Mrs. Mina Rivkin, matriarch of a Chabad family who survived World War II and became one of the founding members of the Kfar Chabad village in Israel, passed away on Tuesday, 7 Adar, 5783. Full Story matriarch of a Chabad family who survived World War II and became one of the founding members of the Kfar Chabad village in Israel R’ Zushe and Nechama Gisa Margolin in Sivan 1930 together with Mina and her sister Toba Gittel as they crossed the bridge over the river and ran from the city they were able to see parts of the city rising in flames They continued to wander from village to village When they arrived in the town of Kussenpole her father R’ Zushe was drafted into the Russian Army The women and children were left to escape alone and spent weeks running from village to village during which time her mother gave birth to her younger brother Shmaryahu and Mina was left to care for her two young siblings Her brother too became ill and passed away and the two sisters were sent to an orphanage when Mina wanted to reunite with her long-lost family she was finally rescued by her mother’s relative an activist who helped many Jews escape from Russia She later immigrated to Israel and settled in Kfar Chabad one of the founding members of Kfar Chabad They were the fourth couple to get married in the new village Mina worked as a cook in the kitchen at Bais Rivkah in Kfar Chabad and was known to greet others with a smile she always had a nice thing to say about everyone she met The matriarch of a large family who follow in her ways she was a devoted grandmother to her grandchildren Sign up for the COLlive Daily News Roundup and never miss a story Δdocument.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()) Δdocument.getElementById("ak_js_2").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()) Rivkin lived through the horrors she experienced as a child and still grow to be the loving Today’s kids need to hear and discuss these stories in depth with their parents and mechanchim Perhaps it would help them more fully appreciate the relatively comfortable lives most of them live today and think twice before adopting an all too common woe-is-me attitude of entitlement highly relevant issue briefs and reports that break new ground with a focus on advancing debates by integrating foundational research and analysis with concrete policy solutions the Atlantic Council’s experts have you covered—delivering their sharpest rapid insight and forward-looking analysis direct to your inbox New Atlanticist is where top experts and policymakers at the Atlantic Council and beyond offer exclusive insight on the most pressing global challenges—and the United States’ role in addressing them alongside its allies and partners A weekly column by Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe Inflection Points focuses on the global challenges facing the United States and how to best address them UkraineAlert is a comprehensive online publication that provides regular news and analysis on developments in Ukraine’s politics UkraineAlert sources analysis and commentary from a wide-array of thought-leaders and activists from Ukraine and the global community MENASource offers the latest news from across the Middle East and independent analysis from fellows and staff Econographics provides an in-depth look at trends in the global economy utilizing state-of-the-art data visualization tools Alyaksandr Lukashenka chose a telling location last week to announce that Belarus would soon receive an enormous military hardware consignment from Russia Speaking in the eastern Belarusian city of Babruysk on September 1, the autocratic leader said Russia would be sending combat jets The significance of making such an announcement in Babruysk should be clear to anybody who has been following the cat-and-mouse game that has been Russian-Belarusian relations in recent years Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has been trying to strongarm Lukashenka into allowing a new Russian airbase in that city That is, apparently, until recently. Back in March 2021, Lukashenka indicated that he was prepared to drop his long-standing opposition to the base in Babruysk which would host SU-27 fighter jets flown by Russian pilots The city is already the site of a Belarusian air base Lukashenka’s announcement about a large new Russian military consignment was just the latest data point in a pattern indicating the intensifying militarization of Belarus and accelerating integration of the Russian and Belarusian armed forces On the day Lukashenka spoke, Russian anti-aircraft missile troops were arriving in the western Belarusian city of Hrodna to set up a joint military training center a shipment of SU-30SM fighter jets arrived at an airbase in Baranovichi the massive joint Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2021 military exercises are scheduled to take place Moreover, the Zapad-2021 exercises follow a record number of joint military exercises between the two countries this year, with the constant rotation of Russian forces amounting to a de facto permanent Russian troop presence in Belarus The escalating militarization of Belarus and the expanding Russian military footprint inside the country represent the most significant qualitative change in