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Article: Country profile: Lithuania.
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- April 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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OF the three small Baltic states, Lithuania has had the hardest time in its post-Soviet independence. It began well enough. On a wave of people power the nation confronted the riot police and slipped its Soviet bonds in 1990-91, winning the hearts of television viewers around the world and hastening the demise of the USSR. Now, however, the heady enthusiasm of the early 1990s has faded and Lithuania faces more mundane troubles: the business of building democratic institutions and a functioning economic foundation.
The capital Vilnius, with its restored Old Town and cobblestone streets, is clearly enjoying its independence. But few of Lithuania's factory workers ...