Anglican Samizdat

From the BBC:

Officials in Belarus say a prominent opposition figure found hanged at his weekend home outside the capital, Minsk, on Friday committed suicide.

Forensic examiners established that, apart from the noose mark on Oleg Bebenin’s neck, there were no other injuries, a local prosecutor said.

Mr Bebenin, 36, founded Charter 97, a leading opposition website critical of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Colleagues said they could not believe the father-of-two had killed himself.

They pointed out that he had left no note and Charter 97′s editor, Natalia Radina, said he had not been having any family or health problems.

He had, she told independent Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy, been absorbed in his work and campaigning for opposition presidential hopeful Andrei Sannikov.

Most independent media in Belarus have closed down and the authorities barely tolerate political dissent, correspondents say.

I was in Belarus a month ago. Our local guide noted that, unlike Russia, the KGB were still operating; consequently, there was no graffiti, no homeless people sleeping on the street, almost no crime. And political dissidents tend to get themselves hanged – somehow.

A rather high price to pay for an antiseptically clean capital city.

The Moscva:

St. Basil’s Cathedral:

St. Sergio’s Monastery:

Red Square:

More here.

Peter the Great on his horse:

Catherine’s summer palace – a modest little cottage:

Energetic Russian dancing:

A Russian mosque:

More here.

On the way:

The square:

Rock Church – a church built into the rock:

Uspenshi Orthodox Cathedral:

More here.

Lunch by the river:

City Hall:

Wasa 17C galleon that sunk as soon as it was launched – recently retrieved and restored:

More here.

It’s a shame I was too late for the climate conference.

Skyline from the hotel:

View from the hotel:

On the ferry to Denmark:

Tivoli Gardens built in 1844:

Frederiksborg Palace:

:

More here.

Where the wall used to be – now just a line of bricks in the road:

The Berlin wall encircled West Berlin, not East; here is a part of it that is still intact with graffiti. Much of the graffiti was destroyed, but it has been restored by the original artists.

Pieces of the wall are for sale in most of the souvenir shops – or they could be bits of rubble from someone’s back yard, it’s hard to tell.

Brandenburg Gate:

The ultimate in cycling decadence: the beer cycle.

More here.

Exterior:

The Amber Room where photos are not allowed. Ahem:

The modest little ballroom:

Many more photos to come later.

Chatting with a Warsaw resident.

Me: Does anyone look back to the days of Communism with longing – does anyone miss those days?

Resident: Oh yes, some do. Those who are not political may miss the security of the Communist era.

Me: Security?

Resident: Yes, you didn’t have to worry about where to live, you were given a job and were paid even if you didn’t do it well; health care was free.

Me: Who would be the people who miss it?

Resident: Mainly people who don’t think. Also, for example, people in a small town where the factory closed after the fall of Communism: they would all have lost their jobs. So they say that things were better under Communism. But mainly people who don’t think.

Me: Do you think Communism will ever return to Poland?

Resident: – rolls eyes – I hope not.

In Minsk there is no litter, no graffiti, no homeless people sleeping on park benches and almost no crime or unemploymnt. The question is, what happens to a litterer, homeless person, or petty thief in this socialist paradise? No-one wanted to tell me, but someone did point out that, unlike Russia, the KGB is still in operation.

The country’s president, Aleksandr Lukashenko is a dictator: political opposition is not tolerated, but religious expression is, apparently.

Health care and education are free or at least cheap and almost everyone has somewhere to live – a 2 room apartment; almost everyone also wants to leave and those who can do. There are a few wealthy people, of course and everyone else is – not poor, since poverty does not fit into the socialist ideal – impecunious, all equally so.

In summary, Belarus serves as a model for the Arcadia that Fred Hiltz and his cronies are eager to construct.