Talk about a scapegoat, where was the luffwaffa and radar staff? I know the plane probably flew under the radar but a General in charge at the time should take the heat. I want his address too so I can send gummy bears each month.........

So sad that a poor guard got sent to prison for some unthinking Swedes to have a stunt.

LOL - This post has NOTHING to do with US politics and yet all of you, Liberals and Conservatives alike, make it so. LOL So sad!

speakthetruth-2459907

Must we like to hear it or read it? What happened to your proud ideals of a free country with free speech? That's the problem with SOME of you Republicans. Your sense of freedom only applies to your own kind.

By the way, I'm concerned about all of those Teddy bears. Did they go to prison too or were they massacred in front of all the children?

SPEAK: The garbage post was FREELOADER, and the even stupider garbage post is yours...there is a difference between free speech and being off the wall. You both are.

Does he get to keep one of the teddy bears with him in prison?

If not, I feel sorry for him.

The problem was that the teddy bears were illegal aliens!

I can't ...bear.... reading news like this. If only they would look for the...Bear necessities, the simple bear necessities, forget about your worries and your strife...I mean the.... bear necessities that's why a bear can rest at ease...with just the bear necessities of life......

Okay, so is the next question, "how many teddy bears does it take to kick Lukashenko's butt"? Apparently, they didn't send enough. (LOL) Raw deal for the guard.

The is totally unbearable

Belarus became a stand alone Republic in the 90's after the break up of the Soviet Union. ........ Even though it is a Republic it has continued Soviet - era Policies such as State Ownership of the Economy. .........Elections are unfair and Political Opponents are Violently suppressed. ......... They used to have term limits but the current President had it changed to Unlimited...(Dictatorship?) ........Their President ( Alexander Lukashenko ) has been in office since 1994. ..........They have signed a Treaty in 2000 with Russia and are planning on becoming a Union State of Russia. ........... Their President is Very Corrupt and has Socialistic Views... (Does all this sound familiar? ) .........As for the stuffed Bears ( ha ha ha ) The" BEAR" is a Russian Symbol ....Get the Message????

Well that sucks. Like the Burgermiester in the Santa Claus is coming to town Christmas show,lol No toys allowed.

@Robert,Debra,Starsailing,Mercury,Commonsense: I am with you all. I feel sorry for the poor teddy bears. Hopefully they will find good loving homes with loving kiddies ( or as in my home ,pets that love their snuggle toys to curl up and sleep with). If people don't like the message they can simply pull off the writing.I can't believe that anyone could be locked up for something so harmless. If there were bombs in the teddy bellies then I could see an issue. How petty some people can get.I wonder what they would have done to the people if they sent down care packs of food, medicine and other necessities...? That might have hailed a firing squad for those involved.Can anyone say over re-acted?America is far from perfect but at least we have free speech. Even if I were to disagree with someone ( Which happens a lot when idiots are around) I can ignore what they have to say as easy like changing a channel turning the page or deleting them.Ps I hope no teddy bears were injured during all of this. Snuggel on everyone.

speakthetruth - learn to spell the truth- SPEECH

@ Ideologigal F& L ,Thank you for all intelligent info. to all this childish comments.......

We as a greatest nation of freedom of speech ,we do not know how it is to leave in the country where people could go to prison for nonsense reason and live with corrupt government .

I believe the story is asking for some feed back and support for this pour soldier ,something that no one is giving except to TEDDY BEARS and childish jokes.It is our human obligation to stand for one another .

Talk about over reacting to a "teddy bear attack". Sounds like this dictator is worried about the infamous 'Saddam Effect' .....................

Oh Bear Cat, what an idea

I am wondering what would have happened if the plane had been reported? It was not a military plane, was it? I assume it was a cargo plane, civilian, and its flight would not have caused a stir anyway, unless their military radar picked it up. Then the plane would have been shot down.

This is the type of ignorant scapegoating the higher-ups would use to persecute the little man in case the dictator decided to take his frustration out on his generals.

The Soviet Union is not dead until its people bury it themselves. As in Germany today the NAZIs are still rising up to show themselves. If the people were really wanting to rid themselves of hate and self persecution, they would chop off the heads of the bullie boys every time they showed themselves.

Should some worldwide catastrophe occur to allow these splinter groups the free dom to rise, we would definitely see them step out to their full barbarous ways.

Lazarus

I admit that I do understand the need to bear a strong surveillance against the enemies that may be out there. We just need to remember that these cute cuddly toys could actually be filled with something that's not so friendly.

I was told that the army was out cleaning up millions "toys" that were left in Afghanistan that are filled with explosives. The child hugs them and they explode, we really do hae to be careful. Everywhere.

