I grieve the death of Aleksei Navalny, announced today. Do you?

Not really. He was a dead man walking for a decade, ever since Putin had him poisoned. It was only a matter of time before Putin killed him. I think Navalny knew he was on borrowed time.

If there is some person (or people) to be worried about, it’s the average russian citizen, who have that lunatic as their leader.

Yes, it made me sad. I’m also very suspicious. I saw the video of him from a couple of days ago and just can’t help but wonder how much of it was faked. It reminded me of the prisoners we saw on tv who had to hold up signs and say they were being treated well only to be beheaded at some point in the future.

I’m sorry to hear that he died. I’m not grieving his death though. I was surprised that he lived this long. I believe that he had accepted his fate. I can’t imagine what it was like to live each day wondering when the guy at the top would decide that I was no longer relevant & end what he hoped was torture. Rather than grieving his loss, I prefer to find comfort at the thought that he’s finally at peace!!!

Yes. I can only hope that his status changes to martyr and he inspires more and more Russian people to desire freedom.

My reaction is the same as how I have felt since he returned to Russia, disgust, and makes me so uncomfortable.

If I was his wife I would hate him for returning.

As a human being, I think he was crazy to return, and I don’t think his return helped his cause. There was already proof that Putin had poisoned him, he already had a following.

Suffering more and dying does nothing more in my opinion. If he were alive in another country I think he could have done more. I’m not a fan of suicide missions that don’t save the many. Does his death change minds or will it change the actions of Russia in the future?

Good, bad or ugly, he was just another human murdered by Putin.

I do feel sad when a genuine magnificently courageous guy gives up his life for a worthy cause. Hard not to be impressed even inspired.

In this case though my sadness is diminished by something I read years ago, that Navalny was a racist?

Not many men value their principles more then their lives and well being. We can only marvel when they appear and grieve when they are gone.

I’m surprised it took this long for him to be murdered.

I wouldn’t say I’m grieving but I do feel very bad. At the time he was poisoned and then returned voluntarily to Russia, I was torn between considering it defiant, considering it brave and considering it foolish – probably a combination of all three was the reality.

I think if I were him, I would rather live somewhere else and try to get my wife and family out of the country so they could be with me. Maybe he felt that would look cowardly, I don’t know.

I’m sure his time in prison was nothing fun. It makes American jails look like country clubs in comparison, especially being in Siberia.

@jca2 I thought his wife is in Germany and kids are in the US?

In my mind he left his family on a foolish mission.

I wonder how Russia is reporting his death and how the people in the country perceive it.

@JLeslie You’re probably correct about the wife’s location. I don’t remember. Probably if she were in Russia, she’d be in jail too.

I honestly hadn’t even heard of him until today. I looked him up. Yes. It’s sad.

Well.
Poison me once, shame on you…~

I admire his strong commitment.

I do not grieve

It’s unfortunate, but Navalny effectively represented the only dissent in Russia. It kinda sounds like a vast majority of the country is behind Putin. There’s not much to be done at that point. You can’t force a Western-friendly revolution.

As I understand it from my reading over some years, Navalny wasn’t pushing for Western-style democracy. He was a champion of Russia and an opponent of Putin for his abuse of the country.

I just saw Trump’s comment on the news, finally after days of not commenting on it. He didn’t mention Putin, instead, he compared it to his own legal problems. Meantime, other US politicians have blamed Russian leaders for it.

I fully believe Russia killed him, but I also blame Nivalny himself for returning to Russia. I just learned his mother is still alive. What a horror for her.

It was amazing he lived through the first poisoning and was able to get care to recover. Maybe he was still very sick after being poisoned and didn’t have a quality of life? I just cannot figure why he would return. I know he has said he loves Russia and obviously he felt compelled to fight for his country as he felt the country should be, which I admire, but in the end he wasted his vision for Russia. Imagine what he could have done if Putin was finally gone. He could have possibly been elected and led the country on a truly different and new path. Maybe one of his followers will be that person. Who knows how long it will take to see that day.

