Russia May Absorb Belarus: 'We're Ready to Unite,' President Says
Source: Newsweek
The president of Belarus has said the country is ready to unite with long-time ally Russia, raising the prospect of Moscow absorbing the eastern European dictatorship on the borders of Poland and Lithuania.
President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the former Soviet state since the presidential post was created in 1994, said Friday his nation was ready to join with Russia, The Moscow Times reported.
Lukashenko made the comments on the third and final day of bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rumors have long abounded that Belarus could be absorbed into Russia under Putins watch, deepening the union state arrangement that has existed between them since the late 1990s.
Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/russia-belarus-unite-absorb-union-vladimir-putin-alexander-lukashenko-1333800
Putin's plan all along is the reunification of the Soviet Union's breakaway states into greater Russia, by coercion if possible but by force if necessary.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)"Putins presidential term will end in 2024, and the current constitution prevents him for running again.
It has been suggested that he could bypass these restrictions by creating a new nation through a union with Belarus."
politicaljunkie41910
(3,335 posts)to extend the number of terms he could lawfully run for, or extend the length of each reign again, or both as he did with Dmitry Medvedev previously when he was termed out. Whose going to stop him? Besides, Putin is getting too old to play these sham games. He may just decide to prove exactly how badass he is and just announced that he's staying for an indefinite amount of time. Who's going to challenge him?
progree
(10,929 posts)The border is 58 miles from Kiev
Map of Belarus
joe_stampingbull
(165 posts)The Poles will be mortified
oldsoftie
(12,647 posts)Sapient Donkey
(1,568 posts)Ukraine and Belarus have a population ripe for Russian exploitation in that regards. I don't know a whole lot about Poland, but I never got the impression there was a big pro-russia movement there. If they don't have that then Russia's poland options would be an actual invasion, and unless things go to real shit in the world, I don't think even Putin would do that. But then again, they could just stir up so much unrest in those countries that it causes enough mayhem to serve as some sort of "peacekeeping"/"humanitarian" pretext. That might be a bit far-fetched, though.
oldsoftie
(12,647 posts)Thats why I can see why Poland would want a US base there, like they've talked about a few months ago when the Polish leader met with trump.
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)cstanleytech
(26,344 posts)the old ones he wants the most.
My guess is once he does this he will then turn his eye either to the Ukraine or to either Latvia or Lithuania depending on which he wants more.
mwooldri
(10,303 posts)Putin goes in there at his peril. This would start WWIII.
Formally annexing the breakaway parts of Ukraine would be logical. Ukraine and the West will complain loudly but do nothing.
oldsoftie
(12,647 posts)JI7
(89,281 posts)onetexan
(13,078 posts)cstanleytech
(26,344 posts)the government kind of like what he is doing in the Ukraine.
DBoon
(22,414 posts)raccoon
(31,130 posts)blue-wave
(4,372 posts)will be on the backs of the republicons. Every treasonous one of them. It will result in our European allies kissing Uncle Vlad's fat ass.
cstanleytech
(26,344 posts)SunSeeker
(51,777 posts)This is such a sad situation for the long-suffering people of Belarus and Ukraine.
tclambert
(11,087 posts)What is his endgame? Does he miss Stalin that much? Are they going back to the USSR?
ancianita
(36,192 posts)and military dominance of energy sources -- Venezuela, the Arctic, etc. -- Russian control of world energy sales, other nations' laws and economics -- by any means necessary, secrecy and stealth means being the top two.
Putin sees Russia's Eurasian hegemony as the endgame of his endgame.
Rhiannon12866
(206,510 posts)I visited there back in the late '80s - went with my grandmother and her peace group to the USSR. We were privileged to go to then-Soviet Georgia and it's as different from Russia proper as you can get. It's more Middle Eastern, different language and they still carried a huge resentment against the then-USSR. I was surprised to still see many statues of Stalin - who I thought was in disgrace in the USSR. But Stalin was Georgian, not Russian. And when I asked the reasons for the statues - I was told that he was held in high regard in his home state "because he killed so many Russians."
JudyM
(29,294 posts)How much of an emergency do we need to act on his constellation of assaults on our values and very democracy? Everyones just waiting for Mueller, hoping he delivers and that action is in fact taken in response. And if not...? The only real revolt thats happened is by the kids, and theyre focused on the gun issue. But our democracys at stake.
Rhiannon12866
(206,510 posts)And it keeps getting worse! It really is unbelievable - and Obama wore that tan suit, and chewed gum.
ansible
(1,718 posts)Ever since the chechen wars it's been ruled over by Ramzan Kadyrov. In theory Putin still rules it but in reality Kadyrov's law is the final say.
DFW
(54,468 posts)The "stans" of Central Asia are one thing.
White Russia ("Belarus" was never really thought of as an independent state by the old guard Russians. Only young people born after 1985 really grew up in a state by that name that they can remember, and they all speak Russian, not Ukrainian. Lukashenko has ruled the place with an iron fist, and would have no trouble continuing to do so as Putin's puppet. He sorta does that anyway.
DBoon
(22,414 posts)This should make those citizens very nervous
DFW
(54,468 posts)It always has.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,400 posts)which used to be Königsberg, East Prussia. Its land borders are with Poland and Lithuania, but it's only about 50km from Belarus (while over 300km from the current border of the rest of Russia). I wouldn't put it past Putin to say "hey, it's only 50km - give us a corridor to connect it all up".
The separation of East Prussia from the rest of Germany was one of the excuses Hitler used for the invasion of Poland.
Fuzzpope
(602 posts)Here comes the U.S.S.R. V2.0.
Brought to you, in part, by the forth fifth president of the United States, Donald Fucking Trump.
Sapient Donkey
(1,568 posts)He always said he was Russian so when he said I Belarus I asked him to clarify if he's from Russia or Belarus, and he said something along the lines of "what's the difference?"
This was before the stuff that went down in Ukraine so I didn't think much of it. Now I'm curious if the majority of Belarusian are like my former co-worker, or if it's more like Ukraine in which it will lead to a civil war that will end with half of the country being absorbed by Russia.
I feel for the Baltic states with Trump in power. At least with Obama and if Hillary won, then they could count on US support if Russia tried it with them. Not so sure Trump would give that same level of support. I suppose that is why they worked to hard to help discredit Clinton and promote Trump.
allgood33
(1,584 posts)Nitram
(22,936 posts)ck4829
(35,094 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,400 posts)YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)Has anyone taken a measurement of what the people of Belarus think about this? Haven't heard.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,224 posts)The Belurussian president is a puppet of Putin like Yanukovich was.
Or Trump is.
ancianita
(36,192 posts)Xolodno
(6,409 posts)...Belarus has inquired numerous times about rejoining Russia, and the sound in response, was crickets. Belarus is a money loser for Russia...and its probably why they want to "reunite"...as they aren't going anywhere economically now, nor the foreseeable future.
Russia will reincorporate Belarus into the "Empire" when its feasibly convenient to them....but not before.
For example, Russia could have invaded Ukraine and permanently taken via puppet ruler,...but they didn't. In other words, they aren't looking for territory, they are looking for something else.
Exotiki
(37 posts)For sure.
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