Recount in Iran?

Sounds like something to keep the population quiet, but really, it's a bit naive...

I mean, what with the stories of observers being thrown out of voting locations etc, has it not occurred to people that there may have been quite a few little bonfires of voting papers? Toilets blocked because others may have been flushed down, etc....

It might bring down the majority a bit, but I doubt it will make a huge difference!

The Whisperers

This is the first book by Orlando Figes that I have been unable to put down.  I'd managed to work my way through Natasha's Dance, just, but got stuck halfway through his book on the Russian Revolution - all those people with Russian names, who keep popping up and disappearing - one gets confused. Also it seemed to go into quite endless detail....I had meant to finish it before launching into the Whisperers, but if I had done that, the Whisperers would still be lying in the shelf.

This, too, contains many Russian names (what else could I expect?), and some names keep popping up and disappearing (literally, given the circumstances); but there are not that many of them, and he seems to be better at linking them - perhaps he had to remind himself who was who.

So it's about the Stalin period (and its consequences) in terms of family life, from about 1923 or so until 1956, and to a lesser degree the period beyond then until now. It must have been horrendous! Essentially it's all about families being broken up, persecuted, hounded, and sent to the camps (ie Siberia); for being a bit better off in the 20s ('kulaks', small land-owners), for saying things (anything) in the 1930s, for being denounced by envious people, for being caught in the war by the Germans (WWII), for being Jews (late 1940s), and on and on. Few families can have been missed out, in one way or another. At the same time living conditions were terrible, with whole families sharing a tiny room, with a single bed in it, living in shared flats (kommunalkas) with thin walls, hence they could only whisper. Private conversations as good as did not take place, and opinions were not uttered, especially not in the front of children (you know what children are like, they chatter about anything).  Family backgrounds were kept secret, eg being the child of a kulak could mean you could not go to university. Apparently many people kept these stories, their suffering etc quiet until much later on, eg the 1980s or 1990s. Those who came back from the camps, and many did not, lying now in the concrete of major building works, did not talk about their experiences, suppressing all emotions, coming back emotionally dead.

And still, people thirty years later look back with some nostalgia to Stalin's days; some of those who worked in those camps on those huge building projects are proud of their contribution to Soviet glory. Go figure.  Now most of the people directly affected by Stalin are slowly dying out.

There is little about the Baltic states in the book; perhaps because of language issues - from my point of view that would have been nice, though I expect that the situation was much the same throughout the former Soviet Union.

Gripping stuff - it really is.  Strangely, I find Natasha's Dance, a cultural history of Russia until the end of the 19th century, still more relevant to life in Russia today.  Perhaps society has returned to that level?

Pas Ramazi

So, my friend varske was here, from Tbilisi, and we thought we would try out the new Georgian restaurant in Vilnius. Called 'Pas Ramazi' (I've never come across the name Ramaz in Georgia), it is situated in Valakampiu (Valakupiu?), on the riverside beside the Antakalnis/Zirmunu bridge. It's a nice modern building, with a large balcony facing the river, and yesterday the wind. The trouble with these huge Kalnapilis parasols is that they are so big they cannot be put down very easily, to catch some warming sun.

The meal was ok; my Georgian salad, with a walnut sauce was nice, as was varske's aubergine salad. Then she had chicken tabaka - nothing special Georgian about this, you get it anywhere in the former Soviet Union, and I had a nice shashlik with salady things alongside, though no starch (eg chips, rice, potatoes etc). Along that came a nice bottle of Saperavi.

Then came the bill - 199 LT for us two! That's shocking! Those salads were 22 or 23 LT each, the main courses 30 LT each, and the wine a whopping 60 LT for the bottle. Normally restaurants have one price per glass (here 8 LT for 100 mls), and another for the bottle, usually less than the sum of the glasses in the bottle. Not in this case - the price of the bottle was exactly 7.5 times the price of a glass. That's just greedy.

Not sure what customers they wish to attract; for foreigners it is too difficult to find - it's quite hidden, and the menus are not in English, but these prices....who is prepared to pay that? Answers on a postcard....

German privacy legislation?

