One-time collective-farm chairman and political indoctrinator Alyaksandr Lukashenka was ushered into the post of Belarusian president two years ago on a swell of popular support. Since then, he has taken control of the media, run roughshod over the opposition in the legislative and judicial branches of government, and gone far to emulate the governing stule of several of his political heroes – who include Adolf Hitler and Soviet secret services founder Felix Dzerzhinsky.
