Andrew L. Urban
Murdered to crush the spirit of freedom in Russia, Alexei Navalny’s death in a Siberian penal colony instead ignited a bonfire of determination that will not be extinguished.
Navalny lives on as an eternal inspiration – more so than others defying Putin before him, exactly because he returned to Russia when he could have lived the life of a celebrity dissident in the West. His sacrifice maintains the freedom flame that will become a bonfire of Russian repression.
In Navalny, the Canadian 2022 Oscar winning documentary about him, the director, Daniel Roher, asks him what message he would leave the Russian people if he were killed. He replies: “Not give up. You’re not allowed to give up. If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong. We need to utilize this power to not give up, to remember we are a huge power that is being oppressed by these bad dudes. We don’t realize how strong we actually are.”
Navalny takes a breath, then continues. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. So don’t be inactive.”
This weekend marks the 2nd anniversary of Putin’s Russia invading Ukraine, unprovoked, breaking the agreement of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum and all international norms. Putin is a menace to not only his people but to western democracy.
Navalny lives in our hearts.
Edmond Burke . The triumph of evil quote. Is so prophetic.
I also like my dads quote on a less serious note. He said. “ before you criticize another man you must first walk a mile in his shoes. That way if he’s really pissed off with you, you’ll be a mile down the road and you’ll have his shoes. Ha ha !
Because China and France did not sign the Budapest memorandum , in essence , Russia , USA and uK guaranteed to protect the sovereignty of Ukraine. Remember it stated that only US UK France , China and Russia were at that point in 1994 the only countries that could legally be in possession of nuclear weapons . The exclusion included Israel Pakistan and India and later North Korea. Ironic that the third highest number of nukes were in the possession of Ukraine , who handed them back to Russia to be decommissioned ….and who broke their promise and became their tormentor and enemy ?…. Russia , who was supposed to be their protector. Trust no one. ! Einstein said Friends are like diamonds. They are rare. And sometimes they are false. !!! What a world we live in. When my crap happened Andrew, we thought we had so many friends. We did but it turned out that 94% were not rare , but false. Pv.