I am happy to live in this country

No, not because this is the centre of Europe (still dusputed between several countries :D), no. I like people who live here, despite the political situation we have. Some people think and I would agree with it, that nature dermines the character of the nation...

I went to a photo exhibition today. It is named The Planet Belarus by Siarhei Plytkevich. One can read more about him here (in Russian). All this photos were taken from helicopter.

Which country is named after tractor

There is this joke about Belarus. Before Belarus got independent after collaps of the USSR, the brand Belarus was already known. But it was not the name of the country (in Belarusian it was, but in English it used to be BSSR or Byelorussia - transliteration from Russian). This was the name of tractor :D Yeah, sometimes it's really not easy to explain, that Belarus existed before with the name of Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Litva) in XIII-XVI and then as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (XVI-XVIII)... The later was partitioned by Russia, Prussia and Austria. The modern Belarusian lands were under Russian Empire for over a century. For the first time the name Belarus officialy was used in 25 March 1918, when the Belarusian Democratic Republic was created. It did not exist for a long time, but it forced Bolsheviks to establish BSSR later... Well, back to tractor :) Getty Images have ve recently teamed up with Time Inc. to re-launch the venerable LIFE brand. And I found some interesting photos of Belarus there :) One of them is this one, The Minsk Tractor Factory, 1960.

NN and NV are back to kiosks

Today I was very much surprised when I was told that two independent newspapers, Nasha Niva and Narodnaya Volya, which have been struggling since 2006 (the year of the presidential elections, when those newspapers lost their channels of distribution by order from the presidential administration) to get normal way of distribution via kiosk, will make it through. And now it's happening, hopefully, starting from the next week I can buy those newpapers in a kiosk nearby my house. Is it a miracle? No, this are the acts of real politik: Belarus wants to sell goods to the EU --> Belarus needs to improve democracy --> The government and the presidential administration weaken their repressions of the independent actors. C'est la vie, as French people say. I am happy that this steps are in the right direction. Though, so far really small steps. God bless Belarus paraphrasing the US president ;)

Junior Eurovision

Yesterday, Belarus had a final of the national selections process and these three girls will represent Belarus in Cyprus:

While writing about Pilsudski...

I found an interview of Milinkevich in which he gives answers to questions of a Polish newspaper [in August 2006]. Here is one very important comment, which a bit explains why Belarusians are so much afraid of wars.
"Question: Belarusians are considered to be quite people, which don't like to protest and demonstrate, they repeat "just not to have a war". Where does this idea come from? Is it a fear?

- Not many nations in Europe have experienced the same losses in the wars as us. Polish-Russian war of the 16th century - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania lost more than half of its population. In the times of Napoleon - one quater was lost; during WWI - one quater again; after WWII - one third. Plus add Stalin's repressions. That's why one should not be surprised that people in Belarus want not to have a war and dream to survive."

Slutsk sashes return home, i.e. Belarus :)

The famous collection of Slutsk sashes, which demonstrated the originality and skilful artistry of the Belarusian people, was lost during the war. These ones returned from Moscow's collection. Belarus owns only fragmenst of the Slutsk sashes and is trying to return as many as possible. Of course, Moscow wants to get something valuable in exchange, the outcome to be seen. At the moment the Slutsk sashes are presenten in the Belarusian National Art Museum where they will stay at least for a year.
A friend of mine took pictures of them: All pictures you can see on blog of Hleb Labadzenka.

Jab Club

Today I've started my day with music of my friends! Apparentlly, my friend Yauhen Valoshyn, who I knew was singing, has a new song which he recorded with his friends. The name of the band is Jab Club. You can listen to this song here. Photo from music.fromby.net.

March 25, 1918 - 90 years after

Today is the Day of Independence for many Belarusian, it's the 90th anniversary of the proclamation of the independence of Belarusian Democratic Republic in 1918. That's why today, I will post the words by Ivonka Survilla, current president of The BNR Rada in exile. This statement was made in Prague, on March 22 at the conference "Past, Present and Future of the Belarusian Statehood":

"The proclamation of independence of the Belarusian Democratic Republic on March, 25 1918 is maybe the most important event in modern Belarusian history. Without the proclamation of independence the BSSR would not be allowed to exist and there would not be an independent republic of Belarus now. In fact, there would not be many Belarusians left after 90 years of russification. But despite the importance of BNR is also one of the well kept secrets of Europe, it has been particularly well-kept in Belarus, for obvious reasons. Even after 90 years the very mention of the BNR looks dangerous for the dictatorship in power. In exile, however, the BNR has kept idea of March 25, 1918 to this day. […]

This is why, it is so important to celebrate this day for every Belarusian in the world. I wish you all a beautiful celebration. "

And here comes her call to Belarusian young people (in Belarusian):

Video by Tatsiana Khoma for Generation.by

My heart sings with Danchyk!

I came back from Prague where I met many interesting people, amazing people, those who change the story of my Belarus;) Danchyk is one of them, he was singing for the first time after 12 years of no concerts... And here is video of "Moj rodny kut" by Danchyk:

Lord Bell and Belarus

Quote from Times:

"— Lord Bell, the PR guru, has been in Belarus looking at how it might improve its image. Not an easy task in a country where the President once said: “Not everything connected with Hitler was bad.” “I’ve just stepped off a plane,” says Bell, when we call to confirm. From Belarus? “From Geneva,” he quips. “That’s where I stashed the money.” "

Well, nothing else to add at the moment, there are just rumours.

