Belarus Says to Prepare Against U.S. Attack

[DuctapeFatwa]

President Alexander Lukashenko, isolated by the West for his lack of political and economic reforms, said on Friday Belarus must be prepared to defend itself against U.S. attack.
Lukashenko, once called Europe's last dictator by U.S. officials, has criticized Washington's military campaign against Iraq, saying it had created a precedent whereby undesirable leaders could be unseated with military force.

"Belarus has to be vigilant and pay particular attention to strengthening its fighting efficiency. The world has returned to times when war and brute force were real instruments of foreign policy," Official news agency BelTA quoted him as saying.

"The United States declared its particular right to use military force toward countries that dare to implement independent foreign and internal policies," he said.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4046947

[otohara]

1. Is Our Oil There Too?

Washington and the European Union, which will share a border with Belarus when it absorbs Poland, Latvia and Lithuania next year, have criticized Lukashenko for:

breaching human rights, cracking down on the opposition, suppressing demonstrations and having a poor record on press freedom

Sounds like Miami to me

[Cocoa]

2. Bush has given him a boogie-man

he can use the U.S. as an excuse to militarize.

Bush has let other repressive regimes to use the terror war to crack down too.

What a dangerous time in the world. I wonder if Belarus has any of those unaccounted-for nukes.

[Just Me]

4. The "chest-thumpers" NEVER, EVER get that,...

,...about how others will react to their suppressive, bullying tactics. No one wants to be oppressed and the oppressors will always take advantage of bully-setting tactics. Such reactions are like so so common sense stuff. I do NOT get the mentality of such leaders,...except that they are desperate assholes, all around, and represent the most disgusting aspects of humanity.

[cliss]

9. My sentiments exactly.

I couldn't have said it better.

The US thinks of itself as the Ruler of the World. That's obvious from the statements above. The US feels it has perfect insight into all the political develoments, as well as its leaders to know exactly how things should be done.

And OF COURSE, the US is a completely neutral "Ruler", meaning it has no ulterior motives in swaying the political fortunes of other countries.

They have only the most superficial knowledge of other countries, and crudely bribe dictators to do their bidding. You're right - they are the most disgusting aspects of humanity.

[many a good man]

3. Cool, we got an after Christmas sale on weapons

No down payment needed. No interest if you just say yer agin' terra'ists.

[mouse7]

11. Beef bombs!

New US WoMD!

[sistersofmercy]

5. Ok DF I need you to fill me in on this one

I can't imagine that Belarus is any sort of threat to the US, so do they have anything the misadministration would want?

[0007]

19. The country is in between Russia and Poland - I think it is Russia's way

of saying we're not supporting the U.S. I also found this article of some interest about Arafat and a Russia leader.

http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/2001/09/10/14677.html

"Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat received on Sunday night in the Gaza strip Ambassador at Large and special representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in the Middle East Andrei Vdovin.
Alongside the intensive consultations and meetings with the leadership of Israel and Palestine, talks with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan are envisaged.
The details of Vdovin's meeting with Arafat are not known yet. As the Palestinian agency VAFA has reported, Arafat familiarised the Russian diplomat "with the facts of continued aggression against the Palestinian people, and the policy of suffocating blockade pursued by Israel with regard to it".

[sistersofmercy]

29. Thanks 0007

Yes, Putin a few months back issued a statement in the international press which never made it to US press (oh surprise) that basically said he thought international troops were necessary to enforce the peace process on both sides of I/P but then further added that we aren't ready for such actions YET. Thanks again.:toast:

[DuctapeFatwa]

28. Here's a glob of googlespit

I just pasted without links because most of them are down in the interfax archives. ldoolin has posted a great summary in post 8 about some general principles guiding US activities in other countries :)



Belarus and Russia to sign agreement on gas supplies
RosBusinessConsulting, Russia - Dec 25, 2003
Some 20.5bn cubic meters of Russian gas and about 18m tons of oil will be supplied
to Belarus in 2004, Belarusian Prime Minister Sergey Sidorsky declared after ...

Belarus ups industrial output 6.9% in Jan-Nov
Interfax, Belarus - Dec 17, 2003
Minsk. (Interfax-West) - Belarus increased its industrial production
6.9% year-on-year in January-November 2003 to 29.3 trillion Bel. ...


Belarus cuts foreign debt 8.6%
Interfax, Belarus - Dec 18, 2003
Minsk. (Interfax-West) - Belarus reduced its foreign debt 8.6% in January-November
2003 to $742.9 million, the government told Interfax. ...


Belarus to have agency to develop defense industry
Interfax, Belarus - Dec 16, 2003
Minsk. (Interfax-West) - A special agency for the defense industry
will be created in Belarus. "The issue of singling out defense ...

