or at least he coughing up we'll be right back in a bit with more news and commentary.

rachel martin here broadcasting live from washington d.c. coming up today on the big picture. access. to news is the capital if you ate the city changed hands many times during the twentieth century the world war one the poles were in charge then during the second world nazi germany took control when the soviet army drove the fascists out of the baltics the city became if you a nice couple months again of the country join the soviet union. they like saying in russia we liberated the lithuanian people from that scene germany so that i

added the following yes you did but you didn't bother to leave out the word should it with. you when perestroika go to underway in the late one nine hundred eighty s. if you and your was one of the first soviet republics to demand independence. it was far as we are concerned a villain uses the count as whole notes moscow does the way it's has been going on and will it be in the future. the confrontation between the soviet empire is weakening center of the rebellious baltic republic resulted in street clashes. fourteen people were crushed by tanks hundreds were. means that the town came to hold to in my leg was called between the caterpillar tracks i realized then that there was no escape other than the death. if you a new one its independence in one thousand nine hundred one small baltic republic then desperately trying to join europe. structures and leave its soviet past behind

as fast as possible. lithuanian businessman the you must know now scots lives in the village a group has one hundred twenty kilometers from vilnius he runs a lucrative business selling the mushrooms and berries that grow on his land but another source of income is also his hobby. but you know if you walk around the whole park you'll cover two color matters the park contains one hundred thirteen different open air sculptures. in soviet times the sculptures held pride of place and if you any in cities and towns. after the fall of the soviet union they were taken down and fell into

neglect. that prompted the huma's to set up a pocket dedicated to let you in his sunday history. this open a museum welcomes visitors one year round and there's no shortage of them into. foreigners and with you any and some large come here to get a glimpse into the country's relatively recent past. here people learn something about socialism and what we went through in those times . they are now curtain way down very heavily on the soviet union and the outside world knew little about this country. in one thousand nine hundred if you decided to split from the soviet union if you were in his parliament that by the tout his lands biggest declared the republics independence thousands back. the decision

rallies became a constant feature in central vilnius this demonstrators demanding that moscow recognize that un statehood. first to speak or say its emotional words about its freedom then the craze began singing literally as anthem many people how to raise in their eyes they couldn't sing along because they were so overcome with emotion they saw that something was indeed changing they felt they could no speak up with arabs fear. moscow saw the developments this way as a slap in the face tanks and special forces were sent to list. the kremlin felt that flexing its muscles would be enough to compel the gulf senate republicans are backing down. as. we told them we had no right to rejoin the soviet union we have not been elected to

do that. a massacre followed. the television center until news was assaulted on the night of january fourteenth. the building seems within a short time is when his independent television. i don't know if. you know we are being attacked why. give me if i can hear shots thermal science they have seized the sweeney's radio center. is an anchor for a state run t.v. channel. that live report was a moment of triumph for the young journalist but her moment of glory came with a price. i knew. they used to access to break the dogs these bats has been left here is

a reminder of those events. fountains of people resolve to stop the troops by acting as a human shield. in order for moscow said the troops with the fire blank shells. and jelly abilities it was among the residents who protected the television center when the troops began firing and galley i was injured. yeah i think i managed to crawl away i thought that i had been able to get away from that town after all my own and that very movements my leg was caught between the caterpillar tracks and the sound came to holt and yet. now the form of the keeper has to use a wheelchair under cvs a disability grant the new freedom was worth that sacrifice and i have no regrets under leaves it's my destiny in my mind at.

fourteen residents of vilnius died sacrificing their lives for the if you ania's independence in one thousand nine hundred one. the new states government launched a vigorous campaign against the soviet legacy a mobile school gym that equated soviet symbols to nazi ones. nowadays made knife a date marked by soviet republics for the victory of a fascist germany is seen as just another ordinary day by mostly few amiens. in lithuania maiden name is no occasion for festivities yes some people here did fight for the. way it has nothing to do with that russian politicians sometimes say we liberated the lithuanian people from nazi germany by responses the following yes you did but then you didn't bother to leave afterwards one occupation had given way to another. fall if you