The privacy aspects of that horrific murder series in Winnenden, Germany, where 16 people died, are very interesting.

The perpetrator is known to Germans as Tim K, which is the way all accused are referred to in the German media. I as a foreigner have somewhere (The Guardian?) picked up the boy's surname, though I won't mention it here.

Meanwhile the State Justice Minister in Baden-Wuerttemberg told the world at a press conference that the young man had had some psychotherapy involvement, according to his military call-up papers found in his room. Oh no, he didn't, say the parents. Oh yes, he did, says the director of the local psychiatric hospital - he was here five times, and then refused further treatment. Not sure about the role of the state minister, but I would have thought the hospital director's statement would be against all privacy legislation; it's not as if young Tim could have given his consent to this. Interesting.

Phew!

Another rich, Lithuanian Russian (or Russian Lithuanian?) was trying it for president. Without wishing to be racist, but Russians in Lithuania (Uspazkich - former economy minister and fugitive from Lithuania for reasons of corruption and under-the-table tax-free payments to his employees) or their associates (Paksas, a president impeached after one year for strange links to a Russian called Borisovas) are not generally good news for Lithuania.

This time Vladimir Romanov, owner of Ukio Bankas, and of Hearts Football Club in Edinburgh, tried it. Thankfully he failed, what with not having been born in Lithuania. No doubt he expected to get the job easily, by throwing some sweets at the people in the countryside.

But it seems that everyone who has a few bob has a try at becoming president here, like a few years ago the Australian/Lithuanian Piecaitis (who later had a spell in prison accused of some strange dealings involving icons - not sure if he got convicted or not).  Unfortunately this does not seem the prerogative of a small country, seeing as in Poland they elected Tweedle-dum(b?) and Tweedle-dee into their government some time ago.

I gather in Latvia and Estonia the president is elected by Parliament, not the populace - maybe it's time to consider that here?

Rampant inflation!

The Baltic Course reports that from March public bus tickets (if pre-purchased) will rise to 2 litas per bus journey (if your journey involves more than 1 bus, you pay it for each bus). Only in December 2008 the cost had increased from 1.10 LT to 1.80 LT, after several years at that level. Shocking or what?

Meanwhile the same paper tells us that the government is now looking at establishing a new airline, in place of flyLAL which went bankrupt in January, with the state holding a share in it. At the moment the situation is rather chronic, with folk having to hop via all sorts of places to get to major capitals. I hope they get it up, soon - as long as the state does not take too much of a financial hit. Does not look like we could afford that!

Landsbergis for President??

Story in Lietuvos Rytas today about some idea that Vytautas Landsbergis (76) should run for president at the next election later this year.  I don't think so!

He was a hero in 1990/1991 when he led Lithuania to freedom, but now he seems like a frail old man, who has in the past had some serious health problems.

Time to let the young ones at the job.

Imbrasas is out!

The Vilnius city Mayor, Juozas Imbrasas, who I never cared for that much, has finally been voted out, in a vote of no confidence, it says here. Thank goodness for that. He was kind of unknown before he became mayor and people saw him as Rolandas Paksas' puppet (Paksas was the president who was impeached a few years ago). The vote of no confidence was based on the suggestion that Imbrasas managed the city in the interests of his political party.

But, in true old Soviet fashion, he is going to appeal to the courts over this; meanwhile it seems he has no intention of vacating his seat. Not sure what the courts have to do with a democratic process.....

Georgian Prime Minister Resigns

it says here, on health grounds, after 3 months in the job. He seems to have a kidney condition which requires intensive treatment. Poor soul.

He was Saakashvili's fourth prime minister; the previous one had lasted for about 9 months.

Saakashvili is under pressure from the opposition to resign, over the war last August. Finally it is becoming clear to the Georgian population what happened there. But will he resign? Will he heck!

Air Baltic laying off staff

Here it says that Air Baltic is now laying off 112 staff in Vilnius. That's scary, very very scary.

You would have thought that with one major competitor out of the way (flyLAL), they would have had more business.  In fact I've recently noticed that they cut the direct flight to Berlin; now I have to fly via Riga. To fly to Cologne next month I need to do a three-hop trip, changing airline in the middle, whereas before they had nice links via the SAS system.

