Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny dies in prison

Biden: "We don't know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that the death of Nalvany was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did,..."

This is in stark contrast of Trump's silence, similar to when he failed to call out MBS for Khashoggi's murder for weeks.

 

Going to be interesting watching Biden scramble to backtrack after his billy bad ass threat of "devastating consequences" to Russia if Nalvany was killed in prison.

 

Yep, you're right.... Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_...emony to award,were registered on 20 December.

One good thing about elections in Russia -- at least the population isn't bombarded by hours upon hours of political advertisements for months on end....

 

Then go on ignore. No time for non-sense.

 

In Mother Russia, political ads watch you!

 

15 years ago.

 

Sounds like an epstein situation.

 

I keep wondering, "How would killing Navalny during a 30-year jail term, in a gulag-prison in Siberia, help Putin in any way in an election next month?" By contrast, practically speaking, you could say that it made perfect sense for Putin to kill the Wagner chief, Prigozhin in a 'plane crash' -- but Prigozhin was a credible threat to Putin himself, whereas Navalny was locked up a thousand miles away, from where he couldn't do anything but smile, make small talk, and wave at people.

Naw... something about this, and the TIMING of it, just doesn't really make any sense at all. Think: Navalny wasn't even a presidential candidate in 2024....

 

No one approves of political assassinations, or even how the kremlin operates. But Russia *exists*. They're there, whether we like it or not and only an internal change of Russian policy can change Russia. So what are we to do in the meantime? Pout? Stomp our feet like children? Escalate tensions with a nuclear power?(their army might suck but they still have nukes)

The western approach has changed nothing. It changed nothing in North Korea(and yes, negotiations changed nothing either but at least we can say we tried and we have the high ground). It changed nothing in the kremlin. And many will argue that a lack of even normalized relations between nuclear countries is damaging for the world.

So what was our approach prior to Queen Hillary's dirty laundry being leaked to the world? Well, back then the idea was to "work with Russia on what we agree on, while still stating our disagreements." And I think it's time to get back to that.

It doesn't mean we're friends and it doesn't mean we're allies but it does mean we keep the world safe.

 

Hopefully not.

Although there is a striking and sinister resemblance between the way Big Brother loomed over his subject and bullied them and the way Trump and his disciples have behaved.

Similarly, the willingness and even eagerness of Trump nation to reject reality in favor of the one declared by their beloved big brother

 

What we do in the meantime is support Ukraine, and help them drive the Russians back across their borders.

But your beloved fuhrer, and his puppet master don’t want that. So the GOP has played various games to sabatoge the effort.

 

Honestly, I see little similarity between Putin's campaign, with his certain re-election next month, and Donald Trump's almost certainly doomed campaign this year. That said, the Russians I have known have VERY different beliefs about many things from those characteristically shared by us in 'the West'.

The overall best, most reliable, and most credible source I've ever found for measuring public opinion in Russia about Putin is shown in a site that is internationally-respected for unbiased approaches to its work: the non-governmental "Levada-Center" (Yuri Levada Analytical Center). Link: https://www.levada.ru/en/

Without spoiling your exploration of this interesting research site, I'll just say that, according to Levada, Putin enjoys a very high approval rating among Russians.

 

Yes, you certainly have a point regarding the fact that Russians have very different beliefs about many things than folks in the West.

Years ago, Hedrick Smith wrote a great book about life in Russia, and of ordinary Russians. This was in Brezhniev’s time. But the vignettes are very instructive. It was called, simply “The Russians” (Smith had been the Times’ Moscow correspondent for many many years ). It’s an enjoyable read. If you come across a copy, I highly reccomend it.

 

I didn’t read your last sentence!

I have no doubt about that.

Russians love strong men. They always have. Democracy, is at best, a thin veneer for reformers to latch onto. This, in a society that is run by a strongman, ruling over a court of corrupt oligarch; essentially the same feudal society as the one the Tsars presided over.

If you have ever been to Lenin’s Tomb, you probably know that the graves of various “Heroes of the Soviet Union” are lined up against the Kremlin wall. People who stood in the long lines to go through the Tomb brought flowers, and their service medals to leave on the graves. Kalinin, Zhukov, Gagarin, Molotov and Stalin are all there. And his grave was heaped over the top with flowers.

 

I have an old copy of that book, "The Russians"! I haven't even picked it up for several years, but I will browse back through it now that you've reminded me of it. I'll return the favor by recommending a classic you may have read already, "The Icon and the Axe", by Dr. James Billington. This book takes you WAY back to Russia's very beginnings, and then brings you up all the way to the 1960's -- which is the time period where Smith's book really shines.

And since we're talking indirectly about Vladimir Putin, I learned years ago that as a young teenager, he was quite taken with the whole idea of being a military spy -- and his favorite television drama was a 1968 Russian show called "The Shield and the Sword" (Щит и меч). I ordered the DVD on Amazon, which at the time was available in Russian only. Today, you can order it from Amazon WITH English subtitles. Anyway, for me the most remarkable aspect of it was trying to imagine what must have gone on through Putin's mind as he watched the clever Russian spy working his strategies against the Nazis in World War II.

By far, the most useful (and least 'inflamed') book I've read about Putin is still "Putin", by Chris Hutchins. It came out in 2012, so it's a bit out of date, but it's still the best insightful, honest look at the man I'm aware of. It's gotten to be hard to find, and when you find it, it's expensive.

 

He succumb to Jeffrey Epstein disease

 

The Ukranian government imprisoned and then murdered an American citizen (Gonzala Lira) and the American government did not do a damn thing or whisper a single peep. Given that Biden's government murdered an American dissident by proxy, it has no leg to stand on to condemn the Russian government for killing a Russian dissident. I am much more worried about my government murdering, imprisoning and ruining my fellow Americans for their political views than the Russian government persecuting their political dissidents. Do you understand the difference? One is a threat to me and mine, the other is not.

 

Where is Trump?

Trump avoids condemning Navalny's death:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/19/politics/trump-navalny-death-response/index.html

Same as when he took ages to talk about Khashoggi's killing.

I wonder why? Maybe his supporters can clarify?

 

Whining about Hillary Clinton does not confront the war criminal's savagery and contempt for democracy.

A craven, namby-pamby submission to Putin is repulsively unAmerican.

Trump breaks silence on Navalny, casts no blame on Putin​

 

Elections are not real in Putin’s Russia. An upcoming election would not figure into Putin’s deliberations. My opinion is that Putin had Navalny murdered as a “reminder” to certain centers of power in the government - namely the military and the intelligence agencies, and secondarily to writers and the general public.

His reason is to keep them all in fear. He stays in power using the same tactics that a mafia boss uses.

 

I'm not submitting to Putin, I'm submitting to nuclear bombs. Because I have a vested interest in the human race. Moreover, I do believe a multi-polar world order policy is preferable to trying to maintain superpower status. Since becoming a 'superpower', the US has been embroiled in both debt and conflict, with both political parties.

So rather than there being an iron curtain, let the nations of the world choose and we can align with them accordingly.

 

Abrogating America's leadership of democratic nations is submitting to Putin, Xi, and authoritarianism.

Trump just can’t stop praising Vladimir Putin
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Trump's groveling appeasement disgraces the United States.