Onrust in Wit-Rusland na gemanipuleerde verkiezingen #4

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Op zaterdag 22 augustus 2020 23:04 schreef luxerobots het volgende:

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Hij wordt letterlijk gesteund. Waar heb je het dan over?

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Op zaterdag 22 augustus 2020 21:45 schreef nezalezhnost het volgende: Ik heb even geen zin om direct op die Linkse boomknuffelaar in te gaan. Ik zie dat jij dat wel probeert en ik wil her en der een beetje nuance aanbrengen. [..] Op dit moment natuurlijk wel. Maar je kunt niet stellen dat hij al jaren lang het schoothondje van Poetin is. De relatie met Poetin is natuurlijk wel altijd meer gespannen geweest dan met Jeltsin, maar Lukashenko heeft eigenlijk altijd wel weerstand geboden tegen Putin en hij is daarbij ook te ver gegaan. [..] Dat is natuurlijk een vrees en die voedingsbodem moet natuurlijk niet gevoed worden. Daarom ben ik ook niet zo blij met wat onhandige uitspraken van Veronika Tsepkalo (in het Engels):

Вероника Цепкало: "� ежим Лукашенко пал уже 9 августа"

Sowieso zijn Tsepkalo en zijn vrouw er minder stellig in geen veranderingen in de buitenlandse politiek te willen in vergelijking met het presidium van de nationale coordinatie raad. [..] Daar ben ik het pertinent niet mee eens. Dit is een stelling die in Rusland breed wordt gedragen, maar niet door de generaties die in een onafhankelijk Belarus geschiedenisles hebben gehad. [..] Dat wel en dat heeft zeker invloed gehad op het eigen nationale idee, als ook op de taal. [..] Het volk heeft in 1991 niet gekozen. Het volk heeft pas in 1994 en 1996 gekozen. [..] Ik denk dat niemand in de jaren 90 de opkomst van Poetin had voorzien. De economie bewaren mede met goede betrekkingen met Jeltsin die hervormingsgezind was, leek zo gek nog niet. [..] Je kunt dat niet eenzijdig als succesverhaal betitelen. Plus dat zeker in Estland en Letland de nazi's door vele als bevrijders en het rode leger als bezetters word gezien. Terwijl in Belarus het rode leger als bevrijder wordt gezien en als hereniger van het land dat een einde maakte aan de Poolse bezetting van het Westen van Belarus. [..] Wat? Geen eigen parlament? Weet je het zeker? [..] Lukashenko heeft dan ook veel voor het land gedaan en de corruptie keihard aangepakt. Dat hij nu uitgespeeld is, betekent niet dat dat altijd al zo was. [..] Nu is dat nog maar een kwestie van maanden.

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Op zaterdag 22 augustus 2020 23:22 schreef luxerobots het volgende:

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Als de gegevens van reuters kloppen, heeft Wit-Rusland steun gekregen door diverse Russische vliegtuigen.

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Op zaterdag 22 augustus 2020 23:22 schreef luxerobots het volgende:

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Als de gegevens van reuters kloppen, heeft Wit-Rusland steun gekregen door diverse Russische vliegtuigen.

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Op zaterdag 22 augustus 2020 23:36 schreef luxerobots het volgende:

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En VN-waarnemers komen met een en militairtransportvliegtuig en gebruikelijk FSB-vliegtuig.

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Op zaterdag 22 augustus 2020 23:43 schreef luxerobots het volgende:

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4.
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Het blijven Russen natuurlijk.
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Tja, mogelijk. De originele bron ging niet alleen over de vliegtuigen, ook over bronnen rond het Kremlin die zeiden dat Rusland Loekasjenko voorlopig steunt.

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Op zaterdag 22 augustus 2020 23:24 schreef Eindbaas_ het volgende:
En verder had ik ook nooit beweerd alles te weten zoals iemand anders in een van deze topics claimde noch ben ik een geschiedenisexpert. Ik doe gewoon aan mee en een groot deel bestaat uit mijn inzichten. Precies zoals ook jij te kennen hebt gegeven. De ironie.

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Ben blij dat ik het mee eens ben dat Belarus qua hoofdetniciteit van het volk uniek is en zeker niet zuiver Russisch. Ik bedoelde eerder te zeggen dat ze voor een deel echter wel daarvan afstammen oftewel het is een deel van hun wortels.

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Op het laatste punt dat hij wat goeds heeft gedaan slaat als een tang op een varken want het gaat hier om de wil van het volk.

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En maanden voordat de revolutie en eventuele machtswisseling er is? Hoe zie je dat gebeuren? Hoe krijg je het zo snel voor elkaar?

