Staunton, December 15 – Even as Moscow appears to be reducing its military actions in southeastern Ukraine, a “reduction” that is at least in part a disinformation campaign, Putin is making Belarus into a base for attacking Kyiv. The appearance of more Russian “little green men” in Gomel last week prompted some Ukrainians to ask […]
Staunton, November 28 – Analysts and officials in both Moscow and the West have long operated under the assumption that Russia will always be able to retain Belarus as a reliable satellite. But recent statements by Alyaksandr Lukashenko and actions by Belarusian nationalists are raising questions about that assumption. In an article yesterday on the […]
Ukraine’s chances to survive are weak today and gloomy in the future. The reason for this is the position of the major player in the war in Ukraine. This player is not Russia that unleashed the war in Ukraine. This player is the West or, to be more precise — Europe. The largest and most […]
Staunton, August 24 – Unlike some Western leaders who suggested that the leaders of the August 1991 coup in Moscow included reformists on the model of Mikhail Gorbachev, Stanislav Shushkevich, then deputy chairman of the Belarusian Supreme Soviet and later president of Belarus, understood instantly that they were committed to “the revival of the old […]
Staunton, July 19 – The two countries Moscow views as its closest partners, Belarus and Kazakhstan, have refused to join its sanctions campaign against Moldova, another indication, the editors of Nezavisimaya gazeta say today, that as a result of its recent actions, “Moscow is losing its allies.” That, in turn, suggests two things, the editors […]
I like reading Paul Goble. He writes well and he has ample knowledge of our region. He seldom writes about Belarus, just mentioning it occasionally. In his recent piece, though, he looks at the case of my country: It’s time to Rethink the West’s Approach to Belarus. When I see titles like that I know exactly […]
Staunton, March 25 – Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the Belarusian dictator and Vladimir Putin’s closest ally on the post-Soviet space, concedes that Crimea “de facto” is part of Russia but is taking a hard line against the Kremlin leader’s demands that Ukraine be federalized. Such a step, Lukashenka says, could be extremely dangerous. “Ukraine,” the Minsk leader […]
