一个地图上找不到的国家如何震撼了世界

Day one
第一天

EARTHQUAKES are a horrible way of changing the physical landscape—but geopolitical ones can have marvellous results. Lithuania has just celebrated the 20th anniversary of its declaration of renewed independence, when late in the evening of March 11th 1990, deputies of the “Supreme Soviet” of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic voted unanimously to dump the symbols of Soviet rule and to restore their country’s independence.

地震是改变自然地貌的一种可怕的方式，但地缘政治地震却能产生令人赞叹的变化。立陶宛刚刚庆祝了其重新独立20周年。1990年3月11日深夜，立陶宛苏维埃社会主义共和国“最高苏维埃”的代表们投票表决一致同意撤掉象征苏联统治的徽章旗帜，恢复国家的独立。

 
Not so hopeless now
现在能看到一些希望了

It seemed a hopeless gesture at the time. But the seismic shocks shattered the Soviet Union, bringing freedom, or at least the chance of it, to 15 new countries. It put Lithuania—literally—back on the world map, from which it had been wiped by its forcible annexation by the Soviet Union in 1940.

在当时这似乎是一种毫无成功可能的举动。但这场地震的冲击波震垮了苏联，带来自由，对15个新的国家而言它至少是带来了自由的机会。它使立陶宛能够重振国威，也正如这句成语字面上所表达出的意思，重登世界地图。自1940年被苏联强行吞并后，立陶宛就从世界地图上消失了。

A poignant exhibition in the parliament building shows the mass murder, deportations, collectivisation, forced atheism and unrelenting propaganda inflicted on Lithuania under Soviet rule. It also shows the determination to resist. Particular moving are the souvenirs created by Lithuanians in the Gulag, bearing national symbols and the red-green-yellow colours of the national flag. Possession of that flag, or let alone humming the old national anthem, was a criminal offence.

在议会大厦举办的展览，展示了苏联统治时期立陶宛遭受的大屠杀、驱逐、集体化运动、强迫放弃宗教信仰和持续不断的宣传洗脑，展览的内容催人泪下。也有展示立陶宛人抵抗意志的展品。特别能够打动人心的展品是立陶宛人在古拉格集中营中的作品，这些具有纪念意义的作品上有的有立陶宛国家的象徵，有的有红、绿、黄三色国旗的图案。私藏立陶宛的国旗在苏联时期就属于犯法的行为，更遑论哼唱立陶宛的国歌了。

Yet that flag, along with those of Latvia and Estonia, was visible in in the lobby of the American State Department throughout the period of Soviet occupation. (America, like almost all western countries, never formally recognised the Baltic states’ incorporation in the Soviet Union). Thanks to that non-recognition policy, a dwindling handful of elderly diplomats in moribund embassies, chiefly in Washington, DC, the Vatican and Britain, retained their diplomatic status, living and working in a kind of limbo which all too easily seemed futile. One of their few real jobs was issuing passports, carried with pride by Lithuanian emigres, though seldom used in practice.

然而在整个苏联占领时期，立陶宛的国旗与拉脱维亚和爱沙尼亚的国旗一道，依然摆放在美国国务院的大厅中。（美国同几乎所有的西方国家一样，从来没有正式承认波罗的海国家被并入苏联）。全亏这项不承认政策，人数越来越少的几个上了年纪的外交官依然保留着其驻外使馆官员的身份，这些随时可能关门的大使馆则主要分布在美国首都华盛顿、梵蒂冈和英国，这些人生活与工作在惴惴不安之中，而所有这一切似乎都是徒劳无意之举。他们真正能做的工作之一就是签发护照，立陶宛的政治流亡者们骄傲地持有这些护照，但实际上很少有什么用处。

As the Soviet Union crumbled, old Lithuania stirred: neither gone, nor forgotten, just buried. Huge demonstrations began to challenge the Soviet occupiers. Political prisoners returned from Siberia. Independent media emerged, and began overturning the systematic lies and propaganda of the past. In late 1989 the Communist Party turned against its masters in Moscow and then split. In elections to the Supreme Soviet, the candidates endorsed by the pro-independence “Sajudis” movement (pictured in 1990, above) swept the board. On March 11th, barely 24 hours after they first convened, the new members restored the pre-war coat of arms, ripping down the hammer and sickle from the building’s entrance. Then—to the amazement of the outside world—they declared the pre-war republic re-established with immediate effect.

