EMBO Installation Grants this year to help establish and grow their laboratories.

When Shannon Litchfield's 11 year-old son, Cameron, was losing weight and feeling sick, she took him to the emergency room. The x-ray they saw showed magnets, screws, and yarn in his stomach. We'll explore the eating disorder known as Pica, where people are drawn to eating objects. A researcher talks about her findings after completing a research study with 600 parents of young children, and meet a woman who ate nearly two pounds of rocks every day for 20 years. Click here for more information on Pica. GUESTS: Teresa Widener: A Bedford, Virginia woman who developed anemia during pregnancy, which began a 20 year addiction to eating rocks  Sigita Lesinskiene: A child and adolescent psychiatry consultant at the Ministry of Health in Lithuania, and a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Vilnius University who has studied Pica in her country Shannon and Cameron Litchfield: Albany, Oregon residents who are learning to navigate life with Pica, after Cameron had to have surgery to remove magnets, screws, and yarn from his stomach Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gediminas Galkauskas is an experienced data-driven marketer, a business growth expert and the current Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Atlas VPN, a leading virtual private network (VPN) provider. Being in the industry for more than two decades now, he has held various top level positions at some of the most prominent companies in Lithuania, like leading marketing campaigns and initiatives for Modern Times Group MTG, which includes the most watched TV in Lithuania, TV3 and Head of Marketing and Product Development at 15min.Gediminas Galkauskas Interview Questions1. Could you please start by telling us a little bit about your background? 2. Could you share with us about your earlier career path and your motivations or inspiration?3. About VPNs and VPNs for businesses4. How has Atlas VPN changed the VPN market?5. What new technologies have you implemented for Atlas VPN?6. What do you believe is the most important factor for success in the VPN market?7. How do you think the VPN market will evolve in the coming years?8. What do you think are the biggest challenges faced by VPN providers today?9. What new technologies will marketers need to be familiar with in order to be successful in the future?Gediminas Galkauskas BiographyGediminas Galkauskas holds a double Master of Arts degree in International Communication and Political Science from Vilnius University, Lithuania. Prior to joining Atlas VPN, Gediminas worked at a number of high-profile companies, including Modern Times Group MTG, AeroTime Hub, 15min.As the Communications Manager at The Modern Times Group MTG, Gediminas managed a variety of marketing campaigns and initiatives for brands like TV Viasat, the most watched TV in Lithuania TV3, Power Hit Radio,  and one of the most popular internet websites tv3.lt. He also held executive positions at multi-channel aviation digital hub AeroTime Hub and Marketing consultancy Hungry Scout.At 15min, he held the position of Head of Marketing and Product Development, where he was responsible for marketing and developing business together with new products for the 2nd biggest website in Lithuania. He led the development of audio platform 15min Klausyk, paid content product 15max, etc.His experience includes co-founding Pro Consulto, a boutique communications agency providing consulting and sales services to clients. And he also lectured about integrated marketing communications to the students at University of Applied Social Sciences, Vilnius. Gediminas is a sought-after keynote speaker at marketing and tech events like Viasat Lithuania and writes a newsletter where he shares his insights on strategy, innovation, and trends in the tech and marketing sectors.About Dinis Guarda profile and Channelshttps://www.openbusinesscouncil.orghttps://www.intelligenthq.comhttps://www.hedgethink.com/https://www.citiesabc.com/More interviews and research videos on Dinis Guarda YouTube

Like other animals, humans have unique ways of approaching a potential mate and securing their affections. The goal of these ‘wooing' processes is generally to establish a long-term romantic relationship with the person of interest. Victor de Munck, a Professor of Anthropology at Vilnius University, recently carried out a fascinating study exploring the most common patterns of courtship observed in the United States today, and the cultural influences underpinning these patterns.

In the 16th episode of the Arqus Knowledge Pills, we explore the topic of romantic love together with Victor de Munck, Professor of Sociocultural, Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Vilnius University. Victor addresses the question “Can romantic love end?” and gives us an overview of how the traditional model of monogamous romantic love has been challenged by contemporary lifestyles. Is love a constraint to our freedom? Could polyamory be the modern-day solution? Discover what his research conducted him to answer!

1:10 Labiotech.eu news2:50 Innovation Agency Lithuania25:25 Astellas Pharma34:37 4basebioThis week, our guests are Romualda Stragienė, director at Innovation Agency Lithuania and Andrius Sliuzas, export key account manager of high tech industries at Innovation Agency Lithuania; 4basebio CEO Heikki Lanckriet; and Yoshitsugu Shitaka, chief scientific officer at Astellas.4basebio4basebio, a spinout of 2Invest AG in 2020, is a life sciences company engaged in the design, manufacture and supply of application-specific synthetic DNA or mRNA, as well as targeted non-viral vectors for the delivery of nucleic acid payloads, for use in cell and gene therapies and vaccines.As cell and gene therapies expand, there is an increasing demand for DNA as a therapeutic agent and in the manufacture of mRNA. Existing plasmid DNA supply is produced by way of biofermentation. Synthetic DNA, in contrast, is produced in a matter of weeks using an enzymatically-driven bench top process. 4basebio currently produces four types of DNA constructs, which also offer unique application-specific flexibility and benefits.4basebio is also developing non-viral delivery technology to overcome some of the challenges associated with commonly used viral vector and LNP (lipid nanoparticle) solutions.LithuaniaDespite its small population of fewer than 3 million people, the Baltic country Lithuania punches above its weight in the life sciences. A major outlet of the Thermo Fisher Scientific is based in its capital city, Vilnius, for example. And the Life Sciences Center at Vilnius University was added to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory network in 2020, opening the door to major EU investments into biotech research in the center. More than 400 companies are working in Lithuania's growing life sciences sector, and the space is growing every year. Astellas PharmaAstellas Pharma Inc. is a Japanese-headquartered pharmaceutical company conducting business in more than 70 countries around the world. It utilizes its ‘Focus Area Approach,' which is designed to identify opportunities for the continuous creation of new drugs to address diseases with high unmet medical needs.The company recently committed to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.SponsorInterested in sponsoring one or more episodes of the podcast? Learn more here!Leave a review on Apple podcastsReviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, we would love to hear your feedback!Connect with uslabiotech.euSubscribe to our newsletter

“If we are looking for models of self-sustaining communities, we need to look no further than an old-growth forest. Or the old-growth cultures they raised in symbiosis with them,” says Robin Wall Kimmerer, an acclaimed author and teaching professor of Environmental and Forest Biology, in her book “Braiding Sweetgrass”.  The botanist, a researcher at Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Dr. Radvilė Rimgailė-Voicik became our guide to the community of vegetation for this episode. The sociologist from Vytautas Magnus University, Dr. Jurga Bučaitė-Vilkė is our guide to human society, which by definition is the aggregate of people living together in more or less ordered communities.  One week after COP27, which is the most important annual meeting of world leaders addressing the global climate crisis, we invite you to listen to a constructed dialogue between a biologist and a sociologist to find out how we got to where we are today and if changes are possible.  Authors: Kata Bitowt, Martyna Šulskutė  Folk song: Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore  Full publication: https://nara.lt/en/articles-en/whats-so-scary-about-a-falling-tree  Support our work: https://contribee.com/nara 

Traumatic experiences across the lifespan often lead to long-term negative consequences on mental health. Recent studies on trauma- and stress-related disorders reveal diverse trajectories of human responses to adverse life experiences. Various mental disorders associated with stress, such as adjustment disorder, prolonged grief, or complex posttraumatic stress disorder have been studied extensively providing novel knowledge, but also opening up new issues in how to better understand, prevent and treat these conditions. The huge global burden of trauma calls for novel approaches to providing trauma treatment for those in need. The September keynote lecture will be delivered by Professor Evaldas Kazlauskas, President of the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and Head of the Center for Psychotraumatology at Vilnius University in Lithuania. The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion. Webinar series organized by SWPS University and the European Association of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Treatment (EACLIPT). #traumaticexperiences #psychology #EACLIPT

Podcast Website Follow @dental_digest_podcast Instagram Follow @dr.melissa_seibert on Instagram Connect with Melissa on Linkedin Dental Digest Podcast Facebook Dr. Tomas Linkevicius has received DDS degree in 2000 in Kaunas University, Lithuania. In 2004 he finished post-graduate program in prosthodontics in Vilnius University. In 2009 he has defended theses “The influence of mucosal tissue thickness on crestal bone stability around dental implants” and received PhD degree in Riga Stradins University, Latvia. Currently, dr. Tomas Linkevicius serves as Assoc. Professor in Institute of Odontology, Vilnius University. He also works in private practice “Vilnius Implantology Center” and is a founder of private research center “Vilnius Research Group”. Dr. Tomas Linkevicius serves as a reviewer in dental journals, like “International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Implants”, “Journal of Periodontology”, “Clinical Implant Dentistry and Related Research” and “Journal of Clinical Periodontology”. He is the author and co-author of many articles in international journals, indexed in PubMed. Dr. Tomas Linkevicius lectures internationally and conducts extensive research in implant dentistry. He holds the patent for invention in implant prosthodontics.   He is a member of European Association for Osseointegration (EAO) and is active in national organizations. In 2009 he has received National Lithuanian Young Scientist Award. In 2012 he was participant of the 3rd EAO Consensus meeting in Pfaffikon, Switzerland.

Podcast Website Follow @dental_digest_podcast Instagram Follow @dr.melissa_seibert on Instagram Connect with Melissa on Linkedin Dental Digest Podcast Facebook Dr. Tomas Linkevicius has received DDS degree in 2000 in Kaunas University, Lithuania. In 2004 he finished post-graduate program in prosthodontics in Vilnius University. In 2009 he has defended theses “The influence of mucosal tissue thickness on crestal bone stability around dental implants” and received PhD degree in Riga Stradins University, Latvia. Currently, dr. Tomas Linkevicius serves as Assoc. Professor in Institute of Odontology, Vilnius University. He also works in private practice “Vilnius Implantology Center” and is a founder of private research center “Vilnius Research Group”. Dr. Tomas Linkevicius serves as a reviewer in dental journals, like “International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Implants”, “Journal of Periodontology”, “Clinical Implant Dentistry and Related Research” and “Journal of Clinical Periodontology”. He is the author and co-author of many articles in international journals, indexed in PubMed. Dr. Tomas Linkevicius lectures internationally and conducts extensive research in implant dentistry. He holds the patent for invention in implant prosthodontics.   He is a member of European Association for Osseointegration (EAO) and is active in national organizations. In 2009 he has received National Lithuanian Young Scientist Award. In 2012 he was participant of the 3rd EAO Consensus meeting in Pfaffikon, Switzerland.

