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Day: June 10, 2022
By Jill Sunday Bartoli
None of us want to be Putin’s America. But we are dangerously close to electing leaders who admire Vladimir Putin’s “brilliance,” who emulate his cruel and discriminatory tactics, and who seek to further divide us rather than unifying us as the United States of America.
The parallels are striking between Putin and our former president. Both are funded by oligarchs, and both weaponize conspiracy theories to gain public support, keep control and wage unjustified war and insurrection. Both exploit domestic divisions to sow distrust and fear. And neither have a policy agenda to improve the health, education and well-being of their citizens.
These are the classic tactics of autocratic, authoritarian dictators whose only goal is keeping themselves in power by dividing us against each other. Populist autocrats make promises to be a “man of the people,” to fight for those who feel left out, to make their country great and strong again and to restore their people to prosperity.
But instead, they create a web of lies and propaganda, fuel already troubling divisions, and crush those who tell the truth. Billionaire friends of Putin and Donald Trump experience more prosperity in the midst of this division, distraction, chaos and violence, but nothing “trickles down” to those who most need opportunity. Poverty researchers tell us that 60% of US citizens can expect to experience at least one year below the poverty level.
The lies and propaganda that Putin created to justify his continued massacre of the people of Ukraine are a reminder of Trump’s 30,573 false and misleading claims when he was in office, and his continued false claim of victory after losing the 2020 election.
Putin’s shutting down of independent news media in Russia and imprisonment of those who do not follow the leader, are a sad reminder of the former President calling the U.S. media “the enemy of the people,” and his demonizing of those who do not agree with him—including medical experts.
We see our many divisions in the United States widening. Fear of immigrants vs embracing our immigrant history, mask wearing and vaccinations vs angry rejection, pro-life vs pro-choice, restrictions for transgender youth vs acceptance of diversity, and expanding voter access vs restricting voter access are tearing us apart. We resemble Putin’s Russia, where gay and transgender people and immigrants are trashed and jailed, and a president can change the constitution to install himself for decades.
Putin embraces white nationalism in Russia just as our former President embraces white supremacists in the USA, like the Proud Boys and Neo-Nazis. This unleashing of racism stood out shockingly when our Capitol was attacked by insurrectionists wearing Nazi and Trump t-shirts. Support for Hitler’s “pure Arian race” and anti-Semitism are alive and well.
Historian and journalist Garrett Graff observed that a major reason Putin felt confident launching his invasion of Ukraine was that “the West has been weakened and destabilized, democracy undermined, and political divisions sown in the last five years since he attacked our election in 2016″ paved the way for his invasion.
The Lancet Commission reported that 40% of U.S. deaths from the COVID pandemic could have been prevented. Ignoring and ridiculing science and protective masks, weakening our healthcare system with 50 attempts to repeal it, rather than strengthening it, and endorsing bogus cures like bleach injection all contributed to the needless deaths of 400,000 of our people.
This is a critical time to be united—not divided. This is the time to embrace diversity—not discrimination. This is the time to defend all of our freedoms for all of our people. This is the time to defend our democracy the way the brave and committed Ukrainians, whom we all support, are fighting for their democracy and their lives.
Jill Sunday Bartoli, Carlisle, Pa.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has compared himself to Peter the Great, comparing his invasion of Ukraine to the czar’s quest to “reclaim” Russian lands from neighboring countries.
The Kremlin strongman, 69, made the remarks Thursday while speaking at an event in St. Petersburg — his hometown built by Tsar Peter on land conquered from Sweden — celebrating the 350th anniversary of the ruler’s birth.
“Peter the Great waged the Great Northern War for 21 years. It would seem that he was at war with Sweden, he took something from them. He did not take anything from them, he reclaimed [what was Russia’s],” Putin said after a visiting an exhibition dedicated to the revered autocratic modernizer.
Putin went on to say that when Peter founded what would become Russia’s cosmopolitan new capital city in 1703, “no European state recognized that territory as Russian land. Everyone considered it to be Swedish land.”
