Comment on the editorial article Belarusians look to the West in vain for support in The Telegraph, 24 May 2021.
The Belarussian ‘opposition’ tv channel Nexta uses the Telegram app provided by a group of Russians from Sankt Petersburg/Leningrad. Telegram is advertised as a safer, encrypted method of communication. They operate their company from Dubai now. Russia is gradually expanding their control of the Internet. Those signing up to use Telegram voluntarily submit their personal details and their communications to the Russian state.
@Nexta_tv’s last post on Twitter was in January 2021. Nexta’s Twitter accounts direct users to their Telegram accounts instead. You need to sign up to Telegram to view Nexta. This kind of members-only strictly controlled environment is typical of the Communist modus operandi, in which control of content and access to it is key. In other words, it is a strict surveillance.
Nexta’s founder, Stsiapan Putsila is a member of the Belarussian privileged class and is a son of a tv sports presenter. I couldn’t find Putsila’s Twitter account. He probably doesn’t have one.
The material posted by Belarus ‘opposition’ on freely available media is mostly of theatrical nature. I don’t see any substance in it. I am coming from a family of prisoners of Communist concentration camps and I know a few things about state terror and how to distinguish authentic repression from a fake one.
Western media and analysts go hysterical about a bit of shouting and pushing. This is a result of a century of cognitive neglect. Bits of reality which do not fit their preferred mode of thinking are thrown out the window.
Yesterday, I posted a similar comment under The Times article but it was later removed by the paper. You can read it here:
@LechSBorkowski