Lithuania is still plagued by the same corrupt idiocy it was left with by the legacy of the Soviet Union, and now the effects are making themselves clear.
Without flogging the dead horse by pointing out the numerous inadequacies of the Vilnius European Capital of Culture for 2009 's which has again been criticized by its Austrian counterpart, Linz 's we can now see that the city is suffering from another lurking evil.
Algirdas Brazauskas, who was president of the country from 1993 to 1998 and prime minister from 2001 to 2006, initiated the Royal Palace project in the face of mass skepticism in the population. Everyone wanted to know why their tax money was going toward building an ultimately functionless building that would become the most expensive undertaking in the history of the country.
The current Prime Minister, Andrius Kubilius, was and still is one of those shaking their heads at the building. He now has the dire task of figuring out this mess.
Now it turns out that in the middle of the country's direst times to date, when thousands are losing their jobs and even more are taking pay cuts, the state needs more money to finish the Royal Palace, which is now only a gutless facade.
The Royal Palace was supposed to be finished in time for the Millennium Celebration, which marks the 1,000-year anniversary of the first mention of Lithuania in writing. The date of the grand opening of the palace also coincides with one of the country's biggest days 's the coronation of its first king, Mindaugas.
It all sounds well and good to have a nice party, but the fact is that as private sector employees stare down the prospect of getting fired and workers face pay cuts in the near future, the big wigs of the country 's people like Brazauskas, who selfishly and hedonistically made these expensive decisions on behalf of the country 's are just having a big party.
Kings and presidents of other countries have been invited to the party, due to take place on July 6 in Vilnius. Every citizen of Lithuania is paying for this party while at the same time losing jobs, houses, possessions and hope for the future 's a feast amid the famine.
The vultures are circling over the head of this country, eyeing its emaciated flesh. Now it is becoming clear, through the skin-clad rib cage of the economy, that all that is left underneath is a life sucking tumor that is eating away at the last resources of the country.
One can only hope that the politicians of the day are not cooking up elaborate schemes 's ones that cost the country millions of litas 's that will fall in a heap of rubble in a decade.