He continued: “The Slavs together with the Finno-Ugric peoples had always lived there, moreover this territory had been under the control of the Russian state.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the multimedia exhibition “Peter I. The Birth of Empire” in Moscow, Russia, Thursday.EPA/MIKHAIL METZEL / KREMLIN POOL / SPUTNIK
PA/MIKHAIL METZEL / KREMLIN POOL / SPUTNIK
Putin has repeatedly sought to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where his forces have ravaged cities, killed thousands and displaced 12 million people since Feb. 24, by arguing that Ukraine has no national identity of its own, and that Ukrainians and Russians are one nation artificially divided.
In televised comments on day 106 of the full-scale war, Putin compared Peter’s campaign to expand Russia’s territory with his own mission.
Putin was at the event celebrating the 350th anniversary of Peter’s birth,Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images
“Apparently, it also fell to us to reclaim [what is Russia’s] and strengthen [the country],” he told his audience. “And if we proceed from the fact that these basic values form the basis of our existence, we will certainly succeed in solving the tasks that we face.”
In response to Putin’s comments, Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, tweeted that Putin’s musings prove that the war’s true aim was to steal land, not to defend Russian-speaking Ukrainians, or to “denazify” Ukraine.
“Putin’s confession of land seizures and comparing himself with Peter the Great prove: there was no ‘conflict’, only the country’s bloody seizure under contrived pretexts of people’s genocide,” he wrote. “We should not talk about ‘saving [Russia’s] face but about its immediate de-imperialization.”
In the run-up to what Russia calls its “special military operation,” Putin blamed Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, for creating Ukraine on what Putin said was historically Russian territory.
With Post Wires
Published: 15:54 BST, 12 May 2022 | Updated: 01:56 BST, 13 May 2022
Russia’s top commander General Valery Gerasimov has been suspended, a top adviser to the Ukrainian president has claimed, while a clutch of other officers have been sacked or arrested amid a rumoured purge of top brass.
Oleksiy Arestovych, a veteran of military intelligence and one of President Zelensky‘s inner circle, claimed late Wednesday that Gerasimov – the chief of staff of the Russian army – has been suspended as Putin looks for senior commanders to blame over his blundering invasion of Ukraine.
Arestovych, speaking to dissident Russian lawyer and politician Mark Feygin on YouTube last night, said: ‘According to preliminary information, Gerasimov has been de-facto suspended. They are deciding whether to give him time to fix things, or not.’
He added: ‘The commander of the first tank army of the western military district Lieutenant General Sergei Kisel has also been arrested and fired after the first tank army was defeated near Kharkiv.’
Two further army commanders have been fired due to heavy battlefield losses, according to information released on a Telegram channel run by the Ukrainian interior ministry, which also claimed the commander of the Black Sea fleet has been sacked and arrested and his vice admiral has been placed under investigation.
Arestovych stressed that his information is ‘preliminary’, but it comes after Gerasimov failed to appear during Russia’s Victory Day parade in Moscow on Monday which he was widely expected to attend. It also comes after he was reportedly wounded by shrapnel in Ukraine when Putin sent him there in order to turn the war around.
Putin’s army – once championed as the world’s second-best – has been handed a series of humiliating battlefield defeats in just two months of fighting in Ukraine that has seen more than 10,000 troops killed, hundreds of tanks destroyed, its Black Sea flagship sunk and Russia’s international standing trashed.
Just yesterday, it was revealed that Russian troops were massacred while trying to cross a river in the Donbas after Ukraine discovered their sneak-attack and unleashed an artillery barrage that destroyed at least 58 vehicles.
Suspended: General Valery Gerasimov, chief of staff of the Russian armed forces, has been suspended – according to ‘preliminary’ information put out by one of Zelensky’s top advisers, Oleksiy Arestovych
Lieutenant General Vladislav Ershov (left) has been fired as 6th army commander, according to information from Ukraine’s interior ministry, while Lieutenant General Sergei Kisel (right), commander of the 1st tank army, has been sacked and fired
‘Sacked and arrested’: Admiral Igor Osipov, commander of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, has been removed from his post and arrested, according to information from the interior ministry in Kyiv
Major General Arkady Marzoev (left), commander of the 22nd army, has reportedly been sacked, while Vice Admiral Sergei Pinchuk (right), deputy commander of the Black Sea fleet, is allegedly under investigation
‘After the failure in Ukraine – repressions and purges in the Russian army,’ a post from the Find Your Own Telegram feed, run by Kyiv’s interior ministry, said late yesterday.
