Air India has been in the news this week for its unplanned mechanical diversion to Russia, but the same question applies to Gulf carriers, Chinese carriers, and any airline that utilizes Russian airspace. Should these carriers be banned from serving the United States if they use Russian airspace?
Should Carriers Like Air India Or Emirates That Utilize Russian Airspace Be Banned From Serving USA?
This is not an issue with Air India alone, but in light of the diversion of AI173 to Magadan, Russia, certainly, the world was reminded that Air India continues to utilize Russian airspace on its US routes. I posed a question yesterday on Twitter much like many in the US have been asking. It was simply a question, not a policy prescription, but the tweet went viral in India and I was attacked for even entertaining the thought (including death threats in private forums).
While I think @airindia is doing the best it can under this difficult circumstance, it brings to light a different concern: should Air India be banned from the USA if it continues to use Russian airspace to the detriment of US carriers? https://t.co/NPcE1TtEfK
— Matthew Klint – Live And Let’s Fly (@LiveandLetsFly) June 7, 2023
So while not an issue that exclusively impacts Air India, I was quite surprised to see the rabid hyper-nationalism, vitriol for the USA, fervent support for Russia, denial about the atrocities against the Ukrainian people, and the most puerile effort to equivocate through the use of false equivalences. If you want some entertainment, do click on the tweet above and read some of the comments.
At Least Three Approaches
There are many potential approaches to this problem. One is simply to maintain the status quo and warn Americans that they assume certain risk by flying on carriers that use Russian airspace. Another is to ban the use of Russian airspace on any flight that touches or overflies the USA. A third, and more draconian, option is to ban carriers from serving the USA that utilize Russian airspace at all, since it serves as one (of many) loopholes allow Russian aggression to continue in Ukraine.
On a more theoretical level, for every action there is a reaction. The Hindu nationalists who churlishly heaped scorn on me yesterday repeatedly threatened that Air India would cancel its Boeing order if the US closed its airspace to Air India. But what if the European Union did the same thing? Is Air India going to cancel all Airbus and Boeing orders and buy Russian or Chinese jets? Good luck with that.
That said, there are serious unintended consequences that result from something like an airspace closure. Namely, there are decent people just trying to survive who become caught in the middle. Here I am talking about Indians, Russians, and Americans alike. The lack of air service not only hampers international commerce but undermines international relations between nations. There is a certain expectation that countries which are economically co-dependent are less likely to go to war (though the Russian invasion of Ukraine is certainly a counter-narrative).
On the other hand, as I saw first-hand in Ukraine during my trip in February, a sovereign nation was invaded by a stronger force on the premise of a lie. History reveals this sort of thing tragically is repeated (hello Iraq), but past aggression by the West does not in any way justify Russia’s current imperialistic aggression in Ukraine.
This Isn’t Just About Air India
Let’s once again be clear that this is not an Air India problem, though Air India is part of the problem. Gulf carriers like Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways use Russian airspace. Chinese carriers do too. So does EL AL, the Israeli flag carrier and Turkish Airlines, which has gratuitously aided and abetted Russian aggression in Ukraine through Turkey’s trade policies.
The sad reality is that there are many ways to legally ship spare parts and even engines into Russia for use on a “foreign registered aircraft.” The sanctions are largely ineffective. The war in Ukraine will likely drag on for years. Without global consensus, sanctions are only as strong as their weakest link.
But what really bothers me is the double standard by so many Indians who took the time to interact with my tweet yesterday. So many were so quick to condemn the USA for its aggression over the years, but refused (and in some cases defended) Russian aggression in India. Why? It appeared to me because of the notion that Russia somehow “respects” India (when the reality is Russia is simply using India as a pawn).
Exploitive and violent behavior in the past does not justify such behavior today. There is no rational ground to defend Russian action in Ukraine as defensive. Any act which perpetuates the Russian war machine must be carefully considered among responsible world actors, particularly those who purportedly aspire to greatness.
So, Should Carriers Be Banned From The USA?
My answer is ultimately no, carriers should not be banned from the USA if they use Russian airspace. First, there are legal restraints that complicate any discussion of banning carriers, regardless of the airspace utilized. Current bilateral and multilateral agreements may permit US regulators to introduce such airspace restrictions on future routes (as appears to be the case on new routes between China and the USA), but modifying currency routes is not easy.
