Imagine if George W. Bush had run for election again in 2008 and prevented Barack Obama from being on the ballot. Imagine that intelligence operatives attacked Obama and practically blinded him, and then the Department of Justice falsely accused him of crimes and repeatedly imprisoned him. Then imagine that the courts backed Bush and rejected all Obama’s appeals. Finally, imagine that in 2012, Bush ordered Obama killed and assassins put a cholinesterase inhibitor in his coffee.
Finally, imagine that Obama was flown to Germany where medical teams nursed him back to life. That’s roughly the story of Alexei Navalny, except he was victimized by Vladimir Putin rather than George W. Bush. And Navalny hasn’t taken this all lying down. He and his wife recently flew back to Russia despite warnings that he would be arrested on arrival, which he was. Then, during his first full day in prison, his supporters released a video revealing details of a Versailles-scale presidential palace on the Black Sea. The United Kingdom’s Daily Mail says “In size and opulence it makes the homes of our Royal Family look positively diminutive and threadbare.” Navalny alleges the unfinished palace has already cost £1 billion which was supplied entirely by friends and cronies of Putin as a gift.
Many ordinary Russians are outraged by Navalny’s treatment and Putin’s corruption, and they took to the streets in more than 100 cities on Saturday. Inspired by Navalny’s balls of steel, they put their own lives and freedom on the line. Their clashes with police and security services led to over 3,000 arrests, including more than 1,200 in Moscow.
It’s frustrating to see this and note that in America the people just took the streets and assaulted the Capitol in support of dictatorship. This makes it a little harder to hold ourselves up as a healthier society and better example. But, hopefully, the Biden administration will quickly set things right and find a way to support Navalny and assure his safety.
In fairness, Martin, if Trump had managed to steal the election, I think we’d have riots that would make what’s happening in Russia look modest. That said, the Russians who are protesting deserve enormous admiration as they know what awaits them if their efforts fail. I’ve spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe, have met many Russians, and been blown away by their idealism and courage. Not everyone of course but there are many who carry an idealism that’s long forgotten here.
Yeah I thought about what the consequences of an actual clearly stolen election here would be. Every major city would stop functioning. There’d be mass general strikes. Can’t imagine most government workers or contractors showing up, so they’d grind to a halt. California tech would shut down, the GDP would be in tatters within 3 weeks. Business would scamper quickly. The level of violence and chaos would likely have dwarfed anything this country has seen. Maybe I am optimistic but that was what I thought at the time would occur, and still do.
On the other hand, the reason this is possible here is because there isn’t a danger that if you get caught at one of these protests, you’ll be locked in a gulag and disappeared, or you’d be tortured, etc. That so many Russians turned out despite this – that takes enormous courage that I cannot fathom. We now have yet another protest movement timed to coincide (whether by design or not) with the inauguration of a new Democratic president in the US. Last time, it was Obama and the Green movement in Iran. I just hope this time we have a better outcome.
I doubt it. We are fat, happy, and too lazy to go out on the streets and protest.
After Trump’s win in 2016, there was enormous energy at the Women’s Protest marches. But after 2 years that petered out. But Trump’s malevolence was increasing!
The first time the caged children were shown – there were protests, but eventually those died down.
In reality, this is probably the worst functioning democracy in the world.. give us our daily bread, and we will all carry on like zombie automatons. No Hong Kong here!