Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm trying to compare Alexei with some other known political figures. For Americans, I think Alexei is roughly comparable to MLK. If you are comparing him to MLK, you've not seen Navalny's videos on Central Asians I guess (in case you need a summary: compares them to insects that need to be exterminated then kills one with a handgun).
Navalny was a russian chovinist, but it's nothing special for russians unfortunately. I don't know what video you mean, but I guess it's from times when Navalny ran campaign for major of Moscow – it was quite popular position back then. But his positions softened a lot since then.
Alexei Navalny has died
681–690 of 1001 posts
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#682The (small) upside of all this missery, death and pain is Europe will lose some territory but gain it's own military security after decades of living from the US strategy alignment. Countries like Poland will no longer buy US weapons but increase European defense spending - they fear just like Ukraine that US congress just turns around and will stop delivering parts for F-35s in a conflict [0]. The US lost all it's t…
I think you are on to something. While I consider NATO will hold together, it would certainly avail the EU countries to build a military of similar capability to the US to thwart Russia's ambitions of conquering all of east Europe. It is best to hedge against that, particularly with the rise of MAGA fascism (and its alliance with Russia) in the USA. I feel it will peak when Donald Trump loses in the Fall but there is no guarantee of any of that.
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#683So in latest news, last opposition figure in Russia dies together with any hope for regime change while Russia's war effort is starting to get some traction with it's overwhelming man power and Ukraine is forced to cede more territory all while west is busy either with it's in-fighting or comparing each others superior GDP and how Russia will crumble just any day now (TM). Man, are we in for a ride next decade in Eur…
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Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#684Death by murder.
Navalny was far from a saint, but his death is still a Kremlin job by any measure, and I suspect will only accelerate Putin's decline, as the state of Russian affairs continues to degrade.
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#685[dead]
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#686Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Countries like Poland will no longer buy US weapons but increase European defense spending - they fear just like Ukraine that US congress just turns around and will stop delivering parts for F-35s in a conflict That's absolutely not the sentiments among Poles. If anything, there's a belief we can only rely on US when poo hits the fan.
As I've said, when the Suwałki Gap falls and the US stands by - and the US will under Trump - sentiments will turn 180°. Poland hoped the UK would safe them from Germany and Russia and was betrayed. Poland now hopes the US would safe them from Russia, and they will be betrayed.
> UK would safe them from Germany and Russia and was betrayed
The balance of power is not even remotely similar to what it was back in 1939. Even if we ignore the economy and armament production modern Russia has severe demographic issues it barely has enough manpower to wage a full-scale war in Ukraine (considering the massive casualty rate, more in a single year than US lost during the 15 years in Vietnam and Russia has many times smaller conscriptable population than the US had back then).
How could they ever open a "second front" in the Baltics?
Back in 1940 the allies were extremely underprepared materially (mainly the British, the French had an army that could certainly compete with Germany on paper, but they were much too conservative (and in hindsight run by incompetent morons)). It's not like they consciously decided to just abandon Poland outright, the allies expected it to hold out much longer and very way too slow and indecisive to do anything. Then they somehow managed to lose Norway against all odds and the same thing repeated in France.
Stuff like that simply can't happen in modern warfare (as the Russian attempt to capture Kiev has proven)..
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#687Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you propose the west avoids conflict with Russia and China? Is there any examples in history of appeasement leading to less bloodshed?
it is only possible to reduce not to avoid bloodshed. Russia does not honor the rules of law so we should not negotiate with them in good faith. They are a terrorist state. UN Charter Budapest Memorandum INF Treaty Minsk 2 / Minsk 1 ... The only solution are preemptive strikes against Russian interests.
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Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#688Earlier quoted context omitted.
Certainly nobody wants to be a martyr. I guess he thought he had a chance at peaceful politics, and at the time it could have been seen as reasonable by a poor planner like him. He had a history of weird blunders, like refusing to resort to violence when it became the only possible solution, or failing the publicly planned protest simply because he didn't account for being detained under a bullshit pretext for a few…
> Certainly nobody wants to be a martyr. Some people do. If you believe the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and you truly believe your death will significantly help others, then maybe you do make that (incredibly hard) decision knowing full well the consequences.
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Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#689As someone born and raised in Poland I can tell you that the Russians are universally hated by other Slavs. We get along with Lithuanians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Chechs, Slovaks, basically everyone except the Russians. The sentiment is widespread across central Europe. You can call it racism or xenophobia, I don't care. Putin is not one person, there's a whole nation behind him. Most people online seem to forget th…
1. That’s not a very nice thing to say. Raised in Russia, I know that there are some people who hate Poles, however, all these haters are backwards and anti-progressive in general. 2. Lithuanians are not Slavs.
> 1. That’s not a very nice thing to say
This is not an undeserved sentiment. Russia's every neighbour will tell you that.
Re: Alexei Navalny has died
#690Absolutely terrible. Now we pray time/entropy delivers us a world without Putin. Smh.