My appearance on the @MehdiHasanShow last night, my thanks to @mehdirhasan. I'm dismissive of Navalny's old remarks as irrelevant to his circumstances as a political prisoner. Arguing them easily falls into the Kremlin smear campaign.
Navalny has just been sent to a vile Russian prison so Putin can torture him in full view of Europe's appeasers. He may not live to see another day of freedom. His politics (which are very liberal for Russia btw) or some nasty remarks a dozen years ago are a distraction.
Liberal Western orgs like Amnesty grabbing onto these old remarks reminds me of the "he was no angel" tropes that the right push when there is a police killing. It's a deflection. Debate Navalny's politics when he's free. And unlike Putin, he will actually debate!
I'm glad to see more "Magnitsky" sanctions by the US on individuals involved in Navalny's poisoning and jailing. But as with those over Khashoggi, they miss the the puppetmaster for the puppets. Be strategic. Go after the bosses or it's whack-a-mole, not chess.
Squeezing Putin and MbS isn't just sanctions, it's isolating them as the pariahs they should be, targeting corruption, substituting anything of value they provide. Their backers should understand they will keep losing until they are gone.
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