If they were to go out of business, too, then we we would be almost cut off here, and totally dependent on western airlines.

Corrections - oops

1) Seems the Tbilisi premier did not go to hospital because he was punched on the nose by the President, but because he has a kidney condition. Went to Germany, then back to Tbilisi into hospital, now he's going back to Germany to check up on the Tbilisi treatment. And he's only 35!  I bet he wishes he were still ambassador to Turkey where the healthcare is probably better.

2) Mr Kubilius, Lithuanian premier, did not resign over the riots and his handling of the economic crisis. Bizarre. I am sure I read a resignation speech in the paper - was it a spoof?  Someone said he'll never resign, he's 'always right'.

3) It seems that Lithuanian airways, or flyLAL, was not sold after all to the Swiss investors; the sale fell through at the last moment, and then the creditors pulled the plug. Hence the closure.

Riots and change in Vilnius

Not only were there riots in Vilnius yesterday - not so that I would have noticed, living only 10 minutes from the parliament, but now also Lithuanian airlines, flyLAL has been grounded at the request of its creditors.

The New York Times reports that tear gas and rubber bullets were used - this seems to be right enough; here's
a video, from the Lietuvos Rytas website, of the events and it shows a chap with a rubber bullet in his
leg, as well as the teargas being used. The rioters were younger ones;
as I had mentioned before, most of the demonstrators were older people
- but there is also a flash of an old lady being manhandled. There was certainly no sign of people running around the streets in panic or anything else near where I live, so it must have been very confined.  A psychotherapist I know has her offices right next to the parliament; that must have made for some happy sessions.

It seems to have led to the resignation of the prime minister, Mr Kubilius, if I understand this article right.  He tells us, now, after rushing through a stringent economic emergency package hated by everyone, that he is not an economic expert (he was in office for about 3 months)....I never had that high an opinion of him, though I know people who do. Perhaps some other country governments, using tear gas and rubber bullets against their own people, could take a leaf out of his book.

Meantime, the courts have grounded Lithuanian airlines, or flyLAL. It has huge debts; there had already been danger of it not being allowed to fly to Riga over non-payment of debts (debt has since been paid); in September or so it offered itself to the state to be nationalised, at the cost of 1 Litas (about 30 Eurocents), at the beginning of the year there was a danger that it might not be allowed to use Vilnius airport over non-payment of other debts, but this was sorted, somehow, then it was sold to a Swiss company, and now, in the middle of January, it's been grounded at the request of its creditors.

At the same time I am not totally convinced about airbaltic's performance; they did sort our my flight very nicely last November, when heavy snow caused problems, but I see they no longer have a direct flight from Vilnius to Berlin, and I'm not sure how well is the partnership with SAS, who are supposed to own it (I thought). Travelling to Cologne next month will mean quite a complicated three-hop journey for me.

Not so dead Gedimino Prospektas

Today, about minutes after I whinged about it, the street was not dead. Major demonstration about the economic crisis. Seemed a bit disorganised, though - but I think I have now worked out what happened.

When I went to buy an opera ticket, people were streaming down towards the parliament. I thought it was over. But some people were also walking towards the (former) municipality square where the rally was to be held. I suspect that the first lot was heading to join the demo at the start (the parliament). But still, there was not exactly a surging front row, and there seemed to be no banner or no-one getting people to do choral shouting.

Most of the demonstrators were over 40, it seemed. Not many young men or women in business suits. I suppose it's the slightly older group that is likely to be hit most by the recession.

The Blue Sky

This is a book by Galsang Tschinag, an author from Mongolia who writes in German....as one does....My mother had mentioned him.

It's a wonderful book, an autobiographical account of his early childhood in the steppes of Mongolia, living in a yurta with his parents, his brother and sister, his adopted grandmother (who appears to have wandered into the family one day and stayed with them), and his much-loved dog, Arsylang. 

