A new monograph, Writing in a Cold Climate: Belarusian Literature from the 1970s to the Present Day, by Prof Arnold McMillin, a distinguished researcher of Belarusian literature, has been published in the UK. This is a pioneering work of such kind in English, up-to-date and reflecting on Belarusian literature through the eyes of the western scholarship. The book launch will take place in London on 25 February, 5.30 pm (Masaryk Room, floor 4, SSEES, 16 Taviton St, WC1H 0BW).

The chapter on Belarus was included in the Greenwood Encyclopedia of LGBT Issues Worldwide published earlier this year. The three volumes account for more than 1300 pages of important and timely information. This set has an ambitious scope with the goal of offering the most up-to-date international overview of key issues in the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. Eighty-two countries are represented. Belarus chapter was written by Viachaslau Bortnik, Belarusian human rights defender and LGBT activist. Bellow we provide excerpts from the chapter.

A commentary by one of this website’s authors on the Russian-Belarusian oil duties dispute, for Novaja Eŭropa on-line magazine Let’s admit, Belarusian authorities have no effective arguments in the current oil dispute with Russia. Therefore we must accept the fact that they will loose this fight sooner or later. In close future oil will become expensive, the Belarusian economy will face increasing difficulties, and a whole new stage of relations with Russia will come. Nothing surprising – we were going towards this all the past fifteen years. Nothing to answer with Note, Russia proposes to continue to charge no export duties for oil supplied for internal Belarusian needs. The new duties will only affect the (bigger) portion of the oil supply which enables the Belarusian state oil refineries to gain excess profits. Thus, it will first strike the rent part of the Belarusian economy which rather benefits from artificial privileges granted by Russia instead of creating a product competitive on the market. Some Belarusian journalists support the official Belarus’ position on the reasonable ground that a customs union, which our countries seem to be building together with Kazakhstan, by definition means removal of customs barriers and not their introduction. Nevertheless, the full terms of the customs union treaty have not yet been published.

Russian mobile telecom providers are unable to bring their newly purchased equipment to Russia because of the licensing issues that emerged with the recent creation of the customs union between Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. According to the agreement, import of complex telecommunications equipment from a third country requires authorization by a state institution – a concept the agreement has failed to define. According to the Russian Vedomosti, this problem can delay introduction of 3G mobile technologies in Russia. So far the customs union has mainly had either zero, or a negative effect. Belarusian automobile import duties are rising to the Russian levels to support Russia’s inefficient automobile industry. Сlear conditions for Russial oil imports to Belarus have not yet been defined despite the two countries’ claiming to be in a union. Now the Russian telecom operators are in trouble because of the poorly prepared customs union documents. It would have been funny, had it not been so sad.

The Editorial Board of the peer-reviewed journal of political studies Political sphere (Palitychnaja Sfera) is currently inviting submissions for Issue 14 (spring 2010). The main focus of the issue is nation, national project, idea of nation, ethnic conflicts. Deadline: March 22, 2010. Text may be submitted in Belarusian, Russian or English. Articles on other topics are welcome as well. Only the texts not published before neither as a part of monograph nor as a separate article can be submitted. Articles received by the editorial board are put to mandatory anonymous scientific review (peer-review). You can find more details of general and format requirements here. Political Sphere was founded in 2001 by a young generation of Belarusian political scientists. In 2001-2005, the Journal was published on the base of the Political Science Department of the Belarusian State University in Minsk. In 2005, as a result of increasing suppression in the Belarusian academia, the Journal moved to the European Humanities University in exile in Vilnius. At present, Political Sphere is the only professional journal of political studies in Belarus. It has evolved into a vibrant community of Belarusian social scientists with its own seminars and research projects. The Journal aims to encourage the study of Belarusian politics, stimulate research and analytical activities in Belarus, and integrate Belarusian social scientists into the international academic community. E-mail for contacts: i n f o @ p a l i t y k a . o r g Web: palityka.org Idea of nation as a political community (historic and theoretical perspective) Idea of nation in Eastern and Central Europe National projects as cultural and political phenomena History of Belarusian nationalism History of nationalism in Eastern Europe Nationalism and cosmopolitanism as social phenomena Nation, ethnicity, tradition Ethnic conflicts, migration

According to Heritage Foundation, a US conservative think tank, Belarus has more freedom than Ukraine. Belarus is ranked as 150 out of 179 countries in the Index of Economic Freedom. According to the report, business, trade and fiscal freedoms as well as government spending has improved in Belarus. However, the situation with corruption in Belarus has deteriorated. It is not surprising that Belarus ranked low in the Heritage Foundation’s list. It is very surprising that the “last dictatorship in Europe” has more freedom than Ukraine. Both countries are classified as “repressed”. Belarus, that for the first time in many years has been ranked as not most repressed country in Europe Although some may see it as a sign of real improvements in Belarus, the methodology of such ranking is very questionable. Granted, recently Belarus has undertaken a few steps to liberalize the economy, but still it has by far less freedom than Ukraine. Unlike Belarus, Ukraine has been recognized as a market economy both by the European Union and the United States, and it is likely to be a member of the World Trade Organization soon. Although on the corruption issue Ukraine may indeed have more problems than Belarus, the share of private sector in the Ukrainian economy there is much greater than in Belarus, where the Belarusian state controls most of the economy.

