Strongman Alexander Lukashenko has ruled over ex-Soviet Belarus for nearly 3 decades and says he cannot bear to part with his"beloved" country.in August 9 polls, according to the official results, and brutally crushed protests by opponents who claim he rigged the vote.
During an animated address to the nation last week, Lukashenko wiped sweat from his brow as he accused the opposition of planning mass riots in the capital Minsk. Lukashenko has been known for his blunt-speaking folksiness and the former collective farm director is routinely pictured in rural settings like tractor factories or potato fields.
A quarter of a century after the collapse of the USSR the tightly controlled eastern European nation still has a security service called the KGB, adheres to a command economy, and looks to former master Moscow as its main ally, creditor, and energy provider. But while Belarus remains the most closely aligned former Soviet republic to Moscow, Lukashenko insists he is no Kremlin patsy, often switching from speaking Russian to Belarusian to show his independence.
Putin and Xi are already 'dictators for life'; Lukashenko also. Who's next? Duterte (via martial law and Constitutional change); Trump (via undermining US democracy and the Constitutional); Bolsonaro. All are tinpot dictators.
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