February revolution of 1917: Powered by soldiers

March 6th, 2010 by Islander

What is my point?
Russian peasant soldiers, and not Petrograd’s workers influenced an outcome of the February Revolution of 1917.
Specifically:
Whenever I hear official versions of the events that led to the February Revolution of 1917, they tend to say how the proletarian forces joined by peasant soldiers took down Russian monarchy. While an overall process might [...]

Lehman Brothers for sale on Ebay

September 15th, 2008 by Islander

I never thought that some day I will witness Bear Stearns being bought for $10 per share, Merrill Lynch acquired by the Bank of America, and Lehman Brothers shopped on Ebay. The price is $99,999,999.00 with an option of no payments until 2009 with Ebay Master Card. Meanwhile, some “entrepreneurs” are already attempting to [...]

US Embassy to be shut down in Belarus?

May 2nd, 2008 by Islander

US Charge d’Affaires Jonathan Moore said to the Charter’97 press center that there’s no formal decision on shutting the embassy in Minsk.
According to the diplomat, Washington is continuing to consider the situation about the American diplomats in Belarus.
The Associated Press reported 1 May the US Department of State had ordered Belarus to close its embassy [...]

The Need for a Trans-Atlantic Energy Security Strategy. The US-Ukrainian Energy Dialogue Series.

May 2nd, 2008 by Islander

Hello world. I apologize for not posting any articles in a while. And so I thought that it would be good to re-start posting with some interesting material on global energy, security and geopolitics that greatly influence many important decisions in our rather turbulent times. Not long ago, on April 15, 2008, the Center for [...]

Belarus in WWII through German military photos

April 9th, 2008 by Islander

I tried to start writing this post couple of times and every time I ended up looking at the blinking cursor and unable to collect my thoughts. Sometimes pictures can tell the story better than words and this is why we simply put here WWII military photos made by German soldiers in Belarus during the [...]

Andrei Sannikov: “Lukashenka is preparing Belarus’ surrender to Russia”

April 2nd, 2008 by Islander

An interesting comments made by Andrei Sannikov,a member of the organising committee of the civil campaign “European Belarus”, appeared on the web(Charter97.org). And I think they are worth of your time as he goes over some important issues facing Belarus and its political direction.
“Alyaksandr Lukashenka is consciously set to break relations with the US, after [...]

Documentary:Lessons of Belarusian Language

April 2nd, 2008 by Islander

Some time ago we wrote about a documentary movie ‘Lessons of Belarusian Language”. Back then it was unavailable to viewers due to various factors. However, thanks to comments from our readers we are happy to say that this movie is available on line! below is a recap of a blog and the movie itself.
Radio Svaboda [...]

Kalinovski Square: The History of Modern Belarus in concise video format

March 28th, 2008 by Islander

Couple years ago we publish two photo/video clips dedicated to Belarusian opposition movement. By no stretch of imagination we pretended to be big time movie directors, however, it was our take on the situation. However, judging by the comments, our modest video attempt was well received and many expressed interest to learn more about Belarus, [...]

Video Reports from the Freedom Day

March 28th, 2008 by Islander

Some things never change and these videos fully demonstrate it. Every single protest or opposition rally in Minsk ends up with news about police brutality. And this year is no different…

Uzbekistan Report-2007

March 21st, 2008 by Islander

So, you want to graduate from a college in Uzbekistan? First, pass “Karimov Studies” class!
Academic freedom issues
The government limited academic freedom. Authorities often required department head approval for university lectures or lecture notes. Although authorities implemented the requirement inconsistently, university professors generally practiced self-censorship. Numerous university students reported that universities taught mandatory courses on “Karimov [...]