the security equation on NATO’s Eastern flank since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and armed intervention in Ukraine’s Donbas region This trend directly threatens the security of Latvia It also enhances Moscow’s ability to close the Suwalki Gap a roughly 100-kilometer stretch of the Polish-Lithuanian border wedged between Belarus and Russia’s heavily militarized Kaliningrad region which would effectively cut the Baltic states off from the rest of NATO It may be too early to talk about the return of a divided Europe but with Belarus increasingly resembling an extension of Russia’s Western Military District things certainly do appear to be heading in that direction and Latvia have recently begun constructing barbed wire fences on their borders with Belarus in response to a crisis Lukashenka has manufactured by importing migrants from across the Middle East to Minsk and then facilitating their illegal entry into Europe Poland’s parliament voted on September 6 to uphold a state of emergency declared by President Andrzej Duda along the country’s eastern border with Belarus and the increased militarization of Belarus Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stated that “in Moscow and Minsk scenarios are being written” that threaten Poland’s security and sovereignty Russia’s creeping military domination of its far smaller western neighbor also makes the long-term project of Belarus’s deeper political and economic integration less urgent Lukashenka is scheduled to travel to Moscow on September 9, on the eve of the Zapad exercises, for what will be his fifth meeting with Putin this year. The two are expected to go through the motions of signing a package of so-called integration “roadmaps.” But the Belarusian political analyst Artem Shraibman noted in a recent commentary there is clearly less enthusiasm” for the formal integration process than was the case in 2019 Shraibman added that there are “faster methods” for keeping Belarus tightly inside Russia’s orbit including the new military facility in Hrodna “and Moscow is actively using them.” Russia simply doesn’t need to annex Belarus in a spectacular Crimea-style operation And it no longer needs to bully Lukashenka into deeper integration The Putin regime is already achieving its geopolitical goals in Belarus by leveraging Lukashenka’s isolation and vulnerability to steadily establish military facts on the ground Belarus is now a Russian military platform and the West needs to adapt to this reality to protect frontline NATO states A new Iron Curtain could indeed be descending on Europe It may not be on the same scale as the continent-wide barrier of the Cold War era but it nevertheless has major implications for European security and the confrontation with Putin’s Russia Brian Whitmore is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center an Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Texas at Arlington The crisis on Belarus’s borders with the EU continues to escalate as Belarusian dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka weaponizes illegal migrants as part of his hybrid war against Europe The suspicious death of exiled Belarus dissident Vital Shyshou in Kyiv this week is fueling speculation over dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s use of death squads to eliminate political opponents across Europe Fears are growing that the rapidly expanding Russian military presence in Belarus will help transform the country into a new front in the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine The views expressed in UkraineAlert are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council The Eurasia Center’s mission is to enhance transatlantic cooperation in promoting stability democratic values and prosperity in Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Turkey in the West to the Caucasus Image: A Polish soldier engaged in the construction of a new security barrier on the country's eastern border with Belarus as part of Poland's response to Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka's weaponization of illegal migration into the EU Sign up to receive expert analysis from our community on the most important global issues © 2025 Atlantic CouncilAll rights reserved If refreshing the page doesn't resolve the issue you could try clearing the sites browser cache Bolotnikova’s family photographs Image by Marina Bolotnikova I knew that I had to hide everything about my life from my friends at school Kids absorb secrecy around class and money like sponges and for a small child who barely paid attention to what we were learning in school I was amazingly sentient of what I was and wasn’t supposed to reveal I was one of the few kids in my Orthodox Jewish day school in St who was from a recently arrived Russian family which meant that I wasn’t Orthodox and my family hardly knew what it meant to be Jewish My mom put me in the preschool there within weeks of our landing in America in 1996; I was among the hundreds of thousands of Soviet and post-Soviet Jews who were allowed to come to the U.S because of the lobbying efforts of the organized Jewish community We made up a respectable share of American Jewry growing up among affluent fourth- and fifth-generation American Jews Russians had