Befriending West, Imposing Propaganda :: Charter'97 :: News

On Monday the news agency “Interfax-news” circulated information on the additional instructions, given by the Belarusian president to the versatile Ministries for launching a national defense concept into action. Some of these orders are laid out below.

For instance, by late 2003 there must be elaborated a draft project of a provision on state order for the creation and dissemination of TV and radio programs, as well as draft program on the implementation of state policy in the areas of propaganda and counterpropaganda. In light of the latest Belarus’ policy, aimed at promoting state ideology, this can be viewed as a direct command to produce movies and radio programs about a “good guy” – that is president, and “bad guys” – corrupt and sly opposition. Next Saturday the TV viewers will watch an optimistic documentary “A Country of Sport”, where the main hero’s role – that of a great lover of hockey – will surely belong to the Belarusian incumbent.

The military agency in the year 2004 was entitled to “finish off elaboration of the fundamentals of the development and operation of a military organization of the Union state, set up within its framework a system of early prevention of military threats and the unique national automatic control system, uniting the levels of the supreme bodies of state and military governance”. Meantime, the Foreign Ministry of Belarus was told to ensure “constructive interaction with the EU countries and USA”.

The concept of Belarus’ national security was confirmed in the year 2001 by a special presidential decree. That document isn’t confidential nor for internal use only – it was published in the form of a brochure and can be freely taken in any large library of the country. The structure of national defense includes informational, political, economic, ecological and other types of security.

Almost all of the Ministries were involved in working out the strategy. Prior to the elections 2001 Alexander Lukashenko proposed to the nation a five-year long program of the country’s development. The reality proves that none of the theses of that document contradict those provisions, which are currently being made part of the national security concept. Even the state order for propaganda and counterpropaganda fits well in the “Effective use of the national information resources”.