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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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Leave a Comment:
It would suck to be gay in Belarus, all them hot blondes, and nothing you could do about it.
hooray for Shawn! he got to the point! Very agreed with him.
jmwhite, animals are not rational, why are u comparing animals with people? Do they have the same brain as us? Do they have a choice us we? not. By the way, God created us men and women to reproduce..if homosexual are right, why God bothers himself to create a man and a woman? why didn't he create just men or women instead?
Rosie-babyblue...ask God that questiong when you get there...
in the meantime, suck it up...God made the WHOLE world & not just the parts you find appealing to you
He fits perfectly into the profile of one of those you'll find foot tapping in the bathroom.
Take a good look around you and see what is there to be seen. The democratic republics are going morally and financially bankrupt. As it turned out China, Russia, Islamic states are going to survive. The democratic republics are committing suicide with corruption, reckless greed, drugs, and homosexuality, and a fixation with their libido along with impotent governments.
He's perfect! For Republican Presidential candidate!
Which one?
I thought this was going to be a plug for that new Sasha Cohen movie.
Is he one of those closeted homo's who has to say "no homo!" at the end of every sentence?
And I'd rather be gay than look like THIS guy! LOL Only the desperate ones would be attracted to you.
Just another testament to the fact that the Russian is still in the process of evolving. Obviously by that comment they still have a way to go.
Its suppose to go "Better Red than Dead," silly.
bobthemedic, I think you completely misunderstand the two situations and didn't completely read the article. The EU's beef with Belarus has more to do with the political oppression there against any opposition to Lukashenko and his government. The gay comment just adds shock value to the story. Homosexual activity is legal in Belarus, though quite discouraged in their society. Gays and lesbians are not the only targets of the human rights abuses.
Syria meanwhile is a different situation. The political oppression there has resulted in all-out government sponsored violence that has been condemned not only by EU countries, but also the US and dozens of countries around the world. Just like with the Belarus scenario, EU countries have recalled their ambassadors, but many other countries have done so as well. Another contrast is that summits have been held and debates in the UN on how & to what extent the international community should intervene; nothing like this has been done regarding Belarus. Also unlike Belarus, homosexual activity is illegal in Syria, as it is in numerous countries in the Middle East, and is punishable with up to 3 years in prison. That, however, has little to do with the crackdown in the country.
Someone needs to shoot this POS dictator in the head, ASAP.
This guy needs to meet with a colt .45 ASAP. Why to the people of such a dictatorship put up with a dictator like this. It is very simple just like in Syria they have no weapons they can't fight the government when it fakes elections etc. they are defenseless. The EU and any country n the civilized world should just not do business with this country unitl it is broke. is it so hard for these people to see that free markets is what feeds people and creates innovation etc. they wil get no hlep from Russia becasue Putin is tryingto take Russia back to the uSSR.
See evil, see evil say stupid things to spread hate, see evil go byebye. :)
I do not understand why "Christians" always complain that their religious rights are being violated because of passage of various amendments to protect/further the rights based on sexual orientation.
The argument that being gay is not supported by the Bible therefor any support for gays in an affront to Christians is about the same as protections for Muslims or Jewish people would be an affront to Christians. Jewish people celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday which is different that Christians who celebrate it on Sunday. If Christians feel that being gay is wrong or gay marriage is wrong then with their personal relationship with Jesus, they should refrain from that. But if others have a different view why is it an affront to you what they do? Jews don't get all hot and bothered that Christians eat pork. Is a Muslim wedding blessed by Jesus just because it is a man and woman??
I just don't get the Christian's preoccupation on the topic or why it is any different than any number of differences that exist between other religions. Drinking, Divorce, Working on Sunday, Women's Roles in Church. All of these vary from religion to religion but yet Christian's seem to make peace with other views on this topic.
REG...I followed everything you said until the last line...
Oops..Typo
yet Christian's seem to make peace with other views on these topics.
This is the oldest-looking 13-year-old I've ever seen.
dhines611...I agree...
quite the "upper lip" for a 13 year old!
Yup, better to live under the thumb of a straight dictator than a gay democratic leader....and yes, won't be long before we will be voting for the the first gay president. My guess is that this will happen way before we have a female one!
We have ALREADY had a GAY president - James Buchanan #15. Where have you been?
B707320C...
people are generally far more fearful of women political leaders than they are of gay men as leaders
however, many gay men have been elected...one even as president (forget the name)...gay men may have had to remain in the closet...or be womanizers to cover up their real status from the people....the only kind of leader I would object to is a pedophile living life as a child molestor...
bad to see those kinds of leaders anywhere !!!!
