Debate tonight, so read about Belarusian

Tonight is the third debate, which also means a shorter post. Last time my gut instinct was right (Obama victory, but not a crushing one), and my gut instinct for the third was a draw. A few reasons for that:

- Foreign policy is rarely a voter's first criterion for choosing a president
- Foreign policy is a subject where it is easy for both sides to appear correct (yes the US should be strong, yes the US should court allies, yes the US should increase sanctions on Bad Country X, etc.), especially in the eyes of those who already support the nominee's party
- Obama and Romney have sized each other up a fair amount and have more of a feel for the tactics of the opponent by now.

Luckily the article itself is quite interesting: it is this one in French on the Belarusian language (title: La langue biélorusse : un art perdu au Bélarus or The Belarusian language: a lost art in Belarus). It also gives a link to what appears to be a pretty good news site in Belarusian, plus another one.

Read more...

Belarus to also be included in Russian - Kazakh customs union starting 1 July 2010

From here in Turkish. Here's part of the article:

Belarus will also be included in the full customs union between Russia and Kazakhstan slated to start on 1 July 2010.

Belarus' Economic Minister Nikolay Snopkov said that they would sign the agreements on the customs codes that were to go into effect on 1 July. Of the CIS states formed after the fall of the Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Moldova have also expressed an interest.

Snopkov said in a statement that Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko and Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov had compromised on controversial issues, which include customs duties on foreign cars and airplanes.

According to Russian Economic Minister Elvira Nabuillina, trade volume between Russia and Belarus in 2009 had dropped by 31 percent, but had increased by 17 percent during the first quarter of 2010, and that half of Belarusian exports were to Russia.

Read more...