The chapter explores the situation in Belarus, discussing the country's successful development index, stable political system, and recent rioting triggered by exit poll predictions. It delves into the story of a woman running for president on behalf of her jailed husband and analyzes the leadership of Lukashenko in leading Belarus towards a national future. The chapter also examines the historiography and perception of the 1990s in Russia and Belarus, highlighting the association of liberalism with the country's meltdown and contrasting it with the average American's perception.
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In the words of historian and noted Russian scholar Dr. Matthew Raphael Johnson, the Soviet Union was the only empire to fall without a war. To the ordinary Russian citizen, however, the 1990s were no less tragic as life expectancy, average income, and birthrates all plummeted as crime, alcoholism and unemployment all rose. As the nation descended into the depths of despair, a new Oligarch class emerged controlling the commanding heights of production, principally in the natural resource and heavy industry sectors, coming to dominate not just the economy but with politics under the Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Only until the current President Vladimir Putin rose to power, ironically with the help of major oligarch Boris Berezovsky who was later exiled along with many others, did the Russian people begin to recover economically and in national pride.
