Author: Joshua Koval

Freedoms

November 28, 2018 / Joshua Koval / 0 Comments

When one goes to Vilnius, the Lithuania capital, they are sure to be drawn to one the city`s premier attractions in the “The Genocide Museum.” The museum, which was once the headquarters for Nazi S.S and then taken over by the K.G.B, was a place which was run by members of society who deny the holocaust every happened. One idea that Bleich describes as a reason for holocaust denial was international pressure. In 2011, the museum added one room that payed homage the genocide of the Jews due to international criticism, where 20,000 Lithuanian Jews were killed during Stalinist purges and Siberian Camps. One scholar, David Katz, who is a Jewish scholar of Yiddish and a historian within Lithuanian ancestry called this museum “a 21^st century-version of holocaust denial.” He believes that by preaching a soviet genocide and not the holocaust is a way to deter holocaust thoughts, while heightening the soviet`s wrongdoings instead of Germany. Lithuanian is the world`s only country who defines the former Soviet Union as a form of genocide, which is one of the museums many themes.

Though many don’t associate Lithuania with the holocaust, that is a false pre conceived notion. According to Efraun Zuroff, the Simon Wiesenthal Center`s chief Nazi Hunter, explained that the museum had 20,000 Lithuanians who participated in the holocaust but only THREE if them were convicted. Places like Hungary, Poland and the Ukraine have found ways to drive a gap between themselves and holocaust. The mantra of “If everyone`s guilty, no one`s guilty”, is a phrase that is used to lessen the deviance of one country by adding in all the other countries that played a major role.

In 2018, Lithuanian parliament voted on a bill that banned the selling of material that “distorts historical facts” about the nation (JTA,2018). This bill came as a response to the publication of a book about the Holocuast, “Our people”, which was published in 2016. This book broke Lithuanian taboos about Nazi collaboration and the murder of Jews during World War II. Bliech explains a similar case through the Danish Cartoons, as many European States have restrictive laws on books, but do not penalize racism/hatred.

Part B:

Lithuania and Russia have a had long history dating back to 1795, as the Soviet Union and today Russia have been intertwined for decades. One way that these countries were so intertwined was that the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania. During World War II, the Soviet Union invaded Poland, while taking over the Vilnius Region, which was occupied by Poland at the time. Lithuania fought back, but with Russian troops in the region, their military bolstered a stronghold within this region. The Soviet Union held power in this region for 45 years, while killing hundreds of thousands of people, including the entire intellectual elite, through murder, torture or deportation to Siberia. Due to the harsh occupation, this left a deep psychological and economical gap within the Lithuanian nation, as they were left in despair following Soviet rule.

One issue that Lithuania has with Russia is that they fear that Russian propaganda could lead to invasion. Russia has delivered campaigns informing Europe that Lithuania`s capital, Vilnius does not belong to Lithuania because during the two world war`s it was occupied by Poland (Harrison and Boffey, 2017). Reports from Russia claim that Putin gifted the capital to Lithuania after the war, a statement that is deemed problematic towards Lithuanian governmental integrity.Lithuania has made committed efforts to shut down hostile propaganda from Russia through suspending television stations and educating their citizens on what propaganda is and what it looks like.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/world/europe/lithuania-genocide-museum-jews.html

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/07/lithuania-and-nazis-the-country-wants-to-forget-its-collaborationist-past-by-accusing-jewish-partisans-of-war-crimes.html

http://www.truelithuania.com/topics/history-and-politics-of-lithuania/history-of-lithuania

https://www.timesofisrael.com/lithuanian-bill-would-ban-books-critical-of-the-country/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/03/lithuania-fears-russian-propaganda-is-prelude-to-eventual-invasion

Lithuania and Brexit

October 24, 2018 / Joshua Koval / 2 Comments

Lithuania and Germany have a long lasting history, as Germany occupied Lithuania in 1915 during World War II. During this time, Germany saw their occupation of Lithuania as a strategic means, as they could garnish a stronghold in the Baltic Sea, use Lithuania as a source of agriculture, while attempting to cut off Russia. After this occurrence, in 1917 Lithuania wanted to gain their independence from Germany, as these two countries signed a declaration of independence, which allowed the countries to enter into diplomatic relations.

One historic day in both of these countries histories took place during the NATO summit in 2016. This can be seen as a historic day for not only the security of the Lithuania, but for the Baltic region as a whole. On this day, the NATO summit accepted the deployment of a 1000-strong multinational allied battalion to each of the Baltic States and Poland. Lithuania’s Battalion was lead by Germany, to help protect Lithuania through deterrence and defense, while enhancing involvement of NATOs forces in this region. President Dalia Grybauskaitė took this as a strong sign of allied unity as Germany wanted to strengthen relations with Lithaunia. This summit also had a joint EU-NATO declaration signed, which helped Germany and Lithuania as both of these countries are members of these organizations. This is part of the alliance`s deal of “enhanced Forward Presence”, as both countries look continue strong ties.

One way that Lithuania followed the lead of Germany is through their military. According to President Grybauskaitė, she believes that these two countries bilateral relations are at an all time high and through their military cooperation, Germany and Lithuania will continue to seek each other’s best interests to benefit their respected countries. Unlike when the German forces came to Lithuania during World War II when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, Lithuania’s welcomed German forces to help protect against an increasingly aggressive Kremlin behavior in 2017. Military cooperation will continue to enhance the bilateral relations between these two countries and with a common goal of pushing back Russia, they have the opportunity to drive their foreign policies.