no real place in the American Jewish story other than as refugees who had just come from somewhere very bad and thus we were in a position to be reformed and taught to do Judaism properly My mother decided that I would go to religious school because the public schools in St Louis had been ruined by racial segregation and post-war white flight We couldn’t afford to live in the neighborhoods with good schools gave scholarships to families who couldn’t pay tuition and a single mother who had also brought her elderly parents to the U.S Many immigrants quickly climb the economic ladder Orthodox Jewish school was her way of making sure I’d be in a good environment for her and so many immigrants of her generation something that limited her opportunities in the Soviet Union but never provided her a community or a sense of belonging Russian-Jewish culture had been largely destroyed after World War II—so the school also represented a way of giving me something she could never have But adults can forget that putting a child in a radically new context will change them that I couldn’t merely be dropped into an Orthodox community without wondering why I wasn’t like everyone else Most of my classmates lived near one another in one of two major St Louis neighborhoods within walking distance of an Orthodox shul Many of the families could afford to live on one income so the mothers could stay at home to care for four and often I would be invited to participate in this School was tightly intertwined with Jewish life in the home we went Sukkah hopping at my classmates’ homes and ate snacks in the cool air of each of the earthy My home was conspicuously missing from each year’s field trip because we never had a Sukkah—my mother didn’t have a clue what any of that was about and we didn’t have the property to build one anyway Young children want nothing but to conform and although I was rebellious and hated authority I thought my life would be over if my friends knew that I wasn’t observant like them or that I didn’t live in a big so I would respond to their questions about my home life vaguely making strange allusions to ways in which my mom and I were observing the chagim It was the only way that it made sense to me to go through life because being different as a child is doubly painful when your nonconformity is a matter of whether or not you’re a good Jew a matter of your soul (it didn’t help that which became a running joke at probably every Jewish day school in the country) details of my life still slipped through in various ways the mother of a friend called me with the idea of planning and hosting a Bat Mitzvah for me at their house the national competition for supreme middle school nerds and took an additional test that qualified me for the state-level Bee My mom and social studies teacher and I were to travel for the competition and the teacher (who wasn’t Jewish) mentioned that we would need to make accommodations to be able to observe Shabbat while traveling I was so panicked by the thought of revealing that that I didn’t go to the competition at all The author in yeshiva day school Image by Marina Bolotnikova the Orthodox community’s largesse toward Russian immigrants wasn’t a true effort at integration so much as a form of charity and other adults in the room weren’t used to dealing with difference and neither do her parents (they were part of the early wave of Jews who lost the language to urbanization and Russification) It felt strange that she really seemed to think I was lying about something both so small and so personal combined with her skepticism of children from irreligious families I was used to being distrusted and scolded To the American Jewish world eager to rehabilitate us enduring connection to the eastern European Jewish past We were characters in someone else’s story If we didn’t fit the narrative that existed about us our benefactors didn’t know what to make of us That story reminds me of a recent talk by Masha Gessen about the modern immigrant experience How does a person show that she deserves the rights she is to be given as a refugee Immigration is a process of making ourselves understandable to our hosts of living out a narrative that they believe makes us virtuous capable of becoming part of their communities “We try to explain who we were in an entirely different context Because that story is not translatable into this story when we are unable to play the part that’s expected of us My life now is radically unlike what it was then and while many of my close friends are Jewish Yet my memory of life through eighth grade has shaped me in profound and sometimes contradictory ways I’m hardly the first Russian-American Jew to say that growing up in an American Jewish community made me feel inherently a feeling that still surfaces in the most unexpected contexts But I also have the warmest memories of the people I grew up with: One friend in a way that made me feel they had better things to care about than maintaining an immaculate house I sat through their Seders and songs and the story of the exodus from Egypt which was the most thrilling thing in the world to me These experiences have made it possible for me to see a world beyond the secular elite bubble I live in where everyone is obsessed with their