Contrary to what I had thought, Yushchenko announced tonight that he would propose Yanukovich’s candidacy for the prime minister’s post. I listened to his emotional speech, and my heart sank as he spoke.
Theoretically, he will try to unite the nation and reconcile the east-west divide which had put the Ukrainian parliamentarians, if not the entire nation, to a standstill. But will it work? Does it mean that the Orange Revolution is officially over and can be declared a failure? But most importantly, how bad will it play along the Belarusian regime? And will our opposition draw some important conclusions from the Ukrainian dilemma? If Yanukovich and Yushchenko had guts to become allies, shouldn’t Milinkevich and Kozulin have done the same? Or maybe fragile unities, like the Orange one, eventually lead to disintegration and political failure, and Belarusian opposition leaders should be cautious whom they befriend. The discussion is open.

Today Yushchenko may dissolve the parliament. He announced that the round table talks did not yield a result – Universal of National Unity was not signed. The Ukrainian president is going to address the nation later in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Wolny, a Belarusian American blogger, found a striking similarity between Tymoshenko and Mary J. Blige. Seems like she - Yula- will have a second chance to become a Ukrainian prime minister.

AC is on, but I slightly feel the heat penetrating through the half-opened window. It is extremely hot on the East Coast now, but definitely this heat is nothing like the pressure Partnership leaders must be feeling now, as the closed trial continues.
The news came that the prosecutor demanded a three-year prison term for Mikola Astrejka and two years for Enira Branickaja, Alaksandr Shalajka, and Cimoch Dranchuk.
Covertness of the trial is appalling. Not even relatives of the defendants are let in.
Charter97.org published a selection of pictures. Two of them caught a glimpse of Enira and Cimoch.

Today Belarus should have celebrated the annulled Independence Day. 16 yeas back, Belarus became a sovereign state, as the soviet occupation of our country had ended. But unlike the northern neighbors, our nomenclature was too indecisive to embrace the new challenges – Europeanization, building up democracy and free market economy. The Belarusian Popular Front, so instrumental in achieving the sovereignty, failed to become the dominant political force in the country. But Belarusians were also fed up with corrupt and feeble Kebich’s government.

Lukashenka surfed up on the wave of civil dissatisfaction with the status quo. And it was he who rescinded the Independence Day on the pretext that the real independence was given to our country when we were liberated from the nazi occupation and not when the USSR collapsed. However, our nation did not become free in 1945. One occupation was followed by another. Personally, this resulted in emigration of some of my relatives having to flee from the soviet persecution.

In a way, I feel that the occupation of Belarus continues. Lukashenko government has alienated itself from our national culture, history so much that it resembles a junta basing their actions not on our state interests but on their personal enrichment strategies. Or sometimes they just seem to be on a short leash tugged by Moscow. I believe that once this regime is over, we’ll be able to celebrate a real Independence Day, which will come pretty soon. I hope…

The news just came that Milinkevich’s car had been stopped by Polatsk road police. The car was searched and is now being taken to Polatsk police department. Together with Alaksandar Milinkevich, the following are in the car - his wife, Inna Kulej; press secretary Paval Mazhejka; and BPF VP Alaksej Janukievich. They had been on the way to see Paval Sieviaryniec, a youth leader who is currently serving his corrective labor prison term in Maloje Sitna, a village near Polatsk.
UPDATE: Released.

A booze-related death happened on the first night of July in Maloje Sitna. Two guys, who had come for the weekend, drank in a village club – spirit “maksimka” was sold at the disco bar – and decided to race each other on motorbikes. A 29-year-old Polatsk resident ran over a female pedestrian who had worked at a local timber mill. The girl’s life was fortunately saved, but the drunken rider was less lucky – he was transported back home in a coffin.

Right you are if you thought that the villagers did not quit drinking after the accident. Such a death does not scare the local amateurs of “maksimka” – they are much more afraid of a sober life.

“To drink or nor to drink?” – this is out of the question for majority of Sitna residents. The paradigm is different: “How much?” “With whom?” “To what?” “On what occasion?” And finalizing this rhetorical line, comes death in the finale – poisoning, drunken brawl, arson, intoxication, suicide.

“Where are the authorities?” you might exclaim.

They see to the very root of the issue.

Turning citizens into drunkards is a highly profitable business. Apart from economic gains, “alcoholization” of the nation assures its passivity. Booze drowns protest sentiments – an employee had been spotted overdrinking, and boss could evaporate his courage by threatening to fire him for alcohol abuse. This guarantees calm and dozed conformity to the foggy reality. Workers scarcely reach the retirement age – the village is gradually dying out. The economy is similar to that in the Third Reich. Thus, apart from ice hockey arenas and the National Library, the current epoch will hand down a legacy of the great alcoholism of the millions, hampering any chance for reforms.
[…]
The guy who died in Sitna was of my age. According to sociological studies, such folks – even in villages – support the opposition. However, they drink a lot.