Indeed, despite laying in the geographical centre of Europe, Belarus is psychologically, mentally, still at the very outskirts of the continent. Expansion of the EU has put an Iron Curtain between Belarus and Vilnia (Vilnius), that has been a Belarusian capital for centuries. It has put an border between Poland and the home country of several people known among the world's most famous Poles - Tadeusz Kościuszko, Adam Mickiewicz, Michał Kleofas Ogiński and others. A border between the modern Republic of Lithuania and the Slavic-speaking eastern part of the hisorical region of Lithuania Propria that also included Navahrudak, Hrodna and Minsk. Frankly speaking, "disintegrating churches, ruined public buildings, shabby homes and bumpy roads" is not exactly the landscape one would see in Belarus. Clean streets, well-kept towns and good roads is something that impresses tourists from Russia and Ukraine in today's Belarus. But the problems are exactly the same as described in The Economist's film review. Centuries-old ties between Belarus and its EU-neighbours Lithuania and Poland have been torn by Belarus staying outside the process of the European integration. One can only hope that Belarus would one day overcome this barrier, so that the EU would have more reasons to be called just Europe. PLENTY of places have a claim to be Europe’s geographical centre. French geographers calculated in 1989 that it lies on a hill near Purnuškės in Lithuania. Belarusian cartographers think it is near the town that Russians call Vitebsk (Vitsyebsk in Belarusian). In 1887 in the then Austro-Hungarian empire, geographers erected a monument at Dilove, in what is now the Ukrainian province of Transcarpathia, marking what they reckoned was Europe’s real mid-point. Indeed, despite laying in the geographical centre of Europe, Belarus is psychologically, mentally, still at the very outskirts of the continent. Expansion of the EU has put an Iron Curtain between Belarus and Vilnia (Vilnius), that has been a Belarusian capital for centuries. It has put an border between Poland and the home country of several people known among the world's most famous Poles - Tadeusz Kościuszko, Adam Mickiewicz, Michał Kleofas Ogiński and others. A border between the modern Republic of Lithuania and the Slavic-speaking eastern part of the hisorical region of Lithuania Propria that also included Navahrudak, Hrodna and Minsk. Frankly speaking, "disintegrating churches, ruined public buildings, shabby homes and bumpy roads" is not exactly the landscape one would see in Belarus. Clean streets, well-kept towns and good roads is something that impresses tourists from Russia and Ukraine in today's Belarus. But the problems are exactly the same as described in The Economist's film review. Centuries-old ties between Belarus and its EU-neighbours Lithuania and Poland have been torn by Belarus staying outside the process of the European integration. One can only hope that Belarus would one day overcome this barrier, so that the EU would have more reasons to be called just Europe. PLENTY of places have a claim to be Europe’s geographical centre. French geographers calculated in 1989 that it lies on a hill near Purnuškės in Lithuania. Belarusian cartographers think it is near the town that Russians call Vitebsk (Vitsyebsk in Belarusian). In 1887 in the then Austro-Hungarian empire, geographers erected a monument at Dilove, in what is now the Ukrainian province of Transcarpathia, marking what they reckoned was Europe’s real mid-point.

A story so outrageous and so boringly usual for Belarus: Ihar Slučak, a political activist, is being threatened by police because of his intentions to participate in local elections scheduled for April.

https://belarusdigest.com/story/belarus-and-russia-argue-about-oil-transit-prices/

The Belarusian opposition seems to be heavily dependent on financing from abroad. During the past 15 years the Belarusian government has cut all the possibilities for it to get sponsors inside the country.

Belarus, a small post-Soviet state once hardly distinguishable from Russia and chronically misspelled in the Western press, has been making more and more headlines lately. And if the Russian-Belarusian military exercises with deployment of Russia’s most advanced S-400 air defense system weren’t enough, the 2010 Russian-Belarusian oil row is bound to make the West anxious. Moscow and Minsk failed to close a new deal after Russian-Belarusian agreement on crude oil export tariffs expired on the New Year’s Eve.

While Belarus authorities are raising funds to build a new nuclear power plant, the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster are still puzzling the scientists. The British Guardian devoted an article to the increased cancer and infant mortality rates in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, which suffered the most from the disaster.