News/Commentary

Blinken blasts Russia over conviction of Putin opponent in least self-aware Tweet of the year

August 5, 2023 | | Print Article

In an epic display of a total lack of self-awareness concerning the persecution of former President Trump, Secretary of State Antony Blinken hypocritically objected to Russia’s president sentencing a political opponent to prison.

It was revealed in a typical Friday news dump that Russia has just announced that government opposition leader Alexey Navalny was convicted on charges of “promoting extremism.” The sentencing makes it official and he will serve an extra 19 years in prison in addition to the nine years he’s already serving for so-called parole violations, fraud, and contempt of court. It’s Biden-esque.

In a reflection of the political witchhunt by Democrats seeking to throw Trump into a deep black pit because he is a threat to President Biden, Navalny was one of the most strident critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin. His supporters correctly contend that the charges against Navalny are politically motivated.

Navalny has been an outspoke critic of Putin’s and the Kremlin’s foreign and domestic policies. During the latest kangaroo court, he faced accusations that he founded an extremist organization called the Anti-Corruption Foundation. It sounds eerily familiar.

The group launched numerous investigations into the wealth of many of Russia’s elite powerbrokers. Navalny was also the creator of a network that challenged local politicians bought and paid for by the Kremlin.

There are seven charges against Navalny including participating in and funding extremist groups. For good measure, he’s also accused of trying to revitalize Nazism. Any lengthy sentence is a death sentence for the 47-year-old.

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According to the Washington Examiner:

Russian state media reported the sentence, which was announced by Judge Andrei Suvorov on Friday. The opposition leader was found guilty of creating and participating in an extremist community, financing extremist activities, organizing an extremist community, making public calls for extremist activity, and involving minors in dangerous activities, TASS reported. The former technical director of Navalny’s YouTube channel, Daniel Kholodny, was found guilty of similar charges and sentenced to eight years in a penal colony, though of a less severe variety than Navalny’s.

 

“Navalny was declared by the Russian court to be a ‘particularly dangerous recidivist,’ so he was sentenced to a ‘special regime’ prison colony. These types of colonies are the most severe in Russia; among them is the infamous Black Dolphin Prison in Sol-Iletsk, which has a reputation as one of the most restrictive prisons on Earth,” the media outlet added.

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Ignoring what they are doing that is strikingly similar to the Russians, US officials are decrying the communist regime’s sentencing of a political opponent.

Blinken sent out a strongly worded tweet aimed at Russia’s actions.

“The United States strongly condemns Russia’s conviction of opposition leader Alexey Navalny on politically motivated charges. The Kremlin cannot silence the truth. Navalny should be released,” he said, displaying a jaw-dropping lack of self-awareness that did not go unnoticed

He was joined by US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller who also failed to look in the mirror, “This is an unjust conclusion to an unjust trial.”

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“I urge you to think why such a demonstratively huge sentence is necessary. Its main purpose is to intimidate. You, not me. I will even say this: you personally, the one reading these lines,” Navalny said in a statement on Thursday prior to the verdict being announced.

Navalny has been in a Russian prison since 2021 after he returned from Germany, where he was recovering from being allegedly poisoned by cohorts of Putin. He astutely blamed the Kremlin and, predictably, Russian officials denied having anything to do with the poisoning. But many have noticed that a great number of Putin’s political opponents and journalists in Russia tend to either get poisoned or jump from windows.

Once the Russians had thrown Navalny behind bars, he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years for a parole violation. Then they just kept piling on charges.

He says the goal of the government is to imprison him as long as possible to silence him. Now, they are going after his supporters in shades of Jan. 6.

In his closing statement that was released on July 20 and reported by Meduza, Navalny stated, “In order for a new, free, rich country to be born, it has to have parents. Those who want it. Those who expect it and are willing to make some sacrifices for its birth, knowing that it will be worth it. This doesn’t mean that everyone has to go to prison. It’s more of a lottery, and that ticket was drawn by me. But everyone has to make some kind of sacrifice, make some kind of effort.”

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Blinken and the Biden administration were mocked, drawn, and quartered on social media:

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