Good morning,
BELARUS
An escalating situation is developing between Belarus’ thug dictator Alexander Lukashenko and the EU, after a no fly zone is declared by Europe in the wake of the State highjacking of an airplane to arrest a journalist. Roman Protasevich remains in custody, and his family and colleagues fear he is being tortured by the regime, which has arrested thousands of people who peacefully demonstrated after last August’s rigged Presidential elections.
Now, Russia is wading into the conflict, by blocking flights that normally overfly Belarus to land in Moscow. Russia did not allow an Air France flight from Paris to land in Moscow on Wednesday morning. Air France confirms that the flight was later canceled. According to the company, the refusal was related to the new route, as it was no longer allowed to fly over Belarus. And then Thursday an Austrian flight was not allowed to reroute around Belarus by Russia which refused to approve it landing in Moscow.
Russia is allowed to approve the routes of any foreign aircraft arriving to Moscow. If it tries to block new routes around Belarus, European airlines could find themselves having to decide to cancel all air travel into Russia. More today on this.
President Putin could choose to support Europe over the highjacking and Lukashenko’s outrageous air interception, but as usual he chooses rogue regimes over Western interests. He has propped up the regime of Lukashenko, as he fears similar protests and unrest could come to Russia, as he extends his Presidential rule indefinately.
Europe is likely to increase sanctions on Belarus unless Protasevich is released, and Russia could also face new sanctions.
Belarus Back Story
On this Back Story Dana Lewis talks to Andrei Sannikov, who fled Belarus after he was jailed and tortured for opposing Lukashenko, and he thinks the brutal dictator will have to step down.
And journalist and author Luke Harding, who says it's hard to predict, but he too won't rule out an implosion in Belarus and removal of Lukashenko.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/8591939
USAID Hacked
Russia appears to be behind a hack of The State Department’s foreing aid agency the USAID. The hackers sent out thousands of emails to 150 organizations connected to the State Department saying USAID Special Alert: Donald Trump has published new documents on election fraud.
The malicious activity was underway as recently as the past week. That suggests that the sanctions and whatever additional covert actions the White House carried out — part of a strategy of creating “seen and unseen” costs for Moscow — has not choked off the Russian government’s appetite for disruption. And it comes as President Biden has warned Russia against hacking including the large Solar Winds scandal, and just before he is to meet Putin in June.
India Variant
UK visitors to Europe are being told not to visit France and Germany and potentially other nations because of fears of the new India variant. This as Britain is seeing an increase in infections rising to 7000 cases, and the India variant has doubled in number.
And, data indicates 3/4’s of all new cases are of that variant which shows how quickly it is spreading.
British Covid Scandal
This week shocking testimony from the man who helped P.M. Boris Johnson win his election, and who ran the P.M.’s office at Number 10 Downing Street. Dominic Cummings wasn’t just an advisor, he was the key man who the P.M. leaned on for all matters.
Cummings who recently left his post, testified before a Commons Committee looking into Covid response and painted a picture of Government chaos, stupidity, and lying in Johnsons cabinet team as the pandemic began.
He said the reason so many seniors died in the U.K. was because they were sent from hospitals untested back to senior homes where the disease quickly spread, and that the Health Min. Matt Hancock had lied to Cabinet saying testing was being done. He said the health minister should have been fired and that Johnson himself was absent from critical meetings, and thought the virus was a media trick, and refused to take action to lock down the country until it was far too late.
He said the P.M. was unfit for office. And that at one point on the eve of another lock down Boris Johnson said “let the bodies pile high” as he argued against another lockdown. Mr Cummings claimed that dithering and obstinacy by the PM delayed a second lockdown last autumn – with disastrous results.
'Tens of thousands of people died who didn't need to die,' he said.
Why Cummings has tried to destroy the Prime Minister and Health Secretary Hancock, is the subject of great speculation. Some of his claims are no doubt true, but his motives are suspicious, and his ultimate political goals suspect. But truth is the ultimate defense, and Boris Johnson and cannot deny much of what Cummings has laid bare and the political fallout is serious.
Covid Origins
President Biden has ordered U.S. Intelligence agencies to answer mounting questions over the Wuhan lab, gain of function experiments, and ultimately was the pandemic sparked by an escape from the lab.
Much is being said about why the media has not reported widely on the lab escape theory until, but as time has passed with no link to an animal source, the lab has looked more and more suspicious. More than 80 thousand animals have been tested including the Wuhan market, with no link to an animal source.
If you want to understand clearly why the lab is in the spotlight - listen to this podcast. It really makes thee questions clear and understandable. It is not conclusive but makes the lab theory the leading hypothesis!
On Back Story Host Dana Lewis talks to Science writer Nicholas Wade who has written a long essay arguing that the “lab leak” hypothesis is more plausible than the “natural origin” theory.
And, Gilles Demaneuf who is the co-organizer of a letter for 26 scientists from around the world has requesting a new investigation into the origins of covid and specifically demanding the WHO looks into the labs in Wuhan. Demaneuf is a data analyst from DRASTIC, an international team of scientists and analysts attempting to fill in the gaps on Covid's origins.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/8471236
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Have a good weekend everyone.
Dana
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/05/27/vienna-moscow-flight-cancelled-over-russia-refusal-to-approve-re-routing-a74031new
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/journalist-taken-from-hijacked-ryanair-flight-shown-in-new-video-after-belarus-arrest/ar-AAKkRWh?ocid=uxbndlbing
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/27/uk-covid-cases-india-variant-matt-hancock-three-quarters
https://www.itv.com/news/2021-05-26/dominic-cummings-coronavirus-pandemic-handling-government-boris-johnson-mps-committee