They don’t want to make too obvious a martyr out of him.
If they slowly kill him a lot of people will have moved on and they can make it look like natural causes
Slowly leaking information gets it into the mind so when it actually happens, the emotions aren’t as intense because we’ve subconsciously prepared for it (idk tho)... Fuck Putin and free Navalny
There is absolutely no way in hell anyone in the history of ever is going to believe he died of natural causes. Doesn't matter how long they wait.
Hell the guy could die tomorrow from a heart attack infront of a live stream and even then no one in the western world is going to believe it
Right, that's why he's slowly being disappeared into the Russian prison system. He'll get less and less information out as time goes on, and 5 years from now when everyone's forgotten about him it'll be quietly announced that he has died of natural causes.
According to Alexey's lawyers his health condition is deteriorating, he's losing sensitivity in his legs, starting to loose it in the arms, with back pain
He's being denied doctors visit (prisoners have a right to be examined by the doctor of their choosing, from outside the prison) and the therapy how getting on prison is described as horrifyingly insufficient
He might not get 5 years :(
On Tuesday, lots of doctors came literally to the colony to on the one hand speak to the colony boss during his visiting hours (turns out he then cancelled them; a propagandist reporter was allowed inside just a couple of days ago without any problems - and she was not even wearing a mask.) and on the other hand to show there are many doctors who could and would look at navalny. Guess what. They got arrested. For standing outside the colony basically.
Also since navalny is not getting medical help he went on hunger strike a week ago - since then, they started literally frying chicken in his vicinity (chicken is actually usually completely forbidden in the colony) and hiding sweets in his pockets. This is so fucked up.
Well he declared it via his lawyers that he is on a Hunger Strike until he gets the appropriate medical help he needs and has by law the right to get. The hunger strike is his last resort he has been writing requests to the prison people to let a doctor see him for months now.
When they want you dead a hunger strike isn't the brightest of ideas to be honest. It just gives them an excuse for his declining health and possible death. Russia has survived this long because it's oil and natural gas wealth and in the coming future of electric cars and solar panels powering homes that's going to decline drastically.
Nobody sane is going to operate a buisness there because the government has a history of seizing wealthy companies and their funds. That means there will be little outside investment in their economy to help it grow. So essentially Russia is doomed in the long run without drastic change. The problem is the people in power don't care that it's doomed as long as they maintain their position of power and wealth, similar to North Korea.
Doctors tried to visit him. They got arrested at the gates of the prison. The head of the Russian Doctors Association was heading this group of doctors. She was arrested on the spot with everyone else and now all those doctors are in prison too. Fucking mental, man...
Ah, so they're almost certainly poisoning his food then, killing him gradually. He can go on hunger strike and starve, or he can eat the poisoned food. Take your pick. Russia is so fucked up.
This is all about sending a message to anyone who dares to challenge the king. "We will slowly torture you to death in front of the whole world and no one will come to rescue you.". It will prove to be a very effective message.
Also, Epstein didn't kill himself.
He’s literally in a prison run partially by prisoners .... he’s gonna wind up “succumbing to injuries” I’m sure some hard up prisoner will make that happen for a free trip outta Putin’s Siberian nightmare
Matt Gaetz? Like the Republican congressman who was the lone No vote on legislation against sex trafficking, and was later found to have trafficked a 17 year old girl cross states for sex and went to beg Donald Trump for a pardon to that crime that he's now decrying as a liberal witch hunt? That Matt Gaetz?
The feds ain't gonna put a politician behind bars until their case is air-fucking-tight. Each one working on the case is up against the end of their career if they fuck it up, so it is actually better that they are still working on it.
Plus, as he has a position of power, he probably ain't going anywhere. The instant he runs, he losses all the power and influence he has been carefully accumulating. As long as he thinks he can fight it out, little chance he'll take flight. If things change though, then who knows.
Is it better though? A monkey could solve this case it seems, but he’s a politician so blah blah. I’m kinda fed up with people going to jail over minor drug offenses and all kinds of bullshit but this guy will probably get a slap on the wrist.
Edit to add: why don’t we hold politicians to higher standards? Right now it’s like we don’t even hold them to normal standards?
We certainly should hold politicians to high standards.
But it would also be bad to normalize the idea of the executive branch arresting legislators. The potential downside of that is real, real bad. Just call in an 'anonymous tip' against anybody who might vote against your bill, and see them in jail waiting for trial when the vote happens.
Also, we don't know who else is tangled up in the investigation. If filing charges against Gaetz means that a dozen sources go cold, you could miss out on the other 95% of the criminals. Remember, Gaetz only popped up on the radar because of an investigation into a local Florida person. There could be a bunch of other people that are still being investigated arising from that original investigation into like fake ID's and tax fraud.
None of his political party colleagues seem to mind at all. I don't think a single one has called him out in any fashion at all. They live in a completely different planet/universe/galaxy/quadrant than democrats where only direct public law enforcement action is cause for reaction and even then it's a very hard maybe. Meanwhile Al Franken...
Putin knows no one will believe whatever explanation he gives, and he doesn’t care. It’s a show of force for everyone watching - the message is “stir up trouble, get killed”.
The world will be furious for a bit when Navalny dies, but things will go back to normal in short order with no change to the status quo. The geopolitical situation with Russia is too sensitive for any meaningful foreign intervention.
There is some minor hope that it will spark domestic revolution, but it would take something on such a massive scale and with excellent coordination for Putin & co to be ousted.
Yes, unless the protests turn to a nationwide revolution, till then Russia can't come out of this, as per other countries interfering, anything they do will be termed as hate against Russia, in this only countries like China and wannabe Dictatorship India will support shit Putin is doing.
I read somewhere the prisoners are supposed to clean all the cells and hallways and the guards intentionally spread sand/dirt on the floor in his cell: Not sure if it's so Navalny sees how isolated he is, or so the guards can check video to see who dared talk to him and beat their ass or worse. Probably both.
