Dinamo Minsk @ Sibir Novosibirsk
The new team from Belarus visits Siberia for the first time.

SKA St. Petersburg @ Salavat Yulayev Ufa
In the match of the day last year's RSL champions host Gazprom's powerhouse SKA coached by Barry Smith. And yes, Alexander Radulov is playing for Salavat.

Gluecklicherweise sind die Weissrussen unfassbar nett, der Busfahrer machte mir bedeutsam, dass ich bei ihm richtig bin und erklaerte mir im Bus, worauf ich achten muss: Taxifahrer sind boese, weissrussische Frauen sind mehr als nur gut und er drueckte das so schoen aus, dass eine seine Chauvi-Attacken so hinreissend fand, dass sie sich lautstark beschwerte. Zwischendurch erzaehlte er mir auch was ueber Autos und Deutschland und dass das gut ist, das Wort Trabant fiel, verstanden habe ich den Zusammenhang leider nicht. Aber er bliebt nett: An der Haltestelle fragte er dann noch alle Passanten, ob sie mir erklaeren koennten, wie ich zu meinem Wohnheim kaeme. Natascha uebernahm.

Natascha war im selben Bus, kam gerade aus Italien, wo sie auf Kinder aufgepasst hat; nur kam ihr Gepaeck nicht mit und sie konnte mich zum Prospekt Mascherova 80, Wohnheim Nummer 3 bringen. Dabei unterhielten wir uns angeregt auf Englisch-Russisch-Fuchteln, ihre Mutter zahlte sogar noch das Ticket fuer die Strassenbahn und die Gastfreundschaft umschwebte mich von fast allen Seiten.

Im Wohnheim machte ich dann Bekanntschaft mit dem Diensthabenden, der mir Schluessel und viele Tipps mitgab, leider habe ich nur wenige verstanden. In den folgenden Tagen haben wir durch seine lustige Art aber wohl sowas wie Freundschaft geschlossen. Er war auch schon mal in Deutschland, zu was genau gilt es noch herauszufinden.

Das Wohnheim ist besser als erwartet. Wir sind nur zu zweit auf den Zimmern, bisher hat sich erst eine Kakerlake blicken lassen, wir haben tolle Kuehlschraenke, auf der Etage einen dicken Balkon und jetzt erstmal zehn Tage kaltes Wasser - Bauarbeiten. Eindruecke zu Minsk folgen, aber kurz gegen alle Vorurteile: Die Polizei ist nicht omnipraesent, die Platten sind nicht ueberall und bisher ist es nicht nur interessant, sondern auch schoen.

One of the leading atomic physicists in the former Soviet Union, Prof. Vassili Nesterenko has died in Minsk. He was one of the last independet scientists in Belarus and a liquidator during the Chernobyl catastrophe (atomic reactor explosion in 1986). I met him in person in April 2006, in Geseke / Germany, during a Belarussian-German meeting "20 Years of Chernobyl". It was an honour. He was a friend of the "Chernobyl Children" and well known internationally. Here are more informations: Wikipedia

More: Chernobyl: The Main Scientific Reports

regards,

Life-Upgrade.com

This is the original text - HERE

German translation and recapitulation - HERE

regards,

Life-Upgrade.com

It is easy to assume that escalating tensions between Russia and the West could mean an end to the blurry fudges of the post-Cold War years and a recasting of East-West relations into black and white antagonism, with two opposing camps, each surrounded by its own sphere of influence.

Ukraine's leader (R) went to Tbilisi to back President Saakashvili

But look at how the Georgia crisis is being received around Russia's edges. The response is often evasive, and sometimes downright surprising.

Among the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which 20 years ago were constituent parts of the USSR whose loyalty to Moscow was automatic, Russia has won remarkably few endorsements. Some Central Asian states have sent in aid to South Ossetia. But on the whole the response has been decidedly muted.

To be fair, Georgia too has drawn criticism. But gone are the days when Moscow could rely on satellite states to speak up for it. For Russia's leaders to declare that Russia was and always will be the "guarantor of stability" in the Caucasus is now a risky statement that could repel as well as draw regional backing.

Its neighbours are now independent countries whose priority is not to please the Kremlin but turn any crisis to their advantage, or worry about how it might adversely affect them.

Economic interests first

Next door to Georgia in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan's top concern is to keep the pipeline that runs from Baku through Georgian territory to Turkey free from threat of attack.

But President Ilham Aliyev is also apparently wary of aggravating Russia. He has now publically backed Georgia's territorial integrity, but steered clear of more vigorous support of Tbilisi.

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have donated aid for Ossetian refugees

Landlocked Turkmenistan too, with its immense gas fields on the other side of the Caspian Sea, has a lively interest in making sure the Baku pipeline is not disrupted and Georgia remains a stable reliable partner.