伴随者苏联的崩溃，过去的那个立陶宛又苏醒了：她既没有消失，也没有被遗忘，只是被埋葬了一段时间。人山人海的游行队伍开始挑战苏联占领当局。政治犯们从西伯利亚返回家园。独立的媒体出现了，并开始推翻过去那些系统的谎言和宣传。1989年底，立陶宛的共产党人开始反对其在莫斯科的主子，然后与之分道扬镳。在最高苏维埃的选举中，由主张独立的“萨尤迪斯”（Sajudis）运动支持的候选人大获全胜（上图摄于1990年）。3月11日，在新一届最高苏维埃会议召开后不到24小时，就宣布恢复战前的国徽，在最高苏维埃办公大楼的入口处换下镰刀和斧头的图案。让外部世界大吃一惊的是，他们随后就宣布恢复战前的共和国并立即生效。

Had it all gone wrong, those men and women would have been the first to suffer. Some of them had been born in Siberia, the children of parents deported there for no other reason than that they had been officials in the prewar republic. But bravery aside, what the gesture meant in practice was unclear. Lithuania had no money, no state institutions, no experience, no means of defending itself. The KGB was still a threatening presence, housed, appropriately, in the building that had once been the Gestapo headquarters. The Lithuanian authorities’ power was dependent on the Soviet military staying in their barracks. Initially, only a few hunting rifles and sandbags defended the parliament. Lithuania’s borders were still under Soviet command. Anyone wanting to cross them needed a Soviet visa. There was one exception. On March 28th, your correspondent managed to enter the country, gaining Lithuanian visa 0001. Using visa 0002 had to wait for more than a year, until the Soviet Union collapsed in August 1991.

如果这场独立运动失败了，这些男人和女人就要第一拨去下地狱。他们中的一些人就是在西伯利亚出生的，孩子的父母们被驱逐到那里没有别的原因，就因为他们是战前共和国的官员。除了勇敢之外，这个“姿态”会产生什么样的后果完全都不清楚。立陶宛没有钱，没有国家机构，没有经验，也没有自卫的手段。克格勃就住扎在曾是盖世太保总部的大楼内（这倒挺相称），它仍然是一个现实的威胁。立陶宛当局能否立得住脚完全取决于苏军是否呆在兵营里不出来。起初，保卫议会的只有几杆猎枪和沙袋。立陶宛的边境仍在苏联的控制下。任何人想跨过边界都需要苏联的签证。但有一个例外。3月28日，本刊的记者设法进入该国，获得了立陶宛编号为0001的签证。而使用编号为0002的签证不得不等待了一年多的时间，直到苏联于1991年8月解体。

The effusive congratulations for the 20th anniversary belie the fact that at the time most outsiders reacted not with cheers but a mixture of caution and outright horror. The top priority for most countries was not supporting a forgotten country’s quixotic quest for freedom. It was to keep the embattled Mikhail Gorbachev in power in the Kremlin, and his hardline opponents out of it. Following the fall of the Berlin wall, Germany was gingerly negotiating the terms of reunification. That depended on Soviet consent.

在独立20周年之际，热情洋溢的贺辞纷至沓来，但掩盖不了这样一个事实：那时外界反应的主流并非欢呼喝彩，而是惊恐万分中小心翼翼地不表态度。大多数国家优先考虑的并不是去支持一个已经被遗忘的国家用唐吉柯德式的行动去追求自由。它们考虑的是如何扶持焦头烂额的戈尔巴乔夫，使他能够继续掌权，将他持强硬立场的对手排斥在克里姆林宫外。柏林墙倒塌后，德国小心翼翼的同苏联谈判德国统一的细节条款。能否统一还有赖于苏联的许可。

Foreigners counselled the Baltic states to play it slow and soft. Better to be autonomous in a Soviet Union where glasnost and perestroika (openness and reform) were ascendant than to aim for the seemingly impossible goal of restoring full statehood. Lithuanians disagreed. As Vytautas Landsbergis, the first head of state of the reborn republic, put it during the celebrations, “they offered a reform of the prison regime. We didn’t want to be in the prison at all”.

