# Belarus - what have you heard about it?



## Brad (May 19, 2006)

So it is the best way to hear the truth about the country using this half serious question... Many countries want to learn the truth about themselves. I believe the Republic of Belarus is not much worse


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## ♣628.finst (Jul 29, 2005)

It's very close to Sweden, Finland, Ukraine and Russia, that's all.


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## Forza Raalte (Sep 18, 2004)

When I was young I didn't what country was meant with Belarus. In the Netherlands we call it Wit-Rusland which means about the same as Belarus.

Belarus is one of Europe's crap countries. Belarus and Moldova are the only countries in Europe which don't have my interest. Belarus seems like an extremly boring, depressing country to me. Dictorial leader who doesn't know the word 'democracy'.

Oh yes, Alexander Hleb is a pretty good football player


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Minsk is supposed to have a nice historic centre, lots of forests, repressed russophile people, Lukashenko, err not much else, probably eat some form of borscht :dunno:


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## Audiomuse (Dec 20, 2005)

Belarus-- White Russia
Minsk= Nice Architecture
Got alot of dreadful radiation from Russia
Christian Orthodox Country
Not alot. Has a green/red flag right?


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## Audiomuse (Dec 20, 2005)

Minsk-- Most trees/forests in a city. (It holds the record?)


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## Brad (May 19, 2006)

Right, the flag is red-green. Belarus is the only one of the former soviet republics that still has the same soviet flag ... Before Lukashenko, for a while, Belorussians had a new red-white flag that is used by the opposition now.
Belarus people resemble Russian ones, but it is difficult to see other nations in the Republic of Belarus. In Moscow you may see a lot Caucasions or Central Asians (they look darker ), but in Minsk you may see almost only white Russians... Belorussians don't use their Belorussian language, especially in the cities. They prefer speak Russian. This can be explained by the fact that the president speaks (reads ) Belorussian only during the inaugurations.  
Belarus has wide and deep contacts with Russia.
3 years ago according to the polls around 70 per cent of the Belorussians wanted to live in the same country with Russians. Now, they say, only 4 per cent of them want to live with Russians together due to much better life they have now than that they had 3 years ago.
Lukashenko has a wide support among its own people. People vote for him voluntarily, because they think that only Lukashenko can guarantee the stabily in the country.
Lately the economy of the country has been growing constantly. Some analists see the reason for this in the low prices for the petroleum and the gas Belarus gets from Russia. Besides, in some economy aspects Russia treats Belarus as if it were the same country, so Belarus gets different discounts from Russia not being a part of it. So the people don't see the reason for the further integration since they already get preferencies from Russia...
Next year Russia wants to rase the prices mentioned above...


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## Ozcan (Feb 4, 2005)

Where does the name Belarus come from?


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## Brad (May 19, 2006)

Belarus is short for Belaya Rus that is White Russia...


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## Ozcan (Feb 4, 2005)

I know that it's called white Russia, I just thought by myself.. why white? Are Belarus' Russians white? :laugh:


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## vid (May 29, 2004)

They're Backwards, in ol' suraleB.


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## Breakwood (Oct 10, 2004)

They beat Sweden in the 2002 Olympics in Ice Hockey.


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## Küsel (Sep 16, 2004)

Belarus? Landlocked, Minsk is the capital and it doesn't have too much big cities apart from it (though some beautiful old towns and orthodox monestaries), it was always under the influence of a big power from the German Eastcolonialisation onwards. The president Lukashenko is very keen to have still a stong connection to Moscow and Putin supports him in his dictatorship. One of the last European countries that doesn't have a proper democratic system and that's why the dictator still has all the power. It has about 10mio people and the GDP per capita is quite low for the continent.

Oh yes and I've been told as a child that one of my ancestors was a white russian that came to Switzerland in the Napoleonic wars


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## Novak (May 9, 2006)

Well I haven't heard much about it, and what I have heard, is only negative info... + some basic information of course (the capital is Minsk and so on). It has the last dictator of Europe, Alexander Lukashenko, who is in love or something with Vladimir Putin and whole Russia. Corruption plays big role in that poor country, and there is no freedom of speech.

That's pretty much everything I know about Belarus.



