BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Russian Culture Russia-Belarus Union symbol?

Here is an example I found on the internet of a proposed design of a state symbol for the "in progress" union between Russia and Belarus. I like it. Any comments?

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In Poland we call such things kitsch. It`s so flashy that it is tawdry. It looks like a cheap funfair painting from the festival of peasant culture. Besides, it reminds former communist state symbols, with this sun,sky and its rays. What an idyllic atmosphere.

Simply speaking, disgusting. My opinion doesn`t have anything in common with nationalism. I just wouldn`t like to have such a symbol for my country, I would be ashamed.

The average Russian and Belarussian don't hate the communist past, as the average Pole does. In fact, most Russians and Belarussians will say they benefitted more from the past than suffered by it. So, in Russia and Belarus, the argument that you made that anything reminding of socialism is bad - it will not work.

In fact, many former USSR republics today have national symbols that are similar to their Soviet-era symbols. In addition, Belarus is again using its Soviet-era flag, only without the hammer and sickle.

I think if there will be further creation of a union of Russia and Belarus, you can probably expect a more socialist-looking symbol, instead of the eagle heraldry, like Russia and Poland have today. (Belarus from 1992-1996 used the ancient symbol, but since 1996 again uses its Soviet-era symbol, only with the hammer and sickle replaced with a map of Belarus.)

It is really horrible how people, who used to behave like slaves, remained these slaves. Why don`t Russians love personal freedom as much as Poles do? Then many things would be different. The biggest problem with Russians is that they have always been afraid of being free or even unruly.And when enslaved subjects are obedient, the dictator of any origin, whether it`s a tsar or first secretary or president, can do everything with them.



And that`s exactly what I`m talking about, the slaves` mentality. People in Russia forgot all communist atrocities, i.e. stalinist purges, Archipelag Gulag, millions of Russian soldiers who died senselessly because of Stalin`s incompetence, poverty, imperialistic wars. It is so sad that Russians tend to forget, instead of prosecuting murderers. It gives way to the repetition of such things in the future.

Do Russians have the right to remember their own history the way they want to, just as much as Poles have the right to remember their own history the way they want to? Or in the eyes of the entire world, are Russians less worthy of rights other nations have?

Yes, they have, but don`t you think that is not normal? A normal country would prosecute wrongdoers for everything they did. Then in the future some nutty dictator would think twice before going too far with his people. In Russia communist murderers were never troubled by the new government, they get their pensions and live happily. Isn`t it an improper lesson? - look, you can anihilate millions of people, but we will let you off.

Is the right of Russians to determine for themselves somehow diminished because of the choices? More to the point - is it the business of anyone else what Russia's internal choices are?

I believe that Russia and Belarus share a wonderful culture and I wish them to prosper and contribute to world culture. But Western respect for Russia would increase greatly if Putin offered reparations to the families of those killed, jailed and deported by Stalin to Siberia.

то есть почти все. Do swidania.

I am strongly against this kind of averaging when it comes to nations. It looks to me as "average body temperature in a hospital"

I think I know enough Russians in many society slices to have the right to disagree with this generalization.

Also, I like the saying about history: "That which first time happenes as a tragedy, repeats as a farse."

So I'm not afraid of "the repetition of such things in the future" -- this doesn't mean however that nothing even more terrible can happen and not only in Russia, and not because of any memory losses <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Interesting! Double headed eagle appears on Albanian flag.

Double-headed eagle is characteristic of Russia, since Russia looks both to the east and to the west.

Eric, and so does Albania. Carl

I like it, too. I would make it more evil though. Birds should express some venon.

I don't think a national symbol is intended to frighten the population!

It would be seen and explained as a symbol of defending the values of the new union.

It appears to me reading a lot of documents that there is a lot of soul searching at the moment and strange moving back and forth of what I would call a realignment of the region. It further appears that Putin is not in charge of the region and in many places not in the saddle at all. Putin may be more in control of the region than it appears but he is now turning to some of his older group that he also has been trying to put aside and far into the background.