Is Europe's So-Called "Last Dictator" Doomed?

[ichkeria]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53761747

Leaving aside the popular tag given Lukashenko, which always strikes me as over-optimistic.

[The Builder]

"Our constitution is not for women," he said earlier this year. "Our society has not matured enough to vote for a woman. This is because by constitution the president handles a lot of power."

Oh dear.
Although she wasn't a president, Golda Meir comes to mind. She was born in The Ukraine, so she would have had something to say about that.
Other female presidents/prime ministers have done pretty well too. ;o)

[ichkeria]

Yes, he thought if a woman was his main challenger it would be no contest. Although Mrs Tikhanovskaya planned to stay in office only long enough to call proper elections.
Lukashenko has sent his family to Turkey, presumably concerned for their safety.
Although I asked the question, the answer surely is "yes". It will be facfinating to see how Putin reacts to this.

[sevenOP]

Highly possible Lukashenko will go as Kostunica went, removing the final traces of the Soviet Socialist Republics.
Giauque is in situ (Minsk) and Pompeo chuffed:

https://dxczjjuegupb.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Secretary_Pompeo_Meets_With_Belarusian_President_Lukashenko-300x200.jpg

Hopefully it does not go full Maidan Nezalezhnosti

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euromaidan#Snipers_deployed_during_the_climax_of_the_protests

[ichkeria]

No indeed we don’t want hordes of riot police opening fire on all and sundry.

[tomus42]

Let's hope so. There will never be any shortage of sociopaths stepping up to take on the role of dictator, but it's always good to see their demise.

[youngmafbog]

I'm very afraid it is all going to end very nastily there.

[sevenOP]

Tsikhanouskaya sends a clear message in this video from her safe refuge in the Lubin Triangle:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53780685

[Jackdaw33]

I spent a month in Minsk as part of my studies in 1974. An interesting place but all the buildings were the same yellow sandstone colour. This is not surprising as the city was almost wholly destroyed in WWII and was restored within 20 years. It was one of the most slavish Soviet republics who took their orders from Moscow, but I enjoyed my time there.

[ichkeria]

I see that the head of Russia Today has called on Putin to send in the cavalry :-)

There’s nothing like an independent minded media :-)
I’ve seen some of the wounds inflicted on protesters by Lukashenko’s (and Putin’s?) goons (as I’m sure have others here) and they are horrific.
It’s entirely right that Mrs Tikhanovskaya should have fled to the safety of Lithuania for now. She is only a figurehead anyway. But an important one.

[sevenOP]

"I see that the head of Russia Today has called on Putin to send in the cavalry :-) "

Where did you see that ?

[ichkeria]

She tweeted for "polite men" to put belarus "in order".

Unlikley she would have done that without approval from the puppetmaster.
And I notice that Belarus has now repatriated the 32 alleged Russian mercenaries arrested in Minsk before the election. Which would be a handy precursor to any smoothing of relations between Lukashenko and Putin.

[ichkeria]

"polite men" is a euphemism for what we have tended to call "little green men"

[sevenOP]

https://twitter.com/M_Simonyan/status/1294140006882189312
"А вообще пора уже вежливым людям навести порядок, конечно.

Как они умеют." ~ = "In general, it's time for polite people to put things in order, of course.

How they can."

[sevenOP]

"And I notice that Belarus has now repatriated the 32 alleged Russian mercenaries arrested in Minsk before the election."

Hard to know who to believe these days: ];~0

https://www.penza.kp.ru/daily/217165/4266019/

Glad things in Belarus are seem relatively untroubled this weekend

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53790741

hope for a fair re-run election and this guy is not needed

[ichkeria]

Interesting that the Belarus revolution is being spun even in some Western quarters as “not like Ukraine’s” and while that is true in part (Ukraine’s was jumped on by cheerleaders east and west) fundamentally it’s the same basic issue: freedom from oppression (Yanukovich had bullied, embezzled and corrupted his way through the presidency for years, jailing his most dangerous political opponent).
This time there are no EU flags to get the usual suspects either up, but there are flags and one is the preSoviet era Belarusian one, officially banned.
Without Belarus, “Russia’s foreign presence shrivels to a pitiful archipelago of separatist enclaves and bandit-ridden hellholes” as Edward Lucas puts it.
A brilliant summing-up

[Peter Pedant]

too subtle for an ABer
( I am a bear of only little intelligence)
what is Lukashenko's monniker ?

and well done Itch - your ability to ferret out info in Eastern Europe - sometimes in eastern european forrin which they speak in er eastern ....
is admirable

Pooteen has threatened to 'help' - so his (L's) tenure may be guaranteed by 'the people' - the Russian people that is!

[Peter Pedant]

// Without Belarus, “Russia’s foreign presence shrivels to a pitiful archipelago of separatist enclaves and bandit-ridden hellholes” as Edward Lucas puts it.
A brilliant summing-up//

so probably Trump wont sujpport

I say - I must say - very high quality posts
some even in Rooshan. I congratulate Itch for tempting out the intellectuals and linguists
( wh I neva did)
and of course the pointy heads themselves

[Peter Pedant]

// Although she wasn't a president, Golda Meir comes to mind. //

no indeed - X ( fill in name ) who said of her -
she's the only man in the cabinet

[Peter Pedant]

X who was president, said of her .....
yeah you probably guessed that ....