It is possible regulators could find a way to introduce a restriction against any carrier serving the USA that utilizes Russian airspace, but the consequences could reverberate around the world in unwelcome ways.
The most draconian step, banning carriers for using Russian airspace on routes that do not serve the USA, may sound like a reasonable approach to bring about the end of the war in Ukraine, but it would likely be an example of cutting off your nose to smite your face. There’s a reason Europeans continue to buy oil from Russia. There’s a reason that so much commerce continues to flow into and out of Russia while two-faced governments proclaim meaningless generalities like “Today’s era is not an era of war” (whatever that means in a war-torn world). War is never clean and economic considerations are deep and multi-faceted.
As a general rule, I favor more commerce and not less, even if such exchange does keep unjust governments in power. For example, I am against the Cuban Embargo because it has so greatly hurt the people of Cuba, even though the goals of such an embargo are laudable. Hindering the ability to travel between nations not only undermines commerce but makes conflict more likely. These moves hurt the very people they intend to help.
CONCLUSION
This is not an easy problem, as some seem to think. The economic and political imbalances that come via air space closures are complex and warrant frank discussion that does not equivocate based upon false pretenses. While I tend to think that air space closures are ultimately zero-sum games, those proposing that carriers like Emirates or Air India, which kowtow to Russia via jejune notions of “neutrality,” be blocked from the privilege of serving the USA are not simply to be dismissed.
But constructive dialogue based upon mutual respect and a common desire for peace and prosperity can lead to better policy outcomes than simply blanket bans on commerce.
image: The Kremlin
Great post, Matthew. I saw your tweet yesterday and was really shocked with the comments out of India. I find it even more humorous the attacks many had regarding the U.S in general. Even more ironic given that probably half of them are sitting in their flat in Mumbai and checking every hour the status of their work visa being approved for the U.S. For a country they despise so much it is strange how many want to work here, especially in the tech industry and trucking.
I’m sick and tired of India, UAE, Turkey and Israel getting a free pass on Russia. Finally, for all the Indians who will, I’m sure, come screaming here that we have no leverage on them if the U.S. and the EU finally says enough and starts to counter back, they are going to be in for a big surprise. You are supporting genocide. Don’t try to shield or paint it any other way.
The geopolitics is far more complicated than it appears. India being chummy with Russia goes way beyond the present day, as it was an ally of the USSR back in the Cold War days. Heck, India has been friendly with Iran for decades – if anything I think giving them a pass for supporting the mullahs is equally if not more objectionable. At the same time, India is the largest bulwark against Chinese aggression in Asia. On the other hand, US companies support hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs in India.
Does the US have “leverage” in the sense that they can tighten the screws on American companies doing business in India through sanctions? Sure. Would they do it? We all know the pols in both parties answer to their campaign contributors in Big Business, who’ll go kicking and screaming if such a thing were proposed. And to a degree, even absent that, India has counter-leverage in the sense that the US needs it as a counterweight to China.
So which piece do you move on the chessboard? Not as easy a decision as it seems.
Of course the usa never sold weapons to the saudis who were conducting genocide in Yemen. Love how imperialist Americans are okay with genocide in nations their countries sell weapons to.
Or maybe the Houthi rebels are the real terrorists in Yemen…
Which justifies genocide. Interesting. https://www.defensenews.com/2022/08/02/state-department-clears-weapons-sales-to-saudi-arabia-uae/
https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/genocide-emergency-saudi-arabia-and-the-war-in-yemen
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2017/12/18/who-are-the-houthis-and-why-are-we-at-war-with-them/
This is just where you should start you reading in this subject
Still waiting to hear you rebut the genocide your nation supports with your tax dollars. But it’s okay for the usa to actually pay a genocidal maniac while he’s in exile but Indian airlines flying over Russia enrages you. Got it imperialist.
I get Americans are upset that the world no longer bows down for them, but the bully is getting pushback now and is going into snowflake mode.
You’ve also not rebutted why AI was singled out. Guess you’re scared of being put in prison while flying through Dubai.