IMF tells Belarus to minimize intervention in banking business
Interfax, Belarus - Dec 16, 2003
... that the Belarussian government refrain from unsubstantiated intervention in the
country's banking business, IMF Resident Representative for Belarus Zuzana ...

syria , belarus : Lukashenko : ‘ Balanced international ...
Monday Morning, Lebanon - Dec 16, 2003
The Belarussian leader said he had come to “reinforce economic and commercial ties”
with Syria, which he called Belarus’ “most important partner in the ...

Belarus expands economy 6.5% in Jan-Nov
Interfax, Belarus - Dec 16, 2003
Minsk. (Interfax-West) - Belarus expanded its economy 6.5% year-on-year
in January-November 2003, the statistics ministry told Interfax. ...

[sistersofmercy]

30. DF I just love googlespit! Thanks

:P

[bemildred]

6. Oceania has always been at war with EastAsia. nt

[pinto]

7. general reality check: here's Belarus

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/eu.htm

[ldoolin]

8. I've learned to read between the lines

Belarus is a similar situation to Venezuela today, and to Nicaragua in the 1980s and Chile before the Pinochet coup. When the Bush regime and the rest of the reich wing propaganda machine call a multiparty, democratic government "authoritarian" or a "dictatorship", what they really mean is that the government won't play ball with Bush's right-wing corporate backers or give them an open door to leech their natural resources such as oil.

In a few cases such as Iraq, North Korea, and Syria, the government in question really is an authoritarian dictatorship, but it can't be emphasized enough that this is *not* the reason Bush and the reich wing want those governments gone; it has everything to do with western corporations being allowed to have their way with access to natural resources and cheap third world sweatshop labor. Any government that won't play ball is a target, whether authoritarian or democratic; those who do play ball, even the most authoritarian of dictatorships, are considered "free" countries. "Free", that is, for ExxonMobil and Wal-Mart. That's also why the U.S. sided with China during the Sino-Soviet split; China played ball by providing cheap manufacturing for U.S. companies, the Soviet Union would not. It had nothing to do with communism or anti-communism, or else China, which followed a more hard-line form of communism than the USSR, would have been a bigger enemy than the USSR.

Has anyone else noticed that when the media and reich wingers in the US talk about democratic reforms, that what they are really talking about is not human rights or civil rights, but "market" based reforms, i.e. opening up the country for cheap labor and leeching of its recources?

It's not about either "freedom" or ideology, it's about access to natural resources and cheap labor by U.S. based multinationals. To understand this is to understand U.S. foreign policy.

It's gotten to the point that I don't even buy the U.S. propaganda against Cuba anymore, and certainly not against Iran or Libya. Iran has a theocratic element to its government but is also at least in part a multiparty democracy, and Libya has a unique form of direct democracy based on something similar to town meetings. Belarus and Venezuela are western style democracies, Libya is semi-democratic, Iran is a mix of theocratic and democratic elements, I have no idea what to believe about Cuba but suspect it is far more democratic than we are led to believe, and Syria, North Korea, and the former Iraq and Afghanistan regimes are/were authoritarian, but what they all have in common is their governments have nationalized key industries and they won't play ball with western corporate interests.

If the Bush regime doesn't have Belarus and Venezuela on its eventual hit list, I would be very surprised.

[Cocoa]

10. the NYT was right there with Bush on Venezuela

their amazing premature congratulations to the coup. Oops!

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/apr2002/nyt-a15.shtml


I don't know a thing about Belarus's govt. btw. But you're right, the fact that the U.S. characterizes them a certain way means very little.

[ldoolin]

13. Right on

That article was right on target regarding Venezuela. Imagine, a military coup against a democratically elected president, being hailed as a blow for democracy.

Belarus' current president was first elected in 1994, and re-elected in 2001 with 75% of the vote, and follows a self-described policy of "market socialism". They have a bicameral parlaiment, with one house elected by universal adult suffrage and the other mostly appointed by regional councils. Multiparty democracy with 14 political parties. Pretty similar situation to Venezuela, a democratically elected government that is pursuing economic policies that western business interests don't like. What they definitely are not, is a dictatorship.

[NewJerseyDem]

12. Belarus is not a multiparty democracy

Belarus has a goverment that is certainly not a full democracy. There have been crackdowns on opposition media and politicians. There have been mysterious dissapearences reported of several public figures in the country. While Belarus is not nearly as bad as North Korea or some other countries this is not a democracy. I don't think that we should invade Belarus nor do I think that Bush is considering doing that. The president of Belarus is probably just saying there is a threat for propaganda and a military buildup. Also, there are some reports that Belarus takes part in illegal arms trade. While I agree that United States policy towards different countries is often unbalanced and sometimes hypocritical, I do believe that Belarus is not a free country.

