Belarusian authorities hijack civilian plane to arrest human rights activist

[Storr]

EU decisions regarding Belarus:
 - further entry bans and asset freezes
 - Expansion of economic sanctions against State-controlled companies
 - EU airlines should no longer fly via Belarus
 - Closure of EU airspace and airports to Belarus

Supported unanimously by all 27 member states, including Hungary, which had recently blocked resolutions regarding China/Middle East. The "attack on European sovereignty" angle, as opposed to just the human rights one, enables much more strong decisions.

The fact Hungary supported these actions seems significant. Also lol at unironically sharing a Ben Norton tweet. Even if Protasevich is a die hard neo-nazi, that doesn't make state sponsored air piracy for the purposes of detaining him legal or justifiable.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

How do you think the Grayzone project going to defend this action? FTR Ben Norton at least has defended the Belarus government during the protests.

https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1396837657989292033
This guy is utterly deranged. When Israel bombed that building with AP and Al Jazeera offices and claimed it was because Hamas was there, I commented that if Russia did something similar to the press under the guise of attacking far-right extremists, no one would take them at their word. I take it back, this guy definitely would

The worst thing about that piece of human garbage is the whole reason he shifted from a pretty standard progressive journalist to total bootlicker is while covering Syria he pursued a Kurdish woman who was opposed to Assad and she spurned him. So he then turned pro-Assad and then started loving everything authoritarian regime that isn't pro-US.

[GALeftist]

How do you think the Grayzone project going to defend this action? FTR Ben Norton at least has defended the Belarus government during the protests.

https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1396837657989292033
This guy is utterly deranged. When Israel bombed that building with AP and Al Jazeera offices and claimed it was because Hamas was there, I commented that if Russia did something similar to the press under the guise of attacking far-right extremists, no one would take them at their word. I take it back, this guy definitely would

The worst thing about that piece of human garbage is the whole reason he shifted from a pretty standard progressive journalist to total bootlicker is while covering Syria he pursued a Kurdish woman who was opposed to Assad and she spurned him. So he then turned pro-Assad and then started loving everything authoritarian regime that isn't pro-US.

Holy sh*t that's incredible. Very unsurprising though that someone who has pretty orientalist takes on foreign policy would extend that to interpersonal relationships.

[Storr]

https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-western-outrage-airliner-hijacking/31270390.html
I was wondering how the Belarusians knew Pratasevich was on the flight. This blurb gave me the likely answer:

"Rolandas Kiskis, the chief of Lithuania's criminal police, said five of the 126 passengers who boarded the Ryanair flight in Athens did not reach Vilnius, though he would not elaborate.

But Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said the airline believes that "there were some [Belarusian security agency] KGB agents offloaded at the airport as well.""

It's weird how people in Belarus confess so quickly after being arrested. I guess their judicial system is just that efficient.

'"Pratasevich, in a video released on Belarusian state TV on May 24, said he was "confessing" to charges of being behind civil disturbances, an offense punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

"I can say that I have no health problems.... I continue cooperating with investigators and am confessing to having organized mass unrest in the city of Minsk," he says in the video, in which he appears to have black marks on his forehead.""
....
"He fidgets with his hands as he makes the statement."

[Oryxslayer]

How do you think the Grayzone project going to defend this action? FTR Ben Norton at least has defended the Belarus government during the protests.

https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1396837657989292033

This guy is utterly deranged. When Israel bombed that building with AP and Al Jazeera offices and claimed it was because Hamas was there, I commented that if Russia did something similar to the press under the guise of attacking far-right extremists, no one would take them at their word. I take it back, this guy definitely would

BTW, here's how he reached his inevitable justification:

[Woody]

Belarus claims Hamas was behind the bomb threat:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/belarus-points-hamas-bomb-threat-plane-diversion-hamas-rejects-claim-2021-05-24/

Belarus said on Monday that a false bomb threat that prompted a passenger plane to be diverted to Minsk where authorities arrested a journalist on board, was written in the name of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

In Minsk, the foreign ministry's spokesman said Belarus had acted in line with international regulations and a senior transport official read out what he said was the text of the bomb threat.

"We, the soldiers of Hamas, demand that Israel cease fire in the Gaza Strip. We demand that the European Union withdraw its support for Israel in this war," said the head of the transport ministry's aviation department.

"There is a bomb on that plane. If you do not comply with our demands, the bomb will explode over Vilnius on 23 May," he said.

Hamas spokesman Barhoum said the group "has nothing to do with that completely."

[CumbrianLefty]

Belarus claimed that.........and literally nobody believed them.

When people trust your word less than that of Hamas, things are pretty bad.

