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Alexei Navalny has died

reuters.com

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Re: Alexei Navalny has died

#741

Post by Vegenoid »

MrDresden wrote: post #434
kulikalov wrote: post #378

There are smart people who work for Russia, or worse - for russian gov. Without them it would not be possible. How can an individual have both the critical thinking and still have the gut to contribute to this? I grew up in rural russia. It's much much worse than what you see on the facade. My neighbour was a police man. His 15 years boy raped a kid from local orphanage and captured it on a video. No justice followed…

> How can an individual have both the critical thinking and still have the gut to contribute to this? Personal experience has taught me that critical thinking does not nessecarily go hand in hand with the ability and/or the guts to push for change. Many who move through corporate worlds do so for personal gains, and will not speak out against or put them selves in the spotlight to fix issues that might reflect badly…

Agreed. The abundance of powerful organizations that commit great harms for personal gain, both now and throughout history, makes it very clear that capable people do this.

It is very hard to put myself in their shoes, and contort my brain to make their actions feel like a thing I could do.

Re: Alexei Navalny has died

#742

Post by screenoridesaga »

SEJeff wrote: post #723
merpkz wrote: post #41

So 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…

Navalty had some pretty scary things to say about Ukraine as well. To summarize: He thought there are no differences between Ukranian people and Russian people, he thinks that Crimea is rightfully Russia's (finder's keepers!), and he thinks it would be nice for Belarus and Ukraine to just be absorbed by Russia and become part of Russia again. He was only against the war in Ukraine when it became obvious it was not go…

[flagged]

Re: Alexei Navalny has died

#743

Post by the_why_of_y »

mlrtime wrote: post #322
flanked-evergl wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> US has relevant party that is now openly pro-Putin What relevant party in the US is openly pro-Putin?

There is none, it is 100% rhetoric. When AOC says "Eat the rich" , do people think she literally wants the masses to go find the nearest billionaire and start cannibalism? Trump thinks that the US pays too much into NATO and others not enough. This his tactic for getting other countries to pay more for the security we all enjoy which isn't free. I'm not a Trump fan but I see through his words to his tactics.

Some journalists have interviewed high ranking members of the Trump administration, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who said that Trump told him "he would seek to withdraw from Nato and to blow up the US alliance with South Korea, should he win reelection."

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...

Re: Alexei Navalny has died

#744

Post by cmrdporcupine »

ivan_gammel wrote: post #486
stcroixx wrote: post #474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe deciding to depend on Russia for their energy and not focusing on defense spending is the unbelievable part to me, but they've been doing this for quite some time now. They walked right into it. Russia is doing what they've always done and always will do.

It was reasonable not to see Russia as enemy. It was well integrated into European trade and some political structures (PACE, NATO-Russia council etc) and there were even talks about visa-free travel between Russia and EU. What went wrong was the glacial speed of integration, letting the nationalist sentiment and disappointment in West grow. Post-WWII Europe was pacified through a political union between Germany and…

Fundamentally what actually went the worst was the absolutely awful way that capitalist market systems were, on the whole, rolled out in the eastern bloc in the 90s. Poverty, corruption, and massive wealth disparity were the results.

And into the chaos, strongmen came in, and promised and gave some stability.

Re: Alexei Navalny has died

#745

Post by OkayPhysicist »

reactordev wrote: post #383
FredPret wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe will now spend more on it’s own defence which is very good for the West and just horrible for Russia. Invading the EU is a different proposition to invading Ukraine. Invading a well-armed Europe is almost impossible.

“Invading a well-armed Europe is almost impossible.” Funny, the world had the same thought in 1936.

War is fundamentally different now than it was at the beginning of WW2. A nuclear superpower cannot be invaded. You can poke the bear A LOT, but basically everyone recognizes that a ground invasion is crossing a red line.

That's the purpose of NATO. In exchange for giving up some autonomy to the US (letting the USA build military bases in your territory, not acting overtly against our interests), and paying us for our fancy weapons, NATO members get the immeasurably valuable power of a nuclear red line border, and protection by the most powerful military the world has ever seen. It's a very, very good deal, and the most stabilizing force in history.

Given the NATO membership of most of Europe, the only wars possible in Europe are small, regional conflicts between non-member states.

Re: Alexei Navalny has died

#746

Post by Lutger »

infecto wrote: post #207
KingOfCoders wrote: post #93

The (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 get so tired of these sentiments. Without a doubt the US pushes its might around the world BUT in the case of Europe, European countries do not have the willpower to create a military like the US's. How did the US lose all its trust? Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Europe was frolicking around for decades, most countries with no real economy and making many mistakes a long the way regarding energy security.

Just a side-note regarding energy mistakes: Germany single-handedly funded R&D for solar energy to the place where it is now the cheapest form of energy available. And then more or less gave the industry away to China. That was one happy mistake which is hard to overestimate the longterm impact it has on the world.

Re: Alexei Navalny has died

#747

Post by shmerl »

Sort of weird that by killing Navalny, Putin made life harder for his shills in the House of Representatives who do his bidding to oppose aid for Ukraine. But I guess he thinks his "Axis Sallys" like Carlson are enough to whitewash anything he does.

Re: Alexei Navalny has died

#749

Post by [deleted] »

merpkz wrote: post #41

So 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…

[deleted]

Re: Alexei Navalny has died

#750

Post by adrr »

delecti wrote: post #393
banku_brougham wrote: post #268

Does anyone know why NATO/US never gave Ukraine what they were asking for! jets, Anti-air systems, ATACMs, etc?

The theory I've heard is it's to limit US tech being used to strike into Russia.

Like Novichok being used by Russia in England to assassinate UK citizens. I don't get why the west is afraid of escalation when Russia just does whatever they want. Russia shows no restraint. They crashed an expensive NATO drone recently. Correct response is to shoot down their planes if they crash ours.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Sergei_and_Yulia_...

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