Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- August 17, 2020

Lionel Beehner, USA Today: Why a stolen election in Belarus matters to America and the world

Thousands of protesters, including women and children, continue to lock arms in protest of what was a rigged election.

For the past three decades, the Vegas Rules largely applied to Belarus: what happened there, tended to stay there.

That is a result of a closed-off economy with a neo-socialist system and even a KGB to monitor its citizens. Little news of its atrocious human rights record seeped out.

The impoverished country has been ruled since the breakup of the Soviet Union by Alexander Lukashenko, a strongman in the Soviet sense of the term — uninspiring, gruff, yet a survivalist. Think Brezhnev, but with a creepier mustache.

I crossed into Belarus from Lithuania on an overnight bus in March 2006 to monitor its presidential elections. This was one of the first elections where the use of SMS technology was employed tactically to get people onto the streets. There were widespread reports of fraud, and thousands of Belarusians packed Minsk's main square to protest, braving subzero weather and snow.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- August 17, 2020

Belarus: Two rivals, two very different messages -- BBC

EU emergency summit on Belarus: What's at stake? -- Bernd Riegert, DW

Putin has no clear options in Belarus -- Mitch Prothero, Business Insider

The West’s Role in Belarus -- William Courtney & Michael Haltzel, RealClearWorld

There’s no cold war with China -- Foreign Policy

To the Brink with China -- Richard Haass, Project Syndicate

Chinese tech giants face mounting pressure from the US government – will Baidu and Alibaba be next to get hit? -- Coco Feng in Beijing and Tracy Qu, SCMP

Turkey plows ahead in Mediterranean expansion -- Jonathan Gorvett, Asia Times

Iran Threat Sparks UAE-Israel Deal; US & Israeli F-35s Practice Killing SAMs -- Bradley Bowman and Maj. Shane Praiswater, Breaking Defense

Will the Israel-UAE deal really help to heal old wounds? -- Tania Kraemer, DW

Clearing North Korea’s bad debt -- Bradley K. Martin, Asia Times

Coronavirus recovery: Population crisis adds to shadow over global future -- David Brown, SCMP

The Case For Trump -- Dimitri K. Simes, National Interest

The Case Against Trump -- Dov S. Zakheim, National Interest