achievements and status and productivity; it still offers me a joyful I think my mom hoped I would gain something like this when she put me in Jewish school She couldn’t have imagined the strange tangle of religious and geopolitical tensions that I would encounter there and because she always made sure I was in environments where my peers had more than me I now easily pass for someone who grew up upper-middle class and all this makes it persistently difficult to talk about my real class background an image that doesn’t necessarily map onto the immigrant experience Those who aren’t don’t have an easy way to explain themselves I was in the running for a job I really wanted The company gives preference to candidates from backgrounds underrepresented in journalism and their questionnaire asked me about my race Because America doesn’t think of itself as stratified by class corporate diversity programs don’t ask or care about it—American business depends on pretending that inequality is driven by merit it struck me that I really wished I had a way of talking about class and the deprivation I experienced as a child of escaping the narrative I knew my interviewer had subconsciously written about me I hadn’t realized until it was too late that I was still hiding in the secrecy I internalized as a child Much as I never had the words to explain myself to my Orthodox school peers secrecy prevented me from surfacing my story many years later It pushes the most important experiences of life out of consciousness Class secrecy is both a cause and effect of our national narrative of class denial; the two reinforce one another And as I learned through ten years of yeshiva day school They are there to conceal what the powerful don’t want to see Marina Bolotnikova is a Boston-based journalist and editor for Harvard Magazine I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward American Jews need independent news they can trust At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S rising antisemitism and polarized discourse This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up Copyright © 2025 The Forward Association Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker 2015Get email notification for articles from David B arguably the most influential and most productive Labor Zionist leader in the decades preceding Israeli independence Passionately idealistic but also practical in his thinking he helped establish some of the nascent state’s most important and enduring institutions from the main trade-union federation and the first health insurance fund to one of Israel’s major banks and an important daily newspaper a school teacher from the Belarusian city of Babruysk was fined for coming to work with a yellow-blue ribbon resembling a Ukrainian flag Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenka’s regime banned one public event in support of Putin’s invasion and limited two others An analysis of the situation reveals Minsk’s ambiguous stance on Ukraine This is probably due to a genuine reluctance among politicians to join in Russia’s aggression which is paired with an overwhelming lack of support for the war among the population Few political actors in Belarus openly support Putin’s war. The jingoism of Russian political parties in Moscow is not paralleled in Minsk. The Belarusian political forces which do are marginal. For example, Civic Accord and two other pro-Moscow groups issued a joint statement supporting Putin’s invasion in mid-March and then held a small public gathering on 17 March in Minsk But there have been no public events like those held in Russia to acclaim the invasion—no meetings at stadiums, no auto-rallies parading “Z” symbols. On 17 March, Local officials in Hrodna, a Belarusian city on the border with Poland, prohibited a pro-Moscow activist from staging an auto-rally of about 20 cars in support of Belarusian and Russian “siloviki” (a term referring to senior officials in the military-security establishment) The municipal authorities told her that the roads were being repaired so better she and her friends join other official events planned for May or July Another pro-Moscow activist, Mikhail Malash, said he and his fellow activists wanted to conduct their own auto-rally—with the flags of Belarus and DNR—to show support for the Russian military in Ukraine on 11 March the Belarusian authorities—referring to an alleged request by the Russian embassy—asked them to abandon their plans cars originally intended for the auto-rally drove their own festooned with “Z” symbols made from tape and flying Serbian flags the drivers came together at a specified place to record a video addressing their “Russian brothers.” The following day Belarusian police ordered the activists to remove all the symbols and then to send a photo of confirmation Pro-Russian groups face restrictions on their activities in general because none of them has official registration a pro-Moscow movement known for exploiting the memory of WWII in the interests of the Kremlin were refused state registration in Belarus for the fifth time the already mentioned Civic Accord also failed to get registration Like other organisations with political inclinations but lacking in official registration these groups can only operate within