東西南北廣播節目這個星期的『 北歐，玩一夏！』系列特別追到波羅地海國家立陶宛，在 Vilnius University 攻讀醫學碩士的陳宥誠，將帶我們進入立陶宛，一探這個捍衛自由民主正義國家浪漫風情的一面。

Residency Curator: Elizabeth Richardson Learn about this whimsical residency ►► here Join us for the Hubs Party on 19 July 2022, at 6 pm BST | 7 pm CEST Have you ever thought of knitting a love letter to yourself? Gertrūda Gilytė's durational project: Neuroplasticity or I Love You Gertrūda, does just that. Gilytė merges knitting and TikTok-based video performance to explore self-help discourse and the rise of online mindfulness trends. Gertrūda Gilytė uses personal development as performance, exploring how self-development practices and personal vulnerabilities may be explored as an artistic tool. Neuroplasticity or I Love You Gertrūda examines personal development through knitting, a craft and method that has proven health and wellbeing benefits, including improving neuroplasticity, lowering blood pressure and slowing the onset of dementia, as well as reducing loneliness, anxiety and depression. “Neuroplasticity” refers to the means by which neural networks may be formed or reinforced through new skills or movements. This project represents Gilytė's desire to also explore “the object” and its place within art history. Gilytė has made a daily commitment to knitting “I love you”s into neon green scarves and documenting her process on TikTok until one of her scarves is sold in the art market. Her definitive goal of attributing art market value to a self-improvement object seeks to reflect the means by which personal development practices are becoming increasingly commodified. This critique is amplified through the use of TikTok as a performance space and tool, in which Gilytė submerges within a narrative of influencer culture and mainstream personal development trends. Gilytė documents this process through daily TikTok videos that take place in various performative settings, accompanied by voice-overs that explore both her personal development and the performative aspects of a digital mindfulness persona. The artist questions the sincerity of her performance throughout, as Gilytė illuminates in one TikTok: “knitting is somehow seen as being a really wholesome activity, domestic and fragile maybe, […] but does it remain the same way if it's purely performative? If, for example, I'm not wholesome at all but want to trick you, to appear this way?” About the artist Gertrūda Gilytė (born 1992, Lithuania) is a New Media artist whose work revolves around the theme of “personal development as a performative practice”. In 2022, she finished her MA in Art in Context at the University of Arts, Berlin. In 2016, she graduated from Sculpture Department at Vilnius Academy of Arts. In 2015, she graduated in Political Science at Vilnius University. #AgoraDigitalArt #GertrudaGilyte #ILoveYouGertruda #Neuroplasticity #WomenInNewMedia

Are you considering establishing a neuroscience program but don't know where to start? Considering working in the neuroscience field, but unsure where to specialize? Then take a peek into the origins of the successful neurobiology program shared with you by Prof. Osvaldas Ruksenas. This more than 20-years old with over 200 graduates program is based on the blueprint from Oxford University, UK. Prof. Ruksenas also shares tips on choosing your neuroscience specialization and persevering in achieving your goals even when it may seem impossible! In addition, you will learn about the beautiful country on the coast of the Baltic sea, about one of the oldest universities in Europe, and the most conservative language in the currently existing Indo-European language family! Stay tuned for our Neurocareers series, where we open windows of career possibilities in neuroscience and neurotechnologies! To find out more about the international graduate Neurobiology Program at the Department of Neurobiology and Biophysics at the Life Science Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania, visit: http://www.biofizika.gf.vu.lt/en/studies/msc-neurobiology#course-informationhttps://www.vu.lt/en/studies/master-studies/neurobiology To get in touch with the Head of the Department of Neurobiology and Biophysics, Prof. Osvaldas Ruksenas, contact him at: osvaldas.ruksenas@gf.vu.lt The podcast is brought to you by The Institute of Neuroapproaches and its founder - Milena Korostenskaja, PhD - a neuroscience educator, neuroscience research consultant, and career coach for people in neuroscience and neurotechnologies: https://www.neuroapproaches.org/    

On today's show we are privileged to have world renowned Historian, linguist and scholar Dovid Katz, whose list of accomplishments would take the duration of this podcast to complete. Dr. Katz Was born and raised in Brooklyn. From 1978-1997 Dr. Katz taught Yiddish at Oxford University where he founded and led Oxford's Yiddish studies program. In 2001 he served as the Co-Founder and Director of Research, Vilnius Yiddish Institute at Vilnius University and from 1999-2010, as Professor of Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture. Since its founding in 2009 he has operated and edited DefendingHistory.com, a newsletter, journal and historical outlet which seeks to preserve the memory of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe by combating its denial and distortion by individuals and governments. You can check out Dr.Katz's work at his website Defending History and over on his main site, DovidKatz.net Check out all of our projects and support this podcast here --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/twotalljewshow/support

This lecture presents research findings on the reasons for Chechen population growth in times of harshness. The investigation begins with an observation of a quite contradictory nature: Chechens would not postpone creating families in times of war (1994-1996 and 1999-2009). Being based on demographic statistics, which imply longitudinal studies, the analysis goes back as far as 200-250 years ago, when the first estimates of Chechen population size were made. This lecture analyzes available statistical data of the censuses conducted in Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation, examined with the periods of harshness experienced by the Chechen nation. The analysis of these interviews revealed a strong link between reproductive motivation and two other variables, namely ethnic identity and population loss due to times of harshness. About the Speaker: Marat Iliyasov is a graduate of Vilnius University, where he obtained his MA in Diplomacy and International Relations. His second MA comes from Ilia State University, and he holds a PhD from the School of International Relations of the University of St Andrews in Scotland. His current work comes to the crossroad of several disciplines, among which are: International Relations, Ethnography, and Political Demography. Dr. Iliyasov is an author of several publications that analyze migrants' identity evolution, the demographic trends in the conflict and post-conflict societies, self-legitimation of authoritarian governments, and politics of memory in autocracies.

Most of us thought the war in the Balkans would be the last conflict in Europe. We were wrong. A revanchist Russia is trying to redraw borders, roll back history, and change Europe's security reality. It's impossible to predict how or when this ends. The Tällberg Foundation recently hosted a conversation about the conflict in Ukraine and its implications. This conversation featured Jan Eliasson, former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Pierre Lellouche, former French parliamentarian and minister, and Dalia Bankauskaitė, a strategic communications expert at Vilnius University in Lithuania, and was moderated by Alan Stoga, Tällberg's chairman.

Dr. Gerda Jurkonienė has been actively involved in the establishment of the Credit Bureau in Lithuania and development of data infrastructure to help businesses better understand the behavior of their customers. Now she has co-created an open data platform that integrates open data, credit bureau functionalities as well as credit scores and insights, thus enabling companies to increase sales and manage risks.Dr. Gerda is also an accounting and financial analysis lecturer at Vilnius University.For the Innovators Can Laugh newsletter in your inbox every week, subscribe at https://innovatorscanlaugh.substack.comPrevious guests include: Arvid Kahl of FeedbackPanda, Andrei Zinkevich of FullFunnel, Scott Van den Berg of Influencer Capital, Buster Franken of Fruitpunch AI, Valentin Radu of Omniconvert, Evelina Necula of Kinderpedia, Ionut Vlad of Tokinomo, Diana Florescu of MediaforGrowth, Irina Obushtarova of Recursive, Monika Paule of Caszyme, Yannick Veys of Hypefury, Laura Erdem of Dreamdata, and Pija Indriunaite of CityBee. Check out our five most downloaded episodes: From Uber and BCG to building a telehealth for pets startup with Michael Fisher From Starcraft Player to Maximizing Customer Lifetime Value with Valentin Radu Revolutionizing Parent-Teacher Communication with Kinderpedia ...

Join Dr Michael Melkers as he catches up with the Lithuanian Aesthetic Dentistry superstar, Dr Agne Malisauskiene. Dr Malisauskiene graduated from Vilnius University with Masters degree in dentistry in 2013. Ever since she has practiced aesthetic dentistry with the main focus on direct aesthetic anterior restorations. Find out what makes her tick in the latest RipeGlobal podcast.

In this session, Donato Vozza from University of Roehampton London, will present his paper on an under-explored relationship: ‘Organized criminal groups and professional enablers: Breaking the partnership in crime in the area of taxation', this presentation will introduce in the debate the notion of “organized tax crime”. After this intervention, Anna-Greta Pekkarinen will present the findings of her research, which examines the business models & modus operandi of labour trafficking. Aleksandras Dobryninas and Maryja Šupa will deliver a presentation on the topic of ‘Crimmigration in Lithuanian online media', about the unprecedented wave of illicit migration through the Belarusian-Lithuanian border that Lithuania faced in 2021. The session will conclude with a presentation by Hai Thanh Luong, who will speak about Vietnamese cannabis growers building up their syndicates in Australia. A talk by Aleksandras Dobryninas, Diorella Islas, Hai Luong, Anna-Greta Pekkarinen, Maryja Šupa and Donato Vozza Vilnius University, Women In International Security, RMIT University, European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI), Vilnius University and University of Roehampton This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

In this episode of GTI Insights, GTI Program Associate Marshall Reid and Research Associate Katherine Schultz interview Dr. Konstantinas Andrijauskas, associate professor of Asian studies and international politics at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University. In a wide-ranging interview, Dr. Andrijauskas shares his unique perspectives on the factors that led to Lithuania's withdrawal from the 17+1, Vilnius' role in challenging Chinese influence in Central and Eastern Europe, and its growing relationship with Taiwan.

