Humanitarian Frauds
On Friday, February 16th, Russia’s prison agency of the Yamalo-Nenets region reported that Russian political activist and investigative journalist Alexei Navalny died.[i] Russian authorities claim that Navalny suffered a ‘sudden death, though this is disputed by his family and by Western officials and pundits.[ii] Although Western leaders and commentators have rushed to condemn Russian president Vladimir Putin, referring to Navalny’s death as a killing, not a death, it is not clear what Navalny’s cause of death is.[iii] There is currently a dispute between Navalny’s family and Russian officials over the location of his body.[iv] However, the illiberal liberal class is certain that Putin killed Navalny, that this was a state sponsored killing, and that in Navalny’s name, US Congress must immediately convene and pass the spending bill that has been held up by House Republicans.
The illiberal liberal class rushed to use Navalny’s death as further evidence that Putin is ‘pure evil’ and that House Republicans, who even after Navalny’s death, refuse to convene Congress to urgently pass more funding for Ukraine, are doing Putin’s bidding.[v] Scholars, news pundits, and Western officials are united in their rage against House Republicans and Putin. The fight between Ukraine and Russia is being depicted as a fight between good and evil, not just autocracy and democracy. Michael McFaul, who served as US Ambassador to Russia in the Obama administration, captured this sentiment when he tweeted that “There is good and evil in the world. Rarely, does history offer us the ability to do something concrete in these struggles between good and evil. Congress, however, has such an opportunity right now by passing the new aid bill for Ukraine.”[vi] Acting like we are fighting evil is absurd for two reasons. Firstly, the only country that is officially at war with Russia is Ukraine, and this rhetoric implies that we are also at war with Russia. Having said that, even though the US has not declared war on Russia officially, they may as well, since US support for Ukraine is driven primarily by animus for Putin and revenge for his alleged mass infiltration of our governments and societies. Secondly, are we truly in a battle of good versus evil or is the Russia-Ukraine crisis being pitched as such a battle to justify more funding despite the reality that the war shows no signs of slowing or of coming anywhere near a resolution satisfactory to either belligerent. During the first cold war, the battle between the Western and Eastern bloc was also depicted as a battle between good and evil, with Ronald Raegan famously referring to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.”[vii]
Over the past decade, the Democratic party has gone from Obama mocking Mitt Romney’s argument that Russia is a serious threat to the US, saying that “the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”[viii] Throughout his presidency, Obama refused to send arms to Ukraine, noting that it was not in US interests, and that it is a redline issue for Russia.[ix] Many articles since have argued that Romney was right, and that Obama was naive and weak.[x] Members of Obama’s administration, like Ash Carter and Victoria Nuland, were hawks on Russia and there was a rift within his administration over how to best respond to issues like Russia’s annexation of Crimea and their involvement in Syria in alliance with Bashar al-Assad.[xi]
The Democratic party, like the Republican party, has united in its hatred for Russia, outside of a few dissident voices in Congress. Navalny’s death is leading headlines all over the Western press not because corporate journalists and politicians truly believe in the virtues of journalism and holding the powerful accountable, but because Navalny was targeted by Putin, today’s Adolf Hitler, and any who oppose harsher sanctions against Russia and more funding and weapons for Ukraine is akin to Neville Chamberlain in 1938- a sickly appeaser. The ghastly and horrid louts in the corporate media and political class do not care about Navalny as a matter of humanitarian principles, they care about him and his opposition to Putin so long as it is useful to fulfill their political goals. They do not just project their actions onto Putin, they also project them onto Trump, who, in a FOX News Town Hall, compared himself to Navalny.[xii] Illiberal liberals noted that this comparison is disgusting, not realizing that Trump is doing exactly what they are doing, using Navalny’s death for his own political gain. For example, Rex Huppke hilariously writes in an article for The Washington Post that Trump is capitalizing on Navalny’s death, as he is comparing himself to Navalny and he remarked that though what happened to Navalny is tragic, “it’s happening in our country too… We are turning into a communist country in many ways. And if you look at it – I’m the leading candidate. I get indicted.”, and though he is wrong that the US is turning into a communist state, the ruthless attempts by the illiberal liberal class to imprison him are evidence that contradicts the cries from them that Putin persecutes his opposition and that this makes him uniquely evil.