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Additional information in Timothy Snyder's essay on this arrest of Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich by Pres. Lukashenko and the news agency Protasevich worked for, NEXTA, a Telegram channel that provided Belarusians with the facts about what was happening in their own country:

https://snyder.substack.com/p/terror-vs-the-truth-in-belarus

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Thank you, Ellie. We have lost local news and desperately need more journalists here. I copied an except from Snyder's essay about reporters. They are a crucial element of the essay.

'Reporters are the heroes of our time, in eastern Europe and everywhere else. Watching the risks they take and the price they pay, we should be ashamed to have any association with anyone who would say that reporters are "enemies of the people." Reporters are the friends of the people. In fact, they are just about the only friends that we the people have.' (Snyder)

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Now watching Rachel Maddow interview of Snyder. Will read his essay. He never fails to reveal the larger truths, much like HCR.

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Almost easier to see the oligarchy abroad (Snyder) to understand its structure at home (HCR).

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Well that was a brilliant tandem. Love you Ted Keyes.

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Merci Christine! And me you!

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If we imagine that either Maddow or Snyder were taken from the sky and tortured, we would be closer to understanding the impact of such a horrendous operation.

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That is a stark, chilling reality check.

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Many thanks for this "Snyder" source, Elie. I signed on.

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Our own Sandy Lewis brought him up a couple of months ago. He wrote a great little book, (4" x 6") "On Tyranny: 20 lessons from the 20th Century" A great book for a civics class.

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Timothy Snyder just came out with a 5 part series about Belarus a few weeks ago. You can catch the first of the series here:

https://snyder.substack.com/p/belarus-15-the-worst-war

Highly recommended.

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Fascinating, Ellie.... thanks for this article. It's eye-opening to realize that Russia was probably the instigator of this operation, given the intelligence tradecraft necessary to pull it off. Tie in the Paul Manafort story, and ╨в╨п╤Ж╨╝тВ╜'s collusion, and it starts to seem like there's an international club of despots, like one of the elite casinos in Monte Carlo where the ugly rich gamble for millions after midnight. Sort of a parallel to the United Nations; the United Totalitarianisms. And you know that T╤ПтШнmp joins Kim Jong Un and Putin there in the V.I.P. room to clink glasses and celebrate after a great day at the races.

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Sadly true.

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Thanks for the link.

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Thanks for this Ellie.

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Thank you, Ellie. Subscribed.

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