by Arkadijus Vinokuras

When the heads of state lack any experience managing crises, panic envelops society. When leaders try to compensate for their lack of ability through dictatorial means, they demonstrate contempt for society. It’s pointless to blame Lithuanian health minister Aurelijus Veryga for changing his directives several times daily. He was appointed by those who have no experience themselves, and who are therefore unable to manage the crisis effectively. It seems they don’t really understand human lives are at stake. And freedom.

On panic. Seeking somehow to demonstrate the abilities he doesn’t have, health minister Veryga even donned military costume. He seems to have wandered into the tragicomic league of Don Quixote by attempting to fight the virus this way. Where you’re not sure whether to laugh or cry. If he had served in the military even at the level of lieutenant, he would know how orders are issued by a military commander. They would be based–and this is the crucial matter–on emergency management scenarios drawn up by the military leadership. But from the very first days of the spread of the virus in Lithuania it was completely clear the Lithuanian Peasants/Green Union Government is not following any emergency management plan.

The minister who has turned himself into a laughing stock with his military uniform should at least understand in a general way that an order by a military commander first indicates the prevailing situation in the theater of war. It indicates the time frame. It also enumerates enemy forces and our own forces, e.g., what we have and what we don’t have. Only then comes the definition of missions.

And only after that are missions carried out. There has to be complete information supplied by intelligence. You have to answer the five questions of who/what, when, where, why and what to do. There will be a Plan A and a Plan B. What comes next? The platoon commander then formulates an order for the troops based on the military commander’s order. The battalion commander then draws up orders for the battalion and the unit commander for the unit.

Next comes logistics. Then chain of command and communication. Delegation is an important aspect at this point. A commander who lacks self-confidence is not able to coordinate and delegate tasks and is unable to set up a team operating independently.

That means this team must seek the commander’s permission even to go to the toilet. They are afraid to screw up. So my advice to the health minister is he acquaint himself with the NATO format of the five steps for formulating orders.

Why not invite teachers from Lithuania’s Military Academy to come in and help? They could explain much better than I can in this article the full content of this format for issuing orders. Was it too difficult to ask for advice from military commanders during the first stage of the emergency? Dear Lithuanian leaders, just dressing up in a military uniform isn’t enough. What we have are leaders who haven’t been able for some time to set up cooperation with the Lithuanian municipalities, leaders who issue copy/paste orders and directives which change several times per day.

Leaders unable to deliver on time all the support (safety equipment and others) needed by the soldiers at the front line, the medical personnel. Wasn’t it clear from the beginning we were doomed without doctors? We have a bunch of leaders who have rejected and sabotaged the desire by civil society–NGOs and the private sector–to help solve problems and to do it today.

The decisions and solutions of municipal mayors made independently and dictated by common sense were threatened with investigations by the secret police, financial crimes service and the tax inspectorate. The only hope remaining is that the wish expressed by private laboratories to help will be taken into consideration as the death toll mounts daily.

In military terms, this is total war now, something about which the health minister appointed by the Lithuanian PEasants/Green Union Government has not the slightest idea. Nor does Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda. His statement about not switching horses when fording a river is a reflection of the mentality of a Soviet sergeant and a Soviet marshal [general]: it doesn’t matter if the commander is worthless if we can throw enough corpses of our soldiers at the enemy to bury him. Mr. prime minister Saulius Skvernelis, do you want to defeat the corona virus by throwing the corpses of the people of Lithuania at it?

Panic is the worst thing which could happen during a state of emergency. No propaganda will help, and neither will ten appeals per day asking people to remain calm.

Forgive me, but the images of Jews being forced into ghettos during the Nazi occupation come up automatically. I’d like to ask the director of the Genocide Center (and other Lithuanian political speculators) if she/they have finally realized how cynically sound now their speculations and verbiage Jews entered the ghettos voluntarily, out of a wish to self-isolate. Ask those who recently experienced for themselves this sort of order full of contempt for the individual and the resolute, emotionless and bureaucratic application of this order. What do they think? How do they feel about being forced into quarantine in such a brutal manner? Or did they, too, as the Jews did, “cheerfully” and “voluntarily” isolate themselves in those same chambers with others who were possibly infected with the deadly virus?

Full text in Lithuanian here.