[xiii] The premise of Huppke’s article, that Trump is exploiting Navalny’s death to play the victim, may be true but the Western press, including the outlet he works for, are doing the same. This is the biggest tragedy of Navalny’s death, that it will be endlessly exploited by the illiberal liberal class across the West to justify more extreme measures against Russia, like the package of sanctions announced on Friday which, according to Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan are being enacted in response to Navalny’s death and for Russia’s barbaric actions in Ukraine.[xiv] Will sanctions also be placed on the US by other Western countries if/when Julian Assange is extradited to the US and sentenced to decades in federal prison? Will Israel be hit with sanctions for the killing of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh by IDF forces?[xv] Of course not. Biden promised during his 2020 campaign to punish the Saudi regime for their murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi, but he continued close US-Saudi ties.[xvi]
While comparisons between Trump and Navalny may be ridiculous, though Navalny himself likened his situation to Trump’s following the former president’s ban from social media platforms after J6, a more appropriate comparison, between Navalny and Assange, is not being made, and it never will be.[xvii] This is because the same politicians and commentators who condemn Putin for persecuting his opposition, for being a killer, an invader, and a dictator, are silent when their own governments do the same, especially the US. On February 20th and 21st, Assange is making his final appeal to the British High Court. The US prosecutors speak in farcical legalese, arguing that Assange is not a journalist and that Wikileaks was reckless in its publication of leaks detailing US war crimes and corruption in Iraq and Afghanistan, putting US servicemembers and allies at risk, instead of report on Assange’s trial as what it is, an affront to human rights and press freedom.[xviii] Outlets like Reuters and BBC offer limited coverage. In the same breath they fawn over Navalny and provide endless tributes to his heroism. McFaul, Mike Pompeo, Hillary Clinton, John Bolton, Liz Cheney, and many more US former officials have put out statements condemning the ‘killing of Navalny’, but they do worse than remain silent on Assange, they argue that he is a cyberterrorist, a hacker who does Putin’s handiwork, aiding Trump and by proxy Russia in 2016.[xix] They use the same logic that Putin uses to crush dissent in Russia to persecute whistleblowers and other troublesome journalists in the US.
Pompeo, following the Vault 7 leak published by Wikileaks, which revealed a CIA program that enables them to hack into smart devices, from mobile phones to televisions, and to use them as listening devices, declared war on Assange and Wikileaks, calling them a “hostile intelligence service”.[xx] Joshua Schulte, who provided the leak, was recently sentenced to 40 years in federal prison.[xxi] The outrage over Vault 7 was not directed at the CIA, who were doing what many have been convinced by propaganda that China is doing. It was instead leveled at Assange and Wikileaks, and as evidence shows, which Assange’s lawyers are introducing in his trial, the CIA under Pompeo and Trump plotted to kidnap and assassinate Assange.[xxii] The pukes in the corporate press, some of whom benefitted from Assange’s leaks, are loud in their tributes to Navalny but silent on the plight of Assange. They care about hating and fighting Russia, today’s enemy, not about matters of principle. If they did, they would be demanding that Biden stop his persecution and if/when he is extradited and imprisoned, they would demand harsh sanctions and Biden and Trump, who oversaw Assange’s indictment in 2019, would be held responsible just like Putin is held responsible for the death of Navalny. They will not do this. They are cretinous cowards, easily seduced by the pornography of power. To be clear, Navalny’s death is a tragedy and Putin deserves condemnation for it, however, noting that Navalny was no hero or liberal and that the Western press corps are a bunch of feckless hypocrites does not contradict this reality. Both are true. The illiberal liberal class does not believe in dissent or in speaking truth to power- they are humanitarian frauds.