[Sir Mohamed]

The claims are completely ridiculous, everyone with a half brain knows this was an act of state terrorism to catch a critic of the regime. Not that the dude in question poses a real threat; it was merely done to send intimitate the opposition and signal no one is safe.

Sanctions are consequential and correct. Whether that changes much is another question. The problem is that Mr. Putin supports the regime and he as no interest whatsoever anything changes in Belarus as that would enable the Russian opposition movement.

[2952-0-0]

TFW Hamas is more honest and humane than Sasha.

In other news, Belarus is shutting its embassy in Canada, probably to pre-empt Canada from expelling them first.

https://twitter.com/rachaiello/status/1397229468607995906

[jaymichaud]

Talk about acting with impunity. What a big FU to the EU. They're just asking for sanctions at this point.

[Storr]

The Belarusian state media has released a transcript of the flight 4978's radio communication that has a conspicuous 2 minute gap immediately prior to when the pilot declares MAYDAY. The government is also now claiming the bomb threat was sent by email from Switzerland which is so ridiculously stupid they might as well claim it was sent via postcard.

A recommendation you can't refuse:
"At 12:41 p.m. [09:41 GMT], the pilot enquires for at least the second time about the recommendation for the plane to land in Minsk instead of Vilnius.

"This recommendation to divert to Minsk, where did it come from? Company?" the pilot asked. "Did it come from departure airport authorities or arrival airport authorities?"

According to the transcript, the controller replied: "This is our recommendation.""

https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-ryanair-patrasevich-transcript-questions-bomb-lukashenka/31275279.html

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/HenryJFoy/status/1397922721976111107

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Belarus should get the toughest sanctions ever possible, and be completely ignored.

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

Belarus should get the toughest sanctions ever possible, and be completely ignored.

A lot of energy flows from Russia to EU goes through Belarus, so one of the best ways to sanctions Belarus ironically is... to complete Nord Stream 2. I don't have the numbers in my head, but Belarus gets a large share of their money through transit fees for oil and gas pipelines + re-export of refined oil.

[Storr]

Belarus should get the toughest sanctions ever possible, and be completely ignored.

A lot of energy flows from Russia to EU goes through Belarus, so one of the best ways to sanctions Belarus ironically is... to complete Nord Stream 2. I don't have the numbers in my head, but Belarus gets a large share of their money through transit fees for oil and gas pipelines + re-export of refined oil.

According to wikipedia (yes, I know) refined petroleum is by far Belarus' largest export, at 34% of all exports. That's very high for a country with no oil resources of its own. Relatedly, Russia is still by far Belarus' biggest trading partner comprising an incredible 57% of its imports and 42% of its exports. Ukraine by comparison, has Russia accounting for only 8.4% of its imports and 5.5% of its exports.
Another Belarusian economic thing I didn't realize until recently is that the National Bank of Belarus felt the need to re-denominate the ruble (at 10,000 old rubles = 1 new ruble) in 2016 in attempt to stave of inflation...that's never a good sign for your economy.

[Note, tangent:]
Meanwhile actually in Belarus an activist who's been detained since September cut his own throat at a hearing today: "Father, after meeting with you, GUBOPiK [lovely soviet-like unwieldy police acronym, btw] came to me and warned that if I didn't admit my guilt, then I would be thrown in a cell with hardened criminals and criminal cases would be launched against my relatives and neighbors," he said before cutting himself."
https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-activist-slits-throat/31284721.html
Sometimes I wonder how I'd handle living in an absolute dictatorship like Belarus. The easy answer would be I'd work to fight for democracy, a concept which is engrained in the American psyche starting at an early age. But this guy tried to do his incredibly minor part (the article says he tried to stop workmen from painting over an opposition mural) and has been stuck in prison for nearly a year and just now reached the point of having "hearing"? I can imagine how (this is assuming he wasn't abused or beaten by guards, which in Belarus seems to be an unlikely proposition) the corrosive nature of oppression and isolation of detention could lead someone doing what he did, something which would on the surface seem extreme to most Westerners.

[CumbrianLefty]

Which is why people who casually compare (say) the UK and US to the likes of Belarus, get my goat.

[WMS]

https://twitter.com/evanmcmurry/status/1400140316389396488

After Russia blocks flights from European Airlines including Lufthansa avoiding Belarusian airspace, Germany bans Russian flights.

One wonders what Die.Stasi Die.Linke thinks of all this?

[2952-0-0]

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/2/germany-denies-russian-airlines-after-moscow-blocks-lufthansa

The flights have resumed.

But still, even during the worst of the Cold War, civilian flights across the Iron Curtain weren't affected by tensions. This is alarming regardless of geopolitical stances.

Edit: Actually, Reagan banned flights between the US and Soviet Union after the downing of Korean Air #7. It's unbelievable we came to that stage so quickly.