Belarusian authorities hijack civilian plane to arrest human rights activist

[Karpatsky]

https://belsat.eu/en/news/23-05-2021-ryanair-plane-s-forced-landing-in-minsk-results-in-arrest-of-journo-raman-pratasevich-belarus-authorities-list-him-as-terrorist/

An exile blogger and activist was on a civilian Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania. KGB agents boarded the plane in Greece and falsely claimed there was a bomb on board while the plane was in Belarusian airspace. Belarusian military planes then escorted the plane to Minsk, where the activist was arrested.

It's no longer safe to so much as fly over Belarus, and probably Russia as well now that the precedent is set. I was shocked to see the regime go this far, but at the end of the day this is the result of a weak response by Europe to the repression which has already gone on. When dealing with bullies, weakness begets weakness. Hopefully this is shocking enough to prompt much more intense action on the West's side now, but I'm not optimistic.

[CumbrianLefty]

I would presume the underlying factors behind last year's wave of protests are still there.

[Crumpets]

You can see in the map in this post that Minsk wasn't even closer than the flight's final destination when it was diverted. There's absolutely no "emergency landing" justification.

https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1396429666374782981

[sguberman]

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.

[Crumpets]

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.

They'll probably say Protasevich was spreading dangerous rhetoric, was secretly a CIA operative, and Lukashenko was being really clever in handling the situation in a safe and discreet manor.

[Crumpets]

https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/1396566441370001413

[jaymichaud]

What the hell are they thinking omg

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

This feels like a straight-up act of war against multiple countries.

[Blair]

Joined up thinking from the commission!

https://twitter.com/AdinaValean/status/1396513415007506432

[PSOL]

What the s•••?

[compucomp]

The Americans tried something similar in 2013 when they thought Edward Snowden was on a plane with the president of Bolivia, except Snowden wasn't on the plane and the Americans used their European lackeys instead of doing the dirty work themselves.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/03/edward-snowden-asylum-live

[Karpatsky]

The Americans tried something similar in 2013 when they thought Edward Snowden was on a plane with the president of Bolivia, except Snowden wasn't on the plane and the Americans used their European lackeys instead of doing the dirty work themselves.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/03/edward-snowden-asylum-live

Thanks for being the one to post the apparently obligatory pro-dictatorship whataboutism. Surprised it took this long. If anyone reading this genuinely thinks this is a remotely plausible or relevant point let me know and I can reply, but as I hope the absurdity of the comparison speaks for itself I'd prefer not to take the effort.

Joined up thinking from the commission!

https://twitter.com/AdinaValean/status/1396513415007506432

This excludes Pratasevich, unfortunately, who is in prison now facing the death penalty for the crime of being an independent civic actor.

[compucomp]

The Americans tried something similar in 2013 when they thought Edward Snowden was on a plane with the president of Bolivia, except Snowden wasn't on the plane and the Americans used their European lackeys instead of doing the dirty work themselves.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/03/edward-snowden-asylum-live

Thanks for being the one to post the apparently obligatory pro-dictatorship whataboutism. Surprised it took this long. If anyone reading this genuinely thinks this is a remotely plausible or relevant point let me know and I can reply, but as I hope the absurdity of the comparison speaks for itself I'd prefer not to take the effort.

Joined up thinking from the commission!

https://twitter.com/AdinaValean/status/1396513415007506432

This excludes Pratasevich, unfortunately, who is in prison now facing the death penalty for the crime of being an independent civic actor.

Plausible? The Morales plane incident did in fact happen in 2013. Relevant? How is it irrelevant when the Americans did almost the same thing Belarus is accused of doing, except it was much worse because they enlisted 4 European countries to do their bidding, their intelligence was wrong and they missed their mark, and they humiliated the President of Bolivia in the process? Belarus diverting a plane and seizing a wanted man is an act of war, but the Americans diverting a plane not even over their airspace and humiliating Bolivia is justifiable and acceptable?

Clearly to you international relations is like a sporting match, your team has never committed a foul while everything the opposing team does is a foul.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The EU should ban any Belarusian flights from entering EU airspace, and all European airliners also need to redirect flight paths so they do not enter Belarusian airspace.

[Fight for Trump]

The Americans tried something similar in 2013 when they thought Edward Snowden was on a plane with the president of Bolivia, except Snowden wasn't on the plane and the Americans used their European lackeys instead of doing the dirty work themselves.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/03/edward-snowden-asylum-live

Not the same thing. The Belarusian government lied about a security threat to force the plane to land. Morales wasn't forced to land under false pretenses, he was forced to land to refuel because Western European countries closed their airspace. A government kidnapping civilians from overflights is more dangerous than a diplomatic outrage like the Morales incident.

