For many years after Lukashenko was first elected, in 1994 (he has ruled without interruption ever since), most Belarusians did perhaps tolerate the regime, because they believed that it protected them from the worst excesses of neighboring Russia’s “Wild East” capitalism: corrupt privatization, job losses, and mafia rule. But, over time, and with more Belarusians traveling to the West, belief in Lukashenko’s leadership has become unsustainable.
或许在1994年卢卡申科首次上台并执政至今的这十几年间，大多数白俄罗斯人确实认同过这种统治，因为他们相信这样能令自己不致遭遇邻国俄罗斯的那种“东方式的疯狂资本主义”所引发的乱象：腐败丛生的私有化，失业和黑手党统治。但随着时间的流逝以及白俄罗斯人逐渐了解西方，对卢卡申科的信任就再也无法维系下去了。