| home archive search downloads subscription contacts |
 |
|||||||||
Kramer - Pressure Should Be Exerted on the Dictator”Belarus 2010: Presidential Elections, Political Stability and Foreign Relations” was the title of the discussion presented by the School of Advanced Studies (SAIS) at the Johns Hopkins UNiversity in Washington, D.C. Different aspects of te subject were presented by Orest Deycakiwsky (see his preceding article), historian Taras Kuzio and David Kramer, with Mitchell Orenstein of SAIS, as the chair and discussant.David Kramer, executive director of Freedom House, formerly Assistant Secretary of State in the Bush administration was a strong proponent of the U.S. and EU imposed sanctions against Lukashenka’s regime. The sanctions’ objective was to make Minsk adequately investigate murders of oppositional politicians and journalists, and to release political prisoners. Lukashenka and a number of his retinue members were banned from visiting Western Europe and the U.S. Besides, sanctions were imposed on a number of Belarusian enterprises in which “Lukashenka and his retinuehad a personal interest”, According to Kramer, The sanctions did finally fulfill one goal. After long talks Minsk released the political prisoners. However, EU chose to temporarily lift the sanctions, expecting to persuade Lukashenka not to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the breakaway Georgian provinces As a result, Lukashenka started to visit the EU countries, and recently a number of European politicians visited Minsk on official visits. That, according to David Kramer “creates an impression that EU stakes its hope on his help in maintaining independence of Belarus from Russia” He believes that to be a wrong practice: “Lukashenka uses the West against Russia and vice versa expertly, sometimes he even throws together the EU and the US.” Kramer does not expect that the upcoming election would meet international standards and finds it necessary to continue exerting pressure on Alexander Lukashenka’s regime. This article appeared in Belarusian Review, Vol. 22, No. 4 --------------------------------------------- Copyright 2010 Belarusian Review All rights reserved.
|
|||||||||
| Rubriques |
Belarusian Culture
Belarusians Abroad
Contents
Economy
Editorial
Features
Chronicle of Events
Legacy of Chernobyl
Letters
Media Watch
News Briefs
- Culture & Society
- Freedom of Religion
- Independent Media
- Belarus & the World
- Human Rights
- Politics - Opposition
- Politics - Regime
Thoughts and Observations
| New Articles |
| The Center for Belarusian Studies (23.01.2011) |
| Declaration by the Coordinating Committee of Belarusians of Canada (23.01.2011) |
| Blood and Special Operations in Belarus Politics (23.01.2011) |
| Belarus: That’s enough democracy (23.01.2011) |
| Wrong Carrot, Wrong Stick (23.01.2011) |
| Statement By the Rada of The Belarusian Democratic Republic in Exile 28th December 2010 (23.01.2011) |
| STATEMENT (23.01.2011) |
| BNR Rada Rejects Election Results (23.01.2011) |
| A backfire in Belarus (23.01.2011) |
| Demonstration in London (23.01.2011) |
| StatementBy the Office for a Democratic Belarus (Brussels) And the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (23.01.2011) |
| A Nasty Surprise in Belarus (23.01.2011) |
| In Belarus, a Slide Toward Eastern Aggression (23.01.2011) |
| Belarus Police Arrest Opposition Leaders (23.01.2011) |
| No Business as Usual (23.01.2011) |
| Readers' Favorites |
| Belarusian Weapons Exports:A Possible Source of Laundered Funds? (15914) |
| The Exchange Rate Policy for Belarus (15758) |
| Kitabs, the Unique Phenomenon of the Belarusian Language in "Encyclopedia of the Belarusian language" (15700) |
| Belarusica at the AAASS Convention (14717) |
| Vaclav Havel - in Defense of Jakub Kolas Humanities Lyceum (14654) |
| Putin Doctrine: Immediate Threat to Belarus (14248) |
| Belarusian Currency: Problems and Perspectives (14115) |
| Is Lukashenka Winning Back Hearts and Minds? (13757) |
| DZIADY and Kurapaty Unite the Opposition (13422) |
| Belarus Represented in the World Book Fair (13403) |
| Minsk Wants Compensation from Moscow for Abandoning National Currency (13402) |
| Opposition Forms New Pro-European Alliance (13240) |
| The Sad State of Agriculture (12882) |
| EU Aid Misuse Fears (12390) |
| The Third Wave, or the regimes current tactics in dealing with independent NGOs (11967) |