Belarus faces international fury after using fighter jet to land airliner, seize journalist. “In a show of unified fury, the United States, Britain, the European Union, NATO and the United Nations on Monday lined up to call out the action in the skies above the eastern European country led by Alexander Lukashenko, often referred to as Europe’s last dictator.” (A reminder that only a two-bit, sadistic dictator sees journalists as the enemy of the people.)

+ “It has all of the elements of a Jason Bourne plot: A commercial flight carrying a dissident journalist is intercepted by a MiG-29 fighter jet under orders from the strongman president of Belarus.This protagonist is very much real. His name is Roman Protasevich, and on Sunday, he drew worldwide attention because the Belarusian government and its authoritarian leader went to extraordinary lengths to stop him.” Who Is Roman Protasevich, the Opposition Journalist?

+ This is part of a trend of autocrats doing whatever the hell they want and ignoring what they see as the acceptable international consequences. It’s not a trend that will end on its own. Anne Applebaum nails it. If Belarus Gets Away With It, Other Dictators Will Follow. “In autocratic capitals all over the world, dictators and their flunkies are also watching to see how the West reacts—whether Lukashenko gets away with it and whether, perhaps, this new tool of oppression will become available to them too.”