KidK, if you want to stay up to date on the Internet freedom situation, then start following the Net neutrality debate, and sites like Torrentfreak.com. The internet is the only reasonably free and fair information outlet today. It is incredibly powerful. I think politicians and big business are getting seriously worried about its power. They would like to take the sting / edge off it, exploit it financially and monitor it. Us normal people have to try and stop it, whether we live in the US, China, Belarus or France.

Really, a person who lives there should answer KidK's questions about the situation in Belarus.

But it wouldn't surprised me if the Belarussians who read the rants above just gave up in despair or got pissed off, not to come back. So I will give my opinion on it.

My point is that practically all information about Belarus in English is totally skewed and painting an exagerated and false picture.
I repeat what I said before - it's nothing short of a propaganda war.
People like Pavelov et al have swallowed this propaganda whole, and are relaying the information exactly as intended.

It would be totally wrong to say that Belarus is a country without any problems, there are plenty of challenges. But just because it's not dancing to the US' and EUs tune does not automatically make it evil... (Unless you are working in psychological warfare at the CIA.)
And let [the country that] is free of sin throw the first stone, right... ? None mentioned, none forgotten.

It seems impossible to read the word Belarus without reading "the last dictatorship in Europe". The hype around it is totally ridiculous, in anything from travelling books to newspapers and cheezy websites like the ones above.
I actually believed some of it myself, until I saw with my own eyes that it was nonsense.

Both my guide book and several travel websites were warning that "the KGB may tail you in Belarus, they may search your bags while you are away from your hotel room" etc, etc. Needless to say, nobody could have cared less about what I got up to, least of all the KGB.

Other false claims: "Hotel staff spies on the guests and local people are afraid to speak to foreigners."
"Everybody is really poor and will try to skim you for money" (quite the opposite was true - everyone was super-honest and it is probably the safest country in Europe). "Border guards are corrupt" All of this is untrue. If I had found any of it to be true, I would be more than happy to share the examples.

There was some media coverage of protests in Minsk while I was there. I can honestly say I noticed nothing. Likewise there were allegedly long queues to money changing offices. But I saw no queues longer than what you regularly see in the UK (although it should be noted that there is a very high number of changing offices in Belarus - there IS a genuine problem with inflation and a shortage of Euro/dollar)
Either I was completely blind or the problem was seriously exaggerated.

I asked several people about their feelings about the government etc. Perhaps a bit rude, but I was curious to hear what different types of people thought.

Those who didn't like the government were more than happy to tell me all about it while strangers were listening (in a serious dictatorship, they would have been cautious) Lots of people said that they supported the current government on the whole. Two people asked me to try to change peoples view on Belarus and explain that its not a bad country. One woman said it was a dictatorship, but a reasonably good one and that this was preferable to the alternatives.

If the Belarussians get cut off from the internet, or unable to speak their minds online, then I'd be the first to join a protest group and get involved. But I honestly don't think that's happened. I will keep an eye though - if there is anything to it, I'd like to know because I really liked this country and the people.

I really hope someone from Belarus could check the three things that I mentioned above, so that all of us can know for sure.