[i] Reuters, Thomson. “Russia’s Alexei Navalny Is Dead at 47.” CBC, February 16, 2024. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-alexei-navalny-1.7117208.
[ii] Scarr, Cindy. “Sudden Death Syndrome – Mishpacha Magazine.” Mishpacha, February 20, 2024. https://mishpacha.com/sudden-death-syndrome/.
[iii] Baker, Graeme. “What We Know about Alexei Navalny’s Death in Arctic Circle Prison.” BBC News. BBC News, February 16, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68318742.
[iv] Roth, Andrew. “‘They’re Doing Everything to Avoid Handing over His Body’: Kremlin Plays for Time after Navalny’s Death.” The Observer, February 17, 2024, sec. World news. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/17/kremlin-plays-for-time-after-alexei-navalny-death.
[v] Frazier, Kierra. “Biden: House Republicans ‘Walking Away from the Threat of Russia.’” POLITICO, February 19, 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/19/biden-house-republicans-threat-russia-ukraine-00142097., Haberkorn, Jennifer. “White House Uses GOP Recess as Tool to Hammer Inaction on Ukraine Aid.” POLITICO, February 21, 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/21/white-house-gop-recess-ukraine-aid-00142425., Suter, Tara. “John Bolton Presses Congress to Pass Ukraine Aid in Wake of Navalny Death.” The Hill, February 16, 2024. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4473440-john-bolton-presses-congress-pass-ukraine-aid-navalny-death/., and Wagner, Alex, and Sam Henneberry. “How Donald Trump Is Making the GOP the Party of Putin.” MSNBC.com, February 16, 2024. https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/alex-wagner-tonight/donald-trump-making-gop-party-putin-rcna139162.
[vi] McFaul, Michael. “Tweet.” Twitter/X, February 19, 2024. https://twitter.com/McFaul/status/1759668030345519519.
[vii] Reagan, Ronald. “Reagan, ‘Evil Empire,’ Speech Text – Voices of Democracy.” Voices of Democracy, March 8, 1983. https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/reagan-evil-empire-speech-text/.
[viii] MacAskill, Ewen. “Obama and Romney Clash over Foreign Policy in Final Presidential Debate.” the Guardian, October 23, 2012. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/23/third-presidential-debate-obama-wins.
[ix] Herb, Jeremy. “Obama Pressed on Many Fronts to Arm Ukraine.” POLITICO, 2015. https://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/obama-pressed-on-many-fronts-to-arm-ukraine-115999.
[x] Board, Post Editorial. “Obama’s Foreign-Policy Hell: The 1980s Just Won’t Stop Calling.” The New York Post, February 7, 2016. https://nypost.com/2016/02/06/obamas-foreign-policy-hell-the-1980s-just-wont-stop-calling/., Cillizza, Chris. “Analysis: It’s Time to Admit It: Mitt Romney Was Right about Russia.” CNN, February 27, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/22/politics/mitt-romney-russia-ukraine/index.html., Coppins, McKay. “Romney Was Right about Putin.” The Atlantic, February 27, 2022. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/02/romney-putin-ukraine-invasion/622941/., Karatnycky, Adrian. “The Long, Destructive Shadow of Obama’s Russia Doctrine.” Foreign Policy, July 11, 2023. https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/11/obama-russia-ukraine-war-putin-2014-crimea-georgia-biden/., Kofman, Michael. “Putin’s Plan to Deter Hawks in Washington.” War on the Rocks, August 24, 2015. https://warontherocks.com/2015/08/is-russias-power-to-annoy-changing-the-game/.
[xi] Ewing, Philip. “Citing Threats, Pentagon Refocuses on Russia.” POLITICO, August 5, 2015. https://www.politico.eu/article/citing-threats-pentagon-refocuses-on-russia-defense-security-military-actions/.
