... in response to What does your girl think about the war?..., posted by Zoidberg on Mar 20, 2003My fiance , her family , and close friends are all very concerned . They live in Belarus , which has friendly ties with Iraq . Alexander Lukashenko ( the president / dictator of Belarus ) and Saddam Hussein are political buddies ; and unfortunately share similar Stalinistic views on government policies and human rights .
They ( family and friends in Belarus ) are worrying about what effects the current political situation might have on our K-1 Visa processing , and worry about my fiance possibly being denied travel documents for her interview in Warsaw . So far , things are still moving forward for us with the K-1 . She has just submitted the application papers needed for traveling to Warsaw , and for my Invitation . It will take a little while for that paperwork to be processed . Since a few others here have expressed an interest in that situation , I will try to post something on that when I have some news .
And I am worrying a bit about what effects the current political situation might have for her family because I am an American . And the government of Belarus is somewhat anti-American . So far , there has been nothing out of the ordinary . I have , on a few occaisions , cautioned them about speaking about me and their relationship with me to anyone outside the immediate family due to my concerns about their association with me possibly leading to repercussions or reprisals by government officials . I reminded them again about this on the phone this weekend . I have always tried to keep this in mind at all times and have always tried to act responsibly in that regard . These are good people , they are my family . The last thing in the world I want is for some government flunkee to make their lives miserable because of their relations with me .
I visited them twice last year , and I did not see , hear , or experience any kind of anti-American sentiments of any kind . A little 'let's-gouge-the-foreigner-a-little-on-the-price-here' once in a while from merchants and business people ; but that was expected . Most people realize that governments , and not necessarily the people ruled by those governments , do whatever they want and their actions are pften beyond our control . They don't blame me or hold me responsible for what my government does ; and I don't blame them or hold them responsible for what Lukashenko does . My 'extended family' has always been very supportive of our relationship from day one ; and has expressed a 'pro-American' attitude on more than one occaision . This is partly due to some family history ; her father , and one of her father-in-laws , were both captured by the Germans in WW2 and sent to Germany for forced labor . They were both liberated by Americans , and have never forgotten that .
So , to answer your origina question , I'd say they support America in this ; but won't express that opinion publicly for the reasons I've said above .
So far , the current political situation hasn't affected us too much , other than to cause a fair dose of concern , stress , and worry . I think that some of their worries are possibly given more weight than is warranted , because of their reliance on 'networking' ( for lack of a better word ) . No one living there trusts the government , they rely more upon the words and opinions of family and friends . While that's gotten them through life under a repressive dictatorship fairly well , that practice sometimes leads to passing along unsubstantiated rumors and bad information from time to time . I'm not critisizing that or condoning it ; it's just the way things are . I'm not discounting their opinions or conclusions arrived through that method entirely either ; after all , they live there and I don't . They've seen their government change direction or policy at the drop of a hat and presidential decrees come from out of the blue . We've seen requests or applications approved or denied on an official's whim or for the stupidest reasons . I can understand where they're coming from ; but I just don't give it as much weight as they do and try to verify and second check information before I pass it along to someone else .
All in all , our attitude has been one of 'guarded optimism' ; we plan for the worst and hope for the best .
I had planned originally to go back to Belarus after she gets her K-1 Visa ( possibly in May ) , visit everybody for a few days or a week , then bring them back here . I am hoping that the political situation will be a bit more settled down by that time . I haven't seen or heard anything as of yet to make me change my plans . In the meantime , I'm keeping an eye on things , trying not to worry too much , and working on a backup plan in case the situation deteriorates and I need to move quicker or sooner .
Best Regards ,
Don
