Belarus

[susy7]

So what? Surely you read those articles in whatever language they're written before you post them? Simply pick the most important parts to create a summary and only post those. I don't see why you can't post small selected sections instead of the whole article.

And how does the fact that the text has not been translated prevent you from putting the posted text in quotes on the forum?

Also, you replied within minutes of me posting the above feedback, which means you did not read the thread I shared above where forum members expressed their preference for others' posting style. It is very important you get yourself familiar with it so here it is again for you: https://cassiopaea.org/forum/threads/improving-the-forum-experience-for-users.47879/

Okay, I'm giving you a full translation of a full investigative article that I translated. If this is a problem; I don't post anything anymore and I go back to reading

 

[Ant22]

Okay, I'm giving you a full translation of a full investigative article that I translated. If this is a problem; I don't post anything anymore and I go back to reading

You're jumping to an unnecessary extreme here. You're not being asked not to post at all - but to only post summaries and post the text in quotes. Just like everyone else who shares news reports is asked to do.

 

[Chu]

@susy7 : Could you please be kind to others regarding the formatting and your own comments, please? Otherwise it's no different than posting on Twitter or Facebook. We like to keep our discussion active and productive. We have already explained to you (multiple times) that not everyone has the time to read or watch lengthy material. Explaining WHY such material may be worthy is the considerate thing to do. Is that too much to ask?

All you have to do is write a few lines (which takes A LOT less time than translating a whole text), and put the (preferably summarized/shortened) text in quotes (one click). That can't be so hard... Extra nice would be bolding on the text the parts that you think are more relevant. If you really have to post the whole text, fine, but in quotes and still with a sentence or two describibing its content, please.

 

[youlik]

Spoiler: Russian spelling

Фотофакт: самолёт Лукашенко развернули в 100 километрах от российской границы
2020-08-19

Photo fact: Lukashenka's plane was deployed 100 kilometers from the Russian border
2020-08-19
The Belarusian President's airplane could not leave the territory of Belarus, flying in the direction of the Russian border.

A few hours ago, the plane of President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko took off from the national airport Minsk, headed towards the Russian border – according to some reports, the plane was supposed to go to Moscow. However, the Belarusian leader's plane did not reach the Russian border and had to turn around and return to Minsk. It is not known who was on Board the plane, however, Belarusian opposition structures suggested that Lukashenka's plane was simply not allowed to fly to Moscow.
At the moment, the resource is available to the editorial staff Avia.pro there is information that the plane of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko did not reach the Russian border about 100-110 kilometers, turning around and heading back. As a rule, it is at this distance that a request is made to cross the state border of another country, which confirms, but only indirectly, the fact that Lukashenko's plane could not be allowed into Russian airspace.

For what reasons, the Board followed in the direction of the Russian borders – is unknown, however. at the moment, there is no information to confirm that Lukashenka's plane was not allowed into the Russian airspace.

Фотофакт: самолёт Лукашенко развернули в 100 километрах от российской границы

 

[Niall]

Okay, I'm giving you a full translation of a full investigative article that I translated. If this is a problem; I don't post anything anymore and I go back to reading

So then the structure of your post should look like this:

Introduction:

"Here is an article I translated. It is about the situation in Belarus."

Article:

On the night of 29 July, Belarus announced that it had arrested 33 citizens from Russia working for a “security” company (i.e. mercenaries in reality) for allegedly planning to destabilize the presidential election. Some of them having been Ukrainian citizens in the past, Ukraine jumped on the occasion and demanded the extradition of those involved in the Donbass war. As a result, Lukashenko is trying to raise the stakes between Russia and Ukraine in a most dangerous game, the consequences of which could be far more serious for Belarus than its President imagines.

Strange arrest of Russian citizens on bogus charges

While the presidential election is in full swing in Belarus, the Minsk authorities announced that they had arrested 33 Russian citizens, belonging to the notorious Wagner company, on the pretext that they were planning to destabilize the situation in the country. But from the outset this scenario was sinking like the Titanic.

