Europe's Last Dictatorship ...

This is a bit outside the normal scope of things here, but it's unusual enough and topical enough that it deserves mention. The Pioneer Theater in New York is about to launch into a limited run of a pair of political documentaries from Belarus titled Long Knives' Night and Reporting From A Rabbit Hutch. The films detail the rise of Belarussian dictator Alexander Lukashenko's rise to power - he was just put in for a third term and endorsed by Russian president Putin in a move widely slammed as fraud in the west - and his massive abuses of his people. How tough are things there? Film maker Victor Dashuk opens up with a shot of Satanists crucifying a dog saying that permitting Lukashenko to remain in power is the equivalent of devil worship and Dashuk himself has been the target of enough suppression that the films are having to be shown off video masters smuggled out of Minsk.

All the details are here.