I don't see a problem with you covering military content. It's a very interesting topic for both Lithuanian and non-Lithuanian nationals, especially in such a high-tension area as Eastern Europe is right now.

Another great video. I fall into the camp of promarily watching videos here to learn of places and life in Lithuania, as my Lithuanian wife and I are planning on moving to Lithuania from Canada when I retire to be close with family. We are closely monitoring how things are playing out in the region and any news of Lithuania increasing defense or NATO increasing its presence does significantly increase our confidence in future stability. So, I'll keep watching both the military and the cultural videos. Thank you for both.

I would agree with higher taxes. It is totally worth it. Even economy wise, in the long run. Would be nice to see Lithuania developing arms industry.

I'm ready to pay more taxes. Those who are reluctant to feed their own army end-up feeding the army of their enemy.

Thanks for the video! It was very interesting. Personally, 50/50 military and non-military content is perfect!

From what we all have seen in the Russo-Ukrainian war is that what all three Baltic states need to work together towards is building substantial fortifications along their borders with Russia & Belarus & having a much larger conscript-based reserve. This should take priority over having a larger standing army.

If you not willing to feed your army you will need to feed some intruders army!!! Aciu for video!

can you do a video on lithuania's relationship with estonia

Thank you for your work on the military side of Lithuania. In fact, I just subscribed to your channel after watching a few of your (excellent) videos on the matter because as the conflict in Ukraine goes on, such topics are becoming more important to all of us in Central & Eastern Europe (PL writing here...). Now if your subscribers not interested in military topics find it "too much" (only you will see that based on your channel traffic analyses), you may want to create a separate channel focussed on this. Just a thought. Thanks again and all the best from your Southern neighbour! p.s. Loved the Cappy's input!

50/50 content is great! Love the military content, it’s what brought me to this channel. I would love to follow a soccer/football club in the country even though I know it’s not as popular there, but might draw more followers in! Keep them coming!

Enjoyed the mil content.

I am 50 yo lithuanian and I support the new defense tax schema and even more - I am willing to volunteer in national defense corps of reservists. Luckily our new minister of defense started this activity. In fact, would be good idea if you could enlighten this in your videos! Thanks and let's keep it up!

Interestingly enough there is wide support for tax increase among the general population to provide additional funds to our military. EVEN small and large business owners/union representatives are coming to TV programmes and saying they support increasing taxes to support the Lithuanian military. Yet the politicians, as always, are fighting between themselves and not coming up with the necessary decisions which were needed yesterday.

I come to this channel because of it's military news video

Litauen ist ein kleines Land mit relativ wenig Bevölkerung, daher ist es sehr wichtig eine möglichst große Armee aufzubauen, denn ihr habt Ruzzland als Nachbarn und die schreckt man nur ab durch ein starkes eigenes Militär !!

im like 2% lithuanian keep up the good work

It is a crucial topic in face of the Ukraine invasion by Russia.

Consider the analogy of a single arrow vs. a quiver full of arrows; As the French Maquis proved, having competent "locals" on your side is priceless. Having a Division-level force can be of great value, however, do not sacrifice too much to achieve this... you are not alone; for we are Legion.

It seems to me that a united Baltic Military is a common sense and appropriate way to scale up the defence capacity of all three Baltic States, in a way that would be substantially more cost effective than having three parallel military administrations, three parallel supply chains, etc, not to mention having combined purchasing power. And strategically, the Baltic states are already on the same page.

the problem with taxes is that taxes are already high, and thats annoying. as far as i remember citizens had control over 2% of their tax contributions and could sign it to anything they want. now these 2% could be taken for military purposes

Go the Swiss rought and have Reservists with their own small arms and uniforms. Meeting regularly for intigration into the Battalion. Equipment such as planes and tanks dont have to be new just affective. Lots of missiles and ammo. Lots.of drones! Light tanks such as the Germans make would be cheep and effective supporting infantry and scouting. Extrapoints if you can build and assemble your own. The Swedish STRV 103 would make a good cheap inhouse tank to build. And of course the F16, Americans have many in storage and they can be upgraded.

Sensible move really get rid of brigades as the base formation and at least build up division level units or if your country has the manpower even better form a few corps. A lot more flexibility and greater in depth defence capacity. Becuase you can use bridges much effectively if they are part of a larger division and able to operate as a single flexible body.

Thank you for the video! And financially speaking, I think there needs to be a balance between spending for the citizens and military. So far, the two are relatively separate, however with Russian aggression in Ukraine and Georgia before that, more and more Lithuanians started to realize that our Imperialistic neighbour hasnt disappeared anywhere. Personally, I think the best solution is the integration of civil society and military in one way or another. Especially if it is job creation. E.g. the proposed artillery factory in Lithuania could increase both support for military expansion, create jobs and possibly (as we are relatively a small country) attract even more investment and thus create funds for such military projects. Otherwise, people just want to better their lives here. Even though we are doing WAAYYY better than under USSR, its still far from perfect. Especially with local wages and prices. If an economic solution is found, more people will support such expansion. Considering that Europe and EU specifically is trying to move away from US in military terms, I think a perfect opportunity is brewing, Lithuania just has to sieze it. We have smart people, we just need to attract investment and the rest will sort itself out.

Now we have overlooked the modern military, can we overlook Lithuania's military during the inter wars? (Post WW1) there are notable characters such as Stasys Raštikis, antanas smetona, and other generals, you could also cover the history of Lithuania's navy either modern one or the interwar one and there is a museum about the Lithuanian maritime in which is inside a fort and they taught about the lithuanian navy during interwar and into the WW2.

