Which country is the BBC talking about here:
As for radio and television, well, government control of them is even greater.
_____ TV pumps out praise for the president.
---------- is portrayed as a land of economic achievements.
There is no mention of Mr ----------'s political opponents...
(Source: BBC News, March 11, 2006)
The answer, of course, is in the article's title:
Daring to criticise Belarus' president - but W and his Bush League minions are getting closer to their dream of bringing Belarus-style government to this country.
Here's an easily modifiable joke:
You can tell a lot about a country from the kind of jokes being made about its leader.
Take this one, doing the rounds in Minsk at the moment: "At the start of the presidential election campaign, Alexander Lukashenko promises to ban censorship in the press if he's re-elected.
"He wins the vote and immediately issues two decrees - one banning censorship, the other banning the press."
Simply insert the name George W and change "he's re-elected" to "Republicans are successful in the midterm elections" and you've got a highly-applicable joke.
Of course, W's control of the press is much more sophisticated than Lukashenko's... maybe Faux News could open a subsidiary over there...