The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Belarus Thread

    By PeraclesPlease on Mon, 08/10/2020 - 10:35am |

    Belarus upheaval continued from here: http://dagblog.com/comment/286766#comment-286766

    US gov's Anti-immigrant racket here: http://dagblog.com/comment/286798#comment-286798

     

    Comments


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 08/10/2020 - 5:42pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 08/10/2020 - 5:57pm

    Heart of Darkness


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 8:38am


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 12:55am

    So who should we be rootin' for PP?   Real question. 


    by A Guy Called LULU on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 1:42am

    Says something about you

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/26/belarus-svetlana-tikhanovskaya-unseat-alexander-lukashenko


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 2:05am

    Svetlana forced statement?

    (Husband's a prisoner)


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 6:29am


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 6:35am

    Russia/Belarus pretend protecting Svetlana from assassination, forced her out of country.

    https://ukrainetoday.org/2020/08/10/the-kgb-of-belarus-announced-the-prevention-of-the-assassination-attempt-on-svetlana-tikhanovskaya/

    https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/69519/


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 10:29am


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 12:11pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 12:12pm

    Is really not too much to ask to just not show support?


    by artappraiser on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 1:54pm

    Trump's campaign manager Manafort was a corrupt political fixer who helped literally lock up Yulia Tymoshenko. Trump Is notorious for hating strong women, such as recalling our Ukrainian Ambassador So he could extoet the Ukrainian president. Trump and Lukashenko would be soulmates, if they had souls. Expect nothing good from him.


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 4:49pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 1:58pm

    Interesting to see callout of lefty hypocrisy here, have seen a couple of other tweets like this:

    people seem to care about police brutality only when it's happening in developed contries like America

    but when it's countries like Poland, Belarus, Mexico and Lebanon you all pretend you don't see it

    ACAB is an international issue

    ALL cops EVERYWHERE are bastards https://t.co/mMsed1UIvY

    — polina (@antiieess) August 10, 2020

    The whole world gets all agitated by George Floyd, I guess because it is the fall of hope if the U.S. isn't perfect? Same with Hong Kong, lots of interest in that because it was a "first world" beacon?

    No one even mentions Syria and Venezuela anymore, it's like they are truly lost cause, just write them off? Lebanon, eh, they were created to suffer?


    by artappraiser on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 2:11pm

    Floyd caught fire because he was the 3rd black abuse video to hit in May (some Breonna and Aubrey developments). Hong Kong was a British colony. When 3000 Parisian died in a heatwave in 2005, it was the conservative thing to laugh about it. A bomb scare on a bridge in Baghdad caused 200 people to be trampled or leap to their death - And barely made Western news. Yes, we're insular bastards.


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 4:59pm

    Lithuania's minister of foreign affairs:


    by artappraiser on Wed, 08/12/2020 - 12:02pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 08/13/2020 - 12:19am

    he is citing behavior somewhat different from like, Portland:


    by artappraiser on Fri, 08/14/2020 - 12:42am


    by artappraiser on Fri, 08/14/2020 - 12:06pm

    now this reminds me of Moscow 1991

     


    by artappraiser on Fri, 08/14/2020 - 12:41pm

    Lukashenko v Lysistrata

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/14/women-belarus-take-protest...


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 08/14/2020 - 1:46pm

    Tichanovskaya back in saddle

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/14/belarusian-opposition-cand...


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 08/14/2020 - 4:05pm

    Belarus frees Russian agitators
    https://www.rferl.org/a/kyiv-angry-over-belarus-release-of-alleged-russi...


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 08/16/2020 - 5:58am

    CNN missed the point - Putin not popular in Belarus.

    And Ukraine survived Donbas. Crimea less fortunate.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/13/opinions/putin-expansion-belarus-ukra...


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 08/16/2020 - 2:21pm


    by artappraiser on Sun, 08/16/2020 - 5:24pm


    by artappraiser on Mon, 08/17/2020 - 2:19am

    Protesters are going to Minsk Prison at Valadarskaha street, where most political prisoners are kept. Earlier, telegram channels distributed the call to release all prisoners and detainees, but authorities did not. pic.twitter.com/xhERfNteE3

    — Franak Viačorka (@franakviacorka) August 17, 2020

    Trying to think of what is so striking here: no signs and they are very orderly, though lots of noise, staying on the sidewalk, not marching, walking. Very solemn stuff, like going to church.

    Edit to add: no children that I can see.


    by artappraiser on Mon, 08/17/2020 - 12:48pm

    doh, I did not think of this, my bad:


    by artappraiser on Mon, 08/17/2020 - 12:51pm

    100 cases/day for 9.5m ppl?

    Not so dangerous


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 08/17/2020 - 1:24pm

    not a mask in sight:


    by artappraiser on Mon, 08/17/2020 - 1:32pm

    73 new infections yesterday in Belarus, 2-4 deaths a day. 

    Montana is doing worse with 1/10th the population, and no dictator to challenge.

