#putin to the hague

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Today would have been Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny's 48th birthday. Instead, it has been almost four months since he was murdered in a Russian prison on February 16, 2024.

The depression, anger, and heartbreak many of us feel over Navalny's death continues. Nobody can imagine the pain and suffering of Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, his parents, and his children, who have been cruelly deprived of a loving father. It is an injustice.

The man who ordered the killing, Vladimir Putin, remains in power. The terrorist infrastructure built around totalitarian control over Russian citizens and assassinating dissidents is still in power. The hideous, evil war that was launched to help validate Putin's dictatorship continues.

While not comparing my response to those of Navalny's family and friends, I personally have found it difficult to watch Navalny's investigations, to reread the articles I collected documenting Russia's corruption, or to hear his voice since that Black Friday. He often began his videos in a simple, personable manner: "Hi, it's Navalny." It became a trademark. For many of us, the fact that we won't hear him say that phrase again is deeply painful.

This is without claiming any special connection to the man. He was exceedingly brave, and such people both make us feel inadequate and yet make us better. They make the world better.

Navalny focused on the theft of Putin and his cronies, because it was through theft that the current Russian dictatorship came into being, from Yeltsin to Putin. It was through theft that both Yeltsin and Putin defrauded the Russian election system, violated the Russian Constitution, and evaded justice for their crimes. It was through theft that Yeltsin and Putin were able to launder their brutal foreign wars as campaigns in the interest of national security.

Most importantly, it was through theft that Putin in particular established government departments built for the sole purpose of following, threatening, poisoning, and assassinating Russian dissidents.

The death of Alexei Navalny isn't just painful because an innocent man died. The fact that he had already been targeted for murder and miraculously survived, recovered, then bravely returned to his country to show Putin that he was unafraid of Kremlin terrorism, all of this deepens the pain of hearing that Putin finally got what he desired.

But even worse: Navalny was far from Putin's only victim. Navalny's death was the latest in a line of assassinations and suspicious deaths going back to the 1998 murder of Russian liberal politician Galina Starovoitova in St. Petersburg. And in almost every case, the evidence points to Russia's federal security services, personally overseen by Vladimir Putin.

Navalny's murder just highlighted the impunity of this terrorist system, the impunity of Putin himself. The fact that the Russian dictator could so casually order the taking of human life, causing devastation to many, is sickening and fills me with the deepest fury.

This cannot stand. Putin can never, ever be allowed to carry out such an assassination again.

Russia must face international criminal investigation for all of the major assassinations and suspicious deaths that have taken place since the murder of Starovoitova. Up until today, justice has not been served. And we remain with the same image of mourning widows, fatherless and motherless children, flowers at makeshift graves, and the deepening silence of the majority who are unsurprisingly terrorised into accepting dictatorship.

No more.

Russia's dictatorship must be unacceptable to any civilised person. Putin has no legitimacy as "president". He never did. The entire Russian government and "legal" system are fraudulent, a racket designed by criminals to terrorise and punish the innocent. Foreigners must never forget the long list of Russians (and other nationalities) who faced brutal deaths for speaking freely, for demanding that Russia obeyed its own laws, for investigating crimes committed by the authorities, for demanding an end to mass theft of national resources, for demanding free and fair elections.

Those of us fortunate enough to live in the West, or a country that maintains Western-style freedoms, should recognise that millions of people live under tyranny. Freedom is not a given. Many of the world's nations do not uphold liberty. In many nations, the criminality and state terrorism that killed Navalny are "normal".

By demanding accountability from Russia, we also demand accountability from other tyrants who believe they can murder their own citizens with impunity and terrorise the rest. Russia props up numerous dictatorships, from the Islamic dictatorship in Chechnya under Ramzan Kadyrov, to Kazakhstan, to Bashar al-Assad's Syria, to Ayatollah Khamenei in Iran. Russia itself is a puppet of an even worse dictatorship, that of China, a country that threatens the freedom and sovereignty of its neighbours daily and represses its population.

Meanwhile, Westerners are becoming more and more cowardly about asserting the superiority of Western values and the success of the Western nation state. Malign social and cultural forces constantly demoralise and demonise Western history, failing to note the tyrannical nature of vast parts of the world. These forces ask us to equivocate, to whitewash, to turn a blind eye to, or even sympathise with nations whose standards lag far behind those of the West.

The result of this self-righteous, narcissistic self-hatred is the empowerment of the true tyrants and oppressors in the world. Whenever the West hangs its head in shame over real or perceived sins, dictators such as Putin position themselves as both saviours of lagging Western civilisation and the preferable alternative to said civilisation. And a disturbingly large number of gullible Westerners of any political persuasion, disillusioned with political dysfunction in their own countries, become receptive to foreign liars who hate freedom, the rule of law, and the sanctity of human life.

