95 posts
In Belarus, the freedom of the internet is at stake | Mike Harris
Europe's last dictatorship is clamping down on online activism, with a new law effectively requiring everyone to be a state spyAs of this morning, the internet in Belarus got smaller. A draconian new law is in force that allows the authorities to pro...
Eurosphere roundup: Hungary and Belarus not so examplary for Europe…
MAIN FOCUS: Hungarians protest against new constitution | 03/01/2012 from euro|topics Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Budapest on Monday evening against Hungary’s right-wing conservative government and the controversial ne...
Belarus: Is there life after Lukashenka?
Here is a question: which European country has seen its credit rating downgraded to B/B with a negative outlook for this year and its economy in a free fall? Some may think Greece is the obviousRead more…...
Meanwhile, in Minsk
Continued repression and a forced devaluation. Guess where?
The shadow of Castro in Belarus
Almost exactly two months since the rigged presidential elections in Belarus, the trials of civic activists who took part in the post-election protests – including five former presidentialRead more…...
EU targets Europe's last dictatorship
The EU is threatening to cut off relations with its Eastern neighbour Belarus and impose a travel ban on its leaders following a brutal crackdown on dissidents in the country during a rigged election last month. It is perhaps the most crucial test of...
Belarus orders international watchdog to close its Minsk office
The world's largest regional security organization must close its doors in Minsk, after the Belarusian government refused to extend its mandate. The OSCE had criticized the election of President Alexander Lukashenko. READ MORE...
The West should follow Poland’s lead on Belarus
MEMPHIS, Tennessee — The human and civil rights drama unfolding in Belarus in the aftermath of the electoral fraud perpetrated by the regime of Aleksandr Lukashenko should be a teaching moment. It shows that hopes of bringing Belarus closer t...
Belarus Shuts Down OSCE Office
Image via Wikipedia Radio Free Europe is reporting that the Government of Belarus has ordered the shut down of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe‘s (OSCE) office in Minsk. This was because it had fulfilled its mandate accor...
What should the EU do about Belarus?
The European Union tangles with a knotty problem to its east...
Belarus may seem a far away country, but we have to confront Europe's Mugabe | Timothy Garton Ash
A brutal KGB crackdown in the continent's last dictatorship confronts us with the limits and illusions of EU powerHappy Christmas? Not for Belarus. Grandfather Frost, the Russosphere version of Santa Claus, came early to Minsk this year, and the pres...
Free the Political Prisoners in Belarus Now
MINSK—Peace and quiet reign on Independence Square — Christmas trees sparkle in the snow, the traffic is flowing, people are heading home to prepare for the holidays. Yet on Sunday, this square in the center of the Belarusian capital witnesse...
Belarus elections: facebook birthday boy?
On 19 December the Belarusians will be electing their new president. In a bimonthly series, one Frenchwoman in Berlin discusses the latest ludicrousness from Lukashenko land. Post one: how autocrats change their birthdays...
Customs Union Project Shows Moscow's Power Deficit
At the beginning of July, Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus signed a number of protocols establishing a customs union between the three countries. The union, scheduled to be fully operational in January 2012, will create a single common market of about...
Photos of the unseen
An American photographer captures the elusive spirit of national identity in Belarus...
Just imagine
A dissident theatre group from Belarus arrives in London...
A Western choice
If the Kremlin cuts Alyaksandr Lukashenka adrift, the West has to decide whether to rescue him...
'Gas War' Between Gazprom And Belarus
The European Commission has called an emergency meeting. READ MORE...
Belarus Got Into Energy Trap
The issue of oil customs duties has been left outside the framework of the Customs Union, and Belarusian authorities have finally surrendered to Moscow. READ MORE...
Belarus’ Aleksander Lukashenko, European Chessmaster
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — When Aleksander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president of Belarus, recently began a campaign to intimidate and punish members of the country’s disobedient Polish community, he opened a new front not only with neighbori...
Poland threatens Belarus with EU action after crackdown
Poland has threatened to freeze progress in EU-Belarus relations and to lobby the IMF to cut off aid following a crackdown on ethnic Poles. READ MORE...
Belarus’ Oil Sector: A Target of Opportunity for Moscow
Russia’s threat to abolish its oil subsidies to Belarus aim not only to punish Minsk for its recent rapprochement with the European Union, but also to put the oil processing and oil transit in Belarus under the control of Russian companies.&nbs...
