WEBVTT - Part Two: Alexander Lukashenko: The Dictator of Belarus 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:08.920 I fucking hate headphones. Still behind the bastards, And we 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:11.319 just spent another like forty five minutes having to figure 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:13.640 out how to reconnect the earbuds were using for this. 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:18.800 Very frustrating. But you know what also is frustrating, it's 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:22.759 frustrating to live under a dictatorship also, And in a way, 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:27.560 isn't bluetooth a kind of authoritarianism? I don't know. We're 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:31.800 going to do part two of our episode, Kushenko, and 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:36.800 who is your gus? You have to introduce Jesus. I'm 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:39.600 just so frustrated by the headphone issues that I forgot 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:43.400 to introduce the person who fixed the headphone issues, Local youth, 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:46.840 Garrison Davis. Yeah, that's my that's my new Twitter handles, 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:50.120 and locally, it's not at hungry about tie from Twitter. 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:56.640 Tear gas proof Garrison, Hi, local youth headphones are terrible. Look, yeah, 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:59.440 that would be good until I'm no longer I know 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:03.600 what he was around that. I don't know that your youth. 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:06.080 That could be your TikTok handle for however many more 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:10.920 days Trump allows TikTok contact me to be a yeah, right, yeah, okay, alright, 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:13.479 we're moving on right now, right now, right now, God 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:16.240 damn it. Okay, So we talked about in the last 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:19.600 episode how Lukashenko is most well named. No nickname was Vodka, 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:22.400 which kind of means daddy, which is a little weird. 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:35.479 I just daddy, ladies. Uh yeah, no, not that kind 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:39.000 of dad, Maybe that kind of daddy. His opponents, though, 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:42.200 have another nickname for him that basically translates to farm 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.800 Hitler that sounds more fun. Yeah, yeah, which is a 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:49.640 fun nickname. And speaking of Hitler, like any self respecting autocrat, 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:53.480 Lukashenko has a history of saying really weird things about Hitler. 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:59.760 Um are yeah, kind of baffling. On one occasion, the 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.240 Bell Larusian dictator told an interviewer quote, Hitler created a 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:06.720 powerful Germany owing to the strong presidential power. After all, 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.600 the German order has been developing for centuries. Under Hitler, 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:12.160 this process reached its highest point. This is how we 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:16.120 understand the presidential republic and the role of the president. Yeah, 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:19.880 that's that's that's that's not not problematic. Yeah when when 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:22.880 I when I become president of every country, I will 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:26.280 make sure to model my presidency after Hitler. I prefer 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:29.880 to that. I prefer to be a strong president like Hitler, 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:32.359 a guy with whom I have less disagreements than you 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:37.160 might expect. Obviously, these remarks caused a bit of a 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:39.720 stir um, as it ought to when your head of 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:43.800 state compares himself favorably to Hitler. Lukashenko found it necessary 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:47.440 to justify himself by semi backpedaling and telling people that 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.560 he thought Hitler was quote a real fascist, a real 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.200 idiot in power who destroyed a lot of people. But 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.799 and this is where he goes wrong. Whatever that and 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:59.600 then at a but yeah, you know you're doing with 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:01.840 just write a lot of people ended there, don't add 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:04.760 the butt. But he continues, but managed to unite the 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:08.320 nation by means of tough policy. At that stage, the 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.520 result was obvious. Therefore, there is no need to reproach 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:13.720 me that we wished to have the serious tough power 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:18.600 in Belarus. Um, the result was obvious. I don't know 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:22.680 if we saw the same obvious thing and the results there, Alexander, 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:27.320 But yes, Lukashenko has one other weird Hitler statement, uh 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:29.840 that he's repeated a number of times, which is the 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:33.600 line not everything Hitler did was bad, which again you 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:37.360 shouldn't need to point out. You don't need to say that. Yeah, 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:40.560 like it's one of those things. Yes, we could split 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.800 hairs and discuss the extent to which the Nazi Party 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.640 deserves credit for the auto bon or whatever, you know, 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:50.520 but it really isn't important. But here we go this. Honestly, 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:54.360 Hitler did do one good thing. That's that's killing Hitler 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:56.920 was the one. Yeah, that was the only thing he 0:03:57.040 --> 0:04:01.120 did that. Uh other governments had proved unable to do 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:04.960 so far. Um, yeah, gotta give him credit, Gotta give 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:10.440 him credit for that. Uh So yeah, anyway, Lukashenko