The White House is ready to rage and fume against Belarus

Looks like history lessons mean nothing to the U.S. Administration. You just can not win a war fighting at different fronts at the same time e.g. Afghanistan, Iraq. Iran is at issue, it is a far more difficult job that buying the Baghdad generals by the dozen. Now Belarus is the next in line.

Photo: The White House is ready to rage and fume against Belarus

The Bush Administration issued a warning about “restrictive measures” that may be taken against the authorities of an independent state if the presidential election in Belarus fails to comply with the international standards, from the point of view of the White House. In other words, the election will not comply with the White House standards if the opposition candidate fails to win. Tom Casey, an official representative of the U.S. Department of State, was quoted as saying: “The United States is calling again on the Belarussian government to stop using repressions against the political campaigns and groups of civil society. The Belarussian government should also respect the rights of Belarussian citizens.” He also spoke about twelve assistants of the opposition presidential candidate Alexander Milinkevich, they were detained by the police on March 7 and March 8. It was an act of repression and the human rights abuse, according to the State Department.

“The United States shares the concern of the European Union over the situation in Belarus. Along with the E.U., the U.S. will be ready to take further restrictive measures against the guilty party if the elections fail to comply with the international commitments of Belarus,” says the statement by Casey.

“The Belarussian authorities” represented by Alexander Lukashenko have not yet responded to the U.S. statement. Meanwhile, the position of the Foreign Ministry of Belarus on the death of Slobodan Milosevic is quite clear. “The Hague Tribunal ceased to be an international institution of law and justice and turned into the “European Abu-Ghraib. The resilience of a man and the principles of a politician do not fit the plans of the architects of a new world order,” said a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Belarus.

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Belarus says there are no plans to rig the coming election, and so far there have been no violations whatsoever during the election campaign. “Judging by the results of inspections and reports analysis indicate that citizens, political parties, and other political groups have the real opportunity to carry out a free and comprehensive discussion of the candidates’ programs, and conduct an election campaign by means of rallies, meetings, and the media,” says the statement released by Pyetr Miklashevich, Prosecutor General of Belarus.

As regards the “restrictions” and other “ways of putting pressure” on the opposition, the Belarussian prosecutors stick to the law “that is tough but that is the law.” “Some presidential candidates commit illegal actions for the purpose of drawing additional attention in the course of the election campaign. They call on the people to take part in unauthorized mass meetings and thus force the law enforcement agencies to take steps for putting an end to their unlawful activities,” says the statement.

On Monday, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko formally accepted the credentials from the Russian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Alexander Surikov. The Belarussian president asked the diplomat to advise the Russian president and Foreign Ministry that the situation in Belarus is “stable and normal.” President Lukashenko also expressed gratitude to the Russian Foreign Ministry for its support at the international scene.

Utro

Translated by Guerman Grachev

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