 Though we have all heard about the migrant crisis in Europe for a while now, probably for the past decade or so, there is a new front to this crisis that you will probably have been hearing a little bit about in the news in the past few weeks. Belarus of all countries has taken in some tens of thousands of refugees from war-torn countries like Afghanistan, but also some Middle Eastern and African countries. These refugees, desperate to get into the EU, have found themselves at the border of Belarus with Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia in huge numbers and in excessively poor conditions. Some in the EU are accusing Belarus of hybrid warfare, while Lukashenko's government vehemently denies this. What is really going on here and how is it connected to some of the greater geopolitical issues the region is facing? The migrant crisis in Europe began around 2011 when violence in the Middle East slash North Africa region really started picking up due to the events of the Arab Spring. Though these refugees had originally headed for countries closer to their homelands, the living conditions for these refugees were not great, and seeing that the wars in their homelands would not end soon, many wished to find opportunity in resettling permanently in the European Union. The refugees come from a diverse range of countries experiencing major instability, but most notably Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Eritrea, and Nigeria, and other countries in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. They have found several ways to cross into Europe's borders, but two of the most historically significant routes are the sea route across the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy, or the Aegean sea route from Turkey to Greece, which has become especially popular due to its ease to complete for travelers from the Middle East, and the fact that many refugees already had been living in Turkey. This latter route became especially popular in 2015, when the refugee crisis hit its zenith. The crisis has brought up several difficult questions regarding the refugees, such as the place Islam has in a predominantly Christian-slash-Western-oriented society, how much of a burden on the economy the refugees will be, and whether the refugees will be sent home after the wars of their origin countries are complete. The crisis has also created a wide range of division amongst Europeans, namely those who would rather see the refugees cared for, and those against major scale migration to the EU, who emphasize the importance of Western civilization and values. Countries in Eastern Europe, most notably the Visigrad IV, tend to be much more against being the hosts of these refugees, in contrast to other Western European countries, which have taken in large numbers, sometimes over a million, in the case of Germany. A new front for illegal immigration is building, and in a place most people would not have expected from initial glance. Far from the usual migration routes, Belarus has invited thousands of refugees into its country, who are on their way to the EU, most notably to Germany. These new refugees in Belarus also find themselves at the border of countries that are generally less accepting of migration to their countries, making the movements of these migrants a bit more complicated. Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, paying the brunt of this new crisis due to their border with Belarus, have called the situation a form of hybrid warfare, where the Belarusian government is trafficking these migrants for the purpose of becoming soldiery against the European bloc. With the deteriorating situation at the border, many could pass this situation off as just another part of the ongoing migrant crisis I described earlier, but in fact it has much deeper roots, at just surface within the last year or so, and are a direct result of worsening relations between Belarus and the EU. The EU has always been critical of the authoritarian nature of the ruling regime of Alexander Lukashenko. Having ruled since 1994, there has been great speculation of his regard for human rights and election integrity, and the EU has imposed sanctions against the country for decades. This all came to a major climax in August 2020, where Belarus' presidential elections between Lukashenko and challenger Sviat Lana Tsikhanovskaya, who advocated for a democratic and pro-European shift in the country, were met with great scrutiny by the EU and the Belarusian people. According to official results, Lukashenko won with over 80% of the vote, though this election was widely viewed as fraudulent, and Tsikhanovskaya is believed to have been the real winner. Protests erupted across the country as people vouched for democracy and Belarusian sovereignty from the government's position on having stronger ties with Russia. The government cracked down severely on these protests, with police brutality being a widely used tactic against the protesters. While most of the opposition leaders find themselves in prison in Belarus, Tsikhanovskaya has sought refuge in the EU. Relations between Belarus and the EU further deteriorated in May 2021, when Belarusian authorities forced a plane flying through Belarusian airspace, but going from Greece to Lithuania to land in Minsk. An anti-Lukashenko journalist originally from Belarus, Roman Portosevich, and his girlfriend were arrested by Belarusian authorities before the plane was allowed to continue to its destination hours later. Along with more sanctions, Belarusian airlines have been banned from flying within the EU-27 airspace. Along with these scandals, the Tokyo Olympics brought more tensions as an athlete, Kristina Tsimanoskaya, sought asylum in the EU, and ultimately ended up in Poland, due to a video she made regarding her coaches pressuring her to competing in an event she had not prepared for. Lukashenko remarks that her move to the EU was a result of the Polish forcing her to move there, rather than moving there on her own accord. Today, the crisis has been defined by a few ways. Initial threats made by Lukashenko, the build-up of illegal immigrants at the border with the EU, and followed by the build-up of military presence and walls on the EU side of the border. Lukashenko has claimed in June 2021 that he would allow human traffickers and drug smugglers into Europe, as well as toying around with the idea of armed migrants. As these three countries did not have the adequate infrastructure to deal with such a large number of migrants coming from Belarus, which now has a constant influx of migrants coming by plane due to their efforts to promote relocation to Belarus, the borders are now experiencing great military build-up and pressure to build walls to keep the migrants out. Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia have received direct support from the UK and fellow EU member Estonia, as well as Ukraine, which is beginning to face some major problems of its own with military build-up, which I will discuss in a video in the near future. The EU members on the border with Belarus have accused the country of trafficking these migrants for their own purposes, so that they can cause political instability within neighboring EU states as a response to their actions against the current regime. This view is supported by Lukashenko's claim that the migrants are not going to be staying in Belarus at all, as they will be on their way to Europe. The migrants are being used for Belarus's political purposes by being forcibly pushed to the EU border, so that they can incite instability. Unsurprisingly, the migrants are not being treated adequately or humanely, further supporting the idea that the Belarusian government is just using these people for their own hybrid attack on Europe. Though a few thousand people have been able to cross the border into Europe, many have actually been repatriated to their home countries due to the deteriorating situation there. Despite this, Belarus is allegedly trying new tactics to get the migrants into the EU according to Poland by putting fewer migrants in many more spots along the border. Looking forward to the future, we have yet to see what Belarus will do with these migrants, especially as the continental brutal winter begins to set foot across Europe. The mistreatment of the migrants by the Belarusian government is something that, unfortunately, is unsurprising. This once again reminds the world of the crime syndicate ideology that the Belarusian government possesses, along with all the other incidents that led up to this. And what's the reason? The self-censored intentions of keeping Lukashenko in his click in power, and it makes all of this according to them justified. Thank you all for watching. Be sure to like, subscribe, and share this content with everyone you know. Let's try to get to 5,000 subscribers by the end of this year. Check out my Patreon and Discord server on my Instagram, and I'll see you guys next time.