It’s all very simplistic to be sitting in the US and be commenting on world views as the reality is that Americans have a very poor sense of general knowledge. Essentially, this war between Russia and Ukraine is a proxy one with the US and the West (basically the US as the rest of the West follows the US). It’s extremely surprising that when the USSR came out of Communism, it was assured by the US that no NATO missile will be aimed at Russia. Subsequently, the relations between Russia and the US were on a clear mend over the last 15 years or so. What then was the need to finger Russia by having Ukraine join NATO to park NATO missiles at Russia ? Common Sense says that the US should have made Russia it’s partner to counter China, but instead the US and the West made Communist China even more stronger by promoting it economically, and now China is the US’s threat and in the entire Asian Region. Clearly, there is this hate about Putin which has murdered the sense of Western objectivity. In fact, over the last 7 – 8 years he has been questioning the West as to why it’s pursuing this aggressive path, but there has been a radio silence from the West, while engaging in the background with these dirty games with Russia through Ukraine. What has happened through all of this, my friend ? The entire Ukraine is finished, down to rubbles, as Russia in it’s defence had to adopt offence as the best form of defence. Seemingly Russia is the aggressor, but the US and the West are the aggressors behind-the-scene. Therefore, for God’s sake get down from the ivory tower that you’re sitting in and get yourself a reality check. To conclude, Kissinger said that – to be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal……and that is the fate of Ukraine today by being a friend of America. As for Russia, the US perhaps tried to show the world that it’s becoming friends with Russia only to push it over the cliff someday. So here again, the friendship with America has proven to be fatal for Russia.
You mean, enemy’s friend is also enemy, just the opposite of enemy’s enemy being friend. That’ll make half of the world enemy.
If India right wing supports Russia, most of the US right wing and their messiah would support Russia, if given opportunity. Wait till 2024!
As far as Hindu nationalists are concerned, there is no place for tolerance of opinion in today’s India. Even India’s founders Gandhi, Nehru have been judged villains in public opinion and a word for them is a word against current rulers! I know this personally, as I am from India, and have given up opining in my friend, family or social media groups.
It is disturbing that certain right wing elements in the USA support Russia over Ukraine in this conflict, as if Russia is the victim.
As Mathew pointed out, they are Hindu nationalists nurtured by RSS who are similar to a group in US as well. India has a problem with them these days. Majority of Indians love America.
Seems a bit too overreaching to ban carriers but I am not losing sleep over it if it happens. I avoid Air India because it doesn’t pass my own standards. If I flew to India, I would likely choose Singapore Airlines if flying from the West Coast and maybe BA, AF or LH if flying from New York.
Ever since Putin’s unsolicited invasion and the crimes against humanity that the Russians have perpetrated agains Ukraine, I’m very much pro-Ukraine and very much anti-Russia. Why did I state that? Because, as a sovereign nation, India has the right to male its own choices. In the case of this issue, India has remained neutral. Frankly, so has Turkey (an alleged member of NATO). So, no, AI should NOT be banned from US airspace for overflying Russia. Given how AI operates, this still doesn’t give them much of a competitive advantage as I’d much rather fly around Russia or (better yet) connect in Dubai or Doha than risk exposure to cockroaches/
One thing my parents taught me long ago was to never, never, never, never, EVER badmouth the ruling party of India publicly, especially as a foreigner. Their supporters will ruthlessly attack you. Cult of personality in politics has been a thing there far longer than it has here. Sorry you had to deal with that. (I do wonder, though, how many of those tweets actually originated from live people in India vs. bot farms…)
It’s really something interesting that I was not expecting.
India stayed neutral during the ruthless invasion and systematic destruction of Iraq and Afghanistan. India stayed neutral during the Cold War. India is staying neutral on Ukraine.
India is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (poor countries who don’t want to take sides). Your article fails to understand how sacred neutrality and non-interference is to Indian foreign policy and you fail to see that virtually all non-EU/US countries are neutral on Ukraine, more than 80% of human population.
As for Russian airspace, governments have no legal jurisdiction over routes that airlines take.
Your last point is incorrect in many circumstances, but overall, the convenience of neutrality does not justify it.
