Sliding to crackpot autocracy

On July 4 800 teddy bears descended by parachute onto Belarus territory from a light plane piloted by Swedish nationals. The pro-democracy stunt has created a mighty diplomatic bust-up between Sweden, the EU and Belarus dictator Lukashenko. [Video and story from Euronews here ]

Journalists in the country have been heavily fined for posing with teddy bears in a photo session, while others are currently detained and could face years in prison for posting pictures of the teddy bears on the net.

In Ukraine, crackpot deputy prosecutor general Renat Kuzmin says Yulia Tymoshenko is under investigation for assaulting a male prison guard and could face criminal charges. The slightly-built Tymoshenko has been suffering from a ruptured spinal disc for many months and is virtually bed-ridden.

And a  leading Ukrainian human rights spokesman, in his detailed analysis of Former Minister of the Interior Yuriy Lutsenko's current trial, says: "The court trial has vividly demonstrated that in our country absurdity is reality, and reality – absurd. If the [Ukrainian] legislation on investigative operations complied with the demands set out above of the European Court of Human Rights, this case would simply be impossible!"

Vitaliy Pornikov, concludes an article entitled 'The dragon and the teddy-bears' thus:

..observing the swift "Belarusization" Ukraine, I want to warn those who think that none of this concerns them. It does concern them. The dragon will not be sated with just Tymoshenko or opposition members. And even journalists will not be enough. The dragon will eventually devour everyone. Woe to the people who feed the dragon.