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AFP - Getty Images, file
President Alexander Lukashenko has led Belarus since 1994.
BERLIN -- Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president of Belarus, on Sunday criticized EU politicians who have threatened him with sanctions and in an apparent riposte to the German foreign minister's branding him "Europe's last dictator," said: "Better to be a dictator than gay."
Guido Westerwelle is Germany's first openly gay minister.
European Union leaders at a summit in Brussels on Friday called for new measures to pressure the Belarus president over alleged human rights abuses.
In spite of Lukashenko's attack -- which seemed an apparent riposte to Westerwelle -- the German foreign minister said on Monday he would not flinch from seeking to improve human rights in Belarus.
Westerwelle responded on Monday: "This statement speaks for itself." He added: "I'm not going to retreat from my engagement on human rights and democracy in Belarus one a single millimeter."
Chancellor Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert also criticised Lukashenko's comments on Monday.
"Unfortunately (the comment) very clearly shows the position that the Belorussian president takes in relation to basic rights," he said. "It's interesting to find out this way that Mr Lukashenko also now classes himself as a dictator.
"That is the view that the federal government reached some time ago and on which the Belorussian president delivers proof almost daily," he added.
Lukashenko has led Belarus since 1994, retaining Soviet-style controls over the economy and cracking down on opposition and independent media.
Lukashenko said Belarus would give a strong reaction to any sanctions, according to local news agency Belta.
"This is absolute hysteria," Belta reported him as saying. "And as you can see, at the forefront there are two types of politicians ... one lives in Warsaw, another in Berlin."
"Whoever was shouting about dictatorship there ... when I heard that, I thought: it's better to be a dictator than gay."
Belarus opposition leaders arrested after riots
European leaders said any new sanctions should target those in Belarus who are responsible for human rights violations and repression of civil society, as well as people supporting Lukashenko's government or benefiting from it.
Tit-for-tat expulsions
Poland, Belarus's direct neighbor, has played a leading role in formulating EU policy towards Minsk -- often drawing fire from Belarus for doing so.
The call for sanctions followed a diplomatic spat between the EU and Belarus last week, when EU pressure on Minsk escalated into tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.
Belarus expelled the EU ambassador in Minsk and recalled its own envoy from Brussels after the EU imposed sanctions on 21 Belarussian judges and police officers. In response, the bloc's 27 capitals agreed to temporarily withdraw their own ambassadors.
The EU sanctions target the authoritarian country's repression of political opposition, including frequent jailings.
They date back to the December 2010 presidential elections, in which more than 700 people — including seven candidates — were arrested in the wake of a massive protest against alleged vote fraud. Lukashenko was declared the winner.
Lukashenko has criticized homosexuality in the past. Last year he said he "did not like gays."
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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In the event of failure, it is far better to have a world where there are multiple systems in place, rather than one world under one system =
Sounds to me that he really is gay but afraid to say he is gay and that is why he hates everyone and wants to hurt people instead of helping people.
Please don't get me wrong there is NOTHING wrong with being gay but you just have to step up to the plate and be honest and all that anger will just melt away but that is the way I feel.
Now, that, was "gay" logic.
Genuflect much to the GOP 'Gods,' Nancy?
Ain't too many cylinders firing off up there eh Carol?
A gay candidate can be remover from office eventually, but a dictator can not for you have made your bed and you will sleep with in it.
It's not that we hate gay people, we just would like to see them in treatment. So they can address their illness.
How, and what is your excuse for not getting treatment, because your statement sounded ill.
gee Howdidwegethere
Lukashenko is suspected of human rights violations...a favourite activity with dictators
are you sure you want to support this dictator by taking his side on anything ?
or were you just cruising for a place to vent your homophobic fears?
What an illegitimate claim. Homophobic fears. Maybe you need to understand. Dislike doesn't equate to fear.
On a lighter note, Belarus was once the 117th largest producer of potatoes in the world.
SlimJim2 who keeps a list that long re potatoes? 117th???...talk about small potatoes!
Does that make him a dick-tater?
Phil frm Illinois
fits the bill Phil...& Dick used to be such a nice name before it "took off" as a body part
Well when the current GOP candidates lose the upcoming election for president they certainly know which country they are welcome in!!!
Better hope, friend, you will not like the way things go, if we dump the inept lying quasi socialist in the white house and the RINOS.
No, they can still live in America. Most Americans still think homosexuality is wrong.
Thats strange, joe, since 48% of Americans think it isn't wrong while 43% think it is. But you go ahead and believe the Catholic Church saying it is wrong, since they have a preponderance of Pedophiles running rampant and hiding behind the auspices of God.
Source?
Apples and oranges. A dictator controls thousands/millions of lives through political venture. A person who is gay was born gay, just like someone born white or black. Neither has anything to do with one or another. Being a dictator is about everybody's business. Being gay is nobody else's business. Belarus really needs to open its collective eye at this legerdemain of its dictator.
Again, the word is homosexual, not gay.
Thus spake joethejust, Grand Arbiter of all language.
Homosexuality is sin.
Only for those who think that way....and of course that is no one else's problem but theirs.
Lonesome, did Jesus say so? If you can find THAT passage in the Bible where he says it, let me know.
a President saying this? wow !!!! that's great!!!! . I agree with Him.
Here is a news flash. Most guys would rather be a dictator than a homo. It is much easier on the tailpipe.
That's your concern...the state of your tailpipe?
It would be if I was gay.
So The New trend is to be Gay ? and Minister? maybe President too?(already have Priests)
I aplaud this Bielarus President.
If i have to chosse or vote I would vote a Dictator.
