I had to laugh at "this country is not safe" :D my country also advised that, but I've been there many times. It's about the safest country in Europe IMHO.
It depends on your definition of safe. You won't be robbed. You may be assaulted on the street at night even in downtown Minsk. But the biggest risk is the state.
If someone in the security apparatus decides that you should be taken hostage, tortured and beaten to death to show off to your government, they will do it and there will be no way for your consulate to help you.
It's tougher for locals. Over 300,000 people out of around 9 mln left the country since 2020, escaping from prosecution, prison or simply as they lost their jobs because of a smiley, comment on social media or just because they were subscribed to an opposition Telegram channel.
You have to understand that street crime and organized crime are virtually non-existent because thugs rule the country.
> If someone in the security apparatus decides that you should be taken hostage, tortured and beaten to death to show off to your government, they will do it and there will be no way for your consulate to help you.
Nah, just don't break their laws, it's pretty simple.
European friends of mine visited Iran a few years ago, they even had some hookups with Tinder. I was very surprised at the time, their description felt like the opposite of what I was told about Iran by the media.
> Nah, just don't break their laws, it's pretty simple.
Merely opening this link [1] would send you into trouble irrespective of whether you are local or a tourist. This is the chatbot of an opposition media in exile, FYI. There is for sure a law under which you will be prosecuted.
Nobody is going to learn all the laws of a country. When the laws/custom of a country are so different than yours that a trivially legal act in your country becomes highly illegal in that country you should avoid that country because who knows what else you'll do that'll get you into trouble.
Talking about matters that are important to the powers that be is always unsafe, unless you vehemently agree with them. You are only safe in the West if the government considers you a clown that nobody will pay attention to. Someone like Julian Assange they will do their darndest to destroy.
It’s hardly a secret that the Chinese government stokes nationalist sentiment as a useful way to get legitimacy and distract from domestic issues. The problem with doing this is that you start flirting with the possibility of violence.
And the government is well aware of the dangers given that the opinions that they need to rein it in come from the same state media that promotes nationalist sentiment. Xi’s China in particular is far more nationalist than its predecessors.