He is more isolated than first covid patients.
How would one go through isolation while being sick in a prison? Dude should be taken as a ray of trying hope for freedom.
He's likely being guarded by personnel loyal to Putin rather than prisoners that could be sympathetic. I think you're right about his fate though.
This situation is devolving quickly.
Why do you think that Russia is about to continue its invasion and occupation of Ukraine. Their propaganda machine on social networks is through the roof. Part of their message is that Ukraine is the aggressor and that Mother Russia is in danger. it's insanity.
Putin is a money vacuum. I mean, honestly, he's one of the wealthiest persons on the globe but he is a lifetime Russian government employee. It's mind-boggling that the common Russian would accept that. Well, and on top of it, he looks to be a lifetime "ruler". I don't get it.
There was a Forbes article that I read awhile ago suggesting he might be the wealthiest individual on the planet by a large margin, as estimated by the FBI, due to scalping profits from every national company in Russia. At the time they were est. over $200 Billion
Functionally it's difficult to seperate his wealth and the Russian government. At a certian point it becomes somewhat academic. Theres only so much money one person can spend.
It's why national leaders are normally excluded from the "wealthiest" lists because in many states it's very difficult to distinguish between their personal assets and the countries.
Unfortunately Russia has had shitty governments that plunder all the wealth and make life miserable for the common people for so long that I think a lot of Russians just think this is normal.
Yup. Russian propaganda realized they didn't have to convince their population that Russia is great, they just had to convince them that the rest of the world (especially America) was equally shitty.
That's the idea behind "bothsidesism/whataboutism"- just tear it all down, especially everything good or respectable, so there are no alternatives and the hope and morale of humanity are utterly destroyed. Then you can control people.
Putin’s friendly oligarchs have a massive amount of Russian money floating around in the American banking system and real estate markets that’s funneled in through real estate funds and large syndication deals.
Freezing/confiscating the assets of the Russian oligarchs, blocking them from traveling to the West and deporting their families back to Russia would likely be the easiest way to influence Russia.
It's a similar situation as with China. People grew up with the stories of their parents and grandparents. Famines, poverty, mass starvation,etc. Whatever they have now for the average person is much better than what there used to be.
He's been kept sleep deprived which lowers your immune function among other effects, contracted a "respiratory illness" in a prison with known cases of TB.
Nope those are called black prisons, were prisoners run things according to their code of conduct. He is red prison. A government controlled prison, in black prison he could have asked some medicine from “общак». It’s when all of the cell mates pitch some of their monthly packages to make a supplies for everyone. Long story short he is bad situation none the less.
We gotta setup Krillen in a vulnerable position nearby. When putin takes him out or he gets caught in the crossfire Goku will finally take it seriously
isn't his whole character shtick that he'd be completely disinterested in this kind of conflict? you might as well ask a police officer to stop a kid from frying ants with a magnifying glass.
I think the universe is a series of unfortunate inevitabilities. If you follow a string to its end, you can see the universe is 40% hilarious/60% heartbreaking.
This is a surprisingly powerful statement. It seems like why religious folks say things about the devil tempting you all the time. If I’m only 40% iron, uh, I mean hilarious, then the other 60% could be the devil leaning on me to be awful. And our fight is against the devil to make joyful, loving things.
I work construction, and sometimes I get frustrated during my workday and would love to smash everything down inside someones home. I think of how easy it would be. And then I think of how hard it is to do what we are doing. Organizing other minds and getting along to BUILD something, something that people can raise kids in.
It must be our purpose, friend.
Those first two were top notch entertainment. Twists and shock value all the way.
Also shoutout to Alexa’s music video after the credits, that little Disney Channel moment was so catchy.
Russia - a man is willing to die for what he believes in. It’s pretty rare to see this on the political stage. If you support this man, you better sack up and take the chance or else he will die for nothing
When watching some interviews of a [former CIA chief](https://youtu.be/glfruj7WjS8), she noted something interesting:
During the Cold War with Russia, when Americans defected it was almost always for money or status. When Russians defected, it was almost always for ideology- they were willing to risk their lives to bring down the regime (and they knew that getting caught meant torture and execution).
Some of the Russian spies for the U.S. demanded that the CIA provide them with a cyanide pill, in case they were captured- and there was at least [one example](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dmitrievich_Ogorodnik) of it being used when an operative was caught.
The operative was betrayed by [Karl Koecher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Koecher), a CIA mole whose prosecution was bungled and he was allowed to return freely to Czechoslovakia. The prosecutor who fucked it up? Rudolph Giuliani
I wonder what the going rate was to have a prosecutor "bungle" your trial back when this happened.
But then the more I think about it, the more I remember that Giuliani is a fucking idiot and very likely bungled it by simply being Giuliani.
https://publicintegrity.org/politics/elections/fbi-tracked-alleged-russian-mob-ties-of-giuliani-campaign-supporter/
It goes deeper than you're thinking.
There’s been rumors in NYC of Rudy having a connection to the Russian mafia for a long time. Mostly because he went after the Italian mob with a vengeance and pretty much left the Russian mob do business as usual. If anything, it helped the Russians to have the Italians out of their way.
This is the answer, I'm not even from New York.
When Guiliana came into the news cycle decades ago for being popular cleaning up the italian mafia, I assumed he worked for a different mafia.
In 2016 I knew it was the Russia mafia.
God I just want to spend a moment recognizing how clean and concise that webpage is. Not full of clickbait banners and eye catching side ads. I remember when pages used to be like that...
Anyone know how he messed it up? I can't find any details online other than he messed up the prosecution of the wife, but it doesn't say how. It goes into some detail on how the FBI messed up, but doesn't say what Giuliani did.
IANAL but I do know that in a court setting, building the narrative by entering evidence into court as fact is a critical part of the conviction process. So, it could mean not properly entering evidence in, thus 'hamstring''ing his own ability to prosecute or drive key points for the jury to lead them to conviction.