On August 10th, the People's Republic of China recalled its ambassador to Lithuania and demanded Vilnius recall its representative to Beijing. The reason? Lithuania's decision to allow Taipei to open a representative office in Vilnius under the name "Taiwanese Representative Office." Sino-Lithuanian relations started deteriorating in 2019. That year, Vilnius identified Chinese espionage as a threat to its national security. Since then, Lithuania has opposed the Hong Kong National Security Law at the UN Human Rights Council, withdrawn from the China-led 17+1 grouping, and criticized PRC policies in Xinjiang. In the meantime, Vilnius' ties with Taiwan are warming. The new coalition government in Vilnius announced in November 2020 that it would follow a values-based foreign policy. Leaders pledged to “oppose any violation of human rights and democratic freedoms…from Belarus to Taiwan.” In addition to Taiwan's plans to open a diplomatic mission in Vilnius, Lithuania will open its own trade office in Taipei this fall. Bonnie Glaser talks with Dr. Konstantinas Andrijauskas about the drivers of Lithuania's recent policy shifts, Chinese interests in the region, and the potential for future Lithuania-Taiwan cooperation. Dr. Andrijauskas is an Associate Professor of International Relations at Vilnius University's Institute of International Relations and Political Science. His research focuses on China's domestic and foreign policies and the political systems and international relations of Asia.

A few weeks ago, Belarus shocked the world when it forced a commercial flight from Athens to Vilnius to land and seized two passengers, one a dissident journalist. But that outrage was only the most recent affront to international law and accepted state behavior by Belarusian autocrat, Alexander Lukashenko, and more importantly, his patron, Russia's Vladimir Putin. For years, Putin has pressed the countries along Russia's border: cyber attacks on Estonia and Ukraine, war with Georgia and then Ukraine, the seizure of Crimea, constant air and naval border violations, as well as aggressive disinformation campaigns—all designed to sow chaos.   Lithuania is a frontline state in the growing confrontation—some think it is already war—between East and West. Dalia Bankauskaitė, a defense and security expert at Vilnius University, and Marius Laurinavičius, a journalist and analyst at the Vilnius Institute for Policy Analysis are both in that camp. Moreover, in this episode of the New Thinking for a New World podcast, they insist that Russia's hostility, partly exercised through its puppet Belarus, is aimed not just at Lithuania, but at Europe and the United States.  Is this what war in the 21st century feels like? What do Putin and Lukashenko want? What should we do? What do YOU think?

In the fifth episode of the "Arqus Knowledge Pills", we talk to Valentina Dagienė, a professor of informatics at Vilnius University. She is one of the founders of the “Bebras Project”, a worldwide network that strives to kindle enthusiasm for Computer Science in children, teenagers and teachers. Valentina tells us how the challenges are organized in the partner countries around the world, why it is so important to foster computational thinking and also why a beaver is the mascot of this project. Find more information also on https://www.bebras.org.

About the lecture: Ethan S. Burger will share his views of the most surprising feature of the long-awaited unclassified version of the National Intelligence Council's Intelligence Community Assessment “Foreign Threats to the 2020 US Federal Election,” March 10, 2021, principally that is it contained few if any surprises. Perhaps its discussion of China and Iran influence campaigns are noteworthy — the former country did not “take sides” in the presidential contest and the latter engaged in an effort targeting individual voters. To date, no one has systematically examined what if any impact foreign influence campaigns have there been on the 2020 Congressional elections. Compared with its efforts in 2016, Russia's actions seemed not to affect the election outcome in the form of influencing opinions or suppressing turnout. In a sense, this reflects that its objective of sowing further discord within American society has achieved a level of success previously not anticipated. Nonetheless, at least throughout the summer, the Russian leadership seems to believe that Mr. Trump would be re-elected. Shortly before being fired by President Donald Trump after the election, Christopher Krebs, the Department of Homeland Security Director saw that his agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, had achieved its goal of ensuring “the most secure [presidential election] in American history.” Indeed “t]here is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.” Mr. Burger will seek to put China's, Iran's, and Russia's efforts into a historical context, where their objectives are similar to those of many countries' attempts to sway voters in foreign countries to place into power a “friendly government,” albeit with less sophisticated tools. In the future, the principal cybersecurity threats are likely to be attacks on infrastructure, governmental institutions, and financial crimes. About the Speaker: Ethan S. Burger, Esq., is a Washington-based international legal consultant and an cyber instructor with IWP's Cyber Intelligence Initiative, where he teaches a seminar about the international law governing cyber operations. His lectures at the IWP have included: The Application of International Law to Cyber Operations, Better Understanding Russian Use of Mercenaries to Advance Foreign Policy Goals, and Contextualizing Russian Interference in the 2016 UK Brexit Referendum and the U.S. Presidential Election. His areas of interests include corporate governance, transnational crime (corruption, cybercrime, and money laundering), and Russian affairs. After working as an attorney on Russian commercial, investment, and risk issues, he segued into academic, and advisory roles. He has taught at Vilnius University about cybersecurity issues while on a Fulbright Foundation grant during which time he participated in the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence's, a seminar on the international law governing cyber operations. He was a full-time faculty member at the Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (American University — School of International Service) and the Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention (Wollongong University — Faculty of Law).He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

How do Estonia and Lithuania view Brexit? How did Tallinn and Vilnius approach the negotiations? What are the prospects for the future bilateral relations with the UK? Piret Kuusik from the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute/ICDS in Tallinn and Ramūnas Vilpišauskas from Vilnius University join Cleo Davies and Hussein Kassim to discuss.

BONUS EPISODE | (Šis papildomas epizodas yra tik anglų kalba) "The world is always changing obviously, relationships change, yet we want the consistency and permanence. We desire that the way we live, the people we have around us, the things that make us comfortable remain stable. We don't want the world to change even if we're not necessarily happy in that state," anthropology professor Victor de Munck notes in the latest podcast episode.     Victor de Munck is a professor of anthropology at the State University of New York New Paltz and Vilnius University in Lithuania. Professor has published quite a few books and the main subject he focuses on in his work and writings is love of various romantic forms. Interview and editing by Urtė Karalaitė Music – Filipe Raposo Recorded at VU radio station „Start FM“ This episode is part of a limited series with foreign speakers brought to you by law firm Glimstedt Lithuania. These talks are additional to the regular podcast episodes which come out twice a month. This episode is in English only. Support the podcast on Patreon and get the new episodes first --> patreon.com/letipokalbiai Listen or subscribe on Spotify, iTunes, all podcast apps and karalaite.com/podkastas

Welcome to episode 10! I am happy to welcome back Milda who you met in Episode 001 when she told us about Luxembourg. We had a nice chat with the usual things - food, drinks, money, sightseeing. She also told me how to recognize a Lithuanian on the road and how Lithuanians tend to keep the stuff they have, without getting rid of them or selling them. All this and more on episode 010. Enjoy! Mentions in the podcast: Curonian spit - Nida, Juodkrante with dunes and calm relaxation time, the hill of witches. Hill of crosses - next to siauliai, convenient to drive on the way to Riga. Kaunas - Oldtown and pazaislis monastery. Vilnius - old town, Uzupis - hipster, art area. Coffee 1 for good coffee and locally made desserts. Gediminas hill or Vilnius University tower for panoramic views. Food - Cepelinai, potato pancakes, Saltibarsciai (cold beetroot soup), Surelis (curd dessert, buy in a supermarket). About Milda: World traveller, tour guide, and tourism business manager share information about her home country Lithuania. To find pictures of the places she talked about and other travels. You can find her on Social Media by searching for GuideMilda Instagram Facebook Blog Let' connect: www.curiouspavel.com/links/all My Podcast Equipment: Microphone: https://amzn.to/2AMrDZG Microphone stand: https://amzn.to/3dPdp8E Microphone foam cover: https://amzn.to/3dEevnU Sound card: https://amzn.to/3eUClvF #podcast #travel #lithuania

Dainius Pūras is a medical doctor and human rights advocate. He is currently serving the final year of his term as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health. He is also a professor at Vilnius University, Lithuania, and the director of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute, an NGO based in Vilnius. Pūras has been a human rights activist for 30 years involved in national, regional, and global activities that promote human rights-based policies and services, with a focus on mental health, child health, disabilities, and the prevention of violence and coercion. He was a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child from 2007 to 2011. From the time he was appointed to the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2014, Pūras has pushed for a paradigm shift in mental health care. During his mandate, he has written several reports that emphasize the importance of the social determinants of health and criticize the dominance of the biomedical model and the medicalization of depression. While his work has occasionally been met with derision from some mainstream psychiatric institutions, he continues to bring attention to coercive practices and human rights violations and to call for greater investment in rights-based approaches to mental health care and suicide prevention. In this interview, Pūras discusses his own journey as a psychiatrist, his decision to get involved in human rights work, his goals for his UN reports, and the future of rights-based mental health care.

