Russia/Belarus merger

[BuachaillBeo]

What do posters think of the possible (if it is) merger of Russia and Belarus?

The creation of a single state could allow Mr Putin to become the leader of a combined Russia and Belarus after he steps down from the presidency next May

Is this a road Putin may consider going down? Where would it leave Lucka? And what would this do to Russian/Western relations - might we see the emergence of another 'cold war' of sorts, between two superstates?

And most importantly, would this render my avatar obsolete?

Link to breakingnews.com article.

[A_man_about_a_dog]

What do posters think of the possible (if it is) merger of Russia and Belarus?

The creation of a single state could allow Mr Putin to become the leader of a combined Russia and Belarus after he steps down from the presidency next May

Is this a road Putin may consider going down? Where would it leave Lucka? And what would this do to Russian/Western relations - might we see the emergence of another 'cold war' of sorts, between two superstates?

And most importantly, would this render my avatar obsolete?

Link to breakingnews.com article.

As far as I was aware it was going to be a 'union' of some sort as opposed to a complete amalgamation of the two. No?

Anyway, many older Belarussians identify as Russian because under the USSR they were the most "Russianised" of all the nationalities. Under the last Soviet census something like 80% of Belarussians spoke Russian and about 40-50% actually identified themselves as Russians. Whether or not that was under duress or not I do not know but it happened all the same.

The Russians really have become power hungry bashtards under Vlad, they're even trying to swallow up poor old Belarus. I wonder what public sentiment in Belarus is like about this?

[Cloigeann]

All hail the coming of the third Russian empire.

[Pauli]

What do posters think of the possible (if it is) merger of Russia and Belarus?

The creation of a single state could allow Mr Putin to become the leader of a combined Russia and Belarus after he steps down from the presidency next May

Is this a road Putin may consider going down? Where would it leave Lucka? And what would this do to Russian/Western relations - might we see the emergence of another 'cold war' of sorts, between two superstates?

And most importantly, would this render my avatar obsolete?

Link to breakingnews.com article.

As far as I was aware it was going to be a 'union' of some sort as opposed to a complete amalgamation of the two. No?

Anyway, many older Belarussians identify as Russian because under the USSR they were the most "Russianised" of all the nationalities. Under the last Soviet census something like 80% of Belarussians spoke Russian and about 40-50% actually identified themselves as Russians. Whether or not that was under duress or not I do not know but it happened all the same.

The Russians really have become power hungry bashtards under Vlad, they're even trying to swallow up poor old Belarus. I wonder what public sentiment in Belarus is like about this?

The Russians seem to like autocratic leaders. It gives them a feeling of stability. There were many accusations of voter manipulation against Putin and his party after the recent election. Putin's party would still have won easily if there was no such "tampering with the process". A desire for a strongman at the top seems to be part of the Russian psyche. We may not be able to understand it but then, a Russian might find it hard to understand why Fianna Fail are serialy re-elected to government. I have a hard time understanding that myself.

[FutureTaoiseach]

Lukashenko is a dictator and has no mandate for this, but if they 2 countries want this then fair enough. It's just that they are unlikely to have a say in it.

[seabhcan]

I don't see it happening. Lukashenko wants a new federal structure uniting Belorus and the Russian Federation, while Russia doesn't see why it - a big country - should be on par with a small country in a federation.

Putin is suggesting Belorus joins the Russian Federation on par with autonomous republics such as Kalmykia, Altai and the Sakha Republic.

It would be very hard to square those differences.

[Gadjodilo]

Slightly odd, this. The last time I heard Belarus in the news, they were having a big bust-up with Uncle Vlad over the price they were paying for Russian gas.

[hiker]

Putin is suggesting Belorus joins the Russian Federation on par with autonomous republics such as Kalmykia, Altai and the Sakha Republic.

Its funny but I always thought that this was the arrangement.

[NM_123]

I don't see it happening. Lukashenko wants a new federal structure uniting Belorus and the Russian Federation, while Russia doesn't see why it - a big country - should be on par with a small country in a federation.

Putin is suggesting Belorus joins the Russian Federation on par with autonomous republics such as Kalmykia, Altai and the Sakha Republic.

It would be very hard to square those differences.

This is the point of difficulty for me: they talk of a union, but is it a union of equals or merely Russia swallowing up another country?

Is it a new country, or another union like the EU?

[seabhcan]

I don't see it happening. Lukashenko wants a new federal structure uniting Belorus and the Russian Federation, while Russia doesn't see why it - a big country - should be on par with a small country in a federation.

Putin is suggesting Belorus joins the Russian Federation on par with autonomous republics such as Kalmykia, Altai and the Sakha Republic.

It would be very hard to square those differences.

This is the point of difficulty for me: they talk of a union, but is it a union of equals or merely Russia swallowing up another country?

Is it a new country, or another union like the EU?

This is the arguement, AFAIK.

Belorus wants a union of equals. Russia wants to swallow Belorus up.

Neither will happen.