weird, 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:15.720 weird Hitler opinions. So yeah. Lukashenko repeatedly admits to having 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:18.800 authoritarian tendencies, but he also again gets really pissed when 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:21.600 people call him a dictator. In two thousand twelve, Germany's 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:26.360 foreign minister Guido Westervel used the term dictator to describe 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:30.000 Lukashenko's regime. Um, and I should note here that Guido 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:32.640 is homosexual. And the fact that I'm noting that he's 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:35.320 homosexual is not a good sign for what's about to 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:39.919 come next, because as soon as Guido called Lukashenko a dictator, 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:44.840 Lukeshenko responded, better to be a dictator than gay, which 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:49.080 is like a ninth grade level. That is ninth grade 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:53.360 in two thousand and four. It's a very four school grade. No, 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:57.840 but at least I'm not gay. Yeah, you're yeah, it's good. Yeah, 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:00.440 it's it's literally the thing that like he moved on 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:03.680 from at like age fourteen. Uh, when I was a kid. 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.920 Your generation is much better about that sort of little Yeah. 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.520 So in another interview, Lukashenko made it clear that he's 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:14.200 capable of some nuance when it comes to LGBT issues. Uh. 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:16.120 And I'm gonna quote now from an interview he gave 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:22.440 to the Independent lesbians are bad, but I do not. Again, 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:25.040 that's a great clause to start us out with. He 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.120 has a lot of good add the word, but it 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:30.840 seems to be a recurring theme. Lesbians are bad, but 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:33.760 I do not condemn them as with gays. This is 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:37.680 not my understanding. I think it's absolutely unacceptable and negative. Okay, 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:39.600 that's good. So at least he makes a distinction. He 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:43.919 is fine with leslie, he's not fine. Lesbians. They're not great. 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.200 I'm not going to condemn them. There used to take 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:50.000 a strong anti lesbian state. I think they're hot. Those 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:55.599 gays I look at I feel fine condemning those. Yeah, again, 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.600 Lukashenko is like a lot of people. You grew up 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:05.680 with your small southern community. Anyway, Lukashenko's cultural conservatives and 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:08.880 manifest itself in his attitudes towards the Russian Orthodox Church, 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:11.039 summed up by the statement he made to a church 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:14.640 patriarch quote, thank god our church does not suffer from 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:17.239 the infections that have crushed the Western church. He's referring 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:22.080 to the Catholic Church. There. We have heard it all. Pedophilia, gainnus, environmentalism. 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:26.120 What the hell is going on? The trifecta of pedophilia, 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:30.839 gainness and environmentalists the three evils of society. Yeah, you're 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:33.120 getting sick here too. So I think that the Orthodox 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:35.160 Church and state are not working well enough here. We 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.080 cannot afford to lose a whole generation of people. Yeah, 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.960 we can't afford to lose that to environmentalism and environmentalism 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:45.400 and its cousin gainness. You couldn't really just ruin the 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:49.400 youth with those, yeah. Uh. In two thousand fourteen, after 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:54.320 Russia's annexation of Crimea, Lukashenko offered to share control over 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:58.080 a United Russia slash Belarus with Vladimir Putin telling an 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.440 interviewer on Ukrainian TV, I told Putin that after the 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:06.920 Crimea annexation, people might no longer call me Europe's less dictator. Um. Yeah, 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:09.560 And I don't know. It's interesting because he also held 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.000 like piece a piece SMA in Minsk that helped bring 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:14.920 him closer to NATO over the whole issue. He kept 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:17.760 doing that whole weird like jumping into both sides with 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:21.920 both feet sort of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:25.520 pretend to have any particularly deep sight into Lukashenko's mind 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:27.800 and like who he is as a person, because he 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:29.920 kind of plays a lot of his ship pretty close 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:32.280 to the vest. But studying him you do really get 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:35.040 the opinion that he thinks it's important to be seen 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:39.080 as legitimately popular. Um. After in two thousand six, after 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:41.680 a blatantly false election gave him eighty six percent of 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:44.240 the vote, in the international community, you know, decried the 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:47.520 fact that he was falsifying the elections. He actually admitted 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.920 to falsifying the results of the election, um, but kind 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:55.040 of lied about the direction in which he faked things, saying, quote, yes, 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:58.000 we falsified the results. I've already told this to Westerners 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:00.400 In fact, ninety three and a half percent of ballots 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:02.800 were for President Lukashenko. People say this is not a 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:06.520 European results, so he changed it to this truly happened. 