Polish journalist's "show trial" Belarus

Mysterious billions of Lukaszenko

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said at a press conference that if all goes well, then his country would soon receive 10-12 billion dollars. But he did not explain where the money is coming from, nor for what Belarus is to receive it.

- It will be our money, not loans - said Lukashenko, then added: "For now, I simply do not want to talk about it."

Assuming that he is serious here, then the only logical explanation is a sellout of some assets. Russia wants to acquire cheap Belarusian assets in return for the financial support.

The President underlined that Belarus will not part with the current "socio-economic development model" - inform the Belarusian media. When asked about warning - appearing in some media - that the current model of Belarus may collapse, he said: "It never fell, and it will never fall down. The socio-economic model of development of the Belarusian state will survive. We will not move away from it by one iota, nor by one step"- he said.

Well, in the past many a man strongly believed in THE models. The "belief" is an operative word here: this is a religious term.

Lukashenko blamed journalists for creation of the artificial economic crisis in the country. - In the process of rising panic journalists played a big role. Anxiety on the consumer market was created with the active participation of some of the media - he stressed.

- Now they try to break Belarus using some other methods, such as that garbage, which is the internet. This new approach is already approved by some countries - he said. - They stay there and salivate - waiting for us to quickly fall down. But this will never happen - assured Lukashenko.

Yes, a typical siege mentality. "Trashy internet", "salivating beasts waiting to attack us" - one of them must be Poland, of course.

- People are worried now that prices are high, that they miss some importable goods. But we have enough to eat. And what that we have not enough money? In a few months we will get out of this situation. But most importantly, we ourselves can still produce. And if ever a disaster occurs, we will close the borders and we will be buying only this what we really need - he said.

Now, that's almost a quote from "The Animal Farm". The man sounds sick.

Belarus is currently in the deepest financial crisis since Lukashenko took power 17 years ago - it has a huge trade deficit and shortage of foreign currency. In late May, authorities were forced to devalue the Belarusian ruble against the dollar by 56 percent. Price of many goods - including fuel and cigarettes - went up dramatically.

Lukashenko pointed out on Friday that devaluation has also its good side - it is beneficial to export-oriented economies. He also claimed that there is no crisis in Belarus. "A crisis occurs when companies are being closed and people are being thrown into the streets" - the president said.

Supporters of Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut protests outside the court in Hrodna, Belarus. 23 June 2011.
There are several pictures there of small group of - mostly elderly - people and his wife, displaying his photo on the the front page of their local paper "Głos", with the heading "They will not break me". The police seems to behave quite gently. One photos shows Mrs. Poczobut climbing the courtyard fence to see how her husband is escorted to the court.

But this demonstration is nothing compared to social unrests organized via internet.


reuters.com/article/2011/06/23/us-belarus-protests-idUSTRE75M33520110623

Journalist's Wife Climbs Fence to get to Him

Even the big demonstration is small, only a few hundred...I think most BelaRussians are probably happy with the stability of their society, although unhappy with certain decisions of Lukashenka like blocking exports of consumer goods west, where the BR people could make some money.

Are rich Jews powerful in Belarus?...I know they are powerful in Ukraine, and they probably wanted more power there with their 'coloured revolution', Timoshenko, this and that...IMF is all run by Jews, and they will let Lukashenka twist in the wind before giving him money.

Also, I don't understand all the demonizing of Lukashenka as a 'dictator'...He got elected, right?...All this crap spewed out by the Western press...Has Lukashenka slaughtered anyone, built any gulags, attacked any neighboring nation?...All I can think is that certain parties want him to privatize everything in Belarus, so they can snap it up at cheap prices.

Worst thing he do, like I said, i to NOT LET his less well off entrepenuers make some money by exporting goods and services west.

IMF demands all sort of guarantees and securities that would not make Lukaszenko happy. Russians, on the other hand, have their appetites set on Belarusian assets. But wait, there is yet another contender - China, always happy to oblige - just to put their foot in the door of new, possibly lucrative markets. Maybe this is the source of those mysterious $12 billions Lukaszenko was talking about a week ago.

Let me see.. Googling ... $1 billion already found: June 14, 2011,
reuters.com/article/2011/06/14/belarus-china-loans-idUSLDE75D0X820110614



Because he is a dictator to his own people. Belarus is a police state. For example, trump up charges. One of the Poczobut's buddies was arrested few days ago, on a charge of swearing in public - just to get him away from the Poczobut's trial. They let him go a week later. On his release, he was ironizing that any time a new opposition trial starts, a bunch of "inconvenient" people start misbehaving in public - getting intoxicated, being vulgar - and there are alway convenient militia witnesses nearby to testify in front of a judge.

