Navalny Murdered
Supporters arrested for leaving flowers.
Navalny's supporters brave Putin's murdering thugs to leave flowers. Navalny's wife vows to carry on Navalny's battle for freedom. Navalny's Chief of Staff, Leonid Volkov, declares that all Navalny wanted was "for his beloved country to be a NORMAL country" where people could choose their leaders, discuss or complain about the government, or Putin's war on Ukraine, or practically anything -- a pothole in the street, the lack of indoor toilets ... anything! without fear of being arrested.
What they want is the basics of freedom. Russians take their passports and their lawyers' phone numbers when they bravely stand in line to leave the flowers.
They know that Putin and his henchmen thugs have a long record of making sure Putin’s opponents mysteriously die.
I applaud the bravery of Navalny's supporters, but here in the U.S., I worry. What happened to bravery in the U.S.?
Speaker Mike Johnson (R) turned tail and ran after he kowtowed to Trump's call to use the border as a campaign messaging tool. Johnson, who had repeatedly called our Southern Border challenges "a crisis," suddenly moved his so-called "crisis" down the line - no crisis, nothing worth fixing until either Biden is re-elected or Trump prevails. Everything can wait until January 20th, 2025!
But Johnson's missing backbone is chump change compared to Trump's other off-message shouts that endanger our country. Trump invited Putin to attack NATO countries that may or may not be behind on their pledged investments for military weaponry necessary to keep NATO, i.e., all the 30 NATO member countries, including us and Canada, well guarded in case Putin or another evil dictator, attacks Europe.
Trump opposes aid to Ukraine. Rather, Trump has called for a negotiated settlement that would reward Putin with more Ukrainian land in return for Putin's unprovoked attack on Ukraine. First, Putin attacked and took over Ukraine's Crimea; not many spoke up. Putin considered that a blessing and a “GO” card to do it again, so here we are —Putin wants more, and Trump wants to give it to him. This is called appeasement.
Instituted in the hope of avoiding war, appeasement was the name given to Britain's policy in the 1930s of allowing Hitler to expand German territory unchecked. Most closely associated with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, it is now widely discredited as a policy of weakness.
Appeasement — Trump’s habit of appeasement, is not the route to our security. But Trump has long been for cozying up to dictators, giving them what they want, and sometimes receiving benefits for his family — see Jared Kushner’s $2 Billion from Saudi Arabia. Trump is pals with Putin, but Putin is not the only dictator Trump is pals with. Remember how he "loved" Kim Jon Un, whose leadership resulted in North Koreans suffering famine after famine while Kim John Un was busy testing those very expensive and dangerous missiles? Remember the big Chinese "ag trade deal," negotiated by Trump? The only thing that went well for that "deal" was Ivanka's trade protections; later, Congress had to pitch in to bail out farmers after the "deal" failed.
What we need is leaders who stand for our country. Certainly, President Biden is one, and so are the Senators who voted for Senator James Lankford's (R-OK) Border Security/Foreign Aid bill.
What we do not need is elected officials who specialize in appeasement. The Republicans who tanked the Lankford bill without even reading it, and those who lead them — Mike Johnson, Donald Trump, the hard-right bunch. Their message risks our national security as it plays the worst of political “cards” as if this were merely a game.
Mixed messages about national security risk our safety.
Valerie Hopkins, The New York Times: Arrested for Leaving Flowers, Navalny Mourners Fear Worse to Come
Natalia Arno, The Dallas Morning News: Navalny’s death must be new dawn of resistance against Putin’s tyranny - We must do more to help save Russians from a mafia state.
Bernd Debusmann, BBC: Jared Kushner defends controversial $2bn Saud investment
Andrew Carey and Victoria Butenko, CNN: ‘Very dangerous’: Zelensky on Trump’s claim he could end Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours
John J. Tierney, Institute of World Politics: “A quarrel in a faraway country, between people of whom we know nothing”
Jeremy Wilson, Taylor Ardrey, and Chris Panella, Business Insider: These are the prominent critics and enemies Putin is suspected of having killed