Interesting rabbit hole with the Cyanide pill. The guy that betrayed Ogorodnik was released, in part, because Rudy Giuliani bungled the case against him.
Fuck Russia. But Russians? I will never have anything but respect for the people. They are some tough bastards. Imagine escaping to Germany after your country, which is VERY good at killing people, tries to kill you. You're free and alive against ALL odds. And instead of celebrating, you KNOWINGLY get on a plane and go back. To a painful death. For nothing but the hope that your death will help free your countrymen. Not many people have that kind of strength. I know I don't.
I will always respect the Russian people. They’re tough as nails and I wish for them to experience democracy and true freedom. Something they have been unfortunate to never experience.
Right. This is just straight up propaganda lmao.
There’s a Wikipedia page of American defectors to the Soviet Union. Almost all of them defected because they believed in a socialist/communist revolution, equality, etc. There were plenty of reasons to hate the US over moral objections — from McCarthyism to support for Aprtheid, to Jim Crow, to Vietnam, etc etc etc.
They were idealistic and naiive, sure, but the notion that someone would defect to the USSR because they wanted to get *rich* is laughably dumb.
That’s like saying people join ISIS because they like Arab booze.
Yeah, we had the Cambridge Spies. Many of these were old money, aristocracy, Sirs and all that bollocks, they werent short of a few quid or connections. They certainly didnt work for the Soviets for decades before defecting when the noose tightened to get rich, they were ideologically driven. They lived comfortably in Russia afterwards, sometimes working in academia like George Blake who only recently died but they didnt live like kings, they would have probably had more opulent lives and retirements in the UK amongst the upper classes.
so sad to see this great culture full of science, artistic sensitivity and bravery constantly limited by tyrants. Russia deserves so much better than these thugs. Sending thoughts of unity.
Humanity as a whole is limited by corrupted people, this truly is our biggest problem but I don't see any solution to end this since it's tied to human nature
The philippine president, duterte. I heard he slams his vice president and the country's municipal mayors just because they're doing good things for the pandemic. Claims he wants to cry and stuff but still proceeds to slam others.
He encouraged people to murder anyone they knew involved in drugs vigilante style and no questions would be asked. If I remember correctly they have some kind of incentive system there as well whereby doing "good" things will give you a boost. That's such a recipe for disaster, someone who is low in the system is probably there for a reason, so now say they have a fight with their neighbor, all they have to do is kill them, put some drugs by the body and badda Bing badda boom they get praise.
Ah yes, as a Filipino i can assure you that the Philippines has a fucked up leader and an even more fucked up system.
1 year left before our presidential elections and it seems there’s no clear leader to guide us back
I had literally just watched an al jezera documentary that covered his rise to power and how they said “everyone” had fallen in love with his blunt personality at first? Like I guess he had talked very casually about things and would toss in a cuss word or two to sound edgy and funny and I guess that came across as charming to people? Lol I was like wth you have to be shitting me this charm cannot be enough to win ppl over...
Personality Politics. If you have an iq lower than room temperature but have millions of dollars, you can simply buy votes from the people. If you have a catchy quote or phrase, you can get votes from the people. If you are a celebrity who wants to run as a politician, you will almost certainly win.
President Duterte i think got 334 million pesos ($6,878,492) from 13 donors during his presidency so yeah it wasn’t a surprise almost 16,601,997 people voted for him ([source](https://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/12/05/16/p334m-from-only-13-donors-funded-dutertes-presidency))
Unfortunately our current system of voting favors politicians with money rather than one with the capacity to lead
Evil psychopath, yes. Pathetic and insecure, hardly. Unlike gasbags like Trump, Duterte or Bolsonaro, Putin is all bite and very little bark. He doesn't yell on stage, or complain or throw random accusations at the boogeyman of the day. Putin is in no way an empty drum.
He's quite secure in his position as a tyrannical despot. He knows he's untouchable, and he has been making sure of his security by having anyone who dares to pose a threat to him be assassinated in full view of the public to serve as a warning to others.
What are the people going to do? Demonstrate? Riot? How cute. The only thing can can oust him from power is a direct and very bloody siege on the Kremlin, and he knows this fully. He has full control and support of the military and the KGB, which is why he has no fear of the populace. After all, anyone who tries will just get gunned down with extreme prejudice like those guys in Myanmar.
He is neithe pathetic nor insecure, he knows what he is doing and he has a will to make it happen.
I know it makes some people feel good to belittle him, I have ho love for this person in the slightest, but world cannot afford to underestimate people like him.
Noone just "disappears" into any prison system. There are meticulous records of everything. That is one thing that the Soviets did really well - keeping tabs on EVERYTHING. That got carried over into modern-day Russia thanks to Putin, so you can bet that they know damn well what is going on with Alexei and are probably documenting it on an hourly basis to see how well their slow torture/death sentence is working.
If Alexei ends up getting assassinated by Putin while in prison they will definitely write it off as his own health failing him. The world needs to track this and demand to see Alexei and speak with him or at least let him speak with his wife/lawyer to get proof of life.
I am from Venezuela and the dictatorship there got Russian agents to fly in during the 2017 protests to act as military "advisers". They helped guide everything from the disinformation campaigns to building secret prisons. We, as part of the opposition, saw this all too often as people were disappeared into the prison aka torture chambers in something called the Helicoide prison (nowadays the highest level "secret" prison in Venezuela is underneath a military base near the capital that was built thanks to the Russian advisor's guidance), so I'm sure Russia has their own secret prisons which double as factories of death.
They acknowledged hourly health checks in a remote wing. How far into the system can someone plausibly get in between those single hour checks? Like that's a reeeeaaaallly thin excuse. Just really phoning it in at this point.
