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

[HomerJS]

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.

You have a point, however Trump did have citizens gassed and shot.

 

[Muse]

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?”

This IS a big deal. We fancy ourselves the protectors of democracy. If we don't protest this most undemocratic of actions in the most vigorous means we have abdicated our international status. What happened flies in the face of international protocol. We look very weak if we cannot twist the arm of Belarus to release the couple.

 

[Muse]

You have a point, however Trump did have citizens gassed and shot.

IIRC, shot with rubber bullets, not deadly ammo.

 

[senseamp]

Belarus is what Republicans want to make out of America with their vote suppression shenanigans. One man, one vote, one time.

 

[JTsyo]

Russia is probably taking notes on where the line is that will result in EU action. I'm glad the EU took a strong stance instead of just words.

 

[tweaker2]

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

It seems to me the kind of freedom the Repubs want is the freedom to turn our democracy into a conservative controlled fascist state. That'll happen if and only if the rest of us allow them to do it.

 

[gothuevos]

It seems to me the kind of freedom the Repubs want is the freedom to turn our democracy into a conservative controlled fascist state. That'll happen if and only if the rest of us allow them to do it.

Doesn't matter if we "allow" them or not when they have so many levers they can pull to nullify the people's will.

 

[gothuevos]

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.

You guys are largely arguing semantics.

Trump may not give that order (but I think he would), but someone else in his orbit would and he'd gleefully sign off on it.

 

[Muse]

You guys are largely arguing semantics.

Trump may not give that order (but I think he would), but someone else in his orbit would and he'd gleefully sign off on it.

Demonstrations in the streets and attending policing actions is one thing. State sponsored commercial airliner hijacking, particularly under false pretenses, is quite another.

 

[misuspita]

My city mayor (capital of Romania) thinks about changing the name of the street the Belarus embassy is located on with the name of the journalist, so that all their correpondence and business cards have to have his name imprinted on them forever. Top class political trolling

 

[Muse]

My city mayor (capital of Romania) thinks about changing the name of the street the Belarus embassy is located on with the name of the journalist, so that all their correpondence and business cards have to have his name imprinted on them forever. Top class political trolling

That's actually pretty cool. The Bella Russians would probably move their embassy, circumstances allowing.

 

[weblooker2021]

Sounds like Belarus is same as Russia, so when will they become 1 country?

 

[WelshBloke]

It's not like any other countries would divert flights to get hold of people they didn't like on!

Evo Morales grounding incident - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[dawp]

putin is ordering Austrian airways to fly through Belarusian airspace

Austrian Airlines flight prevented from entering Russia – DW – 05/27/2021

The Austrian Airlines flight wanted to change its route to avoid Belarus, but Russia rejected this, the airline said. Meanwhile, Belarusian national airline Belavia canceled flights to eight countries.

www.dw.com

 

[K1052]

I mean if the Russians no longer wish to have access to much of the planet I see no reason not to help them out also.

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

 

[Jaskalas]

I mean if the Russians no longer wish to have access to much of the planet I see no reason not to help them out also.

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

This is war, economically.

Russia doesn't carry the weight to win this contest, unless western nations are so corrupt that their businesses can control policy and force concessions like serving journalists up on a silver platter.

The real test for western civilization will be China. Our people cowtow to them all the time. When they demand the lives of a few dissidents, who is to say we won't bow and offer them a few lives in exchange for a quick buck?

Our societies need to band together and form an Alliance specifically designed to counter the pressure Russia and like minded enemies choose to hit us with. We need to stand together and say no to dangerous, rogue, nations that threaten our principles. That will use money and our own people to attack us. We need to figure out exactly what those principles are and affirm that we will not compromise them. Lest we find that our Bill of Rights is up for the highest bidder.

 

[pauldun170]

Hardcore

Belarusian activist stabs his throat during a court hearing in Minsk | CNN

A Belarusian activist stabbed his own throat during a court hearing in Minsk on Tuesday, according to local human rights watchdog Viasna 96.

www.cnn.com

"Father, after meeting with you, GUBOPiK [Belarusian Interior Ministry's Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption] 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," Latypov said according to Viasna 96 before cutting himself.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

U.S. News // 7 hours ago
U.S. charges 4 Belarusian officials with air piracy over diverting Ryanair flight
Jan. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. prosecutors have charged four Belarusian government officials with one count of aircraft piracy for their role in last summer's forced landing of a Ryanair flight for the purposes of arresting a dissident reporter.




Which will accomplish exactly what?

 

[Thump553]

U.S. News // 7 hours ago
U.S. charges 4 Belarusian officials with air piracy over diverting Ryanair flight
Jan. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. prosecutors have charged four Belarusian government officials with one count of aircraft piracy for their role in last summer's forced landing of a Ryanair flight for the purposes of arresting a dissident reporter.


Which will accomplish exactly what?

-If any of the four ever travel to a country where the US has an extradition treaty (a very large chunk of the world) they are submit to arrest and being sent to the US.
-They will have a very hard problem transmitting money via the US banking system or owning property overseas.
-They are essentially banished to the russian dominated zone forever. Ask Assange how delightful a lifestyle that is-and he is pampered there.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

-If any of the four ever travel to a country where the US has an extradition treaty (a very large chunk of the world) they are submit to arrest and being sent to the US.

Ryanair - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryanair
Ryanair DAC is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier

It didn't happen in US airspace.

The involved parties are not US citizens.

How does the US have any jurisdiction in this at all?

Unless maybe there were some US citizens among the passengers? Otherwise, this would be a UN or EU issue.

 

[interchange]

Ryanair - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryanair
Ryanair DAC is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier

It didn't happen in US airspace.

The involved parties are not US citizens.

How does the US have any jurisdiction in this at all?

Unless maybe there were some US citizens among the passengers? Otherwise, this would be a UN or EU issue.

From the article:

Prosecutors came to the charge from evidence collected by the FBI including technical data from the flight's path, information from eyewitnesses as well as a senior air traffic controller at the Minsk Air Control Center responsible for communicating with the flight identified as ATC-1 in the indictment and audio and video recordings as well as the American passengers.

 

[fskimospy]

Ryanair - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryanair
Ryanair DAC is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier

It didn't happen in US airspace.

The involved parties are not US citizens.

How does the US have any jurisdiction in this at all?

Unless maybe there were some US citizens among the passengers? Otherwise, this would be a UN or EU issue.

If a single American is present on a plane under US law we have jurisdiction.