Most Europeans do not know where Belarus is on the
map, but the fate of this small country of ten million
people should matter to the European Union, three of
whose members – Latvia, Lithuania and Poland –
border it. Either instability in Belarus, or declining
standards of governance, could turn the country into
a source of illegal drugs, migrants and weapons. At
the dilapidated nuclear research facility of Sosny,
where there does not appear to be much security,
scientists paid less than London cleaners conduct
experiments with enriched uranium. Much of the
Russian gas that enters the EU passes through
Belarus. Belarus is also a challenge to the liberal
political values that are now entrenched across most
of the European continent……