"Birtherism surely increased Americans' distrust of politics, though in ways that are hard to pin dow..." — Anne Applebaum

In Belarus, the government is a kind of presidential monarchy with no checks, no balances, and no rule of law.

The anti-European Tories were a fringe group - until they took over their whole party.

The hard truth is that Trump was not exceptional. He was just another amoral Western businessman, one of many whom the ex-KGB elite have promoted and sponsored around the world, with the hope that they might eventually be of some political or commercial use.

Political leaders in Belarus are routinely repressed, and their voices are muffled: Tsikhanouskaya was running for president because her husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, was arrested before he could start his own presidential campaign.