Archivo etiqueta «Bielorrusia»
By David J. Kramer and A. Wess Mitchell, respectively, president of Freedom House and president of the Center for European Policy Analysis, both in Washington, D.C., and co-chair a working group on Belarus (THE WASHINGTON POST, 09/07/11):
While much of the world’s attention the past few months has been focused on the volatile Middle East, citizen activism against dictators is spreading in another part of the world, this time in the former Soviet republic of Belarus. Dubbed the last dictator in Europe, Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko is under growing domestic and international pressure because of his gross human rights … Seguir leyendo
THE WASHINGTON POST, 06/03/11:
In December, Belarusan President Alexander Lukashenko was elected to his fourth term, and pro-democracy opponents took to the streets, charging fraud.
Police rounded up some 700 people and charged 42, many with organizing a riot, an offense carrying a prison term of five to 15 years. The crackdown prompted the European Union and the United States to impose travel restrictions on Lukashenko and other top Belarusan officials and to freeze their assets.
On Wednesday, Belarus sentenced three men to up to four years in a top-security prison. In a three-hour interview with Washington Post senior associate … Seguir leyendo
Por Mitchell A. Orenstein, profesor en la Escuela de Estudios Internacionales Avanzados. Recientemente regresó de un viaje de estudios postelectorales en Bielorrusia. Traducción de Kena Nequiz (Project Syndicate, 07/02/11):
Mientras las protestas en favor de la democracia se extienden en el mundo árabe, en Bielorrusia, el reducto lúgubre cuasi-soviético de Europa, la situación ha empeorado desde que el presidente Aleksander Lukashenko reprimió violentamente las manifestaciones posteriores a las elecciones de diciembre y encarceló a siete de los nueve candidatos que participaron en su contra. No obstante, a medida que los gobiernos occidentales –y el gobierno de la Unión Europea … Seguir leyendo
By John Kerry, a Democrat from Massachusetts and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Joe Lieberman, an Independent from Connecticut and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee (THE WASHINGTON POST, 30/01/11):
Since the patently unfair and undemocratic presidential election on Dec. 19, Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian ruler of Belarus, has reminded his countrymen and the world that the post-Cold War vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace remains sadly unfulfilled. For more than a month, Lukashenko’s agents have fanned out to beat, arrest or intimidate opponents of his government in an effort … Seguir leyendo
By Joerg Forbrig, senior program officer for Central and Eastern Europe at the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Berlin (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 10/01/11):
E.U. policy toward Belarus is in tatters. Two years of engagement with Alexander Lukashenko’s regime, direct cooperation in the framework of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership program, and gentle pressure to allow some space for democrats in the country came to naught on Dec. 19, when the police crushed a courageous mass protest against fraudulent elections. Independent media and nongovernmental organizations were raided and hundreds of campaigners for democracy thrown in jail, … Seguir leyendo
Por Timothy Garton Ash, catedrático de Estudios Europeos en la Universidad de Oxford e investigador titular en la Hoover Institution de la Universidad de Stanford. Traducción de María Luisa Rodríguez Tapia (EL PAÍS, 28/12/10):
¿Feliz Navidad? No para Bielorrusia. El Abuelo Escarcha, la versión de Papá Noel imperante en el mundo que rodea a Rusia, ha llegado temprano a Minsk este año, y los regalos que ha traído han sido el fraude electoral, las palizas policiales, las detenciones en masa, las mentiras de estilo soviético y una tarjeta navideña especialmente dedicada a la UE que dice “A la mierda … Seguir leyendo
By Carl Bildt, Karel Schwarzenberg, Radek Sikorski and Guido Westerwelle, the foreign ministers, respectively, of Sweden, the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 24/12/10):
There can be no business-as-usual between the European Union and Belarus’ president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, after what has happened since the presidential election in Belarus last Sunday.
In recent months, hope had grown that his words could be taken seriously. He promised to invite international observers to the election, and he delivered on the promise. He talked about giving the opposition some space during the election campaign, and there were some … Seguir leyendo
By Andrej Dynko, the award-winning editor-in-chief of the newspaper Nasha Niva, which became legal again thanks to EU pressure in 2008, and the former head of Belarusian PEN (THE GUARDIAN, 19/12/10):
Belarus’s presidential elections are being held today – and never have there been so many candidates. But the number of candidates is no guarantee of any substantial political change.
