The quiet (so far) rebellion in Belarus

 

For all the damage that social media and cell-phone cameras have done to civil life, there's no doubt that they have empowered the people. Where once Lenin gave us a dictatorship over the proletariat, now the dictators have a harder time of it. Witness these brave paratroopers in Minsk, capital of Europe's longest-serving strongman-- 26 years and counting. Their sign (in Russian, which must put Vladimir Putin's teeth on edge) reads: "Airborne forces with the people!" Unlike Ukraine, which tossed out its own Kremlin toady in 2014, there's apparently little desire in Belarus to replace dependence on Moscow with fealty to the West. They just want to be rid of Alexander Lukashenko and his corrupt elections.