For the last several years China has viewed the region of Central and Eastern Europe as an opportunity to gain a foothold in the European Union and influence states between the East and the West. One country not often considered as one in China’s focus is Lithuania. In this episode Maciak interviews Konstantinas Andrijauskas, an Associate Professor of Asian Studies and International Politics at Vilnius University. They look at how China has focused on increasing its influence in the region and specifically its growing interest in Lithuania - economically and politically. They also discuss how the COVID-19 crisis now plays a role in relations with China in Europe and the West.Enjoy the podcast? Become a Patron. Support Talk Eastern Europe here: www.patreon.com/talkeasterneurope Join the podcast Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/talkeasterneuropeResourcesKonstantinas Andrijauskas: The Dragon and the Knight: China’s Growing Presence in Lithuania. Eastern Europe Studies Centre. http://www.eesc.lt/uploads/news/id1137/v07_Dragon-and-Knight_leidinys_A4.pdfEpisode 21: Russia-China relations in the spotlight https://www.spreaker.com/user/talkeasterneurope/episode21Music featured in the podcast under Creative Commons license 4.0 “Taste of China” by Sascha Ende Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/292-taste-of-chinaLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Alex Kanevsky was born in Russia in 1963. He studied mathematics at Vilnius University in Lithuania before coming to the United States. After his arrival to Philadelphia in 1983 he worked as Russian translator, illustrator at the Psychiatric Nursing Magazine and drew pictures for the telephone book advertisements. After attending PAFA (1989-93) and winning a Pew Fellowship (1997) he devoted himself to painting full time. Alex Kanevsky lives and works in New Hampshire. He has exhibited his work in the United States, Canada, Italy, UK, France and Ireland. His work is represented by Hollis Taggart in New York and Dolby Chadwick Gallery in San Francisco. Topics Discussed In This Episode: Dividing his time between Philadelphia and rural New Hampshire Recently wanting to spend more time in a natural environment instead of a “curated” city Worrying less about perfection and focusing more on freshness as Kanevsky grows as an artist Being open as an artist to both positive and negative influences Not having a concern about how his paintings will live on after him  His show Persephone, and the idea of duality and imperfection of humanity  How Kanevsky finds less interest in the technical aspect of making art Developing skills simply through the practice of painting Kanevsky's paintings in Charlie Kaufman's film Synecdoche, New York Artists mentioned: Jenny Pochinski, Patrick Graham, Gerhard Richter www.artistdecoded.com

About the Lecture: International law prohibits the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries. Mercenaries do not enjoy the rights of armed combatants such as to be treated as prisoners of war pursuant to Geneva Convention Norms. Notably, the Russian Criminal Code provides that the recruitment, training, financing, or supplying of mercenaries, and also the use of them in armed conflicts or hostilities is a crime. Nonetheless, the Russian Government has deployed private organizations such as the Wagner Group to advance its foreign policy goals in Ukraine, Central African Republic, Mozambique, Syria, Sudan, Venezuela, and elsewhere. Sometimes these forces play a decisive role in shifting the battlefield or political balance in limited conflicts. The Wagner Group and similar organizations are now engaged in supporting friendly regimes, securing rights to raw materials, and undermining certain governments. It is important that US National Security Managers not exaggerate the effectiveness of these forces when determining appropriate policies to pursue. In this lecture, IWP Adjunct Professor Ethan S. Burger will discuss the practical domestic Russian and international consequences of its outsourcing and/or privatizing these traditional state functions. About the Speaker: Ethan S. Burger is a Washington-D.C.-based international attorney and educator with a background in cybersecurity, transnational financial crime, and Russian legal matters. He has been a full-time faculty member at the American University (School of International Service — Transnational Crime Prevention Center) and the University of Wollongong (Australia) (Faculty of Law — Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention), and as well as an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and Washington College of Law. He has taught about cybersecurity as a Visiting Professor at Vilnius University on a grant from the Fulbright Foundation and will be teaching a course during the Fall Semester at IWP on the International Law Governing Cyber Operations. Mr. Burger earned his J.D. at the Georgetown University Law Center, A.B. from Harvard University, and obtained a Certificate in Cybersecurity Strategy from Georgetown University. He will be teaching a course about the international law governing cyber-operations at the IWP during the Spring 2020 Semester.

NanoAvionics CEO Vytenis Buzas defines his small satellite-building business as an homage to the smart industrial practices of the American automobile industry. What emerged as a spinoff of Lithuania’s Vilnius University, NanoAvionics is now thriving and Buzas sees an opportunity to achieve success in the land that inspired his business. He hired industry veteran Frank Abbott as his U.S.-based CEO, who will oversee the company’s preparations to move its research, development and manufacturing business to the United States in 2020. Earlier this year, the company purchased the former Midland, Texas headquarters of XCOR Aerospace and refurbished it into a new smallsat manufacturing plant in Midland, Texas. In this episode of On Orbit, co-host Grace Graham and I spoke with Vytenis and Frank about the company’s move to the USA, the way the company differentiates itself from other space startups, the future outlook of small satellite-powered IoT, and the design of the company’s unique logo. (Side note - Vytenis’ definition of “New Space” in this episode inspired the chosen topic of what will be our first episode recorded in front of a live audience at the SATELLITE 2020 conference in March).

Labas Lithuania! Artinya Halo Lithuania. Bersama Hafizh Nurul Faizah sang petualang *eh kali ini Mughnifia ngobrolin soal pengalaman Faiz pertamakali menjejak langkah di benua biru di salah satu negara baltik ini. Sederet pengalaman "pertama" Faiz jalani selama 1 bulan mengikuti Lithuania Culture Summer Course di Vilnius University. Langsung play buat tau sebulan di Lithuania part 1 ini.

Title: The Weaponization of Social Media This lecture is a part of The Institute of World Politics Capitol Hill Speaker Series. About the Lecture: Ethan Burger will examine the relevance of the Russian concepts ‘Hybrid War' and ‘Cyberwarfare' as applied to Russian intervention in the 2016 Brexit Referendum and U.S. Presidential Election. This lecture will focus on the similarity of Russia's social media campaigns which used false information, fake news, and other content aimed at exploiting the fears and passions of the UK and U.S. electorates. The Kremlin did not rely on the use of social media alone to obtain favorable electoral outcomes. In both cases, Russian ties to supporters of Brexit and the Trump campaign remained largely unnoticed until after voting. Finally, Mr. Burger will explore some steps that might be taken to reduce the vulnerability of countries' citizens to foreign manipulation. About the Speaker: Ethan S. Burger, Esq., is a Washington-based international legal consultant and educator, and he is an adjunct professor at the Institute of World Politics. His areas of interest include corporate governance, transnational crime (corruption, cybercrime, and money laundering), and Russian affairs. After working as an attorney on Russian commercial, investment, and risk issues, he segued into academic, research, and advisory roles. Mr. Burger has been a full-time faculty member at American University (School of International Law) and the University of Wollongong (Faculty of Law), and he has also been an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University Law Center, University of Baltimore, and Washington College of Law. Mr. Burger has lectured in Colombia, India, and Singapore, and he has taught on cyber issues at Vilnius University on a Fulbright Foundation grant. He holds an A.B. from Harvard University and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Aiste Ptakauske is the director of a new MBA/Entrepreneurship degree at Vilnius University in Lithuania. Ptakauske discusses the considerations around developing the program, including the evaluation approach, support ecosystems around the degree, student creativity, team work and, a life cycle approach to student engagement. Podcast host: James Bowen, is an author, professor and CEO of Experiential Simulations, a producer of simulations for teaching entrepreneurship and ethics.

Trying out the organ at Aula Parva of Vilnius University by Vidas Pinkevicius

In episode #2 of GuidePost, Kevin Davies (Executive Editor, The CRISPR Journal) travels to Lithuania to meet Virginijus Šikšnys, one of the central figures in the development of CRISPR gene editing, at his lab at the Institute of Biotechnology, Vilnius University. Siksnys is an expert in DNA-protein interactions, and in 2011-12, made critical contributions in transferring the Cas9 enzyme into E. coli and characterizing the mechanism by which it cuts DNA.

Cohesion of our societies is a well-established principle and aspiration of national security policies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Without it, we would lack resilience to external and internal security shocks and stressors, particularly as hybrid war is being waged against the West by Russia. However, we are witnessing growing polarisation of our societies and emergence of some radical elements in them. Long standing internal divisions have not dissipated, while new ones are appearing, thus threatening our capacity for consensus-building and presenting opportunities to those seeking to undermine our security. What are the key factors enabling and driving this trend? What are the core issues that create most angst, anger and confrontation in the public debate? How are those challenges exploited by actors with hostile intent towards our political and societal order and security? What are the risks and potential consequences of radicalisation of various sections of our societies? How do we balance the need for greater cohesion with the need for competition inherent to pluralism and democratic politics? What can we learn, in terms of building societal resilience, from Ukraine— a nation that continues to experience significant internal turbulence and external pressure? Arutelu keel: Inglise Arutelu juht: Tomas Jermalavičius, Head of Studies and Research Fellow at the ICDS Osalejad: Dr Kęstutis Girnius, Associate Professor at the Institute of International Affairs and Political Science of Vilnius University; Dr Mārtiņš Kaprāns, Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the University of Latvia and Advisor at the Latvian Ministry of Culture; Dr Anu Realo, Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology of Warwick University (UK) / Professor of Personality and Social Psychology of Tartu University; Dr Volodymyr Ishchenko, Lecturer at the Department of Sociology of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. Korraldaja: Rahvusvaheline Kaitseuuringute Keskus Arutelu leidis aset 11. augustil 2018 Paides. Vabas õhus tehtud salvestusele lisavad värvi tuule puhumine, lehtede kahin ja vihma krabin. :)

Today we'd like to discuss the concert of Vilnius University's Unda Maris studio that was held at St. John's Church on May 26. It was the culmination of our year-long season.

We're continuing our discussion from the previous podcast conversation about our recent concert of Vilnius University Unda Maris studio. You can check it out in podcast Episode 228.

This question was sent by John, from Australia. When he got back from his European trip, and he visited us and played the recital at our church, Vilnius University, St. John's Church. And upon returning he sends this question, feedback basically.