tight restrictions The results are similar whether it is the state-owned Russian Public Opinion Research Center or liberal NGO Public Opinion Foundation Neither Moscow nor Kyiv can be happy with the Belarusians A Chatham House study has found that a mere 3 per cent of Belarusians support the entry of Belarusian troops into a military conflict to aid Russia And only 1 per cent give their support if it were Ukraine 28 per cent consider it right to “support Russia’s actions but not enter into a military conflict,” and 15 per cent “condemn Russia’s actions without joining the conflict.” Meanwhile 21 per cent of respondents found it difficult to answer “Taking part in hostilities is an extremely unpopular idea even among supporters of the Lukashenka regime,” commented Ryhor Astapienia A quarter of those polled is in favour of neutrality in this conflict including the withdrawal of Russian troops from Belarusian territory About the same number are willing to support Russia but without Belarusian troops entering into a military conflict The establishment of a Russian military base in Belarus is welcomed by only 24 per cent of respondents the Belarusian regime lost its cultural and discursive hegemony years ago Russian soft power in Belarus remains limited. In February, a pro-Moscow political group Civic Accord published a policy paper on domestic Belarusian media The paper found the influence of pro-Russian media in Belarus to be negligible Pro-Western and nationalist media resources make up 88 per cent of total audience coverage Pro-government media resources have 11 per cent of total audience coverage The list of the 50 most popular Telegram channels in Belarus includes only four pro-government outlets: the Belarusian president’s own channel the channel “Yellow Plums” (which is apparently linked with the Belarusian police forces) The content of TV channels broadcast in Belarus in 2020 (red – Belarusian Certainly, Russian TV channels do exert some influence over the Belarusian population, especially older people. But Belarusian authorities have long been editing them and demanding Belarusian content should make up a third of total broadcasts According to one unpublished study conducted by an authoritative Western organisation in 2017 less than 9 per cent of those aged 50-or-older used online communications At the same time, this is the strength and the weakness of Putin’s propaganda. Although some Belarusian opposition activists talk about Lukashenka as a marionette of the Kremlin, or even about the occupation of Belarus by Russia, they obviously exaggerate. Political News Agency, a Russian nationalist media outlet, recently lamented: Lukashenka vigilantly prevents the formation of a pro-Russian public or political force… there is not a single pro-Russian political party in Belarus not a single public-political organisation not a single pro-Russian media… [otherwise] this banned “third force” could be conducting explanatory work among the population including those related to the special operation in Ukraine the differing views and behaviour of the Belarusian authorities and the citizens of Belarus in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine make sense riot police detained mothers of Belarusian soldiers who had gathered at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Minsk to pray for peace Belarusian Greek Catholic priest Vasil Jahorau from Bialynichy was fined €440 ($487) for a having placed a sticker on his car reading “Ukraine Bulczak had been charged with criminal extremism for an anti-war video he posted on YouTube Belarusians have an increasingly limited space to articulate their political positions State repressions and paranoia are extending into church services the Russian invasion of Ukraine has become a delicate subject for all Belarusian religious communities Some 80 per cent of Belarusians declare a belief in God while another 12 per cent practise other religions and the remaining 3 per cent claim no religious affiliation Belarusian church researcher and theologist the experience of the 2020 peaceful protests in Belarus—and their suppression in 2021—is impacting the reactions of major Belarusian churches to Russia’s war against Ukraine In 2020, churches and religious communities gained visibility and popularity as they spoke out against violence and police brutality. But the Belarusian state’s crackdown on political opposition included undermining the civic solidarity promoted by religious communities Church leaders had to reduce their public visibility and carefully watch what they said throughout 2021 Protestant communities lacking state registration (which is virtually impossible to secure) even faced the threat of prosecution under the amended Criminal Code Most Christian Vision members are now based outside Belarus. Many activists have had to flee the country for fear of persecution. Christian Vision was one of the first politically active groups in Belarus on 24 February to issue a condemnation of “the aggression of the Putin regime against Ukraine” and of the use of Belarusian territory “as one of the springboards for this aggression.” Ukrainian Ambassador Ihor Kyzym attending a prayer for peace in Ukraine at the Church of Saints Simon and Helena (Red Church) in Minsk, 20 March 