a new got its independence war veterans used to march through central vilnius on victory day but now they can only mark that holiday at a military cemetery. or government has creases an atmosphere where war veterans are called occupiers. their current propaganda slant is that lithuania was a second time in one nine hundred forty four when soviet troops entered the country to drive the germans i see now that young people have been brainwashed into believing that war veterans are ok pires the fate trends don't feel like they're mistreating in the streets your president has. made them on twenty ten. each of the fifteen veterans here for the sake of victory in the. despite each of them being over eighty years old they've decided to march to the city center just as they used to in the old days. a band of enthusiastic

musicians accompany them as they marched through the streets most apparent comes from relatives holding flowers and colorful. people with nationalistic slogans lining the streets on both sides. one floor as the war came to an end when the last soviet soldier left the country in one thousand nine hundred ninety three. those soviet veterans can mark their victory and commemorate fallen heroes at a cemetery their tombstones their people a lot of flowers up. but marching through the heart of the city promotes the wrong ideology the symbols are not the only thing to affected by the campaign against a few areas soviet legacy. that's it you know the call december thirty first nine hundred eighty three ten so if pm that was when the first power

generating unit was officially linked to the country's power grid. this footage is from the film marking the anniversary of the eight million a nuclear power plant. the station metal the electrical needs of miss you and to major in soviet republics. and to nuclear reactors commission the plans for more powerful. than any other reactors of the time it would seem that this technological marvel inherited from the soviet union might stand you in a really good stead after independence the country itself would have a plentiful supply of electricity and all this it be able to sell a surplus to others a pretty. good middle east with the oil and gas supply still if your area were cutting in those years because of an economic slump but this nuclear power plant provided uninterrupted supplies available tricity to customers in lithuania deloris . hearing in consumers' pockets on the lowest prices we pretty much built

a village tyranny an economy jerry mouse period of transition in fact we paved the way for the country's further economic development it's. off to let you in you left the u.s.s.r. its all to join the european union. with you a new was told that it could acquire e.u. membership on the condition that it shuts down the eight million a nuclear power plant. and even receive funds to help dismantle the plant's equipment and build storage for nuclear waste. the first reactor was closed in two thousand and four the other engines thousand and nine if you any of them join the e.u. . when i heard him say we were in the reactor room of the first unit nuclear fuel used to be stored underneath. yeah it was used to generate heat and the electricity

and. many of those who built the station and worked at it had to be trained in how to dismantle it. with i put a turbine together with my own hands after it went into service my job was to maintain and repair it but in the past seven years i've been taking all that apart again with my own hands it's a pity creating something is much better if you ask me. beaut miller and valarie can newton were made redundant when the station bush shut down but there was no work for them to go to so we were nice people working at the plants i enjoyed working there we still keep in touch with them. to certificates a photo album and the film showing the jubilee celebrations and the only mementos from those years. the european union funded the station's closure some of the money

was earmarked for severance pay. says the allowance we were entitled to after decisions shots are in was four hundred dollars for one the so-called crisis set in the song was cut starting to three hundred and fifteen dollars that's what we get paid no. the decommissioning of the power plant instantly led to higher utility costs over the last few any accused to sell electricity to other countries today it buys it from them energy bills grow with each passing month those who worked at the station have had to slash their family budgets. have you got the readings yes put them down fifty to three hundred forty seven writes how about the water hot water is ninety cold water is eighty four thats it. that's quite

a lot so i have to say still book we have to pay five times as much as we delete when we will find it's back in december two thousand and nine it's just. the former employees of the becoming a power plant will have to survive on their social welfare packages until they become pensioners unemployment is at over fifteen percent of its uranium officially twenty percent of its population lives in poverty according to your staff this un yet is one of the five poorest countries in the european union. culture is that so much pride on account that you go into something less there's good taliban bad guys the color of terrorism as norway comes to terms with its most

horrific attack on its soil since the second world war a plethora of questions to. wealthy british scientists on. the title of. that. market finance scandal. find out what's really happening to the global economy with meit's cause or there are no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report on our. world. bringing you the latest in science and technology from around russia. we've got the future covered. download the official antti happily cation joe i phone on i pod touch from the i choose our past. lunch on sea life on the.

video on demand copies mine broadcasts and r.s.s. feeds now another part of your. question on the t.v. dot com. planation is free subscription station three pounds for charges free. arrangement free. free spirit guide free. lunch a slim video for your media projects a free media or don a hearty dot com. such features. the first fists. flying.

