Protests in Minsk and other cities across Belarus

[KingsX]

11.08.2020

Protests erupted in Minsk and other cities across Belarus following the presidential election on 9 August that saw the country's incumbent president, Alexander Lukashenko, re-elected for a sixth consecutive term.

The Belarusian Interior Ministry said in a statement that over 2,000 people have been detained in the country over the past 24 hours.

Protests in Minsk continue to grow increasingly violent, with one confirmed fatality. Police have used water cannons, stun grenades, and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.

According to official data from the Belarusian electoral authorities, Alexander Lukashenko won over 80 percent of the vote, while opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya came in second with just over 10 percent. Tikhanovskaya has refused to recognise the outcome and claimed that she won up to 70-80 percent of the vote.

https://sputniknews.com/europe/20200...past-24-hours/




Lukashenko and his youngest son, Nikolai [an adorable little boy who has become a very handsome young man]

[KingsX]

Blast from the past:


Lukashenko: better to be a dictator than gay

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...us-leader.html

[KingsX]

"Don't get out into the streets. You should understand that you and your children are being used as cannon fodder," Lukashenko said.

Lukashenko is RIGHT !!



Thousands swarm Belarus streets to protest police violence during peaceful demonstrations

EU officials have called for sanctions after reports of police brutality in Belarus


Thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets of Minsk, the capital city of Belarus, to protest police violence against peaceful demonstrators earlier this week after a disputed presidential election.

Police reportedly sought to ease angry demonstrators by releasing 2,000 jailed protestors Friday.

Belarussians marched this week in the capital shouting "Go Away" to President Alexander Lukashenko, and demanded his resignation after his 26-year reign, which was extended Sunday...


... Though soldiers were lined up to protect the nearby government headquarters, roughly a dozen guards lowered their riot shields which reportedly prompted women to come forward and embrace them in sign of solidarity.

Lukashenko has claimed the protestors are puppets of foreign governments, attempting to disrupt peace in Belarus.

"Do you want me to sit and wait until they turn Minsk upside down?" he said. "We won't be able to stabilize the situation afterwards. We must take a break, collect ourselves and calm down. And let us restore order and deal with those who have come here."

"Don't get out into the streets. You should understand that you and your children are being used as cannon fodder," Lukashenko said.

more at link

https://www.foxnews.com/world/thousa...demonstrations

[KingsX]

Belarus leader says Russia willing to help counter protests

Associated Press - August 15, 2020

MINSK, Belarus (AP) Thousands of demonstrators in Belarus took to the streets again Saturday to demand that the country's authoritarian leader resign after a presidential vote they called fraudulent. In response, the president declared that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had agreed to provide security assistance to restore order if Belarus requested it.

President Alexander Lukashenko spoke Saturday evening several hours after a phone call with Putin as he struggled to counter the biggest challenge yet to his 26 years in power...


... Luksahenko did not specify what sort of assistance Russia would be willing to provide. But he said when it comes to the military component, we have an agreement with the Russian Federation, referring to a mutual support deal the two former Soviet republics signed back in the 1990s.

"These are the moments that fit this agreement," he added.

more at link

https://news.yahoo.com/protests-bela...123107296.html

[KingsX]

Why this pro-EU, anti-Lukashenko commentary in the Moscow Times ??

Is this a "feign weakness" Sun Tzu tactic ??

And what's this reference to a "Blue" revolution in Belarus [in Russia, blue is a code word for sodomites !!]



Putin Doesn't Want to Intervene in Belarus. That's an Opportunity for the West.

It's certainly not too soon for Moscow and Brussels to learn from past mistakes.

Aug. 16, 2020

In the spring of 2006, I was dispatched as a reporter for The Moscow News to cover the presidential elections in Belarus - and the mounting protests against the incumbent Alexander Lukashenko.

The demonstrations came on the heels of two pro-Western color revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia the previous year, and there was a great deal of naive hope, particularly in the West, that popular demonstrations could easily and bloodlessly topple a dictator.

I was pessimistic, and after I filed my dispatch, titled "Belarus: Too Soon for 'Blue' Revolution," my skepticism was vindicated.

The protests were brutally suppressed, there was global and domestic condemnation, but Lukashenko's regime survived.

Now, the time has come, largely through Lukashenko's own undoing, but also, in part, thanks to a perfect storm of the pandemic, a stagnating economy, and Moscows growing weariness with subsidizing Belarus and playing cat and mouse with an ally turned frenemy.

Lukashenko may well succeed in suppressing these protests through demonstrative terror, but even if he wins this gamble, he will at best buy a couple of years of hollow, illegitimate rule before his administration finally implodes.

These elections weren't just rigged - all autocrats do that. The results appear to have been flipped in his favor to mask an irredeemable defeat.

And the spectacular, punitive mass torture that his OMON forces instigated to cow not just protesters but ordinary people into submission wipes away the last traces of legitimate power in the eyes of the very people who once obeyed him. One does not just walk away from such abuses.

