KGB Hijacks Flight to Arrest Journalist.

[Shalcker]

A dictator joining another dictator, not that we would miss him.

If you want to lower their buyout price for Russia then go ahead - i certainly wouldn't be against saving on acquisition costs.

[jonnysensible]

And of course serious economic sanctions will push it straight into Russian arms.

its already in russian arms which is why Lukashenko keeps going to Putin and begging for money like a dog. Putin will be thinking 'this fucking guy' and 'how can i gain an advantage'.

when you say 'i'm on other side'. What side is that? Authoritarianism?

Lukashenko should be made to eat as much shit as possible. His inner circle the same. Want to send you daughter to a European Uni? sorry no visa fuck you. etc. Be king of your own shit pile, any penny or person that leaves is fair game.

Some people just need blasting. When MBS chopped the lad up in the embassy, he needed a bullet. When putin and his goons novichocked the UK, he needed a bullet. When Assad dropped chemicals on people he needed a bullet. Its the only way to solve it. Same reason we drone strike jihadi john, sometimes you just have to kill a cunt.

[Forogil]

Seems like Lukashenko and the KGB work similarly as previous terrorist who threatened to blow up planes with a bomb to divert a plan to their favorite destination. Not all of them actually had bombs on the planes.

[Azadina]

No, that previous punishment is over treatment of opposition that contested election results.

...clearly sanctions didn't help with that at all.

There would be no practical differences over how you already treat them.

And of course serious economic sanctions will push it straight into Russian arms.

Large difference. No one cares about declarations of war or any of that official red tape between nations and terrorist organisations, unlike nation vs another nation. The terrorist leadership and it's fighting machine could just be taken out on a whim. And maybe then the population can actually turn it into a legitimate country.

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If you want to lower their buyout price for Russia then go ahead - i certainly wouldn't be against saving on acquisition costs.

You're on an admission spree today. Now it's an admission of Russia being very expansion hungry outside it's own borders.

[Polyxo]

Honestly, this could also be a plot by Ryanair to add a "Don't get hijacked by Belarusian secret agents" fee for their flights.

[postman1782]

Sounds like an insane plot in 2021. But not unexpected from kleptocrat governments.

Belarus arrests journalist Roman Pratasevich after diverting Ryanair flight to Minsk.

• KGB operatives boarded the plane in Athens this morning together with Roman Protasevich
• Then when the plane has entered Belarus airspace KGB officers initiated a fight with the Ryanair crew insisting there’s an IED onboard.
• Eventually the crew was forced to send out SOS (literally moments before the plane would've left Belarus airspace).
• MiG-29 took off and escorted it to Minsk. Security services entered the plane and arrested Protasevich.

Raman Pratasevich is a Belarusian journalist and Belamova editor. He actively covered the events of the 2020 election campaign and the subsequent protests. Belarusian security forces started several criminal cases against him, the KGB put him on the terrorist list.




Violates the Freedoms of the Air stuff by so many different angles

Who wants to bet that our resident Russians will try everything they can to spin this?

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Looks like I was right, we got 2 already trying to spin this to say anything other than that the KGB broke multiple international laws to arrest a journalist that is critical of the Dictator that is Putin.

[draynay]

How could you arrive to that conclusion, I can't fathom.

Do you not understand the "high horse" expression you used? Are your posts just word salad?

[Shalcker]

its already in russian arms which is why Lukashenko keeps going to Putin and begging for money like a dog. Putin will be thinking 'this fucking guy' and 'how can i gain an advantage'.

As he should. Bigger block -> better negotiating position.

when you say 'i'm on other side'. What side is that? Authoritarianism?

Side of building up foundation without which democracy is too fragile to be reliable.

"Just accept that you lost elections" doesn't even work in US that well; for elections to transfer power you cannot just do them in cargo cult way and expect existing power to simply fold when threatened (by declaring "actually, you lost!" and getting people on the streets... even if true). A lot of structures and social conventions have to be built up and changed first.

And external threats harm that.

Lukashenko should be made to eat as much shit as possible. His inner circle the same. Want to send you daughter to a European Uni? sorry no visa fuck you. etc. Be king of your own shit pile, any penny or person that leaves is fair game.

How exactly will that promote democracy in any way? That way every democracy-related NGO will be banned for as long as he lives.

To me it looks like you want authoritarianism to persist in Belarus for eternity while taking petty shots at it "because authoritarianism is bad".

Some people just need blasting. When MBS chopped the lad up in the embassy, he needed a bullet. When putin and his goons novichocked the UK, he needed a bullet. When Assad dropped chemicals on people he needed a bullet. Its the only way to solve it. Same reason we drone strike jihadi john, sometimes you just have to kill a cunt.

If you want fair world then you can only do that as long as you accept that your side might be ones getting the bullet too. Would you?
Like "When Obama had Qaddafi executed under watch of US special forces, he needed a bullet".
Would you accept that it would be good solution?

[kaid]

He faces charges that can, depending on sentencing, go up to that level.

Possible, but i see that as unlikely. If Lukashenko would have wanted to show executions then he already has plenty of opposition detained.

Countries do that now and then. Including Western countries.

It's breach of etiquette (and agreements), but all countries do have right to control their airspace... and if they feel that gain out-weights the cost (and for once-in-a-decades event costs are generally quite minor), they do it.

