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Belarus: Compare and Contrast


F250

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Sounds very Trumpy.

As countries around the world effectively shut down to tackle the spread of the coronavirus, the authoritarian president of Belarus is urging citizens to drink vodka, go to saunas and return to work.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/31/coronavirus-belarus-urges-citizens-to-drink-vodka-visit-saunas.html

 

 

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8 hours ago, F250 said:

Sounds very Trumpy.

"As countries around the world effectively shut down to tackle the spread of the coronavirus, the authoritarian president of Belarus is urging citizens to drink vodka, go to saunas and return to work."

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/31/coronavirus-belarus-urges-citizens-to-drink-vodka-visit-saunas.html

 

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Belarus was named one of the "Outposts of Tyranny" by Condi Rice in 2005. 

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In January at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to consider her nomination for secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice named the nations of Belarus, Cuba, Iran, Burma, North Korea, and Zimbabwe as "outposts of tyranny."

Rice's nomination speech may have provided insight into her foreign policy agenda for the next four years. "We must use American diplomacy to help create a balance of power in the world that favors freedom," she said. Rice Stays Close to Bush Policies In Hearing (The Post, Jan. 19)

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28165-2005Apr5.html

 

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8 hours ago, HornOnTheBayou said:

Does this mean Rochelle is not coming? 

The rail traffic in Milan is a nightmare this time of year.  

Edited by Lobo
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I saw video of the protests on the news tonight. Pretty impressive, especially after seeing the injuries suffered by protesters at the hands of police recently. They said the police had pulled back. It will be interesting to see if the protests continue and grow like they did in Ukraine against Yanukovych back in 2014. 

Speaking of the 2014 protests, it would be interesting to visit that thread on the old board and see how many people cheering the revolt against Putin's puppet in Ukraine at the time are now defending Putin's puppet in the U.S. and alleging that the Bidens are the ones involved in Ukrainian corruption since Yanakovych fled to Moscow. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

lukashenko is still in power

they abducted and tried to force the opposition to leave the country but kolesnikova ripped up her passport

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54056634

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/08/maria-kolesnikova-germany-and-uk-call-for-release-of-snatched-belarus-opposition-figure

hundreds arrested on monday protests

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54044750

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“Internal Affairs Minister Yuri Karayev defended the actions of the security forces.
"They talk about the brutality of the Belarusian police, and I want to say this: there are no more humane, restrained and cool-headed police anywhere in the world," “

Man...sounds exactly like what we hear from leadership right here at home. Lapdog states for Putin are all the same, I guess.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Updating this thread this week as events continue. I've been following it and it's looking more grim:

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Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, dogged by weeks of protests over a disputed election, said on Thursday that Belarus needs to close its borders with Poland and Lithuania, and strengthen border controls with Ukraine.

Belarus is in a political crisis following an Aug. 9 presidential election marred by vote-rigging allegations that led to mass demonstrations against Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994. Lukashenko says he won re-election fairly and is the victim of a smear campaign by the West.

“We are compelled to withdraw our troops from the streets, have half our army on guard and close our state border with the West, first of all with Lithuania and Poland,” Lukashenko said in a speech at a women’s forum in Minsk. “To our greatest regret, we are compelled to strengthen our border with brotherly Ukraine.” From Reuters 9/17/2020

 

According to Reuters who spoke with officials of those countries, everything is operating normally as of now.

 

 

Also: Liubakova is a journalist in Minsk. Note the second tweet below. All our dictators sing the same song of Ice and Fire:

"There is ice and there is fire. Hate and love. Bitter and sweet... Winter and summer. Evil and good. Death and life. Everywhere, opposites. Everywhere, the war."  Winter is coming, folks. To mix up my fantasy fiction: CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!

 

 

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That was in August, but thus far he's still in charge:

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Germany reiterated that it did not recognise Lukashenko as president and called for EU sanctions to be agreed as soon as possible.

Despite its population of only 9.5 million, Belarus matters to Russia as a buffer state against NATO and a conduit for Russian exports of oil and gas.

At a summit last week, Putin granted Lukashenko a $1.5 billion loan, and the two countries are holding “Slavic Brotherhood” defence exercises in Belarus.

As part of those drills, Russian paratroopers parachuted into Belarus on Wednesday.

Apparently the US is "drawing up sanctions," but since the Kremlin approves of Lukashenko, I wouldn't hold my breath that it will be more than words. Pompeo seems pretty focused on China, probably to divert attention from the shenanigans that Rick Perry and friends got up to in Ukraine.

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The problem seems to be if you take on him, you're taking on Vlad which is a whole other kettle of fish. Rather telling that 'we' haven't commented much on it. Sweden is certainly taking notice. Germany is as well. Some of the infiltration throughout American media by Russian friendly ops is having an effect overall on the average person's viewpoint of Russia. I don't believe one should vilify Russian citizens, but I sure as hell don't trust their government nor Putin's gang of uber wealthy cohorts.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Banging the gong a little louder here, folks.

 

So, reports like this won't be showing up so much anymore:

Or you won't know who is beating you.

Or who is telling on you:

Or if you will be able to know what really happened.

People who support authoritarian regimes are okay with this. They like a faux democracy. Until they live it. It is exhausting to live a false life. Each and every day is a lie.

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20 hours ago, honolulu horn said:

Fucking hell, that "find the kids" policy is some dark, evil shit. 

It is. They are very very brave and despite 25 years of Lukashenko, they are not giving up. It is much harder to have democracy than it is to have autocrats and tyrants, but still they persist. We can learn a lot from them.

Here is another round of news.

First, the ingenuity of people worldwide: leaf blowers, trash can shields, and here some MacGyvering:

Powerful pic. Women have been protesting and getting detained in the hundreds. Pregnant women, mothers, grandmothers. It is extra risky for women to be detained. The punishment and abuse they face inside the walls of the prisons is never documented. This was taken in Minsk.

This video (with translation) is very good. I check on this account regularly for world news and specifically eastern Europe. I want their democracies to succeed. The people there do too. As an oligarch in exile, I know he has a slant to his views, but it is a much more democratic people driven slant than Putin and his organization , Open Russia, at least purports to lead with having open media and activists who are protected in addition to free and fair elections.

 

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And here's the last one. Sorry for the string of posts. The Kurds, the asylum seekers, the Ukrainians, all our allies we have forsaken. Their plight haunts me.

We must rise from this self-inflicted regime we have created and become a beacon of free and fair government and rule of law for all.

Let's hear it for the freedom fighters.

 

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  • 1 month later...

More in Belarus. Protestor and former soldier Roman Bondarenko (31 yrs) was arrested Wednesday by plain clothes policemen and died Thursday. Who is a dictator? Lukashenko is a dictator. Who admires force like Lukashenko? It isn't just Donald J. Trump. CONSTANT VIGILANCE.

Rest in peace, Roman. May your dream of a free choice for Belarus become reality.

 

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  • 5 months later...

I haven't been posting in this thread, but the protests haven't stopped. The recent news regarding the two men and the claim that it was a plot by the US and political opposition in Belarus, Lukashenka may use as a ploy to turn the screw further on the people.

For the RW who claim that they are being persecuted. Here is what state sanctioned persecution looks like. This is persecution.

 

 

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