From the MT:
"Lithuania's War Manual to Prepare Citizens for Russian Invasion"
Lithuania is publishing a manual to advise its citizens on how to survive a war on its soil as the country's Defense Minister warn its Russian neighbor "is not friendly." "Keep a sound mind, don't panic and don't lose clear thinking," the manual explains. "Gunshots just outside your window are not the end of the world." The manual, which the Defense Ministry will send to libraries next week and also distribute at army events, says Lithuanians should resist foreign occupation with demonstrations and strikes, "or at least doing your job worse than usual." In the event of invasion, the manual says Lithuanians should organize themselves through Twitter and Facebook and attempt cyber attacks against the enemy. Lithuania spent much of the last century incorporated in Soviet Union, along with Latvia and Estonia, and upon independence in 1991 quickly sought to join the Western NATO alliance and the European Union. It is increasingly worried about Russia, not least because of a military drill in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad last month that featured 9,000 soldiers and more than 55 naval vessels. "The examples of Georgia and Ukraine, which both lost a part of their territory, show us that we cannot rule out a similar kind of situation here, and that we should be ready," Defense Minister Juozas Olekas said. "When Russia started its aggression in Ukraine, here in Lithuania our citizens understood that our neighbor is not friendly," Olekas added.
The Lithuanian army and its paramilitary reserve force have seen increased recruitment since the crisis in Ukraine. The government is also considering requiring all future buildings to incorporate a bomb shelter on the premises. Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine last year, and Western governments say they have overwhelming evidence that it is supplying troops and weaponry to pro-Russian separatists who have seized parts of eastern Ukraine, an accusation that Moscow denies.
^ For countries that were on the Western side of the Iron Curtain this may seem like over-kill, but Lithuanian was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union twice (1939-1941, 1944-1991) and so they know what it's like. With that said anyone 30 or younger doesn't have the memory of that occupation and so a manual like this would tell how the Lithuanians survived the last occupation. They knew they didn't have the weapons to defeat the mighty Red Army and so used other tactics like civil disobedience, the Singing Revolution, etc to show their disapproval of being occupied. Similar acts were used against the Nazis in different parts of occupied Europe during World War 2. Hopefully, Russia will have learned from it's more recent history and not go after another peaceful country, but history seems to repeat itself so you never know. The only good thing is that most of eastern Europe that was once under Soviet domination (either annexed into the USSR itself or a Soviet satellite) are now part of the EU, Schengen, Eurozone and NATO and have a little more protection now than they ever did. ^
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/lithuania-s-war-manual-to-prepare-citizens-for-russian-invasion/514426.html
"Lithuania's War Manual to Prepare Citizens for Russian Invasion"
Lithuania is publishing a manual to advise its citizens on how to survive a war on its soil as the country's Defense Minister warn its Russian neighbor "is not friendly." "Keep a sound mind, don't panic and don't lose clear thinking," the manual explains. "Gunshots just outside your window are not the end of the world." The manual, which the Defense Ministry will send to libraries next week and also distribute at army events, says Lithuanians should resist foreign occupation with demonstrations and strikes, "or at least doing your job worse than usual." In the event of invasion, the manual says Lithuanians should organize themselves through Twitter and Facebook and attempt cyber attacks against the enemy. Lithuania spent much of the last century incorporated in Soviet Union, along with Latvia and Estonia, and upon independence in 1991 quickly sought to join the Western NATO alliance and the European Union. It is increasingly worried about Russia, not least because of a military drill in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad last month that featured 9,000 soldiers and more than 55 naval vessels. "The examples of Georgia and Ukraine, which both lost a part of their territory, show us that we cannot rule out a similar kind of situation here, and that we should be ready," Defense Minister Juozas Olekas said. "When Russia started its aggression in Ukraine, here in Lithuania our citizens understood that our neighbor is not friendly," Olekas added.
The Lithuanian army and its paramilitary reserve force have seen increased recruitment since the crisis in Ukraine. The government is also considering requiring all future buildings to incorporate a bomb shelter on the premises. Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine last year, and Western governments say they have overwhelming evidence that it is supplying troops and weaponry to pro-Russian separatists who have seized parts of eastern Ukraine, an accusation that Moscow denies.
^ For countries that were on the Western side of the Iron Curtain this may seem like over-kill, but Lithuanian was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union twice (1939-1941, 1944-1991) and so they know what it's like. With that said anyone 30 or younger doesn't have the memory of that occupation and so a manual like this would tell how the Lithuanians survived the last occupation. They knew they didn't have the weapons to defeat the mighty Red Army and so used other tactics like civil disobedience, the Singing Revolution, etc to show their disapproval of being occupied. Similar acts were used against the Nazis in different parts of occupied Europe during World War 2. Hopefully, Russia will have learned from it's more recent history and not go after another peaceful country, but history seems to repeat itself so you never know. The only good thing is that most of eastern Europe that was once under Soviet domination (either annexed into the USSR itself or a Soviet satellite) are now part of the EU, Schengen, Eurozone and NATO and have a little more protection now than they ever did. ^
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/lithuania-s-war-manual-to-prepare-citizens-for-russian-invasion/514426.html
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