Attempts being made again to create world order based on will of strongest - Landsbergis

VILNIUS - Major powers are trying to restore a world order based on the will of the strongest, rather than on agreements, Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuania's first post-independence leader, warned on Monday, the Day of Restoration of the State of Lithuania.

In his words, after World War II, Europe sought to create a world order without war, but "the big powers… still stuck to their old customs and toys."

"Since toys for boys are extremely expensive in the nuclear age, people's well-being goes up in smoke. First and foremost, the greatest welfare of all, which is called peace," Landsbergis, the former speaker of the Supreme Council-Reconstitutent Seimas, said as he addressed the crowd standing on the balcony of the House of Signatories.

Lithuania is currently "on the edge of a new great test," but "not only Lithuania is threatened by bondage," he underlined.

"The world has long lived under the illusion that the Second World War would be the last, and minds began to turn to the idea that peace is better than war. Not a chance! Zhlobs (a slang word of Yiddish origin, meaning "stupid people") are coming, and they prefer war to peace," Landsbergis said.

"We see more clearly than ever that there are only two orders. One is based on the agreement of nations and people and the principle that it is better not to fight than to fight. The problem is with the actors who complain that we know nothing else. Our god, they say, our faith is the power of the fist, and we march under the banner of force. The weaker must obey," he said, adding, however, that Lithuania will not back down and will defend peace.

"And the big shots are eager to fight. Especially one who says that I can't do anything else. Please, have some sympathy for the angry fool," the politician said.

However, he added, Lithuania must rely on two principles in today's world: humanity and common sense.

"And here we, Lithuania, stand... We stand with the two feet of a stubborn farmer, firmly on our native land. One of them is humanity. The other is common sense," Landsbergis said.

He also urged young people to be active and "more courageous in seeking to take over the helm of the state."