Running Mates

[M]

Lebanon is the world's last puppet/satellite state, controlled by Syria. But which Graham said this, Lindsay or Bob? If Bob, that's big.

[M]

Depends on your definition. If you mean economically dependent, or relies on military protection, sure. But if you mean all the nation's decisions on everything are made in another capital, ie old Eastern Europe, there's just one, and that's Lebanon. Even Laos is no longer in the Vietnamese orbit.

[M]

Kind of isolated. They're dependent on India, and maintain close ties with them, but I wouln't call them a puppet state. Client state, yes. But I'm talking a Slovakia- '39, Hungary '56 puppet state. That's Lebanon.

[M]

Sure, Monaco's like the ultimate client state to France, or San Marino to Italy, Lichtenstein to Switz., Marshall islands to USA. But puppets is something completely different.

[M]

They're weird; Lukashenko is the one that want's t recreate the USSR, not Putin. He wants it on his terms, with him as leader and the capital in Minsk. The idea of Aleksandr Lukashenko with a major Pacific naval base is... scary... but ver unlikely. Putin has publicly rebuffed him.

[M]

Ukraine doesn't quite rise (sink, perhaps?) to that level, but there's nasty stuff going on there too. Still, they have a viable democratic opposition that should win next time, they almost did last time. Belarus is truly Europe's last real dictatorship. (I count Transcaucasian countries as Asiatic for these purposes.)