It's time for the West to rediscover its own greatness and sense of morality by standing up to Russia. Open an international criminal case against the Russian state for systematic assassination of citizens and keep that case open for as long as Putin remains in power. Bombard Putin and his terrorist government with questions about victims of his regime, to let them know that ending the war with Ukraine will not be enough to end these criminal investigations.

Conduct multiple, international investigations into the deaths of Russian dissidents-- the kind of investigation that uncovered the Kremlin's plot to murder Navalny with Novichok. Create public memorials to Russian dissidents across numerous countries to show the Kremlin that those Putin sought to suppress are respected by millions worldwide and their memory will remain, while Putin and his terrorist regime will end up in the same junkyard as Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and other tyrants.

Continue to frustrate and destroy Russia's progress in Ukraine by blocking arms supplies between the Iranian terror state and Russia, as well as increasing sanctions on North Korea and warning China of Western retaliation if it allows Russia to deal with North Korea (because how else did North Korean missiles make it to Ukraine without China's implicit knowledge?).

If organisations such as the United Nations will finally live up to their name, then they should issue permanent resolutions against the Russian terror state and demand answers concerning its assassination program and use of banned chemical weapons. This will further damage Putin's reputation abroad.

A memorial to Navalny in place of the war-mongering Russian diplomatic delegation would be preferable, but we have all seen that the United Nations prefers to commemorate the murderous former Iranian "president" Ebrahim Raisi, who executed 30 000 Iranian dissidents and unleashed a reign of terror against Iran's women between 2022 and 2023.

Is it any wonder that Russia's dictators and terrorists believe they can get away with any crime under the sun?

Don't let it be the case. We demand: no more assassinations of Russian dissidents. Putin's dictatorship must be held to account.

С днем рождения, Алексей Навальный.

Happy Birthday, Alexei Navalny.

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

A haunting and defiant monument erected in Irpin, Ukraine, to commemorats its liberation from Russian occupation in 2022.

The war crimes committed by Russian soldiers against the Ukrainian population in Irpin and other cities are an enormous disgrace to Russia, and to human civilisation as a whole. The world must make clear to Putin and his army that not a single crime will go unpunished.

The world must also respond to the tragedy of Irpin by maintaining its support of Ukraine's right to self-defence. It would be an appalling error to minimise support for Ukraine after seeing the devastating inhumanity of Russian occupation.

Rather, the world should find new methods of pressuring Russia to end this disgraceful and wicked war.

Цього металу замало, щоб нашу волю зламало.

"This metal is not enough to break our will" says the inscription on the new monument made from remnants of shells from russian missiles launched on Irpin. The monument commemorates the city’s Day of Liberation on March 28, 2022.

[tomorrowusa]

Mass kidnappings of kids are not unique to the Middle East. Putin's Russia has been doing it since its illegal annexation of Crimea and its de facto occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk in 2014. And it's grown greatly since Russia's invasion of Ukraine started in February of 2022.

This is a form of genocide as defined by international law. Putin and his cronies are war criminals and there is indeed a warrant for his arrest on the basis of his abduction of Ukrainian children from occupied parts of Ukraine.

This invasion has been going on for nearly two years – not just two months. There are thousands of Ukrainian child hostages held by Putin's kleptocratic mafia-terrorist state.

[silverfox66]

What a clown! Try it if you want NATO coming after you.

[stillunusual]

I 🤍 Vilnius

[navree]

people who got angry at the writers of 2x03 for talking about how rhaenyra didn't put any thought into her meeting with alicent and can't be surprised at the outcome because "rhaenyra shouldn't have to offer any concessions" are baffling and probably lacking in brain cells because that's literally spot on. rhaenyra went into an attempt at peace talks without any attempt to conciliate the opposing side and was surprised when the peace talks devolved and ultimately failed. it's bad decision making on her part, it's bad leadership and governance insofar as she has the ability to govern, and given that we're meant to see her as a legitimate claimant to be the sovereign, it's entirely reasonable to judge her on those standards.

because rhaenyra should have thought of concessions. she's making a big ask here, and it's entirely fair that she make offers that could actually appeal to the opposing side other than "War Bad :(" because the other side knows that, like in every conflict ever, they've just decided that the potential outcomes of winning the war matter more than the lack of war in its entirety. it is doubly important that rhaenyra offer concessions because she is also no longer the only wounded party. any peace talk to avoid the dance would need to hinge on both sides acknowledging that there has been serious wrong done to each part. on rhaenyra's end, the man whose rule is law proclaimed her heir but that was taken from her, and her son was killed unexpectedly during the negotiation phase. on aegon's end, he has the precedent of centuries of westerosi legal custom, and his six year old was murdered for absolutely no reason through no fault of his own or even aegon's. these are major grievances that both need to be dealt with fairly and with the understanding that restitution on both sides needs to be made. i mean, hell, rhaenyra only gives a passing mention to the fact that she did not, in fact, order two assassins to force their way into helaena's bedroom and make her choose which child to die. not even offering to allow daemon to face any sort of legal justice at aegon's hands is a gigantic fucking blunder on her part.