2022. Source: Ukrainian embassy’s Facebook page. On 25 March, Belarusian Catholics joined Pope Francis in an Act of Consecration of humanity—in particular of Russia and Ukraine—to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The pontiff launched an appeal to all Catholics around the world to unite in prayer to demonstrate a “gesture of the universal Church” to end to the violence and suffering of innocent people. The open letter asked Belarusian bishops not to keep silent about the tragedy in Ukraine. They urged episcopal representatives to give a clear moral assessment of Russian aggression and the Belarusian role in it. Subsequently, the CCBB issued a new statement on 3 March, referring to the conflict as “Russia’s war” and urging for efforts to prevent Belarusian involvement in it. The Holy Spirit Orthodox Cathedral in Minsk surrounded by police vehicles. Source: Christian Vision’s Telegram channel. Orthodox authorities did not react to an incident on 3 March where several women were arrested after praying for peace at the Holy Spirit Cathedral, located in central Minsk. Only the priest who held the service tried to convince security officers to leave his parishioners alone. At the very start of the war, Patriarch of Moscow Kirill addressed Orthodox believers. Patriarch Kirill said he perceived the “human suffering caused by unfolding events” with “deep, heartfelt pain.” Later, Kirill was more specific. In a sermon on 6 March, he focused his attention on Ukraine’s separatist Donbas regions, ignoring the rest of Ukraine. Kirill praised the separatist regions for their rejection Western values and went on to condemn pride parades. Aliaksandr Shramko, an Orthodox priest and a Christian Vision member, commented on Patriarch Kirill’s loyalty to Russian authorities in an interview with Zerkalo.io, a news media website. Shramko noted that a patriarch in the Orthodox tradition cannot be equated with the position of a spiritual leader. According to Shramko, his statements cannot reflect everything that is going on within the Orthodox church. On 24 March, Christian Vision’s Telegram channel announced that some Belarusian Orthodox priests were refusing to commemorate Patriarch Kirill. This can be understood as a form of spiritual protest against Kirill’s support of the Putin regime. Apparently, they are following the example of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has stopped honouring the Moscow Patriarch in its services. Church authorities have reacted by pressuring priests who halt their commemoration of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Despite this pressure, Christian Vision has noted the spontaneity of these protests. Priests reportedly have been deciding to protest either on their own, or with the support of their parishioners, guided by moral principles. Support non-profit journalism and perspectives from around the world. See all those languages? The Lingua project at Global Voices works to bring down barriers to understanding through translation. The October 4th protest rally was the third one to gather citizens opposing the alleged deployment of a Russian military aviation base in the Belarusian city of Babruysk the event came with mixed messages: themes included not only the military presence of Russia in Belarus but also the fairness of the coming elections (questionable) and the unfavorable political climate for any opposition forces in the country (a recurring issue) gathered in the center of Minsk on Sunday evening Signatures under the petition against a Russian base were collected Besides the military base as a point of contention the protesters seemed to be generally disposed to complain about Russian intervention and some even expressed support for their closest neighbor Anti #Russia|n airbase protest in #Minsk with white-red-white flags of #Belarus flying: pic.twitter.com/Xx8H5FXHw0 — Alex Kokcharov (@AlexKokcharov) October 4, 2015 Minsk now! #noRussianBaseinBelarus pic.twitter.com/QOYuDhXSrL — Ihar Losik (@ihar_losik) October 4, 2015 Акцыя пратэсту супраць расейскіх вайсковых баз #noRussianBaseinBelarus pic.twitter.com/z13ZEfKU5g — Radyjo Racyja (@Racyja) October 4, 2015 Protest action against Russian military bases According to a report from Charter97 Opposition figure Mikalai Statkevich pointed out that “as such actions had not been held in Minsk for five years the fact of its holding was something anyway.” Yury Hubarevich Deputy Chairman of the movement ‘For Freedom!’ insisted that “hundreds of thousands of Belarusians would take to the streets” should a Russian military base actually be deployed in Belarus "Няма баз – няма вайны" #norussianbaseinbelarus pic.twitter.com/D65hAjb2BZ — Радыё Свабода (@svaboda) October 4, 2015 (poster: “A Russian military base makes us a target!”) Нават па-расейску напісаў, каб "сусед" зразумеў ))) Не ведаю, хто ён, але падтымліваю. #noRussianBaseinBelarus pic.twitter.com/cJSRPj2uB3 — Звычайная Беларуска (@belaruska69) October 4, 2015 so the “neighbor” would understand:) I don't know who this guy is (poster: “Shove those bases up your a**!”) Online, the protest was paralleled with occasional Twitter storms using the hashtag #noRussianBaseinBelarus with social media users expressing their views on the matter #noRussianBaseinBelarus