Lessons of Belarus

Discussion at Garry Kasparov's Internet newspaper Kasparov.ru continues to be lively. Many readers, looking at recent events in Belarus, and the brutal attack on Marina Litvinovich that was evidently authorized - and probably carried out - by the FSB, and of which there are witnesses, are now saying that with the approach of the Russian presidential elections in 2 years' time, the possibility of a revolt along the lines of what has taken place in Georgia, in Ukraine, and now in Belarus, cannot be ruled out. One commenter writes:

What can I say about United Civic Front [Kasparov's party], Kasparov, Khodorkovsky and other figures of the real opposition? Have the courage of your convictions, for the people will support you! The people are terribly tired after 70 years of dictatorship, and you need to understand that. And people need to understand that they themselves are the power, and that it's their own power they elect. And everything else is superfluous!