It competes as well as collaborates with Russia as an energy supplier. It does not want one of its main outlets threatened.

And beleaguered Armenia, at the southern tip of the Caucasus, has even more reason to be alarmed. Any prolonged conflict in Georgia would disrupt all its supply routes.

Further west and closer to Europe in the "former Soviet space", there has been an even more marked shift in governmental responses.

Tiny impoverished Moldova, on the border between Romania and Ukraine, has its own "frozen conflict" unsolved from Soviet days: the Russian-supported and heavily armed enclave of Trans-Dniester.

So this week Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin pointedly turned to the European Union for help in finding a peaceful way out of that stand-off.

Ukrainian ambivalence

In Ukraine, President Viktor Yushchenko from the very start saw Russia's military intervention in Georgia as an implied threat. Ukraine too is a Nato aspirant, and Russia has frequently warned it that Nato membership is something it will not tolerate.

Yulia Tymoshenko is likely to run in the next election

So President Yushchenko was swift to define himself as the champion of Ukraine's right to join Nato and defy Russian pressure.

Not only did he fly to Tbilisi to offer moral support, he issued a presidential decree to remind Russia that its Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol in the Crimea does, after all, use a Ukrainian port.

In future, he demanded, Russia must give 72 hours' notice before moving its vessels and he once again raised the prospect that Ukraine might not renew its lease for the port when it expires in 2017.

But how Russia's relations with Ukraine might unwind is not straightforward.

The fear has certainly been expressed in Kiev that a restive pro-Russian population in the Crimea might provide a pretext for another Russian military intervention. Russian nationalists who see the Crimea as historically Russian territory would seize any pretext to realise their ambitions, goes the argument.

What is certainly true is that a clash between Moscow and Kiev over the Crimea would probably cleave Ukraine in half and open up a dangerous conflict with widespread repercussions. But a more likely scenario is less dramatic.

Russia has only to wait for a change in Ukrainian politics. President Yushchenko may be a prominent leader but his long term-durability is not guaranteed. Opinion polls put his popularity at under 10%.

With presidential elections due in 18 months, the Kremlin may well reckon it can look for a more reliable partner in his likely opponent and current Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, who has been remarkably quiet on the Georgia crisis.

Mixed signals from Minsk

But perhaps the most interesting response has come from Belarus and its President, Alexander Lukashenko, sometimes described as "Europe's last dictator".

Belarussian police pounced on anti-Russian protestors during the conflict

Only a few years ago Russia was such a close ally, there was talk of the two countries merging, so one might have expected him to back Russia's action in the Caucasus.

But Belarus has had a series of bad-tempered rows with Russia over energy supplies and has recently shown more interest in improving Western contacts.

The initial response from Minsk to Russia's intervention in Georgia was decidedly ambivalent - so much so, that the Russian ambassador there even publicly expressed his displeasure.

President Lukashenko then travelled to Sochi to reassure President Medvedev that Moscow's military operation had been conducted "calmly, wisely and beautifully".

But he took steps to clear the way for better relations with the US and Europe.

In the last few days the final three political prisoners in Belarus have been suddenly released - the beneficiaries, it seems, of an unexpected presidential pardon.

"It's very significant," said Britain's Ambassador to Minsk, Nigel Gould Davies. "For the first time in a decade Belarus does not have any political prisoners."

And watch this space. Whether Belarus is really serious about improving its relations with the West will be tested in September, when it holds parliamentary elections.

Belarus dissident leaves prison

The EU and the US have pushed for Mr Kozulin's release

The former Belarussian opposition leader Alexander Kozulin has left prison and is on his way home to Minsk, his daughter says.

It is not clear whether he has been freed permanently or only so he can attend his father-in-law's funeral.

Mr Kozulin was jailed for five-and-a-half years in 2006 for staging protests against President Alexander Lukashenko.

Mr Lukashenko had defeated Mr Kozulin in an election that international

observers said was severely flawed.

Reports have suggested that Mr Kozulin may have been pardoned.

This month the Social Democratic party stripped Mr Kozulin of the leadership, replacing him with his long-standing rival Anatoly Lenkovich.

Last year he refused President Lukashenko's offer to release him if he left the country.

He was allowed out briefly in February to attend his wife's funeral, but only after a hunger strike that prompted the US and the European Union to push for his release.

Belarus is set for another parliamentary election next month which the president has promised will be free and fair.

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 elections and respect for the democratic process in Belarus. This encouragement, if it comes, will be most effective from Belarus' neighbors: Ukraine, Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania (and via the last three through the EU).