I have seen this paradox throughout the country – in Minsk. Vitebsk, Maloje Sitna. Democracy supporters drink – students, small business owners, intelligentsia, local bureaucrats, etc. They say they do it out of despair. Of course, you can envision it as a cool way to express your protest. You take a bottle neck, holding your booze like a grenade – screw you, scoundrels!.. However, numbers suggest that such drinking is the best way to foster the regime. Consider this – our educated, qualified, cultured, and predominantly city-born cohorts regularly consume not a home-brew or imported whisky, but they buy state-manufactured vodka. This product costs peanuts to our Beldzyarzhharchpram, but it brings the biggest portion of budget revenue to the state. And now let us count. Let us take 3-4 million people who usually back opposition candidates and multiply them by 10-15 liters of pure alcohol, which, according to statistics, is annually drunk by an average Belarusian. The cost of producing those 10-15 liters is about 400 roubles, while the state sells one half-liter bottle of vodka for 5-20 thousand roubles… Thus, by drinking, Belarusian democracy supporters subsidize roughly half a billion dollars to the regime.

Dear democrats, Europeans, nationalists, businessmen! I guess it’s enough to expect liberation from dictatorship via the Russian pipeline. Don’t you think it’s time to leverage changes by means of a comparable pressure?

Attention! I suggest that all opponents of the authoritarian rule should give up drinking until the full capitulation of the regime. Conscious Belarusians and disciplined party members should spend the funds they allocate to alcoholic beverages on issuing 10 million copies of anti-alcohol leaflets (it has been counted: the collected sum could cover the costs of full-color print, Finnish paper, and even transportation), and then we should widely publicize the company of “bankrupting the regime” throughout the nation. Instead of another toast, why not run around the block with a ream of leaflets? Plus – you get a moral satisfaction, minus a hangover.

“I don’t drink, because I am against Lukashenko” – sounds good, doesn’t it?

Time will come to drink a shot to our victory. Eventually, if we wish to drink at that point… Giving up bad habits leads to the national revival.

Maloje Sitna,
Paval Sieviaryniec

Belaruspartizan.org reported about a new diplomatic scandal in Minsk. On July 25, at 3a.m., a police squad searched the apartment of a Latvian embassy officer. Latvia’s Foreign Ministry has prepared a note of protest and summoned the Belarusian ambassador for explanations.

U.S. Ambassador George Krol completed his diplomatic mission to Belarus and departed for the United States today. Krol, whose Belarusian is better than that of Lukashenko, has been admired for his outspoken support for free and democratic Belarus.

Before departure, Krol had laid flowers to the gravestones of Vasil Bykau, Uladzimier Karatkievic, and the eternal flame. “I wish all Belarusians lived in freedom and peace, did not serve prison terms for their political or religious convictions. All of them must be set free. I wish all Belarusians peace and better future in their country democratic and free as it should be,” said Krol.

After months of post-electoral tough remarks, travel ban, foreign asset freeze etc., the EU is readying its most serious blow at the Belarusian regime. The European Commission has confirmed it will recommend expelling Belarus from the EU’s low-tariff trade regime - the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).

Eurobarometer reports:

Belarus neighbours Poland and Lithuania had initially objected to the expulsion, saying it represents the EU “making a political statement at the cost of our small traders” without hurting president Alexander Lukashenko, whose main income flows from energy and arms sales not covered by the GSP.

Some EU diplomats are also concerned the move will see Brussels criticised for double standards and political interference by Lukashenko’s state-dominated media machine. “Cuba and Uzbekistan have full GSP privileges despite equally worrying reports about respect for workers’ rights,” one diplomat stated.

But Poland and Lithuania will not seek to block member states’ September decision, with most EU countries and the EU’s foreign affairs envoy Javier Solana taking the line that Brussels would lose credibility on its commitment to GSP standards if it let Belarus off the hook.

Burma is the only other country ever to be kicked out from GSP, in 1997.

I am often surprised how uncivilized the Belarusian government behaves in terms of moneymaking. Riga’s MIX-FM radio reported that Belarus was not going to abolish visa fees for Latvians. It would be logical to do so, congruent with the reciprocity principle – Latvia had already taken the dues off for Belarusians. But during the consular consultations, the Belarusian side declared that the fees would not be lifted, this year at least, because this question was intertwined with the state budget.
Of course, free visas to Latvia won’t be offered for long. The grace period will be wrapped up when Latvia joins the Schengen countries – and this may happen as soon as next year. In other words, Latvians can forget about free visas to Belarus.