Sylvia - see my above post.
Although a bachelor, the evidense suggests that Buchanan was not gay. But ofcourse we'll never know. If he was gay, that would not be a great endorsement for gay presidents. He might have been the worst president ever.
EWUSNRET...have always had trouble remembering names....thanks!
sure do hope this world gets over it's phobias...& starts paying attention to ridding this planet of human predators....that would indeed be a noble thing to do for the next generation!
Well, Michael Jackson is gone.
c'mon EWUSNRET...with so many predators out there victimizing young men, women and children to fulfill their own sick appetites & then cutting bodies up & stuffing them into shallow graves...
it's almost a freekin' epidemic right now!
ANYTHING Michael Jackson is supposed to have done fails to come close to these malicious animals
predatory human beings can be stopped...
but this only gets our full attention if it happens to someone close...
& that's why these creeps keep getting away with it !
Alexander, Richard the Lionheart, Peter the Great.... yeah, gays and bi-sexuals have NO leadership capacity at all. (Extra sarcasm sauce...)
I would've expected such a ridiculous statement from one of our own candidates here in the US (trying to stump for votes in the Bible Belt, maybe), but a European dic--er, tator? I guess they can be just as non-progressive and backwards as our own homegrown GOP.
Both alarming and oddly familiar at the same time...
If this guy were a US citizen he would be the Republican candidate for president. He's what you call a "Limbaugh Republican"!
You mean "better a petty dictator of a half assed communist county that nobody's ever heard of, than Gay.
I wish there was a way to improve the situation in Belarus, but these sanctions will only hurt the already suffering people and further antagonize Russia.
Dick-tater of Belarus, or gay? Who cares? What's the difference?
EWUSNRET....I do hope you were trying to be flippant...try living under a dictator sometime...move to Cuba & I bet you'd begin to change your idea of idle chit chat
HA! I'm living under Obama's dictatorship.
give me a break...back to Obama are we?...
read about horrible dictators with absolute power & what they do to other human beings
there are also good people doing charitable works that can tell you LOTS if you hate to read books
get out there in the world & widen your experience...
Kinda sounds like Rick Santorum, huh!?, ...Laughs!
Who'd of thought that Soviet era repression would survive even after the Soviets found it to be useless. Belarus is one of the poorest nations on the planet because it is a totalitarian regime. So one man has created a HELL for an entire country because he doesn't get it. Pitiful indeed and his pseudo homophobia isn't very convincing. I'd much prefer to be led by any gay man than live under the secret police of a maniacal fool who will be ousted in an ugly way one day.
To John Gal... You obviously have no idea what your talking about when you say that people are not born gay. HEAR THIS....it is not a choice you DIP!!! If it was a choice why would anyone choose to be gay and put up with the likes of you and your ilk!!! DUMB A@#$!!! I always throw this in for those that have your attitude towards gay peoplel......"Me thinks thou dost protest to much" what are you hiding from John Gal?? LOL
Then genetic engineering could cure all gay people, right?
Actually, that's quite possible.
At any rate, the main debate between conservatives and liberals is about definitions. Generally, conservatives agree that certain people have an inborn, inherent attraction to members of their own sex. They do NOT call that homosexuality, though. If they call it anything, they call it "same sex attraction" and consider it a character flaw -- one that can be overcome by refusing to "give in" to the sinful behavior. They refer to the act of sexual relations with somebody of the same sex as "homosexual acts." That, in their mind, is the sin, not the predisposition itself. In their mind, calling somebody "gay" for their predisposition is a lot like calling somebody an alcoholic for a predisposition to abuse alcohol whether or not they're actually a drinker.
Liberals view it as a state of being. You simply either are gay, or you aren't. You have no control over it, and you're just as gay whether or not you ever actually have sex with somebody of your sex. This is why all the comparisons to the black civil rights movement make perfect sense to liberals.
EWUSNRET - Probably, one day genetic engineering will be advanced enough to weed out or modify gay genes, along with genetics for left handedness and red hair or Hazel eyes (although not sure why we would need to)...but we are definitely not there yet.
The idea that being gay is a choice is to also say that being straight is a choice...which means all you straight guys who know that homosexuality is so wrong also get all hot and bothered by Brad Pitt but you just choose not to act on it.
So everyone is basically bisexual with the capacity of enjoying both men and women but the good Christians choose not to act upon it but just think about their same sex attractions....I get it now!!!
in america we have both a homosexual dictator, obigot, the big earred wannabe dictator that is homosexual.
Mike Thomas...go take your meds...you must have skipped a dose or two or three