Posted on 01/30/2018 9:53:33 AM PST by GoldenState_Rose
"Vladimir Putin has once again thrown Alexei Navalny in jail because he is afraid of his own people - and what they would do if they were free. Every time he imprisons an opposition leader, it only shows the world just how corrupt and oppressive his regime truly is."
(Excerpt) Read more at cotton.senate.gov ...
Right on!
Proud to have him as my Senator!
Wait aren’t the Dems saying that the GOP is in bed with the Russians?
Did this opposition leader break a Russian law? Hitlery did it here, multiple times and ways, but we’d expect to hear a similar response from the left if she was jailed, calling it a political prosecution. Just because he’s a “good’ guy and Putin’s a “bad” guy does not mean that the arrest was not warranted.
JimRed: all you need to know is, the Left learns from the best. They learn from Russia.
You need only spend 5 minutes watching Putin state-run TV and flipping through the state-approved TV channels to see FakeNews operating at its source! And you go there also to see the art of rigged elections in action and suppressed free speech/assembly in all its tragicomic glory.
The Left copies from the best and then falsely project their own habits of learned corruption onto the very people exposing them. Hence the fake TrumpRussia collusion accusations.
They’re the real colluders and Russia-copycats.
Navalny is no leader, he's a western stooge with an internet following.
The anti-Russia propaganda is full of banal, specious, hollow cliche.
Think about what happened in Egypt. General Sisi has put several opposition leaders in prison, just because they have ties to muslim brotherhood. Is he afraid of his own people?
Cotton is an idiot to stick his nose into this business.
The man was released in less than 24hrs. And he wasn’t just quietly protesting and minding his own business either.
He would also be arrested in this country.
Iran’s Pahlavi government used to put the opposition leader Khomeini in prison........
I plan on donating to Senator Cotton.
Navalny spent 2/3 of 2017 in jail from the protests last year, and the closer Russia gets to elections, the Kremlin does not want unecessary buzz. Particularly internationally. Hence his release.
That being said a lot of his young staffers remain in jail and young protesters in general were brutalized, their parents and teachers intimidated and sought for questioning after by police throughout the rallies in the past year.
The protests are unprecedented in Russia, not so much in size but in scope — because people are turning up not just in the urban centers but in the outskirt regions and provinces typically known as “Putin country.”
The thing is, the liberal “anti-Putin” centers are doing a lot better economically than the Russian heartland which is awash in poverty and dereliction and are at the mercy of the Moscow power vertical - which apparently you know very little about.
He is a dedicated member of the the Russian Nationalist movement.
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In February 2011, in an interview with the radio station finam.fm, Navalny called the main Russian party, United Russia, a "party of crooks and thieves".[6] In May 2011, the Russian government began criminal investigation into Navalny, widely described in Western media as "revenge" and by Navalny himself as "a fabrication by the security services".[6][181][182] Meanwhile, "crooks and thieves" became a popular nickname for the party.[183]
On June 4, 2012, Navalny was ordered by Moscow's Lyublinsky District Court to pay 30,000 rubles ($900) as compensation for "moral harm" to United Russia State Duma Deputy Vladimir Svirid, after Svirid filed charges against Navalny for comments he made in an article written for Esquire magazine about the United Russia party: "In United Russia, there are people I come across that I generally like. But if you have joined United Russia, you are still a thief. And if you are not a thief, then you are a crook, because you use your name to cover the rest of the thieves and crooks." Svirid had originally sought one million rubles in the case.[184]
On April 4, 2013, Navalny announced his intention to run for the presidency.[185] Navalny described his presidential program as "not to lie and not to steal".[186]
In 2008 during the Russo-Georgian War, Navalny called Georgians "rodents" (Russian: грызуны) and called for imposing of a complete blockade on Georgia and eviction of all Georgian nationals from Russia. He further stated that he very much wanted to strike the Georgian General Staff with a cruise missile.[187] In response to criticism, in 2013 Navalny said that he regretted calling Georgians rodents but stood by everything else he said at the time.[188]
