Agi Hammerthief wrote:it surprised me that any dissident would take a flight scheduled to fly over the airspace of the country he‘s wanted in.

Tortured_Genius wrote:

Agi Hammerthief wrote:it surprised me that any dissident would take a flight scheduled to fly over the airspace of the country he‘s wanted in.

It's difficult to overstate quite how unthinkable the hijacking of the plane was - the only step further the Belarus' state could have taken would have been to have shot the plane down.

Tortured_Genius wrote:Given the foregoing I'm guessing Putin and his cronies are operating under the assumption that the article is essentially worthless.

Spearthrower wrote:

Tortured_Genius wrote:Given the foregoing I'm guessing Putin and his cronies are operating under the assumption that the article is essentially worthless.

Basically, it is until it isn't.

I don't think anyone wants war with Russia - while they simply couldn't stand up to a united NATO response, it would still be absurdly costly just from an economic perspective without even considering the cost in lives.

That's historically been a problem with containing aggressively revanchist states - draw a line in the sand...

Mike_L wrote:Lukashenko was merely following the example set by Obama in 2013...

Evo Morales grounding incident (Wikipedia)

Forcing down Evo Morales's plane was an act of air piracy (The Guardian)

Whataboutism, also known as whataboutery, is a variant of the tu quoque logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent's position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument.[1][2][3]

According to Russian writer, chess grandmaster and political activist Garry Kasparov, "whataboutism" is a word that was coined to describe the frequent use of a rhetorical diversion by Soviet apologists and dictators, who would counter charges of their oppression, "massacres, gulags, and forced deportations" by invoking American slavery, racism, lynchings, etc.[4] Whataboutism has been used by other politicians and countries as well.

Whataboutism is particularly associated with Soviet and Russian propaganda.[5][6][7]

When criticisms were leveled at the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the Soviet response would often use "and what about you?" style by instancing of an event or situation in the Western world.[8][9][10] The idea can be found in Russian language: while it utilizes phrase "Sam takoi" for direct tu quoque-like "you too"; it also has "Sam ne lutche" ("not better") phrase.

Tortured_Genius wrote:

Mike_L wrote:Lukashenko was merely following the example set by Obama in 2013...

Evo Morales grounding incident (Wikipedia)

Forcing down Evo Morales's plane was an act of air piracy (The Guardian)

..and using that somewhat fuzzy implied logic the USA would be entirely justified in using whatever means necessary to assassinate Edward Snowden no matter how many Soviet Russian citizens were collateral damage (this being the "Putin standard" when dealing with "traitors").

Tortured_Genius wrote:

The USA's botched attempt to arrest Snowden was roundly condemned at the time complete with profuse apologies from heads of state and acknowledgement that this was not an act that should be repeated.

To think this makes things "OK" or in any way justifies Belarus' actions makes any air passenger fair game for any state that cares to imprison them for whatever trumped up charge they want.

Spearthrower wrote:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

Whataboutism, also known as whataboutery, is a variant of the tu quoque logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent's position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument.[1][2][3]

According to Russian writer, chess grandmaster and political activist Garry Kasparov, "whataboutism" is a word that was coined to describe the frequent use of a rhetorical diversion by Soviet apologists and dictators, who would counter charges of their oppression, "massacres, gulags, and forced deportations" by invoking American slavery, racism, lynchings, etc.[4] Whataboutism has been used by other politicians and countries as well.

Whataboutism is particularly associated with Soviet and Russian propaganda.[5][6][7]

When criticisms were leveled at the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the Soviet response would often use "and what about you?" style by instancing of an event or situation in the Western world.[8][9][10] The idea can be found in Russian language: while it utilizes phrase "Sam takoi" for direct tu quoque-like "you too"; it also has "Sam ne lutche" ("not better") phrase.

SafeAsMilk wrote:"BuT oBaMa," he gargled around Putin's cock. "ObAmA SeT pReCiDeNt," he gagged as Putin assassinates yet another one of his political opponents, the assassin's recorded confession playing in the background. "ThIs Is FiNe," he slurped, never one to let irony get in the way of an opportunity to grind his political axes.

Give it a rest Mike, you're a more washed up used car salesman than Trump.

Mike_L wrote:

Spearthrower wrote:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

Whataboutism, also known as whataboutery, is a variant of the tu quoque logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent's position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument.[1][2][3]

According to Russian writer, chess grandmaster and political activist Garry Kasparov, "whataboutism" is a word that was coined to describe the frequent use of a rhetorical diversion by Soviet apologists and dictators, who would counter charges of their oppression, "massacres, gulags, and forced deportations" by invoking American slavery, racism, lynchings, etc.[4] Whataboutism has been used by other politicians and countries as well.

Whataboutism is particularly associated with Soviet and Russian propaganda.[5][6][7]

When criticisms were leveled at the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the Soviet response would often use "and what about you?" style by instancing of an event or situation in the Western world.[8][9][10] The idea can be found in Russian language: while it utilizes phrase "Sam takoi" for direct tu quoque-like "you too"; it also has "Sam ne lutche" ("not better") phrase.

et_tu.jpg

Spearthrower wrote:

Mike_L wrote:

Spearthrower wrote:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

Whataboutism, also known as whataboutery, is a variant of the tu quoque logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent's position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument.[1][2][3]

According to Russian writer, chess grandmaster and political activist Garry Kasparov, "whataboutism" is a word that was coined to describe the frequent use of a rhetorical diversion by Soviet apologists and dictators, who would counter charges of their oppression, "massacres, gulags, and forced deportations" by invoking American slavery, racism, lynchings, etc.[4] Whataboutism has been used by other politicians and countries as well.

Whataboutism is particularly associated with Soviet and Russian propaganda.[5][6][7]

When criticisms were leveled at the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the Soviet response would often use "and what about you?" style by instancing of an event or situation in the Western world.[8][9][10] The idea can be found in Russian language: while it utilizes phrase "Sam takoi" for direct tu quoque-like "you too"; it also has "Sam ne lutche" ("not better") phrase.

et_tu.jpg

Yes, as usual reply absent substance or engagement - wholly expected, but of course substance and engagement wasn't the point at all of your interjection. Troll on.