Teddy Bears can be dangerous! One of them was instrumental in me getting married!

May we have his name and the name of his prison, so that we may write letters of appreciation to him?

Send enough Teddy Bears and he'll be freed?

So some guard at a border crossing is Belarus' first line of defense against incursion by foreign aircraft? Some countries have upgraded to something called radar.

Mark from: And do tell, whom was the giver, and whom was the receiver? hhhmmmm?? I'm just guessin' here, but it sounds like the bear accomplished it's mission flawlessly. I hope it lasts a lifetime for both of you ;-)

Embarrassing or so they should be for a sentence like that

Ok so somebody tell me how a border guard is supposed to stop an airplane..

Gwaddamn, I'll bet those teddy bears had a good laugh about all this. Bunch of crazy sons-ah-bitches!

Well, the border guard was issued a mirror so he could signal back to base any problems he noticed while on patrol. Unfortunately, he loaned the mirror to his girlfriend so she could check her makeup the night before and forgot about it, so didn't have it with him when the teddy's invaded the country. The Belarusian airforce did scramble its airforce, but their paper airplanes had no chance of catching the Swedish plane.

Do these people realise how idiotic this makes them look? Had they simply ignored it no one would have cared.

They cared, and that's exactly what makes them look so pathetic and makes what the Swedes did pure genius.

The fact that this caused them to expell each others diplomats is a sad sign. This world may be ripe for a world war. I hope I'm wrong, but governments and people for that matter take everything to heart and want blood in return.

Only 2 years??? If it was a country with an insatiable appetite for punishment like America, he would've gotten life in prison. 2 years is a slap on the wrist.

The teddy bears are not the crime in question but rather the leaflets pressuring people to join a different societal way. I can just imagine the number of people who are here saying that the belarusian response was stupid screamign their collective minds off if the iranians dropped promuslim rule leaflets on us from canada. You people are still to silly to trust.

By the way, khanny, what the swedes did was classic for initiating warfare and a practice that has been used for thousands of years. Pick up a history book before procliaming the swedes such genius as it really is nothign more than antagonizing a military resolution to change others to their ways of thinking.

Actually, if somebody had dropped a bunch of teddy bears on America with notes promoting sharia law, I could only assume it was a prankster deliberately attempting to make me laugh as hard as I was laughing.

Larry;

You do realize that extreme leftist dictators don't care what the rest of the world thinks, don't you? this clown, Chavez, Ill II, Castro, and the rest of the extreme left suffer from delusions of grandeur, ergo, they think they are always right even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The problem is, they generally have a large military to back up their delusions.

Khankubla;

Paper airplanes?, So Migs are paper airplanes are they? Last report I saw on their air defenses boasted over 200 Mig 21's, 25's and 29's. Hardly paper air planes.

Oh you mean Leftists like Obama?

@Nicodemus1946

lol migs are paper airplanes, they are like 30+ year old technology, technology for the cheap soon-to-become dictator.

Thats BS Fields, Ive read of people who on a 3 strikes law get life for much less here in the states

Well, if you've got 3 strikes, then that means you were convicted 3 times. In that case, you deserve the harsh punishments given out to you even if the 3rd strike was something minor. In the past, you would not even be allowed on the street to perform the 3rd strike.

Not anymore! Some US states have statues on the books that makes "killing someone with my car" while intoxicated, a 2nd degree murder charge, or at the minimum a voluntary manslaughter charge, on top & above the DWI charge.

Many are now serving life sentences due to this change of law, & it's well deserved. Though it may not have been intentional (hence "2nd degree murder"), driving drunk is putting everyone that crosses paths with the offender in severe danger. Thanks in large part to MADD & other groups, being intoxicated is no excuse to kill, knowingly or unknowingly.

And while some may disagree with my opinion, that's the way it should be. Way too many innocent lives have been lost to drunken drivers, many by repeat offenders. One is at far more at risk of being killed by a drunken driver than by someone using a firearm.

Drinking & driving is not a "victimless" crime.

You're right, it's nothing to be proud of. The penalty should be the same in every state.

On topic, whoever this guard is, has been made a scapegoat. 2 years in a maximum security prison is quite harsh for the offense, if the whole truth is in this article. However, I don't know the laws of that land & don't believe I'd care to firsthand.

How was one guard supposed to stop hundreds of teddy bears from being dropped across the region? Oh, the "offense" was failing to report it. And railroad justice prevails in many of these non-free countries. The leaders doesn't want democracy to prevail, they prefer corruption & oppression of it's citizens.

It's a shame that in 2013, there's still many countries engaging in this practice.

