The author doesn't use the "D" word, but the "iron fist" formulation is pretty close:
"Having ruled with an iron fist over his country of 10 million since 1994, he is one of the longest-serving presidents in Europe and knows very well how to use internal and external conflicts to maintain his rule. As Lukashenko sees it, Belarusians love and need him as the guarantor of nationhood and stability."But from what I've heard about Belarus, that's not just how Lukashenko sees the situation - it's how Belarusians see the situation also.
One of my professors is from Belarus and works for a think-tank there on political and economic issues. In a seminar on political economy he surprised the students by saying "Lukashenko isn't a dictator." Somebody asked, "well then what do you call him?" He replied, "I don't know, but not a dictator. If they held elections tomorrow, even if the elections weren't rigged, he would win. People love him. In 20 or 50 years when they write textbooks of Belarusian history he'll be celebrated as the leader who was able to avoid the chaos of Russian transition and the encroachment of the EU."
And Russians also tend to have a fairly decent impression of Lukashenko. He's thought of as maintaining order and discipline, keeping the streets clean literally a figuratively. Check out some pics of public transportation in Minks, the metro and trams - they look more like Japan (or Korea for that matter) than Russia.
As my babushka once told me - "Lukashenko, he's a dictator, but he's doing a good job."
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