Russia is also a neighbor but it is excluded from the above list as it is inconceivable (maybe I'll be proven wrong) that it would encourage free elections. In fact, it can be reasonably expected that the Russian government will exert the opposite kind of pressure - toward status quo (i.e. Lukashenka's authoritarianism). Given the immense influence Moscow holds with Minsk, it gives that much more reason for the democracies surrounding Belarus to actively engage with Lukashenka.

The projections for change are minimal. For one the opposition is split and fielding candidates is costly.

The opposition is divided into four wings... The opposition in general has found it difficult to meet the cost of running candidates, which is about 10 times higher than in the past. Both Shushkevich and Popular Front leader Lyavon Barcheuski have threatened to boycott the elections...

However, the most ironic reason why little change is expected during this election is that the government...expects to win regardless, even under relatively more relaxed election rules adopted this year.

Belarus is making some efforts to give the appearance of a more democratic election than in the past. This is a calculated risk. Polls suggest that those candidates supporting the policies of Lukashenka have a clear advantage and are also more popular than candidates clearly associated with the opposition (about 50 percent and 18 percent, respectively, in terms of popular support, according to Gallup). Thus, permitting some leeway to opposition candidates in an election that is unlikely to make much difference to the existing power structure seems to be a good way to acquire more international sympathy, particularly from the EU. The acting head of the U.S. Embassy in Belarus, Jonathan Moore, has also said that if the elections are perceived as democratic and fair, the United States may review its current policy toward Belarus, which includes sanctions on the petrochemical company Belnafttakhim and a ban on travel by Lukashenka and his cabinet (www.charter97.org, July 7).

Marples rightly concludes that "...the plethora of different camps does not augur well for the future." A similar conclusion was reached by Anya Loukianova writing about the opposition to Belarus' renewed efforts to go nuclear.

I disagree with Marples on the following: "As with previous election campaigns, there is intense international interest in the nature of the campaign, how democratically it will be conducted, and how opposition candidates will be treated and given access to the official media" (emphasis added).

What intense interest? Yes, among some of the bloggers, area specialists and academics, but by and large this Belarus election may be heading where all the others have gone - nowhere.

I wonder if Mr. Sarkozy, as the current leader of the EU, will do anything to change this?

The German invasion of the Soviet Union in June of 1941 came as a surprise to almost no one...except Josef Stalin.  Stalin, hoping against hope that his pact with Hitler would hold up, ignored numerous warnings from the British, the Americans, and his own spy agencies.

So it probably goes without saying that Stalin's armies were largely caught flat-footed in when the steamroller of the German Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe started flattening Soviet ground- and air-space.  Within 5 days, the German Panzers of Army Group Centre had taken Minsk, an advance of nearly 200 miles.

The next major target for the Germans was Smolensk.  Located almost exactly in the middle of the 440 miles that separates Minsk from Moscow, it was a logical target for the German Army because of the roads that lay beyond...roads that led directly to Moscow and certain victory.

The Russians had been decimated in Minsk, losing three complete armies, and fought even more desperately to hold Smolensk.  A massive Soviet tank attack west of Smolensk that began on July 6th was smashed almost to oblivion by German air-power.  Semyon Timoshenko, the hero of the Winter War, struggled to slow the enemy, but the Germans were moving so quickly that the Soviets couldn't retreat fast enough to build any kind of defensive line.

The battle for Smolensk began on July 10th and, by the 15th, the city was almost completely surrounded by Wehrmacht tanks and soldiers, threatening yet another 3 Soviet armies with encirclement.  Ferocious Soviet counterattacks held off the German armies long enough for a massive escape to take place.  And then the pocket closed and Smolensk was trapped.  On August 5, 1941, the organized fighting would end and Smolensk was in German hands.

But the Germans were exhausted from nearly 7 weeks of constant fighting over 400 miles of territory.  Equipment was broken, supplies were low, and ammunition was in short supply.  So Army Group Centre was halted, and here a couple of decisions were made would later have a huge effect on the campaign.  First, the halt ended up lasting 2 months, which meant the final drive on Moscow would not start until October.  Second, Hitler redirected an entire Panzer Army to the north towards Leningrad.

Germany was now starting to experience the factors that would eventually cost them the war:  extremely long supply lines, fighting along way too big a front, and the inability to destroy the Soviet armies after trapping them.  But there was also Adolf Hitler, who began scattering his forces against numerous objectives, rather than focusing on the one major target he needed.  Moscow.

On July 3rd, the "official" independence  celebrations were taking place in the Belorussian capital Minsk. The President Alexander Lukashenko was present. Just after midnight a bomb exploded injuring fifty people. Most countries have been subject to some form of terrorist attack, but this was the country's first.

So what is going on?

Since 1994, Alexander Lukashenko has ruled the country with increasingly authoritarian measures. The country became independent in 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the Soviet post-war years, Belarus became one of the most prosperous parts of the USSR, but with independence came economic decline.

