br23 blog - minsk, belarus

On Saturday we visited Lobkowicz’s castle near Prague, saw the original paintings of Lucas Cranach, Rubens, Breugel, and many other famous painters, including unique paintings of Spanish artists from 15th and 16th century. Walking through the castle rooms I felt awed and even subdued by the weight of this centuries-old art and European civilization. And […]

Ze Germans are still pressuring Czechs about “bad treatment” of Germans during World War Two and apparently are planning to engage in WWII revisionism:
Even before a new Czech government has been constituted, prominent German politicians are exerting pressure on Prague. They are demanding the indictment of former members of the Czechoslovakian resistance against Nazi-occupation. The […]

Good news for RuSSian Nazis and imperialists. Sky Europe (the largest Central European low-cost airline) and “Novy Smichov” (one of the largest shopping malls in Czech Republic) are vouching their full support for Russian imperialism. Here’s the proof of endorsment:

(full-size screenshot)
The “new” map of Europe was spotted at the information kiosk at the main entrance […]

More than a year ago Radio Free Europe made a public announcement that RFE/RL headquarters are to be moved from Prague’s center to a different location, away from the Old Town. And recently Czech government announced that they are giving a gift of one million dollars to the radio to be spent on the relocation […]

• Belarus bids bye-bye to Kazakhstan
“If Belarus keeps playing this well, they sure won’t take other teams by surprise anymore. The men from Minsk have made it to the Qualifying Round for the second straight year. With a 7-1 rout of Kazakhstan Wednesday night at Riga Arena, Belarus wrapped up the second seed in Group […]

Apparently, I was not the only one upset and saddened about the fact that Lukashenka disgraces and dishonors Skaryna’s medal, the highest award in Belarus, by giving it to second-rate Russian pop-singers and anti-Belarusan Russian politicians. Today there were two small rallies in Vilnia (Vilnius) and in Prague, with the message “Skaryna’s medal should be […]

Black spot is a death threat among pirates made of a black spot or mark on a scrap of paper with more specific detail sometimes written on the other side, referred to in the story Treasure Island:
`Thunder!’ he cried. `A week! I can’t do that: they’d have the black spot on me by then. The […]

A Czech reporter from the popular newspaper “Mlada Fronta Dnes” Jan Rybar that was beaten up in Minsk, 200 meters from October square, told his story to RFE/RL Belarus service today. He thinks he “underestimated the dangers” of covering the protests on October square: he was attacked several hundred meters away from the square, in […]

A former president of Czech Republic Vaclav Havel (who gets invited to the most exclusive political and social events all over the planet, by top politicians and royalty alike) was denied entry by the Belarusan embassy in Prague today when he attempted to personally hand over a petition condemning undemocratic and non-free elections in Belarus. […]

Since Alexander Lukashenka banned exit polls in Belarus, and since the official votes are massively falsified and no one even counted the ballots, there’s no way to know how people of Belarus actually voted on March 19.
Well. Except for exit polls abroad, at the embassies. You can get a general picture of the scale of […]