The men in question were unarmed and had entered Belarus legally. They had gone to the hotel where they had provided their passports and then went to a sanatorium. And it was there that they allegedly attracted the attention of the authorities because they… were not drinking, were not partying, and were walking around in military dress.

Yes, it is true that it is “abnormal” to have mercenaries in transit for another country, who have serious combat experience, are in military dress, and do not drink, or go around nightclubs. Which serious security company would hire beginners and let its employees drink alcohol or go partying while they go on a mission? Come on, a bit of logic, please.

In front of such an unfathomable well of abyssal stupidity most sane people thought that this story would quickly collapse like a house of cards. Moscow, moreover, repeatedly stressed the futility of the charges against the 33 Russian citizens in Belarus, and demanded that they be sent back to Russia.

Especially since their plane tickets to Turkey (for 25 July) were found by Regnum’s Russian journalists and published online. There are even return tickets for October 2020.

Belarus then argued that they did not leave as planned on 25 July, which proves that they were not in transit, while at the same time saying that the messages that the Russians were exchanging indicated that they were waiting for another group of their compatriots. Or how to shoot in the head of the bogus “Russian-style Maidan” hypothesis.

If they did not take the flight on July 25, it is certainly precisely because they were waiting for the others to leave all together for their destination. So what is the point of this circus towards Russia on behalf of Belarus?

A totally chaotic presidential election

It is in the internal political situation in Belarus that we must look for the origin of this delusional attack against Russia. Lukashenko’s re-election is not going as well as he might have hoped, so several potential candidates have been ousted on dubious pretexts, one has been arrested, the husband of an opponent of Lukashenko too, and another candidate has fled to Russia to avoid the same fate!

The presidential elections of 2020 in Belarus thus seem to be definitively marked by the seal of fraud. Indeed, on the first day of voting, more than 2,000 violations were recorded by independent observers.

And in the midst of this mess, Lukashenko made completely paranoid and contradictory statements about the use of nuclear weapons against his country, threatening his big neighbour with barely veiled words, complaining that relations with Russia have gone from being fraternal to being partners’ relations, saying that Moscow is afraid of losing Belarus because it would have no real allies besides itself (which contradicts the previous point), and went completely delirious about the history of the arrested Russian citizens, adding even more entropy to the surrounding chaos.

Belarus even went so far as to hysterically summon its reservists for military exercises near the Russian border the day after the presidential election!

And after having himself created this collective hysteria on the basis of a non-existent threat, Lukashenko went so far as to reproach the “politicisation” of all this (by Russia), and the alleged attempts to scare him with the Americans and NATO, and the consequences of Belarus’s actions, saying that he knows them perfectly well.

The most unbelievable thing is that after having said in that statement that there was no point in frightening him with the United States and NATO, because it was not them who sent men to destabilize the situation in Belarus, he then said that he had also arrested people with American passports who were married to women working for the American State Department.

After accusing Russia of trying to influence the presidential election in Belarus, Lukashenko has now flip-flopped and accused the United States as well, in order to prove to his electorate that he is not working for the United States (such accusations flourished after the arrest of Russian citizens). If this is what Lukashenko calls Belarus’ multi-vector approach, I regret to say that trying to sit with your ass between two chairs rarely ends well.

And it is not a “threat” about the consequences of his actions that to say it is a warning! If the example of the Maidan in Ukraine was not enough of a lesson for him, it is to be feared that he will end up much worse than Viktor Yanukovich. For in trying to play the Western card by openly negotiating with Ukraine the potential extradition of some of the arrested Russians, Lukashenko has crossed the Rubicon and openly betrayed Russia.

Belarus tries to raise the stakes between Russia and Ukraine, destroying the Minsk negotiating platform in the process

Indeed, Lukashenko in his paranoid outbursts does not seem to have understood that he has gone too far in his delirium. By making public the names, dates of birth and backgrounds of the arrested men, Belarus has drawn the attention of Ukraine, which saw this as a golden opportunity to get its hands on some of the Donbass veterans.

