Establishing oneself as a foreigner in a new city can be a challenge, not only because of cultural and linguistic barriers, but also due to social norms. It’s often easier to meet and befriend fellow expatriates or members of the international community than it is to blend into the local crowd. Of course, some cities have a much larger international community than others, and, as it were, Minsk is not one of these cities. The international community in Belarus is very small, consisting of diplomats, foreign language teachers and students, missionaries and volunteers, and some people who simply love Belarus, coming from the United Kingdom, The United States, Germany, China and some of the other former Soviet States (although in Belarus, these may not be considered foreigners). Most of these foreign visitors are located in Minsk; there are hardly any foreigners in other parts of the country.
A new project from "Human Rights for Dummies" campaign started recently. The Centre for European Transformation invites individuals for a series of analytical seminars. BEROC and the British Embassy in Minsk organise a student school for young economists.Human rightsHuman Rights for Dummies. On 16 September activists of the “Human Rights for Dummies” campaign presented a new project - the human rights school “Pcholka”. The event was attended by students from law faculties, journalists and volunteers of the human rights center “Viasna”. The human rights school “Pcholka” is organised with the support of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights Centre “Viasna”, Legal Transformation Centre Lawtrend and others.
On Friday, a joint Belarusian-Russian military exercise started in Belarus and in the Kaliningrad Province of Russia. For months Polish media discussed whether the exercise is potentially aimed at mounting aggression and even a nuclear arms deployment against Poland and NATO.Neighbouring Baltic states remained more reserved. Only the deputy chief of staff of Estonian army told «Eesti Päevaleht», a major Estonian daily, that he is concerned about the scale of the military exercise, as Russia's military power has significantly rose in a western direction. Apparently, he meant not the Belarusian forces but rather the Russian part of the exercises. Regardless, Belarus has at its disposal no serious offensive capabilities and the joint current military exercises can be counted as a real demonstration of its humble military might.
Fuel became more expensive in Belarus, but is still cheaper than in neighbouring countries. Channel BT1 extensively covered a meeting of Lukashenka with the head of Russia's largest bank Sberbank and the head of Gazprom and Gazprom's support for social projects in Belarus. State TV also reported that the European Union expressed its interest in rapprochement with the countries of the Eastern Partnership. Recently thousands of Belarusian pupils have shown interest in learning Belarusian language rather than Russian.
A controversial event took place next to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) office in the middle of the summer in Washington, DC.Dozens of Belarusians stretched eye-catching posters encouraging the IMF to assist Belarus. The protesters wore the masks of the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenka and explained their reasoning, for instance, with phrases like "The dictatorship is very expensive" or “I need money for the KGB!”.The protest's appeal was its irony. Despite a very attractive and media-wise approach, however, the purpose of it remained quite ambiguous. The strikers protested against IMF and similar institutions, which, as they claim, support the current regime in Belarus. The question remains, whether the IMF actually strengthens the current administration or is simply helping Belarusians not to die out.
Belarusian programmers are a hot commodity on the international market. Belarusian ruler Alexandr Lukashenka and the state police of Belarus were awarded the Ig Noble Peace Prize for 2013. A Belarusian physician who criticised the government on youtube says that he is receiving psychotropic drug treatments against his will. The fall out over the Uralkali-Belaruskali split continued to dominate western press coverage. Russian authorities ordered its oil firms to reduce exports to Belarus in response to Minsk’s actions in the dispute.
At the start of September, the Belarusian journal ARCHE reported that two monuments commemorating Konstanty Kalinouski, a revolutionary contested in the official Belarusian history, disappeared in a town near Hrodna.Konstanty Kalinouski remains a controversial figure, present in Belarusian, Lithuanian and Polish histories. To some scholars he symbolises patriotism, a set of ideals and courage, while others consider him a Polish noble who struggled against the tsarist Russia.Very few, however, dispute that Kalinouski became a political symbol for the anti-Lukashenka opposition.
The idea that democracy will come to Belarus from Russia and with Russian help has been prevalent in the West almost as long as Lukashenka has ruled the country.In fact the current Russian leadership has little regard for either Belarusian democracy or Belarusian independence. After all, Putin once proposed that Belarus join Russia to form one federal entity or as six provinces. Do the other political forces in Russia hold different views?This week, the Belarusian media widely discussed a blog post of the rising star of the Russian democratic opposition, Alexei Navalny. Writing in 2008, Navalny described the Belarusian language in openly derisory terms. Belarus as a separate nation apparently remains for him a not very serious reality. When the post caused a scandal on the Belarusian web, Navalny simply deleted the text. No explanation or apology followed.
On 10 September, the world marked suicide prevention day. Belarus ranks sixth in the world with regard to the number of total suicides that occur annually.Last year, about two thousand Belarusians committed suicide - higher than the number of road accident victims. Belarusian men, like elsewhere in the world, tend to commit suicide more than women, though the large number of suicides in rural areas sets Belarus apart from other countries. Studies indicate that increases in alcohol consumption in Belarus correlates with an increase in the number of suicides.
Over the last week Belarusian state TV widely covered the international community discussing the situation in Syria and joint military drills with Russia.It also reported on the visit of the head of state to a bicycle company, that had been partially sold to an Austrian investor. Journalists pointed out his disappointment regarding the company’s still insufficient level of production.Lukashenka met with Uladzimir Makei, the Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs on state television which signalled that Minsk was ready for dialogue with the West.
Belarus Digests in cooperation with Belarus Security Blog is launching a new series of publications - Belarus Security Digest. The new series will cover issues relevant to security in Belarus, particularly to the military, special services and national security of Belarus. The Belarusian authorities continue with a policy of developing the domestic defence industry, consider the exports of defence products as a promising source of foreign currency. However, there is no imminent breakthrough in sight. Belarus is trying to penetrate the markets of Third World countries with its products and services.
Universities in the United States often bring to mind school spirit, frat parties and caffeine-fueled late nights studying at the library. I was not expecting the same situation in Belarusian universities, but I did hope for some semblance of a college lifestyle.What I found was a somewhat bleak network of university buildings filled with students and teachers alike who expressed disappointment with the educational system and methodology of teaching. Despite their reservations, the students were bright and motivated to learn. I found myself wondering how and why a system that earned so little trust from its participants managed to be so successful in teaching its students what they needed to know.
Recently, Belarusian authorities released political prisoner Aliaksandr Frantskevich. Eastern Europe Studies Centre published its Civil Society Forum program entitled Eastern Partnership Reality Check, as one of the official events to take place at the Vilnius Summit.Belarus ranks last in the Media Freedom Index among Eastern Partnership countries. Belarusian governmental institutions hinder the process of providing information to journalists, the Belarusian Association of Journalists informs.
On 20 August, Alexandr Lukashenka held a conference on the future priorities for Belarus' armed forces.He proclaimed that “while analysing recent conflicts and wars, we understood that the most important thing for us today is air defence and an air force. Hence, if that is the key component of our armed forces, priority attention should be paid to them.”It sounded odd against the backdrop of a Belarusian military that for years has been decommissioning aircrafts and acquiring minimal amounts of armaments. Furthermore, Minsk is no longer able to get military equipment from Moscow on favourable terms. Last week, Belarusian Defence Minister Yury Zhadobin effectively admitted that Belarus did not have enough of its own aircrafts and hence hosts a Russian air base.