I think we can all agree Navalny was brave. He knew what he stood for and the risks he was taking. He wanted to bring down Putin and all that Putin represents. And he was prepared to stand on the barricade and be a target.
Was he a fool? When he was being killed, did he think he was a fool? Did he expect to be killed? He had already survived a poisoning, so he surely must have recognised that was probably his fate unless Putin fell first.
I put a screen grab of this photograph into Google search and it returned many news outlets that have used it. Here are just some of them and the headlines they used. Not all of them relate to Navalny’s death but the vast majority do. I could have captured many more because the list went on and on.
Who is the man to whom he is handcuffed? His picture too has been around the world. I wonder how he feels?
As a side note, if you are not English you may not know the word ‘lag’ used in the Daily Star headline. A lag is slang for a prisoner, but not just any prisoner. It describes someone who has chosen a life a crime and is paying the price. In the nuanced way that English is spoken, I think its use in the headline is tone deaf and inappropriate to use for a political prisoner.
Notice how the same headline is repeated in several news outlets. Perhaps they are connected under the umbrella of some company. I haven’t tried to check.
I think Newsweek makes a worthwhile observation – Why Did It Take So Long for Vladimir Putin to Kill Alexei Navalny?
As for my thoughts – I think Putin has sent a message to the world and it’s the message he intended to send. It’s the message that he will go further than they will go.
He will take a step that others are afraid to take.
He’s telling the world that if push came to shove, then he would unleash nuclear weapons.
He’s telling Ukraine that they’re on a hopeless course.
He’s telling the world that they had better back off because he’s a wild man; that he’s done it before and he’ll do it again.
What – and it’s only a perhaps – he hasn’t taken into account is the timid men behind him, who will gather together and pull him down because they just can’t bear the thought that they are timid and he is not.
Why should we be surprised at what he has done? He was brought up in the KGB. He probably sat in on tortures. Maybe more than that.
He’s a different kettle of fish. He’s not like other people. He’s a wild dog and he likes it.
The Partial List
Forbes
Alexei Navalny’s Death Should Prompt Us To Restore Our Democracies
The Telegraph
Alexei Navalny: Why Putin’s number one political prisoner refuses to break
WLIW FM NPR
Navalny’s legacy: His ceaseless crusade against Putin and corruption
Arab News
Russian opposition leader Navalny is dead, says prison service
YouTube
Real reason of the death of Russian Alexei Navalny in prison
The Telegraph
How did Alexei Navalny die? His final weeks in the ‘Polar Wolf’ jail
The Mirror
Alexei Navalny killed by ‘KGB trademark’ punch to heart, human rights campaigner claims
Daily Star
‘Alexei Navalny died naturally of blood clot’ – Ukraine’s spy chief reveals shock twist
The Bulwark
Lessons for American Democracy from a Russian Prison Cell
Daily Star
Naked lags beaten in sick shower initiation at torture facility caging Putin rival
The Mirror
Alexei Navalny’s cause of death – everything we know as devastated mum and lawyer speak out
The Mirror
Alexei Navalny dead: Russia statement in full as Vladimir Putin critic ‘dies in prison’
WBHM
Navalny’s legacy: His ceaseless crusade against Putin and corruption
LAist
Navalny’s legacy: His ceaseless crusade against Putin and corruption
Jacobin
Alexei Navalny Taught Russia’s Opposition How to Mobilize
Axios
Putin critic Alexei Navalny has died, Russia’s prison service says
Daily Star
Alexei Navalny’s ’cause of death’ revealed by Russia after body ‘goes missing’
The Scotsman
Alexei Navalny: Talks were in ‘final stages’ for critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin to take part in prisoner swap before death
The Scotsman
Vladimir Putin critic and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny dies in prison inside Arctic Circle
Yahoo
Alexei Navalny: The final weeks and death of Russia’s leading Putin critic
Daily Star
Putin’s fiercest critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison after ‘going for a walk’
Express.co.uk
Top Vladimir Putin critic vanishes from Russian penal colony ahead of 2024 election
Tyler Radio
Navalny’s legacy: His ceaseless crusade against Putin and corruption
The Mirror US
Putin’s top critic Alexei Navalny found in ‘isolated’ Arctic colony after going missing
Newsweek
Why Did It Take So Long for Vladimir Putin to Kill Alexei Navalny?
The Public’s Radio
Navalny’s legacy: His ceaseless crusade against Putin and corruption
CBC
Navalny was a crusader against Kremlin corruption and a thorn in Putin’s side
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Analysis: With Key Elections Looming, Russia’s Putin Tightens The Screws
And on and on.
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