Belarus at Eurovision 2008

Since the Eurovision Song Contest is approaching I will post here a clip by Ruslan Alehno, who represents Belarus this year. Hasta la vista!

Belarusian week in the EP

Here is a news block from today (in Belarusian), the EP part starts from 1.42:

Here "citizens of BieloRUSSIA belong to the european family" accroding to the EP President Hans-Gert Pöttering. My God, this guy should really know the name of the country he speaks about...
P.S. Today was a day of freedom in Internet...

Kiss by Chagall and Ko

A short cartoon about the KISS, using the motives of Chagall work.

Marriage stats

Continuing the topic of population growth. I've just read some statistics about marriages of Belarusian citizens to foreigners in 2007. The total number is 4588 marriages registered in Belarus. I guess there are others registered outside the country. It makes every 20th marriage, hmm, this sounds more impressive:D And then the ranking, Belarusian girls choose (every 20th one):

1. Russians - 1019
2. Ukrainians - 385
3. Other CIS countries - 386
I guess the main factors here were language (most of them can still speak Russian) and freedom of movement.
4. Germans - 133. For me it an interesting figure, I am not quite sure if it is a result of different agencies work, or just people to people contact.
5. Israeli - 65. My guess is that many immigrants from Belarus to Israel come back to marry:)
6. Polish - 44. Again, language is similar and country is close.
7. American (US) - 33.
8. Canadian - 17.
Well, number is not that big after all, but one more argument for the statement that borders do not matter.
9. Turkish - 15.
10. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania together brought 110 Baltic men to those marriages. Again, neighbours!

For Belarusian men stats are a bit different, less of them marry foreigners. There you go, countries where they wives come from:
1. Russia - 1020. Almost 0 balance in comparison with Russian men above.
2. Ukraine - 362.
3. Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) - 80.
So Belarusian men are less eager to go far away to search for future wives:)

I have to admit that the picture is quite interesting. I would be fun to see statistics next year.

Defiance

A film with this title is currently in the postproduction and will be presented to the public at the end of 2008. Film director is Edward Zwick. Here is the description of the IMDB:

"Three Jewish brothers (Craig, Schreiber and Bell) escape from Nazi-occupied Poland into the Belarussian forest, where they join Russian resistance fighters and endeavor to build a village in order to protect themselves and others in danger."

This movie was filmed in Lithuania (I bet they even did not try to do it in Belarus:)). And people in Belarusian blogs have already started discussion about this story. The contraversion of the story is so called MASSACRE IN NALIBOKI (May 8-9, 1943). The problem with all partisans is that the whole truth is somethere inbetween. Yes, some of them were heroic and brave, but there were also those who were cruel and hostile towards paisants. I googled this title and found a website with quite resonable explanation of the situation and desription of Bielski brothers as well. According to this source:

"On 8 May 1943, two months before the Nazis obliterated the town, the Soviet partisans massacred 128 gentile men of Naliboki in a surprise night attack. They were members of the local self-defense force. Many of them also participated in the Polish underground Home Army"

It does not link Bielski to this massacre though in this source, but speaks about other murders by them.

I don't want to take any side here. To find the truth, if there is any, is the task of historians. I just know that any idea, like the idea of this film, should be taken in a critical manner.
For now, I will just post a trailer here:

Belarusian realities

There is one thing I can not anderstand, in this country there are so many educated and interligent people, but it is still a dictatorship. Why?

Kazulin, the ex-candidate for the president post in 2006, the one who was sentenced to stay in jail for 5.5 years term, has just burried his wife. He was allowed to join his family only for 3 days and now despite the international and national calls to the "president" he has to return to jail. Is there any justice? Is there any court? Who are the judges?


Photo by NN.BY photographer Julia Darashkevich.

Top Model of the World

Hmm, I am surprised to find out that a Belarusian girl got a second place in Top Model of the World in Egipt. It's nice of course, just a certain point one starts to get used to it and to expect more from Belarusian girls :D Here are some photos of Alena Aladka:

All photos are taken from etoday.ru.

Belsat and my photo

Today is the first day when Belsat, the alternative TV run by Polish TV company start working. I've decided to see the website of it and was surised in a positive way, as I saw my photo there! It's nice!
And here is the original:

We are the winners!

I am so happy to announce that today for the second time in the history Belarusian participant won Junior Eurovision Song Contest! Congratulations Aliaksei Zhyhalkovich! Here is the winner of 2007:
And just to remind you the winner of 2005 - Kseniya Sitnik

Viacorka vs Michalevic

A two-day congress of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), a major opposition party in Belarus, began at the culture palace of the Minsk Automobile Factory on December 8. - Naviny.by reported

It's an interesting even, because this congress will elect a new chairperson of this oppositional party. At the moment the two leading canditates Viacorka and Michalevic (on the photo) got almost equal results, 118 and 110 votes correspondingly. Both are less than 50% + 1 vote, therefore there will be one more voting round tomorrow. I just hope that this voting tomorrow will change something in the country to the better.