THREAD 1/6 The Belarusians recognize that their dictatorship predates Russian President Vladimir Putin, and do not try to explain it as something imported from Russia. This makes the Belarusian protests much freer of geopolitical meaning bit.ly/3iNyC5f
2/6 With the Belarusian protests, the lack of an obvious demand to change the country’s geopolitical orientation makes it less comprehensible and less interesting for Western politicians and journalists.
3/6 Even if the West had more interest in the Belarusian revolution, it would be hard for it to formulate proposal for the country. This isn’t a case of a pro-Russian regime oppressing a pro-Western population and stopping it from following the geopolitical path it would like to.
4/6 If it went over to the West, Belarus would find itself in the group of young democracies in Central and Eastern Europe. And it would not sit well in that group, with its pro-Russian proclivities and its shared views with Russia on the history of World War II.
5/6 A change of regime in dictatorial Belarus remains largely its own internal affair, rather than a foreign policy operation and act of geopolitical rivalry.
6/6 The impending collapse of the Belarusian regime reveal a lot more than events in Ukraine did about possible political transformation in Russia, where the end of Putin’s regime can’t be passed off as a simple change of geopolitical direction bit.ly/3iNyC5f
