European Union Customs Union and Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Joerg Forbrig, German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMFUS), September 17, 2012
This essay was originally published by Transitions Online. It can be read here in its original form.
When Charter ’97, one of the premier independent sources of information in Belarus, opened its new office in Warsaw on 14 September, it marked yet another twist in an incredible odyssey that has had many of them.
What their home country’s autocratic ruler, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, had in store for this committed team of human rights activists, democrats, and journalists over the last two years is nothing less than a political thriller from the darkest days of the Soviet Union. At the same time, it is a lesson in how many Belarusians, direct neighbors of the European Union, continue their struggle for a Europe whole and free and deserve all the support the democratic West can muster. Such assistance, however, remains insufficient… (more) http://ow.ly/1mus6T
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