In 2011, Navalny stated he considered himself a "nationalist democrat".[189] International media have often commented on his ambiguous but non-condemnatory stance toward ethnic Russian nationalism.[190][191] The BBC noted in a profile of Navalny that his endorsement of a political campaign called "Stop feeding the Caucasus" and his willingness to speak at ultra-nationalist events "have caused concern among liberals". He also has been a co-organizer of the "Russian March",[192] which Radio Free Europe describes as "a parade uniting Russian nationalist groups of all stripes",.[193]
Early in 2012, Navalny stated on Ukrainian TV, "Russian foreign policy should be maximally directed at integration with Ukraine and Belarus… In fact, we are one nation. We should enhance integration."[194] During the same broadcast Navalny said that he did not intend "to prove that the Ukrainian nation does not exist. God willing, it does". He added, "No one wants to make an attempt to limit Ukraine's sovereignty".[194][195] In October 2014, Navalny stated "I do not see any kind of difference at all between Russians and Ukrainians", he admitted that his views might provoke "horrible indignation" in Ukraine.[196] In 2015, he declared, "I do not take Ukrainians for a special sort of Russians and [I] do not deny the Ukrainian nation from its political subjectivity".[197]
He also said that Russian government should stop "sponsoring the war" in Donbass.[196] Navalny has strongly criticized Vladimir Putin's policies in Ukraine: "Putin likes to speak about the 'Russian world' but he is actually making it smaller. In Belarus, they sing anti-Putin songs at football stadiums; in Ukraine they simply hate us. In Ukraine now, there are no politicians who do not have extreme anti-Russian positions. Being anti-Russian is the key to success now in Ukraine, and that is our fault".[198]
In March 2014, Navalny declared that he did not support Russia's annexation of Crimea. According to The Moscow Times, "Navalny suggested that Kiev should grant Crimea greater autonomy while remaining part of Ukraine, guarantee the right to speak Russian in Ukraine, keep Ukraine out of NATO, and let the Russian Black Sea fleet remain in the peninsula free of charge".[199] In October 2014, Navalny stated in an interview by Echo of Moscow that he would not return Crimea to Ukraine if he were to become the president of Russia but that "a normal referendum" should be held in Crimea to decide what country the peninsula belongs to.[196]
Just another thug that wants what the thug Putin has.
But there are many who would make him a hero of democracy because he opposes Putin.
Even the most pro-Putin people have to admit: Russia doesn’t have free and fair elections nor genuine free press, free speech, or assembly. And increasingly, no freedom of religion either - as even non-Orthodox Christians and Catholics are given less rights than Russia’s Muslims. (Islam is recognized officially as a traditional religion of Russia alongside Orthodoxy and some Buddhism.)
You can like Putin and still state the obvious about the system he sits atop of.
Ruling longer than Josef Stalin himself.
And Putin’s edited his own Constitution along the way. Hence why he “left” in ‘08 then came back to power in ‘12.
Have you even been to Russia? Maybe you should look in the mirror to see who’s the one being brainwashed by its overseas propaganda.
Navalny wasn’t the only one detained. Last year over a 1000 protesters were and on Sunday over 300.
And no they were not rioting, armed, or even close.
See my #11.
I may not know much, but I know how to read.
And finally: a lot of these young protesters who have been arrested aren’t showing up to support Navalny so much as calling for genuine elections.
See my post 15. A lot of protesters aren’t even showing up for Navalny, but for their desire for genuine elections and freedom. They may not even like Navalny, but he’s become the face of the opposition because all the other opposition has been squashed to death (or fear) or left the country. (Lots of outmigration from Russia these days by the way.)
You should be! And Trump’s fabulous press secretary Sarah Sanders hails from your state as well!
Cry more, you neo-liberal trolls.
Moody's Changes Outlook On Russia's Ratings To Positive From Stable Ba1 Ratings Affirmed
I don’t think anyone contends Russia has free and fair elections, or the protections of the Bill of Rights.
But I don’t think anyone could argue that the Russian government doesn’t represent the wishes of the majority of the Russian people.
Even Gallup reports a 80+% approval/support for Putin.
Yes a little more than “polls” gave Hillary prior to Trump’s win. :)
But from personal expedience, if I were Russian and someone phoned or questioned me I’d be afraid to say my actual opinion anyway. And also, I’d know my options are limited: its Putin and ____ - I don’t have real choices.
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