Navalny's Side

 Navalny's Side

As I was writing and posting this essay, news came of the detention and arrest of a duel-citizenship ballerina who lived in LA and was of Russian birth, who donated money to a nonprofit pro-Ukrainian charity. She has been incarcerated in Russia and threatened with "life imprisonment" for "treason". Also, Russia is holding a Wall Street Journal reporter, an uptick in pressure on representatives from "the West". Some believe that this could be a way to encourage a trade off for Alexander Smirnov, who has been arrested by the FBI for lying and for connections to Russian intelligence. These events are ongoing but are relevant to the topic in the essay.

I had an entire essay for today and perhaps I will send it out next week, but the week's events in world politics seemed to demand comment.

Alexei Navalny, the opposition party leader in Russia has “died” in prison this week. If you've been paying attention to Russia and the war in Ukraine, Putin and world affairs, you know that Navalny's death is significant for several reasons, some of which affect us here at home.

Navalny had quite a following as a possible popular replacement for Vladimir Putin who has continued to win power for several more presidential terms than normal. No one has any doubt that Putin is an authoritarian tyrant born from the Stalinist totalitarian system and trained by the KGB and NRU to be a goon and thug. At least that ought to be obvious and distasteful to people in free countries. His kidnapping of an American journalist, the tendency for those who fall afoul of him to be poisoned or “fall” out of open windows and other reprehensible behavior leaves no doubt what kind of “leader” he really is.

 In 2020 as Navalny's popularity grew too potent for Putin's fragile ego (and grasp on power), the opposition leader was poisoned. He survived ingesting Novichok nerve agent, a substance intended to kill him. He was flown to Germany for medical treatment. After he recovered, Navalny opted to return to Russia though he knew his life would likely be forfeit. Not long after he returned he was quickly whisked off into a Solzhenitsyn-like archipelago of prisons. None of this diminished his popularity or support among the beleaguered Russian people, of course. Not long after his incarceration, news came that Navalny had “disappeared” within the prison system after being sent to one of Russia's worst sites on trumped up charges of “extremism”. His imprisonment was obviously to keep him out of the public eye and to isolate him from those who hoped to help him win his freedom.

This week the world was informed that Navalny had died in mysterious circumstances while in prison.

The significance of this loss to the Russian people cannot be overstated. Navalny predicted his death, because he knew that his anti-authoritarian and anti-corruption movement was a threat to Putin's regime. This week, mourners and small groups of protesters were “arrested” and taken away by goons in black SWAT gear for the audacity of putting flowers out for Navalny or for showing support in any way.

Why is this important?

As a sideshow to this drama (that seems like it is from the last century), there have been three significant stories here at home occurring at more or less the same time which deal with Russia and its influence on American politics. 

First, of course, there is a bill in the House of Representatives intended in part to send much needed aid to Ukraine and deal with immigration issues at our Southern border that has stalled. The bill passed the Senate and had promise in the House, but failed because of its bipartisan support from both parties. Radical Republicans tried to kill the bill because their de facto leader (former president Donald Trump) told them to. Pundits on both sides of the political spectrum have observed that Trump cannot run his campaign on the problems at the southern border, if the problems at the border received funding while he isn't in power. Immigration and border security are top tier issues among his base. However, because aid for Ukraine was wrapped up in that bill, the Ukrainians will not be getting the help they need to fight against a grueling invasion by Putin. One wonders if that wasn’t the real reason that the hotly contested Ukrainian aid (which had been removed and then replaced) is stuck in deliberation.

Next, we also found out this week that the FBI whistleblower Alexander Smirnov who was supplying details to an ongoing impeachment investigation against current president Joe Biden has significant ties to Russian intelligence operations. Claims by Smirnov that Joe Biden and his son Hunter were accepting bribes from a Ukrainian energy firm called Burisma have fueled the hysterical right-wing rumor mills for several years. Among the many aspects of the false information that was being circulated by right-wing media from Smirnov was an oft-repeated bit about a laptop owned by Hunter Biden. The flimsy case against the Bidens evaporated when agents arrested Smirnov for lying under oath and for his clear ties to Putin. All this suggests that information used to try to impeach the 46th president were generated and supplied to members of Congress from Putin’s overactive propaganda machines.

Finally, in what can only be described as a clown show, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson (a MAGA supporter and Trump lickspittle) went to Russia to interview Putin. Carlson was fired by Fox over his continued lies about 1/6, election tampering, the Biden laptop and sharing false information to help Trump stay in power. In the ‘program’ Carlson goes about Russia, gasping in delight and awe at the subways and grocery stores after he “interviews” Putin. The actual interview wasn't much more than a chance for Putin to spout his revisionist history, in which, among other things, he suggested that Hitler had hoped to take Danzig in Poland “amicably”. During the two hour speech, Carlson rarely interrupted or hit back nor did he fact check Putin, appearing mainly to agree with him.

These three scenarios are significant to us because they outline the power that Russia already has here at home. The far-right loves Putin. They have been programmed by frontier Calvinism and years of right-wing propaganda to like a strong man who “says it like it is”. This is what they liked about Donald Trump. They (like Trump) like how Putin operates. Radical Republicans in Congress have trained their constituents to believe that Ukraine is the bad guy and that sending aid to them is a betrayal of American independence. Far right wing talking points are all based on the idea that authoritarianism is good. They kill legislation that could help Ukraine because they don’t like that the bill had support on both sides of the political spectrum and they lie about the severity of issues at the border but then prevent the necessary money to address the problems. 

The leader of this lunatic ideology is a former president who tried to manipulate and break the machinery of political succession to stay in power and who has many times over the years, expressed a deep fondness for Putin. He even admitted that he would be a dictator for “ just one day” if he returned to power just so he could eliminate anyone he considers a political enemy. Just like Putin did to Navalny and his supporters.

The right has been suffused with Russian propaganda. Carlson’s fawning, the far-right flank in congress and the attempts to impeach Biden are all based on Russian interference in American politics just like in the 2016 election. 

One of the many legal issues that Donald Trump has faced was his illegal removal of highly secret documents from the White House. One wonders where those documents were intended to go. 

Navalny is the key. The way that Russia's tyrannical leader eliminated a popular and powerful adversary is a foreshadowing of how another Trump administration will be. When I was a kid, we did not like the Soviets and we feared their nuclear power. The Cold War was fought to prevent Russian influence in the United States and the West. Today, one half of our political culture seems to love Russia and supports it either by spreading propaganda and lies to eliminate political enemies, or (like Carlson) wants to lay on the floor licking Putin's shoes. In either case, the good and (for now) free people of Ukraine are being attacked and our politicians are preventing needed aid because their boss, a would-be tyrant himself with all the hallmarks of an authoritarian thug, wants power again. Some Americans actually want this man back in power. That’s how strong the influence of Putin in America has become.

I fearlessly support the wife and son of Alexei Navalny and every single mourner and protester attacked and arrested in the streets of Moscow. That is the correct position of anyone who wants to be on the correct side of history and until the right side of American politics releases its sycophantic grip on Putin's hand, I will never support any of their policies or their candidates. It has to be said: the Trump side of politics in America is merely Putin in a mask. It doesn’t matter how bad or old or ridiculous the political left is, I won’t support Russian interference in any way and that means that I do support anti-corruption, just like Navalny.

When it comes to being on the right side of history, I want to be on Navalny's side. It has to be said.