The judgement in New York was a precise analogue to what was going on then in Russia. The GOVERNOR of New York in effect said that nobody else needed to worry because if they weren't Trump they would not be subjected to such arbitrary and patently unConstitutional abuse. How much clearer can it be made? Trump is our Navalny. Obviously.
Listen to this podcast, in which someone highly knowledgable about the matter discusses the details of how the same apparatus the CIA used to overthrow foreign governments has now been directed internally into ending the rule of the people, by the people, for the people, IN THE UNITED STATES.
We don't need to worry about the rule of law or democracy in Russia. Those problems are manifest and very bad (and getting worse) NOW right here.
“People have a right to rise up against this unlawful, corrupt regime. Against a junta that stole everything. That pumped trillions of dollars out of our country in oil and gas. And what did we get?”
Americans can no longer read this and think smugly that we are somehow different, that we retain this right. Only some have the right to rise up. Only some can make their voices heard. Only some live not by lies. What are we becoming? What have we become?
To all my fellow conservatives who keep comparing injustices done to Trump and J6 defendants to those done to Navalny and his followers, let me point out a few (very) minor differences: (1) Navalny was poisoned (I believe he is the only known survivor of this particular agent), then thrown to prison, then killed; as far as I know Trump is still alive and free, (2) people who dared to support Navalny or contribute to his cause have been thrown in jail (even for facebook likes), which - as his experience shows - can be a one-way ticket in Russia; as far as I know none of supporters of Trump or the J6 have been. I know that sitting on a comfortable couch in US these differences do seem minor, but believe me the perspective may be different from Russia. None of this is meant to belittle the injustice of NY verdict or many other cases, or the dangerous slope we are on in this country. However, a sense of proportion is always an asset.
Reading this, I have to wonder how Navalny has suddenly become a hero for the Left. He could as easily be addressing their own corruption and lies.
But as he says so astutely, "People don’t work like this." The Left has adopted Navalny as an icon solely because he was fighting against Putin, another of their designated "Literally Hitler"s.
If he were a citizen of the U.S., he would likely be rejecting the Leftist media who tell nothing but lies, rejecting political Democrats who deny the evidence of our own eyes. And they would turn on him just as readily as they have embraced him.
I am reminded of Solzhenitsyn’s parting words to the Russian people in his essay Live Not By Lies. We may not have the courage to stand alongside Navalny and walk knowingly to our death, but we can refuse to give our consent to the lies. This essay should be required reading for every American high school student. “And as for him who lacks the courage to defend even his own soul: Let him not brag of his progressive views, boast of his status as an academician or a recognized artist, a distinguished citizen or general. Let him say to himself plainly: I am cattle, I am a coward, I seek only warmth and to eat my fill.”
Be true and what we are told we must SAY is true in this country right now is unbearable. If you still support the left then I wish you would stop and consider what they are actually doing. I am reading a book
Series that takes place in WW2 Germany and someone looks around and asks - how did people ever let it get this far? I look at people who turn a blind eye to the evils of the left and I see clearly how it could happen and how it is happening here. The Free Press is the one looking away - they are the ones who are the censors - the totalitarians - the bullies. Maybe they think they are doing it for a good reason. But you guys know that the total lack of justice and free speech is wrong. I am tired of you guys voting for policies that are destroying everything I love about this country and then when those policies hurt someone you actually care about you want us to care. When you have shown no care for other people. Justice is important or it isn’t. Truth is important or it isn’t. Free speech and democracy is important or it isn’t. The rule of law is important or it isn’t. It is disingenuous to pick and choose when these ideals matter and when they don’t. Having integrity means you have to care - even when it is happening to others
You are correct and so am I as far as I took it. Although I will say that I do think that Trump is risking much—his freedom, his financial empire, and maybe even his life—by not having quit long ago.
I do agree - but once the leaders in a country are able to show complete disregard for the law in order to push their agenda then where do you see that heading?
This is exactly what we are experiencing right now, here, in the United States. We are being told by the media to “look away, believe in the SCIENCE, not listen to so-called disinformation.” Any formally conservative viewpoints are now labeled “ultra-right.” Just look away!!
America has been moving down the same path for many years. I continue to refuse to look the other way. At some point the silent majority will be fed some shit they will refuse to eat. I hope a peaceful change in trajectory is possible with all my heart.
Alexei Navalny had a past as an extreme Russian nationalist until at least 2017, to the point that his hate speech caused Amnesty International to suspend his status as "prisoner of conscience":
His participation in the nationalist Russia Marches got him expelled from the liberal Yabloko party. This streak of extreme ethnic Russian nationalism against the "enemy nations within" dates from the Tsarist period and has resurged in Russia.
Navalny's elevation to near-sainthood matches the whitewashing of Ukraine's extremist elements, like the "controversial" Azov Brigade, renamed 3rd Special Assault Brigade. "Controversial" is used as a synonym for "neo-Nazi", as in the founder of the Azov Movement, Andrei Biletsky's statement that the movement would finish "the crusade against the Jewish Untermenschen in Europe". Definitely "controversial".
The flood of propaganda since the Ukraine War has turned every opponent of Putin into a democratic light, including Navalny and Azov.
Much more realistic is to view the Ukraine-Russia War like the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s: two awful regimes bashing each other. May they both lose.
The judgement in New York was a precise analogue to what was going on then in Russia. The GOVERNOR of New York in effect said that nobody else needed to worry because if they weren't Trump they would not be subjected to such arbitrary and patently unConstitutional abuse. How much clearer can it be made? Trump is our Navalny. Obviously.