外界劝告波罗的海国家要三思而慎行，不可过于刺激苏联。最好是留在苏维埃联邦内部获得自治权，而不要去追求全面恢复独立的国家地位这样看似不可能的目标。其时苏联的改革开放政策（glasnost and perestroika ）方兴未艾。但立陶宛人不同意。他们的想法正如这个新生共和国的第一任国家元首维陶塔斯•兰茨贝吉斯在庆祝活动期间所言：“他们提出要改革监狱的管理制度。而我们根本就不想在这所监狱里呆下去了”。

Yet the gamble paid off. Barely 14 months later, a failed putsch in Moscow left the Soviet Union in ruins. The Russian leader Boris Yeltsin displaced Mr Gorbachev in the Kremlin. He wanted independence for his country from the Soviet Union too. Almost overnight, the Baltic states were back on the map. It was as if Atlantis had reemerged from the depths of the sea and applied to join the United Nations. A lot to celebrate indeed.

然而这场豪赌赢了。仅仅14个月后，发生在莫斯科的一场未遂政变使苏联分崩离析。俄罗斯领导人叶利钦取代了还坐在克里姆林宫里的戈尔巴乔夫。他也希望俄罗斯从苏联独立出来。几乎在一夜之间，波罗的海诸国纷纷获得独立。就仿佛亚特兰蒂斯岛从大西洋深处升起而再度复活，并申请加入联合国一样（让人做梦也想不到）。真是应该大庆特贺啊。

Day two
第二天

THE centre of the celebrations was the parliament. Most senior positions there and in the government are still held by people who featured prominently in the independence struggle. They look a lot less tired and worried now. They are also a lot better dressed. Sleek designer glasses have replaced clunky Soviet-era spectacles. Dreadful dentistry has given way to shiny white teeth. Grey shoes and white socks—once a common combination—have vanished. Shabby polyster suits are in the same dustbin of history as the Soviet Union.

庆祝活动的中心设在议会大厦。大多数议会及政府的高级领导人仍然被那些在独立斗争中有突出表现人们团团围住。他们现在看起来无忧无虑，一身轻松。穿着也体面多了。鼻梁上架着设计时尚的眼镜，完全不见了苏联时期扣在眼睛上笨重的两个黑框。白灿灿的牙齿印证了牙科医疗保健的巨大进步。灰色的鞋和白袜子曾经是标准的搭配，现在也看不到了。皱巴巴的化仟服装同苏联这个名词一样被抛进了垃圾箱，已经成为历史。

 
The seat of power
曾经的权力机关住所

In those days the “Supreme Council” building (pictured, right) was rank with cigarette smoke, sweat, cheap Soviet perfume (seemingly applied by the litre) and the lingering smells of boiled cabbage and stewed tea from the cafeteria. All that has gone, along with the improvised defences that used to ring the building. These were built, Lego-style, out of huge prefabricated concrete structures from a nearby building site, under the direction of a mysterious and energetic American who was rumoured to have a military engineering background. They were backed up by what purported to be a minefield. The sign “Stop-
Mines!” was in Lithuanian only—a language that attacking Russian soldiers would be unlikely to understand.

在那些日子里，“最高委员会”的办公楼（见上图）内满是烟雾、汗臭，廉价的苏联香水味直冲鼻孔（施用者似乎在成瓶往身上倒香水），从自助食堂内不断飘来炖白菜和煮茶的熏人气味。俱往矣，就连曾环绕这些建筑的简易防御工事也不知哪里去了。这些房屋都是乐高风格的拼装建筑，在一个神秘而精力十足的美国人的指挥下由附近的建筑工地生产的巨大的预制混凝土构件拼装而成，据说这个美国人有军事工程背景。这些建筑的周围据说还有雷区。“小心地雷！”的标识只用立陶宛语写上，这样就只有不认识立陶宛语的俄罗斯士兵会踩上地雷。

The parliamentary guards of those days—twitchy, unkempt and armed with only rudimentary weapons—were the nucleus of what later became Lithuania’s armed forces and security service. Both outfits are in a mess. Swingeing defence cuts have left Lithuania’s military able to do its NATO duty in Afghanistan, but not to defend the country—something that infuriates the Estonians, who still spend the NATO-mandated 2% of GDP on defence. Lithuania, like the other Baltic states, is now gaining formal contingency plans from NATO and big American land exercises are planned for later this year. But outsiders’ willingness to risk blood and treasure in the Baltic may fade if the locals show so little desire to provide their share.

