>---
>No kidding. Lukashenko is well-liked in Belarus. Belarussians live quietly
>and comfortably. Lukashenko-bashing at a time when the West is courting the
>leaders of the Stans is inane. Anyway, if Belarussians like Lukashenko,
>obviously he should be president, regardless of what some bonehead in the
>West thinks.
---
If I may continue my rant, there should be some kind of unwritten law that,
before foreigners start lecturing people on how they should act, they should
ACTUALLY HAVE SOME ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE AREA IN QUESTION. I am sick of
people writing about Belarus and Chechnys, for example, without ever having
met a real-live Belarusian or Chechen. Come to think of it, I am probably
the only person on this list who has ever met a Chechen, or an Uzbek for
that matter.
Matthew Evangelista managed to pull off writing a monologue on Chechnya without ever leaving Moscow. In fact, he allegedly declined an invitation to go! Much easier writing about a hot spot from the comfort of the Radisson-Slavjanskaya than actually going there and possibly getting your head lopped off by a mujaheed.
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