>Dictator vs. democrat? Not quite: Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny is no progressive hero >Anti-corruption protests swept across nearly 100 Russian towns and cities last week, from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in the West to Vladivostok in the Far East. They were the biggest demonstrations in Russia since the 2011-12 protests against alleged election fraud. >Police arrested hundreds of protesters and activists, among them Alexey Navalny, an opposition figure and anti-corruption campaigner. Navalny had sparked the protests by releasing a report claiming that Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has built himself an empire of mansions, estates, yachts and palaces.
>Navalny’s anti-corruption messaging is hitting home — and for good reason. Corruption, while certainly not as ubiquitous as it used to be, is still rife in Russia. A man I met in Vladivostok last year, while we were walking through the city, pointed at a half-built church and jokingly told me the reason they had chosen this particular location to construct it was so that city and regional officials could look out their windows and “ask God’s forgiveness for their corruption.” >The fact that Navalny is a vocal Kremlin critic and ardent opponent of Vladimir Putin has ensured that he has become somewhat of a media darling in the West. He is sometimes hailed as a hero in Western coverage. Time magazine once called him “Russia’s Erin Brockovich.” >What is reported less often about Navalny are his nationalist leanings, ties to neo-Nazi groups, xenophobic comments and extreme anti-immigrant views. References to Navalny’s nationalism in the West are usually buried or brushed off, while the headlines sing his praises. While we seem somewhat better able to appreciate the complexities of politics and political figures in our own nation, we tend to regard Russia in very simplified terms; there’s a “bad guy” in power and we must therefore support the valiant and oppressed “good guy.” Many people hear “Russian opposition leader” and immediately assume this is the person with whom their sympathies should lie.
David Martin
>I’ll spare you Winston Churchill’s “Russia is a riddle…” quote and just say that it’s never that simple. Russian politics is not a clear-cut case of dictator vs. democrat — and Navalny provides a good example of just why we should be careful to avoid oversimplifying events we don’t fully understand. >Many Navalny supporters are extremely anti-immigrant, particularly when it comes to newcomers from the Caucasus and Central Asia. Many see Putin as playing a part in the destruction of the traditional fabric of Russia. Navalny himself has played a role in skinhead marches in Moscow and earned the sympathies of extremists. In other words, if he were an American, liberals would hate Navalny far more than they hate Trump or Steve Bannon — and yet he is glorified and exalted as Russia’s last, best hope. >Navalny has been a co-organizer of the “Russian March” — an annual parade that uses slogans like “Russia for the Russians” and “Stop feeding the Caucasus”. He was expelled from one of the country’s liberal parties (Yabloko) for essentially damaging their brand. One of his former colleagues in that party has claimed that Navalny repeatedly used racial slurs.
Charles Flores
Salon is trash but it's reasonable to say that both Putin and Navalny are clowns
Aiden Smith
In a bizarre video, Navalny appeared to compare people from the Caucasus(pic related) to “cockroaches” that need to be exterminated. While cockroaches can be killed with a slipper, he says, for humans he “recommends a pistol.” Navalny supporters claim it’s all just a joke. >As with most things Russia-related, conspiracy theories also surround Navalny. Many of his supporters in Russia and the West believe the Kremlin has tried to smear him as a dangerous nationalist and to lock him up on trumped-up charges (he has been convicted of fraud and embezzlement). Others believe Navalny himself is a Kremlin plant, working for Putin as controlled opposition. The latter would seem laughable, but if you were to believe everything you read these days, there’s very few people left out there that aren’t somehow “working for Putin,”
Jose Martin
ha,ha,ha noone cares russhill. Putin is a superstar, navalny is a kike puppet
Lucas Russell
Genetic i n f e r i o r i t y >kike puppet Source lol?
Can I get ANY info on Putin being anti-semitic or race conscious? You know a FACT?
Kayden Evans
So who's more of a Jew?
Ian Thomas
this a 2nd time today you post exactly the same thread with exactly the same copypasta and pictures. talking about shilling
Jack Lewis
There are generals on this board too
Zachary Torres
I truly don't get this timeline.
Levi Thompson
wtf I love Navalny now
Isaac Lee
too many russians in this board lately, go back to your 2ch containment already
Parker Lopez
More Jews is what this board really needs, right?
Blake Ward
Sephardi USSR subhuman please
Nathaniel Lopez
yes
Luke Flores
Basically if Navalny was in charge Russia would be even more demonised by the west than atm.
Landon Rodriguez
Second this Russian on boards are cancer Russians idk are based and cool but those that hang out on board are really your stereotypical social reject with mental illnesses
>Al russian on pol are libshit that hate their own country and shill against it > they leaked from 2ch, the most cancerous board to ever exist >Libcuckery, advocated pedophilia, zoophilia and interracial sex
Back to your containment zone, you sick social and moral cripples Normal Russians don't exist on the internet Stop shitting up our board with your shit
Wyatt Butler
>hate their own country and shill against it country = government now? So those who hate Obama and cucks hate America now?
Subhuman stupid Hun. Dresden 2.0 nation-wide is a must
Jordan Watson
Putin. Open borders good goy. Sells country to china
Brody Gray
@ 120491056 +15
Noah Lee
there is a difference between hating Obama and hating the constitution
americans hate obama but love the country. russians hate the govt and hate the country, hate the culture, hate basically everything about their roots including themselves
Brandon Hughes
The day when I'm considering a USSR Sephard to be human worthy of conversation is not coming anytime soon
Matthew Martin
Of course because the western media loves communists
Nathaniel Russell
>Random fucking numbers when will the rest of the world start using real measurements?
William Fisher
an ever growing demographic in israel enjoy the enrichment, arab :^)
Isaiah Nguyen
Ashkenazi apartheid state forever
David Thompson
The rapid shift in stances is also a tactic.
If your head is constantly spinning, you're easier to manipulate.
Ryder Gonzalez
Don't forget about the chinks, Russia is becoming very multicultural, and it must because otherwise it will not survive.
>The Chinese are invading Russia — not with tanks, but with suitcases.
>Alexander Shaikin, in charge of controlling the Russian-Chinese border, said on June 29 that 1.5 million people from China have illegally entered the Russian Far East over the past 18 months.
>It’s impossible(!!!) to know the exact level of Chinese migration into the Russian Far East; Russia has not run a census in over a decade. But by all indications, a significant river of people is surging across the border.
>The Moscow Carnegie Center, the only organization to launch an independent study, claimed that there were about 250,000 Chinese in Russia in 1997. The Interior Ministry has claimed that there are 2 million. Other estimates place the Chinese population at 5 million.
>Regardless, the Federal Migration Service fears a flood. The service has repeatedly warned that the Chinese could become the DOMINANT ETHNIC group in the Russian Far East in 20 to 30 years. Such an occurrence would require an annual influx of about 250,000 to 300,000 Chinese, LESS than one-third the rate that Shaikin currently claims