‘The Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Igor Osipov, was removed from his post and arrested. [There are] Investigative actions in relation to… first deputy commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Sergei Pinchuk.
‘Due to the large losses of personnel, weapons and military equipment, [Russia] fired: Commander of the 6th Army, Lieutenant General Vladislav Ershov; ommander of the tank army of the western military district, Lieutenant General Sergei Kisel and one of the deputy commanders.
‘[Also] Commander of the 22nd Army Corps of the Southern Military District, Major General Arkady Marzoev.’
If confirmed, it would mark the largest purge of senior military commanders during the conflict so far and represent a tactic admission by Putin that the invasion has largely been a failure.
Despite being forced to retreat from Kyiv in the first phase of the war and failing to make a breakthrough in the Donbas in the second, Putin has continued to insist that his military is achieving all of its targets on time and in accordance to the plan – statements echoed by his lapdog officials and puppet propagandists.
But the goals have continued to change. Initially, the aim was to seize Kyiv in a rapid attack designed to topple the government and install a puppet regime – revealed by a Russia state media article that was mistakenly published just days after the war started which preemptively declared victory.
Once it became clear that Russia lacked the manpower to take Kyiv, it retreated – but generals claimed that had been the goal all along. Kyiv, they said, had now been demilitarized which would allow them to focus all of their efforts on liberating Donbas: A region in the east that Putin has declared to be independent.
But Russia has yet to make any significant gains on this front, even in Mariupol – the heavily besieged southern city where Ukrainian troops are holed up in a huge steel works – instead inching forward in a hugely bloody advance that is draining both men and resources.
Putin was thought to have ordered his generals to produce a victory for him to brag about during Monday’s Victory Day parade in Moscow. In the end, he simply avoided the topic of victory in Ukraine altogether – saying simply that troops were fighting ‘for our people in Donbass, for the security of our Motherland, for Russia.’
He also made no mention of officially declaring war on Ukraine – a move that many had feared because it could lead to a full mobilisation of Russia’s military reserves or a general conscription, with new recruits poured on to the battlefield in an attempt to achieve victory at any cost.
It could indicate little more than unrealised hype built around a day that – by its nature – is heavy on symbolism but light on action. Or, viewed another way, it could indicate a change of thinking within the Kremlin and perhaps the start of a climb-down after months of sabre-rattling.
Russia attempted to bridge the Donets River to the west of the city of Lysychansk on May 8, apparently hoping to surround Ukrainian defenders dug in there – but were found out and massacred
Newly-released images of the ambush show dozens of destroyed Russian vehicle littering both banks of the river along with sections of pontoon bridge left floating in the water
The remains of at least three Russian tanks and another four armoured infantry vehicles are seen on one bank of the river, along with other pieces of wreckage poking out from under the water
The massive explosion took place just outside Mariupol in south-eastern Ukraine: Phoenix TV
Ukraine claims its territorial defence troops destroyed the tank using a Swedish-made Carl Gustaf rocket launcher that costs just £18,000
The missile then exploded inside the tank, ripping apart its rear engine compartment with such force that its armour plating was bent outwards
Aside from its battlefield defeats, Russia has been hammered economically and politically over the war – sliding into the worst recession for three decades as a result of lost trade and sanctions pressure, while also being isolated on the world stage.
Backing from Beijing for the invasion, which seemed almost certain before the fighting broke out, has been half-hearted – Chinese state media has pushed Russian narratives about the world, but its diplomats have also vocally supported Ukrainian sovereignty and abstained from key votes at the UN.
And, on Thursday, Finland’s prime minister and president took the much-anticipated step of saying they are in favour of joining NATO with a formal application expected within days. It comes after Britain and America gave the country guarantees to come to its defence if Russia attacks before membership is ratified.
The move is likely to prompt Sweden, which shares an exposed coast and border with Finland, to follow suit – putting an end to decades of neutrality.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned the country would take retaliatory ‘military-technical’ steps and said the move would ‘inflict serious damage to the Russian-Finnish relations as well as stability and security in Northern Europe.’
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, said that ‘there is always a risk of such conflict turning into a full-scale nuclear war, a scenario that will be catastrophic.’
