Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide met Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of the Belarusian pro-democracy movement, for political talks on Thursday.
“The meeting made a strong impression on me. Together with other Belarusian pro-democracy activists, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya is engaged in a courageous and arduous struggle against a regime that uses brutal methods to suppress peaceful political opponents. Her efforts since spearheading the peaceful protests after the presidential election last August deserve huge respect,” Eriksen Søreide said.
What could have been a peaceful transition to a freer country with genuine democratic choice has instead devolved into a state dominated by fear and terror. President Lukashenko has shown that he will resort to any means to silence critical voices, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted in a press release.
“Once again, we urge President Lukashenko to stop the violence, hold free elections, release political prisoners and open the door to political opposition and freedom of expression,” Eriksen Søreide said.
Supporting democratic forces in Belarus
Norway will continue its efforts to ensure that Belarus remains high on the international agenda and to support democratic forces in the country.
“Norway has aligned itself with all EU sanctions, and we hope that this will help to put pressure on the regime. We increased our support for democracy and human rights efforts in Belarus last year, and I am pleased to announce that we are allocating NOK 30 million for these activities in 2021.
“It is vital that the international community continues to put pressure on President Lukashenko’s regime with a view to promoting democracy and safeguarding the fundamental human rights of the people of Belarus,” Eriksen Søreide concluded.
Source: Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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I’ll never forget a meme of the Northern European defense ministers at the time – all women, not unattractive, in their tailored pants suits, including Ine, I believe – and/vs. a photo of no-nonsense Russian defense minister Shoigu in uniform: the hen party vs. the bear. I wonder who’d win. 🙂
Planet Earth is FRYING, BOILING AWAY and (instead) needs Norway’s leadership in drastic, mutual, verifiable cutbacks in fossil fuel production, consumption, and pollution, and Ine is baiting the Belarusan wolf … and Russian bear?
Lukashenko tried to take a moderate, neutral path of cooperation between both the West and Russia … which is not about to allow its most critical buffer state to join the EU and inevitably therewith “interventionist”/aggressor NATO, especially after our regime-change attempt against Russia itself. So Lukashenko’s “reward” for trying to walk the fence was a Western-supported … as Ine is evidencing … regime-change attempt against *him*.
So he went running to a presumably disgusted, “told you so” vindictive Putin for backup which he had if he needed it, as long as he cracked down as he has – most sensationally by forcing down the airliner with a prominent Belarusan opposition figure he threw into prison, who now is conceding the rebellion/coup is over.
That is, Ine, it’s OVER, provoking Lukashenko is pointless and only triggers more oppression, and you have infinitely more important things to be doing anyway, so (*please*) do them.
Something else: After Joe Biden’s “soulless killer” remark – overlooking the mass murder holocaust wars he has supported which he really cannot pray and indulgence-buy his way out of – I think he regrets that remark which a journalist goaded out of him – the Russians figured Ukraine was about to join NATO and commenced a HUGE buildup on U.’s border, even bringing over a Siberian Reserve showing they weren’t just bluffing.
President Biden … wanting to avoid another world war starting in Europe … seems to have understood how close we came and there seems to be an understanding with Russia about the buffer states, so if we stop pushing/provoking things may relax enough to rebuild peaceful relations instead of this nuclear Russian Roulette confrontation.
General James Mattis – respected by Europeans – has released a podcast titled “Reality is a terrible adversary,” and it’s time Ine and other Western leaders faced reality about Belarus … and Russia … and started instead trying to rebuild positive relations, so that Lukashenko and Putin can stand down and liberalize their countries (as much as they ever can be) again.
Playing our same old Neanderthal confrontation games while Earth burns is just a tat more serious than playing a violin while just one city burns.