The following is from the BBC News website:

Alexander Lukashenko, often referred to as Europe's last dictator, was declared to have won a third term as president at elections in March 2006 following a vote which Western observers said was fundamentally flawed.

President Lukashenko takes pride in his authoritarian style

They reported widespread harassment of opposition supporters and overwhelming media bias. Official results indicated that Mr Lukashenko had won over 80% of the vote.

The EU and US condemned the election while Russian President Vladimir Putin sent congratulations(What a surprise). The EU also banned the president and a number of ministers and officials from entering member countries. Mr Lukashenko's assets in the EU and US are frozen.

A former state farm director, Mr Lukashenko was first elected president in 1994, following his energetic performance as chairman of the parliamentary anti-corruption committee.

A 1996 referendum gave the president greatly increased powers at the expense of parliament and extended his term by two years. He won a further five years in office in 2001 presidential elections condemned as undemocratic by Western observers. Another referendum in October 2004 supported lifting the two-term limit on Mr Lukashenko's rule, allowing him to stand again in 2006.

Over the years, several opposition politicians who might have provided leadership have disappeared or been imprisoned. Insulting the president, even in jest, carries a prison sentence.

The president remains defiant in the face of Western pressure for change. He has dismissed all possibility of revolutions such as those which brought an end to old-style regimes in Georgia and neighbouring Ukraine. He insists that he will preserve stability "no matter what it costs".

Lukashenko has sort closer ties with Russia than the EU and the "west", but it would appear that Russia and Belarus have grown apart since they quarreled over energy prices last year, energy that Belarus is dependent on.

Belarus refuses to release former presidential candidate Alexander Kozulin, imprisoned on charges of organising protests against the 2006 election. Currently Belorussian Christians are being arrested for attempts to express their views freely.

There was a program on BBC2 in the UK which drew my attention to Belarus where a woman was arrested and imprisoned for five days for allegedly having an EU flag in her rucksack. The media has been suppressed to the point that the only media is owned by the state.

Back to the explosion. Who did it?

The opposition feared that it would be blamed for the explosion, which will provoke a crackdown which has already begun with the KGB(Believe it or not) already reeling in opposition members, although there are reports that they were quickly released.

You could possibly say that the device that created the explosion was planted by others with the sole intention of blaming the opposition. However, there is also talk of a power struggle within the ruling elite. Quite a few officials privately admit that they are fed up with the president and the isolation he has imposed on the country. But they are afraid of him. President Lukashenko controls the army and the police, who are very loyal to him.

Lukashenko has sacked Security Council chief Viktor Sheiman, a highly influential ally from when the president came to power in 1994 and linked by Western countries to the 1990s disappearance of opposition figures. Presidential chief of staff Gennady Nevyglas has also been fired, whether this is the president dealing with potential political opponents or is simply removing personnel who are potential stumbling blocks when dealing with the western powers...

So you may wonder: why would Lukashenko want to possibly appear friendlier to the EU/West?

The only possible answer I have got so far is from Stanislav Belkovsky, an independent Russian analyst and head of Moscow's National Strategy Institute who said:

"Lukashenko is doomed to trying to befriend the West as he has come to the conclusion that Russia cannot be an ally or defend him,  But the bomb has nothing to do with this. It was a sign of the struggle for power in Lukashenko's entourage."

An awful lot would have to change in Belarus before the west would even consider improving relations, change I would suspect Lukashenko would be extremely reluctant to carry out.

The earliest references to Minsk are from the year 1067. Minsk became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1242 and in 1569 it became the capital of the Minsk Voivodship in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. By the end of the 18^th century, Minsk was annexed by Russia as a result of the Second Partition of Poland.

The industrial infrastructure of Minsk was severely damaged during the Word War I and II, but once the wars were over Minsk was rebuilt and turned into a major producer of trucks, tractors, motorcycles, bicycles, and similar. Minsk is today home to over 250 factories and plants and about 40 percent of the work force is employed by the manufacturing sector.

Minsk is also the major cultural centre of Belarus with no less than 139 libraries. There are also 11 theatres, 16 museums and 20 cinemas.

Around Minsk, you will find the type of mixed forest that is typical for most parts of Belarus, and you can also find forested regions within the city. Some of the forests are used as parks, e.g. the Chelyuskinites Park.

In 2006, KGB members also were in Germany, during the Belarussian-German meeting "Tschernobyl mahnt 2006" in Geseke (German federal state Nordrhein-Westfalen). So it's hardly possible for Belarussian people to talk about what they think, when KGB is with you. I've spotted some of them. There was also the Belarussian foreign minister and Dictator Lukashenkos propaganda chief.

