Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

NATO think-tank enrolls English-language journalists and activists covering Belarus – and Twitter looks the other way

NATO think-tank enrolls English-language journalists and activists covering Belarus – and Twitter looks the other way

Some of the top journalist-activists covering Belarus in English on Twitter are now working for organizations that defend the interests of Western arms manufacturers – with no disclaimer for their followers.

On Wednesday, the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) – based in Warsaw, Poland and Washington, DC – announced it was “thrilled” to welcome Tadeusz Giczan as a fellow. He has previously worked with NEXTA, described as “Belarus’s largest Telegram channel.”


CEPA further praised Giczan for doing “incredible work covering events in Belarus,” referring to weeks-long protests that have tried to overturn the result of the presidential election. From the very beginning of the revolt against President Alexander Lukashenko, NEXTA has openly sided with the demonstrators.

The London-based, Minsk-born, Polish-educated Giczan looks to be the perfect fit for CEPA, which “believes that the strategic theater encompassing the region between Berlin to Moscow, and from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea, represents an area vital of strategic interest to the United States.”

Why, exactly, the territory claimed by the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the ‘Intermarium’ project championed by Warsaw between the world wars is vital to the US is never fully explained. That hasn’t stopped CEPA from receiving funding from the US State Department, regime-change specialists at the National Endowment for Democracy, weapons makers such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Bell – or NATO, for that matter.

Giczan is not the only activist-journalist-expert on all things Belarus to make the jump from social media activism to the think-tank world. Two other major voices have done so over the past month, landing at CEPA’s cousin the Eurasia Center, a subset of the Atlantic Council.

The Atlantic Council is the pre-eminent NATO think-tank championing the idea that Russia is an existential threat to Europe and the US, in order to justify NATO’s reason for being long past its Cold War expiration date. Now it has enlisted in its ranks Hanna Liubakova and Franak Viačorka, two influential online voices on Belarus.

Liubakova is described as a former journalist with Outriders, an “international multimedia platform” run out of Poland. Viačorka, meanwhile, contracted with the US Agency for Global Media – USAGM, the official propaganda arm of the government in Washington – and was the “creative director for the Belarus service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).”


It is unlikely this exodus to think-tank-land was driven by Lukashenko’s government revoking the credentials of journalists working for Western outlets, on grounds that they allegedly fomented unrest. Not the least because that decision came down on August 29, four days after Liubakova made the jump to the Atlantic Council, and two weeks after Viačorka had done so, on August 14.

What’s even more interesting is that they sought refuge in the arms of NATO, which claims to be entirely uninvolved in the events in Belarus. Yet here is the alliance’s narrative-shaping arm, eager to “amplify the voices” of journalist-activists cheering on Lukashenko’s opposition.

Last but not least, while social media platforms like Twitter have in recent weeks labeled outlets like RT, Sputnik and Xinhua as “state-affiliated,” the same standard was not applied to British, German, French or US outlets controlled and funded by their governments, including Viačorka’s former employer, USAGM.

Nor has Twitter compelled the disclosure that the “think tanks” now amplifying activist takes on Belarus have a direct interest in stoking tensions in Eastern Europe in order to boost NATO’s presence, as well as weapons sales, in the region.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
×