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Op zondag 23 augustus 2020 00:08 schreef Eindbaas_ het volgende:
En verder @:nezalezhnost

Je mag mij wel corrigeren als ik wat feitjes even verkeerd benoem zoals het jaartal maar probeer niet mijn hele tekst op basis daarvan onderuit te halen. Wat jij ook niet deed maar ik bedoel dus ook de andere meelezenden en voor het geval dat jij totaal onvoorspelbaar en plots die zijweg denkt in te gaan slaan.

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Polish Radio One to launch special broadcasts for Belarus

The Management Board of Polish Radio S.A. has decided to modify its current radio programme schedule and introduce special news services in Belarusian on Polish Radio One (PR), which will be devoted to the current situation in Belarus.

Thanks to Polish Radio S.A. transmitters at the Radio Broadcasting Centre in Solec Kujawski, in north-central Poland, the special Polish Radio One programmes will be aired on the AM-LW (long wave) 225 kHz frequency/1333 meters wavelength in almost all of Europe and will cover the entire territory or Belarus.

As reported, special news services prepared by the Belarusian section reporters of Polish Radio for Foreigners will be broadcast three times a day: in the morning after 6:30 am; during the "High Noon" programme after 12 pm; and in the evening after 10 pm, during the "Poland and the World" programme.

"Thanks to this, all Belarusians, including those living where there is no internet access, or in the event of the network being limited again, will have easy access to complete and reliable information about the situation in their country and international events related to it," stated PR.

According to the statement, "support for the Belarusian people in these difficult times, this gesture of solidarity in the form of reliable and truthful information, is also part of the mission of the Polish Radio public broadcaster. Only strong and well-organised public media with their appropriate technical infrastructure and exceptional editorial staff are able to undertake such important and necessary initiatives. Commercial broadcasters are not able to do it."

The information service broadcasts will start on August 22 of this year. (PAP)

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Is Belarus closer to the West or to Russia?

Anti-government protesters have rallied in Minsk and other cities for more than a week — but they haven't been waving EU flags. Experts point out that Belarus is a pro-Russia country, even without President Lukashenko.

A glance at a map shows the unique geographical situation of Belarus. To the west, the country borders on NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. To the south is neighbor Ukraine, and to the east is Russia.

But Belarus is far from being a "buffer state," said Gustav Gressel of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a pan-European think tank. Belarus isn't "neutral" like Switzerland, Sweden or Finland," he said — it's part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a six-country military alliance dominated by Russia.

Created in 2002, the alliance — which isn't as close-knit as NATO — includes Armenia and three Central Asian republics, alongside Russia and Belarus. This past weekend after talks with the Kremlin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko referred to the alliance when he said Russia would stand by its Belarusian ally within the framework of the treaty.

Pointing the finger at NATO

Lukashenko made the comment after accusing NATO of building up troops on Belarus' western border, a claim the alliance has rejected.

"We remain vigilant, strictly defensive and ready to deter any aggression against NATO allies," said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday.

In response, Lukashenko ordered Belarusian military exercises near the borders of Lithuania and Poland — an attempt to create an external threat to encourage a Russian military intervention, said Gressel. "But Putin has no intention of doing that. As long as Belarus doesn't cross any red lines — as long as it sticks to the treaties on state union, economic and military cooperation, Russia will not intervene," he said.

Russia doesn't necessarily support Lukashenko

According to Gressel and other experts, Russia isn't pinning its hopes on the weakened autocrat, but on the fact that Belarus is and remains a pro-Russia country. They believe the Kremlin wouldn't mind a change in government, as long as it doesn't involve an abrupt turn toward the West, the EU or NATO.

That doesn't appear to be the aim of this protest movement. The opposition hasn't suggested that Belarus join the EU, for instance, making the sanctions that the EU now wants to impose on officials responsible for the post-election crackdown rather counterproductive, Belarus opposition politician Maria Kolesnikova told Germany's Welt am Sonntag paper. She said it was "too soon" for sanctions, adding that they would only burden talks between the government and the opposition.

For days, diplomats in Brussels have been warning against giving Russia any excuse to claim the EU is interfering in Belarusian affairs. "The people of Belarus have the right to decide on their future and freely elect their leader," tweeted European Council President Charles Michel on Monday.

Speaking by telephone on Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly agreed that there should be "no external interference."

No comparison with Ukraine

Gressel told DW that the situation in Belarus isn't the same as in Ukraine, where Putin annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 after the country took a sudden pro-Western stance, igniting the ongoing conflict along its eastern border. Belarusians tend to be pro-Russia, said Gressel, and both countries are part of the CSTO, so why invade?