Mathew, you have a right to your opinions. However, you brand any Indian that opposes your view point as a Hindu Nationalist. That appears offensive in your intent. How would you feel, if I were to brand you as a Christian nationalist for championing the American national interest?
I am an American rocket scientist that has worked hard to strengthen the American space program. However, I totally disagree with you that punishing Air India is justifiable just because India chooses to not follow the American national interest and instead wants to follow its own national interest. As a Libertarian in philosophy, I believe every country should have the right to follow its own national interest just as every person has the right to follow his or her own personal interest. Where was your righteous sense of outrage when Pakistan was murdering hundreds of thousands of people in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and ethnically cleansing minorities and professionals leading to millions being displaced to India? At that time when Indira Gandhi came to America and sought to share the details of the catastrophe in her part of the world, the American President was verbally offensive of her, calling her names and sending the American Navy to intimidate India. Where were you when the CIA routinely bumped off South and Central American leaders? Where was your outrage with the US invaded Iraq? Directly leading to tens of thousands of deaths and the creation of ISIS?
I’ve been called worst. But we also don’t have a leader like Modi who mixes Hinduism with national pride in a very disturbing way (and I’m not say you do either). Then again…
I don’t understand why so many people just want to turn it back on the USA. I’m not the USA, I am an observer who happens to be American. I didn’t participate in American atrocities nor do I excuse or defend them. I call things like I see them and my citizenship or my failure to call out unrelated issues of the past does not render me unable to address the current situation.
As for this libertarian idea, I don’t believe there is a neutral position when it comes to the war in Ukraine. If you read my story you saw that I ultimately do not advocate for blocking Emirates or Turkish Airlines or Air India from the USA, but that doesn’t mean I think those nations are being “neutral” in the way they enable Russian paranoia and aggression.
Without reading all this, Humans will never get along. Sadly, there will always be War (Strange but true there was never any ban on American airlines when Bush invaded Iraq in th1 1990s in the Trillion dollar wars).
Great post, Matthew. One thing that bugs me is that Hilton Honors Points can still be used to make points bookings in Russia. This also seems to circumvent the sanctions regime, while also making Hilton look very badly.
Sssh. Can’t mention that as it’s owned by rich white guys.
It always amuses me that the rabid nationalism in India knows no left or right boundary.
lol. You still shill Hilton cards and don’t ask Hilton not to stop doing business in Russia. I hope you’re not upset that us brown people are pointing out your white skin hypocrisy.
I don’t shill anything.
I also don’t see the world through such a backward social construct…
How about a middle way? U.S. should just ban all U.S. passport holders (and maybe green card holders) from taking any flights that overtly Russia. That way, the interests of all countries will be respected and upheld! Please feel free to contact me about licensing this eminently sensible solution.
Should they be banned? Hell yes. Indians are the WORST.
Somehow you only call out Air India in the headline, but quietly insert Emirstes, Etihad, El Al, etc in to the article.
I disagree with the right whinge in my country, but on this you’re wrong. You already claimed that india serves the usa which I pointed out in a comment yesterday.
I do also wonder why you’re okay with European nations and Australia buying refined products from India, where the source of the crude wax Russia. Guess you’re too scared of the backlash from Arab money and the Israeli right whinge to name those airlines in your headline.
Apparently reading an entire post is beneath you. If you had bothered to go beyond the title alone the question of EK etc was raised in just the second paragraph.
Why target Air India in the title? Because they are the first to show that diversions in Russia are tricky and potentially fraught with diplomatic issues. And they continue to impede on open sky competition by also blocking the EK/UA alliance into India. You want respect? Play by the rules or else you can take your double standards and shove it in your neutrality stance that reeks of nothing but greed.
Apparently reading and entire comment is beneath you. I did mention and I quote “you only call out Air India in the headline but quietly insert emirates etihad etc in to the article”
It’s hilarious that you as a citizen of a country which has protectionist rules like the Jones Act gets upset when other countries have their own rules. Open up your shipping market, and then we could talk.
I also notice you didn’t mention anything about the petroleum products because of course, it’s against the rules to go after fellow Anglo Saxon nations.
Take your so called support and shove it in your own massive posterior
Such bigotry from you. Not cool.