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.520 So his argument is like, people are accusing me of 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.600 lying and falsifying an election. The way to respond to 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:15.320 this is to say, yes, I lied and falsified an election, 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:19.320 but just to make myself seem less popular. Um, that's good. 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:22.160 I don't think that has the impact that he thinks 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:24.320 it has. No, it's not it's not a good way 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:29.160 to build up trust. No. Um. Outside of the official propaganda, 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:31.720 a series of local rumors have propped up around Lukashenko. 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.440 The most common one is that he's mentally ill, suffering 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:38.960 from a variant of anti social personality disorder called mosaic psychopathy. 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:42.040 His opponents will generally declare that Stalin, Hitler, and mau 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:44.679 were all diagnosed with the same disorder, and this is 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:49.600 like it's a meme in Belarusian sort of opposition groups. 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.320 But I don't think it's true at all. For one thing, 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:54.720 I on think he's been diagnosed with anything. I know Hitler, 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:57.840 Stalin and Mao weren't diagnosed with anything, and Hitler Stalin, Mao, 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:01.880 and Lukashenko are all like broad the different kinds of shitty. Yeah, 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:04.120 they all they all definitely, they're not all the same 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.559 type of dictator. No, No, they're not very different. And 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:08.400 in fact, if you're picking Hitler, Stalin and now you're 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:10.720 picking like three guys who are actually like the most 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:15.559 different three dictators like Stalin and Saddam same kind of guy. Um, 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:20.200 you know, but but Hitler, Stalin, maw all pretty different 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:23.240 dudes in terms of the way they utilized power and 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:25.880 the way that they came into power. Weird that he 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:28.240 picks those. I guess they it's just like they're the 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:32.640 they're the big dictators. You could add Musolini there, I guess, 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:34.840 but I guess Musolini is a little bit similar to Hitler. 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:37.839 Mussolini is the most similar. More is like pretty similar 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:42.120 to Lukashenko comparatively, Like he's closer to Mussolini than he 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.880 is to Hitler, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, um yeah, so 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.560 I don't know whatever. Um. Alexander Lukashenko does have a wife, 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.160 but she very conspicuously doesn't carry out the job of 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:55.679 first Lady. Belarus has no equivalent to Asthma assad or 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:58.959 Melani A. Trump Uh. This is also in line with 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:02.719 traditions for Eastern European despots. Stalin was conspicuously single for 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:05.079 most of his time in power. There are rumors that 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:09.160 Lukashenko's wife lives in a monastery or a mental institution. Uh. 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:11.800 And likewise, there are rumors about his children. Were not 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:14.760 really sure how many he has. People are pretty confident 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:18.839 that about three of his sons, Nikolai, Dmitri and Victor um. 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:21.720 And it's kind of worth noting that while these guys 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:25.160 are sometimes portrayed as particularly his youngest son Nikolai, Like 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:27.680 we talked about this on the Children of Bastard's episode, 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:31.720 he's the kid who got given a golden handgun. Yeah. Yeah, 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:35.400 his his Putin gave him a gigantic golden handgun that 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:37.960 he carries everywhere. So there's all these very funny pictures 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:42.760 of him, like meeting the President of Venezuela, which mess 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:45.640 of Bulgian gun and his his little little kids suit 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:49.319 for him. It's very funny him. It's exactly what you 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:53.000 do if you were eleven years old, got to and like, yeah, 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:55.600 you can carry everywhere you want, but it's a giant 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:59.599 gold it's awesome. Yeah, but so there's this kind of 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.160 idea that because of the ship that that Nikolai poll's 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:05.560 um and and because of like the reputation he has, 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:09.640 that he's being groomed as the the like following in 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:12.640 his dad's footsteps. And this is actually pretty heavily debated 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:14.880 by people who know anything about the country. There's a 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.560 lot of argument as to whether or not Lukashenko's children 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:21.679 are kind of expecting to follow in his footsteps. For 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:24.920 his part, the president himself has repeatedly publicly stated that 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:27.920 his children don't want to to go into politics and 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:32.320 that he doesn't consider them airs um. And Yeah, nobody 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:34.040 really