Listen to this podcast, in which someone highly knowledgable about the matter discusses the details of how the same apparatus the CIA used to overthrow foreign governments has now been directed internally into ending the rule of the people, by the people, for the people, IN THE UNITED STATES.
We don't need to worry about the rule of law or democracy in Russia. Those problems are manifest and very bad (and getting worse) NOW right here.
https://tuckercarlson.com/uncensored-the-national-security-state-the-inversion-of-democracy/
“People have a right to rise up against this unlawful, corrupt regime. Against a junta that stole everything. That pumped trillions of dollars out of our country in oil and gas. And what did we get?”
Americans can no longer read this and think smugly that we are somehow different, that we retain this right. Only some have the right to rise up. Only some can make their voices heard. Only some live not by lies. What are we becoming? What have we become?
Ranks right up there with "Give me liberty or give me death." Navalny was the bravest of the brave. The world needs more like him.
To all my fellow conservatives who keep comparing injustices done to Trump and J6 defendants to those done to Navalny and his followers, let me point out a few (very) minor differences: (1) Navalny was poisoned (I believe he is the only known survivor of this particular agent), then thrown to prison, then killed; as far as I know Trump is still alive and free, (2) people who dared to support Navalny or contribute to his cause have been thrown in jail (even for facebook likes), which - as his experience shows - can be a one-way ticket in Russia; as far as I know none of supporters of Trump or the J6 have been. I know that sitting on a comfortable couch in US these differences do seem minor, but believe me the perspective may be different from Russia. None of this is meant to belittle the injustice of NY verdict or many other cases, or the dangerous slope we are on in this country. However, a sense of proportion is always an asset.
Thank you, Konstantin!
Reading this, I have to wonder how Navalny has suddenly become a hero for the Left. He could as easily be addressing their own corruption and lies.
But as he says so astutely, "People don’t work like this." The Left has adopted Navalny as an icon solely because he was fighting against Putin, another of their designated "Literally Hitler"s.
If he were a citizen of the U.S., he would likely be rejecting the Leftist media who tell nothing but lies, rejecting political Democrats who deny the evidence of our own eyes. And they would turn on him just as readily as they have embraced him.
I am reminded of Solzhenitsyn’s parting words to the Russian people in his essay Live Not By Lies. We may not have the courage to stand alongside Navalny and walk knowingly to our death, but we can refuse to give our consent to the lies. This essay should be required reading for every American high school student. “And as for him who lacks the courage to defend even his own soul: Let him not brag of his progressive views, boast of his status as an academician or a recognized artist, a distinguished citizen or general. Let him say to himself plainly: I am cattle, I am a coward, I seek only warmth and to eat my fill.”
https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/
The difference between what we know to
Be true and what we are told we must SAY is true in this country right now is unbearable. If you still support the left then I wish you would stop and consider what they are actually doing. I am reading a book
Series that takes place in WW2 Germany and someone looks around and asks - how did people ever let it get this far? I look at people who turn a blind eye to the evils of the left and I see clearly how it could happen and how it is happening here. The Free Press is the one looking away - they are the ones who are the censors - the totalitarians - the bullies. Maybe they think they are doing it for a good reason. But you guys know that the total lack of justice and free speech is wrong. I am tired of you guys voting for policies that are destroying everything I love about this country and then when those policies hurt someone you actually care about you want us to care. When you have shown no care for other people. Justice is important or it isn’t. Truth is important or it isn’t. Free speech and democracy is important or it isn’t. The rule of law is important or it isn’t. It is disingenuous to pick and choose when these ideals matter and when they don’t. Having integrity means you have to care - even when it is happening to others
You are correct and so am I as far as I took it. Although I will say that I do think that Trump is risking much—his freedom, his financial empire, and maybe even his life—by not having quit long ago.
Thank you for sharing this. I wept when I read it.
I do agree - but once the leaders in a country are able to show complete disregard for the law in order to push their agenda then where do you see that heading?
Bravo!
This is exactly what we are experiencing right now, here, in the United States. We are being told by the media to “look away, believe in the SCIENCE, not listen to so-called disinformation.” Any formally conservative viewpoints are now labeled “ultra-right.” Just look away!!
Know the truth and the truth shall set you free. You cannot kill an idea.
Navalny quoted Solzhenitsyn, "Live not by lies." Good man. It also applies to us.
America has been moving down the same path for many years. I continue to refuse to look the other way. At some point the silent majority will be fed some shit they will refuse to eat. I hope a peaceful change in trajectory is possible with all my heart.
Alexei Navalny had a past as an extreme Russian nationalist until at least 2017, to the point that his hate speech caused Amnesty International to suspend his status as "prisoner of conscience":
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/24/970995185/amnesty-rescinds-prisoner-of-conscience-designation-for-russia-activist-navalny
His participation in the nationalist Russia Marches got him expelled from the liberal Yabloko party. This streak of extreme ethnic Russian nationalism against the "enemy nations within" dates from the Tsarist period and has resurged in Russia.
Navalny's elevation to near-sainthood matches the whitewashing of Ukraine's extremist elements, like the "controversial" Azov Brigade, renamed 3rd Special Assault Brigade. "Controversial" is used as a synonym for "neo-Nazi", as in the founder of the Azov Movement, Andrei Biletsky's statement that the movement would finish "the crusade against the Jewish Untermenschen in Europe". Definitely "controversial".
The flood of propaganda since the Ukraine War has turned every opponent of Putin into a democratic light, including Navalny and Azov.
Much more realistic is to view the Ukraine-Russia War like the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s: two awful regimes bashing each other. May they both lose.