Did it occur to you that Air India was in the headline because I was mobbed by a group of churlish morons on Twitter who blindly defend Russian aggression and embrace the sort of hyper nationalism you routinely condemn when it comes from the USA? Or perhaps because it was an Air India flight that was the first to divert to Russia?
Come on. Do better.
Ah. Bigotry because I point out how Stuart is copacetic with Anglo Saxon nations buying petroleum products which are refined from Russian crude? Come on. Do better Matt.
I condemn hyper nationalism in all forms and like I said earlier I don’t get the right whinge in any country least of all my own.
I am willing to bet 2 dollars (I’m a poor man) that if you named El Al it would be the Israeli right whinge coming after you. Why don’t you experiment with that. And then let’s see what happens. I can’t do that as I’ve kept as faraway from that cesspool called Twitter as I can.
@ 747Always
“I can’t do that as I’ve kept as faraway from that cesspool called Twitter as I can.”
Yet here you are instead…..
Stop trying to justify India’s complacency to genocide by pointing out weak comparisons. You sound like a man found guilty of a heinous crime of murder and then tries to explain that you are not so bad as you once knew a man who took a cookie without asking.
In the meantime tens of millions of Indians check their emails daily to see if their US work visa got approved so that they can come enjoy the riches of a nation that allows for such opportunity. But behind the scenes you all pound the table with Nationalism and defend a country that you yourself don’t want to even live in.
“Such bigotry from you. Not cool.”
Hopefully we’ll also be seeing you call out the various other forms of bigotry from people on here 😉
Will address that on Saturday. Sad story. Stay tuned!
Lol. Stuart as usual ignoring his own countries compliipcitynin genocide because it was brown skinned folk getting killed. Typical white skin imperialism
Dear Imperialist Hypocrite. Will you do something about this? No? Coz it wasn’t white skinned people suffering https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/10/its-been-50-years-biggest-us-backed-genocide-youve-never-heard/
Many Indians can be very hypocritical tbh. They continuously viciously hate and attack and are openly racist against the West especially US and England and against their neighbors from Pakistan to China. Especially when you mention Russia who is supposedly their super friend.
Ok so where do Indian immigrate like crazy to? Let’s guess if it is their super friend Russia? Or their hated culture less America and England? Lol.
Indians are constantly gaming us for green cards and citizenship working around the systems.
I think it’s time to confront their radicalism and nationalism by removing all Student F1 and H1B work visas and Green cards and citizenship. Let see if they go to Russia and China and Brazil and SouthAfrica (their Brics nations). Lol.
Stick to reporting on broken IFE and rude FAs, please.
The clickbait youbput down is unintelligent at best and idiotic otherwise.
What a muddle salad of irrelevant thoughts.
Sheesh
Lol. You just gave yourself away.
No flights to the USA should be allowed to land in the USA if they used Russian airspace. If they insist, the airplanes should be seized and sold.
Oh USA aircraft will also be sold that way..
Mr. Kline and company,
Present day Indians comprahend geopolitics and peoples perceptions much more than you can ever do.
Indians understand that when it comes to Caucasians, color of skin finally triumphs than any temporary genocide and political affiliations.
Will you ever stop flying to Switzerland which maintained neutrality and was banker for both sides during WW II?
Will you ever stop flying to Belgium or write a rebuttal againt it’s monarchy which a century ago carried out genocide equal if not greater than Nazis?
Will you ever stop flying to the Great Britain and chide the atrocities done by their great leader Churchill and the monarchy?
I can keep on going, but hope you get the point.
India had warned the west 60+ years ago against supporting Pakistan that their policies will give raise to terrorist industry, which came true. We hoped that the West would learn from the genocide carried out by Pakistan in Bangladesh with west’s military support, but it never happened.
Indians understand that sometime in future, people of Russia and people of Ukraine will resume comradary, people from one country will start dating people from the other.
There is a great chance of a Jew whose fore fathers were in concentration camps to marry a descendants of Nazi supporters.
India knows better to just condemn the voilance and not to get in-between Caucasians infighting. We just have more matured understanding.
