Diplo-War Between EU And Belarus

[NATO AIR]

now its really getting nasty... it seems like the EU's recent expansion has helped to change its mindset towards democracy, now if only they could show the same cajones with Iran and Iraq....

http://www.publiuspundit.com/?p=1502

BELARUS DECLARES DIPLO-WAR ON EUROPE
As Lukashenko’s regime continues to move in on Belarus’ largest civil organization, the Union of Poles, and Europe now promising funds for opposition groups, tensions between the country and the rest of Europe are escalating dramatically. The EU sent a delegation to investigate human rights and democracy in Belarus, and they actually had the cojones to turn them away!

Of course, Belarus isn’t a member of the EU, so it’s not exactly illegal. However, it does suggest to the broader action of moving directly into the arms of Russia to maintain dictatorial stability. Poland and Belarus have been expelling each others’ own diplomats over the past few months, but now it has gone past a regional conflict toward a continental one.

Notice that the head of the delegation from the European Parliament commission on relations with Belarus is from Poland, and his very hawkish stance against Lukashenko. This is a very important example of how the different culture in the more recent EU acquisition countries is affecting European foreign policy on the whole. It’s unprecedented that the EU would take such a bold stance against dictatorship, especially one that is being openly backed by Russia.

 

[Zhukov]

President of Belarus holds fast to Soviet way of life

Belarus, with a population of 10 million people, is a country that the 21st century seems to have forgotten. Once part of Russia's Slavic core, which included Ukraine as well as Russia, Belarus remains a miniature model of the old Soviet Union.

A walk down Independence Street, the main road in Belarus' capital Minsk, is like time travel back to the Soviet Union: A few cars drive slowly along the wide, clean but largely deserted avenue lined with huge, Stalin-era apartment buildings. The occasional pedestrian saunters in and out of the enormous, state-run GUM mall that sells crudely made, shapeless Belarusian clothes and souvenirs made of straw and amber. The only billboards on the street extol the heroism of Soviet soldiers in World War II.

Outside the capital, dilapidated wooden houses with caved-in roofs stand in the dying villages amidst golden and purple fields of wheat and buckwheat and emerald pastures, empty except for storks.

Most companies remain state-owned. Soviet-style collective farms, which constitute the majority of Belarus' agriculture, are rewarded by gifts of television sets. All students and state employees are forced to attend weekly "ideology classes," which hammer home the benefits of Lukashenko's "market socialism" and the dangers of Western-style democracy and capitalism.

Newspaper kiosks sell the Soviet Belarus and Respublika newspapers, which these days are dominated by two topics: the continuing wheat harvest and the alleged Western conspiracy to overthrow the 50-year-old Lukashenko.

Putin supports Lukashenko's Belarus as the last buffer state left to him after the Orange revolution.

A retrograde Stalinist state as a barrier between Russia and the west.

"You will not succeed with the color revolution" -- a reference to Ukraine's Orange Revolution of 2004 -- "nor with the revision of state borders," the Respublika warned the regime's opponents in an editorial this month.

Belarus' actions are, at least tacitly, being steered by Putin.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/08/18/MNGM2E9BOR1.DTL

 

[Zhukov]

Putin pushes for merger with Belarus

ZAVIDOVO, Russia, July 26 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin told members of a political youth movement that the country needs unification with neighboring Belarus.

"We do not want to offend those who value Belarusian culture, language and history, which we are proud of as well," Putin said, according to Novosti. "However, in a broad sense, we are a single nation and we will only benefit if we unite, having gained advantages in relations with other countries."

Putin met with members of the Nashi movement at the Zavidovo state residence in Tver region.

Russia and Belarus signed an agreement in 1999 seeking eventual reunification. But negotiators have been unable to agree on a draft constitution and any merger of the currency is on indefinite hold.

President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus said on Tuesday that part of the problem is that Russia wants to model the merged state on the European Union while Belarus would like it to resemble the Soviet Union.

To most Russians, there is no significant difference between Byelorus (Belarus) and Russia proper.

This is not Ukraine.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20050727-07042500-bc-russia-belarus.xml

 

[NATO AIR]

a union of belarus and russia would not have many long-lasting negative effects would it?

i cannot fault putin for his efforts to stabilize russia, i just wonder if his reforms will last past his time in control...

 

[Zhukov]

a union of belarus and russia would not have many long-lasting negative effects would it?

i cannot fault putin for his efforts to stabilize russia, i just wonder if his reforms will last past his time in control...

A merger would probably be good for the people of Belarus. Better Putin than Lukashenko.