Ask Charge d’Affaires
Here you can ask Charge d’Affaires Michael Scanlan your questions and get answers online. Please send your questions to this address: charge@usembassy.minsk.by. Answers will be posted on this page regularly.
Q: The Haiti and Chile earthquakes occurred at the same longitude as New York City's. Is the U.S. prepared for an earthquake of such cataclysmic proportions in NYC, given the density of population etc. Are NYC authorities taking into account the scientists' opinions?
A: I am not an expert on seismology. Most earthquakes occur near active plate boundaries, and the U.S. Pacific region is more of a trouble zone in this regard. There are special government, educational and professional units in the U.S. which keep tabs on tectonic activity, forecast developments and assess hazards, and this information is available to public. At the U.S. Geological Survey web site (www.usgs.gov), for instance, you will find a breakdown of earthquakes by state, including tectonic activity in the state of New York. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/?old=new_york
Q: Mr. Scanlan, the situation with the union (or unions) of Poles in Belarus contributes to the tension between this country and Europe. There are lots of people of Polish origin in the United States and Polish lobby is surely very strong. Are there any appeals to the U.S. Government and to you personally to somehow interfere and help resolve the situation? Thank you.
A: Thank you for the question on the issue which Belarusian authorities tend to dismiss as a minor misunderstanding or a purely internal affair while it is most certainly not just between Belarus and Europe. Each of the fifty-six member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have pledged, upon joining the organization, to comply with and uphold human and civil rights, including the right of national minorities to freely express, preserve and develop their ethnic, cultural, linguistic or religious identity, and to maintain and develop their culture in all its aspects. While each government should seek to live up to these commitments, there appears to have been increasing action by the Government of Belarus to systematically marginalize and repress selected portions of the Polish minority in Belarus, most recently in Ivenets. This has raised serious concern in the United States, as it has in Europe. We hope that the Belarusian government will take a constructive approach to reaching a fair and lasting solution to this issue.
Speaking about the reaction of American non-governmental organizations to the events here, I encourage you to look at the February 17 statement of the Polish American Congress at http://www.pac1944.org/news/2010/Belarus.100217.htm.
Q: You once said in an interview that you like Internet for the availability and richness of information. Have you heard of the plans of Belarusian authorities to introduce control over internet, including perusal of correspondence? How would you feel in this situation as a user? And another question: you like sports, have you tried Silichi yet?
A: Yes, I am aware of this and in fact, in my interview with BelaPAN at the end of 2009 I expressed our concerns about it. Personally—no, I wouldn’t like my access to information to be restricted in anyway. In the interview you refer to I also said that “if you are not informed, you are not competitive.” More broadly, I think the issue applies to businesses and countries. The 21st century is the age of information, and this is what gives people, businesses and countries a competitive edge. The failure to embrace the free flow of information will, in my judgment, constrain the competitiveness and prosperity of individuals, businesses and countries.
Secretary Clinton has just recently publicly addressed this issue. She made the point that “in our world, talent may be distributed universally, but opportunity is not. In this context, the internet can serve as a great equalizer. By providing people with access to knowledge and potential markets, networks can create opportunities where none exist. The spread of information networks is forming a new nervous system for our planet.” People’s futures will depend on whether they are part of this nervous system or not.
She further pointed out that “even in authoritarian countries, information networks are helping people discover new facts and making governments more accountable. Freedom of expression is no longer defined solely by whether citizens can go into the town square and criticize their government without fear of retribution. Blogs, emails, social networks, and text messages have opened up new forums for exchanging ideas. But technologies with the potential to open up access to government and promote transparency can also be hijacked by governments to crush dissent and deny human rights. Some countries have erected electronic barriers that prevent their people from accessing portions of the world’s networks. They’ve expunged words, names, and phrases from search engine results. They have violated the privacy of citizens who engage in non-violent political speech.”
As concerns your other question, as I mentioned in one of my previous interviews, I love sports and always find time to engage in them. It’s a priority for me. I swim three times a week and play tennis three times a week. As for Silichi, I have already skied there twice and snowboarded once. I look forward to go there many more times this winter.
Q: Who’s more important for whom: a state such as Belarus for the U.S. or a state such as the U.S. for Belarus?
A:In today’s highly inter-connected world it doesn’t really matter. The fact is, countries are dependent on each other economically, they must work together to overcome natural calamities, such as now in Haiti, or combat common threats such as transnational crime and terrorism, as well as to deal with environmental issues which affect our planet. As I’ve mentioned many times in my interviews, the U.S. is ready to have multi-faceted relations with Belarus as it is in the interests of all of us. We have and will maintain our principled position on Human Rights, but we also see many opportunities that can benefit the people of Belarus and the United States. Unfortunately, this perspective, to date, has not been shared by the government of Belarus.
Q: Is there anything in Belarus that is lacking in the U.S. and that you would like the US to have?
A: Every country’s history is unique and that’s the beauty of the diversity that exists in this world. Countries’ histories are made by people, and people have always been America’s greatest wealth. We are a nation of immigrants. Many talented people from around the world have come to America and shared their talents, skills and knowledge to help build America. People from Belarus also contributed to this process. To name just a few well-known names, Thadeusz Kosciuszko and Boris Kit have made profound contributions to the development of America. Increasingly in the 21st century the history that is being written is our common history. The richness of that history will be dictated by the ability of the people in the world to share ideas and to interact with each other; either virtually over the Internet or in person through travel.
In Belarus that means unfettered access to the Internet and the ability to travel. An important step in that direction will be the Border Pass Agreement with Poland and Lithuania, which will allow a few million Poles, Lithuanians and Belarusians living along their common border to interact freely without visas each and every day. Also if the Belarusian Government allows staffing numbers to return to their normal level at the US Embassy, we will be able to reconstitute a fully operational visa section. This step would then allow the ongoing contact between Americans and Belarusians over the Internet to be increasingly complemented by person-person interaction in all fields.
Q: Do you go to the movies? What is the last movie you saw?
A: I love going to the movies. I’ve been to Pobeda, Pioner, Oktyabr’, Dom Kino, Belarus, and Mir. The last movie I saw was “Czar”. But I also like to watch movies on DVD. The last DVD I saw was “Stilyagi” which was fantastic. Later my Belarusian friends told me that parts of it were filmed in Belarus. They also told me it was quite common to film movies about the Soviet period here as it is easy to find the backdrops reflecting that period.