Belarusian & Iranian Dictatorships Are United in International Isolation

(It's Easier to Sell Weapons of Mass Destruction This Way)

Belarusian so called President Aleksandr Lukashenko arrived in Tehran late on November 5, 2006 for two days of talks with Iranian officials. The visit is aimed at bolstering official relations and advancing large-scale economic projects. Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinead expressed hope today that the visit to Tehran marks a "turning point" in bilateral ties. Ahmadinejad described Iran and Belarus as "independent and powerful" states and said they enjoy good ties in a number of areas. Both sides held a first of round of talks. Iran's official news agency, IRNA, reports that bilateral relations and key regional and international developments are among the main topics. Iran has expanded its ties in recent years with an impoverished former Soviet republic that many in the West describe as Europe's last dictatorship. Observers say both countries are seeking support in the face of increasing international isolation.

Meantime the nongovernmental corruption watchdog Transparency International released its annual "Corruption Perceptions Index". Belarus has taken the 151st position out of 163. This 151st position is shared with Uzbekistan. It's the worst position among all countries of the former USSR. To compare with, Ukraine takes 99th position, and Russia 121st.

The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has a scale of zero to 10. According to TI ranking, zero indicates high levels of perceived corruption while 10 indicates the opposite. At the top of the list are Finland, Iceland, and New Zealand with 9.6 points, while Belarus has 2.1 points. Haiti takes the last 163rd position with 1.8 points.

Also, for the second year in a row Belarus is blacklisted as "an enemy of the Internet". The list is created based on monitoring by journalists' rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF). This year there are 13 countries in the blacklist. They are: Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Myanmar, China, North Korea, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Uzbekistan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. As radio Svaboda informs, in this sad hit-parade Europe is represented by the only country, Belarus.

According to the monitoring of the RSF, government crackdowns on the Internet and its users violate the right of citizens for free access to information. In all Belarusian internet-cafés a special program for logging information about users' activities is used by the only government internet-provider "Beltelecom".