[President Johnson]

The EU, the UK and the United States should impose massive and crippling sanctions now. This is state-sponsored terrorism that shouldn't go unpunished. Thugs like Lukaschenko just feel emboldened if we show any signs of weakness. And try to make sure to support the democratic opposition to free Belarus.

[CumbrianLefty]

This is the sort of act proper action might be taken over tbh, Luka may have misjudged things here.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

The Americans tried something similar in 2013 when they thought Edward Snowden was on a plane with the president of Bolivia, except Snowden wasn't on the plane and the Americans used their European lackeys instead of doing the dirty work themselves.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/03/edward-snowden-asylum-live

Thanks for being the one to post the apparently obligatory pro-dictatorship whataboutism. Surprised it took this long. If anyone reading this genuinely thinks this is a remotely plausible or relevant point let me know and I can reply, but as I hope the absurdity of the comparison speaks for itself I'd prefer not to take the effort.

Joined up thinking from the commission!

https://twitter.com/AdinaValean/status/1396513415007506432

This excludes Pratasevich, unfortunately, who is in prison now facing the death penalty for the crime of being an independent civic actor.

The Belarus dictatorship also seized Pratasevich's girlfriend off the flight.

Student Travelling With Critic Also Detained, Says Lithuania's Vilnius University

A Belarusian university in Vilnius on Monday said its student Sofia Sapega, 23, who was travelling with journalist Roman Protasevich, had also been detained when their flight was diverted there from Vilnius and demanded her release.

The detention of Sapega was confirmed by her family, the European Humanities University (EHU) spokesman told Reuters.

The university spokesman said Sapega and Protasevich had been on vacation in Greece together.

[compucomp]

The Americans tried something similar in 2013 when they thought Edward Snowden was on a plane with the president of Bolivia, except Snowden wasn't on the plane and the Americans used their European lackeys instead of doing the dirty work themselves.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/03/edward-snowden-asylum-live

Not the same thing. The Belarusian government lied about a security threat to force the plane to land. Morales wasn't forced to land under false pretenses, he was forced to land to refuel because Western European countries closed their airspace. A government kidnapping civilians from overflights is more dangerous than a diplomatic outrage like the Morales incident.

So this guy is a "human rights activist" while Edward Snowden is a traitor, and diverting this plane is an act of war while humiliating an entire nation (Bolivia) is just fine since Snowden might have been on the plane. In other words, you're saying that international relations are like a sports match and you're a partisan fan, since your team has never committed a foul while the opposing team has committed a foul on every play.

[urutzizu]

Lithuania and UK among others strip Belavia landing rights, order airlines to stop flying over Belarus and ratchet up sanctions on Belarus authorities.

https://mobile.twitter.com/markuspreiss/status/1396817025922748424
https://mobile.twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1396835052168810499

What does EU do? I often think EU only clashes with other countries when its core interests are at stake, rather than ideologically. It's an internal EU flight carrying EU citizens and residents. Imagine theoretically if a flight from Texas to Puerto Rico is forced to land by military jets in Cuba and a number of passengers abducted. It would be casus belli. EU needs to show credibility or it is totally ed, even at the risk of alienating Belarusian people in the process and pushing Belarus even closer to Russia.

[Estrella]

The Americans tried something similar in 2013 when they thought Edward Snowden was on a plane with the president of Bolivia, except Snowden wasn't on the plane and the Americans used their European lackeys instead of doing the dirty work themselves.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/03/edward-snowden-asylum-live

Not the same thing. The Belarusian government lied about a security threat to force the plane to land. Morales wasn't forced to land under false pretenses, he was forced to land to refuel because Western European countries closed their airspace. A government kidnapping civilians from overflights is more dangerous than a diplomatic outrage like the Morales incident.

So this guy is a "human rights activist" while Edward Snowden is a traitor, and diverting this plane is an act of war while humiliating an entire nation (Bolivia) is just fine since Snowden might have been on the plane. In other words, you're saying that international relations are like a sports match and you're a partisan fan, since your team has never committed a foul while the opposing team has committed a foul on every play.

А у вас негров линчуют!

Morales' plane was made to wait before entering US airspace. Belarus had their secret agents board the flight, pretend to have a bomb and indirectly threaten to kill everyone aboard, divert it, force it to land and arrest a dissident together with his girlfriend, a person who has nothing to do with the whole affair. On the one hand, a humiliating act of diplomatic incompetence; on the other, state terrorism.

[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

[sguberman]

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

I have come to the conclusion that Ben Norton would have supported the NAZIS in the 1930s and possibly even early 40s.

[urutzizu]

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.

[2952-0-0]

Wow, that escalated quickly.

If the EU could impose an air blockade against Belarus, then it must be prepared to blockade Russia as well, because Putin isn't above such tactics.

We'll be back in the Cold War, where flights between Europe and East Asia had to fly around the Soviet Union and stop in Anchorage.