Move over UK and Russia, the new East vs. West diplomatic battle royale is now going down between Washington and Minsk. Today Reuters is reporting that U.S. Ambassador Karen Stewart (pictured) has been temporarily withdrawn to Washington following a recommendation from the Belarusian authorities that she return for “consultations.” This confirms an earlier report from Kommersant, which quotes the Belarusian statement on their decision to suddenly pull their ambassador Mikhail Khvostov last Friday. What is amusing and absurd about the diplomatic spat are the vast differences between each side’s reasoning for pulling their ambassadors. The Americans have issued a statement laying heavy on the human rights abuses, even going so far as to state “Following the unconditional release of all political prisoners, the United States stands ready to explore steps to improve our bilateral relations.” Good luck with that – this is Alexander Lukashenko we are talking about here – he hasn’t even heard about glastnost yet.