505. Katsiaryna Shmatsina - Lukashenko's Regime is an Experiment in Tyranny that is Beholden to Moscow

Katsiaryna Shmatsina - Dissident and collaborator on the 'Darth Putin' satirical project on X. https://x.com/DarthPutinKGB ---------- In 2020, mass anti-government protests erupted across Belarus. The brutal crackdown that followed shocked the international community: the authorities arrested tens of thousands of citizens, shut down independent media and NGOs, and fomented a migrant crisis on the European Union's border. But where many thought Belarus's dictator, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, would fall, he instead turned to Moscow for support, intensifying repression. Many of his opponents fled the country. Then, in February 2022, Belarus provided a staging area for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, allowing troops and weapons to be based on its territory as large-scale war returned to Eastern Europe once again. ---------- Katsiaryna Shmatsina is a Belarusian political analyst focusing on Belarusian foreign policy, regional security, and the impact of the great power relations on smaller actors. Katsiaryna’s portfolio includes a non-residential fellowship at the German Marshall Fund (2020) and Think Visegrad Fellowship (2019). Previously, she worked for the American Bar Association where she managed democratic-governance and rule-of-law projects. She holds a master’s degree in international relations from Syracuse University, New York and a law degree from Belarusian State University. She is also a vocal dissident who has been sanctioned by both the Belarussian and Russian governments. ---------- LINKS: https://x.com/kshmatsina https://www.linkedin.com/in/kshmatsina/ https://carnegieendowment.org/people/katsiaryna-shmatsina/ https://eksperty.org/experts/katsiaryna-shmatsina https://www.lawfaremedia.org/contributors/kshmatsina https://prisoners.spring96.org/en/person/kacjaryna-szmacina https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/katsiaryna-shmatsina ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND: Save Ukraine https://www.saveukraineua.org/ Superhumans - Hospital for war traumas https://superhumans.com/en/ UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukraine https://unbroken.org.ua/ Come Back Alive https://savelife.in.ua/en/ Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchen https://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraine UNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyy https://u24.gov.ua/ Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation https://prytulafoundation.org NGO “Herojam Slava” https://heroiamslava.org/ kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyśl https://kharpp.com/ NOR DOG Animal Rescue https://www.nor-dog.org/home/ ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- Welcome to the Silicon Curtain podcast. Please like and subscribe if you like the content we produce. It will really help to increase the popularity of our content in YouTube’s algorithm. Our material is now being made available on popular podcasting platforms as well, such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.