Belarus

Alexander Lukashenko, The President of Belarus has given a clear indication of where his loyalties lie and where the interests of his country lie. In a word: Russia.
Many tend to exaggerate the materially impactful nature of the occasional disagreements Minsk has with Moscow. The gas disputes of 2004 and 2007, were quickly resolved and relations between the two countries which form a successful Union State, continued along normal lines, thereafter.

Though Monday’s terrorist attack on the metro in Russia’s second largest city St. Petersburg has understandably stolen most Russia-related headlines during the past few days, a couple events took place in the city concurrently which are worthy of some attention.

The blood-soaked quagmire that is Ukraine and recent statements from US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson alluding to the notion that regime change in Syria is off the table, indicate that the US policy of toppling governments it doesn’t like may be a thing of the past. However, western meddling in Belarus says otherwise.

The only document which NATO members violate more frequently than the Charter of the United Nations, is the NATO Charter itself.
NATO is supposed to be a defensive alliance, but recent years have shown it to be an aggressive organisation which has famously targeted two states which neither threatened nor bordered any NATO member. Furthermore, they didn’t threaten anyone else, NATO member nor otherwise. The two countries in question are of course Yugoslavia in 1999 and Libya in 2011.

As the situation within Ukraine itself deteriorates, Ukraine’s relations with the two neighbouring countries with which it has struggled to remain on good terms – Belarus and Poland – have also taken a sharp turn for the worse.

Pentagon has finally discovered a “link between Russia and Libyan commander Haftar” Marine General Thomas Waldhauser, the head of U.S. forces in Africa told reporters on Friday March 24 that

Every few years Belorussian President Alexander Lukashenko has what seems to be an obligatory dispute with Russia, generally over energy prices. In both the 2004 and 2007 spats, the crisis was amicably solved in short order.
But during each disagreement, Lukashenko tended to purposely exaggerate the nature of the dispute in order to enhance his own personal prestige. It’s all a bit childish, as Russia and Belarus form a Union-State, making Russia and Belarus the two closest fraternal states of both the Commonwealth of Independent States and Eurasian Union.

I haven’t written much about Belarus, and many reliable analysts also have been careful not to say anything, because everyone understood that Belarus would be next to be hit by

The past couple of days have seen a flurry of statements and actions from the Belarussian side indicating that President Lukashenko is on the brink of pivoting his country away from Russia.

On November 13, 2015, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) terminated the membership of the Russian Athletics Federation for an unspecified period due to what remain to be questionable doping allegations. As a result, all Russian track and field athletes have been banned from competing in all international events, including world championships and the Olympics, under the flag of the Russian Federation.