@JLeslie NY Times had an article about why he returned to Russia. They said he feared becoming irrelevant. I guess he showed bravery by his defiance.

@jca2 Bravery or foolishness. I understand his reasoning though. I wonder if he could message the Russian people from jail though? Was anyone continuing to report on him in Russia?

Like I said, it’s one thing to risk your life or even take a suicide mission to help the many, but if he had no voice sitting in jail then how did it help? I don’t know enough about how the Russians reacted to his return and incarceration.

I have no clue, @JLeslie. I know many there are mourning him now and are being detained for it.

Grieving no. I do admire his courage, as it was certain death.

He was no saint.
https://quillette.com/2024/02/23/alexei-navalny-1976-2024/

A lot of hypocrisy here. The US government is desperate to get former president Donald Trump into prison to make sure he can’t become president again. They are that scared of him. He won’t last long in prison, you can be sure of it. If he avoids prison, he’ll meet with a mysterious ‘accident’. Maybe Putin will be blamed for that, too.

I’m amazed he didn’t meet a “mysterious accident” when he was in office. He’s just a spoiled, self centered, selfish brat.

Trump getting into office is a mysterious accident itself. No one so unsuitable had ever been elected president before.

@flutherother Yet you still elected him. As somebody once said, “The great thing about the USA is that anybody can become president. It’s also its greatest problem.” Like it or not, Trump became president by the same process as any other. You put him there.

What makes you think he voted for trump @NovDel?

I would think that the world holds us ALL responsible, for Trump.

The mystery is that many Americans think he would make a grear president. I wouldn’t leave him in charge of my pet dog when I went off on holiday, and no I didn’t personally vote for him.

^The minority of Americans.
Even where he won, he didn’t get the most votes.

I understand the confusion about how Trump could be elected, to anything.
Given how poorly he handled everything, it’s still quite perplexing why anyone supports him.

In this age of the social media, sure feels like pro-Trump Americans are simply trolling their Trump-hating fellow Americans with their undying love for Trump. Who openly admires autocrats like Putin.

^Absolutely.
Some Trumpers are supporting him, out of spite.

I think it is somewhat comparable, to “Brexit.”
Not everyone knew exactly how do go forward, some just voted to blow up the current system.
Change, for the sake of change.

As indigestible as Trump was, he was an impulse buy.
Although Trump had made plenty of COMPLETELY BASELESS LIES about Obama, Trump had no political aspirations saying as much publicly and often.

Then. Trump busted into the Republican Primary race, like the Red Kool-aid Man.
Many were drawn to the spectacle.
Whatever small portion of Americans are actually radical rights, shamelessly follow him.

Some people are single issue voters, who were anti-abortion, or wanted “border security”(less brown people.)
The GOP, at the time, was just riding Trump’s surely short-lived success. The conservatives pushed through all kinds of one sided propaganda. Trump was somewhat cooperative in helping the conservatives gain three SCOTUS seats. Although he required loyalty, he picked from the GOPs list of judges.

A powerful, and decisive capture of two thirds of the highest court in the land (likely for decades.)

The GOP let Trump get out of control, like a fire. Now, there is a minority of crazy far right people in congress.
They can’t even agree on a leader (speaker of the House.)
When they do, they kick him out for doing his job.

But the majority of Republicans now, have no choice but to support Trump. They fear losing the crazy vote. Because, to them, if you aren’t pro-Trump you are anti-republican.

The crown that he will never let go of again, is in grasp of his tiny hands. And none of the ideals Americans are taught about their country, are stopping him.
It’s pornographic, watching American politics.

The thing that confused me is that it was so obvious how unfit he was for the job before he was elected, how was it not obvious to everyone?

^^On the contrary his being unfit was the missing piece of the puzzle Republicans were looking for to get to their goal of gaining power while expressing their rage at the same time.

The unfit douche turned out to be just the right instrument to shove down the Dems’ throat and up their asses. A perfect fit.