All quite true. Mr. Navalny has a tweet out today in which he asks for help in overcoming the "hate and fear" he now feels towards the elites who allowed Russia to miss the opportunity for democratic reform in the 1990's. They fell into the trap of the "end justifies the means," even when the means, e.g., rigged elections, unjust prosecutions, a politicized court system, were clearly wrong. My response to Mr. Navalny was that his hate and fear over the corruption and injustice he has seen in Russia and in his own unjust imprisonment are quite in order. But hating the unjust deeds is not the same as hating the authors of those deeds. Were those same authors under his control by some twist of fate, he would hopefully not seek vengeance but only their just desserts under a fair rule of law. I feel the same about Mr. Trump. I would not resort to the same sort of vilifying speech and tactics he employs against his opponents, nor would I seek vengeance for the harm he has caused to our system. I would not excuse it, however. He should be held accountable if proven guilty for what he has done under a fair set of laws, which we should all seek to uphold and preserve.
Sorry. Posted that before I was finished. The other part is that there is also a profound ignorance of what Russia is today. The use of socialist and communist to describe the Putin regime is puzzling. I have students refer to Russia today as the Soviet Union even though it has been gone for over thirty years and they were born more than a decade after its collapse. They are picking this up somewhere... It is a level of disinformation to demonize the left, but also to insulate the far-right, fascist ideologies...
But just plain historical ignorance is also a big problem. Or, they watch one video on social video an social media and are convinced that Biden is as repressive as Putin. I almost dread the start of a semester where I have to disabuse them of these notions without losing it.
Michael, important to add: the special counsel PRESENTED indictments of Donald Trump, but FEDERAL GRAND JURIES--not Jack Smith, not Merrick Garland and not Joe Biden--were the ones who actually indicted him. It just further separates Navalny and Trump, who, as you said, are nothing alike (although I suspect most people would be surprised to realize Navalny is NOT pro-Ukrainian in his sentiments).
Excellent post and every good comments... but there is perhaps something else to think about in this as well. In these clearly partisan posts about Trump, there are these false equivalents proposed all of the time that are rather in intentionally misleading.
All quite true. Mr. Navalny has a tweet out today in which he asks for help in overcoming the "hate and fear" he now feels towards the elites who allowed Russia to miss the opportunity for democratic reform in the 1990's. They fell into the trap of the "end justifies the means," even when the means, e.g., rigged elections, unjust prosecutions, a politicized court system, were clearly wrong. My response to Mr. Navalny was that his hate and fear over the corruption and injustice he has seen in Russia and in his own unjust imprisonment are quite in order. But hating the unjust deeds is not the same as hating the authors of those deeds. Were those same authors under his control by some twist of fate, he would hopefully not seek vengeance but only their just desserts under a fair rule of law. I feel the same about Mr. Trump. I would not resort to the same sort of vilifying speech and tactics he employs against his opponents, nor would I seek vengeance for the harm he has caused to our system. I would not excuse it, however. He should be held accountable if proven guilty for what he has done under a fair set of laws, which we should all seek to uphold and preserve.
Again, I don’t think Navalny and Trump should even be in the same paragraph for the reasons Mike stated.
Sorry. Posted that before I was finished. The other part is that there is also a profound ignorance of what Russia is today. The use of socialist and communist to describe the Putin regime is puzzling. I have students refer to Russia today as the Soviet Union even though it has been gone for over thirty years and they were born more than a decade after its collapse. They are picking this up somewhere... It is a level of disinformation to demonize the left, but also to insulate the far-right, fascist ideologies...
But just plain historical ignorance is also a big problem. Or, they watch one video on social video an social media and are convinced that Biden is as repressive as Putin. I almost dread the start of a semester where I have to disabuse them of these notions without losing it.
I consider it tragic and alarming that this bleedingly obvious statement needs to be said.
What can Americans do yo support Navalny?
Michael, important to add: the special counsel PRESENTED indictments of Donald Trump, but FEDERAL GRAND JURIES--not Jack Smith, not Merrick Garland and not Joe Biden--were the ones who actually indicted him. It just further separates Navalny and Trump, who, as you said, are nothing alike (although I suspect most people would be surprised to realize Navalny is NOT pro-Ukrainian in his sentiments).
Excellent post and every good comments... but there is perhaps something else to think about in this as well. In these clearly partisan posts about Trump, there are these false equivalents proposed all of the time that are rather in intentionally misleading.