Kiev requested the extradition of the Russian citizens concerned, arguing that some of them were originally Ukrainian citizens. Except that they had obtained Russian citizenship, and that argument therefore does not hold water, as the Russian authorities have pointed out, who have once again insisted on their return to Russia.

The problem is that instead of spurning Ukraine, Lukashenko openly discussed the extradition of these Russian citizens with Vladimir Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, before giving an interview to Dmitry Gordon, the chief propagandist of Kiev!

An interview at the end of which Gordon said that Belarus would agree to extradite Russian citizens requested by Ukraine.

While many in Russia refuse to consider this possible (on the grounds that it would put an end to the union between the two countries, with disastrous consequences for Minsk), the mere fact that Belarus has even initiated official discussions on this subject without Russian participation was considered unacceptable by Tatiana Moskalkova, the Russian human rights ombudsman.

And instead of calming down the game, Lukashenko threw oil on the fire, issuing what is nothing more and nothing less than an ultimatum, asking Russia and Ukraine to send their General Prosecutors to Belarus to discuss all this, but that if they didn’t do so, Minsk would decide the fate of the arrested people all by itself! If that sounds like blackmail to you, that’s normal, because it is!

Lukashenko is actually trying to raise the stakes to get something from Russia. If some experts think that it is a question of obtaining official recognition of the results of this totally fraudulent presidential election, others think that Lukashenko wants much more, and would in fact like to get Russia to “shave for free” Belarus (i.e. to provide it with gas and oil at really cheap, not to say free of charge), hoping to resume good relations with Russia afterwards!

And for this he counts on the “friendship” he thinks he has with Vladimir Putin, as he boasted in the interview he gave to Gordon.

Except that Lukashenko has forgotten one thing: if there is one crime that is unforgivable in the eyes of Vladimir Putin, it is treason! As he said in an interview with the Financial Times in 2019, treason is “the vilest crime imaginable”. Believing that after having crossed the Rubicon in this way, he will be able to pick up the pieces with Russia, even by giving back his citizens, shows that Lukashenko does not have the intelligence he thinks he has.

For even if he does not go until the end of the process and returns the 33 mercenaries to Russia, the very fact of having publicly considered extraditing some of them to Ukraine for their involvement in the Donbass war has just shattered Belarus’s neutrality in the conflict.

Yet it is this neutrality that had allowed Minsk to become a platform for negotiations, resulting in the agreements that bear its name! Without this neutrality, Minsk is no longer a safe place to conduct negotiations on the Donbass conflict once the coronavirus epidemic is over, and discussions between Ukraine and the two People’s Republics will no longer be held in video-conference format!

If Ukraine totally destroyed the negotiation process, it was Belarus that destroyed the platform on which they were taking place, burying the Minsk agreements for good! For how could the DPR and LPR (Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics) send their representatives to negotiate in Belarus after that? How could the two republics risk having their foreign ministers arrested under a bogus pretext and extradited to Ukraine?

Whether or not he goes to the end of his suicidal approach, Lukashenko has already set in motion a process that could lead to chaos and the descent into hell of Belarus and its inhabitants. All this in order to keep his place as President, to try to extort more privileges from Russia, and to get the attention of the Russian authorities!

The Belarusian frog who wanted to make himself as big as Russian beef

The problem is that in order to carry out such blackmail against a country like Russia and make it bend, you need to have a strong enough backbone and not just 33 hostages. For if Minsk can titillate Moscow, Russia can plunge Belarus into chaos if it wants to.

As a reminder, almost 40% of Belarus’ exports are destined for Russia, and 60% of its imports come from the same country. One does not blackmail a country with such a large market share, except to be suicidal.

And if Lukashenko thinks he can compensate the loss of the Russian market by the Ukrainian market, or even the Western one, I advise him to look at the state of the Ukrainian economy to see what awaits him: begging the IMF for crumbs, and having to sell everything and go through the austerity grinder to get those crumbs!

Russia was keen to sound a warning shot in order to give Belarus a foretaste of what awaits it if Lukashenko goes too far. It should be noted that the border between Russia and Belarus more or less resembles the borders in the Shengen area.

