What a week...

A trials rider shows off at last Sunday's "For an Independent Belarus" concert in Minsk

I only have a few minutes before I close down here, but there are a few things I want to clear up before I do. In no particular order, here is what is up.

Egor's Chess tournament…

Egor had a pretty good first half to the tournament but an awful second half. The tournament was well run and in the beginning he held his own against really stiff competition. But after a few days in Minsk, and some interesting adventures along the way I am sure, he sort of lost his sharpness and didn't play such effective chess. There are a lot of details I was really interested in knowing but unfortunatly the website which was supposed to be covering it just simply stopped updating after the fourth game. A real disappointment. We had been looking three or four times a day for new information but it just never came. In any case, he should be home by Sunday and I'll let you all know the final results.

The big protest…

Ok, so I wrote that the big protest on March 25th wasn't half as much as the western world would have you think. And here today after having some time to think things over, I am not going to say anything to the contrary. The absolute truth, the hand on the bible, swear on the grave of my mother, bottom line was that there were more people at either of the two international soccer matches here in Pinsk (pop: 130,000) than there was at Milinkevich's bullhorn session in Minsk (Pop: 2 million). Most people in Minsk who wanted something to do went to the "For an Independent Belarus" concert which, according to ONT had over 46 acts, plus mini football, arm wrestling, mountain biking and all other kinds of fun and games. Folks, it's the truth. And what is more, Milinkevich has become EVEN LESS POPULAR here in Belarus than he was during the elections. He is seen as having sold out to the west, his antics are seen as being for their benefit (and their money) and therefore are not for the benefit of the people of Belarus. Ask around about this. Go ahead. I dare you to prove I am not telling the truth.

Around Pinsk…

Locally, we had a visit from the Dom Pravlenya people yesterday. Amazing how they work. The nachalnic there showed up, unannounced as always, and started trash talking to Baba Nina. Now it had been our understanding that we had made an agreement that they weren't going to touch us or our garden and that we had three weeks to simply do some maintenance. And in fact, I have this on tape. But of course Madam Himmler doesn't need to bother with any verbal agreements. To the DP, people either adhere to their will or they can be shot on right there on the spot or sent to a different "work camp" to be gassed. In any case, I got angry and told her off. I called her a bandit, said she had insulted us for three years in a row and that I would make a scandal for her that she would never forget. She of course showed her true colors and went after me with what in her mind was the sharpest rebuke she could think of; she accused me of being a bad American. This is such a telling thing really. Damn us Americans and all of our American money you see all the time on the TV. She screamed some more bureaucratic hypocrisies at me and fled, nervously massaging her cell phone as she went. I have more to say about this issue and about what is known as good old fashioned corruption and you can look for that story this coming week.

Beinghad.com

This last week was a record breaker readership wise. Undoubtedly this was in part because of all of the activity surrounding the March 25th protests in Minsk. It is nice to know that I have become a go-to spot on the web. I did notice though some badmouthing of Belarus from people who should have definitely known better including Mr. Robert Mayer of Publius Pundit. He actually called Minsk a boring town, if you can imagine that. As I recall, during his trip out here he was actually disappointed that there wasn't any kind of constant political intrigue or KGB shakedowns. If this is what he is saying that meant, I think it is about time to start talking forked tongues. Hey Bob, just speak from your heart and say what you see. You'll get further down your road that way than you will by trying to say what you think people want to hear!

The pledge drive…

Also next week, along with a little face lift for the beinghad.com site, I am starting my April/May pledge drive. It is my utmost aim for this year to see if I can't break this case open and to do this I intend to work as much as I can to break my Poland/Zaremba/one-year-of-my-life-gone-but-never-forgotten thing once and for all. However to do this, it is going to take a little investment to get the job done. I am currently trying to get a limited run of the book made up, this at least as a present for say a $100 donation. And, just like with any pledge drive, I hope to make the content of these pages even more interesting than ever. So stay tuned and get our your credit cards because now is the time to support being had.

And finally, Passover…

Next Monday starts Passover so today and until Sunday we are making a pretty good pass at being kosher. Now, I don't want to be confused with any seriously observant Jew. I have respect, I know a few things, but in the end this webspot is not your kosher connection. However, we are going to be selling our Chamets and we are going to be eating matzo next week and so I think this would be a good time to mention and give a bit of thanks to Moshe Fhima, Yad Yisroel Pinsk and the Karlin Stolin Hasidus for all of the money and energy they have put into the Jewish community of Pinsk. They run two Jewish schools here and support many civic activities and this includes making matzo available for Passover to all of Belarus. It is a great work and I am thrilled to count Rabbi Fhima, Rabbi Yohannon Berman, who is currently her from New York and Rabbi David Altman as my friends.

So that's what is going on around here. Hope you all have a nice weekend. Good health and good happiness to all.

More soon…