JRL NEWSWATCH: “Vladimir the Poisoner of Underpants; What Navalny’s death means for Russia, Putin and the world” – The Economist
“Fear and greed drive Russia’s regime. The opposition leader struck at both.”
“… Navalny’s death was blamed by Russian prison authorities on a blood clot … [H]is doctor said he suffered from no condition which made that likely. Whatever ends up on his death certificate, he was killed by … Putin. Russia’s president locked him up; in his name [] Navalny was subjected to a regime of forced labour and solitary confinement. [] Navalny will be celebrated as a man of remarkable courage. His life will be remembered for what it says about [] Putin, what it portends for Russia and what it demands of the world. … Navalny identified the two foundations on which [] Putin has built his power: fear and greed. In [] Putin’s world everyone can be bribed or threatened. Not only did [] Navalny understand those impulses, he struck at them in devastating ways. His insight was that corruption was not just a side hustle but the moral rot at the heart of [] Putin’s state. His anti-corruption crusade formed a new genre of immaculately documented and thriller-like films that displayed the yachts, villas and planes of Russia’s rulers. These videos, posted on YouTube, culminated in an exposé of [] Putin’s billion-dollar palace on the Black Sea coast that has been watched 130m times. Despite the palace’s iron gates, adorned with a two-headed imperial eagle, [] Navalny portrayed its owner not as a tsar so much as a tasteless mafia boss. [] Navalny also understood fear and how to defeat it. [] Putin’s first attempt to kill him was in 2020, when he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok smeared inside his underwear. By sheer good luck [] Navalny survived, regained his strength in Germany and less than a year later flew back to Moscow to defy [] Putin in a blast of publicity. He returned in the full knowledge that he would probably be arrested. …”