In a week filled with many unappealing stories this is one of them that has got to take the shitcake. The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has been openly called for a union between his country and Putin's Russia:
www.newsweek.com/…
www.themoscowtimes.com/…
For those not in the know, Belarus is a fairly large country in Eastern Europe:
en.m.wikipedia.org/…
The modern nation was along with Russia and many neighboring countries once part of the Soviet Union. They all subsequently got their indepence in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR. However, Belarus, unlike most other former Soviet countries, remains on very good terms with Russia.
Belarus has a population of about 10,000,000 and its capital city of Minsk has almost 2,000,000. More importantly Belarus is very strategically located. If you look at the map on the top of this diary you will see that Belarus borders Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine. Poland and Lithuania are NATO members. Ukraine is experiencing a quasi-war with Russia. If Belarus is annexed by Russia not only will Putin get more cannon fodder for his armies, but they would be in a much more strategic position for an invasion of Europe.
Granted, the government of Belarus has been making hypothetical proposals for a union with Russia for several years now, but very few people took those statements seriously. However, in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 this threat is far more serious. Such a union between Belarus and Russia would strengthen Putin's hand and make him an even greater threat throughout Europe and across the globe.
Before composing this diary I checked to see if anyone had written on this topic. I was amazed to discover no one else had discussed this very important subject and I decided to alert my fellow Kossacks to this very troublesome and pressing matter.