Ask about a sixth term for the current Prezident Respubliki Bielaruś, and the answer will be as Sidney Falco famously said in the Sweet Smell of Success: The cat's in the bag and the bag's in the river. But there's enough trouble bubbling in the Belarus tea kettle to make the next round much more interesting. The unexpected public pursuit of novice Tikhanoskaya's lure has many even in the local press asking: Is there enough crocodilian charm left in Lukashenko to see him through to a seventh term? If not, if Lukashenko's backstreet boys begin to lose faith because their bread and butter is losing his grip, then you should ask about the next logical step: Will Moscow's hunger for the old Byelorussia extinguish a post-Lukashenko Orange Revolution, à la Crimea?

https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1292511394945011713

What I don't get is why these tinpots have to win with 80%+ of the vote. Why not make it 55% of the vote, enough to be uncontested but still halfway believable?

What I don't get is why these tinpots have to win with 80%+ of the vote. Why not make it 55% of the vote, enough to be uncontested but still halfway believable? It shows weakness, implies there is big opposition. Y I don't buy claims certain people are despots, they'd either not hold elections or get 70+

Lukashenko doesn't have to cheat to win.

https://twitter.com/evangershkovich/status/1293559083333824513

Just asking for it at this point.

A daring thumb-in-the-nose cry from the people in spite of mass midnight-train departures and reported Duterte-style night-time raids, beatings and alley-side executions by Lukashenko thugs.

As if on cue, Putin's ready to step in "The leaders of the countries reaffirmed the agreement that in case of an aggravation of situation in terms of external threats, the parties will react jointly in accordance with the provisions stipulated by the Collective Security Treaty." https://112.international/politics/in-case-of-aggravation-we-will-react-together-lukashenko-calls-putin-again-53936.html. Lavrentiy Beria couldn't have planned this better. And all it took was a distended defenseless mass with full throats to scare Lukashenko back into Mother Russia's kreml. Maneuvring worthy of a John le Carré novel.

Echoes of Ceaucescu? https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1295348930264408065

Sounds like a challenge.