Belarus accused of ‘hijacking’ Ryanair jet with fake bomb alert and forcing it to land so it could arrest exiled editor

[HomerJS]

Flight in Belarusian airspace was forced to divert to Minsk with the fake bomb threat and a MIG-29 was sent to enforce the order. They did all this just to arrest an opposition journalist.

Pavel Latushka, a member of the Belarusian Coordination Council, has claimed air traffic controllers threatened to shoot down the Ryanair flight FR4978 if it didn't divert to Minsk.

Do some digging. This is a Putin style hijacking. IMO all airlines should enact an immediate air embargo against Belarus until the journalist is released.

Belarus accused of 'hijacking' Ryanair jet with fake bomb alert and forcing it to land so it could arrest exiled editor (thesun.co.uk)

 

[feralkid]

Weasels.

Authoritarianism which rivals current Republican party tactics.

 

[woolfe9998]

Last poll I saw, 32% of republicans had a favorable view of Putin. Up from 12% in 2015.

Pretty sure if Trump said that his idol was Ted Bundy, at least a quarter would suddenly decide to like Bundy.

 

[esquared]

Last poll I saw, 32% of republicans had a favorable view of Putin. Up from 12% in 2015.

Pretty sure if Trump said that his idol was Ted Bundy, at least a quarter would suddenly decide to like Bundy.

the orange menaced COVID-19 serial killer wishes he could act this way. Imagine kidnapping your perceived "enemies".
If the menace read the article he would probably get a woody.

 

[Sunburn74]

Quite the political stunt. I was surprised to read that lukashenko was still in power despite the mass protests a few months ago. I guess nothing happened at the end of the day. The guy basically rigged an election, kidnapped and imprisoned his rivals in broad daylight using secret military police, and now is bringing down jets to arrest exiled dissidents at the risk of harm to citizens of other countries. He's basically putin but older and stupider.

 

[cytg111]

Quite the political stunt. I was surprised to read that lukashenko was still in power despite the mass protests a few months ago. I guess nothing happened at the end of the day. The guy basically rigged an election, kidnapped and imprisoned his rivals in broad daylight using secret military police, and now is bringing down jets to arrest exiled dissidents at the risk of harm to citizens of other countries. He's basically putin but older and stupider.

This is why today is different from yesterday. Yesterday, if you wanted to overturn a tyrant “all you had to do” was to get enough folks with pitchforks and actual torches(before tikis) in the streets. Sure the tyrant that be may have had trained men in shiny armors, but, still just men, it was, and is, a numbers game, and todays level of technology enables these characters to mitigate even larger amounts of pitchforks in the streets.
Thats why I am freaking a little bit at the prospect of losing democracy in this day and age... I dont think there will be a chance to get it back.

 

[K1052]

EU has severed air links to Belarus and will ban the nation's flag carrier from EU airports and airspace. Easy access to Europe is supposedly one thing that's kept somewhat of a lid on popular discontent with the regime. I'm sure everybody in Minsk is going to love their new non-optional Moscow connection.

 

[UNCjigga]

Lukashenko basically out-Putined Putin. Russia was literally fawning over the audacity of this stunt and full of praise for the dictator. I bet Putin’s probably jealous, like “why didn’t I think of that? So much better than shooting airliners out of the sky!”

Condemnation from the rest of the world was swift. EU basically cancelled all flights to Belarus and is enforcing a no fly zone over their airspace. Sanctions are incoming.

 

[hal2kilo]

the orange menaced COVID-19 serial killer wishes he could act this way. Imagine kidnapping your perceived "enemies".
If the menace read the article he would probably get a woody.

He's so Fn jealous of this guy right now.

 

[dank69]

Good plan:

 

[Muse]

The test here is will they release him and his girlfriend, and unharmed. The story I saw on ABC nightly news tonight showed video of both "under duress," making statements and said it looked like they'd beat him and broken his nose and that they'd doctored the video in an effort to hide his broken nose. Mega sanctions are in order to force them to release the pair (his reaction when he realized that he was going to be arrested was to declare that he thought he would be killed) and major efforts should be launched on all fronts to dethrone the dictator.

 

[gothuevos]

Expect stuff like this to happen here in the not so distant future.

 

[Muse]

Expect stuff like this to happen here in the not so distant future.

No, I don't. First off, it was pure deception. They told the pilots that they had info that a bomb was on board. The pilots radioed, where did they get their intel? The answer came that it was by email. It was a flat out lie. Plus, a fighter plane intercepted them and threatened to shoot them down... I shit you not, that's what I saw on TV news tonight. I don't expect anything like that to happen in the USA "in the not so distant future."

 

[HomerJS]

No, I don't. First off, it was pure deception. They told the pilots that they had info that a bomb was on board. The pilots radioed, where did they get their intel? The answer came that it was by email. It was a flat out lie. Plus, a fighter plane intercepted them and threatened to shoot them down... I shit you not, that's what I saw on TV news tonight. I don't expect anything like that to happen in the USA "in the not so distant future."

Seriously? With someone like Trump in charge it would be unheard of for this government to make up a bald face lie to take retribution on a political enemy?