It seems to be a very spiritual life, with gods represented by rivers and mountains, eg mother-river Ak-Hem. The realities of life are beautifully described; the day-to-day life, the different work of the different seasons, the challenges they meet - one winter is very cold indeed, much livestock is lost and they sing to the sheep mothers songs about the beauty of their lambs so they will keep providing milk for them. As time goes on the older children go to boarding school in the city, but young Galsan, even though he is not yet at school, is already in charge of his own flock of sheep. Then other things happen, too.

Looking at it psychoanalytically (as one does when one is studying it), the little boy certainly starts out life with a delightful sense of omnipotence, but reality creeps in, rather harshly, at the end.

It really is a wonderful, wonderful book - I cannot wait to read more of his (this is part of an autobiographical trilogy; I suspect the subsequent books will not be quite as idyllic).  

Fucking Berlin!

No, he hastens to add, 'tis not his opinion of Berlin!

It's the title of a book by Sonia Rossi, an Italian who paid for her studies by selling her body, going from video sex to the real thing. This seems to be quite common; I remember reading a story about Edinburgh students doing much the same thing. It seems that in this case there was never a pimp, and that in Berlin there seem to be brothels (regulated?) where the girls work (apart from those who loiter on street corners, I suppose, if they do that in Berlin).

Basically what happened was that shortly after arrival in Berlin she met a Polish guy (who himself at times had worked as a rent boy). He moved in the next day, a few years later they married..... but most of the time he did very little. At first because he was not legal and could/should not work, but it seems to have been rather a way of life for him. Everyone told her to get rid of him, but somehow she could not bring herself to do that.

And no, he did force her to do this; in fact, for a long time he did not know about it, and was none to pleased to find out. And yet he did not object to her money supporting his lifestyle.

It's very interesting, hearing about the foibles of Berlin men, and those from other cities (she occasionally 'guests' in brothels in other parts of Germany where they are paid more). She describes the arrival of one guy on a bicycle, in shorts and sandals, with a babyseat on the bike, and asks him if he is from Prenzlauer Berg. Whereupon he blushes to the roots of his hair. (Nice guys from PB Don't Do This Sort of Thing.)

Luckily it all comes to a happy end. It was a bit difficult reading a book with the loud title 'Fucking Berlin' in my nun-run holiday spa in Austria....It's a great read, though perhaps not for the faint-hearted or sensitive folk of this world.

Hmmm

Seems the Georgian prime minister has returned from Germany following his medical examination, presumably healthy. Says the President of Georgia:

'Your healthy condition caused huge nervousness in our neighbor Russia. I think now Russia will get calm and embark on dealing more global issues of its inner politics’.

Yes, right. I am sure the Georgian prime minister's brief absence caused endless sleepless nights in Russia.

Dead Gedimino Prospektas

This article comments on the deadness of Gedimino prospektas in Vilnius. And quite right they are, too. This part of Vilnius is the deadest main street of any capital city I have ever been to. Quiet in the evenings, quiet on weekends - I don't know what is the matter with Vilnius in this respect. No-one strolls of an evening, whether it's summer or winter. I don't think it has anything to do with the presence or absence of young people, as the article suggests....it may be that people find shopping centres, of which there are now many in Vilnius, more congenial and traffic free, particularly with children (this does not apply to the Gedimino 9 shopping centre which has nothing for children). There are few restaurants, only coffee shops, and nothing much happens. It's a shame....

A worthy President!

Article quoted verbatim from here:

'Georgian Prime Minister Grigol Mgaloblishvili has returned to Georgia
from Germany, where he underwent a medical examination, the Georgian
governmental press service reported on Sunday.

It has been
reported that Mgaloblishvili is to resign over an incident a few days
before the New Year with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Saakashvili threw a TV remote control at Mgaloblishvili and punched him
in the face after a dispute.

These reports were not officially
refuted, which is likely to have nurtured various rumors in the media,
local observers claim.'

The Prime Minister was of course only recently appointed, and had previously been the ambassador to Turkey.

Questions to be asked:

1) What so enraged the President?

2) Is the President under stress?

3) Is the Georgian health system (even the private one) unable to cope with a punch on the nose?

Remember how Georgia wants to join Nato and the EU....