Germany Says Lukashenko's 'Dictator' Comment Says It All

05.03

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s comment that he’d “rather be a dictator than gay”
prompted a rebuke from the German government, which said the
statement was proof of the leader’s authoritarian style.

Lukashenko made the comment to journalists yesterday at a
sporting event outside the Belarusian capital, Minsk, calling
accusations that he ran a dictatorship “hysteria,” according
to a transcript posted on the president’s website. While
Lukashenko didn’t say to whom his comments were directed, he
drew comparisons between German and Polish policy toward the
former Soviet state.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who is openly
gay, on Feb. 29 called Lukashenko’s government the “last
dictatorship in Europe” after Belarus recalled its permanent
envoy to the European Union and ambassador to Poland. His remark
mirrored comments first made in 2005 in reference to Belarus by
then U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“It’s interesting in one sense that Lukashenko should
consider himself a dictator, a conclusion the German government
reached long ago -- and the Belarusian president provides proof
of its accuracy on a daily basis,” Steffen Seibert, chief
German government spokesman, told reporters today in Berlin.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke told the
same briefing that Lukashenko’s comments “unfortunately speak
for themselves.”

The spat flared up last week after the government in Minsk
made the recalls in response to increased EU sanctions. Belarus
also asked the Polish ambassador and the head of the EU’s
mission to leave Minsk.

External source of this news: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-05/germany-says-lukashenko-s-dictator-comment-says-it-all.html

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Germany Says Lukashenko's 'Dictator' Comment Says It All

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