The Situation with Belarus

Image taken from Independent.co.uk at:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/belarus-protest-minsk-lukashenko-a9684436.html

 

The protests have been going on in Belarus for two weeks now. On Sunday, they had something like 200,000 protesters in the street. Still, one can be too hasty in reaching a conclusion. For example, the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine in 2013-14 lasted for three months (21 November 2013 – 23 February 2014) and that was against a security force that killed over 100 from gunfire, primarily using snipers. The earlier, bloodless Orange Revolution in Ukraine lasted two months (22 November 2004 – 23 January 2005). The Rose Revolution in Georgia last three weeks (3 – 23 November 2003). These last two a very similar to what is occurring in Belarus, as they were over a disputed election result. In all three cases, the country’s leadership was overthrown.

On the other hand, all large demonstrations do not succeed. We have the Syrian Civil War, which started as protests against the government of Assad in March 2011. We have the protests in Tiananmen Square which dragged on for seven weeks (15 April – 4 June 1989) before the protests were run over and broken up. The Chinese Communist Party is still in power. This was at a cost of 300 to 3,000 killed, depending on who you wish to believe.

But, it does appear that this one may drag on for a few more weeks.

Let’s compare the landlocked Belarus to its neighbors:

.………………………………………………………..Per Capita………….Per Capita
…………………Population…………..GDP………….GDP.……………..GDP (PPP)
Belarus………….9.4 million…………63 billion……….$6,744…………….$21,223
Russia………..146.8 million……..1,657 billion……..$11,205…………….$30,819
Ukraine…………41.7 million……….162 billion……….$3,881…………….$10,310

 

Poland………….38.4 million……….607 billion……….$17,369…………..$35,651
Lithuania…………2.8 million………..56 billion……….$20,355…………..$38,751

Latvia……………..1.9 million………..37 billion………$19,105…………..$32,986

 

United States…328.2 million……22,321 billion…….$67,426…………..$67,426

 

These economic estimates do not take into account the effects of Coronavirus and the subsequent shutdowns. For example, the figures for the United States are from IMF, October 2019, which pre-dates the virus.

Russia in the country to the east of Belarus, Ukraine is the country to south. Poland is the country to the west (and a member of NATO), and Lithuania and Latvia are the countries to the north (also members of NATO). Lithuania is where the opposing candidate, Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya is currently residing. According to the official election results, Lukashenko got 80% of the vote (4,661,075 votes) while Tsikhanouskaya received 10% (588,622).

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Christopher A. Lawrence
Christopher A. Lawrence

Christopher A. Lawrence is a professional historian and military analyst. He is the Executive Director and President of The Dupuy Institute, an organization dedicated to scholarly research and objective analysis of historical data related to armed conflict and the resolution of armed conflict. The Dupuy Institute provides independent, historically-based analyses of lessons learned from modern military experience.
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Mr. Lawrence was the program manager for the Ardennes Campaign Simulation Data Base, the Kursk Data Base, the Modern Insurgency Spread Sheets and for a number of other smaller combat data bases. He has participated in casualty estimation studies (including estimates for Bosnia and Iraq) and studies of air campaign modeling, enemy prisoner of war capture rates, medium weight armor, urban warfare, situational awareness, counterinsurgency and other subjects for the U.S. Army, the Defense Department, the Joint Staff and the U.S. Air Force. He has also directed a number of studies related to the military impact of banning antipersonnel mines for the Joint Staff, Los Alamos National Laboratories and the Vietnam Veterans of American Foundation.
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His published works include papers and monographs for the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the Vietnam Veterans of American Foundation, in addition to over 40 articles written for limited-distribution newsletters and over 60 analytical reports prepared for the Defense Department. He is the author of Kursk: The Battle of Prokhorovka (Aberdeen Books, Sheridan, CO., 2015), America’s Modern Wars: Understanding Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam (Casemate Publishers, Philadelphia & Oxford, 2015), War by Numbers: Understanding Conventional Combat (Potomac Books, Lincoln, NE., 2017) , The Battle of Prokhorovka (Stackpole Books, Guilford, CT., 2019), The Battle for Kyiv (Frontline Books, Yorkshire, UK, 2023), Aces at Kursk (Air World, Yorkshire, UK, 2024), Hunting Falcon: The Story of WWI German Ace Hans-Joachim Buddecke (Air World, Yorkshire, UK, 2024) and The Siege of Mariupol (Frontline Books, Yorkshire, UK, 2024).
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Mr. Lawrence lives in northern Virginia, near Washington, D.C., with his wife and son.

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