Dialog at any cost

I would have liked to argue with my friend Iryna Khalip who said on Charter’97 website she didn’t believe in Belarusian kangaroo.

(A comment on “a decision of the authorities to permit selling and distributing of newspapers “Nasha Niva” and “Nasha Niva” via subscription catalogue” appeared on the website on November 21). I would have liked to argue not on presence of kangaroos in our forests but on other issues. For example, is “the worse the best” principle always useful for the society? Why will it be bad if these editions appear in Sayuzdruk kiosks? At least readers, unlike colleagues from other newspapers, will be glad.

But I decided to wait for some days and realized that I have no topic to argue on.

On Monday, EU’s Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said she welcomes “the announcement of Belarus on 19 November to take concrete steps to allow the printing and distribution of the two independent newspapers "Narodnaya Volya" and "Nasha Niva.” She probably received this information from Interfax agency that reported that those newspapers had been returned into the state distribution system.

Though no contracts were signed on November 24, I though: is it so important?

What is the difference between presence and absence of independent newspapers. It is important that the European Union “is intensifying technical dialogue with Belarus in fields of mutual interest” (extract from the same statement – V. T.)

Now it is clear: dialog will take place whatever happens. However, destiny of concrete newspapers is not interesting for anyone. It is so insignificant against a background of the global dialog.

I can’t presume to comment on the EU’s Commissioner. Moreover, I needn’t. Fortunately, it was made earlier by famous politician, former Czech President Vaclav Havel. On the very day the when the EU welcomed a decision of the Belarusian authorities on “permission selling and distributing”, Mr Havel told to Italian Corriere della Sera he blames the West in policy of “indulgences and concessions for the sake of the truce that in fact is just inability of revealing and stopping the evil”. The leader of the Velvet Revolution spoke about relations between the West and Russia that is aiming at political occupation of the neighbouring countries. In my view, it may also concern a “dialog” between the EU and Belarus.