Until 1 August, truck drivers only had to show their passports to the border guards from the cab of their lorries and they passed without further formality. But on 1 August, Russia changed the rules, forcing drivers to get out of their lorries and queue at the checkpoint to show their passports and have everything recorded by computer. Officially it is because of the coronavirus, but one suspects that the date on which these measures came into force is mainly a warning to Minsk.

As a result, queues of about ten kilometres formed on the border between Belarus and Russia! However, a large part of Belarusian exports to Russia are food products, mostly perishable. And that’s nothing yet, it’s just queues.

If Belarus extradites some of the arrested Russian citizens to Ukraine, then Minsk could taste the same soup as Turkey after it shot down a Russian military plane in 2015. The economic sanctions imposed by Russia in Istanbul have cost Turkey more than $10 billion in economic losses. Enough to calm Erdogan down and make him apologize for the downed plane in order to prevent a total economic catastrophe!

Is Belarus really prepared to lose $12 billion in annual exports to Russia, but also the fact that Moscow regularly agrees to postpone the repayment of Minsk’s debts?

In his interview with Gordon, Lukashenko complains about relations with his neighbour, saying that Russia is strangling Belarus and that it is a mistake for Moscow to have such relations with Minsk. But in reality what he is complaining about is not being maintained at the expense of the princess! If he wants to see what a real economic strangulation of his country is, all he has to do is to go till the end of his stupid move.

Seeing Lukashenko raise the stakes with his ultimatum to send the Russian and Ukrainian General Prosecutors, one gets the feeling that the Belarusian President is seeking the attention of his Russian counterpart. However, since the beginning of this crisis, Vladimir Putin has remained Olympian calm and has not contacted Lukashenko till the last moment to resolve the problem, which clearly shows that the friendship he boasts of with the Russian President exists only in his head!

If their relationship was what he claims, he would have immediately contacted Vladimir Putin from the very beginning of the incident to settle this in private. Instead, Lukashenko himself organized the dramatization and hysteria around this story for sordid electoral purposes.

As a result, Russia distanced itself from the chaos in Belarus and refused to send its observers to monitor the presidential election.

And by wanting to play on both sides (Russian and Western), Lukashenko could well lose the support of both parties! Trying to sit with your ass between two chairs often ends up on the floor. The Belarusian President seems to have forgotten that you can’t have the butter, the money of the butter, the ass of the creamer and her smile with it.

Even if he wins this election, it is tainted by so many irregularities and violations that Lukashenko will have no legitimacy. Worse still, by wanting to eat off all the racks, the Belarusian President may well have sawed off the branch on which he is sitting.

And by alienating Russia, he has just closed the only way out he had if he fails in the elections, or if he is subsequently overthrown. For the West will not welcome “Europe’s last dictator” if he falls off its pedestal, and unlike Yanukovych, who had good relations with Russia, he will not be able to count on this second option either.

Contrary to some analysts, I do not rule out that Lukashenko could go through with his stupid move and extradite some of the Russian citizens arrested to Ukraine. Because Russia will not play its blackmail game. Moscow does not negotiate with terrorists and hostage-takers. Another fact that Lukashenko has forgotten.

And in view of the manifest instability of the Belarusian President (one only has to read his statements of the last few days, which contradict each other), no scenario should be ruled out on the pretext that it is totally suicidal for a country. Ukraine proved in 2014 that there are politicians crazy enough to engage in such stupid plans.

If Lukashenko goes through with this deadly step and is re-elected, then God help the Belarusian people. For the time being Russia is patiently waiting for the result of the elections in Belarus, and to see if Lukashenko will go through with his crazy move. Only once the situation is clear will Moscow react, and only then will it be possible to gauge the extent to which Belarus will or will not suffer as a result of the lamentable attitude of its President.

Because I embedded the article within a quote box {QUOTE.../QUOTE}, it becomes truncated into a visibly smaller body of text, with orange text saying 'click to expand' appearing after a few paragraphs. And because I have notified anyone reading my post with a short introduction before the article that it is an article they are about to read, and not my own writing, s/he knows that it is not my text, and is therefore given the choice to open the quote box fully, or not.

