He has been dubbed Europe's last dictator. He is known for jailing his political enemies, closing down theater productions and presiding -- in the words of one opposition leader -- over a "horrible" regime.
But Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus' autocratic president, has come up with a solution to overcome his pariah status: He has hired veteran British spin doctor Tim Bell.
The president's Web site said Lukashenko met Bell last week. The PR guru, who is better known for masterminding Margaret Thatcher's election campaigns, was invited to come up with a strategy to improve Belarus's dismal image.
"He would like his country to be better understood, and his successes to be better grasped," Bell told the Moscow Times, after meeting the president at his Minsk office. "Lukashenko doesn't see why Belarus can't be a friend to the west and a friend to Russia at the same time."
Bell is no stranger to controversial clients. As well as Thatcher, the 66-year-old has advised Iraq's government on how to promote democracy. Bell has represented Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky in his battle with Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, following the 2006 murder of the dissident Alexander Litvinenko.
But Lukashenko is arguably his toughest brief yet. The EU and the US have imposed a visa ban on Lukashenko and other Belarus officials. In 2005 the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, named Belarus an "outpost of tyranny". Human rights groups accuse Lukashenko, president since 1994, of presiding over an imitation Soviet regime with secret police, fraudulent elections and jailed opponents.
One leading opposition figure said on Monday that Bell's new job was a "mission impossible."
"The regime is horrible. There are gross violations. We don't have free elections. We have political prisoners. Independent press is almost non-existent," Andrei Sannikov, Belarus' former deputy foreign minister, said.
Asked why Lukashenko had turned to Bell, he said: "The economic situation is getting worse. Lukashenko is trying to preserve power. Russia will not help him. He is trying to diversify his resources and relationships with the outside world."
POLITICAL PATRIARCHS: Recent clashes between Thailand and Cambodia are driven by an escalating feud between rival political families, analysts say The dispute over Thailand and Cambodia’s contested border, which dates back more than a century to disagreements over colonial-era maps, has broken into conflict before. However, the most recent clashes, which erupted on Thursday, have been fueled by another factor: a bitter feud between two powerful political patriarchs. Cambodian Senate President and former prime minister Hun Sen, 72, and former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, 76, were once such close friends that they reportedly called one another brothers. Hun Sen has, over the years, supported Thaksin’s family during their long-running power struggle with Thailand’s military. Thaksin and his sister Yingluck stayed
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
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Residents across Japan’s Pacific coast yesterday rushed to higher ground as tsunami warnings following a massive earthquake off Russia’s far east resurfaced painful memories and lessons from the devastating 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster. Television banners flashed “TSUNAMI! EVACUATE!” and similar warnings as most broadcasters cut regular programming to issue warnings and evacuation orders, as tsunami waves approached Japan’s shores. “Do not be glued to the screen. Evacuate now,” a news presenter at public broadcaster NHK shouted. The warnings resurfaced memories of the March 11, 2011, earthquake, when more than 15,000 people died after a magnitude 9 tremor triggered a massive tsunami that
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