Ryanair Incident - Email Warning Received Before Plane Entered Belorussian Airspace
This is an update to yesterday's post By The Book - What Really Happened With The Ryanair Flight In Belarus. That piece analyzed the timeline of the Ryanair bomb threat incident in Belarus and the response from Belorussian officials.
As part of that post I discussed the possible manipulation of a screenshot of the bomb threat email by the editor of the western financed opposition media Nexta:
Protonmail, from where the email was received, is a encrypted web-email service hosted in Switzerland which allows more or less anonymous traffic.
An alleged screenshot of the email currently gets peddled around by the Editor-in-Chief of NEXTA:
Tadeusz Giczan @TadeuszGiczan - 11:59 PM · May 26, 2021Not that anyone had any doubts but ‘Hamas email’ was sent to Minsk airport 24 minutes after Belarusian air controllers warned Ryanair pilots there’s a bomb onboard.
biggerGiczan is right in that the time shown in the screenshot is inconsistent with the timing of the Ryanair flight in the Belorussian airspace.
That however proves nothing. Time stamps in emails are notoriously unreliable as they depend on various computer timezone settings and several other variables.
Clocks, computers and phones in Switzerland are currently set to UTC(GMT)+2 hours. Clocks, computers and phones in Belarus to UTC+3. A email sent at 10:57 Geneva time would likely show up as sent at 11:57 in Minsk time. However, if the timezone of the computer/phone that is used to look at the email is set to UTC+4 the email time would be shown as 12:57.
Nice trick Mr. Nexta but that screenshot is unconvincing.
It turns out that my timezone manipulation speculation, while technically correct, might not have been an issue.
Today the Investigative Committee of Belarus, the country's proscecution service, published a note about the case (machine translation, emph. added):
Investigation of a criminal case on a deliberately false report about the "mining" of the Athens-Vilnius flight continuesAt the moment, the criminal case initiated on the fact of the "mining" of the plane, which carried out the flight "Athens-Vilnius", is being processed by the USC in the city of Minsk.
These days, through destructive and extremist channels, as well as various Internet resources and Western media, incomplete and unverified information is being disseminated aimed at manipulating public opinion in their own interests. For our part, we urge the public not to popularize innuendo and cynical speculation. We consider it unacceptable to assume that someone has a monopoly on the truth until the preliminary investigation is completed.
...
It has already been established, to which we draw special attention, that there were several messages about the "mining" of the aircraft received through the Swiss anonymous mail service ProtonMail - at 12:25 and at 12:56. At the moment, the records of conversations with the pilots of the aircraft are being studied and analyzed in detail, and numerous other investigative actions are being carried out. ...
So there have been, if the officials are to be believed, two bomb threat emails. The first one at 12:25 local time (9:25 UTC) arrived five minutes before the Ryanair flight at 12:30 (9:30 UTC) entered Belorussian airspace. That would have left enough time to contact the air traffic controller who then warned the plane. The email in the screenshot received at would have been the second one.
The Ryanair pilot was warned of the bomb threat at 9:30 utc but declared Mayday only at 9:47 utc. It took him several more minutes to change the course. The sender of the emails might have watched the plane's course on Flight Aware and prepared and sent the second email when the plane seemed not to react to the first one.
The Nexta's editor-in-chief had presented the second email as the sole one and insinuated thereby that the plane was contacted and informed about a threat before the warning of that threat arrived.
The logo visible in the screenshot of the email above is of the Dossier Center. Its purpose is to find and create dirt that can be throw at Russia. It is financed by the exiled oligarch and former Yukos raider Mikhail Khodorkovsky in London. The center seems to have intense contacts with western secret services.
If there were indeed two threat emails, as the Belorussian officials say, this Reuters headline is off.
Bomb threat cited by Belarus was sent after plane was diverted - Swiss email provider
A bomb threat cited by Belarusian authorities as the reason for forcing a Ryanair jetliner carrying a dissident journalist to land in Minsk was sent after the plane was diverted, privacy-focused email provider Proton Technologies AG said on Thursday.
...
