Behind the Old Man in the Pekl

What Fasel understood, but Turchinov - no

The President of the International Hockey Federation Rene Fasel tried to assure the whole world for too long, that sports and politics are in no way connected, and therefore to hold the World Hockey Championship in a dictatorial country is normal. The main thing is that the infrastructure allow. Now I have to humiliately ask Lukashenko for European citizens who are not let go to Belarus.

On May 9, the Swede Paulin Klyiga was detained at the Minsk airport. The border guards said that she was forbidden, despite Lukashenko’s promises to make Belarus during the championship an open country and cancel the visa: a hockey ticket is a pass for any citizen of any country, be he human rights activist or digger. Paulin was sent to the transit zone to wait for the deportation.

Oh yes, Paulina is a human rights activist from the Swedish organization östgruppen . So, after all, sport outside politics, said Fasel. He had to humiliate himself in front of the dictator and beg him to let Klyuge into Belarus so as not to completely disgrace the championship. Indeed, on the eve of Paulina’s colleague, Martin’s corner was already deported from Belarus, despite the hockey ticket in his pocket. Against such a background, Phasel's poster statements about sports and politicians looked completely miserable. And the main hockey official of the world sank to requests to keep his face. Lukashenko heeded the prayers of a phase. And he personally ordered Paulina Klyuga to allow Paulina to enter Belarus - we seem to have a year of hospitality. After the negotiations of Fasel and Lukashenko, the border guards came to the Swede who was waiting for deportation and joyfully said that there was a technical mistake, but in fact she was a very welcome guest in Belarus.

But the Chairman of the Hockey Association of Sweden Crister Englund still has not received the explanations of the deportation of the angle from the Belarusian authorities. In an interview with the Swedish edition of SVD Sport, he wondered: “Visas were canceled subject to hockey ticket. Therefore, it should not have any meaning, what is your name. Now this issue is discussed at the level of Lukashenko and Fasel. ”

Of course, Phazel has nothing to do, except to beg Lukashenko to let Smith or Jones into the country. Perhaps he will be able to “beat off” a couple of Europeans. But perhaps it will not be possible. But there was no need to try to play hockey with a dictator-so I would not have to ask, to intend, to be understood, to clarify. One could just rejoice at hockey and not wait with anxiety, what other joke an unpredictable Belarusian dictator will throw out and how he will have a phase to get out. And it is unlikely that he will agree to spend the next championship somewhere in Pyongyang. Still, in ordinary European countries, it is somehow easier. And then you will not have to make excuses.

In fact, we are not talking about hockey and not about a phase, but about the universality of values.

Attempts to glue democratic values ​​and dictatorship by a joint business have never ended well, whether it was sports, trade or international treaties.

After the first Ukrainian Maidan, a ten -year ago, on which there were hundreds of Belarusians who specially came to Kyiv to support Ukrainians, Viktor Yushchenko, who became the President of Ukraine, said that Lukashenko’s interests would defend in Europe. The same Yushchenko, who almost became a victim of falsification of elections. And if not for people on the Maidan, there would be no President Yushchenko in the history of Ukraine. Saved by the Maidan, he began to lobby in Europe the interests of the one who falsify the elections, brutally suppresses the opposition shares and puts opponents in prison. However, this did not bring happiness and long political life to Viktor Yushchenko. And when the second Maidan began last year, it seemed that with such an experience, and after the Belarusian nightmare of 2010, the new Ukrainian government would definitely not sit with Lukashenko in any table or in any field.

But the only meeting at the highest level in which the acting President of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov participated is a meeting with Lukashenko. The meeting took place on March 29-at the very time when Turchinov asked the West of military-technical support, and the West urged Lukashenko to free the political prisoners at least in front of the hockey championship.

Both, by the way, were extremely satisfied: Turchinov later told how remarkably both sides agreed to increase the trade turnover to the sky-high numbers, and Lukashenko recalled that as even as Deputy Prime Minister Turchinov was the co-chairman of the Belarusian-Ukrainian commission on trade and economic cooperation. And now the money for both countries is pouring in the river, because Lukashenko and Turchinov turned out to be related souls and all economic problems are understood the same.

After a fateful meeting, the export of cigarettes from Belarus to Ukraine grew 45 times. For two months, Belarusian manufacturers filled Ukraine with cheap cigarettes as much as $ 8 million. Perhaps this is just a coincidence. But the point is not in specific cigarettes, but in the complete readiness of the current government of Ukraine to tell the world what a wonderful neighbor is - Belarus, from which no pods, but only extensions of the turnover can not be expected by forty times, and then more times once. That is, the current Ukrainian government goes exactly in the same Yushchenkovsky way, not understanding that this is a dead end path.

It is impossible to be a democrat in the West and a immoral businessman in the East, to protect the freedom of his country and not to notice its destruction in the neighboring one, to declare democratic values ​​and economically support repressions.

This is what led Viktor Yushchenko to the fast end of his career, and Ukraine to the political crisis and the new Maidan. The combination of the policies of the dirty business and democratic declarations always leads to the absolute immorality of the authorities, and then without the Maidan the situation cannot be changed. The current government of Ukraine has almost no time left to understand this.

But Rene Fasel seemed to finally realize that there is no sport outside of politics. Otherwise, he would not have to humiliately ask Lukashenko to let the Swedish citizen into the country. She would have enough ticket for the match.