AVA161: How To Build A Principal Chorus On The Organ At Vilnius University St John's Church? by Vidas Pinkevicius

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #105! Today's guest is Arnoldas Leleika. He is our student from Vilnius University majoring in Chemistry but hopes to transfer to Medicine next year. He's just finished his freshman year and right away started playing the organ at our Unda Maris studio from last September and currently has chosen 3 pieces for the upcoming competition for young organists. ​Arnoldas is very hardworking and motivated organ student and Ausra and I are very delighted that he came and found us in the organ studio. He substituted for me a number of graduation ceremonies and recently performed at Unda Maris organ studio concert. You can read his thought about these experiences here: http://www.organduo.lt/home/the-most-memorable-day-in-my-musical-life http://www.organduo.lt/home/how-important-is-organ-playing-to-you In this conversation Arnoldas shares his insights about finding more practice time, choosing your organ repertoire wisely and expanding your musical horizons. ​Enjoy and share your comments below. ​And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends. And if you like it, please go over to iTunes and leave a rating and review. This helps to get this podcast in front of more organists who would find it helpful. Thanks for caring. Relevant links: Arnoldas Leleika on Facebook and YouTube: https://www.facebook.com/arnoldas.leleika.5 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8jyPksa1_Hx0sDeJScmLCg

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #104! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is my friend and colleague Paulius Grigonis. Currently he is the main organist of St. Joseph church here in Vilnius, member of the Board of National Association of Organists in Lithuania and member of the European Chapter of American Guild of Organists. ​ He started his musical journey in 1989 at Kaunas boys choir school "Varpelis" where he studied until 1997. In 2004 he graduated from Vilnius University with the Master of Law degree. In 2006 he began studying the organ with me privately and in 2007 became the organist at the Holy Cross church in Vilnius. In the summer of 2007 together with me and Ausra, Paulius founded National Association of Organists in Lithuania and was appointed vice-president of this organization. In 2008 he won the 3rd prize at the 2nd Jonas Žukas Organist Competition. In 2007-2010 Paulius led educational organ demonstrations "Meet the King of Instruments" in many Lithuanian churches, participated in masterclasses by Prof. Lorenzo Ghielmi (2013, Vilnius), Prof. Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin (2014, Paris), Prof. Maris Sirmais (2015, Kaunas), and Juan Carlos Asensio (2016, Marijampolė) for organists and church musicians. Since 2014 Paulius leads the musical life at St. Joseph church in Vilnius and directs two vocal ensembles of the parish. Since 2017 he is the member of the Board of National Association of Organists in Lithuania and treasurer as well as the member of the European Chapter of American Guild of Organists and is preparing for his Service Playing Certificate test. In about 3 days, Paulius will play a recital at Vilnius Cathedral and in this conversation he shares his insights about his practice procedures and obstacles he has to overcome in order to become a better organist - finding time for practice, setting himself a challenge and discovering as many organs as he can. Enjoy and share your comments below. ​And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends. Thanks for caring. Relevant link: ​http://www.vargonai.lt/grigonis.htm

As we discussed in a recent episode, Stewart’s wife, Priscilla Harris, served as a 2017 Core Fulbright Scholar at Vilnius University in Lithuania. Why VU? Why Lithuania? Well, it turns out that this little country, nestled in the northeastern corner of Europe, between Russia and the Baltic, has quite a history, and quite a bit of modern strategic importance. Join Stewart and young Lithuanian attorney Remigijus Jokubauskas as they talk about Lithuania, past, present and future.

The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 under legislation introduced by then-Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. The Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and is designed to promote international understanding and peace. Fulbright scholarships are highly competitive and prestigious. Stewart’s wife, Priscilla Harris, recently served as a Fulbright Scholar on the Faculty of Law at Vilnius University in Lithuania. Join us as Priscilla and VU’s Law Dean Tomas Davulis, tell us all about this remarkable program at a remarkable university.

In The Making and Breaking of Soviet Lithuania: Memory and Modernity in the Wake of War, published by Routledge, Violeta Davoliute calls Lithuania an improbably successful and paradoxically representative case study of 20th century modernization and nation-building? As she traces the rushed and often violent process of modernization in post-World War II Lithuania, Davoliute demonstrates how cultural elites wove together nationalist and communist ideologies to shape the emerging Soviet Lithuania. She argues that writers Petras Vaiciunas and Justis Paleckis used a poetics of reconstruction to integrate Lithuania’s medieval past into a broader Soviet narrative of the future and that this engagement the development of indigenous pro-Soviet cultural elites. Davoliute then looks at the rustic turn in the 1970s and makes the case that cultural conservatives were able to provide an alternative aesthetic of authentic identity, not based on Soviet Lithuanian modernity but on a discourse of trauma and deracination. Her analysis ends with a look at the relationship between establishment intellectuals and deportees as exemplified by role of Justinas Marcinkevicius in the publication of Dalia Grinkeviciutes memoirs of deportation to Siberia at age 14. Violeta Davoliute is a Senior Researcher in the Faculty of History at Vilnius University and the Lithuanian Cultural Research Institute. She was the 2015-2016 Joseph P. Kazickas Associate Research Scholar at Yale University. Davoliute has also been a Senior Researcher at the Lithuanian Institute of Literature and Ethnography, where she worked on mass population displacements and deportations from Lithuania to the Soviet gulag. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 2004. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In The Making and Breaking of Soviet Lithuania: Memory and Modernity in the Wake of War, published by Routledge, Violeta Davoliute calls Lithuania an improbably successful and paradoxically representative case study of 20th century modernization and nation-building? As she traces the rushed and often violent process of modernization in post-World War II Lithuania, Davoliute demonstrates how cultural elites wove together nationalist and communist ideologies to shape the emerging Soviet Lithuania. She argues that writers Petras Vaiciunas and Justis Paleckis used a poetics of reconstruction to integrate Lithuania’s medieval past into a broader Soviet narrative of the future and that this engagement the development of indigenous pro-Soviet cultural elites. Davoliute then looks at the rustic turn in the 1970s and makes the case that cultural conservatives were able to provide an alternative aesthetic of authentic identity, not based on Soviet Lithuanian modernity but on a discourse of trauma and deracination. Her analysis ends with a look at the relationship between establishment intellectuals and deportees as exemplified by role of Justinas Marcinkevicius in the publication of Dalia Grinkeviciutes memoirs of deportation to Siberia at age 14. Violeta Davoliute is a Senior Researcher in the Faculty of History at Vilnius University and the Lithuanian Cultural Research Institute. She was the 2015-2016 Joseph P. Kazickas Associate Research Scholar at Yale University. Davoliute has also been a Senior Researcher at the Lithuanian Institute of Literature and Ethnography, where she worked on mass population displacements and deportations from Lithuania to the Soviet gulag. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 2004. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In The Making and Breaking of Soviet Lithuania: Memory and Modernity in the Wake of War, published by Routledge, Violeta Davoliute calls Lithuania an improbably successful and paradoxically representative case study of 20th century modernization and nation-building? As she traces the rushed and often violent process of modernization in post-World War II Lithuania, Davoliute demonstrates how cultural elites wove together nationalist and communist ideologies to shape the emerging Soviet Lithuania. She argues that writers Petras Vaiciunas and Justis Paleckis used a poetics of reconstruction to integrate Lithuania’s medieval past into a broader Soviet narrative of the future and that this engagement the development of indigenous pro-Soviet cultural elites. Davoliute then looks at the rustic turn in the 1970s and makes the case that cultural conservatives were able to provide an alternative aesthetic of authentic identity, not based on Soviet Lithuanian modernity but on a discourse of trauma and deracination. Her analysis ends with a look at the relationship between establishment intellectuals and deportees as exemplified by role of Justinas Marcinkevicius in the publication of Dalia Grinkeviciutes memoirs of deportation to Siberia at age 14. Violeta Davoliute is a Senior Researcher in the Faculty of History at Vilnius University and the Lithuanian Cultural Research Institute. She was the 2015-2016 Joseph P. Kazickas Associate Research Scholar at Yale University. Davoliute has also been a Senior Researcher at the Lithuanian Institute of Literature and Ethnography, where she worked on mass population displacements and deportations from Lithuania to the Soviet gulag. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 2004. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In The Making and Breaking of Soviet Lithuania: Memory and Modernity in the Wake of War, published by Routledge, Violeta Davoliute calls Lithuania an improbably successful and paradoxically representative case study of 20th century modernization and nation-building? As she traces the rushed and often violent process of modernization in post-World War II Lithuania, Davoliute demonstrates how cultural elites wove together nationalist and communist ideologies to shape the emerging Soviet Lithuania. She argues that writers Petras Vaiciunas and Justis Paleckis used a poetics of reconstruction to integrate Lithuania’s medieval past into a broader Soviet narrative of the future and that this engagement the development of indigenous pro-Soviet cultural elites. Davoliute then looks at the rustic turn in the 1970s and makes the case that cultural conservatives were able to provide an alternative aesthetic of authentic identity, not based on Soviet Lithuanian modernity but on a discourse of trauma and deracination. Her analysis ends with a look at the relationship between establishment intellectuals and deportees as exemplified by role of Justinas Marcinkevicius in the publication of Dalia Grinkeviciutes memoirs of deportation to Siberia at age 14. Violeta Davoliute is a Senior Researcher in the Faculty of History at Vilnius University and the Lithuanian Cultural Research Institute. She was the 2015-2016 Joseph P. Kazickas Associate Research Scholar at Yale University. Davoliute has also been a Senior Researcher at the Lithuanian Institute of Literature and Ethnography, where she worked on mass population displacements and deportations from Lithuania to the Soviet gulag. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 2004. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex Kanevsky was born in Russia in 1963. He studied mathematics at Vilnius University in Lithuania before coming to the United States. After his arrival to Philadelphia in 1983 he worked as Russian translator, illustrator at the Psychiatric Nursing Magazine and drew pictures for the telephone book advertisements. After attending PAFA (1989-93) and winning a Pew Fellowship (1997) he devoted himself to painting full time. Alex Kanevsky lives and works in Philadelphia. He has exhibited his work in the United States, Canada, France, Italy, UK and Ireland. His work is represented by Hollis Taggart Gallery in NY and Dolby Chadwick Gallery in San Francisco. He teaches a painting seminar at PAFA. www.artistdecoded.com www.instagram.com/artistdecoded www.twitter.com/yoshinostudios