Proton declined to comment on specifics of the email, saying that its encryption made it impossible to "access or verify the contents of the message.""However, we are able to see when the message was sent, and we can confirm that the message in question was sent after the plane was redirected," the Swiss company said in a statement.
It added that "we have not seen credible evidence that the Belarusian claims are true and we will support European authorities in their investigations upon receiving a legal request."
Protonmail was only asked about the second email which had been distributed by the Dossier Center. It confirmed that it went out at the time the screenshot showed.
We can be sure that it will soon also be asked about the first one. The Investigative Committee note says: (machine translation)
To confirm the consistency of their aspirations, the investigation has already prepared and will soon send to the Swiss prosecutor's office a request for legal assistance in obtaining information about the user of the mailbox from which the message about the "mining" of the flight was sent.
Yesterday the Belorussian Department of Aviation had also invited international organizations to look into the case:
For further consideration of the circumstances the Department of Aviation has invited representatives of ICAO, IATA, EASA, and EU and USA Civil Aviation Authorities.
The United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has now agreed to investigate the incident.
When the Ryanair flight left from Minsk there were five passengers less on board than when it had landed. Roman Protasevich, the western government financed neo-nazi, and his Russian girlfriend were two of these. They were arrested. There had been speculation that the other three persons were KGB agents. However the people were found and interviewed. All three, one Greek and two Belorussian citizen, say that they had originally planned to fly from Greece via Vilnius to Minsk. They thus had no reason to reenter the plane.
Posted by b on May 28, 2021 at 18:20 UTC | Permalink
"There had been speculation that the other three persons were KGB agents"
The kgb died in 1991 I do believe.
Thanks b
Posted by: jo6pac | May 28 2021 18:38 utc | 2
jobpac: The KGB in Belarus retains its old name.
Posted by: Stephen T Johnson | May 28 2021 18:54 utc | 3
"The kgb died in 1991 I do believe"
In Russia. In Belarus it is still the KGB - in name and in function.
I believe that Dossier Center actually confirms the timing of the first email with "at 12:25 pm Belarusian time, the administration of "Lithuanian Airports" received a letter with the threat of a bomb explosion on board the flight FR4978 by e-mail". This is by Google translation from the site https://dossier.center/bel-hamas/
It means that Vilnius received the email at the same time is Minsk says they received. It is unthinkable that Vilnius would have done nothing after receiving the bomb threat. It must have contacted Minsk about the email unless Vilnius new that Minsk got the same threat as well.
According to the time line, that Minsk has published, Minsk air traffic control contacted the pilot after about 3 minutes from receiving the email threat.
Posted by: Jan | May 28 2021 18:54 utc | 5
I think Protonmail was criminally negligent in their tweets. Someone just shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand and they helped him pull the trigger.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | May 28 2021 19:02 utc | 6
Thank you Jan.
It it very likely that Minsk airport received the email at the same time as Vilnius airport. The Belorussian prosecutor statement is then correct. There were two emails.
Dossier Center misleads by saying that the threat email arrived in Belarus only at 12:26 local time. But that was the second email. The alarm was triggered by the first one.
According to the Convention of International Civil Aviation Belarus has done nothing illegal.
Article 9b) Each contracting State reserves also the right, in exceptional circumstances or during a period of emergency, or in the interest of public safety, and with immediate effect, temporarily to restrict or prohibit flying over the whole or any part of its territory, on condition that such restriction or prohib- ition shall be applicable without distinction of nationality to aircraft of all other States.
C ) Each contracting State, under such regulations as it may prescribe, may require any aircraft entering the areas contem- plated in subparagraphs a ) or b) above to effect a landing as soon as practicable thereafter at some designated airport within its territory.
Convention on International Civil Aviation
Posted by: Down South | May 28 2021 19:48 utc | 8
I commented about the earlier email in the last thread:
When was the email sent?Mikhail Khodorkovsky is the source of this fake story. Read carefully and you will see that Lithuanian ATC received a copy of the email 6 minutes before Ryanair entered Belorussian airspace. Today's fake news is about a screenshot of another copy of the email sent half an hour later (assuming it is real).