 

[Chu]

Just a note to clarify that the posts above also apply to @youlik and others. Thanks.

 

[Oxajil]

Also note that there's a benefit if you, @youlik and others follow the above suggestions: By highlighting important text in an article and/or writing short summaries including some of your own thoughts, you will engage your working memory more and improve your cognitive abilities.

 

[Keit]

We warned on Sott.net in June this year that Lukashenko's failure to 'play ball' with Covid-19, and indeed his outspoken criticism of it as a 'scamdemic', would likely result in 'internal' political difficulties for him.

It looks like the heat was recently turned up on Belarus to force him out and extract submission from the Belarusian people. ALL must 'wear the mask', ALL must kneel, ALL must obey...

Events are still ongoing, and it is still too early to see if this "color revolution" will be put on a low burner, or will be reignited again, but there is this recent news that caught my attention.

Putin, Lukashenko discuss Belarusâ participation in Russian anti-COVID vaccine tests

Belarusâ news agency BelTA reported earlier in the day that the two presidents had agreed that Belarus would be the first country to be supplied with the Russian-made anti-coronavirus vaccine

tass.com

Apparently Putin had another talk with Lukashenko, and they argeed that "Belarusian nationals would take part in the third stage of the vaccine trials on a voluntary basis", and Belarus will be the first country to receive a big shipment of the Covid-19 vaccine.

And it made me wonder if this could be part of Putin's "appeasement" proposal during his talks with some of the EU leaders, and that this is how Belarus will "play ball" with Covid-19 restrictions.

 

[seek10]

And it made me wonder if this could be part of Putin's "appeasement" proposal during his talks with some of the EU leaders, and that this is how Belarus will "play ball" with Covid-19 restrictions.

If there is any leader who knows how to play with world leaders now days, it is Putin. He is not going to allow the messup that happened in Ukraine in Belarus (particularly at his door step). With all the victories in Syria and so on, all his actions in last 5 years clearly show he is very good at "carrot and stick" ( Turkey, Germany, Iran and so on) for the safety his nation and his principled position in world affairs with clear idea of political compulsions of the leaders of those nations( loosely saying - live and let live).

 

[Niall]

In a recent interview, Putin announced that Russia is on stand-by to 'rescue' Belarus if things get out of hand:

Rossiya TV channel interviews Putin on Covid-19 and Belarus

Vladimir Putin answered questions from VGTRK journalist and anchor of Vesti v Subbotu (News on Saturday) programme Sergei Brilyov. Sergei Brilyov: Good afternoon, Mr President. Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon. Sergei Brilyov: No matter what else...

www.sott.net

Sergei Brilyov: [Lukashenko] said that when it comes to the military component, we have a treaty with the Russian Federation in the framework of the Union State and the CSTO, that is, a Collective Security Treaty Organisation, and these aspects seem to be covered by that Treaty. Somewhat earlier he said you agreed to provide assistance to Minsk at his first request.

What is meant by "these aspects"?

Vladimir Putin: There is no need to hush up anything.

Indeed, the Union Treaty, that is, the Treaty on the Union State, and the Collective Security Treaty (CSTO) include articles saying that all member states of these organisations, including the Union State, which consists of two states only - Russia and Belarus, are obliged to help each other protect their sovereignty, external borders and stability. This is exactly what it says.

In this connection, we have certain obligations towards Belarus, and this is how Mr Lukashenko has formulated his question. He said that he would like us to provide assistance to him if this should become necessary. I replied that Russia would honour all its obligations.

Mr Lukashenko has asked me to create a reserve group of law enforcement personnel, and I have done this. But we have also agreed that this group would not be used unless the situation becomes uncontrollable, when extremist elements - I would like to say this once again - when the extremist elements, using political slogans as a cover, overstep the mark and start plundering the country, burning vehicles, houses, banks, trying to seize administration buildings, and so on.

During our conversation with Mr Lukashenko, we came to the conclusion that now it is not necessary, and I hope that it will never be necessary to use this reserve, which is why we are not using it.

