Belarus Dictator Lukashenko Brandishes Automatic Weapon as He Attempts to Fend Off Coup Attempt
Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko’s regime is still hanging on, despite sustained protests in the capital city of Minsk continuing demanding his ouster.
The protestors believe that they are justified in stopping an authoritarian backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Lukashenko believes that the people of Belarus are sick of the headache from these foreign-backed agitators.
“There should no longer be any disorder in Minsk of any kind,” Lukashenko while meeting with senior members of his administration, according to state news agency Belta. “People are tired. People demand peace and quiet.”
The West has cheered on the protests to overthrow Lukashenko from afar, similar to how they cheered when Saddam Hussein was deposed in Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in Libya.
#Belarus. Happening right now in #Minsk. It’s the 10th consecutive day of protests. Huge crowds are gathering again in front of the parliament, but also in various spots across the city. Protesters gathered outside a police station, demanding the release of political prisoners. pic.twitter.com/neGgXRS0li
— Hanna Liubakova (@HannaLiubakova) August 18, 2020
People are seeking change in #Belarus, and the regime has been responding with brutality, believing it will scare people off the streets. https://t.co/p6g7GOEY0g
But protests are only growing and strikes spreading.
Trying to instil fear has failed. https://t.co/cDJhAdHiqV pic.twitter.com/aRncsh8erj
— Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) August 17, 2020
Belarusans are teaching us how to defend an electoral victory against authoritarian chaos: preparation, predominance, protest, peace, persistence and pluralism. My thoughts on learning from Belarus: https://t.co/8lmNbz58fJ
— Timothy Snyder (@TimothyDSnyder) August 17, 2020
#Belarusprotests are unique in many ways: sustained, nonviolent, self-organized but also they take place not only in the capital, not only in #Minsk. The whole country raised up against #Lukaschenko. Here’s from today’s demonstration in Brest ⬇️
pic.twitter.com/CMEKzlZ3ZR— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) August 16, 2020
While many wish to paint the uprising in Belarus against Lukashenko as legitimate and spontaneous, it has all the hallmarks of another foreign-backed coup attempt.
Original reporting from Revolver tracked the genesis of the protests back to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent. Kent was a star witness in the impeachment farce against President Donald Trump, claiming that Trump’s long-forgotten phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was “injurious to the rule of law.”
After he turned on President Trump, Kent was promoted within the state department by Secretary Mike Pompeo, a man who has embedded countless “Never Trumpers” within the administration. A source close to Revolver claims that Kent is a “color revolution expert.” He has ties to Obama’s failed coup attempt in Ukraine as well.
Kent worked as the Deputy Chief of Mission in Kyiv, Ukraine (2015-18), working directly under fellow impeachment collaborator Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. Before this, he worked as “deputy political counselor” in Ukraine during the promulgated color revolution there. They hoped to depose Viktor Yanukovych, who defeated the Western-backed Viktor Yushchenko in a recent election, as a way to hurt Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to the report, what happened in Ukraine and what is happening in Belarus right now is very similar to the program being run against President Trump in America.
“What is relevant is that the State Department’s preferred candidate did not win, and the State Department, with the help of its constellation of friendly NGOs, helped to facilitate the overthrow of Yanukovych by contesting the legitimacy of the election, organizing mass protests and acts of civil disobedience, and leveraging media contacts to ensure favorable coverage to their agenda in the Western press — all tactics eerily similar to those used against President Trump beginning the day after he was elected,” Revolver noted.
Lukashenko apparently plans to go down fighting, which is why he was brandishing an automatic rifle as revolutionaries approached his presidential palace:
Incredible. Lukashenko, donning full OMON riot police gear in a series of propaganda videos released by Belarusian state media, says protesters — his the Belarusian people — “scattered like rats” as he arrived to thank security forces. Notice the assault rifle at his side. ???? pic.twitter.com/rAyL5mcnTF
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) August 23, 2020
Big League Politics will continue to provide updates about the Belarus affair as it develops.
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