I also included this translation from the Dossier Center:
Inconsistencies in the "terrorist" version of the Belarusian authorities - Dossier Center, May 27, 2021On May 23, at 12:25 pm Belarusian time, the administration of "Lithuanian Airports" received a letter with the threat of a bomb explosion on board the flight FR4978 by e-mail, sent from the address [email protected] . It reported the following: “We, the Hamas soldiers, demand that Israel cease fire in the Gaza Strip. We demand that the EU renounce its support for Israel in this war. It is known that the participants of the Delphic Economic Forum are returning home on May 23 on flight FR4978. This plane has a bomb. If you do not fulfill our demands, the bomb will explode on May 23 over Vilnius. Allahu Akbar ".
Dossier Center offers no reason to believe the 12:25 pm email was not sent to Minsk too. The Reuters hoax, repeated in every Western media, adds two and two together (12:25 and 12:57 emails) and concludes that Minsk received no email at 12:57.
At 12:30 Ryanair was still in Ukrainian airspace and only approaching the SOMAT waypoint at the border. We do not know when exactly the flight crossed the border.
***
The legal difference between a hoax and a fabrication is that leaders and politicians are free to endorse and promote fabrications but promoting hoaxes makes them criminally liable under international criminal law. Capital crimes like this one – I believe – deserve the capital punishment.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | May 28 2021 19:48 utc | 9
My instincts tell me that some clever people have successfully led some idiots a long way up a garden path and that they will now be made fools of. The icing on the cake is the capture of the smug little terrorist....a face that invites a punch.
Posted by: foxenburg | May 28 2021 19:56 utc | 10
In April 2015 Mikhail Khodorkovsky visited Finland to meet Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb. I saw this as a very worrisome development and wrote about it on my Facebook page. Sometime in the last two years Facebook censored and removed the post (possibly on Khodorkovsky's orders). Luckily I had posted a copy on The Duran as part of my article: Is There a Plot to Expel Russia from UN Security Council?
KHODORKOVSKY MEETS FINNISH PM TO DISCUSS GOVERNMENT-IN-EXILENATO has chosen Mikhail Khodorkovsky to set up government-in-exile, take over Russia’s UN seat and foreign assets.
The NATO plan is now obvious: Mikhail Khodorkovsky will set up puppet government-in-exile and claim to be the legitimate president of Russia. He will then ask Western governments for diplomatic recognition.
This palace coup d’état will take place not in Moscow but at the UN headquarters in New York. US security guards will remove the Russian ambassador and replace him with Khodorkovsky or his stooge.
This same scenario has been already been demonstrated before. In February 2011 the Libyan Chargé d’Affaires Ibrahim Dabbashi – after first resigning – took up the position of the Libyan ambassador and requested an emergency meeting of the Security Council. In less than a week the Security Council passed UNSC Resolution 1970 in effect confiscating all $100 billion dollars worth of Libya’s foreign assets.
The first step of the UN Security Council in its new configuration will be to ask NATO for military assistance in removing the “pretender Putin” from the Kremlin and “liberating the Russian people from his tyranny.” The US and its captive nations have a qualified majority in the Security Council so the vote will pass. (The Chinese ambassador will be prevented from casting a veto.)
A crucial part of the plan is the continuing information war against Russia. The demonization of President Putin. The Western public has already been taught the inevitability of the war against Russia.
Khodorkovsky’s usurpation of power will not happen today, not yet. The NATO plan will only be put to motion once the first Russian troops overtly enter Ukrainian territory.
IN THE NEWS: Mikhail Khodorkovsky met Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb at the official summer residence Kultaranta yesterday. The meeting was held on Khodorkovsky’s request.
Looks like Belarus is now going through this treatment.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | May 28 2021 20:05 utc | 11
The pieces of the puzzle start to fit together, or the dominoes start to fall, depending on how you look at it.
But unfortunately, this is no longer important to the masses fed with false narratives.
Everything will now be ridiculed as necessarily clumsy attempts by Putin and Luka to clear their names...and therefore "clues" to a "highly likely" responsibility.
