Reaction to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s murder is a mixture of deeply moving, irresponsibly chilling in a climate teetering on all-out global war and nauseating hypocritical platitudes about ‘democracy.’Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, US President Joe Biden, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky all praised Kremlin foe Navalny’s courage. But then the three stooges had the nerve to preach democracy despite their tarnished records.Navalny’s death Friday is a tragic blow to Russian people who clung to hope that as leader of the Anti-Corruption Foundation he’d finally be the one to deliver them from a communist system that crushes souls, freedoms, and prosperity. Russians have been forced to exist under dark clouds of fear and oppression in a society built on division and distrust that pits brother against brother, neighbour against neighbour. Ideology trumps loyalty. Fear of the FSB on standby to knock on the door and crush dissent with imprisonment and brutality is the communist way of controlling the masses.It's President Vladimir Putin’s ruthless way. Some of his harshest critics have met suspiciously untimely, painful deaths.Navalny’s courage to stand up to that old KGB hound and his Motherland band of luxury-living criminal thugs in a country full of spies and traitors was breathtaking.The fiery Navalny, 47, with determination radiating from those piercing eyes, heroically fought on against Kremlin corruption and arranged mass protests despite having been imprisoned, poisoned with a nerve agent, and relentlessly targeted. He knew it could cost him his life. And it did.He was two years into serving a 19-year sentence for “extremism” in a brutal prison 1,900 kilometers northeast of Moscow above the Arctic Circle. A statement issued by the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District claimed he felt unwell after a walk, lost consciousness and died despite efforts to resuscitate him. Sure.It's hard to believe something of this magnitude wouldn’t have Putin’s stamp on it a month before an election that’ll return him to power another six years.Would anyone from within have the courage to take it upon themselves to cause Navalny’s death knowing this would be the trigger, the excuse, for Putin haters and warmongers to rush into a major conflict?The military industrial complex and stockholders must be gleefully salivating.Murder is the ultimate punishment. But there are other ways of cheating democracy. Dark clouds of fear and oppression don’t only hover over Russia. Condemn the death. Condemn Putin. Express condolences to Navalny’s family. Don’t be bloody hypocrite leaders when you also punish ordinary citizens and political opponents.Trudeau told the CBC that Navalny should never have been jailed.“It really shows the extent to which Putin has — will — crack down on anyone who is fighting for freedom for the Russian people,” said Trudeau.“Let this be an important reminder that we must continue to promote, protect, and defend democracy everywhere. The consequences of not doing so are stark.”This from a little dictator who jailed peaceful Freedom Convoy protesters fighting for Constitutional rights he trampled on, then imposed the Emergencies (War Measures) Act on Canadians because he felt like it.Then there’s Biden. The American news media breathlessly waited for this cognitively challenged, habitual liar’s statement. When he finally made it to the podium his mind went blank at one point.“Putin does not only target as citizens of other countries, as we've seen in what's going on in Ukraine right now, also inflicts terrible crimes on his own people,” said Biden.His own people, you say?Three years after the January 6 ‘attack’ on the Capitol, after Capitol police moved the barricades to let people in, the FBI is still tracking people across 50 states who were there, even if they didn’t enter the building. More than 1,200 people have been charged and 460 imprisoned — some denied basic medical care, others confined to solitary confinement. Some have been sentenced to 18 or 22 years. Hundreds more have been sentenced to periods of home detention or probation. What’s going on isn’t democracy. It’s hunting and crushing political opponents.Meanwhile, lawsuits against former president Donald Trump were mounted with Democrat prosecutors and judges appointed to oversee them. Experts say it’s blatant election interference against a political opponent whose popularity is soaring in former Democrat strongholds.Then Biden launched into a spiel about sending Ukraine $60 billion more — bringing the total investment in the war with Russia to $170 billion. Republicans object on two fronts — the invasion over the US/Mexico border must be stopped. And Zelensky and Putin should be forced to the negotiating table.But Zelensky has refused. He’s been busy working the celebrity circuit.He addresses parliaments across Europe and North America and in Japan, Australia, South Korea, and Israel; attends international summits and the UN Security Council; and spoke at the Frankfurt Book Fair — while the blood of hundreds of thousands of Ukraine’s men and women spills back home.Zelensky was at a security conference in Germany seeking more military aid for Ukraine when he condemned Navalny’s death and said he believed he was “killed by Putin.”Zelensky preaches democracy everywhere he goes. He just doesn’t practice it in Ukraine. Nobody seems to mind.A Ukrainian court refused Zelensky’s request to arrest former president Petro Poroshenko.In March 2022, Zelensky invoked emergency powers under martial law to ban “any activities” of 11 opposition parties.He took over television combining all channels into state-controlled United News.He arrested Ukrainian Greek Catholic Fathers Ivan Levytskyi and Bohdan Heleta and shut down churches. There were reports that the priests were “being tortured without mercy” after being seized from their parishes.Under Zelensky’s watch, while Ukrainian fighters allegedly ration ammo, a Ukrainian arms firm and defence ministry officials embezzled more than $40 million earmarked to buy 100,000 mortar shells.But Putin must be held accountable, he said.“Putin doesn’t care who dies — only for him to hold his position. This is why he must hold onto nothing. Putin must lose everything and be held responsible for his deeds,” said Zelensky.Everyone, including NATO, is fuelling a potentially explosive situation by that could impact us all by threatening to somehow get Putin.Well, not everyone. The wise refrained from knee-jerk comment.Trump issued a statement on Truth Social pointing to how the world has descended into chaos since Biden took office.“In just three and a half years under Crooked Joe Biden, the World has experienced Misery, Destruction, and Death. America is no longer respected because we have an incompetent president who is weak and doesn’t understand what the World is thinking. I am the only one who can bring Peace, Prosperity, and Stability like I did during my first term.”Nikki Haley, his only remaining leadership opponent backed by billionaire Democrats has a warmonger reputation and was recently blasted for promoting war with Iran. She slammed Trump for having the wisdom to not jump into the frenzy.Putin must be held accountable for this murder. Navalny’s heroism and willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice for his fellow Russians is staggering.He was a true leader. That’s something hypocrites and opportunists aren’t.
