A scheme to use migrants to split the EU is likely to backfire

ALEXANDER LUKASHENKOEUEU, master tactician? The president of Belarus has brought thousands of migrants from the Middle East to the ’s doorstep on the eve of winter, daring the bloc to abandon its humanitarian instincts as the world looks on. Mr Lukashenko seems to have intended to reignite the internal division and political upheaval that followed the influx of migrants to Europe in 2015. He has instead forged a consensus in favour of the swift punishment of his regime.The scenes that have unfolded at the Polish-Belarusian border since November 8th were his concoction. Belarusian travel agents in Iraq offer flights, a visa and the sham promise of an easy path to a new life in Europe in exchange for thousands of dollars. Arrivals in Minsk are whisked through the woods to a spot on the border where, far from swiftly crossing into Poland and embarking on the supposed opportunity to move around the Schengen free-travel zone, migrants end up squeezed between the ’s razor-wire fences and Belarusian men with guns, unable to go forward or back. As went to press on November 11th, some 2,000 were trapped near the current main point of concern, the Kuznica crossing (see map). There have been a number of attempts to breach the border there. An estimated 20,000 migrants are thought to be elsewhere in Belarus, with more still continuing to fly in via Istanbul and other Middle Eastern cities on Belavia, the Belarusian state carrier.