Where the hell were you from 2016-2020?

 

[misuspita]

Belarus journalist Roman Protasevich's colleagues fear for their lives

Associates of detained dissident journalist Roman Protasevich say they are receiving death threats.

www.bbc.com

They released a video of the journalist "confessing", but there are obvious signs he was beat up

 

[HomerJS]

Belarus journalist Roman Protasevich's colleagues fear for their lives

Associates of detained dissident journalist Roman Protasevich say they are receiving death threats.

www.bbc.com

They released a video of the journalist "confessing", but there are obvious signs he was beat up

His father indicated nose seems to be broken and makeup applied to his face.

 

[Muse]

Seriously? With someone like Trump in charge it would be unheard of for this government to make up a bald face lie to take retribution on a political enemy?

Where the hell were you from 2016-2020?

I was right here. Did Trump do anything like that to imprison and beat up a domestic political adversary? WTF were you from 2016 to 2020? Look, I'm no Trumpie, you should know that by now, but please clarify your context. Gimme some data points, OK? DJT lied constantly, we know that, everything he said was hyperbole or just a plain lie, but taking down an airliner with a ruse like Belarus just did to imprison a political opponent is way out of his league.

Besides, expecting it to happen here in the "not so distant future" is baloney, and that was exactly and explicitly my point. Trump's not gonna be our next POTUS, for openers. You can live in your alternate universe if you please, but don't foist it on everyone else.

 

[HomerJS]

I was right here. Did Trump do anything like that to imprison and beat up a domestic political adversary? WTF were you from 2016 to 2020? Look, I'm no Trumpie, you should know that by now, but please clarify your context. Gimme some data points, OK? DJT lied constantly, we know that, everything he said was hyperbole or just a plain lie, but taking down an airliner with a ruse like Belarus just did to imprison a political opponent is way out of his league.

Besides, expecting it to happen here in the "not so distant future" is baloney, and that was exactly and explicitly my point. Trump's not gonna be our next POTUS, for openers. You can live in your alternate universe if you please, but don't foist it on everyone else.

Given everything Trump did in his first term, including shooting and gassing peaceful lawful protestors having a second term without reelection to govern his behavior you don't think something similar to this is possible? By near future I mean if he wins in 2024. Also you are forgetting he tried to get Hunter Biden arrested. Barr just wouldn't pull the trigger.

Not trying to be argumentative but you are giving Trump a moral governor he doesn't have.

 

[pauldun170]

Saudi Arabia's response - "That's adorable"

 

[Muse]

Given everything Trump did in his first term, including shooting and gassing peaceful lawful protestors having a second term without reelection to govern his behavior you don't think something similar to this is possible? By near future I mean if he wins in 2024. Also you are forgetting he tried to get Hunter Biden arrested. Barr just wouldn't pull the trigger.

Not trying to be argumentative but you are giving Trump a moral governor he doesn't have.

He has no moral governor, to be sure. But he is a coward. As authoritarians go, he's very weak. He panders to the worst in his constituency but he is fearful. It wasn't he who loosed the troops on those protestors in the street when he had that photo op across from the White House, it was Barr. Trump's mostly bark, not much bite. I mean WTF did he do while in office? Tweeted a million times, accomplished virtually nothing.

 

[VRAMdemon]

Tighter sanctions against Belarus are a good start.

But even more effective would be to 1) fund independent media and the democratic opposition in Belarus and 2) place sanctions on the Russian companies that own shares of Belarus’s largest firms.

The time for half-measures is over. This is some serious shit Putin's axis is pulling.

Unfortunately, I think far too many Americans hear about an think “Belarus? What’s that? Where? Well, I have no reason to ever go there so what do I care?”

 

[tweaker2]

Sanctions must be punitive enough to give a tyrant pause. What with Germany being held hostage via the fuel and oil Putin has them dependent on, there's no telling how far he can play that situation to his advantage. Belarus' self-imposed president doesn't have a similar card to play, so let's see how much hurt the Free World can whip his ass with so as to force him to find a face saving excuse to release that hapless reporter and friend.

As China has North Korea dependent on it, Putin has Belarus. It would be so worth it to force Russia to bleed cash in profusion in order to keep their puppet dictator Lukashenko in power. The West needs to make it hurt and hurt real bad on a permanent basis if need be.

 

[UNCjigga]

Seriously? With someone like Trump in charge it would be unheard of for this government to make up a bald face lie to take retribution on a political enemy?

Where the hell were you from 2016-2020?

Maybe he’s never heard of Marie Yovanovitch???

Ok…that’s not entirely fair…we still don’t know the full story of how far Trump, Rudy and their stooges were prepared to go to see her “removed”…

 

[nakedfrog]

Last poll I saw, 32% of republicans had a favorable view of Putin. Up from 12% in 2015.

Pretty sure if Trump said that his idol was Ted Bundy, at least a quarter would suddenly decide to like Bundy.

Yeah, turns out they're actually kinda into authoritarianism, despite all their crowing about "freedom".

 

[Pohemi]

Saudi Arabia's response - "That's adorable"

They're making jokes about not having enough large suitcases.