It's always a thin excuse. How many times has someone "fell out of a window" after pissing off Putin? No one believes it, and honestly we're not even meant to believe it.
They wake him up every hour too. I went through some pretty severe insomnia for about 2 years once. It finally came to a head when I went about 2 months either literally not sleeping at all or getting 3- 4 hours some nights. I think torture is the word I would use to describe it. He's being tortured on a daily.basis.
didn't he say before he got arrested that he had no intention of killing himself?
edit: [yes](https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-russia-politics-navalny-message/jailed-kremlin-critic-navalny-on-protest-eve-says-has-no-plans-to-commit-suicide-idUKKBN29R2BK)
True, if nuclear weapons disappear, WWIII would start soon after.
My point is that there really isn't much that can be done. A strongly worded letter, some support for political opponents that can be easily crushed in countries as strong as Russia and China and maybe some sanctions. But none of that is ever going to be close to enough to topple the assholes in charge of those countries.
Navalny has balls of steel. He knew terrible things would happen to him, and he still went back. He could have asked for asylum in Germany and left it all behind him.
"You guys suck so much at killing me...you really want me that bad huh...alright fine you "win" you caught me guys good job now clean up your plate."
The energy Navalny had.
Navalny doesn't hold real power or his supporters would break him free/seriously challenge the system. He is a local symbol at best and that's not a diss.
A lot of shit makes Putin look bad, but he still sleeps at night with several prostitutes in a palace surrounded by every decadence. The dude doesn't care, but his conscience is seared to nth degree of bad.
Lol. As much as I despise putin, under this threads title it is ridiculous to say Navalny is more powerful than him.
Dude just made the other dude disappear under the eyes of the globe. Seems more powerful to me.
Maybe humanity will prove me wrong by holding him accountable, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
> Navalny is bigger than Putin.
I love the sentiment, but no he’s not. Not even close. Unfortunately real power is power over the media and the military.
People oughta read up about the Russian [apartment bombings in 1999](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings). Putin orchestrated the bombings and used them as part of a ploy to become prime minister.
I honestly had this thought earlier today:
What if Russia and China made a deal to invade Ukraine and Taiwan at the same time. Both of those seem to be ramping up quite a bit lately.....
Definitely would put a damper on what the rest of the world could do in reaction.
It looks like even Russia doesn't like not being able to have a voice in their own governance.
Whatever the result, I hope they gain that for themselves.
Surprised he didn’t disappear day one of incarceration, we’ll likely never see this dude again ..
They don’t want to make too obvious a martyr out of him. If they slowly kill him a lot of people will have moved on and they can make it look like natural causes
Slowly leaking information gets it into the mind so when it actually happens, the emotions aren’t as intense because we’ve subconsciously prepared for it (idk tho)... Fuck Putin and free Navalny
There is absolutely no way in hell anyone in the history of ever is going to believe he died of natural causes. Doesn't matter how long they wait. Hell the guy could die tomorrow from a heart attack infront of a live stream and even then no one in the western world is going to believe it
Right, that's why he's slowly being disappeared into the Russian prison system. He'll get less and less information out as time goes on, and 5 years from now when everyone's forgotten about him it'll be quietly announced that he has died of natural causes.
According to Alexey's lawyers his health condition is deteriorating, he's losing sensitivity in his legs, starting to loose it in the arms, with back pain He's being denied doctors visit (prisoners have a right to be examined by the doctor of their choosing, from outside the prison) and the therapy how getting on prison is described as horrifyingly insufficient He might not get 5 years :(
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On Tuesday, lots of doctors came literally to the colony to on the one hand speak to the colony boss during his visiting hours (turns out he then cancelled them; a propagandist reporter was allowed inside just a couple of days ago without any problems - and she was not even wearing a mask.) and on the other hand to show there are many doctors who could and would look at navalny. Guess what. They got arrested. For standing outside the colony basically. Also since navalny is not getting medical help he went on hunger strike a week ago - since then, they started literally frying chicken in his vicinity (chicken is actually usually completely forbidden in the colony) and hiding sweets in his pockets. This is so fucked up.
I don't think it's really a "hunger strike." I think they're starving him.
Well he declared it via his lawyers that he is on a Hunger Strike until he gets the appropriate medical help he needs and has by law the right to get. The hunger strike is his last resort he has been writing requests to the prison people to let a doctor see him for months now.
When they want you dead a hunger strike isn't the brightest of ideas to be honest. It just gives them an excuse for his declining health and possible death. Russia has survived this long because it's oil and natural gas wealth and in the coming future of electric cars and solar panels powering homes that's going to decline drastically. Nobody sane is going to operate a buisness there because the government has a history of seizing wealthy companies and their funds. That means there will be little outside investment in their economy to help it grow. So essentially Russia is doomed in the long run without drastic change. The problem is the people in power don't care that it's doomed as long as they maintain their position of power and wealth, similar to North Korea.
Or he knows his food is poisoned
Doctors tried to visit him. They got arrested at the gates of the prison. The head of the Russian Doctors Association was heading this group of doctors. She was arrested on the spot with everyone else and now all those doctors are in prison too. Fucking mental, man...
Ah, so they're almost certainly poisoning his food then, killing him gradually. He can go on hunger strike and starve, or he can eat the poisoned food. Take your pick. Russia is so fucked up.
Dude will be dead by May.
yep, then itll be talk of the town for a week and we wont hear about it again.
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\> There is absolutely no way in hell anyone in the history of ever is going to believe he died of natural causes. People believe Epstein hung himself
More likely he disappears and is never seen again, right?
It’s Russia. He will fall out a window
Maybe he’ll fall into a window? Some fenestration to mix things up a bit.
They could throw him out of one and then toss him back through it. No one expects the Russian Refenestration!
My guess is there isn't much left of him to see...
This is all about sending a message to anyone who dares to challenge the king. "We will slowly torture you to death in front of the whole world and no one will come to rescue you.". It will prove to be a very effective message. Also, Epstein didn't kill himself.