I certainly think that Libya and Iran are far from democracies. While Iran has some democratic elements in its government, the religious extremists have control of enough of the government to prevent true democracy from taking place. Libya is currently not only a dictatorship but one of the leaders in basically ruining all of Africa. Across that continent the Libyan govenrment is basically either propping up a dicator or supporting a rebel group in numerous African countries. This instability has led to the poverty and oppression of millions of Africans.

[ldoolin]

14. Belarus etc.

Belarus does have some human rights issues and I won't dispute that, but I would dispute that they aren't a multiparty democracy. Mexico for example has had similar reports of suppression of opposition parties and until recently was a defacto one-party state, yet they are considered a multiparty democracy. Belarus is certainly far more democratic than key U.S. allies in the region like Uzbekistan.

Iran isn't fully democratic and still has theocratic elements in control, but they are moving in a democratic direction. They still have a long way to go. Regardless, Iran is certainly more democratic now than they were under the Shah when they were a U.S. ally. Libya is a unique case. They don't fit the western definition of democracy at all, and from what I understand they don't allow political parties but instead practice a unique "Jamahiriya" form of governance through town councils as laid out in Khadaffi's Green Book. In theory it's a form of direct democracy. I won't dispute that the Libyan government has promoted destabilization and guerrilla movements throughout Africa. But my main point remains in all these cases, that the U.S. picks and chooses which governments are proclaimed "free" and "unfree" not based on how democratic they are but based on how willing they are to play ball with western corporate interests.

[sistersofmercy]

15. Well. I'm glad to make your acquaintance, Idoolin!

:yourock: Peace

[Judi Lynn]

17. Great posts. Thanks. n/t

[0rganism]

16. It's getting to the point where the USA isn't either

> Belarus has a goverment that is certainly not a full democracy

Election 2000, anyone?

> There have been crackdowns on opposition media and politicians.

Sounds familiar.

> There have been mysterious dissapearences reported of several
> public figures in the country

Mysterious disappearances we have yet to broach, but mysterious accidents and suicides have certainly taken their toll on inconvenient public figures.

Any claim on our part to be a superior democracy is looking more and more like pretention.

[teryang]

18. From the World Fact Book

<Belarus has seen little structural reform since 1995, when President LUKASHENKO launched the country on the path of "market socialism." In keeping with this policy, LUKASHENKO reimposed administrative controls over prices and currency exchange rates and expanded the state's right to intervene in the management of private enterprise. In addition to the burdens imposed by high inflation and persistent trade deficits, businesses have been subject to pressure on the part of central and local governments, e.g., arbitrary changes in regulations, numerous rigorous inspections, retroactive application of new business regulations, and arrests of "disruptive" businessmen and factory owners. A wide range of redistributive policies has helped those at the bottom of the ladder. Close relations with Russia, possibly leading to reunion, color the pattern of economic developments. For the time being, Belarus remains self-isolated from the West and its open-market economies.>

Good post Idoolin, I agree 100 percent with your perspective.

[0007]

20. Excellent, couldn't have said it better!

"it has everything to do with western corporations being allowed to have their way with access to natural resources and cheap third world sweatshop labor."

In a nut shell this is what its all about. Power & money for greedy greedy men that hide behind the cloth of Christianity.

[ldoolin]

21. Thanks for the welcome everyone

I've been hanging out in the GD Primary forum but it's getting old fast, almost as bad as the gun dungeon. I think I'll hang out here for a while :)

I'm not as much of a raving left-winger as I sometimes sound, honest! Except when I am ;)

[cowpie]

22. dictators like this always sound this way when they are nervous

He is trying to drum up nationalism for some reason. Something is up in Belarus.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

26. Must be why Junior acts the way he does...

...something must be up in the U. S.

[sistersofmercy]

31. Welcome to DU cowpie!

cute handle! Welcome :hi:

[GCP]

23. Does this place have any nukes?

Was it a part of the old USSR, like Ukraine or Georgia, and if so, were there ever any nulear weapons there?

Enquiring minds want to know.

[ze_dscherman]

24. Nukes transferred to Russia, missiles destroyed

The disarmament programme for the former Soviet Union states usually is regarded as a success. Just google for "Belarus" and "disarmament".

http://english.pravda.ru/cis/2003/04/03/45556.html

[GCP]

25. Well, that's a load off

Thanks.
The idea of our resident moron pissing off another leader with nukes was going to be too much for me to handle.

[cowpie]

27. I agree

something may be up in the US. Or something could be up in the Kremlin. It could be a number of things or nothing. Hopefully diplomacy in this situation won't mean the business end of a machine gun. Unfortunately based on what we have seen so far I think it is the administration's favorite tool.