In 1980, when still living in my native Poland, I wrote a book, "Could it be better in Poland?" In this book, I speculated about possible scenarios of the fall of the Soviet Union. At that time, I saw it as unavoidable. But if you asked me then, I would not expect that it would happen so soon. I also saw it unlikely that the Soviet Union would trip over Poland, including my humble work contributing to it.

After the free election in Poland in June 1989, followed by the fall of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989, the fall of the Soviet Union was nearby. If not these events, any revolts in Vilnius would be mercilessly and bloodily suppressed before anyone on the West would hear about them. Mr. Šaras is rightfully proud of Lithuanians standing for their rights. But, in the broader historical perspective, they might cause the Soviet Union disintegration a few months or maybe a year earlier than it would happen anyway. But even that is not sure. However, seeing an opportunity, they did the right thing. And this counts.