当年的议会警卫们蓬头垢面、神情紧张，只配有简陋的武器，后来他们成为立陶宛军队和安全部门的核心。这两个强力部门现在都处境狼狈。由于国防预算的大幅削减，使立陶宛的武装部队虽然能够出兵阿富汗，尽其北约成员国的义务，却无保卫国家的力量。这引起了爱沙尼亚的愤怒，该国仍然按照北约的规定，将其GDP的2％用于国防。立陶宛同其它波罗的海国家一道，现在正在获得北约正式的应变计划，今年晚些时候将要在这里举行以美国为首的大规模陆上演习。但如果本地国家一点也不愿意分摊其防务支出，那么局外人在波罗的海流血、流汗后还要搭上银子的意愿恐怕难以维持。

In the security service, the VSD, a huge political row is raging over the so-called “Valstybininkai”—a tightknit group of hawkish senior security officials and advisors. Their nickname is all but untranslatable into English, but could be rendered as “Men of State”. They played a key role in deposing an elected president, Rolandas Paksas, in 2004, supposedly because of ties (which he denies) with Russian intelligence and organised crime. Now they are enmeshed in a scandal over a CIA compound in a suburb of Vilnius, which may have been a secret prison. News of its existence was leaked in America, to the despair of Lithuanian officials. Not that it was very secret: the Americans had acquired the building through a shell company in Panama, engaged in highly conspicuous and unusual construction work, and asked the electricity utility to wire the building up with an American-style 110-volt power supply. Short of putting a neon light on the roof saying, “CIA—your security in safe hands”, it could hardly have been more conspicuous.

在安全机构（VSD）内部，一波巨大的的政治浪潮正在猛烈冲击着所谓的“Valstybininkai”组织，该组织由鹰派的高级安全官员和幕僚组成，内部分工严密。这个组织的名字无法准确的译成英文，但大概意思就是“国家之男人”。在2004年的弹劾当选总统罗兰达斯•帕克萨斯的事件中，该组织起到了关键的作用。据说是由于与俄罗斯情报部门和有组织犯罪团伙有瓜葛（这些他都否认）而导致了此弹劾罢免行动。现在他们又陷入一个丑闻之中：在维尔纽斯郊外有一个美国中央情报局的大院，这个大院可能是一处秘密监狱。让立陶宛官员们感到绝望的是，这处监狱存在的消息是从美国披露出来的。但这并不是多大的秘密：美国人通过巴拿马的一个空壳公司买下了这套院子。非常显眼地进行不同寻常的建设工作，并要求电力部门将这栋建筑接通美国标准的110伏电源。就差一点没将“中央情报局——您的安全掌握在可信赖的人手中”的霓虹灯招牌直接挂上房顶。没法比这更公开了。

Some of the Valstybininkai may face criminal charges relating to abuse of power; others have been exiled to postings in faraway countries. Lithuania is a hugely pro-American country, and many might think that turning the odd dirty trick for the country’s most important ally was nothing to get too excited about. Though the group may have got overly self-important, they still enjoy great respect in many quarters (not least abroad) for their brains and patriotism. Some scent a vendetta by Lithuania’s president, Dalia Grybauskaite. Since her election last year she has seized on the issue. She also wants to improve her country’s ties with big European states such as France and Germany—and with Russia. Nobbling the VSD could be part of that, say her critics.

部分“国家之男”们可能面临与滥用权力相关的刑事诉讼，另外一些人则被放逐到遥远国度的岗位上。立陶宛是非常亲美的国家，很多人可能会认为，对该国最重要的盟友玩弄这套卑鄙龌龊的古怪把戏无异于一种癫狂症。尽管该组织可能过分自大，但该组织的成员都是些有头脑的人，满怀爱国热情，许多人（尤其是在国外的人）对他们仍然充满敬意。一些人从中嗅出些许味道，立陶宛总统达利娅•格里包斯凯特有挟私报复之嫌。自从去年她当选总统后就抓住这个问题不放。她还希望改善立陶宛与欧洲大国，如法国、德国和俄罗斯等的关系。她的批评者们说，暗中破坏VSD可能就是这一计划的一部分。

But what worries even the most solidly Atlanticist Lithuanians is the mystery around the presumed murder of a senior VSD officer, Vytautas Pociunas, in Belarus on August 23rd 2006. His family and friends believe that his death (falling from a hotel window) was covered up in order to forestall an investigation into a scandal in the VSD. Conspiracy theories abound, involving secret cabals of homosexuals, Russian penetration and high-level corruption. Others think that he was murdered by the Russians, or the Belarussians, in order to sow confusion in Lithuania. If so, that certainly succeeded. More than three years after his death, the issue continues to sow mistrust, and a certain amount of fear.

