Lukashenko

Pa ElGrande

Irish_rat wrote: »

Belarus will be destroyed if capitalism takes over. Major EU/Nato influence here

As far as I see the Belarusians are being kept in a time capsule of managed decline almost ike Ireland in the 1980s. What happens outside the capital? the countryside seems to be subsistence living and dying off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPprbc0U8yU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X74KhXTAigs

That Belarusians seem to have gotten the short end of the stick. Absolutely trashed in world war II with a significant number of the population killed, especially men, so much so that it dictated relationships between men and women in the aftermath and not positively. Even in Soviet times it was treated as a provincial backwater, they sent Lee Harvey Oswald there, they did not trust him. They also got the worst of the fallout from Chernobyl. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the country has been preserved as a monument to that era with a dictator in charge and country under the thumb of Moscow politics.

Whatever way you look at it, from an economic, cultural and historic perspective the country is always going to need a close relationship with Russia and inviting NATO would jeopardise that relationship so it is not going to happen. In addition NATO itself is a relic of the cold war, it has a bureaucracy but no mission and really only minimal co-operation between its members. NATO is a shell with nothing inside. Whoever takes over after the political system after Lukashenko will need to maintain close ties with Moscow.


Then again the western half on the country is more closely related to Poland and that country and that country is pushing hard to get more Americans in to try and fend off both Germany and Russia.


Here is a bluffers guide to why Belarus exists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufRLYllmwUE

Gatling

Lukashenko was seen carrying an assault rifle today during the latest protests today involving 200,000+ protesters , after flying into the presidential palace giving the thumbs up to security personnel ,



Russia's foreign minister claimed the country's opposition politicians want "bloodshed".


This is going to go the way of Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Ukraine sooner or later he and his goons will start shooting protestors while calling in Russian forces to restore order

https://news.sky.com/story/belarus-opposition-wants-bloodshed-russia-claims-as-army-monitors-protesters-12055033

Gregor Samsa

The guy I work with in Minsk that had been telling us what was going on - and clearly supported the protests - has been called up for military service. Hope he isn’t put in any difficult situations.

Ten of Swords

Maria Kolesnikova, who was previously arrested to prevent her from running in the presidential election earlier this year (and who then became a supporter of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's campaign), was kidnapped in broad daylight off the streets of Minsk earlier today.

Witnesses say masked men took her phone and bundled her into a minivan. Police have denied detaining her.

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

Gatling

Ten of Swords wrote: »

Witnesses say masked men took her phone and bundled her into a minivan. Police have denied detaining her.

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

Probably enroute to Moscow as we speak

Gatling

Gatling wrote: »

Probably enroute to Moscow as we speak

Currently they are trying to expel her from the country to Ukraine

Ten of Swords

Two other activists, along with her, were grabbed and driven to the border with Ukraine.

Unconfirmed rumours that she destroyed her passport to prevent her being effectively thrown out of the country. She is in the custody of the Belarus border police right now. The other two activists are both in Ukraine.

Brave woman, they're going to be pissed at her for doing that

Gatling

Ten of Swords wrote: »

Two other activists, along with her, were grabbed and driven to the border with Ukraine.

Unconfirmed rumours that she destroyed her passport to prevent her being effectively thrown out of the country. She is in the custody of the Belarus border police right now. The other two activists are both in Ukraine.

Brave woman, they're going to be pissed at her for doing that

I'm still expecting her to be sent to Moscow

XVII

Mick Wallace had something to tell Tikhanovskaya:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA1j2U9gh54

Gatling

XVII wrote: »

Mick Wallace had something to tell Tikhanovskaya:

He's a little fecking ejit .

SouthWesterly

And he was doing so well until he got to his rant at the end!