Even an ICAO investigation will be reconstructed and oriented (those who do not remember the investigation on Sullenberger's January 2009 emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River, in which all 155 passengers and crew survived must watch the movie). This investigation will involve Lithuania, Poland, USA (passengers and Boeing...), Greece, France, Ireland and so on (and perhaps one seat for Belarus and Russia if not denied... for security reasons)
I posted on other thread
"the captain of the aircraft who "made the decision [to change course to Minsk] after consulting Ryanair's management", according to Kiskis."
and
Petri Krohn | May 28 2021 16:30 utc | 90 found a really interesting link. Normal behavior of trained pilot is Checklist.
When an emergency is declared, air traffic control (ATC) gives the flight “priority.” Saying the magic words “declare an emergency” (or “Mayday”) makes an aircraft the most important thing in the sky. If need be, ATC will move other traffic out of the way so the emergency aircraft can get to the runway as quickly as possible. ATC provides the crew with current weather, vectors (guidance) to the runway, navigation frequencies, they will contact emergency services (an ambulance if it’s a medical emergency), they can even notify airline management personnel to alert them of the problem if the crew doesn’t have time. For pilots, air traffic control is our “one-stop-shopping” link to services on the ground. They are awesome.
One nice perk of declaring an emergency is that the pilot-in-command of the aircraft can do whatever he/she deems necessary to keep the aircraft safe. That includes breaking Federal Aviation Regulations. Speed limits and airspace rules all go out the window once you declare an emergency. This rule encourages crews to declare an emergency even if the issue seems minor. It’s a good way for the crew to cover themselves in case they accidentally break a rule while trying to deal with a problem.
I'm just not agree with maintain Flight level for "Bomb Scare". Normally is flight to minimal flight level https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Bomb_Warning:_Guidance_for_Controllers
Now, the question remains Why the pilot don't divert immediately (20 mn is too much).
And if you read the link from Petri Krohn (thanks Petri, excellent job for those 3 days!), it's not credible that the pilot can't contact Ryanair and Vilnius (he is asking Minsk ATC for frequencies???
The pilot can't be a rookie. Here are the minimal requisite to become Captain at Ryannair. https://careers.ryanair.com/pilots-requirements/
Who did he talk to ?
and how the decision to maintain the flight level and wait (in my opinion to make things worse and make air traffic control say certain things) was made.
Normally, the base of any investigation. If we don't know any more about, it's an answer.
Posted by: Rêver | May 28, 2021 at 20:00
Posted by: Rêver | May 28 2021 20:08 utc | 12
"There had been speculation that the other three persons were KGB agents. However the people were found and interviewed. All three, one Greek and two Belorussian citizen, say that they had originally planned to fly from Greece via Vilnius to Minsk. They thus had no reason to reenter the plane."
Interesting. Back when I lived in the USSA, the wife and I were on a plane that was made to divert and land at an airport that would have been our ultimate destination on the trip, but which we were only going to get to after making a stop at a further location. We were not allowed to deboard the plane and were threatened with arrest if we tried. This was about 10 years post-9/11. Mind you both destinations were within the continental United States. We were forced to land in Denver and then wait for our connecting flight to Albuquerque despite the unplanned landing was in ABQ. The same thing has happened to a couple different former co-workers. I hope the other 3 people got some of their money back and I'm glad that European airlines and airport security is different than in the USSA.
Posted by: K_C_ | May 28 2021 20:30 utc | 13
Given Protasevich's earlier travels without incidents, as speculated earlier, he may have been targeted specifically because he was returning from the Delphi Conference. The rapidly authorized and blanket application of restrictions on the Belarus state airline without any evidence of wrongdoing as decried by Lukashenko seem to indicate an attempt to further attack Belarus. Belarus clearly adhered to the legal protocols for this event, and thus all the attacks on its airline have zero basis.
Recall what happening in Ukraine after the failed first coup attempt in 2004--it was further destabilized to make the next attempt succeed. The same modus is now being applied to Belarus.
The Kremlin has posted a partial transcript of the meeting between Putin and Lukashenko, where IMO it's made clear that Russia is doing quite a lot to stabilize Belarus's economy with Putin remarking "in the first quarter of this year, our trade grew by a considerable 18.4 percent;" but, their discussion about the "outburst of emotions" has yet to be made public.
The fools are on overdrive with the MSM as their megaphone. They still call Protasevich and his doxxer lady "journalists" in spite of the toxic trail of pictures, sites and videos showing who these characters really are, but to no avail.