And to the point where Indians are lining to get to Western countries and specifically to USA, yes it is irrefutable fact, just as factual as few centuries ago European powers were trying for a piece of Indian subcontinent and China. As factual as most of the Wests current prosperity is laid on the foundations of genocides and looting from Asia and Africa. Yes Indians are trying for economic prosperity by migrating, but doing that by assimilating and enriching the countries they migrate to.
I bet those who snide on Indians migrating to USA in the comments is due to the color of the skin and will invite a Russian to migrate with open arms.
Do I expect that you will accept the reality I mentioned? Nah!, I know better.
Stop hiding behind neutrality as a moral high ground. Even Switzerland is now deeply questioning its future (and past) in this regard. You are nothing more than opportunists in India. At least have the courage to own it. You are not fooling anyone, as witnessed by tens of millions of Indian tech and trucking workers anxiously awaiting their work visas being approved so that they can, finally, leave your land of “great geopolitical knowledge.”
THE ARTICLE IS MISSING SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT, unfare competition!. USA airlines flying to Asia (India and many other locations) are not allowed to use Russian air space, so the route to Asia is significantly longer, thus making costs to operate the flight much higher, fuel etc. So, airlines such as Air India gain a unfare competitive a advantage over USA carriers on routes to Asia. These other carriers using Russian air space to serve USA cities SHOULD BE banned or change their routes just like USA carriers have to!! To level the playing field and stop the damage to American companies.
I suppose the argument some are making here is that the unintended consequences of not allowing Air India to exploit that economic advantage might be a canceled Boeing order. Frankly, I think that’s a straw man threat, but many Indians seems to think it is legitimate.
Protectionism for me but not for thee seems to be the imperialist USAs way. Lol
Do you support the persecution of Muslims and Christians in India?
The correct expression is “Cut off your nose to spite your face”
https://grammarist.com/usage/cut-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face/
Thanks. Isn’t that what I said?
No, you said “smite your face”.
I typed in google,
How to create conflict in people’s mind without any common sense ?
And it’s popped up this article.
https://liveandletsfly.com/air-india-banned/
That explains all the traffic.
The city is MAGADAN, not Magdan.
Hi Matthew, If the US keeps on banning things left, right and center, there wouldn’t be much left to bam after a year. Also, please keep in mind how the mighty Napoleon empire came to it’s heels. There’s something called an overstretch.
As long as Russia overflight rights are available to foreign carriers coming into and out of the US, those airlines that avail themselves of those privileges – shorter routes, shorter flight times, etc. – should be banned from the US and Canada. Beyond the competition aspect, India, South Africa, Israel, etc. are in open collusion with the vicious and malignant Putin regime responsible for untold horrors. There is no moral, ethical, financial or viable justification for legitimizing Russia in any way. Until the prevaricators of the world are hit where it hurts – the pocketbook – they will continue to provide Russia with direct and indirect assistance in its murderous policies.
A typically emo response from a stereotypical Merican.
Stop persecuting ethnic minorities.
The fact that opinions in Twitter from a very few Indians who are commenting on a needless article for a emergency stop somehow makes it opinion of the whole country of India is fundamentally dangerous..Social media is such a curse
Do you defend their words?
To level the playing field, routes to and from the US would not only require not overflying Russia, but also not include Russian airports in their ETOPS divert airports. But seriously, who would rather risk an unplanned stop in Russia compared to continuing a flight with a cargo fire to a non-Russian airport? Perhaps a dual Russian male citizen of draft age would prefer continuing, but everyone else would not.
This!
Let’s be honest: if America didn’t need a place to launder money and deal in other things, we would have no war in Europe.
I think it’s time the rest of the world gets together to tell America to STFU.
Unfortunately..
You are attacked by wrong people who have different definition of Right wing than the Occidents, especially when it comes to fiscal/economic conservatism..