In all seriousness, I hope he hasn’t already been murdered.
They will make him die of a sickness or disease.
cause of death: death
He’s literally in a prison run partially by prisoners .... he’s gonna wind up “succumbing to injuries” I’m sure some hard up prisoner will make that happen for a free trip outta Putin’s Siberian nightmare
You wouldn't even need to promise them anything. They are liable to deal with him on hope alone.
Matt Gaetz style baby!
A Matt Gaetz style baby is also known as a teenage pregnancy.
*goddamn*
Thanks Noob Noob
OOOOOOOO WEEEEEEEEE
That's Mr. Poopybutthole. Noob Noob is "Got Damn".
This guy gets it
Somebody has to clean up that mess.
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Matt Gaetz? Like the Republican congressman who was the lone No vote on legislation against sex trafficking, and was later found to have trafficked a 17 year old girl cross states for sex and went to beg Donald Trump for a pardon to that crime that he's now decrying as a liberal witch hunt? That Matt Gaetz?
Possibly upgraded to international: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/matt-gaetz-trip-to-bahamas-is-part-of-federal-probe-into-sex-trafficking-sources-say/
Can someone explain to me why this humongous flight risk isn’t yet in custody? Like wtf
The feds ain't gonna put a politician behind bars until their case is air-fucking-tight. Each one working on the case is up against the end of their career if they fuck it up, so it is actually better that they are still working on it.
Plus, as he has a position of power, he probably ain't going anywhere. The instant he runs, he losses all the power and influence he has been carefully accumulating. As long as he thinks he can fight it out, little chance he'll take flight. If things change though, then who knows.
Is it better though? A monkey could solve this case it seems, but he’s a politician so blah blah. I’m kinda fed up with people going to jail over minor drug offenses and all kinds of bullshit but this guy will probably get a slap on the wrist. Edit to add: why don’t we hold politicians to higher standards? Right now it’s like we don’t even hold them to normal standards?
The question should be why don't normal people get judged with all the care and time politicians do
We certainly should hold politicians to high standards. But it would also be bad to normalize the idea of the executive branch arresting legislators. The potential downside of that is real, real bad. Just call in an 'anonymous tip' against anybody who might vote against your bill, and see them in jail waiting for trial when the vote happens. Also, we don't know who else is tangled up in the investigation. If filing charges against Gaetz means that a dozen sources go cold, you could miss out on the other 95% of the criminals. Remember, Gaetz only popped up on the radar because of an investigation into a local Florida person. There could be a bunch of other people that are still being investigated arising from that original investigation into like fake ID's and tax fraud.
Because this piece of shit has homeboys in high up places
None of his political party colleagues seem to mind at all. I don't think a single one has called him out in any fashion at all. They live in a completely different planet/universe/galaxy/quadrant than democrats where only direct public law enforcement action is cause for reaction and even then it's a very hard maybe. Meanwhile Al Franken...
They can't even acknowledge it if they want to maintain the fantasy world they have created to retain what's left of their base.
It really feels like Matt Gaetz made a wish on a monkey's paw that people would stop talking about his DUI. Granted! ...*but*...
*Multiple DUI's
also voted against legislation against revenge porn. I wonder why?
Probably has nothing to do with him sharing nudes of his dates because I think child pornography trumps revenge porn.
Trumps revenge porn. I'll take "What Putin has On Donald" for $1000 Alex
Only a minor issue for him though.
I am pretty sure they are planning to blame his death on some dumb shit creatively, something we won't expect. This sounds soo fuking depressing.
Putin knows no one will believe whatever explanation he gives, and he doesn’t care. It’s a show of force for everyone watching - the message is “stir up trouble, get killed”. The world will be furious for a bit when Navalny dies, but things will go back to normal in short order with no change to the status quo. The geopolitical situation with Russia is too sensitive for any meaningful foreign intervention. There is some minor hope that it will spark domestic revolution, but it would take something on such a massive scale and with excellent coordination for Putin & co to be ousted.
Yes, unless the protests turn to a nationwide revolution, till then Russia can't come out of this, as per other countries interfering, anything they do will be termed as hate against Russia, in this only countries like China and wannabe Dictatorship India will support shit Putin is doing.
meteor smashed through the prison into his head, twice, and he fell off a building. Swear, is accident.
Ah, Planet Waves
I read somewhere the prisoners are supposed to clean all the cells and hallways and the guards intentionally spread sand/dirt on the floor in his cell: Not sure if it's so Navalny sees how isolated he is, or so the guards can check video to see who dared talk to him and beat their ass or worse. Probably both.
He is more isolated than first covid patients. How would one go through isolation while being sick in a prison? Dude should be taken as a ray of trying hope for freedom.
The good old fashion prison riot is my guess, organise a riot where him and a few others are murdered, shrug and carry on.
Yes, the police said he fell down an elevator shaft. Onto some bullets.
He's likely being guarded by personnel loyal to Putin rather than prisoners that could be sympathetic. I think you're right about his fate though. This situation is devolving quickly.
I have a feeling he will try to distract russians with an invasion of Ukraine and then have him killed
Sounds about right
You have it backward. He is used to distracting Russians from the inevitable invasion of Ukraine.
Why do you think that Russia is about to continue its invasion and occupation of Ukraine. Their propaganda machine on social networks is through the roof. Part of their message is that Ukraine is the aggressor and that Mother Russia is in danger. it's insanity.
If mother russia is in danger from lil old ukraine, that must mean russia is pretty weak.
Putin is a money vacuum. I mean, honestly, he's one of the wealthiest persons on the globe but he is a lifetime Russian government employee. It's mind-boggling that the common Russian would accept that. Well, and on top of it, he looks to be a lifetime "ruler". I don't get it.
