by Tom Tunny, Hamilton
The country of Belarus is little known to most Americans. It was a member of the former Soviet Union and gained its independence in 1991. Geographically, it lies north of Ukraine, west of Russia, and east of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. It has a population of some 9.3 million people.
My wife and I know the country well as we lived there from 2009 to 2012 when I served as Director, and Alene served as teacher and curriculum coordinator, for the International School of Minsk, Belarus.
We also traveled a number of times by train to Kiev, a beautiful, now free, post-Soviet city.
The citizens of Belarus are lovely people, but they are dominated by President Alexander Lukashenko who is still referred to as “the last dictator in Europe.”
During our experience, we heard some elderly people still long for the days of the Soviet Union when they thought they would be taken care of, at some level, in their old age. The younger citizens only want to be free in a free country as was witnessed in the past few months by the demonstrations protesting the rigged election of Lukashenko for another term. This election, as all elections in the Soviet Union, was decided even before Election Day.
Now, as might be expected, President Lukashenko has aligned himself with President Putin of Russia in the threat against Ukraine.
I hope to God that the impending conflict instigated by Putin can be settled peacefully for if not, the people of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine will suffer physically, economically, and politically. Citizens of the US and member nations of NATO will pay a price as well.
As they say, “when the elephants fight, the grass gets trampled!”
Let’s pray for a peaceful resolution!