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Belarusian regime’s thugs shut down Imaguru, the country’s key startup hub

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Re: Belarusian regime’s thugs shut down Imaguru, the country’s key startup hub

#11
post #9
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair elections.

This is a pipe dream. If someone who isn't a Putin handpicked puppet gets elected, country will be taken over. Face reality: even the Belarusian KGB people are trained in Moscow (they don't have an academy of their own, just kept things the way they were in Soviet times). It's just a facade of independence. Whatever small bits of real independence exist, are only there of Lukashenka's personal ambitions to "own" the…

Cynicism and learned helplessness is the environment in which dictators thrive. You have to fight it.

Re: Belarusian regime’s thugs shut down Imaguru, the country’s key startup hub

#12
post #6
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They want to have a say in their country's future.

The choice is simple: Lukashenka or Putin. I'd pick Lukashenka, at least some form of quasi-independent Belarus is better than none at all. It is so patently obvious that no non-manipulated Belarus will be allowed to exist... Just because all country is Russian speaking - even to a bigger degree than Crimea and is wholly owned by the Russian propaganda reality tunnel.

[deleted]

Re: Belarusian regime’s thugs shut down Imaguru, the country’s key startup hub

#13
post #8
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The choice is simple: Lukashenka or Putin. I'd pick Lukashenka, at least some form of quasi-independent Belarus is better than none at all. It is so patently obvious that no non-manipulated Belarus will be allowed to exist... Just because all country is Russian speaking - even to a bigger degree than Crimea and is wholly owned by the Russian propaganda reality tunnel.

I don't believe those are the only choices.

Because of the history in those places, new Belarus will immediately try to join EU and NATO. That is an option which Russia will try to prevent. As history shows there are some windows of opportunity for the things to go either way. It seems that the major escalation is coming in Donbass - Ukraine has beefed up the forces, and in particular brought in the Turkish drones which (being very successful against Russian made tanks and air defenses) provided for the recent blitzkrieg in Azerbaijan (and the very cake-in-the-face moment for Russia who supported Armenia in that war), and Russia has massed up large force on the Donbass border - which would probably result in large involvement and losses for Russia, and that may be the window of opportunity for the things to quickly change. Of course it may also be a last stand nothing to lose moment for Russia and it will just force its way in Belarus.

Re: Belarusian regime’s thugs shut down Imaguru, the country’s key startup hub

#14
post #6
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They want to have a say in their country's future.

The choice is simple: Lukashenka or Putin. I'd pick Lukashenka, at least some form of quasi-independent Belarus is better than none at all. It is so patently obvious that no non-manipulated Belarus will be allowed to exist... Just because all country is Russian speaking - even to a bigger degree than Crimea and is wholly owned by the Russian propaganda reality tunnel.

You do realise that a lot of people in Russia want to get rid of Putin too? And neither dictator will live forever, both are in their late 60s.

Re: Belarusian regime’s thugs shut down Imaguru, the country’s key startup hub

#15
I've been following the situation in Belarus since last August and it's really terrible. I admire how so many brave people look death in the eye and still fight for freedom. I have friends there and this allowed me to understand that there's so much potential in Belarus -- there are so many talented, intelligent people getting by in this adversarial environment. So sad to see how Lukashenko's kleptocracy regime wasted so many years and chances for a better future for millions of people.

Anyway -- you can help! Most of the communication, coordination and crime-documenting happens on Telegram and the regime tries to block access to this information. You can run Telegram Proxy [0][1]. The installation is fairly straightforward, mostly setup and forget. After setup you can register your proxy with MTProxybot [2], so that people can learn about/use your proxy. If you know people there, I also recommend setting up a private proxy just for them (i.e. not registering with [2]) and sharing over private communication channel (e.g. Signal), as the thugs try to block proxies, so it's a cat-and-mouse game.

Edit: Added info about MTProxybot.

[0] https://core.telegram.org/mtproto/mtproto-transports

[1] https://github.com/TelegramMessenger/MTProxy

[2] https://t.me/MTProxybot

Re: Belarusian regime’s thugs shut down Imaguru, the country’s key startup hub

#16
post #3

I really don't understand what are these protesters trying to achieve. I like Belarus and spent years there. Hard to guess why would anyone want to shake the boat and risk the country getting annexed by Russia.

that's fatalism, not realism. Change is possible still, but admittedly much momentum and a big chance currently seems lost.

Re: Belarusian regime’s thugs shut down Imaguru, the country’s key startup hub

#17
Shake that boat, provoke Kremlin, arm the populace, make Kremlin bleed, and go broke.

The longer the Russia will be dragged into this war, the deeper Putinisms' grave will be, and the less is the chance of Russia ever growing big enough to threaten Europe.

I am totally for dragging Russia into a bloody war.

Re: Belarusian regime’s thugs shut down Imaguru, the country’s key startup hub

#18
post #13
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe those are the only choices.

Because of the history in those places, new Belarus will immediately try to join EU and NATO. That is an option which Russia will try to prevent. As history shows there are some windows of opportunity for the things to go either way. It seems that the major escalation is coming in Donbass - Ukraine has beefed up the forces, and in particular brought in the Turkish drones which (being very successful against Russian m…

Maybe in the face of growing russian agression nato will relax it's rules.

Re: Belarusian regime’s thugs shut down Imaguru, the country’s key startup hub

#19
post #9
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair elections.

This is a pipe dream. If someone who isn't a Putin handpicked puppet gets elected, country will be taken over. Face reality: even the Belarusian KGB people are trained in Moscow (they don't have an academy of their own, just kept things the way they were in Soviet times). It's just a facade of independence. Whatever small bits of real independence exist, are only there of Lukashenka's personal ambitions to "own" the…

> If someone who isn't a Putin handpicked puppet gets elected, country will be taken over

If they get killed, then no. The dead don't win elections, even rigged ones.

Re: Belarusian regime’s thugs shut down Imaguru, the country’s key startup hub

#20
Let's condemn Russia always always always but let's look away from the US trying to create vassal states in Europe to antagonize Russia. It's like hearing the brain-dead old George Bush: United States/West good, Russia bad, very bad.

Let's see how many NGOs and US spies have been working to undermine Belarus sovereignty. Even in Syria American politicians accepted the fact that US supported directy terrorists who wanted to subvert Assad. IF Assad was a criminal but a good friend of the US interests, that would no problem. The US would not even bother. Not to mention of course, Ukraine, where right wing Nazi fascists are supported militarily by United states and Europe (all the US's vassal states speak the same language)

By the way, techcrunch is a mouthpiece of the US based interests. They did not notice that Lukashenko did not accept any "help" from IMF or the WHO besides having been pressured heavily. Opening up your country to IMF is like giving them your keys.

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