…So yes, they do use “brown people” card whenever they do not get an opportunity to speak their radicalised minds( at times decades-in-making or in the form of “iHindoo IT Cell”, an informal-name for that botnet-ops — whose mushrooming {coughs }coincided{ /coughs} with certain executive( ‘manager’ in most of International English) happened to join what’s-now a Merican {coughs }social-media giant{ /coughs} being the only Big Tech giant to vociferously make a stand on issues historically-apathetic to US but not exactly everywhere else on this one-&-only Planet, such as against Is’rāelī military-grade spyware industry) just in the same way as neoliberal Hollywood hires Indian actors like Mr Anupam Khēr who have two-faced approach to their public persona more central to Islamophobe’s conspiracist-theory dubbed “[Al-]Taqiyya” than anything: “Woke in the West, nationalist( read patriot) back home” — outside of their literally hundreds-&-hundreds of echo-chambers who greatly do business in economically-defined North America and specifically, with US entities while their flagship-biz back home is “Television Rwanda” aka innumerable FOX Newses & Epoch Timeses on steroids, such entities certainly include the one which operates WION®( an “oh-so-distinct” business whose benefactor entity US-listed and Japanese-owned Sony® is currently trying to rescue with the approval of emotionally-invested and obsessed about “legacy” in ‘Indian Murdochs’, in spite of having benefited for decades from legalised tax-avoidance/-evasion aka ‘black money’ scheme honestly titled Hindū Undivided Family( HUF) in trinymic Chandrā-Goēnka-Gōel family, which went to a PR infowar with US equity-fund since 2 years back which gave them vote-of-confidence after acquiring the single-largest stakeholding in it as “promoters” mere months before the onset of ongoing global-healthcare tragedy, even though the family’s own shareholding either directly or indirectly through network of shell-companies, both domestic and offshore — stands at the naximum of whopping 4%) other than India’s vain attempt to counter USAGM through TV service DD® India( whose reformed remit not even most Indians knew about) and few “overseas services” of AIR®, its radio-counterpart( India’s State broadcaster is organised in the same way as CPB)[ which is India’s answer to [ CNN ]® International, ‘coincidentally’ the most-widely distributed news network in any single tongue and in any single genre across radio-&-TV on this one-&-only Planet]. I cited that interviewee, especially given his work and ethnic background.(
So that “iHindoo IT Cell” can only descend on me by putting their feet in their mouths.)
In other words, not all of their criticisms are invalid irrespective of their standard playbook which they apply against every single “anti-national”( Indian for ‘traitor’ or nowadays, “Russian agent”) “funded by Sōrōs” or more factually but same as big transatlantic Anglophone news-publishing names’ standards-&-practices for dispatches out of Africa & West Asia( “mIdDlE eAsT”, save for apartheid Is’rāel — where Occidental mainstream-press keep falling over themselves trying to false-balance with so much of smog-fanning vis-à-vis their sacrosanct clarity on the escalation of Russo-Ukraine conflict they were happy to ignore for the most of past ~8 years which was, acknowledge it or not, triggered by a coup with radicalised Ukrainian mobs as proxies against not-so-NATO-&-Fourteen-Eyes friendly President, and in fact, point-blank whitewashing and promoting Ukrainian ‘plural T-word’) — with dog-whistles i.e. padded-background, “Omidyār” if they are an Indian, or “anti-Indian” if they are presumed to not have Indian nationality. They even believe that Āryans are “indigenous” to the subcontinent whereas legit indigenous-people are just “tribals”, legally classified as either “Scheduled Tribes” — or worse, “Denotified Tribes” since the British Imperial era.
In other words, you got attacked by very wrong ecosystem( more wrong on reliable verifiable-facts and pepetuators of conspiracist-theories against their underprivileged-demos than the ever-dreaded “50 Cent Army/Party” which is dubbed pejoratively as “wumāo”, too*) but on a wrongheaded, sensationalist question which unreally used an instance of at least de jure now privately-owned Indian flag-carrier making an emergency-stop in Siberia. What would have been your proposal if the jetliner carrying US citizens faced similar situation? Risk consciously killing so many US citizens in order to express solidarity with Ukraine? And to spell-out: No, as a country with hardly-indisputable largest landmass on this one-&-only Planet — it doesn’t matter even if the carrier is legally obligated to consciously fly around Russian airspace, the nearest airport equipped to deal with the-situation-at-hand could still be located in internationally-recognised Russian territory. If so, how much of ICAO’s regulations in regards to commercial-aviation have you even learnt? Or is it almost-entirely IATA?