I would like to say once again that we proceed from the belief that all the current problems in Belarus will be settled peacefully, and if any violations are permitted by either side - the state authorities and the law enforcement personnel, or the protesters - if they exceed the framework of the law, the law will respond to this accordingly. The law must be equal for everyone. But speaking objectively, I believe that the Belarusian law enforcement agencies are exercising commendable self-control despite everything. Just take a look at what is happening in some other countries.

That would be a reference to the lawlessness in the United States.

Sergei Brilyov: Yes, but the first two days were awful for many people.

Vladimir Putin: You know what I think about this. Was it not awful when people died in some European countries nearly every day?

That would be a reference to the violent suppression of the Yellow Vest protests in France.

So Russia has put the Western powers on notice that 'Ukraine' isn't happening in Belarus.

 

[Deleted member 4320]

In a recent interview, Putin announced that Russia is on stand-by to 'rescue' Belarus if things get out of hand:

Rossiya TV channel interviews Putin on Covid-19 and Belarus

Vladimir Putin answered questions from VGTRK journalist and anchor of Vesti v Subbotu (News on Saturday) programme Sergei Brilyov. Sergei Brilyov: Good afternoon, Mr President. Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon. Sergei Brilyov: No matter what else...

www.sott.net

That would be a reference to the lawlessness in the United States.



That would be a reference to the violent suppression of the Yellow Vest protests in France.

So Russia has put the Western powers on notice that 'Ukraine' isn't happening in Belarus.

It's clear that this is the end of Belarus as we know. The most humanitarian and good for the averages people, but not popular in the international arena will be putting Belarus into the hand of Russian like with the Crimea, but on the huge scale.

Why? Because most of the people of Belarus will be more willing to accept the Russians than Americans and Poles (and similar "ally" of the USA), it will reduce conflicts and the possibility of the civil war, also it will be good for every neighbor of the Belarus.

However, the West will try to prevent that and lead to war.

 

[Keit]

Just read Lavrov's words, that around 200 extremists, who gained their "expertise" in Ukraine, are currently in Belarus in order to destabilize the situation.

 

[Ancient of Lore]

1. US and it allies first destabilised country Georgia which led to war with Russia in 2008.
2. 6 years later, US and it allies destabilised country Ukraine.
3. Now 6 years later again they are trying to destabilise Belarus.

Every 6 years same story same scenario.

 

[Siberia]

President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko has told the Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin during today's public meeting that Belarus intercepted and recorded a conversation between Germany and Poland discussing the alleged poisoning of the Russian protests leader Alexei Navalny.

According to Lukashenko, the recording clearly proves that the Novichok poisoning is a falsification. The conversation was recorded before Merkel's public comments, so Lukashenko assumes that a group of specialists provided her with certain facts and maybe even with the statements that she later publicly made (she stated that someone wanted to silence Navalny).

They did it "to discourage Putin from interfering is Belarus" Lukashenko quoted the transcript. "Can you see how Jesuitical their behavior is?" Lukashenko asked Mishustin.

Lukashenko promised to provide the recording to the Russian FSB.

Interesting that Lukashenko hasn't published the recording right away, but just publicly announced that he will share it with Russia. Looks like a warning to his Western "partners" and a way to win Russian friendship and support.

 

[Possibility of Being]

President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko has told the Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin during today's public meeting that Belarus intercepted and recorded a conversation between Germany and Poland discussing the alleged poisoning of the Russian protests leader Alexei Navalny.

It doesn't make much sense to me.

Belarussian TV published that recording:

Conversation between Warsaw and Berlin intercepted

Many world media and experts have been discussing yesterday's statement of our President, made during a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

www.tvr.by

There is a voice over with Russian translation, but from what I could hear the conversation goes between a 'Nick' and a 'Mike' in English.
Since it seems quite unlikely it's real, for many reasons, I'm wondering if it's not Vovan and Lexus talking and then... handing the recording to Belarussian 'intelligence' or whatever.

Another possibility would be a trap with someone wanting to ridicule Lukashenko, perhaps even someone(s) from his own agencies (a deep-state-like group).

FWIW