Exam 19Devynioliktas egzaminas.  This is a quick response episode!  We’ll say the word or phrase in English and you say it in Lithuanian – Out Loud!  It’s too late for questions, the exam starts now.  Ready, set, go!  Pasiruošti, dėmesio, marš! the constitution is in the museum             konstutucija muziejujethe bookstore is in Vilnius                       knygynas Vilniujethe museum is in Vilnius                         muziejus Vilniujethe bookstore is in Sidney                       knygynas Sidnėjujethe cathedral is in Sidney                        katedra Sidnėjujewhere is the young woman?                    kur mergina?the young woman is in the school            mergina mokyklojethe bicycle is in the school                      dviratis mokyklojethe pigeon is in the park                         balandis parkethe young woman is in the library           mergina bibliotekojethe bicycle is in the library                      dviratis bibliotekojea young woman is in the cathedral           mergina katedrojeRaminta is in the cathedral                      Raminta katedrojewhere is Raminta?                                  kur Raminta?Raminta is in the street                            Raminta gatvėjethe bicycle is in the street                        dviratis gatvėjeRaminta is in the coffee shop                   Raminta kavinėjethe newspaper is in the coffee shop          laikraštis kavinėjethe newspaper is in the lounge                 laikraštis svetainėjethe young woman is in the lounge            mergina svetainėjethe dog is in Cathedral Square                 šuo Katedros aikštėjeRaminta is in Vilnius University               Raminta Vilniaus Universitetethe trip was long                                     kelionė buvo ilgathe trip was short                                    kelionė buvo trumpathe trip was interesting                             kelionė buvo įdomi the trip was short but interesting               kelionė buvo trumpa, bet įdomi the trip was long but interesting                kelionė buvo ilga, bet įdomiit was an interesting movie                       buvo įdomus filmasit was an interesting trip                           buvo įdomi kelionėit was an interesting day                           buvo įdomi dienahe is an interesting person                        jis yra įdomus žmogusshe is an interesting person                       ji yra įdomus žmogusVilnius is an interesting city                      Vilnius yra įdomus miestas Moscow is an interesting city                   Maskva yra įdomus miestasLithuania is an interesting country            Lietuva yra įdomi šalisRussia is an interesting country                 Rusija yra įdomi šalis  

Hi there, this is Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud.  Just a quick note before we get started, we’re up to 27 reviews on our iTunes page.  Thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to give us a review, and if you haven’t yet, we’d love to get one from you.  Remember, our goal is still 50 positive reviews.  Also, in episode 0080 I said I was as healthy as a raddish, “aš sveikas kaip ridikas.”  But, I blew it.  I should have said, “sveikas kaip ridikas.”  And now, just so you don’t learn from my poor Lithuanian, please repeat after Raminta: sveikas kaip ridikassveikas kaip ridikas Thank you dear! Hi everybody, this is Ibrahim from Denmark and Iraq and you are listening to Lithuanian Out Loud with Raminta and Jack, enjoy! Ibrahim, thanks a million for sending us the plug!  Shukran, shukran barakalahufiq! Hey!  We’re in a new month!  June is named after the Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter.  In Lithuanian this month is birželis.  According to the Wikipedia page, Lithuanian Calendar, its name comes from the Birch tree which is opening its buds.  The birch tree or beržas is a symbol of nature, youth, and fertility.  Homes, farms and animals are decorated with birch tree branches. And now, on with the show Raminta and I recorded about two weeks ago, enjoy! Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Raminta and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language, but not too loud, if it’s too loud, it’ll hurt your ears.  Vytautas the Great War Museum or Vytauto Didžiojo karo muziejus, is a museum in Kaunas, Lithuania. It was opened on 16 February 1936 and named after the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Vytautas. The museum displays a history of Lithuania and Kaunas from prehistoric times to the present day, as well as an immense collection of weapons through the ages and the tragic but complete wreckage of the plane Lituanica, on which Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas had crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1933. Now, here’s Raminta reading the third part of the letter, “Justina Amerikoje.” Gaila, kad išvažiavus į Ameriką nutrūko Justinos studijos Lietuvos universitetuose. Pritrūko vienerių metų ir Justina būtų gavusi bakalauro diplomą Vilniaus Universitete. Taip pat nutrūko neakivaizdinės studijos Mykolo Romerio Universitete. Justina planavo studijuoti Amerikoje, bet vis nepavyksta suderinti darbo su mokslu. Here it is again, slowly, with a translation. Gaila, kad išvažiavus į Ameriką nutrūko Justinos studijos Lietuvos universitetuose. It is a pity that when she left to America Justina’s studies in the Lithuanian universities ceased. Pritrūko vienerių metų ir Justina būtų gavusi bakalauro diplomą Vilniaus Universitete.She lacked one more year and Justina would have gotten a bachelor’s diploma in the Vilnius University. Taip pat nutrūko neakivaizdinės studijos Mykolo Romerio Universitete. They also terminated her correspondence studies in the Mykolas Romeris University. Justina planavo studijuoti Amerikoje, bet vis nepavyksta suderinti darbo su mokslu.Justina was planning to study in America but always fails to reconcile work with studies. examples pavyzdžiai it is a pity that                                   gaila kadit’s a pity                                          gailawhat a pity!                                      kaip gaila!it is a great pity                                 labai gailato leave                                            išvažiuotito cease                                            nutrūktito not be enough, to lack                   pritrūktiSonata’s and my friendship ended      nutrūko mano ir Sonatos draugystėour communication ceased                 nutrūko mūsų bendravimasthe job ended                                    darbas nutrūkothe trip ended                                   kelionė nutrūkoto receive, to get                              gautito receive a gift                                gauti dovanąshe lacked two more years                jai pritrūko dvejų metųhe lacked three more years               jam pritrūko trejų metųdiploma                                          diplomasbachelor’s diploma                           bakalauro diplomaswill be                                             būtųstudies                                            studijosuniversity                                        universitetasin the university                               universitetein the Lithuanian universities             Lietuvos universitetuosein the Vilnius university                    Vilniaus universiteteuniversities                                      universitetaiin the universities                             universitetuosein the Vilnius universities                  Vilniaus universitetuosealso                                                taip patcorrespondence courses                    neakivaizdiniai kursaito plan                                            planuotito study                                          studijuotiAmerica                                         Amerikain America                                     Amerikojebut                                                betalways                                           vis / visadato fail                                            nepavyktito coordinate, to reconcile               suderintiwork                                             darbasstudy                                            mokslas Šaunu!  Great!  You made it to the end of another episode!  Nuostabu!  Wonderful! Alright!  That’s it for today!  Thanks for the download!  If you got anything out of this lesson please leave us a review on our iTunes page.To leave us comments call our voicemail number that’s in the title of every show or call our Skype voicemail at Lithuanianoutloud – that’s one word, and leave us a message there.If you’d like to see the Lithuanian spelling of any word in this series just go to WWW dot Lithuanian dot L I B S Y N dot com.  If you’d like to get these episodes every time a new one is available just go to iTunes and do a search for Lithuanian Out Loud and click subscribe.  It’s completely free.  But, if you don’t want to subscribe on iTunes, just send us an email asking us to alert you every time a new episode hits the internet.  And feel free to make copies of our episodes, put them on cds and pass them out to your friends.Thanks to CCMixter.org, Ditto Ditto and Vieux Farka Toure for the podcast music.Thanks for tuning in, tell your friends about us, we’ll see you on the next episode of Lithuanian Out Loud.I’m Jack and I’ve never met a Lithuanian I didn’t like.  Viso gero!  Sudie! Lithuanian Calendarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_calendar Vytautas the Great War Museumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vytautas_the_Great_War_Museum http://www.Lithuanian.Libsyn.comSkype voicemail:  Lithuanianoutloudemail Raminta and Jack at: lithuanianoutloud@earthlink.net  http://www.vieuxfarkatoure.com/http://www.ccmixter.org/

Dvyliktas Egzaminas.  This is a quick response episode!  We’ll say the word or phrase in English and you say it in Lithuanian – Out Loud!  It’s too late for questions, the exam starts now.  Ready, set, go! straight ahead                                   tiesiaiback                                                atgalhere                                                 čiaright here                                         štai čiato the left                                         į kairęto the right                                       į dešinęthere                                                tenno, not here, over there                     ne, ne čia, tenhere?                                               čia?yes, here                                          taip, čiawait for me here five minutes, please   palaukite manęs čia penkias minutes, prašauhave a good day!                               geros dienos!goodbye!                                           sudie!have a good evening!                         gero vakaro!goodbye!                                           viso labo!good wind! (goodbye!)                        gero vėjo!good night!                                        labos nakties!have a good flight!                              gero skrydžio!have a good trip!                                geros kelionės! center                                                centrascity center                                          miesto centrasdowntown                                          miesto centrasin the city center                                 miesto centrecurve                                                 vingisBend Park                                         Vingio parkasa television                                         televizijatelevision tower                                  televizijos bokštasgenocide                                            genocidasgenocide museum                               genocido muziejusthe air or the weather                          orasthe port or the harbor                          uostasthe airport                                           oro uostasVilnius University                                Vilniaus universitetasCastle Street                                       Pilies gatvėCathedral Square                                Katedros aikštėGediminas Castle                                Gedimino pilisI’m going to Vilnius University             aš važiuoju į Vilniaus universitetąI’m going to Castle Street                    aš važiuoju į Pilies gatvęI’m going to Cathedral Square              aš važiuoju į Katedros aikštęHe’s going to downtown                      jis važiuoja į miesto centrąHe’s going to the television tower         jis važiuoja į televizijos bokštąShe’s going to The Genocide Museum  ji važiuoja į Genocido muziejųShe’s going to Bend Park                    ji važiuoja į Vingio parkąShe’s going to the airport                     ji važiuoja į oro uostąI’m going to Gediminas Castle             aš važiuoju į Gedimino pilį