But even as the globe-shaking repercussions of the invasion spread, the conflict on the ground slogged on, with Ukraine’s military recapturing some towns and villages in the country’s northeast but acknowledging that Russian forces have seen ‘partial success’ farther south in the eastern industrial heartland of the Donbas.
Western officials say Russia has gained ground and taken some villages but has not managed to seize any cities.
Associated Press reporters heard explosions Thursday and saw plumes of smoke near the town of Bakhmut, an area of the Donbas that has seen heavy fighting. The Ukrainian military said that Russian forces were ‘storming’ two villages near Bakhmut, but the source of the blasts wasn’t immediately clear.
Russian advances in the east follow weeks of their stubborn efforts to push through Ukrainian defenses in the Donbas. It’s unclear how significant the Russian gains have been.
But any gains in the east may have come at expense of territory elsewhere. Britain’s Defense Ministry said Russia’s focus on the Donbas had left its remaining troops around the northeastern city of Kharkiv vulnerable to counterattack from Ukrainian forces, which recaptured several towns and villages around the city.
Still, Russian rocket strikes Thursday killed one person and wounded three in a suburb of Kharkiv, the regional governor said. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, has suffered heavy Russian bombardment during the war as Russia sought to encircle it.
Fighting across the east has driven thousands of residents from their homes. Evacuees wiped away tears as they carried their children and belongings onto buses and vans to flee.
Ukraine struck the Moskva – Russia’s Black Sea flagship – with two home-made missiles on April 14, causing it to catch fire and then sink into the body of water it was supposed to be protecting
It is thought that hundreds of sailors went down with the ship, though the exact death toll is unclear because Russia has refused to disclose it or confirm that Ukraine shot the ship
‘It is terrible there now. We were leaving under missiles,’ said Tatiana Kravstova, who left the town of Siversk with her 8-year-old son Artiom on a bus headed to the central city of Dnipro. ‘I don’t know where they were aiming at, but they were pointing at civilians.’
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military also said Russian forces had fired artillery and grenade launchers at Ukrainian troops in the direction of Zaporizhzhia, which has been a refuge for civilians fleeing Mariupol, and attacked in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions to the north.
Overnight airstrikes in Chernihiv killed three people and wounded 12, according to local media citing emergency services. The regional governor said the strikes on the town of Novhorod-Siverskyi damaged a boarding school, dormitory and administrative building.
The military governor of the southern Ukrainian region of Kryvyi Rih accused Russia of using prohibited cluster bombs and phosphorus munitions. The claim could not immediately be verified. Ukraine has previously accused Russian forces of using such munitions in the Donbas, and Ukrainian authorities have launched investigations into their use.
In the southern port city of Mariupol, which has seen some of the worst destruction of the war, Ukraine offered to release Russian prisoners of war in exchange for the safe evacuation of badly wounded fighters trapped inside the Azovstal steel mill, the last redoubt of Ukrainian forces in the ruined city.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that negotiations were underway to release the wounded. She said there were different options, but ‘none of them is ideal.’ Russia hasn’t confirmed any talks on the subject but seems unlikely to agree to any such swap as the release of the fighters would be a major morale boost for Ukraine.
Russia’s forces have taken control of the rest of the city, which they besieged for weeks, as residents ran short of food, water and medicine, though Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the Mariupol mayor, said Thursday that troops have resumed water supplies to two neighborhoods as a test.
‘The occupiers turned Mariupol into a medieval ghetto,’ said Mayor Vadym Boychenko in comments published by City Hall, as he called for a complete evacuation of the city.
Officials said in recent weeks that about 100,000 residents could still be trapped in Mariupol, which had a prewar population of over 400,000. Russian and Ukrainian authorities have periodically agreed to cease-fires to evacuate residents, and repeatedly blamed each other when those efforts failed.
Putin reaffirmed Russia’s determination to ensure territory in the Donbas held by Moscow-backed separatists never returns to Ukraine in a congratulatory message Thursday to the head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic.
On the eve of its invasion, Russia recognized the separatists’ claim to independence in Luhansk as well as in the other Donbas region of Donetsk. Moscow sought to justify its offensive by claiming, without evidence, that Ukraine was planning to attack areas held by separatists and that it intervened to protect people in those regions.
Putin also said Thursday that Russia would withstand tough Western sanctions – imposed in response to the invasion – though he said they were provoking a global economic crisis.