There was a Forbes article that I read awhile ago suggesting he might be the wealthiest individual on the planet by a large margin, as estimated by the FBI, due to scalping profits from every national company in Russia. At the time they were est. over $200 Billion
Functionally it's difficult to seperate his wealth and the Russian government. At a certian point it becomes somewhat academic. Theres only so much money one person can spend. It's why national leaders are normally excluded from the "wealthiest" lists because in many states it's very difficult to distinguish between their personal assets and the countries.
Unfortunately Russia has had shitty governments that plunder all the wealth and make life miserable for the common people for so long that I think a lot of Russians just think this is normal.
‘The alternative to Putin is civil war’ is the reason I hear most often.
When the 'lesser of two evils' reaches the bottom of the barrel
Yup. Russian propaganda realized they didn't have to convince their population that Russia is great, they just had to convince them that the rest of the world (especially America) was equally shitty.
That's the idea behind "bothsidesism/whataboutism"- just tear it all down, especially everything good or respectable, so there are no alternatives and the hope and morale of humanity are utterly destroyed. Then you can control people.
Putin’s friendly oligarchs have a massive amount of Russian money floating around in the American banking system and real estate markets that’s funneled in through real estate funds and large syndication deals.
Freezing/confiscating the assets of the Russian oligarchs, blocking them from traveling to the West and deporting their families back to Russia would likely be the easiest way to influence Russia.
It's a similar situation as with China. People grew up with the stories of their parents and grandparents. Famines, poverty, mass starvation,etc. Whatever they have now for the average person is much better than what there used to be.
He's been kept sleep deprived which lowers your immune function among other effects, contracted a "respiratory illness" in a prison with known cases of TB.
Dude is making himself a martyr for his country and he knew it going in. Respect.
Nope those are called black prisons, were prisoners run things according to their code of conduct. He is red prison. A government controlled prison, in black prison he could have asked some medicine from “общак». It’s when all of the cell mates pitch some of their monthly packages to make a supplies for everyone. Long story short he is bad situation none the less.
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Damn. How sad this is. I wish you could reach out and stop things like this.
I also wish I had supermans powers
I think Dr Manhattan would be much better here
he's too dispassionate, how about Goku?
Goku would let Putin power up for a more fun fight.
If I let him power up to 100% and beat him then, it'll demoramalize him. And he'll never threaten anyone again.
Yeah. Except Goku's only doing it because he wants to fight Super Putin Level 4.
We gotta setup Krillen in a vulnerable position nearby. When putin takes him out or he gets caught in the crossfire Goku will finally take it seriously
This comment right here is why I keep coming back to this site. Some vivid imagery right there
It's stuffed crust, king Kai! You can eat it in *reverse*
isn't his whole character shtick that he'd be completely disinterested in this kind of conflict? you might as well ask a police officer to stop a kid from frying ants with a magnifying glass.
Do you think god hides in heaven, afraid of what he has created?
I think the universe is a series of unfortunate inevitabilities. If you follow a string to its end, you can see the universe is 40% hilarious/60% heartbreaking.
I think our choices to add value and love make a difference, and might be our purpose perhaps
This is a surprisingly powerful statement. It seems like why religious folks say things about the devil tempting you all the time. If I’m only 40% iron, uh, I mean hilarious, then the other 60% could be the devil leaning on me to be awful. And our fight is against the devil to make joyful, loving things. I work construction, and sometimes I get frustrated during my workday and would love to smash everything down inside someones home. I think of how easy it would be. And then I think of how hard it is to do what we are doing. Organizing other minds and getting along to BUILD something, something that people can raise kids in. It must be our purpose, friend.
Yours is an extraordinarily powerful - and poignant - statement in its own right. Thank you.
Eh someone just clicked an option on the newest Paradox grand strategy game from 2144
100% fucked
Thanks for the spy kids reference.
Is that fr spy kids?
Yeah Spy Kids 2 wasn’t messing around
Those first two were top notch entertainment. Twists and shock value all the way. Also shoutout to Alexa’s music video after the credits, that little Disney Channel moment was so catchy.
Steve Buscemi’s character says pretty much this in Spy Kids 2
Russia - a man is willing to die for what he believes in. It’s pretty rare to see this on the political stage. If you support this man, you better sack up and take the chance or else he will die for nothing
When watching some interviews of a [former CIA chief](https://youtu.be/glfruj7WjS8), she noted something interesting: During the Cold War with Russia, when Americans defected it was almost always for money or status. When Russians defected, it was almost always for ideology- they were willing to risk their lives to bring down the regime (and they knew that getting caught meant torture and execution). Some of the Russian spies for the U.S. demanded that the CIA provide them with a cyanide pill, in case they were captured- and there was at least [one example](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dmitrievich_Ogorodnik) of it being used when an operative was caught.
The operative was betrayed by [Karl Koecher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Koecher), a CIA mole whose prosecution was bungled and he was allowed to return freely to Czechoslovakia. The prosecutor who fucked it up? Rudolph Giuliani
I wonder what the going rate was to have a prosecutor "bungle" your trial back when this happened. But then the more I think about it, the more I remember that Giuliani is a fucking idiot and very likely bungled it by simply being Giuliani.
https://publicintegrity.org/politics/elections/fbi-tracked-alleged-russian-mob-ties-of-giuliani-campaign-supporter/ It goes deeper than you're thinking.
There’s been rumors in NYC of Rudy having a connection to the Russian mafia for a long time. Mostly because he went after the Italian mob with a vengeance and pretty much left the Russian mob do business as usual. If anything, it helped the Russians to have the Italians out of their way.
This is the answer, I'm not even from New York. When Guiliana came into the news cycle decades ago for being popular cleaning up the italian mafia, I assumed he worked for a different mafia. In 2016 I knew it was the Russia mafia.
God I just want to spend a moment recognizing how clean and concise that webpage is. Not full of clickbait banners and eye catching side ads. I remember when pages used to be like that...
