31–40 of 241 posts
Technically Belarus and Russia form the Union State of Russia and Belarus. Some speculate that Putin might want to turn this paper union into reality before his term ends and become president of the union. He would avoid neatly term limits for Russian president. https://www.dw.com/en/belarus-rejects-putins-call-for-unific...
Putting aside the realpolitik, after the west completely bungled the post-soviet transition just about everywhere else in a fit of market-worshiping obliviousness, I'd say they owe it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Check out Slovenia for a counterexample. You can do either approach badly or well.
Since when is Slovenia a former soviet state?
It was, however, a stong-man communist dictatorship.
What a profoundly backward perspective. It's the other way around. Belarus was a part of the Russian Empire. So much a part of it, in fact, that the long form of the title of the Russian monarch contained its name. You can't "roll over" something you already own. It wasn't Russia's wars with European states that repeatedly fucked up Belarus. It was Europe's wars with Russia. Napoleon and Hitler were two notable examples - both defeated, but both rolled through Belarus first, killing and raping everything that moved.
I had the chance to visit Belarus last year for a extended period. The capital, Minsk, is by far the cleanest and safest place i have seen anywhere. Putting aside the human right issues, i think the president there has run the country quite well given the circumstances and the post-soviet situation he inherited. Mostly staying out of conflicts, keeping a balance between the big brother to the east and the western Eur…
I'm not sure that is a safe start to an argument that a country is well run. When human rights get suppressed that means people lose the ability to, eg, honestly complain about massive problems or take basic steps to improve their standard of living. Growing an economy at the expense of human rights is kinda stupid. What is the point of making people's lives materially better if the government is simultaneously suppressing their ability live better lives? Pointless and counterproductive busywork.
I can see how a country can be good and have human rights abuses at the same time - most great countries are involved in human rights abuses to some degree - but they can't just be hand-waved at the start. Being a nice place to visit as a wealthy tourist hand having clean streets is not a high bar.
You also inspired me to go and have a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Belarus . I wasn't impressed to read that they have laws where a "change of job and living location will require permission from governors [for 9% of the workforce]". I would call that catastrophically poor management of the economy bordering on actual slavery. So either Wikipedia is misleading me or they are not quite well run.
Does anyone else find the pictures of tractor engines hypnotizing? It's a total antithesis of American or Chinese-for-American manufacturing, where everything is maximal or minimal. Instead everything is "reasonable", a reasonable cost, a reasonable engine efficiency, a design that makes simple sense, parts that aren't optimized to the micron in order to save plastic...it's so refreshing to look at the inside of a ma…
Technically Belarus and Russia form the Union State of Russia and Belarus. Some speculate that Putin might want to turn this paper union into reality before his term ends and become president of the union. He would avoid neatly term limits for Russian president. https://www.dw.com/en/belarus-rejects-putins-call-for-unific...
This qualifies for Sci-Fi I think
No it doesn't. It's by far the most likely outcome going forward.
"Putin’s Retirement Plan Depends on Belarus"
"To retain power, he is positioning himself as the leader of a closer union between Russia and its dependent neighbor."
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-08/putin-...
That is by Leonid Bershidsky, one of the best columnists in the West re Russia. He essentially never strays into conspiracy theories or similar junk.
Does anyone else find the pictures of tractor engines hypnotizing? It's a total antithesis of American or Chinese-for-American manufacturing, where everything is maximal or minimal. Instead everything is "reasonable", a reasonable cost, a reasonable engine efficiency, a design that makes simple sense, parts that aren't optimized to the micron in order to save plastic...it's so refreshing to look at the inside of a ma…
I had my second trip to Minsk last week to work with a local IT company. I was very impressed with the technical skills of the people there. Belarus and Minsk are advanced in many ways (metro with trains every 2 minutes), electric busses (powered by capacitors, not batteries), mobile phone (MTS shop at the airport sells a $9 SIM with unlimited data for a month), Yandex taxis beats Uber, etc, etc. The main downside I…
I was there last year, World of Tanks seems to be a huge thing there too
My Belavia flight back yesterday morning was a World of Tanks themed plane:
- exterior paint and headrests promoted World of Tanks.
- each tabletop had a blueprint of a different tank
- even the pre-takeoff safety briefing was recorded in a World of Tanks style!
See photos here: https://airlinerwatch.com/belavia-and-wargaming-reveal-secon...
I had my second trip to Minsk last week to work with a local IT company. I was very impressed with the technical skills of the people there. Belarus and Minsk are advanced in many ways (metro with trains every 2 minutes), electric busses (powered by capacitors, not batteries), mobile phone (MTS shop at the airport sells a $9 SIM with unlimited data for a month), Yandex taxis beats Uber, etc, etc. The main downside I…
Sorry for the meals - Belarusians love their potatoes. There are some 300+ dishes recorded in Belarus - that it came to be considered the core of the national cuisine.
P.S. Not quite related to the meals, but Belarus bans use of plastic plates in restaurants recently.
https://eng.belta.by/society/view/ban-on-single-use-plastic-...