The Biden administration is urging U.S. citizens in Belarus to depart the country immediately and warned against travel there in a statement published Monday.

The updated travel warning comes after bordering countries Lithuania, Latvia and Poland have stepped up security along the border over concerns about Russian Wagner mercenary forces exiled in the country.

The State Department, in its warning, encouraged Americans still in Belarus to depart the country immediately and categorized the country as a Level 4 risk, the highest security warning.

  • Rapidcreek@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    Didn’t one of the Proud Boys run there rather than face prison for Jan 6? Looks like a big oops.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      Seems like there are better places without extradition treaties. Warmer and more tropical places. The hell they go to Belarus for?

      • lasagna
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        1 year ago

        Good luck getting to stay in most of those places. They’re happy to have tourists, not residents. Unless you have a lot of money to open a business. Proud little boys don’t strike me as wealthy.

        • Gork@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          What are the chances the Proud Boy will even make an attempt to learn Belarusian? My prediction is close to 0%. Probably would expect others to learn English instead.

          • dynamojoe@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            What are the chances the Proud Boy will even make an attempt to learn Belarusian?

            If he pretends it’s German, maybe.

        • TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Part 1 : Start off stupid

          Life is hard. It’s even harder when you’re dumb.

          Part 2: Believe Donald Trump.

          Let simmer over a low heat of Fawx News and Russian troll farms for 4 years.

          Serve over a plate of insurrection and garnish with an escape to a hostile puppet state.

          Perfect recipe for a life fucked up.

        • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Sure but even then, you’ve got a target on your back being there as a US citizen. I’d want my family to be safe so I’d leave, it’ll be less likely that anti NATO groups find out about your family if you’re not there.

          • snooggums@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            I am just pointing out that there are other reasons to be there at this point in time that just support of the war.

            • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Very true, some just want to stay, I know a lot of Belarusian’s hate lukashinko and putin so they stay for their country. Hopefully the time comes when they can take it back just as Ukraine has been doing.

              • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Yeah that’s a big issue. Hell even some of the EU countries have issues getting visitor visas for the USA. I’ve got UA and PL family and both prior to the war had really really tough times just to be able to come visit.

            • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              No clue why you’re being shot down for this but you’re right, if you have Belarusian family and they’re not pro-putin then I’d try my hardest to get them over here.

    • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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      1 year ago

      There’s always journalists, business people, tourists, and visiting family knocking around in these kinds of situations. This is the US Embassy officially warning those folks that they are in danger and that the US will have limited recourse if they find themselves in trouble.

      • qevlarr@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I know but I assumed they already were in danger. Lukashenko can be forced to enter this whole special operation shitshow at a moment’s notice.

    • Hank@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Maybe it’s meant to mainly fuck with Russian intelligence? Don’t forget that we’re practically at war with them.

  • Snapz@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I hope they have a verbally delivered version of this message interrupting tv shows - the majority of Americans in the country are conservatives doing fascism tours and they can’t read.

    • Overzeetop@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Just as long as we (the US) can write them off as a lost cause / FAFO fodder when things go south. I don’t want my tax dollars trying to rescue any people stupid enough to decide Belarus was a viable tourism or lifestyle destination following the stationing of Russian nukes and harboring of Wagner/Prigoshen within their borders.

    • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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      1 year ago

      They’d be stupid if they weren’t. There’s a hot war involving a global / regional power happening on their border and the best way to keep it on the other side is to be prepared to repel any and all boarders.

    • rhsJack@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Umm…I hate to be the one to break it to you: see, there is this country called Ukraine. Small place. Next to Poland. Also next to Russia. Ukraine and Russia are currently, how should I put it…they are having a MASSIVE FUCKING WAR rn. So their neighbors are preparing for the inevitability it will spill over into Europe and Middle East.

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    1 year ago

    I’m a little surprised this warning wasn’t issued last year. Better late than never?

  • Kultronx@lemmygrad.ml
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    1 year ago

    Now if they just could depart every other country on the planet, that would be great.

    • blue_zephyr@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I have nuke fatigue. I can’t be bothered to be afraid of them. Go ahead and throw them, whoever was brazen enough to do so will have their country wiped from the face of the earth faster than you can say “Enola Gay”. There’s no one self-destructive enough to seriously consider pushing that button.

      And even if there was, it’s not like I’m going to change their mind. Just sit back and enjoy the mushroom clouds.

      • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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        1 year ago

        I have nuke fatigue. I can’t be bothered to be afraid of them.

        Me as a GenX looking over at you… “First time?”

        • Isthisreddit@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Boomers got you beat for sure, anyone that lived through the cold war.

          I also suspect many people don’t truly appreciate just how devastating a nuke is - in the sense that hearing “blah blah destruction, mushroom cloud” a hundred times over seems to numb people to the concept. I did a deep dive into nuclear blast videos some time ago, just watching how destructive they are really made me realize I was one of these people who knew, but didn’t really “know”

          • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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            1 year ago

            I also suspect many people don’t truly appreciate just how devastating a nuke is

            I spent more than 20 years living with the Cold War. I grew up next to Strategic Air Command, did the C.A.P. thing in the '80s, then did further NBC training as I got older. I’ve been on bases and in bunkers all over the place, including the one that Bush Jr hunkered in on 9/11. (Although not the Presidential Level.)