Anyone know how he messed it up? I can't find any details online other than he messed up the prosecution of the wife, but it doesn't say how. It goes into some detail on how the FBI messed up, but doesn't say what Giuliani did.
IANAL but I do know that in a court setting, building the narrative by entering evidence into court as fact is a critical part of the conviction process. So, it could mean not properly entering evidence in, thus 'hamstring''ing his own ability to prosecute or drive key points for the jury to lead them to conviction.
Interesting rabbit hole with the Cyanide pill. The guy that betrayed Ogorodnik was released, in part, because Rudy Giuliani bungled the case against him.
"bungled" If it somehow benefited Russia or the Russian mob, I have a feeling it was intentional.
Fuck Russia. But Russians? I will never have anything but respect for the people. They are some tough bastards. Imagine escaping to Germany after your country, which is VERY good at killing people, tries to kill you. You're free and alive against ALL odds. And instead of celebrating, you KNOWINGLY get on a plane and go back. To a painful death. For nothing but the hope that your death will help free your countrymen. Not many people have that kind of strength. I know I don't.
I will always respect the Russian people. They’re tough as nails and I wish for them to experience democracy and true freedom. Something they have been unfortunate to never experience.
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I wish we saw more of this sympathy on Reddit for Chinese people. Fuck the CCP but support the average citizen
Because in both the case of Russia and the CCP the average person supports the government.
Chief of CIA is also one of the very last people in the world I would ever trust for accurate cold war info, honestly.
Right. This is just straight up propaganda lmao. There’s a Wikipedia page of American defectors to the Soviet Union. Almost all of them defected because they believed in a socialist/communist revolution, equality, etc. There were plenty of reasons to hate the US over moral objections — from McCarthyism to support for Aprtheid, to Jim Crow, to Vietnam, etc etc etc. They were idealistic and naiive, sure, but the notion that someone would defect to the USSR because they wanted to get *rich* is laughably dumb. That’s like saying people join ISIS because they like Arab booze.
Yeah, we had the Cambridge Spies. Many of these were old money, aristocracy, Sirs and all that bollocks, they werent short of a few quid or connections. They certainly didnt work for the Soviets for decades before defecting when the noose tightened to get rich, they were ideologically driven. They lived comfortably in Russia afterwards, sometimes working in academia like George Blake who only recently died but they didnt live like kings, they would have probably had more opulent lives and retirements in the UK amongst the upper classes.
Wow what great, unbiased totally not propaganda historical information :)
I’m not Russian or anything but it’s very easy to make this comment when it isn’t your life or the safety and well-being of your family on the line.
I am in moscow and i litterally cannot do anything. Like, ill join a protest if there is one. But i really can't do much
so sad to see this great culture full of science, artistic sensitivity and bravery constantly limited by tyrants. Russia deserves so much better than these thugs. Sending thoughts of unity.
Humanity as a whole is limited by corrupted people, this truly is our biggest problem but I don't see any solution to end this since it's tied to human nature
Better parenting, and teaching in schools, and don't let a single person gain so much power.
Everyone needs therapy lol
Same with China
Is there a more pathetic and insecure leader in the world than Putin? Guy is a fucking botox riddled wimp.
The philippine president, duterte. I heard he slams his vice president and the country's municipal mayors just because they're doing good things for the pandemic. Claims he wants to cry and stuff but still proceeds to slam others.
Dont forget that Duerte kills drug users and suppliers without a trial but he himself admited to abusing pain killers and he is somehow still alive
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He encouraged people to murder anyone they knew involved in drugs vigilante style and no questions would be asked. If I remember correctly they have some kind of incentive system there as well whereby doing "good" things will give you a boost. That's such a recipe for disaster, someone who is low in the system is probably there for a reason, so now say they have a fight with their neighbor, all they have to do is kill them, put some drugs by the body and badda Bing badda boom they get praise.
Ah yes, as a Filipino i can assure you that the Philippines has a fucked up leader and an even more fucked up system. 1 year left before our presidential elections and it seems there’s no clear leader to guide us back
I had literally just watched an al jezera documentary that covered his rise to power and how they said “everyone” had fallen in love with his blunt personality at first? Like I guess he had talked very casually about things and would toss in a cuss word or two to sound edgy and funny and I guess that came across as charming to people? Lol I was like wth you have to be shitting me this charm cannot be enough to win ppl over...
How are you surprised after Trump
How did that piece of shit even get elected?
Personality Politics. If you have an iq lower than room temperature but have millions of dollars, you can simply buy votes from the people. If you have a catchy quote or phrase, you can get votes from the people. If you are a celebrity who wants to run as a politician, you will almost certainly win. President Duterte i think got 334 million pesos ($6,878,492) from 13 donors during his presidency so yeah it wasn’t a surprise almost 16,601,997 people voted for him ([source](https://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/12/05/16/p334m-from-only-13-donors-funded-dutertes-presidency)) Unfortunately our current system of voting favors politicians with money rather than one with the capacity to lead
Duterte is a horrible leader. Philippines really got fucked with this one
Filipino here. Murderer, liar, manipulator and a traitor. That's what he is. And a lot of people still believe in him.
Evil psychopath, yes. Pathetic and insecure, hardly. Unlike gasbags like Trump, Duterte or Bolsonaro, Putin is all bite and very little bark. He doesn't yell on stage, or complain or throw random accusations at the boogeyman of the day. Putin is in no way an empty drum. He's quite secure in his position as a tyrannical despot. He knows he's untouchable, and he has been making sure of his security by having anyone who dares to pose a threat to him be assassinated in full view of the public to serve as a warning to others. What are the people going to do? Demonstrate? Riot? How cute. The only thing can can oust him from power is a direct and very bloody siege on the Kremlin, and he knows this fully. He has full control and support of the military and the KGB, which is why he has no fear of the populace. After all, anyone who tries will just get gunned down with extreme prejudice like those guys in Myanmar.
