I usually don’t post about issues outside of East Asia, but I wanted to jot down my concerns about the situation in Belarus following recent “elections” there.
First off, let me say that my hopes and sympathies are fully with those who would like to bring democratic change to Europe’s “last dictatorship.”
Having said that, this is a situation that, like the Ukraine, could blow up into something big if not handled with the utmost care. Russia just barely recognizes Belarus as an independent state; Moscow is Minsk’s sole ally, and talks between the two countries to form a political union have been going on for years (albeit slowly). Unfortunately for the Kremlin, President Lukashenko is apparently quite high on plucky NATO/EU member Poland’s “color revolution” hit-list, and with 300,000 Poles (whom Lukashenko reportedly doesn’t trust) living in the Hrodno region (which used to be part of Poland), things could get real ugly real fast if Belarus were to grow unstable and things weren’t handled handed with extreme prudence.
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5 Comments
Something nasty is going to happen there soon.
Hitler, Stalin, Lukashenko… what is it about evil white dictators and fastidiously-trimmed moustaches?
It’s not confined to white dictators - or even dictators for that matter. See this site
On a more serious note, according to the Putin doctrine:
“Moscow reserves the right to settle, with military force if necessary, any disputes in its neighboring states, and to maintain oil and gas pipelines running even in those parts of the system.”
Scary stuff.
moustaches=fascist facial hair
Putin ain’t a whole helluva lot better than Lukashenko these days, but these guys, who allow their opponents to live, are practically liberals compared to the dictators of North Korea, China, Burma and Vietnam.
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[...] Over at The Marmot’s Hole a visitor posed the question, “What is it about evil white dictators and fastidiously-trimmed moustaches?” This sparked my curiousity (actually I was looking for a photo of a moustachioed Margaret Thatcher) and I came across a quiz on this site. Go give it a shot. [...]