The barrier of fear is breaking in Belarus

Are the thugs winning? Sometimes, it may appear so, but I’d draw a different lesson from Sunday’s forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk and the imprisonment there of journalist Roman Protasevich. Even against such outrageous intimidation, the barrier of fear is breaking in Belarus. The thugs are getting desperate. The opposition persists — and after Sunday’s crude assault, it may grow.