Cat

@speakthetruth-2459907

If you cannot spell, "Free Speech," do you really think you deserve to have it????

Right on, catilley1092... I agree with you 100%

R.M. Fields, of course it depends on your race. 74% of drunk drivers in the US are caused by white men, which is why the punishment conveniently "turns" to manslaughter. However, if you're a minority, you would get a much harsher sentence, almost 3 times longer incarcerated. Just read "The New Jim Crow". The research has been done and it's all there.

Nicole Noel --

"@speakthetruth-2459907

If you cannot spell, "Free Speech," do you really think you deserve to have it????"

Try replying to the comment in which the statement is made. It's difficult to find what you're objecting to when your comment comes in another post.

@ Just Me ..... Well said ,thanks there are too many grammar critics ,rather than be able to comment on the subject ,they do not realise this forum is internationally commented and people that speaks many languages not just their grammar school .

Good for you Swedish people ,you are a true neighbor ,standing up for people that are trapped into a corrupt government .

Too bad the soldier did not get too many supporters here ,only teddy bears.

Nicole Noel is a moron. This is not a classroom and no one cares about spelling anymore.

Square Dude: You are delusional. Three strikes is three felonies. Name me a felony that is better than not reporting a bunch of parachuting teddy bears...

Or don't reply, because you've already made yourself look like an idiot. God only knows what the next horrendous thing out of your mouth is, dumb hippie liberal twat

bchandl, what were misdemeanors are now felonys, in the past 20-30 yrs our lawmakers have increased sentences, and changed more crimes into felonys. In effect we sentence to life people for very little, with 2 felonys 20yrs in the past someone could get life for a traffic accident today.

It has gotten out of balance in many areas, even in Texas. Example, a driver that has had a prior DUI with injuries, gets picked up after killing someone in a traffic accident. Blood test after accident shows him at over 2x the legal limit. $250,000 bail.

Different court less than 120 miles away has a person get arrested after being stopped due to actually driving only 50 in 55 mile an hour zone. (local cops use any excuse) Police find 1 ounce of MJ plus 8 ounces of "brownies". Charges with felony possession of over 4 ounces of MJ. (even though actual content of the brownies was about 1/30th of an ounce based on cost and common practice. Bail set at $250,000. So apparently one judge considers possession of about 1 1/30th ounces of mj to need same bail as another gives to a drunken murderer.

Chaos,

profoundly ignorant trash from your end of the genepool. To go after the real instigators means to launch a military action across the border. You think that means your attempt at chaos was sound? You should look up chaos theory, it is not a planned event but a random element and the only random thing I see in your intent is the few brain cells left to you that randomly get together to spout stupidity.

LMAO

My end of the genepool, huh.

How dumb can you plumb: going after the instigators does not mean cross-border military action - now THAT'S a stupid statement.

It means going after who did it in the Swedish and European courts.

Perhaps you should, you know, actually EDUCATE YOURSELF on how European and international law works, before making...yes, you guessed it...STUPID STATEMENTS.

And it has absolutely NOTHING to do with Chaos Theory...again, look it up, because you'r revealing yourself as a true ignoramus, with that comparison.

What you see in my statement is your own lack of any real intelligence, and as the Prophet White opines to us...

...you can't fix stupid.

Lore&Wisdom?

LMAO.

Now THAT'S a flocking joke, right there.

If you fly down in Belarus today,

You’d better take to the skies,

If you live in the Belarus today,

Your in for a big surprise,

For every bear that ever there was,

Was flown down there for certain because,

Today's the day the teddy bears invade Belarus!

Invasion time for teddy bears,

The dangerous teddy bears,

Overturning Governments on their holiday,

See them parachute about,

They love to scream and shout,

Their pro-democratic views,

At 6 o’clock the border guard will be sentenced to two years

Cause their evil little teddy bears.

A bigger crime was using Teddy Bears in such a manner.

yeah...I hope the Teddy Bears weren't hurt, BG-1026147... but a 2 year sentence in maximum security... wow

Teddy Bear Dictator...clever! Thank you.

That's no joke Lisa, I just watched a program on some of Russia's maximum security prisons, nothing at all humorous about them so I'm with you on the "wow." I'm guilty of being one of those people that have/had no idea regarding Belarus and it's government or laws. I found the idea of someone dropping teddy bears humorous and enjoyed the many clever posts. But I'm thankful also for those who are posting about why this could be considered a threat to the ruler of Belarus. Hard to believe that in this day and age of information, technology and you'd hope education of history that people still succumb to corruption and repression. As Cat stated earlier "It's a shame that in 2013, there's still many countries engaging in this practice." I so wish it could be different...for all nations, truly boggles my mind that a teddy bear could be considered a threat to national security.