As a side scandal and desperation symptom some hockey tournament that at first was supposed to take place in Minsk moved to Riga, and after the plane affair the official flag of Belarus was replaced in the central city square with the "bacon" flag, the white red and white used during occupation and for a brief period after the fall of the USSR. Well, now it is known that some US Embassy official hoisted it personally, what a lack of taste to say the least.
Posted by: Paco | May 28 2021 20:46 utc | 15
MSM is a HOAX wrapped in a FABRICATION inside a FALSE narrative
A friend on Facebook read my post about this Ryanair hoax and posted this.
Everything in the Western media is a hoax by default.
Change my mind.
I commented:
First you take it at face value.
After 1 day you notice a gigantic narrative management operation.
On day 2 you discover it was all a fabrication.
Only on day 3 do you realize that it was a hoax: anyone with access to the raw data would immediately see through the fabrication.
I made a grave mistake on Sunday. Something happened and I went to Google to look for "reliable" sources. I ended out with the Sidney Morning Herald. I then went on to congratulate Lukashenko on his well-executed revenge. But I did notice the narrative management operation and the fact that everything in the media originated from RFE/RL fraudsters.
Moon of Alabama picked up my comment into a post, but left out the part where I cast doubt on the sources and later questioned the whole narrative. It later turned out the story was a RFE/RL fabrication. No Belarusian MiG fighter ever forced the Ryanair plane to do anything.
The correct thing to do is to unsubscribe from all MSM. I found this out 10 years ago, when researching Libya. MSM propaganda invades your brain in so many levels from the factual to the emotional. Even if you filter out most levels something will still seep through.
I only read filtered news. Social media is usually quite good in filtering out BS. Another good news stream is the comment section on Moon of Alabama. If something important happens, you will find a critical comment on it within a few hours.
My plan for Belarus - Rod Liddle, The SpectatorA MiG fighter from Belarus intercepted a civilian Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius and threatened to shoot it down unless it diverted to Minsk airport. The MiG pilot informed the Ryanair pilot that he had been given permission to open fire, i.e. this was not a rogue act but one sanctioned by the Belarus President, Alexander Lukashenko. After the plane landed in Minsk, Belarus thugs boarded it and dragged off the young journalist Roman Protasevich, who apparently informed a fellow passenger that he expected to receive the death penalty.
None of this ever happened. Except for the part where Protasevich believes that he would receive the death penalty if convicted in a court of law. I do not know how severe his political crimes are, but even there I would not take his word as a fact.
On the same site I find this piece of hate speech:
Britain is right to punish Belarus for its plane hijacking - James Forsyth, The SpectatorBelarus forcing down a civilian airliner flying between two EU, and Nato, capitals is a grave threat to the international order. If any flight crossing the airspace of an autocratic regime is vulnerable to such an attack, the world begins to look a very different – and more dangerous – place. The challenge to the free world now is to hit Minsk with such a set of punishments that it doesn’t dare repeat its action and that no other autocratic country tries to pull the same trick.
All this reminds me of a quote by George Orwell:
Early in life I have noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper, but in Spain, for the first time, I saw newspaper reports which did not bear any relation to the facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie. I saw great battles reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been killed. I saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as cowards and traitors, and others who had never seen a shot fired hailed as heroes of imaginary victories; and I saw newspapers in London retailing these lies and eager intellectuals building emotional superstructures over events that never happened. I saw, in fact, history being written not in terms of what happened but of what ought to have happened according to various “party lines.”
Posted by: Petri Krohn | May 28 2021 21:23 utc | 16
Frankly who cares? The West has frequently downed airplanes in this fashion, starting with the Israeli downing of a Syrian DC3. There's nothing to say; everyone does it. If the west wants to make an issue out of it, no-one can stop them.
