Belarus

American Ambassador to Belarus, Karen Stewart, was pressured to leave Minsk last week. Lushanko, as a protest to America's sanctions, is requiring the US Embassy to cut its staff back from 40 people to 30. In return, the US is temporarily halting all visas from Belarus to America. At this point we don't know whether or not or munchkins have received their visas, or if their paperwork is in the pile on someone's desk awaiting a stamp. ABRO director Joe Strong says until we hear otherwise, all groups are to continue to plan as if the children are coming.

We ran into a similar situation last year when political unrest over the "presidential elections" caused disruption in various services, including flights out of their only airport. By the end of April things had calmed enough for paperwork to be processed and sorted. So I'm not apprehensive, but I'm also aware that the possibility of a quiet summer is also likely.