knows how true this is, but a lot of 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:36.800 reputable academics do think that he's kind of being broadly 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:42.520 sincere there um and yeah, it's it's hard to say 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.360 kind of what he wanted for the future. Prior to 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.280 this last election, in the late oughts, that were persistent 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:51.360 rumors that he felt trapped as dictator of Belarus and 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:53.560 kind of was looking for a way out but couldn't 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:55.840 find it. Uh. And I'm gonna quote now from an 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:59.920 article in Deutsche Well uh to uh kind of elaborate 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:03.880 on that Lukashenko's biggest challenge, meanwhile, still lies ahead his 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:07.760 exit from the political stage. He recently announced that presidential 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:10.000 elections will be held as planned, and he's expecting to 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:14.280 run again. In his biography on Lukashenko, Valerie Karboalovitch described 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:17.040 the leader as a hostage trapped in a political system 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:20.120 of his own making. Lukashenko, he writes, has no choice 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:22.800 but to try to remain in power indefinitely, with no 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:27.560 viable successor in sight. Karbolovitch says Lukashenko's electoral defeat would 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:33.880 lead to radical regime change. Um. So that's interesting. Yeah, 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:36.880 I wonder. I always wonder how much to believe it 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.120 when people talk about like these guys wanting a way 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:42.880 out or being trapped, because it does happen. Like Saddam 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:47.280 before the invasion was like wind all the time about 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:50.360 how he didn't want to be dictator anymore. Um, And 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:52.920 you do have to think that, like for the guys 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:56.160 who kind of are less ideological about it and just 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:58.800 wanted power, there's a certain point at which you're old 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:01.199 and you're rich, and maybe you just like to enjoy 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:03.800 being old and rich and not have to constantly worry 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:08.559 about being overthrown um by angry activists. I don't know. 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:12.560 I mean, there's also like he has a credible there's 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:14.599 another person that can run the country, which is his 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.080 opponent the election. So if he wants to step down, 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:19.640 he can. He doesn't need to be dictator forever. But 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:22.720 here's the problem. Once you've been the dictator and you've 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:25.840 had a bunch of people disappeared and executed for exercising 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:29.520 their political rights, um, and you've stolen huge amounts of 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.520 money from the country, then if you leave power, you're 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:35.520 in a little bit of a pickle. Yeah right, Yeah, 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:38.280 that's the cage of your own making. Yeah, that's the case. 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.079 The cage of your own making is made with the 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:42.559 bones of your enemies because at a certain point you've 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:47.160 killed too many people to um, to retire peacefully. Um. 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.199 Because we don't just have an island where dictators can go. Well, 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:54.240 we do, and it's Jamaica. But um, I don't think 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:57.920 he likes the heat. So yeah, it's he's he's in 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:01.960 a complicated situation. UM. And as with any controversial political leader, 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:06.559 there's numerous rumors about how Lukashenko fox both his detractors 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.000 and supporters. Close your close your ears at this point, Garrett, 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.560 I'm covering my ears. There we go, both his detract 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.400 we know that the teens don't don't ever hear about 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:21.600 dictators um doing. I don't know, I don't know. I 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:25.200 lost track of the joke here. Um yeah. So both 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:27.760 of his detracts, both his detractors and supporters feel it 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:32.960 necessary to tell stories about Lukashenko's supernatural, uh sexual and 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:36.920 erotic sexual prowess and his titanic erotic appetite. So like, 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:39.400 both people who like him and hate him need you 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:41.520 to know how fun hungry he is, which is kind 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:44.520 of a weird. I don't know. I guess that's just Belarus. 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:49.680 Um yeah. One tabloid newspaper clearly put like pushing a 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:53.160 government line of propaganda described to the president's described an 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:57.440 alleged adulterous relationship by the president, and wrote that Lukashenko 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:01.000 is the only candidate who was potent like is basically like, look, 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:03.440 he's he focks around on his wife because he's the 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:07.000 only person in Belarusian politics, um who can get it, 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:12.200 which is an interesting line to take. Um yeah. And thirteen, 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:15.320 Lukashenko was asked by his Phobota journalist how long he 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:18.360 felt his political career would last. This was a polite 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:20.920 way of asking do you plan to be dictator for life? 