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#1849517
Well, they should be. Lukashenko, Putin, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and several other despots are so powerful that if you oppose them, they kill you. Anywhere.
That our Governments do nothing but wring their hands and mumble platitudes for fear of losing "investment" is an indictment on our democracies. Withdrawal of our embassy and consular staff, ejection of theirs and seizure and forfeiture of that country's citizens' assets would not make these people obey international law but in a world where cronies of corrupt politicians become billionaires ON THE PEOPLES' MONEY, it should be the policy of any honourable country, nonetheless.
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By akg1486
#1849554
JonathanB wrote:RTF transcript as reported by Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bela ... SKCN2D61ZI

Thanks for posting. It doesn't seem like the pilot was aware of any fighter jets in the vicinity.

The phrase "can be activated over Vilnius" sort of explains why the pilot (reluctantly) agreed to divert to Minsk even if he was closer to Vilnius.
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By Genghis the Engineer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1849725
Charles Hunt wrote:Have to feel for the flight crew. Hardly an everyday event they would have thought through.

Or in this modern world is this something that is trained for?


It's also important to bear in mind that the flight crew will, likely, have had no knowledge whatsoever of what would happen next. They knew

(1) Stated bomb threat
(2) Instruction of where to divert.

The stuff we all now now happened, would not have been within their awareness whatsoever.

Of course, if any country tries this on again, it will be. And that is both good, and bad - since a crew may make a decision in a genuine emergency, that is contra-safety, as a result of that awareness. And that, above all else, is why we should utterly condemn Ballarus' behaviour.

G
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