For much of this month, the world has seen weary migrants, some with young children and mainly from the Middle East, lured and forced in icy conditions to the border. forest with the EU. Their growing anger at not being allowed to cross flared up when they hurled rocks at Polish border guards, who eventually fired water cannons back at them.
In a revealing interview with CNN last week, Lukashenko’s foreign minister, Vladimir Makei, revealed the psychology behind the boss’ decision to launch a frontal assault on European borders. “Belarus has shown the dark side of European democracy,” he declared.
US President Joe Biden made it the first topic of his term that democracy is under attack. He told an audience in Germany in February: “We are at an inflection point. “We have to demonstrate that democracy can still offer our people in this changed world. That, in my view, is our mission of encouragement.”
Biden’s leverage is dwindling among allies, as diplomatic missteps such as a messy retreat from Afghanistan and the AUKUS security pact with Australia and Britain have left France out. Meanwhile, autocrats like Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin appear to be exploiting the opportunity to divide, frustrate and sow dissent in the democracies closest to them, in Europe.
When Belarusian foreign minister Makei told CNN that “Poland has violated all possible international laws and democratic values,” he overturned logic by ignoring Lukashenko’s autocratic acts. , such as what some governments have condemned as illegal “hijacking” of a commercial airliner that was diverted to Minsk, and the arrest of a Belarusian opposition activist on board. .
The wolf is crying cunningly, while deliberately ignoring their own transgressions is a utility that autocracies often use to cover their tracks.
Faced with this problem, how can EU human rights defenders turn their backs on migrants, at least still turning the water cannon on them? Human rights groups have criticized Poland for preventing journalists from accessing the border area and for allegedly pushing migrants who had crossed razor-steel fences back to Belarus.
It is the concerned aspect of democracy, which values human rights and decency, that Biden and others fear exploiting autocracies. At one point last week, Lukashenko’s government suggested that Germany should take in 2,000 migrants and Belarus would handle the rest.
According to Foreign Minister Lukashenko, both his boss and Putin are pushing Merkel into some sort of deal. “It was President Putin who tried to contribute to the resolution of this crisis. He had conversations with Chancellor Merkel, he spoke with President Lukashenko and the resulting phone calls between Merkel and Lukashenko were held.”
Regardless of the details of those conversations, Merkel and her EU partners saw through the ruse and refused to play ball. German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer then firmly asserted: “We will not accept refugees. We will not bow to pressure and say: ‘We are taking refugees into the countries. Europe”, because this means implementing the very basis of this wise strategy. ”
It turns out that this is not the “dark side of European democracy”, as Makei claims, but the EU’s reality check of what it sees as Lukashenko’s lies.
But does that matter to Lukashenko and Putin? Of course not. They thrive in a mixture of arrogance and confusion, where doubt replaces certainty, and democracy’s overarching moral aim is a victory in and of itself.
Exploit democracy
Although the fabricated crisis has – so far – failed to split the EU, little has been done to be a waste of two autocracies, in that it helps favor illegitimate rule. their own law.
For home audiences, the half-truth disclosure of the border guards’ allegations of abuse and their water cannons was enough to mislead some into believing that the other side was no better than them.
Lukashenko is exploiting the core value of democracy – benevolence – by weaponizing migration trauma to turn the EU’s mental strength into vulnerability. Europe’s real weakness, which he seemed to appreciate, was not its physical borders but its principles.
But the truly dangerous damage from Lukashenko’s wiles is done to the very heart of democracy. To counter his attack on democracy, the EU was forced to take a firm stance and reject 2,000 migrants. It is reasonable, but only moral boundaries. It leans towards Lukashenko’s level and treats those desperate people as pawns.
It is this often complex issue that Biden wants us to explore by shedding light on what democracy is at stake in the battle ahead.
Inside the European Union, the main effect of Lukashenko’s ploy will be to risk raising the specter of migrants at the border, even beyond the previously infuriating reality – a situation that has prompted populist nationalism.
At his inauguration speech, Biden used the word democracy 5 times in his introduction and 11 times in his entire speech. It popped into his mind as he spoke at the place, just two weeks earlier, the first US coup attempt had taken place.
Overlooking Washington’s flag-laden shopping mall, his words reverberated in millions of living rooms and offices of autocrats around the world, Biden warned: “We’ve learned once again that the people Owner is precious. Democracy is fragile.”
Since then, it has become increasingly clear that the tests of democracy are far from over, both in the United States and around the world. Now, leaders must turn their well-meaning words into action.
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