Thread: Elections in Belarus

Originally Posted by Hanna

And Eric C. After all this, I have an eerie feeling that I should perhaps show you a captcha....
And why are you saying "I wouldn't be ANY surprised" what kind of funny English is that? Several times you have written like a non-native speaker of English. What's up with that? Are you American as everyone assumes, or some other nationality?

Oh no! Did I just screw up the whole thing revealing myself? I'm a bad robot, I let down my creator!

It seems to me, Hanna, that in your childhood some commies seriously affected your view on many things. Do you know who else thinks of a person whose opinion is different as a bot, and equates "I assume" to "everyone assumes"?

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Oh no! Did I just screw up the whole thing revealing myself? I'm a bad robot, I let down my creator!

It seems to me, Hanna, that in your childhood some commies seriously affected your view on many things. Do you know who else thinks of a person whose opinion is different as a bot, and equates "I assume" to "everyone assumes"?

Ok I think this comment proves that you are "probably" not a bot... we shall see

No "commies" affected my views in my childhood, the only thing that's different was that I wasn't under the influence of quite as much junk culture and conservative indoctrination as the average American, so therefore I developed the ability to view other cultures and countries from a neutral perspective instead of labelling them according to the latest "axis of evil" list.

And as an adult who's been truly ensnared in capitalism, in one of its global hubs for the last 10 years, I am am just letting off some steam by thinking of what a good world we would have if some of the ideals of socialism could be implemented. That is not exactly extreme, half of Europe has the same opinion. Being AGAINST imperalism and exploitation doesn't automatically make a person a "commie" there are many nuances on that scale.

Originally Posted by Hanna

Per the US state department's information page about Belarus (which is the FIRST hit on Google) it says that the KGB comes into peoples hotel rooms and check their bags when they are out... Police regularly stop people on the street and ask for documentation. People are sometimes prevented from leaving the country, including foreigners, the risk for theft is very high because people are so poor ETC, ETC! None of this has turned out to be true.

How can you know that isn't true? Just because it hasn't happened to you? But I told you, exploring a country as a tourist doesn't give you a detail view on such things. I have a couple of friends there, and they all have been telling me since the middle of 1990s they live in a great country which happens to be so (no, it would be like sOOO) unlucky with its authorities. And when you hear anything bad about that country in mass media, is it so hard to think for a bit and realize it's all about the oppressive regime, not about the people and the country itself? I don't know what else to say, please WhiteKnight, bsod, whoever living there, tell us something on the issue... do you like everything about the way the things are done in your country? (I once asked something like that, but I guess that needs to be shown up once more...). And is everything that appears in the foreign media about situation in your country always completely wrong? What could you confirm and what would you call a lie or misinformation from what Hanna has written about the country (that had been taken from mass media)?

О, нашел.

YouTube - ‪Рекорды луканомики. Поддон сахара - 1 минута 20 секунд‬‏

Originally Posted by mishau_

О, нашел.

YouTube - ‪Рекорды луканомики. Поддон сахара - 1 минута 20 секунд‬‏

I saw loads of movies like that. I just wonder how those who support the way the economy is done there could explain why the people are trying to get rid of their local currency in whatever way they just can - buying up goods in stores, foreign currencies in banks, etc.

Well I haven't seen any such scenes at all and I have been in the supermarket, the market place and shopping centres quite a fair bit.

I spoke with a really nice woman today when I was at Dududtki, a handicraft village.
She had been a chief economist there, but had retired (at age 55!!!) She gave me the VIP tour of the village, will write about that later.
But later we talked a bit about finances (she started it!!) and she said that her pension was 150 USD per month, but had got a new job despite being past pension age, which paid 800 USD per month. If I understood correctly, her rent was 80 USD per month. No luxury on that salary, but as long as you stay in Belarus and keep it basic, it should be possible to manage on that. She said she was disappointed at the currency devalution but she definitely did not want a revolution. She was actually a Russian, from somewhere in the Urals, but she is now a Belarussian citizen and she thought that Belarus is a better country to live in than Russia, based on her impressions from her annual trip to Russia to see family.

Originally Posted by Eric C.

How can you know that isn't true? Just because it hasn't happened to you? But I told you, exploring a country as a tourist doesn't give you a detail view on such things.

That is true, but the difference is, I have visited and you haven't. I think you should wait to jump to any conclusions. And remember that the people YOU speak with, are precisely the ones that are the most likely to be fed up with the current government. I.e. young well-educated people in Minsk. However they are not in the majority of the population.