pic.twitter.com/d0LhJL1wtM — Андрей Горщарик (@Andrei_To4kA) September 27, 2015 I support any peaceful cooperation but not this violation of the Constitution. #noRussianBaseinBelarus — Котя (@kkatyaka) September 29, 2015 That is not a good idea to put russian aviation base in Belarus, so #noRussianBaseinBelarus — Strizhevich Marina (@Marishkaaa_STR) October 4, 2015 #NoRussianBaseInBelarus Я не хочу — vlvikin (@vlvikin) September 27, 2015 I don't want Gomel to turn into Donetsk the police did show up and wrote up a protocol for the rally as an unsanctioned mass event taking down the names of the opposition leaders who had organized the demonstration Now in Minsk – Police are trying to prevent speakers. The #noRussianBaseinBelarus rally continues pic.twitter.com/53PNHeLLkT MT via @svaboda — GorseFires Collectif (@GorseFires) October 4, 2015 Міліцыянты склалі пратакол і сталі перад выступоўцамі. pic.twitter.com/E6NA3L1ynU — Радыё Свабода (@svaboda) October 4, 2015 The policemen wrote up a protocol and embedded themselves in front of the speakers The participants of the rally adopted a resolution that would be sent to the Belarusian government with a show of hands a new movement ‘For the statehood and independence of Belarus’ was established at the meeting also with a show of hands from those present Poet and opposition figure Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu was elected Chairman of the movement with many opposition leaders arrested and jailed This post is part of RuNet Echo, a Global Voices project to interpret the Russian language internet. All Posts · Read more » ERROR: SECURITY TIMEOUT - Please copy your message to a backup location Global Voices stands out as one of the earliest and strongest examples of how media committed to building community and defending human rights can positively influence how people experience events happening beyond their own communities and national borders Please consider making a donation to help us continue this work Donate now Authors, please log in » Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Stay up to date about Global Voices and our mission. See our Privacy Policy for details. Newsletter powered by Mailchimp (Privacy Policy and Terms) Global Voices is supported by the efforts of our volunteer contributors, foundations, donors and mission-related services. For more information please read our Fundraising Ethics Policy Special thanks to our many sponsors and funders 2016Get email notification for articles from Ofer Aderet FollowNov 7 2016Fifteen years after the murder of her husband – and at the height of recent public protests against commemorating his legacy – Yael Ze’evi the widow of former Israeli general and minister Rehavam Ze’evi and her funeral took place Sunday at Kibbutz Degania +374 10 650015 Gary Vaynerchuk is a Russian-born entrepreneur and CEO who has a net worth of $200 million He started his career by working at his family's wine business transforming it from a $3 million to a $60 million company through e-commerce which gained a significant following and established him as an early YouTube celebrity The company has worked with major brands such as PepsiCo He is also a prolific angel investor and venture capitalist Gary Vee is known for his powerful speeches and his ability to predict and capitalize on social media trends Right Hook," and "AskGaryVee," which have become bestsellers He is the son of Tamara and Sasha Vaynerchuk and they lived in the New York borough of Queens Gary later moved with his family to Edison Vaynerchuk joined his family's retail wine business He graduated from North Hunterdon High School in 1993 After graduating from Mount Ida College in Newton he transformed his father's New Jersey liquor store into a retail wine store named Wine Library He launched sales online and started a daily webcast on YouTube Covering wine called "Wine Library TV." Vaynerchuk successfully grew the business from $3 million a year in revenue to $60 million by 2003 He is also the co-founder of Empathy Wines which was acquired by Constellation Brands in 2020 Vaynerchuk hosted a video blog on YouTube called "Wine Library TV (WLTV)." The show featured wine reviews It was produced daily at the Wine Library store in Springfield Gary retired the show in 2011 and replaced it with a podcast called "The Daily Grape." In 2010 Vaynerchuk launched "Wine & Web" on Sirius XM satellite radio The show paired new wine tastings in a "Wine of the Week" segment as well as featured trends and coverage of new gadgets in its "Web of the Week" segment Gary announced he was stepping down from the wine business to build VaynerMedia a digital ad agency he founded with his brother in 2009 VaynerMedia is a social media-focused digital ad agency Its goal is to provide social media strategy services to big Fortune 500 companies such as GE They were named one of Ad Age's A-List agencies in 2015 VaynerMedia had 600 employees and grossed $100 million in revenue They partner with Vimeo to connect brands and filmmakers for digital content Vaynerchuk is also the chairman of VaynerX a communications company that holds media properties and technology companies a VaynerX subsidiary company that houses PureWow following its acquisition by Gary and RSE Ventures By 2019 VaynerX