#Sanctions were tightened again under President #Biden after #Lukashenko allowed #Belarus to serve as a staging ground for #Russia's invasion of #Ukraine in 2022.

The exiled Belarusian opposition expressed gratitude to #Trump [🙄] & said the fact that Lukashenko had agreed to release prisoners in return for the concessions on potash was proof of the effectiveness of [Biden’s] sanctions [again, not #tariffs. Tariffs are idiotic].

#geopolitics

#Sanctions not #tariffs, tyvm. Tariffs hurt the US people too.

#Belarus President Alexander #Lukashenko freed 123 prisoners on Saturday including #Nobel Peace Prize winner #AlesBialiatski & leading opposition figure #MariaKalesnikava after 2 days of talks with an “envoy” for #Trump, a US stmnt said.

In return, the US agreed to lift sanctions on Belarus #potash. Potash is a key component in fertilizers, & the fmr Soviet state is a leading global producer.

#geopolitics
reuters.com/world/europe/us-li…

"The non-partisan Tax Foundation: 'The Trump tariffs are the largest US tax increase as a percent of GDP in over 30 years.'”

~ Ron Filipkowski

#Trump #tariffs #economy #affordability #ApprovalRating #EconomicElites #TaxCuts
/8

meidasplus.com/p/today-in-poli…

Today in Politics, Bulletin 269. 12/12/25

… The fallout and recriminations from the Indiana Senate refusing to back down from Trump’s threats on redistricting have been reverberating throughout the Republican Party.

^{Ron Filipkowski (Meidas+)}

"When you realize that, you can’t help but notice that some of the people who shout the loudest about how independent they are and how much they despise the government meddling in their lives are the people who have benefited the most from it."

#Trump #tariffs #farmers #agriculture #bailout #welfare
/3

"If they must be given any help at all, it should be accompanied with stern lectures and rituals of humiliation like drug tests and endless paperwork, so they have an incentive to change their malingering ways. ...

There are over 400 federal programs focused on promoting economic and community development in rural areas."

#Trump #tariffs #farmers #agriculture #bailout #welfare
/2

"One of the key through-lines of conservative social policy is that the average person who receives a direct government benefit like Medicaid or food stamps is a contemptible parasite, one whose need for government support is evidence of their poor character."

~ Paul Waldman

#Trump #tariffs #farmers #agriculture #bailout #welfare
/1

paulwaldman.substack.com/p/tru…

Trump to Reward Welfare Queens With Handout From Taxpayers

Yes, farmers are welfare queens. But so am I, and so are you.

^{Paul Waldman (The Cross Section)}