More Belarus impressions [1] [2] [3] [old Belarus 1944] or [Chernobyl-Radiation and Belarus]

regards,

Life-Upgrade.com

And, don't miss the eye witness report about the 2006 Demonstrations.

And now, more impressions from Belarus / Minsk:

And this is me infront of the National Library in Minsk (it's all mine!!!):

Of course, the Government Palace photos are from 2006, when construction was still going on infront of it. Next to this building for Belarussian dictator is the beautiful red church, in whichs cellar, people met in 1986 to inform each one about the explosion in the atomic reactor. A thing not many people know - and I've got this information from the BAG Tschernobyl Germany.

Life-Upgrade.com

But this time, it's all about an independet report from a person I know, who lives in Minsk. She was at the October Square in Minsk, during the brutal abatement of the peaceful April 2006 demonstrations by Belarussian Omon Police. Recently a bomb exploded there, in July 2008 - read about it HERE. Or have a look at the old Minsk from 1944 instead.

Here are the photos - plus an authentic report:

Eye witness - Demonstration in Minsk April 2006

I'm writing to inform you about important things which have happened in my country and with me these days. I should say that I lost all my scepticism during the last week. I couldn't believe that so many people are ready [b]to show their negation to the regime of Lukashenko. The hole week from the 19th - 24th of march people came to the October square to demonstrate their wishes. And all these days a group of activists spent their day and night time in the tends in front of the Republic Palace.

]It was the 24th of March, 3a.m. when the activists were arrested. Belorussion state TV channels told that these people where sitting in the tends drinking alcohol, taking drugs and doing sex, all together. Belorussion state journalists found there lots of empty syringes and porno-magazines. Among these people was my friend from Gomel who got into the prison for 10 days. She is a professional sportsman and she came to Minsk to show that people from other cities of our country support minskers. But I'm not sure that this is the end of her story.
So in the morning, March,25 I came to the central park with my sister and two more friends from Gomel, where people decided to meet asking for the freedom of prisoners.

It was a sunny day. Common people of different age and status came to the demonstration with flowers and colorful balloons. People smiled. We listened to Milinkevich and his wife, Kozulin also had a word (these two men pretended to be a president of RB). After that people decided to go to the walls of the prison. All people moved down the streets of Minsk very organized, no one destroyed anything. But when we reach Derzinskij avenue the speed of the movement became lower. I couldn't understand what happens. We had to round the coner or to cross the street. My friend Alex and I decided to cross the street to know everything. And when we appeared in the middle of the road I saw a rank of millitians who were making specific noise with their cudgels to frighten us.

I looked behind me and saw hundred of people who didn't want to run away. They had no weapon but they wanted to fight. I went straight on making photos. But when I understood that the millitians would be near me in a few seconds, honestly to say I lost courage. By that moment my sister was near me. We climbed up on the hill. Millitia climbed up too, to catch people, but they didn't beat us, because of my big camera they thought I was a journalist.
I'm sending you photos. You'll understand everything.

I saw with my own eyes how millitians threw the smoke bomb and trampled down a man who died in the hospital in the next few hours. And on the next day state TV told me that the opposition didn't know how to use the real bombs with the help of which they wanted to heart millitians. Can you imagine this?
Finally they let us go. There were too many foreign journalists. But if they wanted they could shoot all of us. They met us on the street which was surrounded by the hills and very high fences.
The leader of the demonstration Kozulin was arrested. One man died.

The next hour after that, millitians were catching young people with dirty boots and non uniform stile and took them into the prison. The boy-friend of my sister Denis was among them. He even wasn't on the demonstration. He came with his friends in the center to drink bear. Millitia didn't like his wear stile. You ask me why? When Lukashenko show Denis on TV, all his electorate, old people will agree that Denis with his bold head, tattoos and big black boots is a real extremist.
It's clear that Lukashenko will stay for the next 4 years. I hope, it'll be his latest.

PHOTOS:

We should never forget, that Dictator Lukashenko is a criminal - even German Television (Channel ZDF) called him a criminal in 2006. All the best to the Belarussian friends. Old Belarussian people call Lukashenko "Our second Chernobyl". Why? Have a look HERE

Life-Upgrade.com

Irina was our third exchange daughter and is my party girl. I think it took her all of thirty minutes before she was questioning the location of the local discos. Before her arrival in to the United States, she had already work as a photo model, posing for a magazine spread on wedding fashion.

Irina’s home town is Minsk, Belarus and she was an exchange student in the United States for the 1999-2000 school year. Irina came to the United States as part of the Freedom Support Act, now known as the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program. She returned to spend a summer in the United States on a work program in 2003, and I spent an awesome weekend in Minsk during June of 2005; I am making plans to return in 2009. Irina is currently working for a advertising firm in Minsk.

