Belarus

[Used to be broken 143]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1102180.stm

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1102180.stm

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=289433&view=getnewpost <--- Worth looking at time to time imo.

http://charter97.org/en/news/ <---English version of that site

http://www.rferl.org/section/Belarus/152.html <---another decent news source imo

http://www.tut.by/ <---- government controlled yet still has some interesting articles

[peejay 327]

I first got interested in Belarus / Belorussia when I did some research into where my grandparents were born. When I was in college in the 1970's I took an American history course and the instructor assigned us to write a paper on how our ancestors fit into American history. I knew they immigrated from eastern Europe during the Great Wave of American immigration in the early 20th century, but it was a deep dark family secret that the "old country" was in the USSR. I was shocked to learn that when I located their hometown on a map during my research. My grandparents were from a country that was the #1 enemy of America. Of course the Cold War is over now, but at the time I was very anti-Soviet and I had mixed emotions about the fact that my grandparents were from a country that was the #1 enemy of America. After I got past that I began to ask questions to my Belarusian relatives living in the USA. Later I traveled to Belarus to meet my relatives there after Glasnost and the breakup of the USSR. From my travels and questions I learned quite a lot about Belarusian history that is not in the internet links. Now I am quite comfortable and proud of my Belarusian heritage. But I stay out of present day Belarusian politics. Belarus is a part of my heritage, but America is my country. It is up to the Belarusians to decide the country they want. I have no horse in that race.

[slim 1,514]

from a country that was the #1 enemy of America. Of course the Cold War is over now, but at the time I was very anti-Soviet and I had mixed emotions about the fact

Something similar happened to me when I first started dating Russian girls. I grew up with the Wolverines mentality of fighting the Reds if they ever invaded and getting ready for a life in the military training to one day go bear hunting. After the fall of the wall and the pulling back of the curtain, a different game was played. It was still kind of ironic for me that I'd spent my whole young life preparing to fight the Soviets and now, here I was, "engaging" them in a totally different manner.

Can't say I'm upset things turned out the way they did!

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Something similar happened to me when I first started dating Russian girls. I grew up with the Wolverines mentality of fighting the Reds if they ever invaded and getting ready for a life in the military training to one day go bear hunting. After the fall of the wall and the pulling back of the curtain, a different game was played. It was still kind of ironic for me that I'd spent my whole young life preparing to fight the Soviets and now, here I was, "engaging" them in a totally different manner.

Can't say I'm upset things turned out the way they did!

Seeing those statues of Lenin was what unnerved me. There was one right across the street at the ZAGS office from where we got married. After the wedding ceremony Kira told me it was a tradition in her home town for the bride and groom to get their photo taken in front of this statue. I told her this time tradition was being broken, and h*ll would freeze over first before I had my photo taken with a statue of that butcherer. Other than that though...everything went fine that day.

[SMR 368]

Seeing those statues of Lenin was what unnerved me. There was one right across the street at the ZAGS office from where we got married. After the wedding ceremony Kira told me it was a tradition in her home town for the bride and groom to get their photo taken in front of this statue. I told her this time tradition was being broken, and h*ll would freeze over first before I had my photo taken with a statue of that butcherer. Other than that though...everything went fine that day.

Lenin didn't really live long enough to become a "butcherer." Whether or not he would have become one is hard to know. Stalin, of course, was definitely a butcher.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Lenin didn't really live long enough to become a "butcherer." Whether or not he would have become one is hard to know. Stalin, of course, was definitely a butcher.

Agreed Lenin didn't live long enough to become a mass murderer on the same scale that Stalin was, but he was a butcherer none the less.

Here's some links worth looking at. (yes it's wiki but the references are at the bottom of the pages)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin

"Vladimir Lenin"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror

"Red Terror"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheka

"Cheka"

[slim 1,514]

Yeah, but nothing says "I married a MOB" more than pictures in front of Soviet-era statues!

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Yeah, but nothing says "I married a MOB" more than pictures in front of Soviet-era statues!

true that !

Mine isn't a MOB though...unless you count myspace as MOB site.

[slim 1,514]

Mine isn't a MOB though...unless you count myspace as MOB site.

Any woman from FSU married to an American man is a MOB. Period.

It's not about what you think or what you claim, it's about perception.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Any woman from FSU married to an American man is a MOB. Period.

It's not about what you think or what you claim, it's about perception.

I can't argue that.

[Ban Hammer 12,830]

Something similar happened to me when I first started dating Russian girls. I grew up with the Wolverines mentality of fighting the Reds if they ever invaded and getting ready for a life in the military training to one day go bear hunting. After the fall of the wall and the pulling back of the curtain, a different game was played. It was still kind of ironic for me that I'd spent my whole young life preparing to fight the Soviets and now, here I was, "engaging" them in a totally different manner.

Can't say I'm upset things turned out the way they did!

still tough to say which side won, eh?

[slim 1,514]

still tough to say which side won, eh?

My wife will tell you I won. I didn't win an argument or a fight, but since she "made for me privilege be married togeser whis her" I am a winner.

It's hard to say who would've won "the big fight" between the blue and the red. Mutually assured destruction probably would've killed the whole world off. But, you never know. With things going the way they are in the Middle East, we may just be forced to figure it out once and for all. The Soviet Union isn't what it once was, but Russia is no slouch, especially if you consider they could team up with China and/or Iran, India, N. Korea, etc. Nothing like fighting 2 Billion people at once!

[eekee 182]

Russia likes their nice Western goods too much to really team up with those guys.

[slim 1,514]

Russia likes their nice Western goods too much to really team up with those guys.

Sure, but the one "goods" we don't have is soldiers. Those other countries are chock full of able-bodied young men with nothing to do. Many of whom are familiar with AK-47s and various other Soviet-era weapons systems.