WARSAW — Joe Biden’s election as president of the United States has seriously weakened authoritarian and populist governments around the world. For independent global powers like Russia, Brazil, and Turkey, Donald Trump’s departure need not amount to a complete tragedy.

MINSK — Belarusian university students marked the start of the academic year on September 1 by announcing a strike.

MINSK — Things are not going Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s way. Since the fraudulent presidential election on August 9, the security services have been trying to carry out Lukashenko’s order to end the peaceful protests against his regime.

MINSK — On August 25, the anniversary of Belarus’ declaration of independence from the USSR, the country’s peaceful protesters enjoyed a brief respite.

MINSK — After weeks of nationwide protests over a fraudulent election on August 9, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko seems to have realised that he has lost popular support for good.

WARSAW — As expected, the European Parliament has torn into the European Council’s recently agreed budget and pandemic-response package.

MINSK — The protests that have roiled Belarus since Sunday’s stolen presidential election are evolving, with mass demonstrations giving way to more dispersed mobilisations on the model pioneered in Hong Kong.

MINSK — Belarusian opposition leaders knew beforehand that they would be protesting the falsified result of the presidential election this past weekend, and had already adopted three governing principles.

BERLIN — When French President Emmanuel Macron visited Poland on February 3-4, he touched only briefly on the topic of judicial independence, mentioning Poland’s dispute over that issue with the European Commission, but not with France.