Putin Murders Alexei Navalny As Republicans Become His Useful Idiots
Navalny's death follows that of Nemtsov, Magnitsky, Litvinenko, and Politkovskaya
It was a great week for Putin. His political rival Alexei Navalny, who Putin poisoned in 2020, now succumbed to his incarceration in a prison above the Arctic Circle with temperatures often below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Putin, on learning of Navalny’s death, was all smiles as he spoke in a machinery factory to workers there.
Navalny was a brilliant politician and organizer of Russians. If he were allowed to campaign in next month’s presidential election, he would likely beat Putin if the election was fair and voting was secret. As Navalny’s following was even stronger as he was imprisoned in harsh conditions, so Putin decided to rid him of this savvy intellectual and leader.
Navalny’s death follows the earlier killings of Boris Nemtsov, another charismatic leader of the opposition, on a bridge just outside the Kremlin. A few Chechens were convicted of the murder, but it is likely that Putin asked the leader of Chechnya to rid him of this leader.
Navalny’s death also follows the murder of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax lawyer who revealed the corruption of Putin and his oligarch allies and government officials in seizing corporate assets of Bill Browder’s Hermitage Capital Management. The U.S. passed the Magnitsky Act to sanction those involved in his murder by deprivation of medical care in prison.
Earlier Putin had Alexander Litvinenko killed by radioactive poisoning, a painful death. Litvinenko was an officer in the Russian Federal Security Service who revealed corruption and the Putin order to kill oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Putin had Litvinenko arrested but he was able to escape Russia with his family and moved to London. But Putin followed him there and had his henchmen, two members of the Federal Security Service, contaminate Litvinenko with Polonium-210, which caused his death less than a month later.
Then there was Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist and human rights advocate, who reported on Putin’s Second Chechen War and the Besian school captive crisis, where she was poisoned and had to return to Moscow for medical treatment. In 2006 she was murdered in the apartment block where she lived. Five men were convicted of her contract killing, but though who paid them has not been proven, her killing stopped another human rights crusader who won an Amnesty International Human Rights Award.
Putin’s war in Ukraine was condemned by both Navalny and Nemtsov. They are both now gone and silenced.
Meanwhile Russian forces have captured the Ukrainian city of Avdiikva after it was reduced to rubble by constant bombing with 500 to 3,000 pound bombs. Its population of 30,000 before the Ukraine War has been reduced to 500. Ukrainian troops fought to keep control, but they were outnumbered my Russian forces with more armaments and had to retreat.
Many Ukrainian troops are low in ammunition and need replenishment. Britain, France and Germany have recently provided Ukraine with military assistance. But where is the U.S. when this ally is desperately in need of ammunition and armaments and those fighter jets, long ago promised?
So who has stepped forward to aid Putin in his war of conquest in Ukraine: Trump and the Republican Party. Trump has argued against any aid to Ukraine in their time of need, and he secured support for his opposition by his Congressional Useful Idiots, led by Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, who refused to even allow a vote on Ukraine military aid. Speaker Johnson’s opposition comes from Trump’s directive to cease funding Ukraine so that his pal, Putin, can have a victory in his war for seizure of all of Ukraine. A Putin victory in Ukraine would be argued by Trump as a repudiation of “weak Joe Biden.” Trump does not want any solutions. So he campaigns against Ukraine aid, and Congressional Republicans follow him without any justification. One of their principal unstated reasons is to give Biden a loss in Ukraine which Trump can use in his election campaign.
How venal can they get?
But it is not only Speaker Johnson who has rolled over and stood firmly with Trump to seek the loss of Ukraine, it is also the bulk of the Republicans in Congress who go along with the Speaker’s refusal to even allow a vote on Ukraine aid. Some Republicans Senators voted for Ukraine aid, and some Republican House members would support it if given a vote, so Speaker Johnson will not let them show their solidarity with Ukraine by refusing a vote on Ukraine aid.
Putin could not have planned a better strategy than to have Republicans serve as his Useful Idiots in denying ammunition and weapons to Ukraine so that Putin can resume his westward expansion and capture more and more Ukrainian cities after he reduces them to rubble.
Compare the Russian crusaders for truth and fairness to this motley group of Republicans in Congress who will not aid an ally so they can be swept under Putin’s expansionist aims. Putin wants to expand Russia to regain empire status, and Republicans are working to aid Putin’s efforts, led by Trump who is a strong ally of the Russian dictator.
Biden has promised “consequences” for Navalny’s killing in the Arctic prison. But Biden needs to come up with real consequences for Putin, and imposing sanctions on a few more Russians will be of no consequence. Perhaps he should exhort China and India to reduce their Russian oil purchases to deprive Putin of revenue. Perhaps he should rename the Supplemental appropriation for Ukraine as the Navalny-Zelensky Act and campaign loudly and strongly for its adoption to deprive Putin of another win. Will Putin’s Useful Idiots in Congress go along? No sign yet that they will break ranks, but with the death of Navalny perhaps a pressure campaign on Johnson and/or a Discharge Petition can bring the Supplemental aid out for a House vote and approval.