Somebody’s knockin’ on the door, somebody’s ringin’ the bell.Okay!  Vietininkas?Vietininkas!Gerai, hi there!  I’m Jack and I’m Raminta and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where the lessons are free and you’ve got a money back guarantee.Do you remember the word for the month of March in Lithuanian? …kovas. According to the Wikipedia page entitled, Vilnius Cathedral or Vilniaus Šv. Stanislovo ir Šv. Vladislovo arkikatedra bazilika, Vilnius Cathedral is located at the heart of the old town of Vilnius.  Perkūnas, the Lithuanian Thundergod was most likely worshipped at the site where the Cathedral now stands.  In 1251 when King Mindaugas allowed himself to be baptized into the Catholic Church, he ordered the original cathedral to be built.  After his assassination in 1268 it was again a place of worship for the traditional Lithuanian religion.  Over the centuries the Cathedral has seen many fires, renovations, wars, and massive public demonstrations.  It’s one of the must sees on any Vilnius vacation. Šaunu!  You’re doing great dear, I love the way you do Lithuanian Out Loud.Oh, thank you. -- Today we’ll begin working on how to say where something is located.  Here’s just a quick review of the word kur, prašom pakartoti… where is the restroom?                 kur yra tualetas? of course, in Lithuanian we can often drop the verb būti, to be. where is the restroom?                 kur tualetas?where is the restaurant?                kur restoranas?where is Raminta?                       kur Raminta?where is the glass?                       kur taurė?where is the coffee shop?             kur kavinė? here are some words we’ll use in this episode…a tree                                         medisa train                                        traukinysthe basement                              rūsysa young woman                          mergina Kaip Raminta, ne? (like Raminta, no?)Oh, I’m getting older.  No, to me forever you will be the girl I met at my sister’s house.Oh, so sweet of you.Forever.I was really young then.  Huh?You are really young now!Oh, thank you, you know I’m starting to feel old, what is that?Forget that.Yeah, oh well.  Forget that. a bicycle                                     dviratis Today we’ll go over the locative case or vietininkas.  This is a relatively easy declension.  Every declension here ends in the letter –e.  A prefix is something that is added to the beginning of a word.  A suffix is something added to the end of a word.  Here are the suffixes in vietininkas, prašom pakartoti, please repeat… a word that ends in-as changes to –e-is changes to –yje-ys changes to –yje-us changes to –uje-a changes to –oje-ė changes to –ėje again, we’re only talking about where something is located.  We’re not talking about going to someplace.  The restaurant is in the city, is the locative.  I’m going to the restaurant, is not the locative.  I’m in the restaurant, is the locative.  The locative declension or vietininkas is only used when talking about where something is located. let’s go over each suffix from the above list so you can see how it works… the park                                      parkasin the park                                  parkethe bookstore                              knygynasin the bookstore                          knygynethe hotel                                     viešbutisin the hotel                                 viešbutyjethe automobile                            automobilisin the automobile                        automobilyjethe train                                     traukinysin the train                                 traukinyjethe room                                    kambarysin the room                                kambaryjethe museum                               muziejusin the museum                           muziejujeSidney                                       Sidnėjusin Sidney                                   Sidnėjujethe cathedral                              katedrain the cathedral                          katedrojethe coffee shop                          kavinėin the coffee shop                       kavinėjethe city square                            aikštėin the city square                        aikštėje Okay, now let’s ask a question and then answer it.  Good luck!  Sekmės! where is the tree?                       kur yra medis?the tree is in the city                   medis yra miestethe tree is in Kaunas                   medis yra Kaune of course, we can easily drop the verb būti, to be. where is the tree?                          kur medis?the tree is in the park                     medis parkewhere is Raminta?                         kur Raminta?Raminta is in the park                    Raminta parkeRaminta is in Akropolis                  Raminta Akropolyjethe store is in Akropolis                  parduotuvė AkropolyjeRaminta is in the hotel                   Raminta viešbutyjethe coffee shop is in the hotel         kavinė viešbutyjeRaminta is in the automobile          Raminta automobilyjethe dog is in the automobile            šuo automobilyjewhere is the toilet?                         kur tualetas?the toilet is in the room                  tualetas kambaryjethe book is in the room                  knyga kambaryjethe toilet is in the train                    tualetas traukinyjethe Englishwoman is in the train      anglė traukinyjethe newspaper is in the basement    laikraštis rūsyjethe bird is in the basement              paukštis rūsyjewhere is the bookstore?                  kur knygynas?the bookstore is in the museum       knygynas muziejujethe constitution is in the museum     konstitucija muziejujethe bookstore is in Vilnius               knygynas Vilniujethe museum is in Vilnius                 muziejus Vilniujethe bookstore is in Sidney               knygynas Sidnėjujethe cathedral is in Sidney                katedra Sidnėjujewhere is the young woman?           kur mergina?the young woman is in the school   mergina mokyklojethe bicycle is in the school             dviratis mokyklojethe pigeon is in the park                 balandis parkethe young woman is in the library   mergina bibliotekojethe bicycle is in the library             dviratis bibliotekojea young woman is in the cathedral  mergina katedrojeRaminta is in the cathedral             Raminta katedrojewhere is Raminta?                         kur Raminta?Raminta is in the street                  Raminta gatvėjethe bicycle is in the street               dviratis gatvėjeRaminta is in the coffee shop          Raminta kavinėjethe newspaper is in the coffee shop  laikraštis kavinėjethe newspaper is in the lounge         laikraštis svetainėjethe young woman is in the lounge    mergina svetainėjethe dog is in Cathedral Square         šuo Katedros aikštėjeRaminta is in Vilnius University       Raminta Vilniaus Universitete Thank you dear, you know, I think maybe it’s enough your brain is probably getting tired.  Maybe you should go to bed.Oh, a little bit, I need to wash with my hands some clothes.Thank you very much for doing the recordings dear.  You’re super.  You are the best podcaster I know.Oh, thank you.  That’s kind of funny, I am a podcaster Alright!  That’s it for today!  Thanks for the download! To leave us comments call our voicemail number that’s in the title of every show or call our Skype voicemail at Lithuanianoutloud – that’s one word, and leave us a message there. If you’d like to see the Lithuanian spelling of any word in this series just go to WWW dot Lithuanian dot L I B S Y N dot com. If you’d like to get these episodes every time a new one is available just go to iTunes and do a search for Lithuanian Out Loud and click subscribe.  It’s completely free.  But, if you don’t want to subscribe on iTunes, just send us an email asking us to alert you every time a new episode hits the internet.  And feel free to make copies of our episodes, put them on cds and pass them out to your friends. Thanks to CCMixter.org, Ditto Ditto and Vieux Farka Toure for the podcast music. Thanks for tuning in, tell your friends about us, we’ll see you on the next episode of Lithuanian Out Loud. I’m Jack and I’ve never met a Lithuanian I didn’t like.  Viso gero!  Sudie! http://www.Lithuanian.Libsyn.comSkype voicemail:  Lithuanianoutloudemail Raminta and Jack at: lithuanianoutloud@earthlink.net Thanks to:  CCMixter.org, ditto ditto, and Vieux Farka Touré for allowing us to use the music for this podcast.http://www.vieuxfarkatoure.com/http://www.ccmixter.org/

Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Raminta and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language.  Here we are still in the month of February which in Lithuanian is…vasaris. According to the Wikipedia pages entitled, Vilnius TV Tower, and the page, January Events, the tallest building in Lithuania is the Lithuanian Radio and Television Center or Lietuvos radijo ir televizijos centras.  Sadly, it was also the location of the Vilnius Massacre during the events of January 1991.  Lithuania was the first nation to declare independence from the Soviet Union.  The Russians had occupied Lithuania since 1945, so even though World War II had ended for most of the world, the war didn’t end for Lithuania until 1991.  Soviet troops, tanks, planes and ships still controlled Lithuania. On 11 March 1990 Lithuania declared independence but going from a declaration to full independence wasn’t going to be easy.  Russia had other ideas.  By January 1991 the Speaker of the Lithuanian Supreme Council Vytautas Landsbergis called for independence supporters to form crowds and protect government buildings and other important locations.  On January 8th and 9th more Soviet troops poured into Lithuania to head off any attempts of revolution. On January 10th, Michailas Gorbačiovas announced a military intervention was possible within days. On January 11th, Soviet troops attacked and took control of many government buildings, TV stations, radio stations, airports and railway stations.  On the 13th of January Soviet tanks attacked the Vilnius TV Tower but the civilian crowds refused to give way.  The Russian tanks drove through the crowd crushing unarmed Lithuanian civilians.  14 people were killed that day at the tower by machine guns and after being run over by tanks. Today you can visit the site of the massacre and at the base of the tower there’s a small museum dedicated to the patriots who lost their lives.  At the top of the tower you can have a meal in the rotating restaurant which has a spectacular view of Vilnius. --- In lessons 0050 and 0051 we worked on galininkas or the accusative case.  Today we’ll practice some more with this declension. Let’s get back in the taxi and see some of Vilnius, but first we need to learn the names of some Vilnius landmarks.  Today’s lesson focuses on how to name things in Lithuanian.  To do this we need to use kilmininkas or the genitive case.  If you need a review just listen to episodes 0022, 0030, 0031, 0033, 0037, and 0039. When we name something, such as Castle Street or Cathedral Square, we give the street a name and we give the square a name.  Castle Street – Cathedral Square.  When you name something you use kilmininkas or the genitive case.  The first word, castle, in Castle Street is declined.  The second word, gatvė, is not affected.  The first word, cathedral, in Cathedral Square is declined.  The second word, aikštė, is not affected. Here are some new words.  Kaip pasakyti lietuviškai?  How do you say it in Lithuanian? center                                         centrascenter                                         centrascity center                                   miesto centrasdowntown                                   miesto centras In this example the word for city is miestas.  The first word, miestas, is declined using kilmininkas.  Miestas changes to miesto.  The second word, center – centras is unchanged. bend                                         vingiscurve                                        vingisBend Park (as in river’s bend)    Vingio ParkasCurve Park                               Vingio Parkas the television                             televizijaa television                                televizijatelevision tower                         televizijos bokštasthe television tower                   televizijos bokštas genocide                                  genocidasgenocide                                  genocidas genocide museum                    genocido muziejusgenocide museum                    genocido muziejus air or weather                          orasthe air or the weather               oras a port or a harbor                     uostasthe port or the harbor               uostas an airport                                oro uostasthe airport                               oro uostas Okay, now let’s name things using Vilnius landmarks.  Remember, the first word is declined using kilmininkas, the second word is unchanged.please repeat, prašom pakartoti… Vilnius University                  Vilniaus UniversitetasVilnius University                  Vilniaus UniversitetasCastle Street                          Pilies gatvėCastle Street                          Pilies gatvėCathedral Square                   Katedros aikštėCathedral Square                   Katedros aikštėGediminas Castle                   Gedimino pilisGediminas Castle                   Gedimino pilis Okay!  Now we’ll add the phrase, “I’m going to…"  Notice that in the following examples the first word of whatever is named stays in kilmininkas.  When we say, “I’m going to…" we have to use the accusative case or galininkas because the destination is the direct object of the verb.  We’ll go over direct objects and verbs more in the future.  Again, when something is named, for example, Vilniaus Universitetas the first word of the named thing is declined, Vilnius changes to Vilniaus.  I’m going to Vilnius University. When we decline Vilniaus Universitetas using galininkas or the accusative case, the first word, Vilniaus stays in kilmininkas and the second word Universitetas is declined and changes to Universitetą.  So, keep in mind the first word stays in kilmininkas, the second word is declined in the new declension.  Vilnius University                        Vilniaus Universitetasto Vilnius University                     į Vilniaus Universitetą the television tower                      televizijos bokštasto the television tower                  į televizijos bokštą Now we’ll show you how to use the verb, važiuoti in the present tense.  This is the verb we use when we’re talking about going somewhere using some kind of means of transportation.  When you use važiuoti, you’re saying, to go, to drive, or to ride, using a car, a bus, a train, a bicycle, whatever.  You’re not talking about walking somewhere.Please repeat, prašom pakartoti… I’m going                                          aš važiuojuI’m going                                          aš važiuojuHe’s going                                         jis važiuojaHe’s going                                         jis važiuojaShe’s going                                        ji važiuojaShe’s going                                        ji važiuoja I’m going to Vilnius University              aš važiuoju į Vilniaus UniversitetąI’m going to Vilnius University              aš važiuoju į Vilniaus UniversitetąI’m going to Castle Street                     aš važiuoju į Pilies gatvęI’m going to Castle Street                     aš važiuoju į Pilies gatvęI’m going to Cathedral Square               aš važiuoju į Katedros aikštęI’m going to Cathedral Square               aš važiuoju į Katedros aikštęHe’s going to downtown                       jis važiuoja į miesto centrąHe’s going to downtown                       jis važiuoja į miesto centrąHe’s going to the television tower          jis važiuoja į televizijos bokštąHe’s going to the television tower          jis važiuoja į televizijos bokštąShe’s going to The Genocide Museum   ji važiuoja į Genocido muziejųShe’s going to The Genocide Museum   ji važiuoja į Genocido muziejųShe’s going to Bend Park                     ji važiuoja į Vingio parkąShe’s going to Bend Park                     ji važiuoja į Vingio parkąShe’s going to the airport                     ji važiuoja į oro uostąShe’s going to the airport                     ji važiuoja į oro uostąI’m going to Gediminas Castle              aš važiuoju į Gedimino pilįI’m going to Gediminas Castle              aš važiuoju į Gedimino pilį Now, that was a challenging lesson!  In the next lesson we‘ll work some more on the names of places in the capital, Vilnius, Lithuania and we‘ll give you much more practice with the concepts here.Sveikinu!  Congratulations for making it through another episode!  Sveikinu! Alright, that’s it for today, we’d like to thank you very much for listening, we appreciate it. To leave us comments call our voicemail number that’s in the title of every show or call our Skype voicemail at Lithuanianoutloud – that’s one word, and leave us a message there. If you’d like to see the Lithuanian spelling of any word in this series just go to WWW dot Lithuanian dot L I B S Y N dot com. If you’d like to get these lessons every time a new one is available just go to iTunes and do a search for Lithuanian Out Loud and click subscribe.  It’s completely free.  But, if you don’t want to subscribe on iTunes, just send us an email asking us to alert you every time a new episode hits the internet.  And feel free to make copies of our lessons, put them on cds and pass them out to your friends. Thanks to CCMixter.org, Ditto Ditto and Vieux Farka Toure for the podcast music. Thanks for tuning in, tell your friends about us, we’ll see you on the next episode of Lithuanian Out Loud. I’m Jack and I’ve never met a Lithuanian I didn’t like.  Viso gero!  Sudie! http://www.Lithuanian.Libsyn.comSkype voicemail:  Lithuanianoutloudemail Raminta and Jack at: lithuanianoutloud@earthlink.net Thanks to:  CCMixter.org, ditto ditto, and Vieux Farka Touré for allowing us to use the music for this podcast.http://www.vieuxfarkatoure.com/http://www.ccmixter.org/

