No Academies Graduated
- Iryna Khalip
- 28.02.2025, 21:50
Two simple languages for talking to dictators.
Dictators, for all their ignorance, always perfectly understand two languages – the language of power and the language of money. Western leaders have always engaged with them in these two languages and still do. The language of lamenting political prisoners, the language of hand-wringing, the language of deep concern and condemnation—these are unknown, gibberish, dead languages to dictators. It is easier for them to learn ancient Greek than to learn to respond to remarks uttered by speakers of a language of deep concern.
Donald Trump yesterday revoked the license of the American company Chevron, which allowed it to produce and import Venezuelan oil into the United States. The reasons are simple – failure to fulfill promises to create conditions for democratic elections and agreements on the return of Venezuelan migrants expelled from the United States to their homeland. Venezuelan Minister of Hydrocarbons Delcy Rodríguez has already said that American investments are unreliable around the world, because they can be withdrawn at any time, and that the States are harming themselves – all this, except with a slightly different accent, we also heard many times. And about the worthless dollars that no one in the world needs, the supposed lack of desire to vacation abroad, the West shooting itself in the foot, and much more.
By the way, the oil deal with Venezuela itself was also the result of a dialogue in the languages of money and power. In November 2022, the US government eased sanctions and allowed Chevron to engage in oil production and imports in Venezuela. This was a response to the resumption of negotiations between the Venezuelan authorities and the opposition to create conditions for democratic elections. “This measure reflects the long-term policy of the United States to specifically mitigate sanctions based on specific steps that alleviate the plight of the Venezuelan people and support the restoration of democracy,” the Treasury Department made a statement.
In October 2023, after negotiations in Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, representatives of the Venezuelan opposition and the authorities signed an agreement on the organization of the electoral process, the United States further eased sanctions against the oil and gas and gold mining sector of Venezuela. All that remained was to hold democratic elections. But it turned out that Maduro could not do it. Now all that remains is to scream about the unreliability of American investments.
It reminded me of the story of the release of Aliaksandr Kazulin. He was arrested after the 2006 protests and sentenced to five and a half years in prison. Mikalai Autukhovich, Artur Finkevich, Zmitser Dashkevich, Andrei Klimau, Andrei Kim and Sirhei Parsiyukevich were then in prison. On November 13, 2007, the United States imposed sanctions against the Belneftekhim concern. Already in February 2008, Lukashenka released four political prisoners. True, he then said about Kazulin that he himself refused to leave prison. And on March 7, 2008, the US Treasury announced the expansion of sanctions on all enterprises of the Belarusian petrochemical industry with a state share of 50 percent or more. The US Under Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, David Kramer, bluntly stated that the expansion of sanctions was a response to the unwillingness of the Belarusian authorities to release Aliaksandr Kazulin. And in May, the US imposed sanctions against the Lakokraska and Steklovolokno enterprises.
In August, Kazulin, Parsiyukevich and Kim were released. Three days later, US State Department speaker David Merkel flew to Minsk. The release of political prisoners, the State Department commented then, opens up the possibility of a significant improvement in relations between the United States and Belarus. In response, the United States lifted sanctions against Lakokraska and Steklovolokno. In October, the European Union lifted visa sanctions against Belarusian officials. And then it was possible to proclaim peace and friendship, receive loans and investments: all that was required was not to imprison people and hold fair elections. By the way, if Lukashenka had not dispersed the 2010 protests and imprisoned presidential candidates and dozens of protesters, the West might not have paid much attention to illegitimacy. Yes, they would recognize the elections as undemocratic, but they would do without sanctions. Everyone is at home, no one is in prison, parties and non-governmental organizations are registered, protests are taking place, Narodnaia Volia is sold in kiosks – that's fine. Lukashenka could drink coffee and eat croissants in Montmartre with Yermoshyna.
But he made a different choice. It's finally time for the world to remember again that dictators do not understand tears, requests, or appeals. They speak the language of power and the language of money, and everyone else for them is abracadabra, white noise, a meaningless set of sounds. After all, dictators are simple and easy, like stampers: no academies graduated and no English language.
Iryna Khalip, especially for Charter97.org