Perhaps because the violation of international law and norms was so brazen and outrageous, the European Union moved unusually swiftly this week to punish Belarus for using fighter jets to force an Irish civilian airliner to land on Belarusian soil, in order to detain an opponent of the regime who happened to be on board.

Discussions about the EU imposition of economic sanctions that would have taken months were decided upon within hours. Harsher sanctions against the government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko are in the offing. And the United States and Britain have also piled in; if anything, the British - who left the EU and are therefore not bound by its decisions - were even harsher in the sanctions they imposed on Belarus.