[lbo-talk] Belarus Blocks Democratic Aid

Chris Doss lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com
Tue Aug 23 14:59:22 PDT 2005


--- Jim Devine <jdevine03 at gmail.com> wrote:
>Morning Edition, August 23, 2005 · The president of
Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, bans pro-democracy groups from accepting money or technical assistance from outside the country. The strategy seems to be an effort to head off the kinds of popular democratic movements that toppled governments in Ukraine and Georgia.< --

What is a "pro-democracy group" anyway? Luka has probably the highest public approval rating in the CIS after Putin. Belarus avoided the post-Soviet economic crash (with help from Russian subsidies, though that didn't save Georgia and Ukraine) and Belarus has been clocking good economic growth for the past several years (piggybacking off Russia again -- as are Ukraine and the Baltic States). Luka is backed by Belarus' pensioners and peasants -- a big electorate! Even the opposition admits he won the election. Pensioners and peasants shouldn't be allowed to vote?

Don't get me wrong, Luka is a gangster, but he's a pretty benevolent gangster.

Nu, zayats, pogodi!

____________________________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list