The question whether modern politics, the way it has existed for centuries, will survive the 21st century is no joke nowadays. The Manichaeism of the left and the right, which, in Milan Kundera’s words, “is as stupid as it is insurmountable,” and which is deeply grounded in Western Europe and North America, is much more than partisan politics. Had it been that way, it would have been quite safe to assume that no other way can be offered to deal with polarities and opposing visions of human existence than democratic politics with its ethics of rational compromise without losing one’s core principles, dignity and identity. (Tęsti...)

The title of my commentary hardly accounts for anything other than sheer rhetoric. Does Ukraine need the EU? Of course it does — simple as that. The next question, then, would be whether – and if yes, to what extent – the EU needs Ukraine. Quite frankly, the EU needs Ukraine now more than ever. (Tęsti...)

The amount of negative information, brutal images, and violence in the Lithuanian media raises the issue of whether the reasons behind publicizing this sort of information lie in extreme commercialism or in a disguised power cult? Many of us have noticed the inexplicable amount of negative information, brutal images, and detailed scenes and reports of violent acts in the Lithuanian media. (Tęsti...)

Talking about the Baltic States, it is worth remembering that prior to World War II, Finland was also considered to be a Baltic State. That is to say, there were four Baltic States in prewar Europe. The fact that only three entered the 21st century is an irony of recent history. Yet some similarities and affinities between the Baltic States are too obvious to require emphasis. All three nations stood at the same historic crossroads after the WWI. All were linked to the fate of Russia in terms of (in)dependence and emancipation. All three existed as independent states from 1918 until 1940. (Tęsti...)

By Leonidas Donskis

That Russia is not the Soviet Union seems obvious to anyone more or less familiar with history and not devoid of a sense of reality. Yet what happened over the past months was much more than a sheer repetition of history or an echo of the Arab Spring, as we are inclined to think sometimes. (Tęsti...)

Nors žmogaus teisių ideologija tapo Europos Sąjungos (ES) demokratinio politinio darinio pamatu, neturime savęs apgaudinėti įrodinėdami, kad ES nėra selektyvaus požiūrio į žmogaus teises bei jų pažeidimus. Visų pirma Europos Parlamento – šios vienintelės demokratiškai suformuotos politinės ES institucijos, kurioje dirba išrinkti ir demokratinį mandatą bei tikrą legitimumą turintys, o ne paskirti asmenys – politinės frakcijos gan nevienodai supranta žmogaus teisių prioritetus. (Tęsti...)

Leonidas Donskis

Dystopian literature depicted the nightmares of the twentieth century. Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, George Orwell’s 1984, and Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon (albeit the latter qualifies for the club of the novels of warning to a lesser extent) anticipated those simulations of reality, or fabrications of consciousness, that were, and continue to be, deeply and strikingly characteristic of the modern mass-media world. (Tęsti...)