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“Belarusians chanting ‘Step down!’ filled the centre of the capital Minsk on Sunday in the biggest protest so far against what they said was the fraudulent re-election a week ago of longtime president Alexander Lukashenko.” Reuters
Both sides condemn Lukashenko, and call on the US and EU to support the protestors:
“The need for a coordinated stance against Lukashenko is urgent… The U.S. and EU should warn Lukashenko that unless he agrees to hold free and fair elections, sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans that were lifted in 2016, will be reintroduced. Any new sanctions should also be broadened to include officials involved in the current crackdown… Belarusians live in the final outpost of European tyranny. They are now taking courageous action in pursuit of a better future, and they deserve the West's ready support.”
Tom Rogan, Washington Examiner
“The European Union and the United States have made a good start by painting the Belarus election as neither free nor fair and condemning the crackdown on demonstrators. They can do more: They can warn Mr. Lukashenko that they do not accept the official results and will not recognize him as the winner unless he calls off his thugs and there is a new and credible election. To underscore the point, Washington should hold off sending a new ambassador to Minsk. The last lesson on dictatorship should be that people will not abide tyranny forever, and that when they finally can bear no more, free people elsewhere will come to their side.”
Editorial Board, New York Times
“However hard he may try, Lukashenko cannot hide the fact that he has clearly lost all legitimacy with the Belarusian people, who have put their faith in opposition challenger (and political novice) Svetlana Tikhanovskaya… The international community must demand that new elections are held under free and fair conditions. The government must first and foremost release the members of the opposition who were incarcerated during the campaign…
“In addition, the U.S. and partners should push for the government to register all candidates who meet the required standards to compete in the election; allow both international and domestic election observers to freely observe the elections and help to validate the results; open up the media to an array of diverse opinions; lift the internet shutdown; and cease the violent suppression of protests and freedom of expression.”
Stephen B. Nix, The Dispatch
“The west, and the European Union in particular, must play the crucial days and weeks to come very carefully indeed. Speaking from Lithuania yesterday, the opposition leader, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, declared herself ready to lead Belarus through a transition period to a new election. EU leaders will meet in an emergency summit on Wednesday. They should calibrate their approach in consultation with Ms Tikhanovskaya and other opposition figures still in Minsk. The absolute priority should be to avoid the ramping up of EU-Russia tensions, and to give Belarusian civil society the best opportunity to control the course of future events…
“There is good reason to believe that this is the end of the line for Mr. Lukashenko. But the road ahead for a population which is demanding its democratic rights is perilous and uncertain.”
Editorial Board, The Guardian
Other opinions below.
“Over the weekend Mr. Lukashenko asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for help. Moscow has ‘reaffirmed its readiness to provide the necessary assistance’ but wasn’t specific. Mr. Putin is keeping his options open, though none are appealing. Mr. Lukashenko is living Mr. Putin’s nightmare scenario of his own future, and the Russian fears the emergence of another post-Soviet democratic example on his border. Yet if Moscow props up the unpopular leader, the relatively pro-Russian Belarusian public could turn toward the West. Imminent military action appears unlikely, but the U.S. and Europe should make clear it would mean more economic and diplomatic isolation for Russia.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
“Western inaction can only lead to two scenarios, both of them terrible: Either Lukashenko maintains his hold on power with Russian assistance, or the democratic opposition temporarily prevails but will be vulnerable to Russian interference and destabilization…
“Both the EU and the United States ought immediately to deploy ‘smart sanctions’ freezing the assets of and prohibiting travel for Lukashenko’s inner circle, his political backers, and kleptocrats connected to the regime… but there is only a short window of opportunity to put such measures in place before the regime cracks down on the protests. That means that both the United States and the EU need to act now, without going through the pointless Kabuki theater at the U.N. Security Council, where China and Russia would block any effort to target the regime.”
Dalibor Rohac and Ivana Stradner, The Bulwark
“In the 1980s and 90s, Europe and the US stood firmly behind democratic movements across Eastern Europe, determined to defend and support people who wished to breathe the same free, democratic air as the West. Many of today’s European leaders — including Boris Johnson, Angela Merkel and Ursula von der Leyen — came of age during that time. Will the leaders of today show the same solidarity and the same resolve to favor freedom over tyranny, as their predecessors?”
Mariya Asipenka, Spectator USA
“Should demonstrations grow and pressure for Lukashenko’s departure increase, Putin might be tempted to offer military assistance, as he did to prop up Bashar Assad in Syria in 2015, or even worse, invade Belarus, as he did in Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014. Putin and Lukashenko have managed a tense, volatile relationship for decades, and Putin might seek to exploit Lukashenko’s vulnerable position now. A successful democratic movement in a country with so much shared culture and history is a threat to Putin’s authoritarian system. The West should not wait for one of these options to play out.”
Michael McFaul and David J. Kramer, NBC News
“U.S. leaders are responding to the upheaval in Belarus with excessive timidity… In Poland on Saturday at a news conference with Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, Mr. Pompeo said ‘we urge the leadership of Belarus to broaden the circle’ and ‘to engage with civil society in a way that reflects the central understandings that the Belarusan people are demanding.’ But Mr. Lukashenko’s moment for ‘broadening the circle’ has passed. The popular revolt in Belarus should result in the peaceful transfer of power to those who won the election, led by opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.”
Editorial Board, Washington Post
“Over the past few weeks, as opposition rallies swelled with unprecedented crowds, women have led new forms of protest, organized themselves in a leaderless movement, gathered help for families and fought alongside men on the barricades. Within the past few days, in a potentially decisive battle for the loyalty of the security forces, they’ve been handing out flowers to riot police…
“Now, others are throwing their weight behind the opposition, including workers of the Minsk metro and several huge factories. These crowds of mainly men in work clothes emblazoned with the names of major state-run enterprises followed women into the streets, but they wouldn’t be striking if it weren’t for the things women have done.”
Franak Viacorka and Melinda Haring, Washington Post