[xii] Guardian Staff. “Trump Compares His Legal Troubles to the Persecution of Alexei Navalny.” The Guardian, February 21, 2024, sec. US news. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/21/trump-compares-fraud-trial-alexei-navalny-death-russian-opposition-leader-vladimir-putin-fox-town-hall., and Samuels, Brett. “Trump’s First Remarks about Navalny Compare Russian’s Death to His Legal Situation.” The Hill, February 19, 2024. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4476703-trumps-first-remarks-about-navalny-compare-russians-death-to-his-own-legal-situation/.
[xiii] Huppke, Rex. “Republicans See Trump as the ‘American Navalny’? Hardly. He Can’t Even Condemn Putin.” USA TODAY, February 20, 2024. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/02/20/trump-navalny-putin-russia-republican-victim/72661707007/.
[xiv] Miller, Zeke, and Fatima Hussein. “White House Promises ‘Major Sanctions’ on Russia in Response to Alexei Navalny’s Death.” AP News, February 20, 2024. https://apnews.com/article/sanctions-navalny-putin-biden-ukraine-dc1a51954673398a0410f8a6320f39e8.
[xv] Al Jazeera. “Israeli Forces Killed Abu Akleh ‘without Justification’, UN Inquiry Says.” Al Jazeera, October 16, 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/16/israeli-forces-killed-abu-akleh-without-justification-un-inquiry-says#:~:text=Israeli%20forces%20used%20%E2%80%9Clethal%20force.
[xvi] Knickmeyer, Ellen, and Matthew Lee. “US Moves to Shield Saudi Crown Prince in Journalist Killing.” AP NEWS, November 18, 2022. https://apnews.com/article/biden-business-lawsuits-journalists-jamal-khashoggi-49f3e4ce88aa21bf2ba603dcbb32277f., and Tait, Robert. “Biden Accused of Betrayal of Khashoggi over Push to Deepen Saudi Ties.” The Guardian, October 7, 2023, sec. US news. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/07/biden-saudi-arabia-mohammed-bin-salman-jamal-khashoggi.
[xvii] Bodner, Matthew. “Twitter’s Trump Ban Is a Gift to Kremlin, Opposition Leader Says.” NBC News, January 11, 2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russian-opposition-leader-navalny-slams-trump-ban-censorship-n1253679.
[xviii] Hedges, Chris. “Julian Assange’s Grand Inquisitor.” ScheerPost, February 22, 2024. https://scheerpost.com/2024/02/22/chris-hedges-julian-assanges-grand-inquisitor and “Julian Assange’s Final Appeal.” ScheerPost, February 19, 2024. https://scheerpost.com/2024/02/18/chris-hedges-julian-assanges-final-appealchris-hedges/.
[xix] Al Jazeera. “Julian Assange Supporters Outnumber His Critics. Who Are They?” http://www.aljazeera.com, December 28, 2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/28/julian-assange-what-world-leaders-personalities-think.
[xx] France-Presse, Agence. “CIA Director Brands WikiLeaks a ‘Hostile Intelligence Service.’” the Guardian, April 14, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/14/cia-director-brands-wikileaks-a-hostile-intelligence-service., and WikiLeaks. “Vault7 – Home.” Wikileaks.org, 2017. https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/.
[xxi] Yousif, Nadine. “Joshua Schulte: Former CIA Hacker Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison.” BBC News, February 1, 2024, sec. US & Canada. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68176390.
[xxii] Dorfman, Zach, Sean D. Naylor, and Michael Isikoff. “Kidnapping, Assassination and a London Shoot-Out: Inside the CIA’s Secret War Plans against WikiLeaks.” news.yahoo.com, September 26, 2021. https://news.yahoo.com/kidnapping-assassination-and-a-london-shoot-out-inside-the-ci-as-secret-war-plans-against-wiki-leaks-090057786.html.
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Al Jazeera. “Israeli Forces Killed Abu Akleh ‘without Justification’, UN Inquiry Says.” Al Jazeera, October 16, 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/16/israeli-forces-killed-abu-akleh-without-justification-un-inquiry-says#:~:text=Israeli%20forces%20used%20%E2%80%9Clethal%20force.
