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This guy has gotta be one of the bravest and most principled people out there. Almost anyone else would have determined that fighting this fight has no practica

This guy has gotta be one of the bravest and most principled people out there. Almost anyone else would have determined that fighting this fight has no practical utility, since nothing short of a massive popular uprising could unseat Putin at this point, and Russians apparently have no appetite for such an uprising today. Hard enough to risk your life for something that might have a good outcome. To me, it's almost impossible to imagine risking my life for an effort I knew was doomed to failure.

dcow 6y ago
Anyone with such a cynical attitude like yours is inevitably doomed to failure. I’m not picking on you, specifically, just pointing out why these powers can hold such a firm grasp. Hope is really scarce these days.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- ghostwriter 6y ago
  You can talk the talk, but walking the walk is a different story. The OP was referring specifically to the latter - that Navalny indeed is one of the bravest, and that most people lose all their enthusiasm to object as soon as they or their loved ones are put a gun to their head (both literally and figuratively speaking). It's not cynical to observe and note this fact of life in an authoritarian state, it's simply being honest with themselves.
- Der_Einzige 6y ago
  Hahahahaha! This cynical attitude would condemn the OP to a mundane life rather than being poisoned by a dictator. Opposition politicans in dictatorships are brave... And arguably suicidal...
osipov 6y ago
I'm training a machine learning model that honeypots commenters like you with provocative news articles. Next, the comments section is cleaned up to eliminate commenter spam. It works amazingly well!
tanyatik 6y ago
> Russians apparently have no appetite for such an uprising today > Many Russians would disagree with you [1]. And would you have appetite if you would be treated like the protesters are treated in Russia? [1]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-49220117 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-49220117
- asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
  > And would you have appetite if you would be treated like the protesters are treated in Russia? No, of course not! And that is exactly what I'm saying. I admire the bravery of people who stand up regardless.
smt88 6y ago
Historically, almost all autocrats have been overthrown because people sacrificed their lives to oppose them. In some cases, it happened literally in a revolution. In other cases, it was because a popular figure was assassinated. Since a revolution is impossible against a major military power, it's likely that the latter is one of the only ways to inspire popular action (other than total collapse of the economy, of course).
- Const-me 6y ago
  > other than total collapse of the economy, of course It already happened there in 1990. That time the collapse of the soviet economy was in part caused by economic sanctions for the war in Afghanistan in 1979-1989: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War This time the sanctions are for the war against Ukraine, which started in 2014: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_War One difference however, in 1985-1991 Russians were lucky to have a leader (Gorbachev) smart enough to not start a full-scale civil war when Moscow started to lose control, instead he managed to dissolve USSR with only moderate amount of bloodshed. The bloodshed only happened in remote regions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_Civil_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_Civil_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Abkhazia_(1992%E2%80%931993) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Abkhazia_(1992%E2%80%93... The majority of population of modern Russia was unaffected. Probably for this reason Russians have not learned their lesson, elected Putin, and did nothing while he was transforming the country towards authoritarian dictatorship.
SpaceRaccoon 6y ago
Would you support Navalany if you were aware he is a nationalist?
- sakopov 6y ago
  Nationalism is a characteristic of both Liberal and Conservative candidates in Russia. This is something that most Americans don't understand. If you're looking for Liberal candidates in Russia following the same definition of what a Liberalism stands for in the US you're going to be very disappointed. Liberals in Russia are akin to Conservatives in the US.
  - SpaceRaccoon 6y ago
    Yup. And yet you are downvoted for pointing this out!
- asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
  I'm not a Navalany "supporter." I'm an admirer of his bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.
  - SpaceRaccoon 6y ago
    > I'm not a Navalany "supporter." That's too bad. > I'm an admirer of his bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Interesting. Are you consistent about that?
    - asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
      > Interesting. Are you consistent about that? Consistent about admiring bravery in the face of overwhelming odds? I guess I'm about as consistent with that as most people are. It's not something I've given a lot of thought to. Why the inquisition? Is this a harmful sentiment somehow?
- sam_lowry_ 6y ago
  This does not tell the full story. He participated in a couple of "nationalist" marches, and he was long-time a proponent of abolishing visa-free regime with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, but he gave pretty logical explanations for his views. You do not have to endorse his views, but they are at least clear and well-reasoned.

