Friday, March 17, 2006

Ukrainian journalists barred from Belarus

This is interesting--

The Belarusian authorities barred two Ukrainian television reporters from entering the country on Wednesday further straining relations between Minsk and Kiev ahead of the March 19 presidential election.

The move is the latest step in escalating tensions amid concerns over developments in Belarus just as President Alexander Lukashenka has been seeking re-election to the third term in office.

I don't know that Channel Five is known for its unbiased coverage. They were the only station that would broadcast anything about the Orange Revolution and Yuschenko early on. It's a Poroshenko concern and he was on the OR side. But I don't' know what a unbiased coverage really is. Lukashenko will say that they are biased against his rule in Belarus and they would have to admit that is true. That would be a bias naturally. But it is the right kind of bias.

He just doesn't want anyone around who is not sympathetic filming what will really be going on in Belarus.

The radio here is reporting that people don't want to be seen congregating on the streets in Minsk. Might provoke military reprisals. And they cite the law that gives Lukashenko the power to put down uprisings. Does anybody think that the law is what gives him the power to do something like that? He'd do it without any law because he can and because he will stay in power any way he can.

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