He believes Lukashenko's fluctuating course is much more problematic. Just days before the election on August 9, the president accused 32 Russians of being mercenaries out to destabilize his country and had them arrested.

Lukashenko has never assented to Russia's wish for a major Russian military base in Belarus — he has always wanted his independence. He even forged tentative ties with NATO, taking part in various programs and even pondering joint military exercises. The EU reciprocated his overtures in 2016 by lifting sanctions against senior government leaders.

In the event of a new election, some commentators suspect the Kremlin would count on voters to back a modern, pro-Russian successor to Lukashenko. Viktor Babariko, jailed in May on money-laundering and tax-evasion charges that he called politically motivated, would fit that description. Babariko, who heads a Belarusian subsidiary of Russia's Gazprom, has advocated independence from the West and from Russia.

Ukraine isn't a good comparison — but what about Armenia, where the pro-Russia head of government was replaced by a presumably more Western-oriented politician in the 2018 Velvet Revolution? Back then, the Kremlin watched and waited.

Today, Armenia is no closer to withdrawing from the economic union or the military treaty with Russia. And Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, once the leader of the protest movement, is seen as one of Putin's close allies.

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A volunteer search group in Belarus has found the body of 29-year-old Kanstantsin Shyshmakou (or Konstantin Shishmakov), the director of a military history museum in Vawkavysk who refused to sign a falsified electoral protocol claiming that Aleksandr Lukashenka had won the presidential elections. His body was found in a river, with the investigators asserting that their preliminary assessment is that his death is not of a criminal nature. Since Shyshmakou disappeared the first day after returning to work following his refusal to participate in falsifying the elections, it seems unlikely that this will be believed.

Konstantin’s father, Andrei Shyshmakou contacted TUT.BY on 16 August, saying that “it all began on 9 August” when his son, and another member of the electoral commission, refused to sign the electoral results protocol. He told his family that the document had, in any case, been signed for them. They had been offered a car that would take them home, but had refused, saying: “We have nothing to be ashamed of, we’ll make our own way”. He called his son a man with principles.

Shyshmakou was on leave until Friday. Saturday (15 August) was a working day for the museum, and was his first day back – and his last. At the end of the day, around 17.00, he rang his wife, saying that he would not work there any longer. Some of the reports add that he said he was on his way home, although his father on 16 August said only that his son had disappeared after that call.

It may be, in this case, that the young man was driven to kill himself, rather than murdered, but there is little chance that any official account will be believed. There have already been several deaths which the enforcement authorities have acknowledged, while in at least one case lying about the cause. Video footage, published by Associated Press, make it clear that Aleksandr Taraykouski was shot and killed and did not, as claimed, die from an explosive device that he was carrying. There are also a lot of people whose whereabouts are still unknown. Although some of the almost 7,000 people detained have been released, a huge number are still imprisoned. Those freed have given shocking accounts of the torture, that even a 14-year-old boy was subjected to. David was held – and savagely beaten – in military barracks, together with a huge number of other people, including his stepfather, Denis. It seems that the family were not actually taking part in protests, however all were seized in Brest on 10 August. David’s mother Inna was soon freed, but ignored when she tried to get them to release her son, who is still a child. She was eventually forced to sign a document saying that he had been at a protest, and that there were ‘complaints against the OMON riot police’. David was held in detention until very early on 11 August. His stepfather was released only on 16 August, badly beaten.

Novaya Gazeta published a video taken outside the Belarusian SIZO or isolation unit on Okrestina St in Minsk during the early hours of 13 August. You can the screams and moaning of those clearly being tortured.

All of this has been recorded many times over recent days, with the international media, for a change, given coverage to the protests. Even on 17 August, there was a sense of euphoria as more and more people came out in protest and whole factories, offices, etc. went on strike, demanding real elections.

The protests are continuing, but Lukashenka is making it very plain that he has no plans to relinquish power. On Tuesday, he ‘honoured’ enforcement officers involved in the savage brutality against peaceful protests, and he is certainly threatening to bring in (more) troops.

In Ukraine, one Maidan activist spoke of Belarus having achieved in one week what it took the Euromaidan protests three months to do, however as of the evening of 18 August, that is still not clear. Lukashenka’s ruthless imprisonment; forced disappearances and killings of his opponents go back 20 years, and even without the very likely assistance that Russia’s FSB (at least) will be providing, he still has the means to cause terrible bloodshed.

