How Belarus Manufactured a Border Crisis

<p>For three decades, President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus, a former Soviet nation in Eastern Europe, ruled with an iron fist. But pressure has mounted on him in the past year and a half. After a contested election in 2020, the European Union enacted sanctions and refused to recognize his leadership.</p><p>In the hopes of bringing the bloc to the negotiating table, Mr. Lukashenko has engineered a migrant crisis on the Poland-Belarus border, where thousands from the Middle East, Africa and Asia have converged.</p><p>What are the conditions like for those at the border, and will Mr. Lukashenko’s political gamble reap his desired results? </p><p>Guests: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/monika-pronczuk?smid=pc-thedaily">Monika Pronczuk</a>, a reporter covering the European Union for The New York Times; and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/anton-troianovski?smid=pc-thedaily">Anton Troianovski</a>, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times. </p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/signup/NTTD?smid=pc-thedaily">Sign up here</a> to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/the-daily?module=inline">subscribe to our newsletter</a>. </p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>Poland massed thousands of troops on its border with Belarus to keep out Middle Eastern migrants who have set up camp there, as Western officials accuse Belarus’s leader of<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/09/world/europe/poland-belarus-border-crisis.html"> intentionally trying to create a new migrant crisis in Europe</a>.</li><li>Belarusian authorities on Thursday cleared the encampments at the main border crossing into Poland,<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/18/world/europe/belarus-poland-migrant-camp.html"> removing for the moment a major flashpoint</a> that has raised tensions across the continent.</li></ul><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/theda