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:24.040 Lukashenko responded, if people will elect me, then you have 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:27.240 will have Lukashenko for as many terms as you elect him, if, 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:30.160 of course, health will allow him. He then added, if 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:32.800 you have any doubts about my health, let's take skates 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:36.000 and skis and tomorrow we will try. Let's run ten kilometers. 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:39.000 If you come first, then tomorrow you will be president. Yeah. 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:43.760 I love the system, dictatorship of the marathon. It's my 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.600 favorite political system. It would be cool if I could 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:50.760 just challenge the president to fucking tin k um and 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.680 then this is what I hope that I would. I 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:56.080 would so beat the president at any k The thing 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.000 is now is because the election here is such a 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:01.120 big mass, we could just have Biden challenge Trump to 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:03.400 push up contest and then the winner just be president. 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.360 I mean, has he kind of always he already had 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:08.640 he already talked about that, But now that could just 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:11.200 be the way we win the presidency. I don't have 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:16.680 up and see what happens. No, I don't think either 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:18.480 of them could. I don't know if I think either 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:20.600 of them could do one good push up. I'm gonna 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:24.160 be honest, I don't think so either. But if we want, 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:28.000 they're so trash, they're so old in trash. But Kamala, 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.360 Kamala could could do more push ups than Pence, I'm 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:37.080 fairly sure. Yeah, probably, um but no, but they can't 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:42.400 be on the stage together because it's against his religion 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:46.400 to sweat near a woman he's not married to. Um So, 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:48.160 I don't think he's going to agree to that in 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:52.240 the first place. Uh So, Yeah, that that's a weird one. 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:54.920 Um Now, I think the best Lukashenko propaganda I've come 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:57.600 across is again from that Belarush Country study guide that 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:00.440 was produced with help from the Belarusian government. Uh And 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:04.439 I wanted to read a few fun, fun Lukashenko facts 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:09.399 that they put out in their like broken Belarusian to 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:15.879 English translated text, because it's it's fun. Lukashenko has always 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:18.800 willingly indulged in sport. The head of the state is 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:22.320 sure that enormous psychological strain he undergoes every day, a 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:25.760 nervous stress, can only be removed by activity going in 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:31.400 for sport. Yeah. Although every minute of President's time schedule 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:33.720 is entered in the records, he tries to find time 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.520 and meets the state affairs to come up to a bookshelf. 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:40.040 To come up to a bookshelf, reading books for him 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:44.480 is a most pleasant occupation. He obtained satisfaction whenever he 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:48.159 gets acquainted with technological novelties, with latest achievements of the 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.040 scientific mind. It seems like a real eccentric fell out. 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:54.480 You obtain satisfaction from a technological novelty earlier today and 0:17:54.520 --> 0:18:00.399 then it broke Amedia never my headphone. Yeah. I love 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.679 the way they describe coming. When he needs a relaxation, 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:05.879 he comes up to a bookshelf. That's what I do 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:07.879 when I do you feel relaxed? I go up to 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:11.399 my bookshelf, and for him is the most pleasant occupation. 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.479 So over the last twenty some years, Lukashenko's political agenda 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:17.879 has evolved from a vague platform of anti corruption to 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:20.720 more or less supporting return to the old Soviet economic 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:24.000 system with minor market elements. The private sector has been 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:28.240 kept pretty consistently at of the GDP, and Belarus's industry 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:31.879 has kept chugging along, duing large part to Russian support. Uh. 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.480 Not only did Russia cell cheap oil to Belarus, but 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.359 they bought the Soviet style products still made in its factory. 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.000 So like all of the like the like the Kirkland 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:43.440 brand products in Russia are all from Belarus. So like 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:45.960 you can get like a stove that's made somewhere else 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:47.920 in the world, or if you want a cheap stove 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:51.040 that just works, you get the BELARUSI get the Belarus brand. 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:53.680 Yeah and yeah they were like and that that's part 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:58.000 of what has kept their economy chugging along. UM. So Yeah, 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:02.680 Lukashenko pretty much based his entire political capital on stability UM. 