Speaking to officials during a meeting on the economy, Putin said that Western nations have been ‘driven by oversized political ambitions and Russophobia’ to introduce the restrictions that ‘hurt their own economies and well-being of their citizens’ as well as people in the world’s poorest countries.
(CNN)It was one of the most gripping evenings of television in memory.
Americans who chose to watch the first January 6 House select committee hearing saw the people closest to former President Donald Trump lay out in damning detail the violent insurrection at the US Capitol, tracing a direct line of responsibility to Trump for leading what looks very much like an attempted coup, a plot to seize power by force and deny the American people the government of their choosing.
It was a searing indictment, made all the more powerful because the people who provided the most damaging accusations against Trump were those closest to him, people who had vigorously defended him in the past.
The historic hearing was devastating for the twice-impeached former president. But will it make a difference? For a sample of the depth of cynicism about the prospects that Trump will be held accountable, look at the comments following this report of an investigation into his handling of gifts he received as president.
Americans have seen Trump impeached; they have watched him break rules relentlessly without paying a price.
Will it happen this time? The case was strong and we know that Attorney General Merrick Garland was watching. But the key point here is not just what happens to the man who, according to committee vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney, “summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame,” of the attack on the Capitol.
What happens to Trump matters, but what matters more than anything is what happens to American democracy. That’s because the plot that produced January 6 has not ended.
The “Big Lie” continues, and there is no guarantee that American democracy can survive another presidential election when one of the two parties remains beholden to a confirmed falsehood about the 2020 election.
If the committee can convince at least a segment of the unconvinced of the outrageousness of what transpired around Trump’s efforts to take power after losing the election, it could help save America’s ailing democracy.
The hearing on Thursday was an excellent start.
The meticulously deployed material was presented with calm but intense demeanor by one of the most conservative members of Congress. Cheney — who was one of the top Republicans in the House until she refused to countenance Trump’s false claims that he won the election — took the microphone after chairman Bernie Thompson opened the hearing. She proceeded to eviscerate the former president’s claims, and to do it in such a way that the Department of Justice and the prosecutors in Georgia are likely to find of great interest.
We know Trump denies he lost the election. But abundant testimony strongly suggests he has known that is a lie, and that could have serious legal consequences, even if the majority of Republicans mistakenly believe his 2020 election loss was the result of illegal voting or rigging. In a polarized country, it’s tough to change minds. It’s impossible to convince all Americans of anything today. But there’s a segment of the population whose minds may be changed.
The first clip of the night, the first soundbite, was testimony from Trump’s attorney general, Bill Barr. Barr said he told Trump that claims that the election was stolen were “Bullshit.” Barr said he opposed the idea of claiming the election was stolen and “didn’t want to be a part of it.”
As for the conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines, Barr called them “complete nonsense” and “crazy stuff.”
The former president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, said she respected Barr and “…accepted what he was saying.”
One after another, people close to Trump, his allies and his inner circle, said they knew the election was fair and they told him so repeatedly.
Screenshots of Fox News host Sean Hannity, a Trump ally, texting with Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany showed they both knew Trump was inviting impeachment and even removal via the 25th amendment.
Still, Republicans in Congress played along with the scam. Cheney said “multiple” Republican congressmen sought presidential pardons in exchange for helping Trump steal the election. Pardons didn’t materialize, but if the committee has the evidence, some people are not sleeping well in Washington, DC, wondering what new revelations will bring.
Cheney said Trump had a “sophisticated seven-point plan” to overturn the election. Part of the plan was the deadly assault on the Capitol and it could have gotten Vice President Mike Pence killed.
Trump repeatedly demanded his illegal participation in the plot to deny certification of Joe Biden’s victory, even as his enraged followers shouted “Hang Mike Pence.” Cheney added Trump knew of the chants, and responded, “maybe our supporters have the right idea,” Pence “deserves it.” Pence’s top aide, Mark Short, said the former Vice President decided his “fidelity to the Constitution was more important than his fidelity to President Trump.”
For months we all watched as the then president laid the ground for the insurrection. When Biden asked if he would denounce the white supremacist Proud Boys during one of the debates, and Trump responded, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” the committee’s investigation found that the group viewed that as a call to arms. Its recruiting tripled.
