Navalny’s friends knew he was willing to become a martyr if that’s what it took to stand up to Putin.
Alexei Navalny’s long struggle against President Putin began with a humorous blog and culminated in repeated demonstrations of his willingness to risk his own life. According to the Russian authorities on Friday, he has now died in prison.
Russia’s leading opposition voice has been silenced.
Other dissident figures went into exile or died in mysterious circumstances over the past decade, leaving Navalny as the last national figure with a dedicated following.
Though he had been arrested many times before, Navalny’s defining moment in the eyes of many Russians came after the attempt to assassinate him with Novichok. He recuperated in the sanctuary of a German hospital but chose to defy Putin and return to Russia in January 2021, knowing full well he would end up in prison.
This will be perceived as whataboutism, but it’s intended as media critique. Julien Assange is a journalist that has been a political prisoner for more than a decade with failing health and he might well die in prison for what he believes in (freedom and accountability to those in power).
Yet the overall propaganda is very strong, he’s been smeared by propaganda (similar to how Russian people might have stories in their head against Navalny) and no US mainstream news corp would call Biden or Trump “a Monster” for doing this.
I’m very sorry Navalny died and he’s a martyr for democracy and freedom. But I can’t help to think how hollow and hypocritical this is. If Russia were to be “freed” / regime changed then this is the glorious example of what awaits them? And that is why Russians aren’t overly eager to supplant Putin, they know they think they’ll just get a different kind of shit government like in the US. Best they could hope for is something like a european social democratic government that only aiding a little bit in genocide. And I do wish that for them and hope Putin is ousted.
Please correct me if I’m wrong but Assange held back dirt obtained on Republicans and only passed out information damaging to Democrats. It’s been a long morning.