The country itself has changed a lot in 15 years, despite the dictatorship of Alexander Lukashenko. Its economy has grown at twice the rate of neighbouring Ukraine’s. This is a Chinese, or rather a Singaporean model – and … Seguir leyendo
By Nikolai Alekseev, the head of the Russian LGBT Human Rights Project and head of Moscow Pride Organizing Committee (THE GUARDIAN, 14/05/10):
The centre of Minsk, capital of Belarus, is blocked for at least 15 minutes, then four cars with the Belarusian national flag as licence plates sweep past. A young guy next to me is calling his mum to tell her that he is so excited and just saw with his own eyes the bulletproof car of Alexander Lukashenko, sometimes described as Europe’s last dictator.
Just over a week ago, the Belarusian leader was sent a … Seguir leyendo
By Timothy Garton Ash (THE GUARDIAN, 05/02/09):
Russia has lost an empire and not yet found a role. As we approach the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we should pay tribute again to the fact that a nuclear-armed superpower surrendered its vast continental empire with scarcely a shot fired in anger. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, many Russians have been regretting that act of historic magnanimity ever since.
What Russia’s new role will be is something that Russians have to work out for themselves. That will take time. In Britain, the country about which the “lost an … Seguir leyendo
By Tom Stoppard (THE TIMES, 02/04/07):
What does this remind you of? “X was charged under Article 339, part 2, with hooliganism, and with the organisation of group activities (Article 342, part 1), and was sentenced to five and a half years imprisonment.”
The clue is the combination of the oddly unlegalistic “hooliganism” and the catch-all unmeaning of “group activities” punctiliously proscribed under article-this and article-that.
Remember it now? This was the language of Soviet-style justice in the USSR and wherever ran the Kremlin’s writ in Eastern Europe. It was where George Orwell met Lewis Carroll (“ ‘When I use … Seguir leyendo
By Dr Alyaksei Mazhukhou, the ambassador of the Republic of Belarus. Response to ‘To criticise capitalism don’t try to defend the dregs of Soviet socialism’ (THE GUARDIAN, 14/04/06):
Timothy Garton Ash says it is the right thing to give people “the chance to choose their own government” (To criticise capitalism don’t try to defend the dregs of Soviet socialism, April 6). Of course this wins my support.Clearly, the presidential election in Belarus was of key importance for our nation and of huge interest for many others. However, long before the polling day, the western media seemed to … Seguir leyendo
By Linda Walker, the national co-ordinator of the Chernobyl Children’s Project (UK) (THE GUARDIAN, 31/03/06):
Supporters of the nuclear industry will be apoplectic about the report on the Chernobyl legacy by John Vidal (UN accused of ignoring 500,000 deaths, March 25). And even those of us who believe the effects of the nuclear disaster to be widespread, serious and long term, will be disappointed to read of what must surely be a gross over-estimate of the real casualty figures.It is notoriously difficult to gather real statistics – there has been little serious research, and many of those involved have … Seguir leyendo
By Timothy Garton Ash (THE GUARDIAN, 23/03/06):
‘Nah, still don’t give a toss …” was the response of someone styled “thedacs” to my appeal for participants in the Guardian’s new Comment is free blog to think about Belarus. But the flood of other responses – more than 70 as I write this – showed that a lot of people do care about what’s happening in that frosty pressure point between Russia and the EU. And how they disagree; and how little anyone knows what to do about it.
Obviously we should start from the reality of what’s happening on the … Seguir leyendo
By Mark Almond, a lecturer in modern history at Oriel College, Oxford (THE GUARDIAN, 21/03/06):
After the death of Slobodan Milosevic, the west did not need to look far to find another bogeyman. Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus was on hand and facing re-election.Journalists routinely report on Belarus as a landlocked Stalinist theme park run by a Hitler-loving tyrant who makes his opponents disappear. Condoleezza Rice and her chief assistant for democracy promotion, Dan Fried, never tire of urging Americans and their Nato allies to sponsor civil-society projects in Belarus to foster true democracy there.
Our media have a split … Seguir leyendo