The political spirit of Lithuania, culture and everyday life

Tomas Kavaliauskas

The author claims that Lithuania has managed to strengthen its international position when it supported president Bush in America’s conflict with the Iraq. He suggests that on a political level Lithuania realised the nuances of the position shared by Chirac-Schröder-Putin. It also included the understanding that many Russian parliament members still think in yesterday terms about the “lost” territories. But if present Lithuanian foreign policy is sound enough, economical and political realities desire much more. We should watch out when people call Brussels “the second Moscow” and public outries are made that foreigners will buy all Lithuanian property. But the public discourse should include an understanding that we will profit from Western Europe. By alluding to Dostoyevsky’s legend of the Grand Inquisitor praised by Antanas Maceina, one of greatest Lithuanian philosophers of the last century, the author claims that the division between spirit and materiality still made by younger Lithuanian intellectuals is a wrong way of thinking.