They staged a hijacking about a fake IED and sent a fighter jet to force the plane to land but they totes don't want to kill the guy.

[Shalcker]

Large difference. No one cares about declarations of war or any of that official red tape between nations and terrorist organisations, unlike nation vs another nation. The terrorist leadership and it's fighting machine could just be taken out on a whim. And maybe then the population can actually turn it into a legitimate country.

Except Belarus is internationally recognized sovereign country. What you want is ability to declare any sovereignty to be null and void.

Would you accept your own leadership to be taken out that way? ...and would you expect things to turn out better as results?

Because that's what you will get if you pursue this path.

You're on an admission spree today. Now it's an admission of Russia being very expansion hungry outside it's own borders.

That's not "expansion hungry" - unless you consider something like Ukrainian Association Agreement to be "EU being expansion hungry outside it's own borders".

Belarus is already connected to Russia in a lot of ways, so continued cooperation and deeper integration is preferable to simple trade preferences and oil subsidies.

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They staged a hijacking about a fake IED and sent a fighter jet to force the plane to land but they totes don't want to kill the guy.

Might just imprison him like the rest in the end; starting with highest charge and then going down from that "for cooperation" is fairly common tactic.

Thinking that guy who founded oppositional media outlet is bigger threat then actual opposition leaders getting people on the streets is not something i would expect from Lukashenko.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Countries do that now and then. Including Western countries.

USA does it once every few years. Russia does it daily.

Shalcker: "Same thing really"

But as per USUAL when Russia does something shitty all you can do is pretend it's not a big deal and then start talking about other countries. The day Shalcker admits the Kremlin is a murderous government that punishes dissent is the day hell freezes over.

[Azadina]

Except Belarus is internationally recognized sovereign country. What you want is ability to declare any sovereignty to be null and void.

Would you accept your own leadership to be taken out that way? ...and would you expect things to turn out better as results?

Because that's what you will get if you pursue this path.

That's not "expansion hungry" - unless you consider something like Ukrainian Association Agreement to be "EU being expansion hungry outside it's own borders".

Belarus is already connected to Russia in a lot of ways, so continued cooperation and deeper integration is preferable to simple trade preferences and oil subsidies.

For the moment, but perhaps it should no longer be.

Also, EU is not one single country like Russia trying to expand it's borders by devouring neighboring countries into itself. How did you think that was somehow comparable?

[Shalcker]

USA does it once every few years. Russia does it daily.

Shalcker: "Same thing really"

Russia does it less then US. Certainly not daily.

But as per USUAL when Russia does something shitty all you can do is pretend it's not a big deal and then start talking about other countries. The day Shalcker admits the Kremlin is a murderous government that punishes dissent is the day hell freezes over.

This thread is about Belarus, not Russia.

People only care about it this time because plane had other EU citizens. If it would be Russian plane you'd see sides reversed instantly.

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For the moment, but perhaps it should no longer be.

EU is unwilling to pay fair price for change. Perhaps it is unable to.

And that's why democracy doesn't expand. It's highly unnatural arrangement that was propped up primarily by promise of economic prosperity. Kind of "fake it till you make it".

But once this promise fades even pretenses stop.

Also, EU is not one single country like Russia trying to expand it's borders by devouring neighboring countries into itself. How did you think that was somehow comparable?

Yes, it's quite comparable.

The entire fight over Ukraine was over who gets to expand their economic block, EU or Russia. That was the entire point.

[Daedius]

State sponsored hijacking/terrorism to apprehend someone...

[Shalcker]

State sponsored hijacking/terrorism to apprehend someone...

Probably still a step down from state-sponsored assassination.

[Nastard]

Ya'll leave poor Shalcker alone. If you force him to admit the truth, they'll be hijacking his next flight.

[Daedius]

Quoting DW:
Belarusian state news agency Belta reported that the plane had been rerouted to Minsk International Airport for an emergency landing due to a bomb scare.

Belarusian officials said Lukashenko had personally ordered a MIG-29 fighter jet to accompany the passenger plane.

An airport spokesperson told Belta that although authorities did not find any explosive devices on the plane.

The opposition Telegram channel Nexta also reported that the plane was searched. The outlet said its former editor, Roman Protasevich had been detained.

"The plane was checked, no bomb was found and all passengers were sent for another security search," said Nexta. "Among them was... Nexta journalist Roman Protasevich. He was detained."

That's what we have so far. Where did you see "murder them all" exactly?

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That's implicit threat, sure; one that usually doesn't get realised because pilots have no reason to push their luck.

Was there actual threat of that being made along the way?

Well, i'm on other side, so of course i'm providing other side of this dance.

It's terrible, sure. It also cannot be solved by sanctions.

"Emergency landing"... to Minsk... when Vilnius was closer...

[Shalcker]

"Emergency landing"... to Minsk... when Vilnius was closer...

He can apologize later like France did in Morales case.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

Probably still a step down from state-sponsored assassination.

That isn't the winning argument you seem to think it is, since Russia is guilty of both.

[ifrah]

"Emergency landing"... to Minsk... when Vilnius was closer...

Hey, could be that Vilnius would not have been able to deal with such dire situation whereas Minsk offered just the right world class response unit ready and waiting? Or sarcasm off, we all know the story here.