Achievements of Lukashenko

One of the things I've noticed in Western discourse (read: CIA propaganda) about Belarus lately is that the country is often off-handedly referred to as an "impoverished" nation brought to its knees by rampant unemployment.These statements are not only false, but intellectually dishonest. They are almost always stated with no sources to back them up. Contradictory information to these lies, even in English, is easily available and verified by many of the world's top economic agencies.One of the main critiques is that, because of its "Soviet-style" economy, Belarus is in an indefinite period of social and economic stagnation. This, my comrades, in technical terms, is what we call complete and total bullshit.In regards to social growth, the Human Development Index overview for Belarus has this to say.Belarus’ HDI value for 2018 is 0.817— which put the country in the very high human development category—positioning it at 50 out of 189 countries and territories. The rank is shared with Kazakhstan.Between 1995 [less than a year after Lukashenko took power] and 2018, Belarus’ HDI value increased from 0.656 to 0.817, an increase of 24.5 percent.Also, the Belarusian economy has by no means stagnated under Lukashenko.Similar to the rest of the former Soviet republics, by 1994, the year Lukashenko took power, Belarus was in turmoil. According to World Bank data, GDP growth (annual %) was -11.7% in 1994. In a miraculous recovery, the annual reached 11.4% by 1997. Now, as with all capitalist economies, you can see in the stats that Belarus has its ups and downs. However, unlike other former Soviet republics, Belarus has managed to maintain a fairly functional economy and a level of economic growth. According to, of all sources, Bloomberg Businessweek, this is in large part due to Belarus' avoidance of the shock therapy places like Russia endured and their maintaining of many Soviet-era policies, such as price controls.When Lukashenko took power in 1994, according to Statista, inflation was at a mind-boogling 2,220.9%. In 2019, it was at a manageable 5.6%; another amazing turn from turmoil to stability under the Lukashenko regime. Compare that to Ukraine's troubling 2018 rate of 10.95%.This is getting long, so, to finish my Wheat Thins and Dubliner Cheese-powered 2:34 a.m. rage about Belarus, I think I should talk about the social conditions of Belarusians.Pre-COVID, unemployment in Belarus was 4.6%. Unemployment in Belarus has steadily declined every year since 1996 with the exception of Belarus' 2010 economic crisis, when it rose by a mere 0.03%. This puts Belarus on par with Central Europe and the Nordics. Again, this is stark contrast to Ukraine, which never recovered from 2008, and whose unemployment rate has generally risen since then. In 2019, the Ukrainian rate was 8.8%. (Sorry for picking on Ukraine, but Belarus is my new best friend.)Now, finally, let's take a look at plain old poverty. Belarus is one of the wealthier former Soviet republics. According to a study by the World Bank, our very favorite anti-imperialist economic agency relentlessly upholding the immortal science of Marxism-Leninism/s , Belarus has eliminated living below $3.30 a day. Only 0.4% of the nation lives on less than $5.50 a day. Further more, also according to the World Bank, poverty, under the Lukashenko regime, has decreased from 41.9% in 2000 to 5.6% in 2018 (based on national poverty line.) That's compared to a poverty headcount ration of 12.9 percent in Russia. One more thing: in 2018, infant mortality in Belarus was 2.6 deaths per 1,000 live births. That's lower than 5.8 in Amerika.) and 3.8 in the UK. I could go on and fucking on.Alrighty, I'm done. I rest my case. Thank you for listening to my TED Talk. Remember kids, Belarus is an anti-imperialist state, Southern Comfort is disgusting, build a bipolar world, long live Xi, get Hezbollah-pilled, and, most importantly, dab on those yanks.Edit: Fixed spelling and minor stat errors. via /r/communism https://ift.tt/32jGDZ9