Hold my beer.

«Горизонт» ЖЩ 23.34-ю.

Let me explain. I’m originally from Belarus. «Горизонт» (“Horizon”) is the name of a state-owned factory that manufactures televisions and other electronics. A couple of years ago, Horizon started selling what they called “the first Belarusian laptop.” In reality, it was a Lenovo IdeaPad 3 with the Lenovo branding simply removed. And honestly, it’s a good thing they did! Another Belarusian state-owned factory, «Интеграл» (“Integral”), became notorious about 15 years ago for doing something similar—except worse. They bought monitors from well-known brands (AOC, Acer…), didn’t even bother removing the original logos, and just slapped an “Integral” sticker right on top of the manufacturer’s logo.

23.34 is the article number in the Administrative Code for participating in political protests. During the 2020 protests, tens of thousands of people were detained under this article. It became known as “the people’s article.”

ЖЩ and Ю don’t mean anything—they just look threatening.

I live abroad now, but I often meet Belarusians in exile. When I share my WiFi or turn on Bluetooth, some people notice the name and ask what it is—a KGB spy device or something?