            What I learned is that they have immense destruction of their immediate area. Depending on event factors though it’s quite possible to survive one going off in the next town over. The mega-bitch is the societal collapse that follows a nuclear exchange; most people will die from lack of food, water, necessary medications and diseases that were previously preventable.

            Peons like us don’t get a choice in whether it happens or not, so there’s no point in worrying about it.

          • BOMBS@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            i did a 2-3 week-long dive into nukes. if one is dropped on my city, i want to be at ground zero. very few people understand how devastating they are and no country on Earth is prepared for the ensuing crisis.

      • thelongshot93@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I hate that this is where I’m at in life too. Hell, at least the mushroom cloud would be a quick death if you’re close enough! Better than dying in the Water Wars or Mother Nature saying we fucked up.

    • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Stop with the goddamn nuke psychosis. rusian nukes aint worth shit. Be more scared of meteorites hitting the earth or dinosaur comeback but not rusian meme weapons

        • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          That’s the point of MAD. If they launch nukes, they get nuked back 10 times harder. Even in their best case scenario, Russia and Belarus become radioactive holes in the ground. Worst case for everyone, they kill the whole world with them. We can’t let a rogue nuclear power do whatever they want because they have nukes. That’s why we have nukes too. Like 90% of the “muh escalation” people are Russia shills.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I never even suggested we let them do whatever we want. That doesn’t mean we provoke them into using their nukes.

            • Helldiver_M@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              I never even suggested we let them do whatever we want.

              That doesn’t mean we provoke them into using their nukes.

              Using that logic they can do whatever they want, as long as they back up their ‘want’ with nukes.

              I think there are things we should never let them do, even under threat of nukes. Muscovy needs hard red lines, else they’d just annex everything. Got to call their nuke bluff from time to time.

              • golamas1999@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Call for diplomacy. It can be both that the Russians illegally invaded Ukraine to rebuild the former Empire. It can also be that the US is in this to make profit for the military industrial complex and to sell natural gas to Western Europe to expand the empire.

                After the fall of the Soviet Union the US made treaties with Russia that stated NATO will not pass reunified Germany. Now NATO is on Russia’s border. We store nukes several hindered miles from Moscow. Imagine how the US would react with Russian nukes on this side of the world. Say 90 miles off the coast of Florida.

                The Cold War is over. NATO should be gone.

                I am not a Russian apologist or a tankie. I am pro peace. I am a U.S. citizen. I love my country. I believe we should not be a nation above nations but rather a nation among nations. Just remember the people in the media talking about freedom are the same fuckers who got US into Iraq and Afghanistan. Lindsey Graham put it best.

                “I like the path we’re on. With American weapons and money, Ukraine will fight Russia to the last Ukrainian.”

                • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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                  1 year ago

                  Call for diplomacy.

                  The Europeans have been doing that since the fall of the USSR. It got more intense after 2014. It doesn’t work with Putin’s Russia.

                  the US made treaties with Russia that stated NATO will not pass reunified Germany.

                  I’d ask you to prove that but we both know that no such Treaty ever existed.

                  Imagine how the US would react with Russian nukes on this side of the world. Say 90 miles off the coast of Florida.

                  Happens all the time. Russian Nuclear Submarines on the East Coast, Russian Spy Ships hovering around Florida and Hawaii, and recently the Russians and Chinese started getting together to party off the coast of Alaska.

                  So it’s not a question, we KNOW what the modern day response is. The US keeps an eye on it but otherwise continues to go about its business.

                  The Cold War is over. NATO should be gone.

                  Yes, I imagine that President Putin would like that very much.

                  I am not a Russian apologist or a tankie.

                  Said while spouting regurgitated and endlessly disproved Pro-Russian talking points. We all want “peace” bub, but rolling over and showing your belly is a poor way to get it.

                  I am a U.S. citizen.

                  So am I, of direct Lithuanian & German descent. My people came here Post WWII after seeing what the Russians were like first hand. Your call for appeasement is of no interest to me Mr. Chamberlain.

                • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  In 1997, NATO and Russia signed the Russia–NATO Founding Act, which stated that each country had a sovereign right to seek alliances.

                  Seems legit to me. Putin is just being a whiny bitch and only showing countries why they should join NATO. Let’s think about it. He invades Ukraine because he doesn’t want to share a border with a NATO country. He wins Ukraine. Ukraine shares a border with Poland, a NATO country. Now what? Invade Poland too? And do you actually think for a goddamn second a defensive alliance is going to invade Russia?

                  Not to mention his aggression literally caused 2 more countries to join NATO.

              • conductor@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                Muscovy

                What year is it? Why do you libs do this shit where you think it’s clever using dumb names? Is that an ‘own’ or something?

                • severien@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Not sure if you want an actual answer, but the name “Russia” originally comes from “Kievan Rus”, and Kyiv is in … Ukraine. Renaming it to Muscovy (original name of the country) is then symbolically taking the name back.

        • GreenMario@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Yes.

          It’s suicide for them if they do. We know our nukes work.

          Rather not let nuclear dictators have free reign on the world because “OMG they may nuke us”. Otherwise give em the keys to the world right now and surrender.

          There’s an old American proverb: LIVE FREE OR DIE