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> This is an incredible assault on EU right. A flight leaving EU soil, arriving to EU soil was diverted and forced to land on a country essentially ruled by a s
by seppel 5y ago
> This is an incredible assault on EU right. A flight leaving EU soil, arriving to EU soil was diverted and forced to land on a country essentially ruled by a strongman, in order to arrest an opposition journalist.
Note that the EU did something similar: The forced Evo Morales to land in Vienna (on a flight from Moskow to Bolivia) because they suspected Snowden on the flight.
- tpmx 5y agoNot EU, but some of the EU member countries (France, Spain, Portugal and Italy). They denied flyover permission to that aircraft, causing it to divert. Since it was heading for Bolivia it obviously had enough fuel to go back to Moscow, if needed - for instance if Snowden had actually been onboard. The thing that happened today (faked bomb alert and landing order accompanied with a fighter jet escort) is not on the same level.
- adolph 5y agoIs a window with different dressing not the same window? Does the window matter or the dressing? Belarus is clumsier than the US but the game is the same.
- ars 5y agoA threat of violence is a very large difference, I would not call that just window dressing. Also lying (fake bomb threat) is a big difference. It's like the difference between someone stealing your wallet, vs. letting you play some kind of street game where you don't actually have a chance of winning. The method employed matters, it's not just about the final result.
- tpmx 5y agoAlso, the final result also isn't the same. Today's hijacking: the result was that the journalist was arrested and now may be facing the death penalty. The denial of flyover rights to Morales' jet: there was no risk of capture to Snowden - worst case, he'd just have to back to Moscow. If he had been on the flight.
- mannerheim 5y agoWe don't know if Snowden wouldn't have been arrested in Austria had he been on the flight.
- tpmx 5y agoAgain, if Snowden had been on the flight, they could have returned to Moscow. Yes, there was obvious BS from Morales' pilots about uncertain fuel readings - if that had been true the actions of those EU countries saved the life of Morales and others onboard.
- Natsu 5y agoWhat are they charging this guy with, anyway? The article has no details on that whatsoever.
- danlugo92 5y agoUSA good Russia bad. Or USA bad Russia good. Both situations are crap. I see it like: egomaniacs running those 2 governments, bad.
- mopsi 5y agoIn addition, it was a scheduled passenger flight between two capitals of EU/NATO countries, not some private flight with special clearances. Completely unrelated civilians returning from a holiday inside the EU were taken hostage.
- tpmx 5y agoIt's pretty close to an act of war.
- seppel 5y ago> A threat of violence is a very large difference, I would not call that just window dressing. They forced the plane to land by locking all airspace around it. And yes, they would also have started fighter jets if the plane would enter the forbidden airspace.