I think plan to have a division has effect of shaping future military planning. So its always good to have high plan. And I am totally for increased tax for it. But I am really earner in higher bracket so I have a lot of room for more taxes.

Investing in domestic arms industry would also help in this regard.

Honestly, sure. The Baltics are full of grit, but they do need a proper Division.

If you were wondering about the tanks they are already in Lithuainia a lot of leopards and abrams were bought and already in training that i'v seen with my own eyes

A very informative report , it is very sad that in our "modern time" we should need armies to ensure peace !!! However, I think that sadly Lithuania will need a larger Army .

💛💚❤

Sure, if I was a Lithuanian citizen, I would be more than willing to pay more taxes for a robust military defence of the country. And if I was a citizen there, I would join their Armed Forces too.

You can buy the iron, you wont be able to buy the personel

I'm American But i don't know if Lithuania has enough money to fight a war with Russia, but NATO will protect Lithuania but Lithuania should prepare for war regardless. I like to watch Attack on titan for Combat Readiness it's a good anime though.

Sure, Singapore is a must example to follow. Lithuania's neighborhood will never be quiet. We have Kaliningrad (Russia) on one side, Belarus - on the other.

As a Finn I wouldn't pay extra taxes for Lithuanian defense I'd pay extra taxes to equip Finnish army better. With national budget being 88B€ with 3B€ for military equipment and 3B€ for other defense costs, a reasonable goal would be long term 50% increase in budget for military equipment. We would face same enemy and I'd rather see everyone in Europe waking up and building their own forces and being prepared to defend but I'd rather see Finnish taxes going for mass producing some Finnish equipment. I'd rather see a mass production line for 155mm artillery to replace old 122mm soviet guns.

And yes, I fully support expansion and modernization of Lithuanian army. Luckily, dark and sad years of 1990's are behind. Economy is growing steadily and investing into a national army is not a waste of money. Soldiers and their families will have a secure financial future. Old and new business will have a secure place to operate, grow and expand. Simple.

Hm is the Division causing a division? 😂😂😂 sorry couldn’t resist this pun….

Pulkun bralių

4% is nothing why not adding 10% taxes for military???? 4% is useless

NATO must concentrate military now in Lithuania

safety is costly and will be costlier with increase of armed forces. in any case that still cheaper than war or rebuilding after war. so even though I am not a fan of increasing taxes, on this very matter I'd rather subscribe to an increased insurance plan than sit idly with fingers crossed an pray for the best

Do they need a lot more tanks? The war in ukraine seems to suggest, artillery is much more important. And denying air superiority is important, too. Due to lack of economic power to fund a sizable airforce they will have to use russias strategy and concentrate on air defense.

The EU should support Lithuania and the other Baltic states to build up their forces. Better to do it now over the next few to several years in order to deter Russian aggression than to be forced to do it only after Russia makes a move because of perceived weakness in the region.

The need have 80 000 men and women to be full time

Ukraine suffered from this same mindset, either take it serious now or face the consequences and beg other nations for help.

I do not agree about tanks. 60+% of tanks in Ukraine were defeated by drones.

Lithuania as a small country should follow Israeli army concepts and tactics..of course...all about the funding and patriotism..Everyone...boys..girls...must join Lithuanian forces straight after school..boys 2 years..girls 1 year...Want to study - no problem. After university can serve 2 years as a enginner or IT person..I see only benefits from that to the country and to the lithuanian people either..

Everyone agrees that Lithuania needs to strengthen its military but politicians are dead silent about where the money will come from. Specifically property and pollution tax. Those had to be introduced under the current government and by now its clear that this won't happen. This is one of the biggest failures of the current Lithuanian government (yes, Šimonyte, I'm talking about you). Because, you know, Russia won't be asking "Hello guys, are you spending 4% on defence yet? If no, then we won't try to invade you, thank you very much". Lithuania needs to introduce property and REAL car pollution taxes ASAP, just like the rest of Europe (or most of it anyway) has done ages ago. This is not the time to play populist games and do popular surveys. Lithuania is at the bottom of the pack in the EU when it comes to tax receipts relative to GDP and this problem won't solve itself. I hope the next government will have large enough balls to do that. This one clearly hasn't.

Reduce the size of the government, that is the solution to save some money.

Cool video. Regarding the taxing, honestly, I don't support it. We already spend too much money on stuff we don't need or could be better used somewhere else. Besides, the army itself is old fashioned in my opinion. If I was conscripted, I'd likely have become homeless because they don't pay you anything resembling a normal wage. Thankfully I didn't fit the bill because of health reasons, but it was a real, real posibility. So until our government starts doing good things for the people, I say **** them and **** the military.

Well , the Russians have some 70000 troops in St Petersburg district alone

General public said no to additional taxes ... so Brigade Lithuania don`t need unless they consider capture some teritories from Belarus ... Total crazy in 2024 ... but some mad man might in country leadership want something like that dreaming about great Lithuania in former kingdom borders ...

Conscripts? Extended training? And only for men?) And then they asking, why people are leaving the country. Increase military salary and people will go by their own will. Forcing people to serve in army is stupidity. Not motivated soldiers will most likely run away if war will ever happened. Not every man is born to be a soldier, ready to kill and die for it's country. P.S. I have no problem by helping my country any other way, but not by taking a gun and dying on the battlefield.