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114 imagesLabeled by many western politicians as "Europe's last dictator," Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is serving one of the longest continuous leaderships of a post-Soviet nation. First elected in 1994, Lukashenko has maintained his control by winning two more controversial elections - the latest in 2006. Although he receives international criticism for his strong-armed rule, poor human rights record, suppression of government opposition, control of the media, lack of economic reform and re-nationalization of private companies, internally, Lukashenko stills garners widespread support from the population. Promoting himself as a "man of the people," the former collective farm manager dismisses scorn over his authoritarian rule, claiming it to be his country's only alternative to instability and from slipping into the same dark period of social dislocation seen in Russia in the 1990s. But Lukashenko's grip on power and his vision of "market socialism" has made his country a political, economic and information island within Europe. More than 27 percent of a population of 10 million live in poverty. Belarus is not rich with natural resources. Much of its economy is supported by the subsidized import and re-export of Russian oil and gas at market prices. But Russia, which has the greatest political and economic influence on Belarus, has dramatically raised its price for gas and oil going to its western neighbor. Belarus today has retained the strongest connection with its Soviet past. Statues of Lenin loom over city and town squares; collective farms employ thousands, although under miserable conditions; May Day parades continue in Minsk with workers and athletes now carrying Lukashenko portraits; most of the economy is state owned; the national security force is still called the KGB; and most of the population plods along in an information black hole. In many ways, Belarus still is the Soviet Union.
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30 imagesKnown as one of the most densely populated places in the world, Hong Kong is booming as one of Asia’s most important and influential cities. Following the transfer of sovereignty from Great Britain to China almost 15 years ago, the "Pearl of the Orient" is known internationally for its expansive skyline, deep natural harbor, cuisine, and banking. While postcards and tourist photos reflect ferries plying the harbor, glass and steel skyscrapers reaching into the clouds, and double-decker trams gliding along Hong Kong island rails, in the shadows of the narrow alleys a different, almost unknown, city breathes. The lives inside the alleys are often hidden in this vertical city, where the back doors of restaurants and small businesses open to muted tones of gray and brown; where the huddled workers and residents, indifferent of the sun or the moon, find solace from the frenetic pace just meters away.
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24 imagesSetting ink beneath one’s skin is an expression, unique and sentimental, of the shadows within that have been twisted out. These hard and soft, gradated and bold, hued or monochromatic forms of pigmented words or symbols or shapes or art reveal how we wish to be seen before we are heard. They expose the deepest recesses of our human condition, and become for others a riddle to unfold. But, with us, in time, these secrets slip into their own shadows. “… and these mysteries were therefore destined in the end to moulder away with the living parchment whereon they were inscribed, and so be unsolved to the last.” – Herman Melville, in Moby Dick
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72 imagesThe highlands of Småland - a state in southern Sweden - are rich with blueberries, moose and a quiet pastoral life. The rolling hills of grain fields, scattered streams brimming with trout and crawfish and thick forests matted with moss harbor iron-age burial mounds, hundreds of miles of remote hiking paths and historical and cultural farming traditions. With many of the lakes, valleys and hills carved by the last ice age, the highlands draw visitors year round from Sweden's busy cities and the European mainland to escape noise, pollution and stress. Scattered farms, churches and estates - some dating from the Middle Ages - share the quiet spaces with the region's timber, agricultural, glass blowing and fishing industries. At night, the Milky Way snakes across the night sky. Nestled between the more mountainous central Sweden and the southern coastal flatlands of Skåne, the rugged, stony highlands sit roughly equidistant from Sweden's two main cities - Stockholm and Göteborg. Those who have moved or remained in the Småland Highlands feel liberated from the frenzied city life, opting instead to be, according to the Swedish encyclopedia Nordisk Familjebok,"diligent and hard-working, yet compliant, cunning and crafty" and moving "through life with little means."
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