I took this picture of Irina in a restaurant located in the old Jewish section of Minsk. Once a large part of Belorussian culture, few Jews live in Minsk today. At the turn of the 20th century, Jews made up approximately fifty percent of the population of Minsk; In 1999, that percentage was less than one percent. During World War II, one in four Belorussians perished. For a better understanding of this statistic, make a list of everyone in your family and all your friends, then cross-out every fourth name.

WASHINGTON – Texan Phil Gramm handed John McCain a huge headache Thursday by calling America a "nation of whiners" whose economic complaints are mostly "mental."

Original DVD cover.

"Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I strongly disagree," Mr. McCain said, trying to tamp down the problem caused by his longtime friend, who holds a doctorate in economics and taught the subject at Texas A&M before moving to Congress.

In a campaign in which the economy is the top issue, Democrats pounced on the comment. They said Mr. McCain is ill-informed on economics and out of touch with the struggles of ordinary Americans.

"I guess what he meant was, it's a figment of your imagination, these high gas prices," Barack Obama told supporters in Fairfax, Va.

...snip...

The former senator's suggestion that much of Americans' economic pain and uncertainty is psychosomatic came in an interview with the conservative Washington Times. "You've heard of mental depression. This is a mental recession," he told the paper. "We have sort of become a nation of whiners. ... You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline."

Mr. Gramm, a budget hawk in Congress who's known Mr. McCain for decades, played a key role in rescuing the campaign a year ago.

...snip...

Asked if he still would consider Mr. Gramm for Treasury secretary or another top administration post, he said, "Senator Gramm would be in serious consideration for ambassador to Belarus, although I'm not sure the citizens of Minsk would welcome that."

It was probably a joke, but he never cracked a smile.

Then Shecky McCain added, "I'll be here the whole week. Tip your waitress. Try the veal." He thinks that tipping a waitress will solve the economic crisis.

The fact that Mr. McCain's headache came from Mr. Gramm was a bonus for Democrats, who have been pointing to recent news reports tying some of the Gramm legislative legacy, including banking deregulation, to the mortgage crisis, the Enron debacle and other problems.

...snip...

Mr. Gramm didn't respond to an interview request placed through aides at UBS, the Swiss banking firm where he is vice chairman. But he called the Washington Times on Thursday to clarify he wasn't criticizing the public. Rather, he was faulting "American leaders who whine instead of lead. ... Certainly too many members of Congress and the Barack Obama campaign fall into the category of whiners."

Of course it's the fault of members of Congress and the Obama campaign! It's not like Chimpy and his war that costs $5,840 per household, $2,147 per person, and $341.4 million per day had anything to do with it! You know, that war that your buddy, Captain Underpants, wants to continue.

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 Scientists in an article "Belarus takes a second look at nuclear energy."

That's worrying. Not only should this bother Belarus' neighbors, but this is a major concern for its citizens who in the aftermath of Chernobyl's (Chornobyl) explosion - on April 26, 1986 - saw 23% of the country affected by the nuclear fall-out.

Two decades after the accident, the majority of the Belarusian people still don't want nuclear power--28.3 percent approved of the nuclear plant project and 46.7 percent disapproved, according to a 2005 country-wide government poll DOC.

The three sites under consideration for the future nuclear plant are near Russia, Lithuania and Poland, in Mogilyov (2) and Grodno (1).

Loukianova provides the details:

Belarus' authoritarian president Aleksandr Lukashenko is seeking to build a 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant to reduce the country's reliance on imported energy sources, particularly Russian natural gas. His government has indicated that the plant, expected to cost $4 billion, will consist of two generation III water-cooled, water-moderated reactors.

Aside from ignoring the public sentiment which is highly against nuclear power plant construction, Lukashenko's media campaign is shocking for its cynicism:

His public-relations campaign has centered on the idea that the reactors would be safer than those of Belarus' heavily nuclear-reliant neighbors--Ukraine, Lithuania, and Russia.

Lukashenko's insistence on going at it alone is puzzling. He hopes to raise the funding from international institutions and some friendly sponsor states, but $4 billion dollars is a lot of money, and the estimate is no doubt on the lower end of the final cost.

Perhaps recogmizing the volatility of the subject, Minsk is paying attention to the mood of its population. Here is how the regime has attempted to manage public opinion:

Oddly, although Lukashenko could move forward with his nuclear agenda without public consent, his government has carefully monitored public opinion on the issue. Data from the 2005 poll on the issue [see previously cited analysis DOC] has given the government clues about how to tailor its message in order to preempt and co-opt potential public opposition. Therefore, it's no surprise that the government has repeatedly stressed IAEA support for the project--polling indicates that the Belarusian public trusts the information provided by the agency. Similarly, as polls have indicated that the public trusts scientists, Lukashenko has sought to actively (and bitterly) rebut anti-nuclear comments from Belarusian scientists opposed to his nuclear plans.

