Belarus

Intro -- BELARUSDEVELOPMENTS, RELATIONS AND U.S. INTERESTS -- BELARUSDEVELOPMENTS, RELATIONS AND U.S. INTERESTS -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- Chapter 1 BELARUS: BACKGROUND AND U.S. POLICY CONCERNS -- SUMMARY -- INTRODUCTION -- POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION -- Economic Situation -- RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA -- RELATIONS WITH NATO AND THE EUROPEAN UNION -- U.S. POLICY -- Congressional Action -- End Notes -- Chapter 2 BELARUS COUNTRY PROFILE -- PROFILE -- HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS -- GOVERNMENT -- POLITICAL CONDITIONS -- Executive Branch -- Legislative Branch -- Limitations on Freedom -- Freedom of Expression -- Freedom of Assembly and Association -- Freedom of Movement -- Labor Rights -- Freedom of Religion -- ECONOMY -- Environmental Issues -- DEFENSE AND MILITARY ISSUES -- FOREIGN RELATIONS -- U.S.-BELARUS RELATIONS -- U.S.-Belarusian Economic Relations -- U.S. Assistance to Belarus -- Chapter 3 THE ROLE OF SMALL STATES IN THE POST-COLD WAR ERA: THE CASE OF BELARUS -- FOREWORD -- SUMMARY -- INTRODUCTION -- THE SMALL PLAYER AND THE COLD WAR -- RUSSIAN DIRECTION: FROM "UNION STATE" TO CONFLICT -- The Beginning of Medvedev's Term and Russian/ Belarusian "Cold War" -- The Economic War: Oil/Gas and Trade as Weapons -- Russia as an Organizer of an "Orange Revolution" -- No Military Cooperation with Russia -- Belarus and Georgia: The Way to Demonstrate the Feelings Toward Moscow -- The Conflict between Lukashenko and Medvedev -- WESTERN DIRECTION: THE FIRST STEPS -- Lukashenko as an Ally of the West -- Blessing from Washington -- BALTIC RESPONSE -- Alliance of Gas and Oil: The Lithuanian Case -- The Latvian Direction -- Estonian Connection -- ASIAN DIRECTION -- THE IRANIAN EQUATION -- The Early Rapprochement -- Upgrading the Relationship -- The Arrival of Ahmadinejad -- Building a New Relationship between Teheran and Minsk in the Late Putin Era