A question for the U.S. Department of State
U.S. Department of State actually became interactive in 2006. You can ask them all kinds of questions online. On Monday, April 3, Daniel Fried, Assistant Secretary, chief of European and Eurasian Affairs, will discuss the recent elections in Belarus and Ukraine. You can send your questions now.
I’ve sent this:
Dear Ambassador Fried:
The main reveleation, the main lesson of these Belarus’ elections for me was the realization, based on dozens of reports from independent observers, that falsification is done on all levels, starting from the lowest.
I think the only effective measure the U.S. and the West could take in this case is to ban entry to all Belarus’ election commission members on all levels (that would be several hundreds of criminally involved people).
And it would be very good if countries such as Croatia, Turkey, Ukraine (as potential EU candidates) joined in. That would prevent Lukashenka’s little servants from going to the Black sea and other seaside places for vacation. They would feel they are not welcome anywhere.
That, in my opinion, would be the only efficient thing the West can do right now, without damaging other citizens (like economic sanctions would do).
Is U.S. ready to ban hundreds of people that were involved in falsifications in Belarus? Or you will ban just a dozen top officials?
Thank you very much,
A blogger from Belarus
April 1st, 2006 at 2:38 am
Don’t think visa bans help much to be honest, the majority of those affected will probably never even leave the country. lukashenka for example is already banned for life, yet he doesnt even care since he never wants to go anywhere anyway.
April 1st, 2006 at 2:50 am
This is a wonderful idea! Ban the whole lot of ‘em from ever setting foot in another country. It’d be even greater if we could arrange for discounts on all Black Sea holiday getaways for average Belarusans. You know, just to rub it in.
April 1st, 2006 at 1:23 pm
Good message. This should be done not so much to change the behaviour of the regime, which is hardly possible, but rather to help the opposition increase pressure on the officials and to highlight their individual responsibility in the eyes of the Belarusian public.
Tobias Ljungvall
April 1st, 2006 at 3:55 pm
Good idea! I sent the same question
April 1st, 2006 at 10:05 pm
Interesting idea, but I´m tempted to suggest the opposite, with the presumption that the more Belarusians abroad, the more people to come home and compare the western freedom with Lukasjenka´s regime. Maybe more people will question his “genious” thoughts.
April 2nd, 2006 at 3:39 am
Syarzhuk: “Good idea! I sent the same question”
I hope it wasn’t a copy-paste operation, because I accidentally posted my question three times (after the third attempt I also sent an apology).
April 2nd, 2006 at 3:40 am
Rambukk: Yes, that’s the second idea. And that was one of the most important items on Milinkevich’s agenda when he met with top EU officials before the elections. He said that simple Belarusian citizens should get cheaper visas and simple procedures, but EU officials said “no way!”
April 2nd, 2006 at 1:09 pm
It would be great if Belarusian citizens would one day no longer have to go through all the procedures to get visas :(
February 2nd, 2008 at 8:25 pm
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February 7th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
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March 24th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well.
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