Loukianova is right: unless an organized front opposing Lukashenko's nuclear ideas emerges, Belarus and its neighbors in Warsaw, Kyiv, Moscow, Riga, and Vilnus may soon find a new nuclear reactor in the region that is based on a Soviet design and ran by a government unaccountable to its people.

During election in 2006 - the Government installed these patriotic "For Belarus" Propaganda. I tried to buy the postcard edition - but there was none. Something dictator Lukashenko has forgotten (plus human rights and democratic elections):

These photos are all copyright by Life-Upgrade.com

This is the KGB, in Minsk (front view, next to the Government Palace). I also was at the rear entry with it's surveillance camera above the double-door out of wood. People say: Siberia is not far away from there:

The Square of the Eternal Frame in Minsk, plus some military exercises (they were not amused being shot, but hey! It's a free country ... NOT!):

And the White Lake near Luninetz (Caesium 137 area), during the time I was taking a bath there, a cow terrorized the people while sunbathing - very funny (no, no cow photo available):

Until next time, greetings to all Belarussians!

Life-Upgrade.com

Voglio andare a Minsk. PRIMA di diventare mamma. Forse.

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They are from my great-aunt who worked as a nurse in the Jewish Ghetto in Minsk, at the front of the War. She is now 88 years old.

The first one shows the Independence Square in Minsk / 1944, where on July 4th 2008 a bomb exploded and injured 37 people - More HERE . There were also the demonstrations in 2006.

On now some other impressions from Minsk in the winter of 1944:

German Nazi soldiers on their escape from the Russian army:

You can see my great-aunt between the German soldiers:

More impressions:

Some other impressions from the nurses bureau, although wounded and dead people were lying around outside, and a merciless winter, during the last perios of World War II - there were still these moments:

My great-aunt was forced to flee but came into Russian imprisonment and then into U.S. imprisonment.

And she would like to visit Minsk again. I've been there five times and so I can show her photos, stories and other impressions. I've been on a visit at the History Workshop near the former Jewish Ghetto in Minsk. HERE is some information from the IBB website

regards,

Life-Upgrade.com

So, this book is up to date. Today Belarussian Government tries "to end" Chernobyl (with international atomic industry support) - have a look HERE , even the official radiation map the Belarussian Health Ministry made is now forbidden. More on this issue comes today on my blog. For now have look inside of the Main Scientific Reports. It's about the situation, the problems, actions, state programs, existing programs, plans for the future, major problems of minimizing and overcoming the Chernobyl consequences, aftereffects, the role of science, public health situation in Belarus, low radiation, risks, rising rate of thyroid cancer, the dynamics of congenital and hereditary pathologies in Belarus after the Chernobyl catastrophe, perception of radiation risk and it's effect on peoples lives in Chernobyl-affected areas, atomic power development and prospects, social aspects of the international humanitarian cooperation from the the record of the Belarussian Charitable Foundation "For the Children of Chernobyl". Here is the cover:

And now two excerpts from the MSR papers:

This excerpt is from V. Nesterenko - Dr. Prof, Director of the Institute of Radiation Security Belarusian Academy of Sciences. This section is about the old legislations on radiation protection - which are still in force, in the U.S., UK and France. It's about the 30 km zone around Chernoby - the no-go area. Nesterenko says in this excpert, that the levels of radiation are still dangerous for the population at 100 - 150 km distance from the reactor. Also the food 150 - 200 km from the reactor is still contaminated. This is what Belarusian Government and the IAEA today ignore. Instead they want the people to live there, it's called the CORE / ETHOS program: More on that HERE

The next excerpt is from David R. Marples (Memo wordpress.tekknorg: I met him in Minsk, April 2006) - University of Alberta, Canada. It's about the RBMK Chernobyl reactor design flaws and the suicide of the leader of the Soviet delegation to the IAEA:

Those are the people wo were cited in the book:

I. Rolevich - Deputy Minister for Emergency Situations and Protection of Population from the Consequences of the Chernobyl Catastrophe, Republic of Belarus.

V. Nesterenko - Dr. Prof, Director of the Institute of Radiation Security Belarusian Academy of Sciences.

E. Konoplya - Academican, Director of Radiobiology Institute, Belarusian Academy of Sciences; People's Deputy of the Supreme Soviet.

I. Dobyshevskaya - Minister, Minstry of Health, Republic of Belarus.

N. Krysenko - Deputy Minister, Ministry of Health, Republic of Belarus.

I. Zhakov - Dr.,Prof., Chief Radiology Specialist, Ministry of Health, Republic of Belarus.

V. Stezhko - Head of the Department on Medical Consequences of the Chernobyl Catastrophe, Ministry of Health, Republic of Belarus.