———. “Julian Assange Supporters Outnumber His Critics. Who Are They?” http://www.aljazeera.com, December 28, 2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/28/julian-assange-what-world-leaders-personalities-think.
Baker, Graeme. “What We Know about Alexei Navalny’s Death in Arctic Circle Prison.” BBC News. BBC News, February 16, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68318742.
Board, Post Editorial. “Obama’s Foreign-Policy Hell: The 1980s Just Won’t Stop Calling.” The New York Post, February 7, 2016. https://nypost.com/2016/02/06/obamas-foreign-policy-hell-the-1980s-just-wont-stop-calling/.
Bodner, Matthew. “Twitter’s Trump Ban Is a Gift to Kremlin, Opposition Leader Says.” NBC News, January 11, 2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russian-opposition-leader-navalny-slams-trump-ban-censorship-n1253679.
Cillizza, Chris. “Analysis: It’s Time to Admit It: Mitt Romney Was Right about Russia.” CNN, February 27, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/22/politics/mitt-romney-russia-ukraine/index.html.
Coppins, McKay. “Romney Was Right about Putin.” The Atlantic, February 27, 2022. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/02/romney-putin-ukraine-invasion/622941/.
Dorfman, Zach, Sean D. Naylor, and Michael Isikoff. “Kidnapping, Assassination and a London Shoot-Out: Inside the CIA’s Secret War Plans against WikiLeaks.” news.yahoo.com, September 26, 2021. https://news.yahoo.com/kidnapping-assassination-and-a-london-shoot-out-inside-the-ci-as-secret-war-plans-against-wiki-leaks-090057786.html.
Ewing, Philip. “Citing Threats, Pentagon Refocuses on Russia.” POLITICO, August 5, 2015. https://www.politico.eu/article/citing-threats-pentagon-refocuses-on-russia-defense-security-military-actions/.
France-Presse, Agence. “CIA Director Brands WikiLeaks a ‘Hostile Intelligence Service.’” the Guardian, April 14, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/14/cia-director-brands-wikileaks-a-hostile-intelligence-service.
Frazier, Kierra. “Biden: House Republicans ‘Walking Away from the Threat of Russia.’” POLITICO, February 19, 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/19/biden-house-republicans-threat-russia-ukraine-00142097.
Guardian Staff. “Trump Compares His Legal Troubles to the Persecution of Alexei Navalny.” The Guardian, February 21, 2024, sec. US news. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/21/trump-compares-fraud-trial-alexei-navalny-death-russian-opposition-leader-vladimir-putin-fox-town-hall.
Haberkorn, Jennifer. “White House Uses GOP Recess as Tool to Hammer Inaction on Ukraine Aid.” POLITICO, February 21, 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/21/white-house-gop-recess-ukraine-aid-00142425.
Hedges, Chris. “Julian Assange’s Grand Inquisitor.” ScheerPost, February 22, 2024. https://scheerpost.com/2024/02/22/chris-hedges-julian-assanges-grand-inquisitor/.
———. “Julian Assange’s Final Appeal.” ScheerPost, February 19, 2024. https://scheerpost.com/2024/02/18/chris-hedges-julian-assanges-final-appealchris-hedges/.
Herb, Jeremy. “Obama Pressed on Many Fronts to Arm Ukraine.” POLITICO, 2015. https://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/obama-pressed-on-many-fronts-to-arm-ukraine-115999.
Huppke, Rex. “Republicans See Trump as the ‘American Navalny’? Hardly. He Can’t Even Condemn Putin.” USA TODAY, February 20, 2024. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/02/20/trump-navalny-putin-russia-republican-victim/72661707007/.
Karatnycky, Adrian. “The Long, Destructive Shadow of Obama’s Russia Doctrine.” Foreign Policy, July 11, 2023. https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/11/obama-russia-ukraine-war-putin-2014-crimea-georgia-biden/.
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Not Without Incident: Questioning Big Brother's Platitudes 
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