employed 800 people and was generating $130 million per year in revenue VaynerMedia has worked with some of the largest brands in the world In February 2017, Apple announced the launch of a reality television series called "Planet of the Apps," with a recurring cast that includes Vaynerchuk, will.i.am, and Gwyneth Paltrow It has been described as "Shark Tank" meets "American Idol." In the show the team evaluates pitches from app developers who are competing for investment Gary launched a YouTube show called "#AskGaryVee" with his personal content production team he canvasses questions from Twitter and Instagram and responds in an improvised manner Vaynerchuk started "DailyVee," a daily video documentary series on YouTube that chronicles his life as a businessman and broadcasts investor meetings and strategy sessions at VaynerMedia He discusses his social media strategies through Snapchat and Instagram at length and offers demonstrations Resy was acquired by American Express in 2019 Vaynerchuk has written several books: "Gary Vaynerchuk's 101 Wines: Guaranteed to Inspire "Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion" (2009) "#AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur's Take on Leadership How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence—and How You Can and "Twelve and a Half: Leveraging the Emotional Ingredients Necessary for Business Success" (2021) Gary has been married to Lizzie Vaynerchuk since 2004 a daughter named Misha Eva Vaynerchuk and a son named Xander Avi Vaynerchuk it appears the couple is no longer together as of February 2022 when Vee took to Instagram and posted about a new relationship with nutrition and health coach Mona Vand Gary is very active on Twitter and Instagram boasting over 10 million followers (many of whom are celebrities) on the latter platform © 2025 Celebrity Net Worth / All Rights Reserved Andrei Arlovski is a professional mixed martial artist and actor who has a net worth of $4 million Andrei Arlovski competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship he holds the record for the most wins in UFC heavyweight history Arlovski has appeared in such films as "Universal Soldier: Regeneration" and "The Equalizer 2." and so at the age of 14 he began lifting weights and building his muscles so he could defend himself This led to Arlovski taking up martial arts when he was 16 Arlovski enrolled at a police academy in Minsk he demonstrated his combat prowess in the required police defense course in the martial art Sambo Arlovski won both the European Youth Sambo Championship and the World Youth Sambo Championship he was named Master of Sports and International Master of Sports in Sambo Arlovski went on to win silver medals at the Sambo World Cup and World Sambo Championship Arlovski began his professional career in mixed martial arts in 1999 with the Russian-based promotion M-1 Global Arlovski returned to M-1 Global in 2000 to take on Michael Tielrooy and Roman Zentsov Arlovski made his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut at UFC 28 in late 2000 Arlovski would go on to lose his next fight falling to Ricco Rodriguez at UFC 32 in 2001 Arlovski bounced back later in the year to defeat Ian Freeman at UFC 40 Arlovski went on to beat Wesley Correira at UFC 47 in 2004 Arlovski finished his UFC contract by defeating Jake O'Brien at UFC 82 in early 2008 (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images) Arlovski went on to join the promotion Strikeforce losing three consecutive fights from 2009 to early 2011 He came back strong in the summer of 2011 with the organization ProElite Arlovski defeated Travis Fulton at ProElite 2: Big Guns he signed with ONE Fighting Championship and faced Tim Sylvia for the fourth time in his career the bout ended in a no-contest due to an illegal soccer kick by Arlovski That was followed by five straight losses from early 2016 to mid-2017 Arlovski found his footing again in late 2017 when he defeated Júnior Albini via unanimous decision; he next beat Stefan Struve via unanimous decision at UFC 222 in early 2018 Arlovski began another losing streak in mid-2018 when he lost to Tai Tuivasa at UFC 225 although the decision was changed to a no contest after Harris tested positive for a banned substance Arlovski went on to lose to Augusto Sakai in his first fight in 2019 He subsequently defeated Ben Rothwell before falling to Jairzinho Rozenstruik Arlovski beat Philipe Lins and Tanner Boser he lost to Tom Aspinall before defeating Chase Sherman and Carlos Felipe Arlovski beat Jared Vanderaa and Jake Collier and lost to Marcos Rogério de Lima Arlovski suffered a loss to Waldo Cortes-Acosta he lost in a split decision to Martin Buday at UFC 303 it was announced that Arlovski was leaving the UFC Arlovski made his professional acting debut in the 2006 film "8 of Diamonds." A few years later he starred as the main antagonist in the science-fiction action film "Universal Soldier: Regeneration." Arlovski also appeared in the next film in the franchise "Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning." Later he made a guest appearance on the television show "Limitless." Among his other acting roles Arlovski played a mob enforcer in the opening scene of the 2018 action thriller "The Equalizer 2."