A. Okeanov - Dr., Director of Belarusian Medical Management Technology Communication Center, Ministry of Health, Republic of Belarus.

E. Burlakova - Dr., Biochemical Physics Institute Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.

G. Lazyuk - Dr., Director of the Scientific Research Institute of Inborn Genetic Diseases, Ministry of Health Republic of Belarus.

D. Nikolaev - Ph.D in Biology, Chief Scientific Researcher, Scientific Research Institute of Inborn Genetic Diseases, Ministry of Health Republic of Belarus.

I. Novikova - Ph.D, Scientific Researcher Scientific Research Institutte of Inborn Genetic Diseases, Ministry of Health Republic of Belarus.

Eugeny Babosov - Academican, Professor on Philosophy, Director of Sociologiy Institute, Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

David R. Marples - University of Alberta, Canada.

This is the number for ordering, I don't know if it is still in stock: ISBN 958-6194-26-1

The Third International Congress "The World After Chernobyl" is organized by the Belarussian Charitable Fund "For The Children Of Chernobyl" (Memo wordpress.tekknorg: I know the people of this Fund, they are very good friends of mine) in collaboration with the Federal Association of Chernobyl Initiatives (Germany - Memo wordpress.tekknorg: I also know the Chairman - this is the Website BAG Tschernobyl Deutschland), the International Educational Centre (Dortmund - Minsk) and thanks to the support of state and non-governmental organizations in the Republic of Belarus Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Europe, Asia and North-America.

More HERE [1] and HERE [2]

Life-Upgrade.com

Below the stage of an open air concert at the Independence Square a bomb exploded and injured 37 persons. No one was killed - according to Minister Naumow. On July 4th it is Independence Day - also in Belarus, since 1990.

More HERE

Is this a new era of radical protest against dictator Lukashenko?

At the same time the Parliament campaign begins, in which the Belarussians vote for a new Parliament. This time, Lukashenko does not exclude opposition politicians. Nice, but if you candidate as an opposition candidate you can easily lose your job. If you protest against the Government in public, as a Belarussian man / woman - you can get 6 months in jail.

Since 1996 not a single ballot in Belarus was accepted as a democratic ballot. More HERE

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Remember the brutal abatement of the peaceful 2006 protests, also at the Independence Square.

* * *

E’ stato reso noto stamane il programma della visita ufficiale in Bielorussia, già annunciata, del cardinale Tarcisio Bertone, segretario di Stato vaticano, che si tratterrà nell’ex Repubblica sovietica per cinque giorni. Il porporato giungerà nella capitale bielorussa, alle 18 di mercoledì prossimo 18 giugno, dove all’aeroporto di Minsk, sarà accolto dalle autorità ecclesiastiche e civili. In serata la visita alla sede della Caritas diocesana.

Giovedì in mattinata, l’atteso incontro con il Metropolita ortodosso di Minsk e Sluck, Filaret, Esarca patriarcale di tutta la Bielorussia; quindi i colloqui con il presidente del Comitato per gli Affari religiosi e le Minoranze etniche del Consiglio dei Ministri, Guljako, e con il ministro degli Esteri, Martynov. Nel pomeriggio la Lectio Magistralis al mondo della cultura, ai docenti ed agli studenti dell’Università Statale bielorussa, sul tema “Fede e ragione: parlare di Dio all’uomo di oggi”. Poi la visita alla comunità greco-cattolica e l’appuntamento al Teatro Nazionale di Balletto, dove sarà in scena “La Creazione del Mondo”.

Venerdì al mattino, l’incontro con la Conferenza episcopale bielorussa, e a seguire con il presidente della Repubblica Lukasenko, per poi partecipare al pranzo offerto dal ministro degli Esteri. Nel tardo pomeriggio, nella Cattedrale di Pinsk - città a sudovest di Minsk - l’incontro con il cardinale Kazimierz Świątek e la recita dei Vespri.

Sabato, al mattino a Grodno, la celebrazione della Santa Messa nella Cattedrale e l’incontro con i sacerdoti e i religiosi; al pomeriggio a Minsk, la benedizione della prima Pietra della chiesa di S. Giovanni Battista e l’incontro con i giovani.

Domenica mattina, l’incontro con la comunità parrocchiale, nella chiesa dei Santi Simone ed Elena; e poi la deposizione di una corona di fiori in piazza della Vittoria; quindi solenne celebrazione della Santa Messa nella cattedrale di Minsk. Alle 12.45 la conferenza stampa, prima del pranzo con i vescovi ed il visitatore apostolico per i fedeli greco-cattolici. Infine la partenza alle 18 dallo stesso aeroporto della capitale e il rientro a Roma.

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