A rigged election is followed by unprecedented street protests as a civil society comes of age. A brutal crackdown on dissent by an increasingly desperate dictator. A brazen act of air piracy and kidnapping. Allegations of death squads. And successive waves of Western sanctions.

From August 2020 to August 2021 everything changed in Belarus as Alyaksandr Lukashenka faced the most serious crisis of his nearly three decades in power. And with Vladimir Putin's Russia waiting in the wings to exploit upheaval, it's a crisis with major geopolitical consequences.

On this week's Power Vertical Podcast, we take a look back at Belarus' year of living dangerously -- and take a look ahead at what comes next. Joining host Brian Whitmore is former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Kramer and veteran Belarusian journalist Franak Viacorka, an advisor to opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya.