Alexander Lukashenko has once again been hurling threats towards the West in the so-called Belarusian Parliament and as usual, he emphasized Poland. Simultaneously, he traditionally was making himself feel better by stating that Russia will not take over Belarus.
Lukashenko has been issuing threats on the same topics for the last 15 years, including that he stop blocking illegal migration and smuggling (to Poland and Lithuania). Among other traditional threats were also the claims of repressing Poles in Belarus, as he is treating them like hostages. This time, however, he had not mentioned them as he had already attacked them earlier (once again). Now, he will most likely order the weakening of border control (once again).
In general, there was nothing new apart from more complicated insults towards our country. The novelty was that the insults must’ve been so developed that Belarusian state television had not broadcasted them live and only conveyed the “golden thoughts” of the dictator via transcript.
Another novelty, however, is the current situation in which the European Union has lost its patience for Lukashenko. Poland finally has the ability to respond to him if he would decide to act on his threats. By following in Lithuania’s footsteps, we can completely shut our airspace for planes flying from Belarus. Then, everyone would have to avoid it, even the Russians.
It would’ve seemed obvious that if he truly believes that all of his current troubles were due to Poland, he should come to his senses and try to reach an agreement with us instead of irritating our country. Yet, Lukashenko and common sense don’t go well together.
Instead, he prefers to lie to himself that he has a powerful and great ally behind his back. In his set of boring and usual threats he also hadn’t changed the traditional claim that “first they will deal with Belarus (this of course refers to Western states), and then with Russia.”
Previously, he had always said this prior to travelling to meet Putin to plead for additional donations. The situation is no different now, as he will soon travel to Sochi to fawn over additional millions of dollars.
And finally, Lukashenko was also traditionally comforting himself that Russia will not take over Belarus. I wonder whether he himself actually believes that.