2006年8月23日，一名VSD高级官员Vytautas Pociunas在白俄罗斯死亡。这起死亡被认定为谋杀，但围绕着这起案件的神秘气氛令立陶宛人深感担忧（即使是最坚定的大西洋主义者也是如此）。他的家人和朋友认为，他的死亡（从旅馆窗户堕下）是杀人灭口，是为了阻止对一桩VSD的丑闻进行调查的先发制人行动。关于这桩案件背后的阴谋流传着许多版本，涉及到同性恋组织的政治阴谋，俄罗斯的渗透和高层的腐败。有人认为他是被俄国人或白俄罗斯人所暗杀，是为了在立陶宛制造混乱。果真如此的话，此项阴谋肯定是大告成功。在他死后三年多来，此案一直在散播着猜疑和一定的恐怖气氛。

Day three
第三天

CENTRING celebrations around Lithuania’s parliament leaves Ms Grybauskaite in an unusual position: off stage. A former European commissioner, she trades on her image as a political outsider, running against the old-boys club that dominates public life. Without a political machine behind her, she needs to keep her popularity high. Many Lithuanians appreciate her boldness and bluntness, as well as her squeaky-clean image. Unmarried and childless, she has no relatives to embarrass her with dodgy business dealings. Her success in a big job overseas gives her credibility. In a country where politicians are prone to self-enrichment, she does not even draw her full salary. Her tactical skills are formidable—she fought and won a sharp battle to get rid of the country’s high-profile foreign minister, Vygaudas Usackas (who is now the European Union’s envoy to Afghanistan).

以立陶宛议会为中心的庆祝活动使格里包斯凯特女士远离了公众的视野，处境颇为尴尬。她是前欧盟委员会委员。她利用自己政治局外人的形象来对抗控制了公共生活的“老人”俱乐部。如果她身后没有一架政治机器的支持，她就更需要保持其公众威望。许多立陶宛人欣赏她的胆略和直率，以及她洁白无瑕的政治形象。她未婚，没有子女，也没有亲属给她带来说不清道不白的经济瓜葛。她在海外一个大项目上的成功给她带来了信誉。在一个政客们只顾往自己的腰包里捞钱的国度，她甚至不领取全额工资。她发起并赢得了一场尖锐的冲突，撤换了地位显赫的外长维加乌达斯•乌沙茨卡斯（现任欧盟驻阿富汗使节），她在处理这件事上表现出的手腕令人惊叹。

 
But where was Saakashvili?
萨卡什维利在那里？

That leaves her (at least in her own eyes) as the unquestioned leader of Lithuania’s foreign policy. But to what end? By Lithuanian standards, she is not a great Atlanticist. Her priority is to develop the country’s ties with the EU, especially France and Germany. She shows little interest in causes that have been at the centre of Lithuanian concerns in previous years, such as promoting Georgia. To the displeasure of Georgia’s friends in the region, she did not invite President Mikheil Saakashvili to the celebrations (though the parliament invited heavyweight Georgian lawmakers). Instead she invited Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the autocratic president of neighbouring Belarus—and Dmitri Medvedev of Russia.

这使她（至少她自己这么认为）毫无疑问地成为立陶宛外交政策的制定者。但是这个政策的目标是什么呢？以立陶宛人的标准来看，她并不是一个真正的大西洋主义者。她优先考虑的是发展立陶宛与欧盟国家的关系，特别是与法国和德国的关系。她对前些年立陶宛关注的中心目标，如推动格鲁吉亚的发展等毫无兴趣。她没有邀请萨卡什维利总统出席这次庆祝活动，这引起了格鲁吉亚在该地区朋友的不满（尽管议会对重量级的格鲁吉亚国会议员发出了邀请）。相反，她邀请了邻国白俄罗斯专制的总统亚历山大•卢卡申科和俄罗斯总统德米特里•梅德韦杰夫。

The reasoning behind this is interesting. Ms Grybauskaite said she would go to Moscow on May 9th for the 65th anniversary celebrations of the end of the war if Mr Medvedev would come to Lithuania to celebrate the events of March 11th. He said no, quite politely, and in turn invited her to come to Russia at a time of her choosing. That could be quite a victory: May 9th is not a great day of celebration for the Baltic states, where many see it as irredeemably tainted with the Soviet (and Stalinist) view of the war, in which the three little countries bounced like shuttlecocks between two totalitarian empires. So Ms Grybauskaite avoids the embarrassment of being pictured against the pictures of Stalin which are likely to adorn the Moscow streets. And she gets a chance to talk properly to Mr Medvedev in more congenial surroundings.

