Virus asylum: Is Belarus the "real" Russia?

Readers share their stories from the land of Lukashenko

Seeking shelter from the Virus Taliban? Belarus could be an option.

For the last nine months or so, “alternative” media outlets have been stubbornly claiming Vladimir Putin karate-chopped compulsory vaccination and that Russia is a beacon of clot shot-free sanity. None of this is true of course but why let the truth get in the way of some easy rubles? We respect the hustle.

Coincidentally, there is a Russian-speaking country where the Virus Scam and coercive injections have not fared particularly well.

It’s called Belarus and it’s run by this guy:

Our ongoing discussion about whether Russia is a safe haven from Schwab and his merry band of bug-eaters has sparked a lively debate (which is wonderful) and also filled our email inbox with a colorful assortment of testimonials and comments.

“Hi. I live in Belarus,” read one message we received.

Is this the blog post you’ve been dreaming of? Are you finally going to read firsthand accounts of what life is like in Belarus? Yes.

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NAME: “Len”

LOCATION: Minsk, Belarus

OCCUPATION: N/A (full-time Edward Slavsquat reader)

Edward: Hi Len. So, first question: WHAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON IN BELARUS WITH COVID-RELATED STUFF? Is Belarus the “real” Russia?

Len: An interesting observation, that Belarus is more ‘Russia’ than Russia itself right now.

Life goes on pretty much as normal. The government-owned media never ran the fear porn it did in other countries, so the majority aren't scared shitless as they would be in Australia for example.

There was an incident last year where some businesses in Bobruisk (Mogilevskaya Oblast) took the initiative of implementing some vax pass system, but the central government struck them down. I don't remember exactly how it happened, but there was a video of some kind last year with Lukashenko and a whole bunch of ministers in a room, he had steam coming out of his ears saying that he specifically demanded no vax passes be implemented anywhere in the country.

There was however, a blanket mask mandate, that was in place from Dec 2020, and lifted in Nov 2021. Lukashenko was critical of the transport minister, saying that masks should be voluntary. Shortly after the video's public release (probably on the Belta youtube channel) the mask mandates were dropped in the whole country. Some signs are still up, but enforcement is gone. The only trouble I personally had even while the mandate was enforced, were ‘Karens’ at supermarkets who would refuse to scan my food at the cash register. I just walked out of there leaving everything behind. No drama in the metro, for example. The blokes who stand there at the turnstile don't get paid enough to care.

In terms of compulsory vaccination, I'm not aware of any needle mandates for specific industries. Lukashenko has spoken out against mandatory/coercive policies, however he hasn't come out against the idea of vaxxing, as in this article.

Perhaps just a few kopecks from [Sputnik V big-brain Alexander] Gintsburg are flowing his way, but luckily he puts minimal effort into marketing their product.

Cattle tags, well nothing notable. No ‘check-in’ or ‘contact surveillance’ like in other places.

I believe a certain element of this comes from the fact that Belarus is an outsider country. Even with it's union state with Russia, Belarus still more or less does it's own thing. The government here is most definitely anti-everyone (including Russia), so they pursue a more independent policy. Moreover, there was that colour revolution attempt back in August 2020 (sheilas with flowers etc.). The government struck it down, but allegedly lost the trust of large swathes of the population, therefore for Lukashenko, not implementing any coercive measures is perhaps a good way of showing to the public that he isn't a WEF suckhole.

Belarus is a bit of a boring country from my perspective, but boring and free is better than shackled and jabbed in my book. Australia and Belarus are amazing contrasts.

Edward: If someone told you they wanted to move to Belarus to escape the Virus Scam, what would you tell them? 

Len: If they were coming from a neighbouring country, such as Russia or the Baltics, then give it a go. It's not worth traveling from a different continent, I don't believe. Perhaps a young single lad that works from his laptop would find some future here. But to close up shop and move from the American continent, well that would be too ambitious. The job market here isn't kind to foreigners but I think it's the same in Russia. You need permanent residence to work for most local companies, and learning Russian is also a prerequisite. I'm sure we can relate in that learning Russian becomes a massive headache once you get to the verbs of motion, along with certain aspects of grammar. Yankee types wouldn't have the attention span necessary, but maybe the dirt cheap government-brewed alcohol makes up for it? Very interesting that some of the biggest distilleries and (I believe) tobacco companies in Belarus are government-owned.

Edward: There is a tendency among “anti-Empire” westerners to view Putin as the living embodiment of state sovereignty. Do you think, at least in the Virus Scam sense, that Luka is actually more ‘Putin’ than Putin? In other words, people who feel let down by Putin—is Luka a solid alternative if they want to idolize someone? Or maybe it's time to drop all that stuff and just recognize they're all a bit suspect? Your thoughts on these matters would be greatly appreciated!

Len: Lukashenko definitely fits the western image of Putin more than Putin himself. No politician deserves idolization, Lukashenko has done some shady things in the past such as the highly suspicious Minsk metro bombing, which led them to install metal detectors at all metro stations. Psyop if you ask me, maybe the Israeli company that produces the scanners offered him a sweet package deal and he needed somewhere to install the equipment?

There's that bloke on YouTube who always says to go where you're treated best, and right now for most of Europe, Belarus is the freest country. If that changes, then we'll be looking elsewhere. Reading the tea leaves, as long as Lukashenko wears the pants, Belarus will likely remain a cattletag-less utopia.

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NAME: “Daniel Altreides”

LOCATION: Somewhere in Belarus

OCCUPATION: NEET aristocrat-extraordinaire

Edward: Hi Daniel, can you please help us understand what the heck is going on in Belarus?

Daniel: And so, life in Belarus goes on, very much as it has this past age… full of its own comings and goings, with change coming slowly, if it comes at all. Luka remains in power, although he certainly had a close shave. Meanwhile, civil society continues to lurch ever more leftward as the influence of the professorati class and western media continues to circulate unopposed. The government, concerned only with the pensioner voting block, focuses on maintaining control of Channel 1 and a few radio stations and not much else. They can't be bothered to do much to pull their own asses out of the fire until the situation is literally “do or die” as the recent protests last year proved.

A collage of Minsk hipsters.

Vegan/Hipster bars and cafes continue to metastasize like cancer all over Minsk and even smaller towns in the country, lovingly adorned with POC portraits and hipster minimalist art. Normal, patriotic conservatives are stuck at home, listening to grandpa rant about defeating the Fascists in a war he was too young to have participated in.

All the same, Luka deserves credit for refusing to cave on the Corona hoax. This has probably something to do with him being the autocrat of Belarus and therefore invested with actual political power, unlike the puppets supposedly in “power” all over the rest of the world. If the example of Belarus isn't the most resounding argument for Authoritarianism, I don't know what is.

Big business, the media, and liberal activists marched on the government demanding that they be locked down harder, but Luka held firm and told them to shove it. He then followed through with a decree ordering the police to stop harassing people without masks and threatening businesses with fines for demanding that customers wear cuck-muzzles while doing their shopping.

Once again, credit where credit is due—Luka has held the ground against the Branch Covidians in Belarus insisting that exercise and good diet and maybe a trip to the sauna is the best defense against Covid. He did this despite risking alienation of the “Boomer Bloc” of elderly hypochondriacs. The city administration of Minsk has backed of as well, and no longer spams people's phones with vaccination reminders.

In many ways, Belarus is in a better situation vis a vis lockdown measures and mandatory vaccines than it was even half a year ago.

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Thank you to our intel operatives on the ground in Belarus!