Lithuania and Brexit:

When analyzing the effects of Brexit on Germany and Lithuania, it is evident that their were two major differences on the impact of the UK to leave the European Union. From an economic standpoint, Lithuania is using this decision to help elevate their economy and grow a global fintech hub, as Germany is being forced to deal with the mess that Brexit has left, as they are expected to pay 15 billion Euros extra a year to fill the void the UK left. Germany already pays 30 Billion to the EU, which is the bloc`s largest contributor

On the other hand, Lithuania sees Brexit as an opportunity to expand and build their economy. Invest Lithuania state that 117 Fintech companies were not operating in Lithuania and in 2017 alone, 35 new businesses were registered. One of the main draws that Lithuania is using to entice businesses to invest in Lithuania is that being in the eurozone gives them the same status at every other big country, but it wont cost their business as much due to the benefits of cheaper living costs.

The European Commission, which is represented by Michel Barnier, who is the Chief Negotiator for the EU countries is responsible for the negotiations that took place between Brexit and the EU. The commission`s job promote what is best for the EU`s general interest and by passing Brexit, allowing the UK to leave the EU was in the EU`s best interest based off the commission. Along with the commission, the Parliament played a major role in determining Brexit, as this group of elected officials vote on legislation. The Parliament is the group that helped pass Brexit and without this group, it would have been unobtainable.

https://www.lrp.lt/en/press-centre/press-releases/cooperation-between-lithuania-and-germany-the-most-successful-ever-in-the-history-of-bilateral-relations/30861

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1035684/brexit-news-germany-uk-eu-budget-contribution

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/eu’s-role-brexit-negotiations

https://www.businessinsider.com/lithuania-fintech-brexit-2018-2

https://www.politico.eu/article/lithuania-nato-russia-baltics-germany-sleep-peacefully-thanks-to-german-troops/

Europe-Final

September 14, 2018 / Joshua Koval / 1 Comment

What is Europe?

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, Europe is, “A person born, raised or living in Europe; while also being a native or resident in the continent of Europe. Europe is a continent based in the Northern + Eastern Hemisphere and has a census of 741.4 million people. When you look at Europe through a geographical lenses, it is commonly referred to as the western part of the Eurasian landmass. The continent starts in the Atlantic and ends as the Urals amd Caucasus mountains, which is deemed problematic because of the issues that will arise from Russia and Turkey.

A major group in Europe, the EU, is an organization which prides itself as a political and economic union comprised of 28 countries, with the goal of being more competitive in the global market place. When it comes to joining the EU, two problems arise. The first problem stems from the uncertainty over Europe`s boundaries, which because of the boundary issue, makes it unclear which countries have the right to become apart of the European Union (Glencross 2014,14). For example, Turkey and Russia are two countries that have territory in both Europe and Asia, but are not apart of the EU. The ability to identify a geographical boundary between Europe and Asia is problematic and due to the inability to define this, the expansion of the EU is unlikely. The second problem is through the accession process, which states, any European state which respects TEU 6(10): “ the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for HR and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law” (Fabian PowerPoint, 2018). Though many countries may believe they check all the boxes, it has been seen that countries have been rejected from joining the EU because of either their political regime, economy, posing a threat and geographical limitations.

Case Study Relate to Europe?

When looking into the roles countries play within the EU, one can see how beneficial the joining of this institution was for Lithuania. By Lithuania joining the EU, they were able to emerge as a country that could enhance their economic status, join the new single market place and enhance their business opportunities by having the resources of the EU. During the Eurozone crisis, which was a time when several European countries were hit with high structural deficits, which led to expensive bailouts and a slowing of the economy. During this time, Lithuania was one of these countries that was hit with this deficit, and in turn, adopted the euro in effort to actively participate within the EU and help rebuild their economy. (Vitkus 2016, 1.)

Though joining the EU has benefitted Lithuania greatly, the integration came at a steep cost. One example would be the Ignalina nuclear power plant, a plant that was the biggest Chernobyl-type atomic power plant in Europe. One of the conditions of joining the EU is adhering to the European Commission, a committee that deemed the safety level of the plant would not attain to their standards (Vitkus 2016, 2). Though the safety issue was a major concern, a real concern for Lithuania was that the plant was a major source of cheap electric power, which adherently produced 80% of electric power nationwide. Though Lithuania took a significant hit by closing this plant down, the realization of the benefit the EU brings to their society compared to the keeping of the plant and leaving the EU was outweighed with what the EU brings to the table.

Before Lithuania was integrated in the European Union, Lithuania was struggling with notion of being a post-communist, poor and poorly run governed state. Lithuania used the integration to elevate themselves as a country that could prosper under a political system that their elites deemed fit. These political elites see the strengthening of the EU has a national interest because, “Lithuanians believe that the very existence of the EU completely changed the geopolitical environment and made it friendlier for smaller states” (Vitkus 2016, 3).

Work Cited:

https://www.ifri.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/vitkus.pdf

Gediminas Vitkus.2016.” A Case of Confridence in the European Project”.

Andrew Glencross.2015.” THE POLITICS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION”. WILEY Blackwell.