And he also a hooligan - according to his own former buddies when he was a director of a state farm, he would use his fists to shut down his local opponents. I do not remember the source, I think it was a Polityka's report.

And he is a buffoon - just read again my translation of his own words, post #32.
Or his famous quotes:
"Another street action like that and you will lose your epaulettes," he said, addressing the minister.
money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&Date=20110617&ID=13789146

"When I hit them, it will be too late for them to make a break for the border", wyborcza.pl/1,75248,9798996,Bialorus_sie_sypie__Lukaszenka_wstrzymuje_ wywoz_makulatury.html

But he was elected...Protests there are miniscule...This leads me to believe that this is a situation where outside agitators seek his downfall, and instruments of Globalist/Zionist power seek to get their dirty paws on Belarus assets...You give no credible examples except the usual hearsay and rumours...Globalists, and here I mean Western banking interests who suck dry European countries ranging from Germany, France and Greece by subterfuges like 'sovereign debt', which is simply the latest smokescreen for the theft of national assets through the derivatives, hedge fund swindle, want Belarussian goods too...Lukashenka has taken a hard line against this by maintaining state ownership/control of essential assets...He is then demonized as a 'Stalinist'...While Belarus may not have the 'gloss' of so-called 'emerging' economies, at least their is stability there.

Some reforms are needed, but when you let the Western bankers run the show, the result is disaster, and 'shock therapy' for the average people.

Problem is people watch things on TV, and think the West is a paradise...On IMF, you borrow money from them, you sign a 50 page document where you basically sell out your countries productive base if you don't make payments on time.

.. As opposed to your ZERO documented rambling? :-)
Well, my source is a usual Polish press, Belarusian opposition press - such as Naviny.by, and some international media. But sensing that you would not be satisfied with such suspect sources, I prepared something really neutral for you:

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC STATEMENT
17 June 2011 AI Index: EUR 49/015/2011
Belarus: Six months after the Presidential elections clampdown on dissenting voices continues unabated

amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR49/015/2011/en/01b2d9a3-63ea-45cd-8f76-264ddc8d7a44/eur490152011en.pdf

Yeah, but who leads this 'opposition'?...Does it have a platform or program?...Or is the goal just to remove Lukashenko?

Here is a good article about Belarus by Israel Shamir:

israelshamir.net/English/Belarus1.htm

^
Interesting article. You may have noticed that I expressed some doubts about Belarusian opposition in the past - see post #18, this thread.

But ... I was about to start shedding the tears of joy when I suddenly came full stop to this little nugget of Mr. Shamir:


When the author was writing those words, he should have already been familiar with this development:


Poland hostile to Belarus? Because it used to be its colonial master? An average citizen in Poland does not give a sh1t about Belarus. What tree did Mr. Shamir fall down on his head? The anti-polonism unabated, of course.

And then this jewel:


Well, mister observer, there is a sizeable minority of Poles (295,000) in Belarus and they are not very happy in Lukashenko paradise. The spat with authorities go there for years. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poles_in_Belarus.

On the basis of these few little errors alone I do not consider Mr. Shamir as credible.
Next please.

Ha!...Listen, Shamir always goes a little hard on Poland, and he seems misinformed about certain things...I just liked the article because it presents a bit of the other side, not just painting Lukashenko as one of Satan's minions...Shamir may be wrong in some areas, but he covers a wide range of topics, primarily the Middle East...He is Russian by birth.

It is quite difficult to get unbiased, or at least somewhat balanced news about states of the former Soviet Union, and even Poland in the Western Press...Especially in the US, any stories about these countries seem as if written by robots from a computer program.

Now, I have met a few Belarussians here in the States, but, without exception, I had to pry this fact out of them...Unlike some, I am always interested in a person's ethnic background, because it makes things interesting...Anyway, the BRs are very tight-lipped in general, and, since they came over to the States, they must have felt a lack of opportunity there...This is why I say Lukashenko should reach out, make a gesture to the people, the young ones, to make them feel like they have a future there, and that he wants them to make some money, too.

I was very disturbed by the Minsk metro bombing, and we still don't know what the happened there, or who did it and why...

At midnight it's lights out for Belarus
en.rian.ru/russia/20110629/164898029.html

They only get 10% of their juice from Russia , so i can,t see it making a huge difference if it gets cut....

Of course its possible they ain,t paid a lot of other debts too , and a sure sign the country is heading for big problems...

Wouldn,t fancy being a member of the security police over there when it all turns nasty...