Foreign Policy Laments Trump’s Non-Support for Coup in Belarus

Sept. 7, 2020 (EIRNS)—Foreign Policy magazine, owned by the Washington Post, features a lengthy lament of President Donald Trump’s failure to push for a coup in Belarus, in an article by Daniel Baer Sept. 3, titled, “The Belarusian People May Yet Achieve the End of the Lukashenko Era, But It Will Be in Spite of the United States.”

The last month in Belarus has been a “seismic political moment, replete with dramatic scenes recalling ... Prague in 1968,” Baer wrote. The Aug. 9 election was “flagrantly rigged,” since it resulted in incumbent Aleksandr Lukashenko declaring himself the winner. The U.S. reaction to what the neo-con Foreign Policy calls the “rigged election” and “resulting protests has been weak, but the U.S. diplomatic response even more disappointing,” Baer complains. On Aug. 12, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, clearly on a short leash by Trump, made what Baer called an “understated reaction” in a speech to the Czech Parliament, mentioning China and the Chinese Communist Party 20 times, but never mentioning Belarus. There has been no formal statement from the White House on Belarus. “Pompeo and Trump have been missing in action.”

Baer wanted Pompeo’s number two, Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, to give the opposition some traction, but clearly President Donald Trump, and a seemingly leashed Pompeo—at least on Belarus—were having none of it. Russian President Vladimir Putin brought in no troops, and made his own “tepid statement” according to Foreign Policy.

Baer admits that Putin may be prepared to stop another Washington Post-led color revolution. A week ago, Putin used an Aug. 30 birthday call to invite Lukashenko to Moscow.