The international community and the Internet are on fire. From heads of state down to the lowliest self-styled influencer, everyone is condemning Vladimir Putin for the death of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Tragic news no matter what one thought of Navalny and his actions. The only sincere message I’ve seen all day comes from Stella Assange, who called it “utterly devastating news”. “I feel for his wife Yulia and their two children who will probably never really know what happened”, she said. The question is who feels for Stella Assange and her two children? Especially now that Day X is here.
The fate of Julian Assange is to be decided on February 20-21 by the High Court in London. Assange’s legal team is appealing a previous decision allowing for his extradition to the US, where he faces 175 years in prison. A supermax prison, probably, as the US administration considers Assange a very dangerous man. Just as Putin considered Navalny.
Alexei Navalny is credited with exposing the corruption of Russian authorities. Julian Assange exposed the corruption in the US administration and war crimes committed by US forces overseas. The former is hailed as a hero, while the later is branded a traitor.
I don’t think there’s any point in discussing what happened to Navalny. As Stella Asange puts it, the truth will never be known. Putin may very well have ordered his death, although it’s unclear what he stands to gain with presidential elections weeks away. At the moment there are rumors of protests planned in Moscow. Let’s just hope the protests don’t turn bloody. On the other hand, Russian sources say Navalny died of a blood clot, which happens to be quite a common cause of death since the Covid vaccine was forced on people.
While the civilized West is unanimous in condemning the death of Alexei Navalny in the modern Russian gulag, this would be a great moment to prove the West retains even some shreds of democracy. Washington could prove that they’re better than the Russians and drop the bogus charges against the Wikileaks founder. UK prime minister Rishi Sunak called it “terrible news” and praised Navalny’s “incredible courage”. Assange also proved incredible courage going against the US establishment. How about stopping this extradition nonsense once and for all, Mr. Sunak? Does anyone remember that the British have no reason to keep Assange in jail? Other than the fact that their American buddies asked them to. Assange should have walked free ages ago, but he’s rotting in London’s Belmarsh Prison. In solitary confinement, most of the time.
The US doesn't have labor camps near the Arctic Circle, true. They do have supermax prisons though and, according to his wife, Julian Assange is likely to take his own life rather than go there.
