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Alexei Navalny
I wanted to write something meaningful about Navalny. It was that the Gulag seems to still be alive and well in the USSR… I mean Russia. Bari Weiss wrote what I wanted to write so much better than I ever could, so I thought I would just link to it here. I am especially moved by this passage:
In our world of cynicism and cowardice, it often doesn’t seem so simple. But Navalny’s life—a life lived in truth—and his death—a death for the sake of truth—gives the lie to the moral confusion all around us.
The life and death of Navalny insists on the following: there is a free world and an unfree world. There is right and there is wrong. There is better and worse, good and evil. There is truth and there are lies. And heroes, however imperfect, walk among us still.
And this:
“Navalny was in the darkest pit. And yet he remained free. May his example live for all time. God knows we need it in ours.”
The Free Press also published translations of letters between Navalny and the former imprisoned dissident Natan Sharansky. The letters are heartrending and powerful because of what the two men shared in their bravery and captivity. This is Navalny writing from a punishment cell about Sharansky’s book Fear No Evil:
I understand that I am not the first, but I really want to become the last, or at least one of the last, of those who are forced to endure this.
Your book gives hope because the similarity between the two systems—the Soviet Union and Putin’s Russia—their ideological resemblance, the hypocrisy that serves as the very basis of their essence, and the continuity from the former to the latter—all this guarantees an equally inevitable collapse.
Damn Putin and all totalitarian murderers who prey on heroes.
Published in Foreign Policy
Putin isn’t a Communist. He’s a criminal that thinks he’s a tsar. I know that the Communists killed hundreds of millions, were the agents of misery beyond conception. But isn’t it interesting that the criminal kills as readily as any Communist?
Communist or no, he is a Soviet. There has always been among dissidents and other truth tellers a discussion of whether the Soviet rulers were actual true believers in communism or just murderous thugs that used communism as a tool. Whether or not he is communist, Putin most definitely wants to restore the “glory” of the USSR and it’s domination of the region.
When I was living in Sweden in the 80’s I met a guy who’d escaped from the USSR. He said that the Soviet leadership didn’t really believe in Marxism or Socialism or Communism. It was just a way for them to rationalize their brutal methods to seize control. He pointed out that the only reason anyone ever oppresses anyone else is for their own good. Socialism gave them a rationalization for that.
Bonus question: How many American Democrat leaders today do you think really believe that Socialism works?
Since “true communism” will never been tried, we should admit that a corrupt, self-enriching, above-the-law political party of leaders is what Communism is. The governments of Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia are more alike than different despite being democratic, communist, and kingdom.
That’s a tough question actually. Sure, if you scratch a progressive you will expose a totalitarian but I think some of the younger, dumber ones do. They think it works for the rest of us at least while they still want access to their private jets etc. They probably mostly just believe that government control is the answer over the chaos of liberty and markets. Heck some on the right believe that…..
That’s certainly true.
But the Clintons and Schumers of the world don’t.
It must be wonderful to be young enough to believe in such simple explanations. I remember it. The feeling of self-righteousness was delicious.
Bernie Sanders is a true believer.
Youth is ever wasted on the young.
If my irony meter were measured on the scale of one of those High Strikers at the local fair (hit the lever at the base with the mallet and watch the ball rise up the pole to ring the bell at the top) it would have risen to somewhere in the stratosphere at this point. Thanks for the chuckle.
OK, so I’m not the only one who found that comment ironic.
We’re all ears, let’s hear your defense of Putin’s actions against Navalny.
Nevalny was a notorius racist and Muslim hater. He once ran an add where he claimed all Muslims were cockroaches that should be shot.
But hey you do you.
No. I want to hear why you think all Muslims need to be killed and are nothing more than cockroaches. Thats what Nevalny believed. Go on defend him.
So, IF that is true then in your opinion he deserved to be a political prisoner and then murdered by a dictator? Gotcha….that’s what you are defending. Nevalny doesn’t need to be defended anymore because he is dead.
No one said the man was a saint, but he was a victim of persecution by a barbaric dictatorship and after recovering from one nearly fatal attempt on his life he went back to show Russians he was not afraid and they shouldn’t be either. Maybe he should have been afraid, for sure any other Russians that speak out should be.
He’s garbage and a grifter. But his 3 houses say something different. He’s been using this crap for self-promotion since the early 1980s in Burlington, VT.
It’s not what they say. It’s what they do. His wife Jane didn’t become president of Burlington College because of her vast experience in running an educational enterprise, evidenced by her driving right into bankruptcy in the space of a few years.
With her 200k/year salary intact as part of the golden parachute, of course.
Leeches.
There’s no if about it. But I enjoyed the cope.
Reference:
https://www.ft.com/content/ec5e4b92-155d-402d-a1c2-453a0d248db5
Behind the paywall:
https://archive.is/45Rzt
Navalny was a grifter and opportunist. Money, power, and fame (not necessarily in that order) were his only motivators. He changed his political stand according to which way the wind blew. People who do that eventually annoy too many people.
The latter claim is not in evidence. He died in prison, true. In case you haven’t noticed, many people are murdered in prison even right here in these United States. What’s more, this country has many political prisoners rotting in jail. As for Putin being a dictator, Biden’s election is probably on shakier ground than Putin’s is. Or are we pretending that elections in this country are all on the up-and-up? We are also in a post-rule-of-law society where political opponents of the Regime are targeted by massive lawfare.
Glass houses and all.
American journalist Gonzalo Lira died in a Ukrainian prison recently. That seems like a bigger deal, but it is not getting this level of discussion.
Gonzalo Lira is a poor example. I’ve followed his case closely. He made some very poor life decisions that got him to where he ended up. Calling him a journalist is stretching it a bit. There are some unfortunate similarities between Lira and the subject of this thread. There’s no sense in which either of these individuals deserved to die but they both are authors of their own destinies. In short, screw around and find out, except this site’s code of conduct forbids me from using the canonical expression.
Thank you for these remarks. So often I feel like I am all alone on this site in terms of being to see things outside the bubble of reality that many here are so comfortable with.
Glenn Greenwald’s podcast this past week addresses the narrow attitude that some Americans have adopted in terms of looking at Navalny. He tries to explain how this guy is not worthy of adulation.
Just to be clear, although I like Greenwald a lot, I am not in 100% agreement with him or any other human being now alive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Vvgo7SKf0
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So, similarities, but one case is ignored. I get that on the Right, we let the Left Media choose the discussion topics, but we should think beyond what the Left wants to discuss.
Yep, the Lefties in Hollywood gave a documentary about Navalny a standing ovation, so …
Leftist media celebrates Navalny and Tucker Carlson celebrates Lira. Some naive conservatives swallowed the leftist narrative on Navalny hook, line, and sinker. Some uncritically accepted the alternative Lira narrative. Disappointing.
For those interested in more information on Lira, he had a YouTube channel that was eliminated and one that’s still up:
https://youtube.com/@theroundtablegonzalolira5818