Posted by: Laguerre | May 28 2021 21:24 utc | 17
Here's Stephen Karganovic's recap of Protasevich where he praises b's initial efforts:
"These facts are featured in an extensive exposé posted on the German analytical website 'Moon of Alabama.' The hagiographical account in the 'all the news that’s fit to print' 'New York Times', the German analyst says, is noteworthy primarily for the key facts that it omits. It turns out that, far from being an innocent young democracy activist and precocious lyceum student who could not stomach the restrictions imposed by President Lukashenko’s government, as misrepresented by the Western media, Protasevich is in fact an experienced agitator with long-standing ties to the neo-Nazi fringe in the neighboring Ukraine."
Karganovic sees this event as an op by Belarus forces but provides no evidence for that assertion. He's pleased at its success but also knows there're many more where Protasevich came from.
Along with the Chinese government and its mouthpiece Global Times, IMO we should look more closely at the very many links the Outlaw US Empire has had since WW2 with Nazi and NeoNazi organizations and personages, while also examining the changing nature of its political economy to that of Parasitical Neoliberalism. There's also the Neoliberal Davos Reset to be included. IMO, there're many parallels between Fascism, Feudalism and Neoliberalism in that ownership is completely held by the small elite circle while the masses essentially have nothing of importance. The use of Terror by all three also binds them together.
In case you missed it, here's the Global Times discussing the Outlaw US Empire's use of Nazi methods and great willingness to do so as often as needed:
"No matter what Biden has in mind, the US government is generally up to something big against China. US executive bodies, Congress, intelligence departments, and public opinion are forming a crazy spiral. Their ultimate goal is to create and hold China accountable for the pandemic outbreak, making a new tool to severely thwart China's national interests.
"This is a big lie. German Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels once said: 'Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.' The US' radical political elites are engaged in a fever of intense competition with China. In a bid to achieve the goal, they are increasingly Nazi-like in their belief and can do whatever it takes."
Here at MoA, we've used that adage numerous times, but this is the first time I've seen it employed by a major news publication--and this publication reflects the views of China's government. IMO, the editor's use of it was okayed. The Forces of Reaction are always Dark, and this time is no different. Protasevich worked for the Dark Forces, knew it and enjoyed serving. A pawn certainly, but clearly a dangerous one.
News from bellingcrap:
The problem was not the extra three passengers left in Minsk, but the pilots:
https://twitter.com/i_korotchenko/status/1396492018533212163/photo/1
SCNR! ;-)
Posted by: Wolle | May 28 2021 21:52 utc | 19
Something most people have missed:
Today, Lukashenko personally delivered a briefcase directly to Putin containing documents related to the arrest of Roman Protasevich.
What could possibly be so sensitive that any type of electronic communication would be too risky and required hard copies to be delivered personally?
Why would the documents be so important to Russia?
Very interesting if Protasevich's laptop or phone had some extremely incriminating evidence of a plot against Belarus and Russia.
Posted by: Mar man | May 28 2021 23:12 utc | 20
Ryanair-gate would not be important if governments were denied the privilege of conducting its affairs in secret from those it governs and if governments were denied the privilege of sovereign immunity, which keeps the rest of the world in the dark. The private oligarch uses state secrecy and sovereign immunity to command its economic aggressions and conduct for private profit is foreign wars.
So few changes in barricade type privileges associated to nation state power would make such a big difference to global humanity.
Posted by: snake | May 28 2021 23:31 utc | 21
Protasevich could be a double agent who was found out and risked getting killed or imprisoned at the end of his trip. In that case, hastily inventing a bomb threat from "Hamas agent" and exfiltrating him by downing the plane would make sense.
Posted by: CovertCalifornia | May 28 2021 23:34 utc | 22
Some dipshit gets pulled over for a busted taillight,
The police immediately realized that said dipshit is, in fact, an actual factual dipshit, and arrest him on the spot,
Dipshit's mommy screams to high heaven, etc, etc, etc...
Perhaps the dipshit called the threat in himself, out of a deep seated sense of remorse for having been engaged in blatant dipshittery in the first place?
thanks b.. and thanks petri and others here for keeping the lines open on just what is what here.. clearly it is complicated with layers of deception going on.. cheers...
Posted by: james | May 29 2021 0:50 utc | 26
The writing is on the wall:
US and EU neocons and MSM want WAR.
And WAR we'llhave, mind you, because the sons of Madam Rothschild have
decreed that her sons want WAR.
the question is. Who will survive?