这件事背后的考量很是有趣。格里包斯凯特女士说，如果梅德韦杰夫先生能够到立陶宛参加3月11日事件的纪念活动，她将于5月9日前往莫斯科参加为庆祝二战结束65周年而举行的庆典。梅德韦杰夫礼貌的拒绝了这一邀请，反过来邀请她在方便的时间访问俄罗斯。这可是一个了不起的胜利：对波罗的海国家来说，5月9日并不是值得庆祝的节日，许多人认为这一天无法避免地被苏联（和斯大林主义）对这场战争的评价所玷污，在这场战争中，三个波罗的海小国就像一只羽毛球一样蹦跳于两个极权帝国之间。因此，格里包斯凯特女士避免与有可能悬挂于莫斯科街头的斯大林画像叠合在一张照片上的尴尬。而且她得到一个在更适宜的气氛下与梅德韦杰夫先生进行一次有实际内容的谈话的机会。

But if the price of good relations with Russia is snubbing Georgia, many Lithuanians will balk. Georgia’s plight—divided and part-occupied—could easily have been the Baltic states’. Even those who bemoan Mr Saakashvili’s flaws still care about the country he leads. The speaker of the Georgian parliament, David Bakradze, gained a rapturous reception from a big crowd at an outdoor concert in Vilnius on March 11th. Mr Saakashvili would have had an even bigger one.

但是，如果与俄罗斯建立良好关系的代价是冷落格鲁吉亚，许多立陶宛人将会犹豫。格鲁吉亚被分裂和部分占领的现状，很容易被轮到波罗的海国家。即使是那些批评萨卡什维利缺点的人仍然在意他所领导的国家。3月11日在维尔纽斯的一场户外音乐会上，格鲁吉亚议会议长大卫•巴克拉泽受到了大批民众的热情欢迎。如果是萨卡什维利的话参加欢迎的人数还会要多。

Ms Grybauskaite’s invitation to Mr Lukashenka, oddly, was less controversial. Lithuania has rather good relations with Belarus, despite being a base for efforts to aid the opposition there. (Another scandal around the VSD concerns the alleged misappropriation of American money paid to that cause). Lithuania was the only NATO country to be invited to observe the big and threatening military manoeuvres mounted last autumn by Russia and Belarus. Showing the Belarussian authorities that close ties with Russia are not the only option is a good idea: it is strongly supported by neighbouring Poland.

奇怪的是，格里包斯凯特女士邀请卢卡申科参加庆典一事却没有引起什么争议。尽管立陶宛是大力援助白俄罗斯反对派的基地，立陶宛与白俄罗斯依然保持着相对较好的关系。（围绕着VSD的另一个丑闻涉及据称非法挪用了美国用于资助白俄罗斯反对派的资金问题）。在去年秋季由俄罗斯和白俄罗斯举行的一场威胁性大规模联合军事演习中，立陶宛是唯一被邀请观察这次演习的北约国家。让白俄罗斯当局明白与俄罗斯保持密切的关系并不是其唯一的选择是个好主意，这项政策得到了邻国波兰的强烈支持。更多信息请访问：http://www.24en.com/

That is another priority for Ms Grybauskaite. Poland and Lithuania should be great friends. They share a long history. From a cultural point of view, they are in some ways indistinguishable (Poland’s best known poem starts, “Lithuania, O my fatherland”). But ties are oddly tense. Lithuanians, with unhappy memories of past Polonisation, have never delivered on repeated promises to sort out an arcane dispute about spelling. That infuriates Polish officials. The Conservative Party, which leads the governing coalition, is deeply divided on the issue. But it may have to swallow its pride: the votes of two Polish deputies are essential if it is to have a working majority.

这是格里包斯凯特女士优先考虑的另一个问题。波兰和立陶宛应该是很好的朋友。他们有着悠久而共同的历史。从文化的角度来看，在某些方面这两国是不可分离的（波兰最著名的诗词开篇就是：“立陶宛啊，我的祖国”）。但奇怪的是这两国的关系紧张。立陶宛人有着以往波兰化所带来的不愉快记忆，也没有兑现其一再重申的承诺，解决两国在文字拼写上的神秘争议。这激怒了波兰官员。领导执政联盟的保守党在此问题上的分歧很大。但在此问题上它可能不得不低下骄傲的头颅而屈服：如果想要得到能够继续执政所需的议会中的多数席位，两名波兰代表的支持选票是必不可少的。