dcow 6y ago

Anyone with such a cynical attitude like yours is inevitably doomed to failure. I’m not picking on you, specifically, just pointing out why these powers can hold such a firm grasp. Hope is really scarce these days.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
ghostwriter 6y ago
You can talk the talk, but walking the walk is a different story. The OP was referring specifically to the latter - that Navalny indeed is one of the bravest, and that most people lose all their enthusiasm to object as soon as they or their loved ones are put a gun to their head (both literally and figuratively speaking). It's not cynical to observe and note this fact of life in an authoritarian state, it's simply being honest with themselves.
Der_Einzige 6y ago
Hahahahaha! This cynical attitude would condemn the OP to a mundane life rather than being poisoned by a dictator. Opposition politicans in dictatorships are brave... And arguably suicidal...

osipov 6y ago

I'm training a machine learning model that honeypots commenters like you with provocative news articles. Next, the comments section is cleaned up to eliminate commenter spam. It works amazingly well!

tanyatik 6y ago

> Russians apparently have no appetite for such an uprising today > Many Russians would disagree with you [1]. And would you have appetite if you would be treated like the protesters are treated in Russia? [1]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-49220117 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-49220117

asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
> And would you have appetite if you would be treated like the protesters are treated in Russia? No, of course not! And that is exactly what I'm saying. I admire the bravery of people who stand up regardless.

smt88 6y ago

Historically, almost all autocrats have been overthrown because people sacrificed their lives to oppose them. In some cases, it happened literally in a revolution. In other cases, it was because a popular figure was assassinated. Since a revolution is impossible against a major military power, it's likely that the latter is one of the only ways to inspire popular action (other than total collapse of the economy, of course).

Const-me 6y ago
> other than total collapse of the economy, of course It already happened there in 1990. That time the collapse of the soviet economy was in part caused by economic sanctions for the war in Afghanistan in 1979-1989: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War This time the sanctions are for the war against Ukraine, which started in 2014: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_War One difference however, in 1985-1991 Russians were lucky to have a leader (Gorbachev) smart enough to not start a full-scale civil war when Moscow started to lose control, instead he managed to dissolve USSR with only moderate amount of bloodshed. The bloodshed only happened in remote regions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_Civil_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_Civil_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Abkhazia_(1992%E2%80%931993) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Abkhazia_(1992%E2%80%93... The majority of population of modern Russia was unaffected. Probably for this reason Russians have not learned their lesson, elected Putin, and did nothing while he was transforming the country towards authoritarian dictatorship.

SpaceRaccoon 6y ago

Would you support Navalany if you were aware he is a nationalist?

sakopov 6y ago
Nationalism is a characteristic of both Liberal and Conservative candidates in Russia. This is something that most Americans don't understand. If you're looking for Liberal candidates in Russia following the same definition of what a Liberalism stands for in the US you're going to be very disappointed. Liberals in Russia are akin to Conservatives in the US.
- SpaceRaccoon 6y ago
  Yup. And yet you are downvoted for pointing this out!
asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
I'm not a Navalany "supporter." I'm an admirer of his bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.
- SpaceRaccoon 6y ago
  > I'm not a Navalany "supporter." That's too bad. > I'm an admirer of his bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Interesting. Are you consistent about that?
  - asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
    > Interesting. Are you consistent about that? Consistent about admiring bravery in the face of overwhelming odds? I guess I'm about as consistent with that as most people are. It's not something I've given a lot of thought to. Why the inquisition? Is this a harmful sentiment somehow?
sam_lowry_ 6y ago
This does not tell the full story. He participated in a couple of "nationalist" marches, and he was long-time a proponent of abolishing visa-free regime with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, but he gave pretty logical explanations for his views. You do not have to endorse his views, but they are at least clear and well-reasoned.