Casimir scaling as a test of QCD vacuum

Recent accurate measurements of static potentials between sources in various representations of the gauge group SU(3) performed by G.Bali provide a crucial test of the QCD vacuum models and different approaches to confinement. The Casimir scaling of the potential observed for all measured distances implies strong suppression of higher cumulant contributions. The consequences for the instanton vacuum model and the spectrum of the QCD string are also discussed.