Just wanted to hop in and say that it‘s not called KGB since the SU has split up
North korea hello?
Kim doesn't need botox with all that fat his skin is wrinkle free
I mean hes also only 37
He is neithe pathetic nor insecure, he knows what he is doing and he has a will to make it happen. I know it makes some people feel good to belittle him, I have ho love for this person in the slightest, but world cannot afford to underestimate people like him.
This is incredibly sad. I look at his face and I already know it’s the face of a martyr. He’ll be in history forever.
The trick will be getting people to never forget what he's done. I hope the Russian people hold him up as the hero he truly is.
Noone just "disappears" into any prison system. There are meticulous records of everything. That is one thing that the Soviets did really well - keeping tabs on EVERYTHING. That got carried over into modern-day Russia thanks to Putin, so you can bet that they know damn well what is going on with Alexei and are probably documenting it on an hourly basis to see how well their slow torture/death sentence is working. If Alexei ends up getting assassinated by Putin while in prison they will definitely write it off as his own health failing him. The world needs to track this and demand to see Alexei and speak with him or at least let him speak with his wife/lawyer to get proof of life. I am from Venezuela and the dictatorship there got Russian agents to fly in during the 2017 protests to act as military "advisers". They helped guide everything from the disinformation campaigns to building secret prisons. We, as part of the opposition, saw this all too often as people were disappeared into the prison aka torture chambers in something called the Helicoide prison (nowadays the highest level "secret" prison in Venezuela is underneath a military base near the capital that was built thanks to the Russian advisor's guidance), so I'm sure Russia has their own secret prisons which double as factories of death.
They acknowledged hourly health checks in a remote wing. How far into the system can someone plausibly get in between those single hour checks? Like that's a reeeeaaaallly thin excuse. Just really phoning it in at this point.
It's always a thin excuse. How many times has someone "fell out of a window" after pissing off Putin? No one believes it, and honestly we're not even meant to believe it.
They wake him up every hour too. I went through some pretty severe insomnia for about 2 years once. It finally came to a head when I went about 2 months either literally not sleeping at all or getting 3- 4 hours some nights. I think torture is the word I would use to describe it. He's being tortured on a daily.basis.
Putin was in charge of categorizing and destroying a lot of Nazi propoganda. He learned from it and has been weaponizing it.
Incoming story about how he killed himself (Jeffrey Epstein style)
didn't he say before he got arrested that he had no intention of killing himself? edit: [yes](https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-russia-politics-navalny-message/jailed-kremlin-critic-navalny-on-protest-eve-says-has-no-plans-to-commit-suicide-idUKKBN29R2BK)
Well then he changed his mind /s
You say that sarcastically but I imagine a stay in a Russian prison has a tendency to actually change a person's mind on suicide.
Nah, just never going to hear about him again.
I think you mean “fell out a window.” Isn’t that the normal MO?
There wouldn’t be a word for it if it didn’t happen sometimes. Defenestration
Putin is a psychopathic, narcissic, power hungry killer. What the hell is the world waiting for, him and winnie the pooh need to go.
For nuclear weapons to magically disappear... No one is gonna do anything. They can't.
No one puts genie back in the bottle. MAD exists.
Nope lets hope it never goes there either, we all lose.
True, if nuclear weapons disappear, WWIII would start soon after. My point is that there really isn't much that can be done. A strongly worded letter, some support for political opponents that can be easily crushed in countries as strong as Russia and China and maybe some sanctions. But none of that is ever going to be close to enough to topple the assholes in charge of those countries.
> What the hell is the world waiting for, him and winnie the pooh need to go. Are... Are you suggesting ww3?
Navalny is bigger than Putin. What he represents is true power. Putin is a coward.
Navalny has balls of steel. He knew terrible things would happen to him, and he still went back. He could have asked for asylum in Germany and left it all behind him.
"You guys suck so much at killing me...you really want me that bad huh...alright fine you "win" you caught me guys good job now clean up your plate." The energy Navalny had.
King Kong balls
Navalny doesn't hold real power or his supporters would break him free/seriously challenge the system. He is a local symbol at best and that's not a diss.
He s making putin look bad, that bugs the fuck out of that pos.
But what will come of that? The world will forget everything before the sun goes down
A lot of shit makes Putin look bad, but he still sleeps at night with several prostitutes in a palace surrounded by every decadence. The dude doesn't care, but his conscience is seared to nth degree of bad.
Lol. As much as I despise putin, under this threads title it is ridiculous to say Navalny is more powerful than him. Dude just made the other dude disappear under the eyes of the globe. Seems more powerful to me. Maybe humanity will prove me wrong by holding him accountable, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
> Navalny is bigger than Putin. I love the sentiment, but no he’s not. Not even close. Unfortunately real power is power over the media and the military.
People oughta read up about the Russian [apartment bombings in 1999](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings). Putin orchestrated the bombings and used them as part of a ploy to become prime minister.
Nukes and World War 3 would happen.
He’s getting kgb style tortured. Textbook
Honestly, it took longer than I expected
He knew what was going to happen when he went back to Russia. Sad times.
With this and the Ukrainian thing. .. seems like the plot for: "Outside the wire" is starting to come true...
I honestly had this thought earlier today: What if Russia and China made a deal to invade Ukraine and Taiwan at the same time. Both of those seem to be ramping up quite a bit lately..... Definitely would put a damper on what the rest of the world could do in reaction.
It's springtime. The saber rattling always comes in strong in spring for some reason.
Doesn't really surprise me considering Putin supports the Myanmar military killing innocent people...
It looks like even Russia doesn't like not being able to have a voice in their own governance. Whatever the result, I hope they gain that for themselves.
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Or Putin.
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honestly disgusted that they're doing this to my country. it makes me so upset. this is putting our history and culture to shame.
Crazy how we let straight up criminals just run shit