The Rothschild are well entrenched in so many underground shelters wence they will breathe the absolute power of the sole survivors.
But then, how will they survive without the help of their goys?
Never mind, lesser jews will be the new goyims.
Posted by: CarlD | May 29 2021 1:18 utc | 27
@ foxenburg | May 28 2021 19:56 utc | 10
"a face that invites a punch" . . . or, as b would no doubt put it, a Backpfeifengesicht.
Posted by: corvo | May 29 2021 1:18 utc | 28
There is currently an interesting case that compliments the Belarus scenario is with a Venezuelan government envoy Alex Saab who was arrested in Cabo Verde via in transit at an airport at the request of the US for money laundering. The similarities to Belarus show the constant abuse and non compliance of the UN Charter and International law by the US and the West. The article can be accessed her:
https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15214
Posted by: john mason | May 29 2021 3:30 utc | 29
NPR - National Public Radio -- carries the White House water....quote. . .
The White House on Friday night announced a series of sanctions against Belarus for its forced landing of a Ryanair commercial flight and the subsequent removal and arrest of opposition journalist Roman Protasevich.
The 26-year-old Protasevich became a political activist as a teenager. During widespread anti-government protests last year, Protasevich became a key figure among opposition activists, utilizing the encrypted messaging app Telegram to organize demonstrations. . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | May 29 2021 4:23 utc | 30
b
The Ryanair pilot was warned of the bomb threat at 9:30 utc but declared Mayday only at 9:47 utc. It took him several more minutes to change the course. The sender of the emails might have watched the plane's course on Flight Aware and prepared and sent the second email when the plane seemed not to react to the first one.
I agree with that proposition. The pilot needed a few minutes to compute the risk of any trigger being both GPS and altitude linked and there remained one choice ~ avoid the GPS leg of the AND function. However it would be helpful to have the recordings of every conversation in that cabin.
CovertCalifornia #22
Protasevich could be a double agent who was found out and risked getting killed or imprisoned at the end of his trip. In that case, hastily inventing a bomb threat from "Hamas agent" and exfiltrating him by downing the plane would make sense.
I am sure that if he was sprung as a double agent he would have been unsuccessfully "Novichoked" in Greece by the west, like the Skripals and Navalny. (they can't resist hat tricks). That way Barfingcat would get another media fantasy run and look good, they could stash him in Gitmo and no one would know (for a week), and that would reinforce the two previous hoaxes they have screwed up.
I am afraid the west has been outplayed by an unreconstructed marxist remnant in eastern europe, just like happened in the 60's and 70's and 80's. You see - the west is fundamentally inept, the Nazis - totally ridiculous and Belarus and Russia laughing their heads off. The latter have always defeated the Nazis unlike the Poles and the Ukrainians
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 29 2021 8:43 utc | 31
I think Protonmail was criminally negligent in their tweets. Someone just shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand and they helped him pull the trigger.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | May 28 2021 19:02 utc | 6
Sounds interesting, what did they say? (Unfortunately I cannot access twitter sites these days for some reason). I am intrigued.
Protonmail is supposedly encrypted and anonymous, and supposedly nobody can access plain text except sender and receiver ... ha ha ha! Does anybody still believe that BS? For anyone who didn't originally suspect that protonmail was just another of these CIA/NSA shopfronts, they had better start rethinking. Their mask is coming down.
Posted by: BM | May 29 2021 9:46 utc | 32
Does anybody really believe that the USSA neocon/fascists really give a hoot what the powerless 'citizens' think? What nonsense. Maybe they do need the 18 to 40 year-olds to behave as expendable cannon fodder. But we have reached the end of the road for the Walmart Empire. The corporate media narrative is mostly just window dressing, which costs virtually nothing to produce.
('Encrypted' ProtonMail! Yeah sure. I have a bridge to sell.)
@32
It's a Swiss company. Anything's possible of course, but Switzerland does have a reputation for privacy protection.
Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | May 29 2021 11:09 utc | 34
@32
It's a Swiss company. Anything's possible of course, but Switzerland does have a reputation for privacy protection.
Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | May 29 2021 11:09 utc | 34
Ha ha! Haven't you heard about the Swiss cryptology scandal in the last couple of years? They were selling top level crypto technology for countless decades to governments all around the world; finally it emerged that the "independent" Swiss crypto manufacturer was secretly owned by the CIA, and they had been compromised for decades. Even the Swiss government and the Swiss military were among the victims. The Swiss intelligence agency had failed to inform the Swiss government. Do an internet search.
Posted by: BM | May 29 2021 11:31 utc | 35
Well, the point is that Swiss privacy laws are stronger than elsewhere. So, ceteris paribus, a Swiss company is preferable: they probably aren't required by law to keep any logs or copies, and a Swiss court is less likely to force them to disclose anything.
Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | May 29 2021 12:51 utc | 36
Is Protonmail a CIA/NSA honeypot?
https://privacy-watchdog.io/truth-about-protonmail/
Posted by: Gareth | May 29 2021 12:57 utc | 37
The US government is on full anti-Russia propaganda alert, with messaging to public media to stay on-topic. In the military it's called "information operations" described here.
Posted by: Don Bacon | May 29 2021 13:09 utc | 38
@Posted by: Don Bacon | May 29 2021 13:09 utc | 38
I skimmmmed your link real quick. The document you link to references this other document (produced by the DoD) and -- surprisingly --
it is now publicly available on Amazon.
Social Media—The Vital Ground: Can We Hold It?
https://www.amazon.com/Social-Media-Vital-Ground-Hold-ebook/dp/B07251YSBM
Posted by: librul | May 29 2021 13:48 utc | 39
foxenburg @ 10
OK, I had been shying away from remarks based on appearance. Will now say that the ‘smug little terrorist’ as you have it prances about like a male model. The full combat dress photos look like fashion photography. In real candids his face looks like a mushroom, many of his photos are obviously professional. Not in sense of pro photojournalist, more like someone is paid to follow him around and come up with flattering shots. Who is this rich fop? He did not spontaneously arrive from some indigenous political movement.
Posted by: oldhippie | May 29 2021 14:51 utc | 40
@ oldhippie #40 Who is this rich fop?
He's a nobody that the marketing folks made a somebody. Guys and gals sitting around the anti-Russia table, one of the stooges who knows how to work a camera says: 'I got an idea. . ." and the rest is history. Well, not real history, but the history that is fed to innocent slobs like us.
Posted by: Don Bacon | May 29 2021 15:02 utc | 41
@librul #39
Thanks for that. I see that one of the authors is Ian Tunnicliffe, a Director at Accordance Associates. Looking up his background, he was a colonel in the British Army active in (from google and wiki, "Targeting and Information Operations . . . is a group within the British Ministry of Defence which is involved in the Information Operations of the UK. It was established in 2001 in order "to ensure that [the MOD's] approach to information operations is fully incorporated into planning and operations". In 2013 it was replaced by a new unit called Military Strategic Effects."
Summing up: What we say is happening is more important than what is actually happening.
Posted by: Don Bacon | May 29 2021 15:29 utc | 42
Of course the US needs to get deeper into propaganda to keep up with -- guess who -- Russia.
..from defusingdis, Feb 28, 2019 ---
>At the Senate’s recent hearing to discuss the Worldwide Threat Assessment from the Director of National Intelligence, FBI Director Christopher Wray acknowledged that the Russians continue to use social media for information operations against Americans, and that other actors are learning from their techniques.
>Facebook and Twitter have identified that American actors are mimicking the disinformation tactics of the Kremlin for use against other Americans. The recent exposure of efforts by progressive activists to replicate the disinformation techniques that they believe provided a material advantage to conservatives in 2016 has been a poignant example of missteps that will occur when everyone fears they are in a persuasion arms race. . .here
...reminds me of Flip Wilson's memorable schtick: "The devil made me do it. I didn't want to buy this dress, but the devil made me do it." here
Posted by: Don Bacon | May 29 2021 15:46 utc | 43
The comments to this entry are closed.
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave...when first we practice to deceive.”
― Walter Scott, Marmion
And some times the deception is a feint cover for more nefarious actions...how are things in Occupied Palestine?
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 28 2021 18:34 utc | 1