German press: West has schizophrenic attitude toward dictator Lukashenka

• 9.04.2010, 17:32

The newspaper Märkische Oderzeitung criticizes the policy of Europe and the US towards post-Soviet dictatorial regimes.

“The attitude of the West towards the events in former Soviet republics can be called schizophrenic,” the German Märkische Oderzeitung writes. The paper means that the West gets on well with such dubious regimes as Lukashenka in Belarus, Bakiev in Kyrgyzstan, Karimov in Uzbekistan, in spite of corruptive nature and dishonesty of these rulers.

According to the paper, the West is interested in this region and wants only stability there. “This is a possible explanation why the EU welcomed the regime change in Bishkek after the riots.”

Officially, the new government was supported by Russia too, which had problems with Bakiev due to deployment of American military in the country.

It is clear that Kyrgyzstan, like other post-Soviet countries, has many problems – people are dissatisfied with sharp increase in prices, poverty, corruption, censorship. Nevertheless, in 2005 Bakiev was led to power by the people, who have overthrown him recently. This time, they again cut off the head of the system instead of changing it, the German newspaper writes.

“Kyrgystan: a Russian revolution?” The Guardian wonders. According to the paper, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin moved quickly to recognize the new power in Kyrgyzstan while disavowing any role of Moscow in the overthrow.

As The Guardian writes, competition with China and the US for control of strategically important energy resources and transit routes is one key motivator.

Russia seems to be interested in “exploiting the situation for its own purposes”. However, the US has few friends among the opposition that gained power, as Washington ignored violations of human rights and democratic norms in Kyrgyzstan.