Customs Union with Russia and Belarus Raises Doubts in Kazakhstan
Fielding questions from viewers on state-controlled television channels on November 13 Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced that on November 27 the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan would gather in Minsk to sign final a...
Berlusconi, a planetary man of politics, visits Belarus
It passed largely unnoticed by the outside world, but perhaps the most intriguing event in European foreign policy last week was a visit paid to Belarus by Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi. The European Union has kept Belarus at arm’s length...
Appeasement in our time: Berlusconi goes to Belarus
BERLIN — This year has been full of celebrations of the peaceful revolutions of 1989, arguably the most important advance of freedom, democracy, and human rights in history. But this year has also seen rapid European rapprochement with (and som...
Can Belarusians Expect Fair Play on the Issue of Visas?
The thesis that the EU is perceived by citizens of Eastern Europe in the light of its visa policy towards them is hardly a new one. Indeed, for most applicants, a meeting with a consular officer constitutes their first opportunity to come face to fac...
Swedish EU Council Presidency and Belarus: The Challenge has been taken.
© Grundig, Minsk Cafe Babel It’s been eight years since Sweden’s last EU Presidency in 2001. Many things have happened over this time: EU eastwards enlargement, the Constitutional Treaty (Lisbon treaty) was rejected twice, EU plunged into a seri...
Stefan Eriksson: “I think Belarusian side knows our expectations well”
Sweden replaced Czech Republic in its position of a head country of European Union. On this subject the ambassador of Sweden in Belarus Stefan Eriksson answered the questions. READ MORE...
Belarus leader says will not beg Russia for loans
Belarus`s president declared an end on May 29 to "begging" to Russia and told his government to ignore Moscow`s decision to shelve a $500 million loan and turn elsewhere to find credits. Alyaksandr Lukashenka made his comments a day after R...
Belarus leaving the Russian Sphere of Influence?
Russia has feared that the Eastern Partnership will make the EU the dominant power in its post-Soviet sphere of influence. One of the key states in Russia's sphere of influence, especially since the Orange Revolution (which isn't looking too stable i...
Martynau: “Essentially our attitude to Eastern Partnership initiative is positive”
Belarusian Foreign Minister Syarhei Martynau stated that Belarus finds it important that the Eastern Partnership program offered by the European Union provides for equal partnership. “Essentially Belarus...
“I hope that we can all agree that comprehending and condoning are not the same thing”
Graham in his opening address to a seminar on the prospects and expectations for Belarus, European Parliament Brussels, March, 31 2009. “It is a pleasure to open the discussion this afternoon. Your panel brings together experts from COEST, th...
Belarus: Economic crisis and the Russian bear factor
Perhaps I’m getting Marxist in my old age, but would it be wrong to suggest that economics is driving most things political in Belarus these days? That’s to say, does the world economic crisis explain the very modest gestures in the dir...
Welcome, dictator Lukashenko!
bIt seems to be enough to release a few prisioners for the European Union to a href="http://euobserver.com/9/26922"welcome/a again the last dictator on the continent./bbr /br /The travel ban on Belarussian dictator Lukashenko is only lifted until Apr...
After the Belarus elections: 100% Lukashenko (updated)
bNot surprisingly, neither for a href="http://julienfrisch.blogspot.com/2008/09/belarus-elections-on-sunday.html"me/a nor for a href="http://the8thcircle.com/2008/09/27/going-through-the-motions-belarus-stages-parliamentary-elections-sept-28-2008/"ot...
Going through the motions: Belarus stages parliamentary elections Sept. 28, 2008
[UPDATE 2008-09-29]: Yeap. The title deliberately uses the word stages. Omitting this verb may lead to a false conclusion that having elections is a sign that perhaps life in Belarus, a dictatorship bordering the EU, is not as bad as they say. ...
Belarus: "Elections" on Sunday
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------br /br /Read now the follow-up on the a href="http://julienfrisch.blogspot.com/2008/09/after-belarus-elections-100-lukashenko.html" elections in Belarus/a after the vot...
Belarus parliament election is September 28: will anything change?
Elections for the lower house of Belarus’ bicameral parliament will take place at the end of September, writes David Marples for the Eurasia Daily Monitor. It is important that we pay attention. Here is another opportunity to encourage freer e...
Belarus going nuclear again?
Crunched under increased energy prices and internationally isolated (Venezuela and Russia are the few exceptions), Belarus is planning to build a nuclear power plant to meet its energy needs, writes Anya Loukianova for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scie...
