08 December 2025, 09:39

Expert debunks free market myths

Aleksandr Tishchenko

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MINSK, 8 December (BelTA) – In the modern market economy, fair competition is becoming a thing of the past, replaced by the suppression and subjugation of competitors, national security expert Aleksandr Tishchenko said in a new episode of the V Teme [On Point] project on BelTA’s YouTube channel.

“The president is right: market laws exist, but they are not allowed to function properly. There is no competition, there is suppression and subjugation. And for this, any means are good. Weapons become yet another tool of coercion that the weak are helpless against, leading to their subjugation and exploitation,” said Aleksandr Tishchenko.

The expert noted that the classic formula “commodity – money – commodity” has now shifted to “commodity – money – power”: “It turns out that money and goods have become intermediate values, while the most important thing is power.”

Returning to the issue of unfair competition, Aleksandr Tishchenko pointed to Belarus’ western neighbors Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland. “They were stripped of everything and turned into mere consumer markets. Only the trinkets have changed: today they are iPhones or something of the sort. Nevertheless, the entire dynamic remains one of dependency,” he emphasized. “These countries produce nothing; they’re completely dependent on supplies. They’ve been banned from buying cheap energy and forced to buy expensive energy. They’ve been forced to disconnect from cheap electricity and get rid of their nuclear power plants.”