Hi there, I’m Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where the lessons are free and we offer a 100% money back guarantee.  Of course, this is the month of January, or in Lithuanian it would be…sausis.  On today’s episode we’ll be going over some new phrases for chatting in a conversation and just so you know, on the next lesson we’ll learn some fun ways to say goodbye.  After that we’ll start to tackle the accusative case and after that, the locative case.  We’re also working on bringing you some more intermediate lessons since we’ve had some good feedback on them and evidently, you want some more. One of our listeners named Autumn was nice enough to tell us about Oneness City.  It’s a free online Lithuanian web site with 10 interactive lessons including voice recordings.  This looks like a great place to study and it’s put together by 16 staff members of the Vilnius University.  I wish I had a staff!  I haven’t had a chance to look at the lessons in depth yet, but initially, it looks great.  Please take the time to click on the link on the Lithuanian Out Loud web page. Now, Raminta, would you tell us a little about Lithuanian culture? Okay, so, piliakalnis is the Lithuanian word for Hillfort.  It comes from pilis, or castle and kalnas, mountain or hill.  The remains of at least 800 piliakalniai dot the landscape of Lithuania and the single most famous hillfort was named Pilėnai. In February of 1336 over 4,000 Lithuanians were trapped inside this fortress by the invading German Teutonic Knights.  Seeing the situation as hopeless and not wanting to be sold into slavery, the Lithuanians committed mass suicide.  They burned everything in the castle, set the wooden castle itself on fire, and then every man, woman and child took their own lives. If you want to visit the ruins of Pilėnai that might be difficult.  Nobody seems to know for certain where it’s located.  However, the legend of this defiance of invaders remains strong in Lithuanian culture.  The story lives on in the history, poetry and music of Lithuania. The last time we learned a new greeting was in episode...don’t worry about that.  If you’re practicing Lithuanian with some friends, by now you’re probably a bit bored with saying kaip gyveni? or kaip sekasi? again and again.  We need some variety!  Let’s learn some new ways to say, Hi, how ya doin? prašom pakartoti lietuviškai…please repeat in Lithuanian… kaip sekasi?                    how are you?kaip jūs gyvenate?          how are you?ar aš?                             me?ar aš? gerai                     me? goodar aš? gerai, ačiū             who me? good, thanksar aš? gerai, ačiū, o jūs?  who me? good, thanks, and you?labai gerai, ačiū, o jūs?    very good, thanks, and you?labai gerai, ačiū, o jūs?    very good, thanks, and you?puikiai!  ačiū, o jūs?        perfect!  thanks, and you?puikiai!  ačiū, o jūs?        perfect!  thanks, and you?neblogai, o jūs?               not bad, you?neblogai, o jūs?               not bad, you?blogai, o jūs?                  bad, and you?blogai, o jūs?                  bad, and you?labai blogai, o jūs?           very bad, and you?labai blogai, o jūs?           very bad, and you?šiaip sau                          so – sošiaip sau                          just okay prašom pakartoti…please repeat… kaip sekasi?                    how are you?kaip jūs gyvenate?          how are you?sveikas ir gyvas!             healthy and alive! (male)sveikas ir gyvas!             healthy and alive! (male)sveika ir gyva!                healthy and alive! (female)sveika ir gyva!                healthy and alive! (female) you can drop the word, ir sveikas gyvas!                healthy and alive! (male)sveikas gyvas!                healthy and alive! (male)sveika gyva!                   healthy and alive! (female)sveika gyva!                   healthy and alive! (female) So, do you use these very much, dear?  Sveika gyva, sveikas ir…sveika gyva…yeah, I use sveika, yeah, that’s…I use, but not a lot of people to tell the truth, but it’s kind of like a…a bit of a joke.  Ahh, a bit of a joke, okay, I like it…yeah, I think it’s cute. but, maybe you’re healthy but not much alive, this is a bit of a joke sveikas, bet nelabai gyvas   healthy, but not very alive (male)sveikas, bet nelabai gyvas   healthy, but not very alive (male)sveika, bet nelabai gyva      healthy, but not very alive (female)sveika, bet nelabai gyva      healthy, but not very alive (female) sveikas gyvas can also be used as a greeting sveikas gyvas!                  Hi! (to a male)sveikas gyvas!                  Hey! (to a male)sveika gyva!                     Hi! (to a female)sveika gyva!                     Hey! (to a female) if you’re having a bad day, week or month (I hope not years) you could say... vos gyvas                       hardly alive (male)vos gyvas                       almost dead (male)vos gyva                        more dead than alive (female)vos gyva                        hardly alive (female) vos is the Lithuanian word for hardly.  Okay, so, on the next episode of Lithuanian Out Loud, you will be listening to Lithuanian Out Loud…enjoy, have fun.  On the next episode of Lithuanian Out Loud, we’ll go over some new ways to say goodbye!  Congratulations for getting through another lesson.  Šaunuoliai – Congratulations! --- To leave us comments call our voicemail number that’s in the title of every show or call our Skype voicemail at Lithuanianoutloud – that’s one word, and leave us a message there. If you’d like to see the Lithuanian spelling of any word in this series just go to WWW dot Lithuanian dot L I B S Y N dot com. If you’d like to get these lessons every time a new one is available just go to iTunes and do a search for Lithuanian Out Loud and click subscribe.  It’s completely free.  But, if you don’t want to subscribe on iTunes, just send us an email asking us to alert you every time a new episode hits the internet.  And feel free to make copies of our lessons, put them on cds and pass them out to your friends. Oneness City online interactive Lithuanian lessons from Vilnius Universityhttp://www.oneness.vu.lt/lt/ Thanks to CCMixter.org, Ditto Ditto and Vieux Farka Toure for the podcast music. Thanks for tuning in, tell your friends about us, we’ll see you on the next episode of Lithuanian Out Loud. I’m Jack and I’ve never met a Lithuanian I didn’t like.  Viso gero!  Sudie! http://www.Lithuanian.Libsyn.comSkype voicemail:  Lithuanianoutloudemail Raminta and Jack at: lithuanianoutloud@earthlink.net Thanks to:  CCMixter.org, ditto ditto, and Vieux Farka Touré for allowing us to use the music for this podcast.http://www.vieuxfarkatoure.com/http://www.ccmixter.org/