    I'm all for masks, but the danger of a 25-year dictator and his militarized thugs are worse than the likely worst case chance that they get up to 400 infections a day with 10 dead per day. Maybe. This isnt Florida, and protests hopefully of less than 1 month arent the same as much more universal careless behavior lasting 6 months. Plus the protests are outside, which Is much much less contagious than the unabated inside shopping and other activities in Florida. (the current virulence also seems much less than what hit New York and Italy at the beginning)


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 08/17/2020 - 2:20pm

    chart:


    by artappraiser on Tue, 08/18/2020 - 12:13pm

    A reminder bagpipes were not only musical & signalling devices, but designed to scare the shit out of the enemy.
    Something's coming.


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 08/19/2020 - 4:45am

    wow, that's really neat. I just heard some talking head on MSNBC give a report said at the end that they are bound and determined to make it a peaceful revolution, but I wasn't paying attention to what he was basing that on.

    But again, since I was just on that French partying thread, I also notice: no masks. They don't have a Covid problem?!

    It's getting easier to see why some people think Covid is a Bill Gates conspiracy!

    Back to their main issue. I haven't read that much on it but I've noticed stuff like this

    Putin and Belarus: Five Reasons Not to Save Lukashenko

    By Stephen Sestanovich, CFR ExpertAugust 17, 2020

    Vladimir Putin is no fan of democracy movements in Russia’s neighborhood, but trying to turn off the protests in Belarus will be risky.

    If they stay peaceful, Putin may be happy to have Lukashenko go. Try to avoid unnecessary quagmire? His first point is quite striking

    1. The protests against Lukashenko have virtually no anti-Russia dimension—yet.

    Putin is not a stupid narcissist like Trump. Why not off a Lukashenko to have the friendly relations with most of a population? Could even be sending help for the overthrow, you never know.


    by artappraiser on Wed, 08/19/2020 - 10:08am

    Now 90 cases/day w 3 dead for 9.5m ppl?

    Not so dangerous, nothing near as bad as Lukashenko or the police, or the gray reality of their repressed land


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 08/19/2020 - 10:32am

    6) Donbas has largely been a failure (with shooting down of Malaysian plane, little gain in territory, loss of any western sympathy for the Russian-speaking minority), and Russia then taking Crimea and helping lock up Yulia Tymoshenko means no one in Belarus will trust Putin ever. Also, while Crimea has largely been a precious money drain for Putin, they at least stole the Azov Sea and built a warmer water port. Belarus? what could Putin want? Russia already borders Estonia & Latvia plus has Kaliningrad by Poland, so getting landlocked Belarus to butt up against Poland is no further strategic advantage. Just a semi-nice beach on the Black Sea (when they already had Sochi) that Putin had to build a $4 billion rail bridge to. Meanwhile, those sanctions.... So no, Belarus doesnt offer very much to Vlad.
    Oh yeah, Belarus is only 9 million people - and they get energy at a heavy discount from Russia. 45% of Belarus exports go to Russia, and that won't change - minerals & agriculture products. GDP per capita sees twice as high as Ukraine's, but since Ukraine has a much larger economy - $150billion vs $60 billion - there's also more corruption & big deals to be part of. So however much the talk about those Russian-speaking lands, pretty sure Putin's just counting how many rubles can be had, or how much it'll cost him.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 08/24/2020 - 9:35am

    Putin could want a uniform like Lukashenko's and Belo medals (add in the cool hat ?)


    by NCD on Mon, 08/24/2020 - 11:48am

    The girls just love to see him shoot

    https://youtu.be/DLnIf0JjszY


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 08/24/2020 - 2:51pm

    Minsk turns out

    https://www.rferl.org/a/30798061.html

    And...


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 08/23/2020 - 9:51am

    Lukashenko walking to his palace with a rifle in his hand in full riot gear, just incredible imagery pic.twitter.com/RmZNJVlIGy

    — Populism Updates (@PopulismUpdates) August 23, 2020

     


    by artappraiser on Sun, 08/23/2020 - 2:09pm

    How to do police state seriously. Get up off the fucking ground. It's ike the song All along the watchtower. Ain't for nothing many large older homes west of the Mississippi have a little one on top, to watch for maurauders...the king in his castle thing, here literally..

    This insanely stacked police line makes more sense given Lukashenko‘s helicopter arrival just behind it. pic.twitter.com/N6x5F0b83v

    — Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) August 23, 2020

     


    by artappraiser on Sun, 08/23/2020 - 2:54pm

    background to what really happened:


    by artappraiser on Sun, 08/23/2020 - 5:02pm

    Very proud of Lithuanians for their genuine unprecedented support to the people of #Belarus in their ongoing fight for democracy, justice and human dignity. At least 50.000 have joined the #FreedomWay in #Lithuania today. pic.twitter.com/El9r9qb2lc

    — Linas Linkevicius (@LinkeviciusL) August 23, 2020

     


    by artappraiser on Mon, 08/24/2020 - 1:41am