Old Man and “Shnobel”: so they met

On September 13, Harvard University awarded the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko with the Ig Nobel Peace Prize*

American scientists noted the undoubted merits of Lukashenka in countering the illegal actions of the opposition: specifically, the award was given to Batka for the ban on applause in public places. At the same time, Harvard noted a case when Belarusian police officers arrested a one-armed disabled person for applause.

However, nothing will surprise the Belarusian layman for a long time - during the events of December 19, 2010, on Independence Square in Minsk, policemen arrested a man who was accused of shouting anti-government slogans. In court, it turned out that the man was deaf and mute. But for the Belarusian judge, this did not become a basis for releasing the accused in the courtroom. The case was sent for further investigation, then this shame was quietly hushed up.

Now the situation is no less confusing. The first reaction to the decision of Harvard University is to applaud. But I can’t - just this is prohibited by our legislation. So the natural human reaction will not work here - at my age, earning 15 days of arrest would not be comme il faut.

Therefore, only one thing remains - to note that Alexander Lukashenko has been going to this award for a long time. And when he publicly admired Adolf Hitler, and when he talked about the fact that the Jews are unscrupulous and they pissed off Bobruisk. In general, this award could have had the honor of being awarded to the Old Man many times. But each time between the award and the hero there were "hurricanes" - the CIA, the Polish "Solidarity", Boris Nemtsov ... Practice, however, has shown: if Lukashenka and Shnobel persistently move towards each other, then according to the laws of logic and physics they will meet.

By the way, the Belarusian officialdom has repeatedly tried to achieve justice and destroy the barriers between the award and its hero. So, in July 2011, at the height of the economic crisis, when one half of the country stood in lines in front of currency exchange offices, and the other half behind refrigerators, they wanted to nominate Lukashenka for the Nobel Prize in Economics. A similar initiative was made by the chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus, Leonid Kozik. But even then, because of the intrigues of the "hurricanes" - read again: the CIA, the Polish "Solidarity", Boris Nemtsov - failed to realize this idea. And then the happy ending did happen, and on this occasion I still applaud - in my heart.

But, alas, this barrel of joy has its own fly in the ointment: Alexander Lukashenko cannot go to Boston to collect his prize - the road to the USA, as well as to the EU, is closed to him. Although... If we take into account the latest conciliatory urges from Brussels, this problem will soon be resolved. And the reward will finally find its owner.