Update

On 19 August Henadzi Shutau from Brest died after being shot on 11 August. He was 43 years old.

According to Franak Viačorka, a political analyst from Minsk, Shutau was the fifth officially confirmed victim. Seventy people are missing.

Victims of police violence in Belarus, August 2020:

Aliaksandr Taraykouski (1986—10.08.2020)

Aliaksandr Vikhor (1995—11.08.2020)

Kanstantsin Shyshmakou (1991—15.08.2020)

Artsjom Parukau (2001— 16.08.2020)

Henadzi Shutau (1977 - 19.08.2020

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I would repeat Belarus presidential election, Ukraine's leader Zelensky says

Belarus's President Alexander Lukashenko should have the confidence to call fresh elections, his counterpart in Ukraine has said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky told Euronews in an exclusive interview to be broadcast on Tuesday that if he were in the Belarusian leader's place he would "definitely" hold the vote in one month — and invite foreign groups to observe it.

"Let's imagine that I am confident about myself, I am confident in the people’s vote, that I am a confident person. How can I calm everyone down?" he said.

"I would definitely say: ‘in one month there will be a new vote. And I am running for the new election. Whoever wants to run — go ahead!’`

"I would invite everyone, all international observers, all of them."

The Ukrainian leader's remarks came after the European Union and other Western countries said they did not recognise the result of August 9 presidential election, which gave Lukashenko 80% of the vote.

Supporters of opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya maintain she was the true victor. Official figures gave her just 10%. She has since fled to Lithuania, saying she fears for her safety.

Zelensky said any candidate should be allowed to run in a repeat election.

"I’d tell the people of Belarus: ‘Please, elect whoever you want’,`" he told Euronews.

"And after that result, there would be no more questions. I’m convinced about it."

"If Lukashenko won, he’d win; if someone else won, then it’s someone else. But everyone would be calm, without blood [being shed], it would be fair and would make history."

The full interview with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky will be shown on Global Conversation on Euronews on Tuesday 25 August.

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Op zondag 23 augustus 2020 09:19 schreef nezalezhnost het volgende:

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https://www.euronews.com/(...)leader-zelensky-says

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Op zondag 23 augustus 2020 09:08 schreef Korenfok het volgende:
ik weet niet of dit al gepost is:

Belarusian museum director who refused to sign false election protocol found dead
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Op zondag 23 augustus 2020 00:41 schreef nezalezhnost het volgende:

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Ik zie deze post pas, nadat ik mijn vorige post geplaats heb. Ik heb even een stuk geschiedenis geplaatst in plaats van in iedere regel gaten te gaan schieten. Mijn intentie is niet om mensen onderuit te halen, maar om kennis te delen. Omdat die kennis vaak ontbreekt, kan het misschien lijken op een persoonlijke aanval. Dat is zeker niet mijn intentie, ik probeer mensen alleen een achtergrond van de situatie te geven. En de meeste mensen passen algemene kennis over oostblok landen toe op de situatie zonder Belarus te kennen. Dus dat botst dan ergens.

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Op zondag 23 augustus 2020 10:23 schreef Eindbaas_ het volgende:
Neemt niet weg dat Belarus nooit echt vrij was. Ook niet na 1945. Zie je wel vaker in oostbloklanden.

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Daarom vind ik des te moediger en noemenswaardiger dat het volk nu in opstand komt.

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Op zondag 23 augustus 2020 10:36 schreef nezalezhnost het volgende:

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Mijn punt was meer dat het land niet uiteens uit het niets in 1991 is ontstaan. Dat het volk niet bestaat uit Russen, die om onduidelijke redenen ineens een land vormen.
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Het is zeker moedig en ik ben persoonlijk zeer trots op het volk, ondanks dat ik voor de verkiezingen voor hervormingen van binnenuit was. Hetgeen ik het meest noemenswaardig vind is de afkeur van geweld. Ik denk dat er weinig revoluties zijn (ik ben geen expert) die zo beschaafd verlopen.

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Op zondag 23 augustus 2020 10:36 schreef nezalezhnost het volgende:

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Mijn punt was meer dat het land niet uiteens uit het niets in 1991 is ontstaan. Dat het volk niet bestaat uit Russen, die om onduidelijke redenen ineens een land vormen.
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Het is zeker moedig en ik ben persoonlijk zeer trots op het volk, ondanks dat ik voor de verkiezingen voor hervormingen van binnenuit was. Hetgeen ik het meest noemenswaardig vind is de afkeur van geweld. Ik denk dat er weinig revoluties zijn (ik ben geen expert) die zo beschaafd verlopen.