Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Belarus is in many ways the most peripheral European country of all. Landlocked, autocratic, and heavy-handedly misgoverned, sustained in no small way by the transit of energy supplies from Russia to countries of the European Core, Belarus itself has few functional ties with the rest of the realm and little prospect of progress. Nearly 85 percent of Belarus’s 9.5 million inhabitants are Belarussians (“White” Russians), a West Slavonic people; only about 8 percent are (East Slavonic) Russians. The economy of Belarus is almost that of a bygone era: no less than four-fifths of the workforce is employed by the state, which also allocates most housing. Except for a small contingent of oligarchs, private property does not exist, and neither do labor unions nor chambers of commerce. This is a society stuck in the old Soviet mode in a realm that continues to undergo profound change. In effect, Belarus trades energy subsidies for serving as a stable and willing buffer against further European encroachment on Russia’s shrinking western doorstep." [Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts, 17th Edition, p. 192]