Really? Seriously?
I’m not going to link it. You can go read it if you want. From the MailOnline August 8:
A diplomatic row between Belarus and Sweden over teddy bears escalated today when the eastern European country withdrew its embassy staff from Stockholm.
Belarus also told Sweden to take similar action with its diplomats in Minsk.
It all stems from a stunt by a Swedish PR which parachuted 800 teddy bears into Belarus last month.
The company chartered a light aircraft which invaded Belarussian airspace to drop the bears, all of which highlighted the lack of human rights in the former Soviet state.
A furious Belarus president, Alexander Lukashenko, has sacked senior members of his staff over the incident and is now taking his fury out on Sweden.
Belarus expelled Sweden’s ambassador on August 3. The Belarussian ambassador to Stockholm was also withdrawn.
The foreign ministry said Minsk was now pulling out its remaining embassy staff because Sweden had aggravated the situation by expelling two more diplomats and had refused to allow a new Belarussian ambassador to take up his post.
‘In this connection, the Belarussian side has been forced to take the decision to withdraw its embassy in Sweden and bring back all its (embassy) staff to Belarus,’ the statement said.
Ya know, I don’t like to do politics here except under extreme provocation. Well, this is pretty provoking.
You’re gonna recall your ambassador over a bear invasion? Yeah ok, there are underlying issues, but has the notion of free speech been so thoroughly extinguished in the lands of the former Soviet Union that you can’t tolerate it when invaded by an army of…Snuggles??
BTW, the bears are, um, bearing (sorry) signs which say “We support the Belarusian struggle for free speech.”
C’mon man!
