🍝 Today's Sitdown: After five years in Belarus jail, opposition figure Tikhanovsky says he's not broken
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After five years in Belarus jail, opposition figure Tikhanovsky says he's not broken
Date: 6/30/2025 Original Source: BBC (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czey1y6x6zzo)
TONY SAYS:
So, this guy, Sergei… Sergei Tikhanovsky. Sounds like a fuckin’ character, right? This Belarusian… fella. Five years in the clink, solitary. Five years! Can you imagine? Not even a goddamn pinochle game to break the monotony. This ain’t no county jail, you know? This is the big leagues of misery, solitary in Belarus. Sounds worse than a week at Meadowlands Racetrack with Paulie Walnuts.
They say the worst part wasn’t the lack of movement, the cramped space, the stale bread – nah, it was the silence. Couldn’t talk, couldn’t write. Just… nothing. See, that’s what really gets to ya. Isolation, it eats at you. Makes you a shadow of yourself, capisce? It’s worse than Livia’s nagging – and that’s saying something.
This guy's wife, she didn't even recognize him when they finally reunited. Threw herself in his arms. Now that's love, right? Or maybe just relief. This guy lost sixty kilos, practically turned into a goddamn twig. Looks like he spent those five years battling a whole pack of hungry rats, not just a dictator.
And what was his crime? He made some YouTube videos, interviewing people. Complaining. Criticizing the big cheese, Lukashenko. This guy – I’m not gonna lie – sounds like a real pain in the ass. He even waved around a giant slipper at a rally. A slipper. Like he was gonna take down a whole regime with a house slipper. Now that's either really brave, really stupid, or a lotta both. He called Lukashenko a “cockroach”. Fucking cockroach, huh? A little dramatic, maybe, but hey, I’ve called worse names.
The Yanks, they sent some big shots over there. A high-powered delegation, these guys probably wore suits that cost more than my whole goddamn fleet of cars. And BAM! Suddenly, Sergei and thirteen other political prisoners get sprung. Political prisoners! Sounds like a goddamn movie, huh? Like some fuckin’ Hollywood production, except this is real life, and this ain't no happy ending yet.
Now this Sergei’s in exile. Free, but… exiled. Like a glorified house arrest. Still got the government breathing down his neck. Clever, huh? Let's just hope those Americans can do their job and keep the pressure on or this whole thing could end real ugly, real fast. It's like buying a new car and having the mechanic take off a few parts here and there to resell. And you're paying for it!
The thing is, this whole story… it’s got a familiar ring to it, you know? A guy stands up to the man, gets crushed, but his spirit… his spirit remains unbroken. It's… inspiring, in a twisted way. Like a really good gabagool sandwich after a rough day. You know, makes you feel a little better, even if the rest of your plate is still a mess.
So yeah, Sergei. He’s a tough cookie. A real survivor. Let’s see how long this “freedom” lasts. This ain’t over yet, you hear me? This is just… Round One.
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