Belarus

Jay Nordlinger, a blogger and columnist who frequently writes about human rights abuses, recently trained his pen on Eastern Europe, writing three columns about Alexander Lukashenko and the recent elections in Belarus.

I thought I'd write my own mini series of "impromptus" in response:

-You mentioned Vladimir Neklyaev several times, and he first came on my radar a few months ago thanks to this little verse of his quoted in a Radio Free Europe article:

"Uladzimer Nyaklyayeu, who is believed to be the strongest challenger of Lukashenka, is a Belarusian poet. Therefore, it is no wonder that he used his campaign appearance on television as an opportunity to quote from his writings. The following unlovely four-liner (rendered lightheartedly into English by your author) clearly alludes to Lukashenka's habit of roller-skiing in summer:
I am on the asphalt
but I cannot glide.
Are my skis lazy?
Or am I out of my mind?"

-At the height of the Russia-Belarus tensions over gas this past summer, a Russian TV station ran a documentary showing Lukashenka in a very unfavorable light and chronicling some of his human rights abuses, "The Godfather." Many in the region recognized the irony in the situation, though, which is that one could easily replace "Lukashenka" with "Putin" throughout the documentary, and it would pretty much all be true.

-The previous point gets at the disturbing truth that while Belarus may be "Europe's last dictatorship," Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet republics are still very, very far from a democracy. There were cries of foul play all over the place in the Ukrainian local elections that took place last fall. In the small town near Kiev where I live, the mayoral election was stolen by the candidate from the president's party, and everyone knows it. The former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko and a number of high-ranking members of the previous administration are (or soon will be) prosecuted by the current administration, and there have been massive purges on all levels of government (even in non-ideological jobs at the city level) replacing entire offices with people from the president's party. And I know that Russia's even worse.

-Just as during the Soviet Union, Belorussians have lots of political jokes (and just as during the Soviet Union, they dispense them with care). One I've heard goes like this: 'Someone asks Lukashenka, "Do koli [till when] will you be president?" To which he responds, "That's right, do Koli [till Kolya]."' Kolya is the nickname for Nikolai, Lukashenka's son. Or another one: 'Some journalists ask Lukashenka, "How many languages do you know?' To which he replies that he knows five. Asked to list them he replies, "Written Russian, spoken Russian, written Belorussian, spoken Belorussian, and English." "Could you say something for us in English?" "Hände hoch [Hands in the air]!" he responds. "But that's German!" "Well then I guess I know six."