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posted by janrinok on Friday February 16 2024, @04:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the some-battles-you-cannot-win dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 2) by Mykl on Monday February 19 2024, @03:31AM (3 children)

    by Mykl (1112) on Monday February 19 2024, @03:31AM (#1345116)

    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?

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  • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday February 19 2024, @03:45AM

    by Reziac (2489) on Monday February 19 2024, @03:45AM (#1345117) Homepage

    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)

    by quietus (6328) on Monday February 19 2024, @05:19AM (#1345120) Journal
    Mykl, you are being sealioned [wikipedia.org].
    • (Score: 2) by Mykl on Monday February 19 2024, @07:31AM

      by Mykl (1112) on Monday February 19 2024, @07:31AM (#1345126)

      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.