For months, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has tried to flood the European Union with illegal immigrants. He lured thousands from the Middle East, mostly Kurds, to arrive in Belarus as tourists and attempt crossing into Europe from there.
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By creating a humanitarian crisis, Minks is trying to get the EU to remove the sanctions it imposed on Belarus following an allegedly fraudulent presidential election and the imprisonment of thousands of anti-regime protesters.
For now, Lukashenko's plan has not worked: Lithuania and Poland are determined to protect their borders, but most importantly, the EU has not given in to Lukashenko's blackmail.
However, the greatest challenge for the EU, and the West in general, lies in the threat to Ukraine. Why? Because Russia has positioned 90,000 troops on the border with the western European country and military intelligence in Kiev estimate that Moscow will invade sometime in late January-early February.
Of course, one cannot compare the threat of an attack by illegal migrants to that of a well-trained and well-equipped Russian army.
The degree of commitment is also different, because Poland and Lithuania are member states of the EU, whereas Ukraine, whose applications to NATO have so far been rejected, is not.
Nevertheless, protecting Kiev is tantamount to protecting the West and the entire world order.
Defending it will reaffirm the sanctity of international borders and agreements. Russia has recognized Ukraine's borders as many as three times since the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991 and then trampled on those recognitions by invading the Crimea and the eastern Donbas region in 2014.
It will also be a show of solidarity with a nation that has more than once aligned itself with European values, including during the Orange Revolution in 2004 and the Euromaidan protests in 2013, which led to the ousting of then-President Viktor Yanukovych.
By protecting Ukraine from Russian President Vladimir Putin's imperial aspirations, the West will defend the liberal democracies of all FSU nations. In addition, Ukraine's independence and democracy serve as an alternative to Russia's autocratic tradition.
But above all, the threat to Ukraine challenges the West's willingness to stand up for the values with which it identifies: human rights, freedom of speech, democracy, and peaceful transition of power. That there comes a point when condemnations and actions alone are not enough. Sometimes, a show of power is required.
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