A lot of this depends on what criteria you're using, of course. You can get a much greater variety of consumer goods in Russia than Belarus, but that doesn't mean you can afford them (I'm talking non-Moscow and non-Peter Russia; living standards in Moscow aren't much lower for a lot of people than in many Western cities, and living standards in Peter are different). Things have improved in Russia now, but for a long time it was very rare for many people to get paid on time and pensions were often delayed for months, something that didn't happen in Belarus with its centrally planned economy. A Belarusian friend of mine who lives in Moscow says he personally hates Yukashenko'a Belarus but is damn glad his parents, who are both pensioners, live there and not in Russia. In Minsk, they get enough money to live, which might not be the case here.
My personal opinion is that Lukashenko is a nut and I am certainly no fan. In addition to the excesses you mention below, there are some accusations, made by former KGB members (Belarus' secret service preserves its old name) and Bealrus' former chief executioner, that he or somebody in the gov. have engaged in the killings of opposition figures. It's perfectly posible that Luk.'s claim that this is a all Westerern propaganda is true, but... But he is also a popular nut and does in fact enjoy a popular mandate in Belarus. Which makes it a little suspicious that he gets so lambasted, while Shevardnadze et al. hardly get noticed. In fact, Shevardnadze's Georgia is being wooed by NATO. Shevardnadze is hated in Georgia and does in fact probably employ death squads. Or Ukraine's Kuchma, who is through-going mafiosi and almost certainly a murderer.. I have little doubt that there is an oil angle. And little doubt that the Russia-Belarussia Union, which would unite the two countries, has something to do with it.
I worked for a little bit on a Soros project which was trying to remake the educational system in the FSU along the lines of the American model. This is pretty hilarious. I have copies of Soviet textbooks from the 70s and 80s for junior-high school kids that read like American university textbooks.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal
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Alex said:
>From: Chris Doss [mailto:chrisd at russiajournal.com]
>
>Western obssessing about
>President Lukashenko's democratic failings
I think people have ample reason to obsess about Lukashenko’s democratic failings – they’re numerous and severe. I have read some excellent posts to this list documenting Putin’s excesses and their implications, many of them by you, Chris. It always strikes me, though, that few here are willing to engage similar excesses by Lukashenko without first downplaying them. I don’t know your opinion Lukashenko, so I can't say this is what you're doing. But I believe the dissolution of a legally elected parliament, a refusal to vacate office at the expiry of one’s presidential term, and the staging of show trials of recognized opposition members (some of whom would later disappear) are all worthy of obsession. Again, I don’t mean to suggest
you’re downplaying Lukashenko’s immoderate exercise of power, just that your
post can be read as such.
One of Lukashenko’s oddest offenses, visited upon the residents of Minsk only, is his habitual barricading of Oktyabrskaya Square so he can circle about on his Rollerblades whilst clad in Lycra bottoms. I was told of this by a Belarusian friend’s mother who was visiting said friend in Warsaw. She arrived with any empty suitcase which she told me she intended to fill with cheese. I asked what kind. “Just cheese. It’s unavailable in Minsk.” I was floored. Chris, you recently posted some figures on CIS countries and their respective per capita GDPs (I think) that placed Belarus at or near the top.
Belarus circa 1998, when I had the above conversation, was a shambles. What accounts for the sudden jump?
By the way, Soros’ hostility to the anti-reformist Lukashenko isn’t wholly ideological. The (American) fellow heading the Belarusian output of Soros’ foundation was summarily booted from the country in 1997 on returning from Hungary. The foundation was shut and its property confiscated some months later. It’s now run from Paris and Warsaw.
Say what you will about Soros (a big promoter of “reflexivity” chafed by suggestions his letter to the Financial Times questioning the viability of the viability contributed to the collapse of the same; author of the ridiculous “Opening the Soviet System,” a book whose length would be reduced
by 40% if all instances of the words I, me, and my were expunged), but his Open Society Institute funds some very good and very necessary shit.