My comment on the article Putin offers cash but cold comfort to President Lukashenko of Belarus by Marc Bennetts in The Times, 15 September 2020.
Generally speaking, the western observers do not know how deep and how thorough is the control of the Communist dictatorship, and how deep and common is the fear of doing anything against the authorities. The only people in Belarus who have some memory of living in a different kind of country are around 90 years old, those who have been born in Poland before WWII.
Belarus is a Communist creation. Demonstrations and the entire spectacle is not a sign of discontent. It is a demonstration of the regime’s strength. Communists are not stupid. They understand more than people give them credit for. Their intention is to progress to the next phase, which is a simulated democracy, while creating something of a founding myth for this next stage. This has been done in Poland with the Solidarity trade union and the rest of the fake opposition in the 1970 and 1980s.
Been there, seen that.
@LechSBorkowski