I lived in a country with a Dictator. and was MUUchh BETTER than a country with democracy( what a duty word!!)
Argentina is my birth country.
There is 1000 or more exemples why is better than "this democracy"
Then maybe you should go back to your dictatorship to live!!
if being Gay is just a male chossing a male to live with i am ok.
But when you force that on a society "to be gay and accepted as normal in churches , and teach "my kids" in a public place like school . and make them explore themselves and touch eachother. and encourage that kind of behaivor.
Then being gay is everybody bussines, just like a dictator.
so I chosse a Dictator for president 1000 times or more over a gay. i can live with that.
Do you realize the whole analogy of gays doing what is natural by comparing them to dogs (who do it apparently because of a dominance issue according to some of you) is an indication of how sick it really is? So a male dog tries to dominate a male dog in this way, and a female dog tries to dominate a female. Is this because they somehow feel they can't have a real caring, loving relationship with a dog of the opposite sex? And should puppies be bred to be given to the male dogs who won't have a chance to have puppies by themselves? If dominance is the goal, the gays are in for a rude awakening, because one person dominating another won't work in any relationship. Please stop trying to justify one thing by comparing it to another that is just as corrupted. Everything in nature suffers because of sin, so just because you see a dog do it isn't an indication that it's ok for you to do it. After all dogs eat feces.
"Everything in nature suffers because of sin"...really?
Did your god not create all of nature? Are you saying your judgement is better than his because he obviously made some mistakes in creating those gay dogs, monkeys, dolphins, penguins and thousands of other homosexual animal species? Are you suggesting the animal world be converted to Christianity because god made a mistake in creating them and your denomination (which has more power and authority than god) will make everything right?
Strange isn't it how people and churches pretend to have more power and authority than the god they supposedly worship.
Homosexual children, the word is homosexual. By not being able to actually spell and say the word homosexual, speaks volumes about homosexuals. Anyway, this is an elementary school taunt by the homosexual who doesn't like the dictator probably because of the way the dictator thinks about homosexuals. So the German homosexual taunts the dictator and the dictator sticks his tongue out, jambs his thumbs in his ears, wiggles his fingers at the German homosexual and says ... and that makes news...
How exactly would HE know? Just wondering!
BAMBAM123...my thoughts exactly...
LOL.... I thought this artical was about our own dictator obama untill I clicked the link!.
I live in Europe. Nobody in Europe thinks that Belarus is part of Europe.
says the man with little boys locked in a closet!
Lukashenko is the Real man of Europe. He is doing it the Lukashenko way. Who cares about bunch of gay and western backed trouble makers. He should deport them back to France and England. Crushing his opposition in the open is the way to o it, unlike the underhanded way it's done in the west. We need him as a candidate for the GOP ticket. Now we just have a bunch of whimps on the GOP side who will just lay down like a bunch of bitches and hand a second term to OBAMA.
SRBINAT...I can understand why Lukashenco is your hero...may you two be very happy together...perhaps once this petty dictator is convicted for human rights abuses, you two can share a jail cell...
John Gal.
You don't get to dictate where others should live.
Got it?
Learn that simple fact and you'll have taken one small step towards normalcy.
It's not too late to grow up.
Have a nice day.
He's right, I'd rather deal with a dictator any day than a gay freak.
Adam-246988...surely you jest !
either that
or you have had little life experience to know what living with a dictator really means for a citizen
You know that when a person cannot defend his or her position without name calling or mud slinging, they have no position to defend, or they're in the wrong position. Which is about the same thing. I would worry about the intelligence of anyone who could equate being gay with being a dictator to begin with. I'm not saying this man is stupid. I think he just did that himself.
Ron-4374770...stupid is as stupid does Ron...
and this man is lacking in mental agility if all he can think to say as a retort is to "name call"
it's a form of deflection...
if that's all he has to "sell himself" to his people, then he is truly in trouble politically
Things are so pc, so what if the guy did not like what he said about him? get over it, he shouldn't be so damn sensitive. The dictator just responded to the original coment he did not like and this winebag goes crying to higher powers, dictator or no it is just another step in forcing people into a greater dictatorship.
He almost sounds Republican. :D
did any of u ever hear of the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah and their surrounding cities which were destroyed due to being gay communities. Also did any of u ever notice in the old testament the penalty for being gay was stoning and in the new it is listed along with bestiality and a few other things as an abomination. So for all u that support the gay agenda the future dont look too bright
dean, you need to reread the Bible since your statements are patently false, unless like the Old Testament you want stoned to death for lets say, lying, murder, coveting someone else's wife, or praying to a different God, just to name a few. How about posting a passage where JESUS said it. I'll be awaiting this one.
Grow a brain, Dean!
fanto no lie in what i said it is there in black and white but if only the things Jesus said are pertinent u can through out the 10 comandments along with 98 % of everything else in there
dean2082...
you are about as literal in your reading of the bible as terrorists are in their reading of the Quran
if you would like to live in the world of 2000 years ago, best you find a dinosaur to bunk with
the rest of us folks who do read the bible & the words of Jesus know that he preached LOVE...
over and over and over and over again !...lived love..acted in a loving manner....always!
Oh blah blah! People need to MYOB.
Notice that the majority of people with "biblical issues" with gay people are obese, fat-finger-pointing GLUTTONS. And gluttony is a deadly sin - god said "if you're a lardass, put a knife to your throat and slice!", basically.
I'd rather be gay than so massive that you need to ride a Rascal scooter or Hover-Round everywhere you go and need to be buttered down to fit into a car. I'd be pissed at "teh gays" if I had to get walls in my house broken down just to get to another room, too!