Breakwood said:


> They beat Sweden in the 2002 Olympics in Ice Hockey.


Haha, I remember that too, very well indeed.


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## Brad (May 19, 2006)

Xäntårx said:


> It's very close to Sweden, Finland, Ukraine and Russia, that's all.


In fact, it close to Russia, much less to Ukraine, much less to Poland, much less to Latvia...
The ties with Russia are strong in different fields... TV (culture in general ), Economics, politics...
Even professional sport... You know that in many sports the number of sportsmen from each country is limited. So sometimes Russian sportsmen become Belorussians for a while...


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^ I thought it was meant in a geographical way (in which it makes it even more stupid :hilarious ).


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## Marcanadian (May 7, 2005)

I've heard about it. Doesn't it mean Little Russia?
BTW I recently did a GTC on Minsk.


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## Plumber73 (Mar 3, 2005)

- Small country of about ten million
- Relies on Russia to get fuel.
- Iron fisted government.
- The EU have some sanctions against them.
- Minsk is the capital.
- They play hockey.


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## bob rulz (Oct 20, 2005)

Let's see:

-Capital and largest city is Minsk
-Borders Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Russia
-I think the name of the second-largest city is Gomyel or something along those lines
-Flat country of grasslands, forests, and swamps
-Landlocked
-One of the poorest of the former Soviet Union countries and among the poorest in Europe (perhaps only Moldova is poorer; not quite sure though)
-Dictatorship led by Alexander Lukashenko; last remaining dictatorship in Europe; strong ties with Russia and Vladimir Putin
-Recieved the bulk of the radiation from the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant; I think it spends somewhere along the lines of 10% of its GDP every year cleaning up that radiation and caring for people affected by it.
-Was part of Russia for several hundred years before independence in 1991 I believe
-I believe that Minsk suffered extensive damage in World War II

That's about all I can think of at the moment. I've never had a lot of desire to learn more about Belarus. Seems like a relatively boring, depressing country to me.


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## Brad (May 19, 2006)

Jonesy55 said:


> Minsk is supposed to have a nice historic centre


During the WW2 Minsk was completely destroyed. Almost everything you see now was built later. Only one small district in the very heart of Minsk is being reconstructed now.
The main street of the city is Independence Avenue. The buildings were erected immediately after the war and the architecture has the "Stalin influence" They remind the buildings of the main street of Moscow "Tverskaya", but little bit lower...
In general Belarus suffered much during the war. 25% of the population perished then.


macon4ever said:


> Belarus
> Got alot of dreadful radiation from Russia


True. The radiation came from Ukraine. That time it was part of the USSR.


Ozcan said:


> I know that it's called white Russia, I just thought by myself.. why white? Are Belarus' Russians white? :laugh:


True. An average Russian is a little bit darker. When you are in Minsk you don't see big difference in comparence with Moscow, just very rarely you can see dark faces...Since Belarus was the most western part of Russia it was less influenced by Tatars and other oriental nations...


Plumber73 said:


> - The EU have some sanctions against them.


And the US as well. But Belarus has some sanctions agains the EU and the US too...   


bob rulz said:


> -One of the poorest of the former Soviet Union countries and among the poorest in Europe (perhaps only Moldova is poorer; not quite sure though)


In the USSR Belarus was one of the most developped and rich republic.


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## Marco_ (Jan 15, 2006)

Alexey Ignashov:


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## bob rulz (Oct 20, 2005)

Brad said:


> In the USSR Belarus was one of the most developped and rich republic.


Yeah...when it was in the USSR...


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## Paddington (Mar 30, 2006)

In my whole life I don't think I have ever heard anything about Belarus.


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## Küsel (Sep 16, 2004)

bob rulz said:


> Yeah...when it was in the USSR...


A lot of regions were better off in the USSR  At least the social and regional gap was not so extrem as nowadays... (even though also a lot of things went wrong in Soviet time)


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## evilbu (Oct 3, 2005)

Like another gentleman or lady said, we call it White Russia in Dutch (well Wit-Rusland thus), I was about sixteen or something when I realised it was called Belarus in English.

I knew that its capital was Minsk, and bordered Ukraine (and thus got a lot of radiation from the Chernobyl accident).

