Belarus is a well-educated country on the EU’s doorstep
Perhaps to humiliate Mr. Medvedev, perhaps to forestall the West, Russia’s government (headed by Mr. Putin) speedily repaired relations with the regime in Minsk. Wrong Carrot, Wrong Stick Yesterday’s presidential elections in Belarus are a powerful reminder that the history of democratic reform is not over in the lands of the East. The incumbent, Aleksandr Lukashenko, remains in office for a fourth term in a vote that has been widely denounced as fraudulent. In a CEPA exclusive, Senior Fellow and long-time Belarus watcher Edward Lucas offers a candid assessment of the elections, what they mean for the people of Belarus and how Lukashenko will use the aftermath to stay in power. Carrots and sticks are a good way of moving the recalcitrant, in agriculture and geopolitics alike. But what if the donkey is too thick-skinned to mind about the stick and says he prefers thistles to carrots? That is the upshot of yesterday’s dismal news from Belarus. The country’s autocratic leader, Alek...