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Belarus Leader Orders Ban Against Protests
AP via Yahoo! News ^ | Fri Jan 27, 2006 | YURAS KARMANAU

Posted on 01/28/2006 1:42:18 PM PST by lizol

Belarus Leader Orders Ban Against Protests

By YURAS KARMANAU, Associated Press Writer

Fri Jan 27, 11:24 PM ET

MINSK, Belarus - Authoritarian Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko warned activists late Friday that any protests over the country's upcoming presidential elections would meet a harsh government response.

In an interview carried on all Belarusian TV channels, Lukashenko vowed that he would not allow the type of mass street protests that brought opposition leaders to power in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

"There will be no disturbances. No one will climb onto the barricades to fight Lukashenko," he said. "If there are provocations, we'll give them such a going-over they won't know what's hit them," Lukashenko threatened.

He has ruled the nation of 10 million since 1994, quashing opposition groups and independent media, leading Western nations to dub him "Europe's last dictator" and treat him as a pariah.

The Belarusian leader also turned on Western diplomats, saying he would not allow any interference in his ex-Soviet republic's internal affairs. "The embassies should know, that they can be out of here at 24 hours' notice and no one will help them," he said.

Lukashenko, who has forged increasingly close ties with Russia since the wave of revolutions in other post-Soviet states, said he was confident of Russian Vladimir Putin's support in the March 19 election.

"President Putin wants Lukashenko to stay, he wants to see Lukashenko in Belarus," he said.

Lukashenko has extended his time in office and strengthened his powers through elections and plebiscites denounced by Western governments and his opponents as fraudulent.

Belarus' beleaguered opposition has united around Alexander Milinkevich, the founder of the country's largest network of non-governmental organizations, as its candidate for challenging Lukashenko, despite widespread doubts about the vote's legitimacy.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: belarus; luka; lukashenko

1 posted on 01/28/2006 1:42:21 PM PST by lizol
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To: Tuxedo; Issaquahking; Matrix33; Loud Mime; okstate; paltz; Aquinasfan; Nothometoday; wtc911; ...
Eastern European ping list


FRmail me to be added or removed from this Eastern European ping list

2 posted on 01/28/2006 1:43:09 PM PST by lizol
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To: lizol

So many D-heads, so few bombs......


3 posted on 01/28/2006 1:45:44 PM PST by MNJohnnie (Is there a satire god who created Al Gore for the sole purpose of making us laugh?)
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To: AdmSmith

pong


4 posted on 01/28/2006 1:59:02 PM PST by nuconvert (No More Axis of Evil by Christmas ! TLR) [there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
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To: lizol

Is it me or does this guy talking about himself in the third person seem just a little weird?


5 posted on 01/28/2006 2:03:22 PM PST by MissouriConservative (I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code)
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To: MissouriConservative

Trust me. It isn't the only thing "weird" about him. He's unstable.


6 posted on 01/28/2006 2:05:54 PM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy

Is this the guy that changed the names of the months to his family members? I know it was one of the former Soviet Republics, but I am not sure if it is this one?


7 posted on 01/28/2006 2:13:08 PM PST by MissouriConservative (I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code)
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To: MissouriConservative

I don't know. But if he did, that's too funny.


8 posted on 01/28/2006 2:14:05 PM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: lizol

Putin may yet regret his support for this vicious socialist thug.


9 posted on 01/28/2006 2:20:32 PM PST by FormerACLUmember
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To: MissouriConservative; 1rudeboy
Alas, Turkmenbashi is apparently going to have to rename some more things before his brand recognition gets to where he wants it.
10 posted on 01/28/2006 2:23:35 PM PST by Hoplite
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To: Hoplite; 1rudeboy

That's the guy....lol. I knew it was one of the former republics but was not sure which one.


11 posted on 01/28/2006 2:32:33 PM PST by MissouriConservative (I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code)
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To: lizol

Next thing you know they'll be deporting disenters and kidnapping news crews like that dictatorship in Ukraine.


12 posted on 01/28/2006 6:47:02 PM PST by x5452
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