LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Belarus: Soviet Union
built 621 days ago
Belarus has no entrepreneurial class, and with an old Soviet style economy it has a more egalitarian distribution of income. The top 10 percent in household income in 1998 did 20 percent of the spending, and the lowest 10 percent of households did 5.1 percent. In the United States in 1997 these figures were 30.5 percent and 1.8 percent.
Source:
Along with Europe's last dictatorship, Belarus, and turbulent Uzbekistan, these regimes share a generation of leaders with a narrow Soviet mentality. People power, whether in Bishkek or Kiev? They don't get it. Democracy, for them, is another word for insurgency. Fair elections are for chumps. They favor the president-for-life model-14 years in Akayev's case, who (according to one Western official in Bishkek) had become "delusional." Power corrupts and isolates, he says: "All you publish is happy news, and eventually you start to believe it."
Source:
In the event the Belarusian authorities did not issue visas allowing Robert Cooper, Director General for External and Political-Military Affairs of the Council of the European Union, and Dan Fried, US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, to enter Belarus simultaneously. In view of this, the European Union and the United States decided to cancel the joint high-level visit.
Source:
Belarus is situated in the westernmost part of the former Soviet Union. Much of central and eastern Europe threw off the yoke of government totalitarianism. Tragically, Belarus did not. The result has been economic disaster.
Source:
In 1996, Russia and Belarus signed an agreement to form a “union state” that, without completely merging the two governments, would strengthen economic, cultural, and political ties. Additional treaties signed in 1997, 1998, and 1999 included the development of common customs and taxation, a single currency, a joint defense policy, and other items designed to integrate the two nations, but progress toward real integration has been slow, as Russia as insisted on gradual implementation of the union and Belarus has proved reluctant to cede any real power to its much larger neighbor. In Sept., 2003, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement to create a common economic space.
Source:
It's interesting that Belarus has got its independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991. A new constitution went into effect on March 30, 1994. The new document created the office of president, declared Belarus a democracy with separation of powers, granted freedom of religion, and proclaimed Belarus's goal of becoming a neutral, nonnuclear state. The winner of the quickly organized election was Aleksandr Lukashenko. So, basically the first dictator and the first President of Belarus was elected in the first really democratic elections. How ironic and sad it is - dictator Lukashenko was elected democratically back in 1994.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Soviet Union