a restitution law was passed in a few a year after a declared independence collective farms were disbanded land was handed over to some of its former owners. and j. under the care of its received sixty hectares of land that used to belong to his father and jay's an engineer his wife is an accountant but they became farmers against their will. a severe economic slump began after lithuania declared independence unemployment had read its head for the first time in the post soviet region. we had to go into farming simply because we had no other source of income now i'm pretty certain our farm has no prospects. their farm could well cease to exist at any time a sudden change in the weather might ruin at least some of the crops and reduce all of their efforts to nothing there's no scope for the farm to grow the reluctant

farmers don't have the money to save for a rainy day. most small farms here face a similar bleak situation. where the government lost interest in large scale farming such as collective farms. its policy in the early one nine hundred ninety s. was entirely wrong collective farms were braced to the ground and now the process has been reversed in favor of large scale production only large farms have real prospects. and which of the two five very hard times during the two thousand and eight economic crisis. j. and his wife were on the brink of bankruptcy their farm survived only because they had been working on it without hired help they had also managed without bank loans . the influence of international capital in our banking sector

amounts to nearly ninety percent when the crisis came right into our banks were primarily concerned about parents banks in stockholm copenhagen or always low this intrusion was of secondary importance to them they started issuing loans and started exporting capital to help parents environment of course all violence has an effect on the situation here. is two and a half years old but much of her life has passed without her father he's been working in germany to make a living. meanwhile mother brother and elder sister live in the fueling near the top where is your daddy. no daddy let's look for him. lose a picture of him here. i know most pleasure

you know whenever she sees a man in the street the first thing she says is this is a man and in daddy. she says third just in case the man responds. each friday off to work so gay visits an internet cafe in germany to speak to his family by making a video call so that the questions we get at school are real mindblower it's again you go with him yeah this five minutes of internet chatter keeps the family in contact until sergei can be with them for real again and that could be six months away. this is typical for lithuania which is joining the club of leading suppliers of manpower to western european countries. and now to something more to the point he sent us the money. yesterday yes

ok that will help all out they'll sign the rental rate. in january two thousand and nine thousand of protesters crowded the main squares of most provincial towns in lithuania as well as its capital since the start of the crisis the government has been raising taxes and cutting social benefits that farmers found themselves on the verge of bankruptcy civil servants and retired people struggled for survival. for example my pension is two hundred and forty dollars and when surveyed take extra money for heating my flats. if i were to pay for it in through i'd have to pay forty dollars over and above my pension. when. our eunice learned about government plans to tax pensions on top of the taxes he decided to join

protest of despite his age and poor health. generally the sixty two thing like. this. meetings took place in vilnius near the parliament building. seven thousand people gathered. police used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up the demonstrators. when one of the bullets hit and seen us in the leg he was taken to an ambulance. we were going to fill it for all sites when the cuts my trousers open it was a rubber bullets as it got stuck in a song i can't see it as a souvenir of sorts. of. the police brutality when dealing with the demonstrators spurred the public into action . an unprecedented number of people joined the opposition within a short period. numerous protests rallies and demonstrations were held.

one of them a government bowed to pressure to make some concessions in several unpopular measures were canceled but the move deepened the budget deficit. you get more democracy will set in only after several generations those who once had any idea of democracy have become soviet people in spirit and so have all of our politicians. the founder and owner of the park featuring the history of soviet lift you ania says he's lucky that he's lived in a free country for the past twenty years but he notes the growing nostalgia for the soviet period ileum assist pessimistic about his country's future and he's skeptical about the government's political decisions. i don't think the european union will last or even fifty years but it will break up in the same way as the

soviet union did the two are very similar in that they have both been a complete mess you. lou mrs plame with the idea of expanding his park. modern day exhibit may soon be added to the collection. the trouble is this nobody yet knows who will watch and will become a symbol of this ewing is new era. i tell her and her broadcasting live from washington d.c. coming up today on the big picture.

fixed for. a few. fixed. mission of. the critic a should be free. free. free. free. free. free blog. a free media.

wealthy british. market. what's really happening to the global economy with. no holds barred look at the global financial headlines.

if. he. says. please please please please please please. please .