But far from the wide-eyed optimism and hope that accompanied protests in 2006, the prospect of Lukashenko's demise poses a headache both for the Kremlin and for Minsk's Western neighbors.

Doing nothing feels uncomfortable, but doing something is rife with consequences. In the last decade, "constructive intervention" and even moral support to help send a dictator who has outstayed his welcome on his way have devolved into bloody proxy wars in Libya, Syria and Ukraine. Western and EU support of the Euromaidan protests to topple Viktor Yanukovich triggered a military intervention from Moscow and a war that simmers to this day.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/...he-west-a71166

[KingsX]

Blast from the past:


Lukashenko: "better to be a dictator than gay"

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...us-leader.html

This makes Soros' Belarus "Blue" revolution even more symbolic.

In Russia, "blue" is a code word for sodomites.

[KingsX]

Today FOX TV news discussed the possibility that Putin might send Russian troops to Belarus.

[KingsX]

17 August 2020

Lukashenko: Government will never fall in Belarus

MINSK, 17 August (BelTA) - The government will never fall in Belarus, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he talked to employees of Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant (MZKT) on 17 August, BelTA has learned.

"They [opponents to the existing authorities in Belarus] intoxicated people with social networks. Some started thinking: this is it, there is no government; the government has fallen. The government will never fall. You know me. We will deal with them. Just be patient," the head of state said.

"However, a moment might come when one should not remain patient anymore. We can hear the sound of caterpillar tracks. I see it. They have chosen the right moment. They have just provoked this situation to make us use our military to deal with domestic issues. Who can guarantee today that those forces that are coming from outside will not affect us? Putin and I share the view that this activity pursues a certain goal," the president said.

more at link

https://eng.belta.by/president/view/...s-132624-2020/

[KingsX]

17 August 2020

Lukashenko: You should use your brains, not phones

MINSK, 17 August (BelTA) - Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko has urged people to take well-considered decisions and not to rely solely on the information from some internet sources. The president made this statement as he talked to MAZ workers after visiting the MZKT company, BelTA has learned.

Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned numerous hoaxes about property and finances that allegedly belong to him. “Therefore, I am saying: if you find it, you can take it,” he noted.

“Today you should use your brains instead of your smart phones. Think! Tell everyone that no one will try to persuade anyone. This is it. You are approaching a red line. If you cross it, you will face the consequences. If you take to the streets, we will handle it. If you start crushing things, you will be brought to account. This is a manly talk,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The head of state expressed confidence that calm and well-considered decisions are needed to stabilize the situation. However, not everyone is capable of it; the herd behavior often prevails. One of the workers who talked with the president spoke about it. When the president asked him a direct question, the man admitted that being in a large crowd, he chanted protest slogans together with the crowd. “I know what it means to chant when everyone is chanting. If you remain silent, you will look bad,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said commenting on the effect of the herd behavior.

The president emphasized that workers should work diligently instead of taking part in political activities. “Do you want to go into politics? Go ahead, nobody minds. However, it has different rules and the herd behavior is one of them. Go ahead and do it, but keep in mind that the president will not pat you on the shoulder,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. Having a wealth of experience as the president, Aleksandr Lukashenko has a clear idea of what might come next and what it might result in. “I have had enough. But if I leave, I will know what will happen with you: you will shout ‘Leave!' to the one who will follow me, but very soon, literally in 2-3 years,” the head of state said."

more at link

https://eng.belta.by/president/view/...s-132622-2020/

[KingsX]

17 August 2020

Lukashenko: The fall of the first president will be the beginning of the end


MINSK, 17 August (BelTA) - At the Minsk rally on 16 August Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko explained why so many things depend on the balanced position of people and the majority who supported the ruling authorities, BelTA has learned.

"They [protesters] chant 'Step down!'. No problem! Listen, my dear. I am standing here not because I want to hold on to power. I have spent a quarter of a century, my youth and my best years serving you and our Motherland. No problem! Presidents come and go. The riot police will go, we will dismantle the army and sit down on the square again. What and who will we wait here for? Who will you provide for? Releasing criminals and gangsters… No problem! But they will kill and rob us and our children. Keep it in mind! They are striving for power," the head of state said.

"We have already gone through this. Someone has not experienced it, someone has forgotten it. Why repeat it? I am saying it again: We should never repeat it! Stop, do not kill your future, the future of your children with your own hands," the president said.

"We are a desirable piece for them [those who are against a quiet Belarusian state], but this piece is not big. They will eat it up and will not even choke. Think about it! It is time to make up your mind. I would like to ask: What is happening with you, Belarusians? You wanted to live decently! Keep in mind: the fall of the first president will mean the beginning of your end. You will always stand on your knees, like in Ukraine and other counties, and pray to someone," the Belarusian leader emphasized.

https://eng.belta.by/president/view/...d-132620-2020/