The Off Topic Topic

[merithyn]

This is scary - hopefully everything will be fine:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-10/swarm-of-earthquakes-shakes-salton-sea-area-raising-worry-about-the-san-andreas

If this could just please wait another seven months. Maybe eight. Please.

[Josquius]

Interesting thing I learned.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Prinz_von_Anhalt

There has been a whole thing going on with the Anhalt royal family selling adoptions to make people legally princes.

[HVC]

According to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister:

Tried to reach Svetlana #Tikhanovskaya for several hours. Her whereabouts not known even to her staff. Concerned about her safety. #Belarus

Which is worrying.

Wow. You don't think Lukashenko would go so far as to take her out would you?

It's always perilous to try to analyze the actions of politicians in modern day Byzantine Empire, but if there is ever a situation where taking out an opposition politician makes no logical sense, this would be it.  His opponent is literally a placeholder, she freely admitted to be as such herself.  Her only promise upon being elected is to organize real elections for real politicians.  It's not like she's a once-in-a-generation political star whose assassination would legitimately set back a movement.  Lukashenko will get all of the negatives and none of the positives from taking her out.

Looks like she fled after the election.

[DGuller]

Looks like she fled after the election.

But before fleeing, she recorded a statement while inside the election commission building urging everyone to accept Lukashenko's victory.

[Tamas]

It seems like she was encouraged by the authorities to leave, after the local KGB (that's literally their name) put her staff "under protection".

Poor lady. This is something I have seen often in smaller scale: when you fight these dictators and wannabees, you are facing people who are ready to do absolutely EVERYTHING to grab and maintain power. It is Game of Thrones level shit and if you are not up for that, if you are not willing to rather die than lose, then you shouldn't even start.

[DGuller]

It seems like she was encouraged by the authorities to leave, after the local KGB (that's literally their name) put her staff "under protection".

Poor lady. This is something I have seen often in smaller scale: when you fight these dictators and wannabees, you are facing people who are ready to do absolutely EVERYTHING to grab and maintain power. It is Game of Thrones level shit and if you are not up for that, if you are not willing to rather die than lose, then you shouldn't even start.

Her statement after fleeing is heartbreaking:  "I thought elections toughened me up, but I turned out to still be the weak woman I always was". 

[Sheilbh]

"God forbid you face the kind of choice that I faced," she said. "Children are the most important thing in our lives."

Christ

On the other hand as someone else said I think in a way this is a lot bigger than her, in that it was never about her - she had one very simple policy. So I'm not sure removing the leader quite works in the way that it might in, say, the colour revolutions.

The other point is that if the reports are true that actually she won 60-70% of the vote (ie the "result" but reversed) then it indicates a far larger and broader base of support that will be more difficult to put back.

[DGuller]

Yeah, I agree that this is one more thing that will likely backfire.  As I said, she is a political nobody and does not have political ambitions, and no one is under any illusions that she does.  Literally manhandling her is not going to discredit her, as she has no credit to begin with, but it will make Lukashenko look like a total thug.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah, I agree that this is one more thing that will likely backfire.  As I said, she is a political nobody and does not have political ambitions, and no one is under any illusions that she does.  Literally manhandling her is not going to discredit her, as she has no credit to begin with, but it will make Lukashenko look like a total thug.

I could be wrong but wasn't she a teacher whose husband was an anti-Lukashenko YouTuber who got arrested (weird echo of Zelenskiy's character). So probably not identified as a risk, but perhaps more successful because of just being ordinary.

[Habbaku]

[Josquius]

 Where's this from? Interesting art style

[Eddie Teach]

That's only 9/15 

[Tonitrus]

Where's this from? Interesting art style

I did the google-fu for you (and I liked the art too).

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvrX9e0gIgK/?igshid=1a0dimrztw03k

[The Brain]

Ms. Belarus looks like that prosecutor.

[celedhring]

Where's this from? Interesting art style

I did the google-fu for you (and I liked the art too).

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvrX9e0gIgK/?igshid=1a0dimrztw03k

All the strips seem to be history jokes with cute national personifications. I'll take a look later.