Lukashenko the Highjacker

 

How many people around the world have/had heard the name, Alexander Lukashenko? Probably not many, so for those reading this blog, this guy is the president of the small state of Belarus, which has borders with Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and of course its big brother, Russia. It was the dictator of this country, President Alexander Lukashenko, who ordered the basic hijacking of the passenger plane flying from Athens to Lithuania on May 24. The flight was suddenly diverted to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, escorted there by a Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jet. On its landing, authorities took journalist Roman Protasevich into custody. This is a well-known dissident and blogger opposed to the authoritarian rule of its ghastly tyrant. So, Protasevich ended up in court, looking as though he had been beaten up, seemingly having been told to own up to 'terrorist' actions against the government. A complete and total farce.

But all of this is a result of Lukashenko's re-election last year that was obviously faked and controlled by the State. This led to 100 days of protests that transformed the vast majority of the peoples' thinking and came to the conclusion that, yes, their leader was in fact a de facto dictator. During the last 48 hours or so, the UK, the EU and the United States have condemned the hijacking fiasco and have and will take action against Lukashenko, his henchmen and government. But of course, one country remained in utter silence - Russia - not a word from that other dictator, Putin, and of course not a word from the Kremlin. Yes, Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin, two of the world's most vile despots. And you have to wonder if, at the end of the day, Putin sided with Lukashenko on the highjacking. I mean, let's face it, if there was a fair and lawful general election in Russia tomorrow, one does wonder if Putin would be voted into power. However, this is not going to happen because last month, Putin gave final approval to legislation allowing him to hold office for two additional six-year terms - this was Monday, April 5, giving himself the possibility to stay in power until 2036. I mean you couldn't make it up. It basically reminds me of that other Russian dictator, Joseph Stalin. He prosecuted a reign of terror, purges, executions, exiles to labour camps and persecution in the post-war USSR, suppressing all dissent and anything that smacked of foreign, especially, Western influence. He established communist governments throughout Eastern Europe, and in 1949 led the Soviets into the nuclear age by exploding an atomic bomb. In 1950, he gave North Korea’s communist leader Kim Il Sung (1912 - 1994) permission to invade the United States. A prick? Uh-huh and a mass murderer of his own people.

So today the West, especially Europe, is having to come to grips with Belarus and its fascist leader. For me? Well, I hope we cut off all diplomatic and economic relations with this country, empty its embassy in London and we, and by that I mean, all European countries should do the same. Maybe then the people will rise up even further and bring down this vile regime!