Back in the Byelorussian SSR

The Soviet Union never really died in Belarus:

Being in Minsk this week is like being back in the USSR.

At the giant Palace of the Republic, 2,500 delegates are attending a lavish Soviet-style congress.

Among them are tractor drivers and priests, factory directors and soldiers.

They are here to take part in the All-Belarussian People's Assembly. Their mission: to adopt a new five-year plan for the country, and to heap praise on their president - Alexander Lukashenko.
[...]
Large congresses are not the only communist-era icon that President Lukashenko has revived. He has restored, too, the Belarussian flag and anthem from Soviet times; the command economy and the police state.

For the last 12 years, he has ruled Belarus with an iron hand, gaining a reputation in the West for being "Europe's last dictator". (via InstaPundit)

Last Sunday's New York Times Magazine had a good piece on the small but brave Belarus democracy movement. (via Let it Bleed)

Posted by damian at March 4, 2006 01:52 PM | TrackBack