SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
I have my country and my convictions. And I don't want to give up on either. I can't betray either one. If your convictions mean anything, you must be ready to stand up for them. And, if necessary, make sacrifices [for them]. If you're not ready [to do that], then you have no convictions. You just think you do. But those aren't convictions or principles; they're just thoughts in your head.
It so happens that in today's Russia, I have to pay for my right to have and to openly express my convictions by sitting in solitary confinement. And, of course, I don't like being in prison. But I won't renounce my convictions or my homeland. My convictions aren't exotic, sectarian, or radical. On the contrary, everything I believe in is based on science and historical experience. Those in power must change. The best way to elect leaders is through honest and free elections. Everyone needs a fair court. Corruption destroys the state. There should be no censorship. The future lies with these principles.
Alexey Navalny, Russia's most famous dissident, has died. (4 June 1976 – 16 February 2024).
Returning to Russia in 2021, after having been treated in Berlin for novichok poisoning, Navalny was immediately arrested on arrival at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. Since then, he has been in and out of (but mostly in) solitary confinement all over the country, with his final station being the Polar Wolf penal colony in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Siberia.
On Monday, he had been visited by his parents. In reacting to the news of her son's death, his mother reacted:
"I don't want to hear any condolences. We saw our son in the colony on Feb. 12th. He was alive, healthy, cheerful."
More info here.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Sunday February 18 2024, @10:15PM (5 children)
I'm going to need something stronger than "I seem to remember reading something a few years ago". Navalny was a very effective opposition leader and Putin has wanted to disappear him (in the right manner) for years now. It's also in form for Putin, who has arranged for the disappearances / tragic accidents of hundreds of people who publicly disagreed with him over the years.
You might want to offer some evidence about Putin being anti-Communist too. After all, he did call the fall of the Soviet Union the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th Century [politifact.com]. Doesn't sound very vehemently anti-Communist to me. Strictly speaking though, I agree that Putin is not technically a Communist. Modern Russia is actually a Kleptocracy.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday February 19 2024, @12:06AM (4 children)
Everyone likes to stop after the first sentence, and further to misquote it, but the complete and accurate quote is right there in the article you linked:
"Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. As for the Russian nation, it became a genuine drama. Tens of millions of our co-citizens and co-patriots found themselves outside Russian territory. Moreover, the epidemic of disintegration infected Russia itself."
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Monday February 19 2024, @03:31AM (3 children)
Yes, exactly. Putin wants his empire back, and he intends to do this by force rather than invitation. See: Chechnya, Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine, Belarus (don't think for a minute that they are actually independent).
The "disintegration" that "infected" Russia that he refers to is democratic choice by the people.
Exactly how do you think he is being unfairly portrayed?
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday February 19 2024, @03:45AM
I think there's not a lot of point arguing if you haven't looked into the background far enough to realize there's more to it than what is popularly known. Especially the case with Chechnya. John Mearsheimer has a couple of lectures on the Ukraine situation that are worth a listen; one is called something like "how the west created Putin".
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by quietus on Monday February 19 2024, @05:19AM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Monday February 19 2024, @07:31AM
I hadn't heard that term before - learned something today!
You could be right - Reziac might be trolling for lulz. Or he could be getting paid by the FSB. Or he could genuinely believe that Putin has been hard done by and that he's really not such a bad guy. I guess we'll never know which one it is.