Apr 222008
The WSJ’s “Best of the Web Today,” one of my favorite daily reads, poked fun at Belarus by putting this headline in its “Bottom Stories of the Day.”
- “Centre Dedicated to Study of Eastern European Nation Belarus Opens in Winfield”–headline, Canadian Press, April 20
I usually like to join in whatever fun James Taranto is having, but it so happens that I have gotten interested in learning more about Belarus, especially after watching Kalinovski Square. So I clicked on the Canadian Press article to learn about this new center.
And here is a URL for the Center for Belarusian Studies. There is not much information there yet, but I hope there will soon be more. A few things I’ve been wondering about.
- Just how is Moscow exerting control over Belarus and Alexander Lukashenko? What is the relationship really like?
- How did people become so attached to the Belarusian language, which seems to be fairly new as languages go, at least in written form.
- What means did Russia use to discourage use of the language?
- What has happened to the people in the videos during the past few months?