@ year sentence is way overboard. But it they have prisoners that are even 1/2 as bad as some of those in US, I hope the guard is put in a special section of the prison mainly to protect him from other prisoners.

The Belarus constitution does not afford its citizens the right to bear harm...or the right to arm bears...but it does allow one to harm bears.

I agree with the Swede's actions, however I would like to point out that Belarus is not communist.

Tristin, You're right - it's not technically communist. Almost all of the businesses are owned by the government though. The only media is owned by the government. In reality it is a dictatorship. If you disagre with Lukashenko, you are accused of crimes and imprisoned. If you speak out against him, you end up in prison or disappear.I've been there and was pleasantly surprised at how nice the people were, how much English they spoke, and how much they knew about the U.S. I was less pleased with being stopped by soldiers with machine guns demanding to see the papers of my driver and questioning him about where we were going and why. They didn't bother with me once they learned I was an American - evidently it was too much paperwork at the time. I don't wish ill on anyone, but I do hope that one day the people of Belarus are free from him.

Tammy,

It isn't tristin, it is "Trist in nylons". Not sure why the person wanted a prostitute-like name however they are clearly unaware that what sweden is doing is agreesing war by stirring up a population against it's own rule. I am not one to care either way, however calling the swede's right on this one because they are supposedly trieng to bring a democracy to a so called dictatorship to free it's people from that rule's harm while potentially causing the deaths of thousands of belarus activists is a sham. All the swede's want here is to open the roads for trade and are willing to use the same belarus people they are claiming to care about as the fodder and troops to make occupations easier at a later date. If you people spent a little while researching these tactics you'ld realize easily for yourselves that what the swedes are doing is mass murder prompting thousands of belarus people while staying in their safety zone. If the swede's really want to change the belarus goverment then have them send their children to war and not cause the deaths of innocent belarus children to provide the swede's with annex money.

Lore.

I'm sure you are appalled also at how our current administration has been meddling in several countries in the middle east then too. Seems "we" have stirred the pot to create an arab-spring. How about all of the deaths there?

Oh, and that meddling without oversight has handed our #1 enemy tons of weapons that they will/are using against us.

@laughingcat

fighting 10 years in Afghanistan bankrupted the old Soviet Union. Between the social upheaval and bankruptcy, the Soviet Union could no longer stand..

laughing?

You take the word of the old communist empire as fact as to why they collapsed? You are to ignorant to think maybe occupieng countries building walls and imprisoning a half million people in the first year of the end of world war two had nothing to do with the underground movement? That makes total sense, why would murder, oppresion and starvation be the cause when after all the beatles are profoundly more important then liberty and food. Just to let you know, the so called underground movement started as soon as the communists won the revolution and was headed by the old royal guard not poor people with no shoes and no beatle's records.

Mankind has been trying through the ages to bring peace and stop the bloodshed between countries. Using warfare, diplomacy, religion,politics, marriage, and all manner of devices he can think of, in settling differences. It looks like it is time for a difference approach.

Perhaps somewhere in Toyland, more teddy bears,including Winni the Pooh, even Smokey the bear may all be going through boot camp, getting ready to be dropped all over the world in the fight to bring democracy everywhere. Okay add some honey with those bears mixed with common sense. That is if you can find enough of it. (double face palm) It does seem rare, especially in this case. It's time to be hearing a new saying from Smokey the bear, "It's time you helped get a dictator fired."

And where would that be muddiemike???

muddiemike and all like you with half a wit to the facts here, pleae pay attention and then think ...

Persons and organizations responsible for reporting odd or peculiar behaviour from outlieng nations surrounding their borders or actions taken by mebers of foreign enemy nations that overlook, pass off or plain do not feel need to report such incidents are what led to the 9/11 incident in the united states. The same people who screamed that america should have acted long before the strike on the twin towers are the same people here screaming the belarus goverment is messed up for acting in time.

Least they never nuked them

don't quit your day job to become a poet please.

Nissan... You are very funny in a KNEE JERK way !!!....... Love the Satire of Sarcasm !!!

The people of Belarus are poor and don't even have the bear necessities like freedom to arm bears.

Why is everyone foccussed on the one guard and not half the defense first response forces who were also let go or fined or placed in military prisons over this act? Furthermore, why isn't there more outrage against the swede's for inciting possible mass murder against the innocent belarus people? If the swede's want to change belarus I say they grow a set and invade with their own sons and daughters or stay out of belarus politics.

thanking god in the same post as ending midevil times, you are funny!

Ever see the girls from there? Think again.

Note to Quell,

stop basing your idea of a people and their women off porn, makes you look stupid.