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:06.320 But most of that stability has been an illusion. For example, 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:08.560 for most of his time in power, Belarus shot to 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.280 provide workers with an average monthly wage of around five 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:14.720 dred u s dollars. Unfortunately, the state was rarely able 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:16.800 to afford more than about half of this, so they 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:20.200 came to rely on regular loans from Russia, particularly in 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.320 years like two thousand eleven, when Belarusian inflation topped a 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:26.400 hundred and nine percent. Oh good, Yeah, that's not good 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:31.000 in amounts of inflation, UM. But Russia said no sometimes, 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:33.680 which is again part of why, like Lukashenko started making 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:36.520 more overtures for the EU UM and he's also gotten 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:39.400 loans from the I m F and the European Union um, 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:41.560 which means he's kind of in debt to everybody a 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:46.280 little bit um, which is, I don't know, in an 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.840 interesting situation to be in now. In general, Putin and 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:52.959 Lukashenko have had kind of a more of a tumultuous 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:56.760 relationship than most media tends to present. Belarus and Russia 0:19:56.840 --> 0:19:58.960 are on paper, part of that economic union that was 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:01.520 always meant to progress, being a political one, and it 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.640 first folks assumed that Lukashenko was a puppet of Putin's 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:08.200 kind of inevitably bringing his country into this like union 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:11.800 of Russia and Belarus. But over the years, Lukashenko's like 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:14.679 repeatedly pulled back, like right at the moment where they 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:16.800 might take a step forward towards that. And again it's 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:18.320 kind of like he's been a little bit of a 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.440 cock tease with Belarus, like, Oh yeah, we're totally gonna 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:23.720 like we're gonna get hitched. Don't worry, don't worry. I 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:25.600 just gotta go see I gotta go see my like 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:27.359 Bay over the the I m F. We're just gonna 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:29.359 like hang out for a night, like but it doesn't 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:36.639 mean anything. Yeah. So last Christmas, Lukashenko presented Putin with 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:38.960 a gift that some people see as a fuck you 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:41.320 to Russia over the fact that they started like demanding 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:43.840 repayment of things and kind of anyway, the gift was 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:46.280 three sacks of potatoes and a bunch of like rendered 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:49.879 fork pork fat um, which is a weird thing to 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:54.000 like bring to your buddies house as a Christmas gift. Um. Yeah, 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:58.439 Putin seems to broadly be kind of have been relatively 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:02.359 pissed in recent years, particularly in the last year. Um 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:05.920 And has responded by jacking up oil prices against towards 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:08.919 Belarus and fucking with the state of their exports to Russia, 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:12.239 which has kind of helped to created the Belarusian economy. Now, 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:13.840 all of this has meant that for the last few 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:17.680 years Belarus has been anything but stable. Lukashenko has continued 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:20.320 to talk a good game about socialism, but he's reverted 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:22.400 to the same sort of austerity measures that we see 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:25.680 in western countries. He's raised the age for drawing out 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:28.560 your pension basically like raised the retirement age. Uh. He 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:32.240 started permitting moderate unemployment. It used to be like impossible 0:21:32.280 --> 0:21:37.200 basically to be unemployed in Belarusia are belarus And Um, Yeah, 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:40.080 he's allowed unemployment as a result of the fact that 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:43.000 there just was not enough money to force it. Um. 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:46.159 And that's brought you know, political turmoil because people are 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:49.800 seeing themselves losing access to some of these like state 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:52.240 institutions that had at least been like kind of a 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:54.960 sav on the fact that they didn't have much freedom. Um. 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:57.479 Since two thousand eight, lukashenko solution to this has been 0:21:57.480 --> 0:22:00.920 to periodically loosen up the rules and allows political opponents 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:03.040 to organize and advocate for whatever it is they happen 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:05.400 to want. Is like a safety valve. You know, things 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:07.280 are getting worse and worse, so I might as well 0:22:07.480 --> 0:22:10.000 give them an opportunity a little bit of esteem. Yeah, 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:12.480 and you also get to figure out who's the best 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:15.719 at organizing resistance and throw them in dark cells. Um. 0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:19.080 And he kind of developed he had a history of 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:22.800 being relatively smart about approaching some of these protest movements. So, 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:25.800 for example, when mine workers went on strike over delay 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:28.000 in wage payments and demanded to be allowed to join 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:31.200 a new non state owned union, Lukashenko made sure that 0:22:31.280 --> 0:22:34.119