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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

On Anecdotes in Politics

21 September, 1999 - 00:00

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka took offense. Ukraine first promised to invite him to the Yalta summit on Baltic-Black Sea cooperation, but never did. Lukashenka appeared on television and assured one and all that he took this in stride, yet he did not look like he did. And he said that Ukraine will have to cooperate with Belarus, for it has no alternative. It tried it with the West, and it didn't work. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry's reaction was noticeably sharper. It came out with a statement calling it an unfriendly gesture.

Why all the fuss?

On the one hand, Mr. Lukashenka is barred entry to the West. OSCE, CE, and other organizations, along with most European countries, do not regard him as a legitimate president and are in no hurry to communicate with him (although purely business contacts with Belarusian officials are maintained). That must have been why Ukrainian diplomats were “recommended” not to send an invitation to the Belarusian leader but just invite Belarus to attend a scholarly conference in Yalta, scheduled simultaneously with the summit.

On the other hand, Belarus remains a next-door neighbor to Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia — countries with access to the Baltic and Black Sea (and the conference was dedicated to cooperation in that area).

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Tarasiuk gave no clear answer to the question whether an official invitation had been sent Alyaksandr Lukashenka — probably the most vivid example of Ukrainian diplomacy at work, with its now proverbial desire to straddle the fence. While declaring time and again that Belarus must not be isolated, Kyiv actually supports this isolation. In the case with Mr. Lukashenka the whole thing is just another political farce, attesting to the Ukrainian foreign policy as being chronically afflicted with vagueness and an inability to take any clear stand, let alone defend it.

In fact, the Lukashenka incident would be funny but for President Kuchma's apologetic conduct in Yalta when assuring that Ukraine is all for good-neighborly relations with Belarus. As if a few days earlier the President had not decided to confer the Yaroslav the Wise Order on the Ukrainian people's “great friend” Yasir Arafat. As if there were not the general understanding that it is a shame to have political leaders capable of turning foreign policy into a joke.

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