War re Ukraine: Thread

[grarpamp]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-19/anti-russia-guerillas-in-belarus-take-on-two-headed-enemy/102112538
https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-sentences-two-journalists-chekina-zolatova-12-years/32322969.html
https://www.plenglish.com/news/2023/02/22/nato-threatens-belaruss-security-fm-warns/
https://tsikhanouskaya.org/en/events/news/de295f506f34b7c.html

Belarus Cracks Down On Pro-Ukraine Guerrillas As War Threatens To Expand

The Belarus government is implementing widespread measures to crack
down on dissent as pro-Ukraine guerrillas attempt to sabotage railways
and other logistics that could be used by Russia for a future
offensive from the north.

The move comes not long after the guerrillas, part of an organization
called BYPOL, used two armed drones to damage a Russian Beriev A-50
parked at the Machulishchy Air Base near Minsk.  The early warning
aircraft was lent to Belarus for monitoring the security of their
southern border.  The attack failed to destroy the plane beyond minor
repairs according the the Belarus government, but did garner BYPOL
headlines in the western media.

What they did not report was that the primary perpetrator of the
attack was apprehended along with 20 other accomplices.  Belarus
claims that at least one of the guerrillas has ties to Ukrainian
security services, though this remains unconfirmed.

Last month, President Alexander Lukashenko warned that:

"I'm ready to fight together with the Russians from the territory of
Belarus in one case only: if so much as one soldier from (Ukraine)
comes to our territory with a gun to kill my people."

If BYPOL attacks continue within Belarus they may provide the very
rationale that Lukashenko needs to justify joining military forces
with Russia, which would open up the northern border of Ukraine to
attack and likely deal a devastating blow to the nation's defensive
posture.

Acts of sabotage have already been used as fuel for civilian
restrictions including the issuance of arrest warrants for numerous
activists as well as at least five journalists, two of them now
sentenced to 12 years in prison for a variety of charges including
“Tax evasion, organizing activities aimed at inciting racial, ethnic,
religious, or social hatred, and public calls through the media and
the Internet aimed at damaging the national security of Belarus.”

The Belarus government seems to have abandoned optics in favor of
policies akin to martial law, which suggests a near term plan to join
Russia militarily as well as to wage an anti-insurgency effort against
BYPOL.  Foreign Minister Sergei Aleinik stated at the end of February
that the accelerated militarization of the eastern flank of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) represents a threat to his
country's security.

Lukashenko has launched a diplomatic tour, visiting allies of Russia
and Belarus in an effort to strengthen ties.  He was recently welcomed
in Iran, which has been involved in economic support of Russia in the
midst of heavy NATO sanctions.  The president's statement to the
Iranian leadership  appeared to stress the view that the US was a
shared enemy of the two nations:

Lukashenko has been accused by western governments of election fraud
and vote rigging to defeat his opponent, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, in
the 2020 elections.  Most evidence of fraud comes from the testimony
of poll workers, and if true constitutes an egregious violation of
voter trust.  However, it should be noted that Tsikhanouskaya has been
embraced by the globalist World Economic Forum, which raises
suspicions about the intentions of her candidacy.  She has also been
announcing reforms for Belarus as if she has the power to implement
them; perhaps assuming that she will eventually be installed as
president sometime in the near future.

While the Belerus crackdown is itself a display of oppression if all
the accusations are true, it also highlights the domino effect of NATO
involvement in the region leading to wider instability.  The Ukrainian
government has also been accused of numerous trespasses against
civilian rights with the country aggressively enforcing martial law,
and these questionable actions are supported by US and EU tax dollars.

The governments of the US and Europe refuse to acknowledge that
Ukraine is a full blown proxy war against Russia, but the results are
clear and the consequences could be catastrophic.  Eastern nations
including the BRICs are beginning to gravitate to each other not just
economically but militarily, which one might think is the opposite of
what NATO would want.  At the same time, Ukrainian support for
guerrilla operations in Belarus, if proven, could justify expansion of
the war.