Basically the cold war never ended for Belarus. It is the last dictatorship in Europe, the secret police is still called the KGB and they very much oppress their citizens.
It is not as closed as North Korea, but it also isn't exactly the kinda place where you would go vacationing.
There has been no indication of an Arab Spring situation, but there have been a few widely reported protests (and oppression of the people involved) they may just be widely reported because they were done by women with no tops.
As for why they do this? Because if you are a dictator and want to stay that way, you avoid and control everything that can challenge your power.
One should also remember that Belarus was the least affected by the collapse or USSR, consistently maintaining the best social and economic conditions: the biggest effective gdp/person after oil-rich Russia, gini, education reach, smallest child mortality, best life span among cis countries.
Even while it's a small country with no mineral resources, bad climate and no love from the West.
This is going to change, tho, because it was hit hard by the recession and clumsily moving central bank; money inflated 3x in the last year.
The secret sauce was the cheap oil and natural gas from Russia which had been effectively subsidizing Belorussian economy in exchange for the anti-western rhetoric of its president.
It doesn't matter.
What matters is that KGB is still called KGB.
Our western friends no doubt are going to setup colorful clusterfuck like they did it in Georgia/Ukraine/Egypt/Tunis.
Without doubt it will happen if it will pass in Russia.
It is not as closed as North Korea, but it also isn't exactly the kinda place where you would go vacationing.
There has been no indication of an Arab Spring situation, but there have been a few widely reported protests (and oppression of the people involved) they may just be widely reported because they were done by women with no tops.
As for why they do this? Because if you are a dictator and want to stay that way, you avoid and control everything that can challenge your power.