Leaders of the Proud Boys have been charged with seditious conspiracy. So have members of another extremist pro-Trump organization, the Oath Keepers. Committee investigators found that the Oath Keepers set up “quick reaction forces,” with arms stashed in hotels just outside Washington, in case Trump invoked the Insurrection Act so they could mobilize to help him stay in power.
It was the chilling anatomy of an attempted coup.
New video of the events of that day on Capitol Hill played as a timeline, with the sickening images coming along with Trump’s voice declaring, “The love in the air, I’ve never seen anything like it!”
In subsequent hearings, Cheney said, the committee will show evidence that Trump and his team “knew that he had, in fact, lost the election.”
Whatever happens to the former president, what really matters is what happens to American democracy. The hearings were enormously successful in using the voices of Republicans, pro-Trump Republicans, pointing to Trump’s culpability. Will it be enough to save democracy in the United States? That remains to be seen.
In Jan. 2021, Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on his return from medical treatment abroad. Prior to that, Federal Security Service (FSB) agents had already poisoned him using a Novichok nerve agent. Nevertheless, he vowed to return home despite signs the Kremlin was preparing to arrest him.
At that moment, Navalny’s supporters thought he must have a plan.
However, in Jan. 2021, 64 percent of Russians approved of the activities of Russian President Vladimir Putin. That figure jumped to 71 percent in Feb. 2022 (before the invasion of Ukraine), then in April 2022 skyrocketed to 82 percent.
Navalny’s “plan” appeared not to have worked and the liberal opposition parties were losing several elections.
Russia’s opposition has organized several mass protests against the poisoning of Navalny, Russian corruption as a whole and sham elections, taking several hundred thousand people to the streets.
But on Feb. 24, the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, relatively few from Moscow’s population of 12 million protested against the war. Around a thousand people were detained.
Since then, there have been dozens of one-man protests throughout the country, but no mass protests or rallying of people who used to be part of Russia’s hard core opposition.
Successes have been minor and local, with partisans in Belarus managing to undermine the state railway system being used to supply weapons, ammunition and personnel to the Russian armed forces in Ukraine.
Hundreds of thousands have fled Russia as political refugees and economic migrants, due to a desire to evade criminal prosecution for exercising free speech over the invasion. The list includes some individuals affiliated with the Kremlin who are clearly against Putin’s agenda but cannot speak publicly.
Weak handed and spurious opposition
Russia’s opposition is weak handed for several reasons. Some activists fear that the most prominent allies of Navalny – Leonid Volkov and Liubov Sobol – might be affiliated with Igor Sechin, who is considered a close ally and “de facto deputy” of Putin. That may also be why there is no centralized opposition inside Russia. i.e. activists tend to distrust everyone around them.
Volkov, along with other allies of Navalny, have been pushing against sanctions on Russia since the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. Recently and in response to the invasion, Volkov visited the U.S. to talk decision-makers into changing their approach on Russia and sanction individuals from Putin’s inner circle, not Russian people as a whole.
Similar messages could be heard when Sobol visited Stanford to speak about the future of democracy inside Russia, which have been echoed by pro-Russian experts in the U.S. and the EU.
Russia’s opposition leaders are still blindly trying to pretend that there is no public support for Putin’s war. They call the opinion polls “fake” and explain the absence of mass protests by people’s fear of being arrested.
The only way to stop the Russian propaganda machine is to show Russians what the world without western technologies and products would really look like. Russia’s opposition leaders believe that allowing Visa and Mastercard transactions would change the attitude of ordinary Russians toward the West for the better. But such sanctions haven’t done much to influence the Russian public’s grown favorability to Putin’s actions against Ukraine.
Some opposition leaders seek a middle ground when criticizing Putin. For instance, back in 2014, Navalny advised Ukrainians not to kid themselves: “Crimea will remain part of Russia and will never become part of Ukraine again in the foreseeable future”. He also said that should he become president of the Russian Federation, he would not return the peninsula to Kyiv, questioning: “Is Crimea a ham sandwich that you can simply take and give back?”.
Opposition leaders should instead become more highly involved in the anti-war movement by swelling the number of Putin’s critics and galvanizing them into a real power. Otherwise, the term “puppet opposition” will be the best term we have.
