Russian Civilization

To the extent that Russia's Ukrainian adventure is a civilizational challenge to the West and the established international order, keep in mind this note:

"According to 2006 figures, “overall life expectancy at age fifteen in the Russian Federation appears in fact to be lower than for some of the countries the UN designates to be least developed (as opposed to less developed), among these, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Yemen.” Male life expectancy at age fifteen in Russia compares unfavorably to that in Ethiopia, Gambia, and Somalia." 

Read Masha Gessen's exploration of Russia's century-long demographic catastrophe here.  The phenomenon is one of the things careful observers are likely to have in mind when they say that Russia's assertiveness is indicative of weakness, not strength.

Three Sentences

Three sentences, from three different sources, each encountered in the course of a single day.

The first:

"The endless struggle of statesmen [is] to rescue some permanence from the tenuousness of human foresight."

-Henry Kissinger

The second:

"[This book is] one more attempt to freeze the flux of life into the icy permanence of print."

-John Updike

But then, the third:

"The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor yet does bread come to the wise, nor riches to the discerning, nor favor to the learned, but time and chance happen to them all."

-Ecclesiastes 9:11


Is the third a rebuke to the first two?  I don't know, I can't figure it out.  I've been thinking about it for hours...

Toronto: First Read

Last summer, having no idea that within a year I'd be moving to Toronto, I read Michael Ondaatje's ethereal novel, 'In the Skin of a Lion,' about the construction of Toronto's Prince Edward Viaduct, and the city's water works.  Of course it isn't really about those things, or isn't only about them.  It is also 'about' the city's immigrant communities in the early 20th century, and about political greed and convulsively warring ideologies, etc.  I can't remember the exact details.  But what stays with me is the vision of dreamlike, incomprehensible life.  Loosely connected events, randomly beautiful, violent, hilarious, impossible.  It's the kind of book which, no matter what time its subject matter is taking place, always seems to be happening at night.  I wonder if any of it can possibly mean anything to the present-day city...

Stone Street Interview with Nicolas Ortiz

Nicolas Ortiz has a remarkable past - his great-grandfather was hugely successful in the tin-mining industry in Bolivia in the 19th century, his grandfather became Bolivia's ambassador to France, and his father established one of the world's foremost collections of ancient art.  Ortiz himself attended elite schools in England (Eton) and the U.S. (Penn), and served in the Belgian military.  With his brothers, he came to Lithuania in 1991, shortly after independence.  Together, they started the first Western-style, self-serve supermarket chain, and created the now popular 'In Your Pocket' guidebook series.  Today, Ortiz retains some of his business interests and sits on various boards of directors, but devotes more of his time to charitable and philanthropic activities.  Though he scrupulously avoids media attention, he is unfailingly generous, perceptive and wise in conversation.  He is a great asset to Lithuania and the region, and I can only hope that I'll have the chance to cross paths with him again soon.

You can listen to my interview with him here, or via the RSS feed on the right-hand side of this page.

Sullivan 1999-2014

Sullivan, our indefatigable partner even before Nina and I were married, developed a limp in late winter.  Back in Lincoln, at his old vet's after three years away, in Washington and Lithuania, they recommended pain medication.  Yesterday, the meds having proved ineffective after 10 days or so, we took him in again.  Initial x-rays revealed a pathological fracture, that is, a small break in a left front leg bone caused by a cancerous tumor.  When they attempted to reposition him for a second set of x-rays, the fracture separated, making the leg even more painful, and essentially useless.  Our choice was to amputate or euthanize.  We chose the latter.

Nina's metaphor for Sullivan's (and all dogs') greatness: an arrow, flying, untroubled by any concern for either bow or target.

 

 

Clouds

In the spring and summer the Baltics have a brightness to them, a crystaline quality much like the sharp, cold air one can see out an airplane window at 30,000 ft.  This leads to a feeling of being at the end of something, at a boundary or portal.  It is also in contradiction to the common conception (in so far as there is any common conception) of the region as dank and gray.  To be sure, the low skies of winter are never lower around the world than they are in Vilnius, or Riga, or Tallinn when the great, dense masses of Baltic clouds shoulder in.  However, it is precisely this contrast between electric clarity and misty gloom that gives the place its unmistakable if subtle air of drama: there is potential there, and opportunity for outstanding growth, richness, dynamism, but there is also a maddening provincial inertia.  During my time there as a (quasi-) diplomat, I witnessed both the heady progress toward real European integration, even leadership, as well as the exasperating intransigence of an often dull and hunkered-down mindset - of course, healthy skepticism is important, but glum disinterest is just unworkable.

On balance, though, what I will remember about the place are its more exquisite characteristics.  The Nordic lines and planes of the people's faces; the bright, defiant streak in the national culture and politics; the white light remaining in the air at dusk in summer.  As our departing flight left Vilnius for the last time earlier this week, we ascended through a layer of thin spring fog and rain.  After a moment we broke through into a brilliant, hard, clear and open sky.  I looked back, but the clouds had closed beneath us, and the city was gone.

Quote of the Year

From former Ukrainian Defense Minister Anatoly Gritsenko, regarding the rifts in Ukrainian society between East and West and the prospects for a unified future:

"We will never agree if we think of Ukraine as the land of our fathers.  But we can easily agree if we talk about Ukraine as the land of our children."