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    Navalny - one Russian emigré's view..... Archived Message

    Posted by John Monro on February 19, 2024, 7:59 pm

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/19/alexei-navalny-vladimir-putin-russia

    Shishkin is a dual national Russo - Swiss. and now lives in Basle.

    He builds Navalny into something of a hero, and I have to admit, Navalny had raw courage in returning to Russia, though I do wonder why he did. Perhaps he wanted to become a martyr.

    But Navalny was not only an opposition to Putin, but had a very unpleasant history of right-wing, neofascist populism and serious racism. The ides that he'd be any improvement in charge of Russia than Putin bears no realistic examination. He'd probably oversee the disintegration of the Federation - but as Shishkin admits, who knows how he'd function in such a role.

    But the bigger question is this - why does the "west" but particularly the US and the UK consider it their duty or right to "correct" the misfunctioning of other states or to protect vulnerable populations in such states - lighter by sanctions, supporting opposition organisations however perverted they themselves are, or direct military action? Why is the media in the west so certain that we're allowed to do this, and so supportive of such mischievous action - because it always ends in disaster and seriously harming the very people we say we're trying to protect. I suppose it basically is the colonial mentality racism, and unstated xenophobia in modern guise.

    There's this continued pious hope in the west that changing the leadership will bring a more compliant country which the west can then bring down to size and exploit more easily. Navalny as another puppet to control, Russia as another country to ransack, which of course we nearly did until Putin put a stop to it.

    If we really wished to support Navalny, we would not be making Putin ben more powerful than he was by threatening the very existence to the Russian state.

    This ideology is incredibly deep seated. Perhaps it will only disappear when another nation tries the same trick on us.

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