Recent developments in the last years attracted my attention, so I tried to know a lot more.

Now I know that it borders two Baltic states (Latvia and Lithuania), Poland, Ukraine and Russia. Its leader is considered a dictator in the west, the last European dictator actually since Milosevic fell from power.
Belarus is really a buddy of Russia, and I heard that in the Kosovo War, it was considered to let Serbia join in the alliance between Belarus and Russia (Whatever happened to that plan? It sure would have made it a lot harder to bomb Serbs for the USA).

I also read that a huge number of Belarussians actually doesn't live in Belarus. With the recent elections that were considered fraudulous, I saw several documentaries depicting how oppressive the regime is : it's hard to get in the country, people film student protesters to get them kicked out of their university, students have to ask permission before they can leave the countr to go a political conference,...

I also heard there is a lot of fuss about Belarussian women. I once went to an international event where two yong Belarussian ladies were present, and they managed to attract some attention.


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## Küsel (Sep 16, 2004)

I think Bela means white in Russian (also see "Beluga" ), so it's also called "Wyssrussland" in Swissgerman, at least I knew that since I was a child and the USSR was still existing


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## Slodi (Feb 25, 2006)

Minsk - the capital of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko - Master and Commander, 
ex-russian republic, border country to Poland. 
One of the last countries I would go to because of safety.


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## Brad (May 19, 2006)

evilbu said:


> Belarus is really a buddy of Russia, and I heard that in the Kosovo War, it was considered to let Serbia join in the alliance between Belarus and Russia (Whatever happened to that plan? It sure would have made it a lot harder to bomb Serbs for the USA).


Certainly, it would have been more difficult (or impossible ) for the USA to bomb Ugoslavian cities... Ugoslavian parliament (if I'm not mistaken  ) made a decission to sum up to the Union between Russia and Belarus, but it was already late... The bombing had started...


evilbu said:


> With the recent elections that were considered fraudulous.


The elections could be considered fraudulent, because before the elections one could see Likashenko's propaganda mostly...but the people voted for Lukashenko voluntarily.  


Slodi said:


> One of the last countries I would go to because of safety.


True. The country is very safe.  Usually this is a priority of dictatoships...


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Brad said:


> Ugoslavian cities... Ugoslavian parliament


It's 'Yugoslav(ian)' in English  



Brad said:


> True. The country is very safe.  Usually this is a priority of dictatoships...


I thought 'Slodi' was saying that it's NOT safe.


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## Brad (May 19, 2006)

Verso said:


> I thought 'Slodi' was saying that it's NOT safe.


You are right. But as far as criminal situation is concerned, it is a VERY safe country. (Certainly, if you don't deal with politics  )


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

^ Most probably true.


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## khay (Mar 5, 2005)

Brad said:


> Belorussians don't use their Belorussian language, especially in the cities. They prefer speak Russian.


Actually i know one Belarussian guy. He said that they weren't allowed to speak Belarussian at school, only Russian was allowed. So I don't think it's just what they prefer but what they're forced to.
At least he said so.


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## evilbu (Oct 3, 2005)

Brad said:


> You are right. But as far as criminal situation is concerned, it is a VERY safe country. (Certainly, if you don't deal with politics  )


I heard the same about China and North Korea : if you are a foreigner visiting the country, and you DON'T persistently express your opinion, you are quite safe. (I heard China punishes criminal acts against foreigners harder than against Chinese?)


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## Brad (May 19, 2006)

kvl' said:


> Actually i know one Belarussian guy. He said that they weren't allowed to speak Belarussian at school, only Russian was allowed. So I don't think it's just what they prefer but what they're forced to.
> At least he said so.


Both Belorussian and Russian are oficial languages in Belarus. There are special TV channels in Belorussian...
There is a popular musical radio channel, where they put not less than 70% of Belorussian singers.
But in general current oficial policy does not contribute to the Belorussian language development...


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## Slodi (Feb 25, 2006)

Verso said:


> I thought 'Slodi' was saying that it's NOT safe.


That's exactly I meant. In Poland, Belarus is considered as the unsafe country (mostly of political reasons) but probably, Poland is considered the same in there, I guess.


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## F-ian (Oct 29, 2005)

yes I've heard of it but its too far from Asia


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