rhaenyra is no longer in the position where she can make unilateral demands because she is no longer the only person who has suffered or dealt with material consequences. hostilities are now as much motivated by personal desires for revenge as they are for legitimate succession reasons, and rhaenyra knows that because the entire reason she meets with alicent is to try and break the cycle that started with luke and then moved to jaehaerys and then the cargylle twins afterwards. i mean, hell, look at what alicent says at the end of the conversation when she tells rhaenyra it's too late. she mentions that the equivalent to armed forces have been mobilized, that one of the most personally powerful military men is actively marching to engage in warfare, and that aemond, someone who is not only ruthless but, as far rhaenyra knows, has a vested personal interest in doing things like avenging his beheaded nephew, is going to be involved. rhaenyra's thoughts, were she a competent leader/administrator, should be "what can i do to get them to at least press pause on this so we can negotiate further". the fact that it wasn't is a failure on her part, the fact that she did just think she could come in and go "let's stop fighting" when there are issues that she needs to address on her side now is a failure. it's entirely acceptable to call her out on this.

and i would have given this same criticism if a peace talk was initiated by alicent with that same mindset. if alicent had tried to negotiate with rhaenyra and been the one pushing for it, she should have had some restitution to offer her for what happened to luke, and for sending ser arryk to murder her in her bed. that would be a reasonable thing for rhaenyra to accept, since those are grievances that the greens need to address in any peace talk with her in turn. but the difference is that alicent is aware of the fact that she'd need to do that, because she already did it. she's the one who says they need to send terms to dragonstone after aegon's coronation that rhaenyra can find acceptable and agree to without feeling humiliated or losing face amongst her own supporters. she sends otto with those terms with clear messages to be conciliating, and even leverages her and rhaenyra's former emotional investment in each other to drive home that these are peace messages (in contrast to rhaenyra starting out with 'if i wanna i could murder you' which is a very bad way to start a peace talk, and rhaenyra knows that because immediately when called on it she acknowledges that it's a fuck up on her part).

there's a section of this fandom that believes rhaenyra is the rightful ruler, but then actually refuses to judge her on her merits as a ruler. she wants to be the sovereign, fantastic, but that means she's going to be held to a higher standard by both other characters and the audience, because she's now the key decision maker and also responsible for literally everything that happens on her end (i don't know if some of y'all were just too dumb to qualify for apush but i am smart so i took it and i remember when we talked about the truman presidency in that class and "the buck stops here"). it's not the writers being shitty to rhaenyra to point out that this plan was flawed from the getgo because there were serious issues in her thinking that meant it could never succeed. it's just the simple truth of the situation.

[herukapadmajungiansworld]

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

I have a bibliography going back three years, filled with numerous articles covering the cruelty and barbarity of the Russian terror state towards Alexei Navalny, his family, his supporters, and anyone in Russia who supports civilisation. I have articles from back when he narrowly escaped death in 2020. Now I am adding articles covering his murder two days ago. It is painful and unjust.

Here is an article from Meduza, one of the many Russian news outlets that were marginalised and persecuted by the Kremlin. The title says Yulia Navalnaya published the first post since the death of Alexei. She wrote: "I love you." Devastating and heartbreaking.

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Vladimir Putin continues to prostitute his entire country for the sake of his delusions.

Despite Ukraine having no navy and no operational control over the Black Sea, Russia has lost flagships and ensured repeated missile attacks on the Crimean Peninsula and surrounding occupied regions.

Despite Ukraine failing to reclaim the occupied territories last summer and struggling to half Russian advances on Pokrovsk village, Ukraine has still managed to invade Russian territory and cause the evacuation of over 100 000 Russian citizens in Kursk Oblast. This caught the Kremlin by surprised and embarrassed Putin.

Of course, Putin has responded with typical savagery, launching yet more missile strikes on Kyiv, Lviv, and Kharkiv, hoping to kill as many Ukrainian civilians as possible and terrorise the country into withdrawal and surrender.

This has not worked.

The more the Russians resort to sadistic brutality and terror, the more Ukrainians are united in opposition. Ukraine is not the same as Chechnya or Syria. Putin has failed to understand this, despite his self-appointed title as historical expert of this conflict. In both Chechnya and Syria, Russia, after conducting ruthless bombing campaigns, was able to either install or protect a puppet dictator.

This has not happened in Ukraine, despite over two years of bombing campaigns. Numerous Ukrainian cities were razed to the ground, like Mariupol. Still no surrender.

Prior to Ukraine's invasion of Russia, Putin's propaganda machine assured Russians that the reason for the lack of Russian victory was Western support/Ukrainian attacks/Ukrainian Nazis, and so on. Russians were assured that Russia would triumph soon.

Now that Ukraine has invaded and seized a substantial portion of territory in Kursk Oblast, the fundamental and racist lie that Ukrainians are little peasants or terrible Nazis (whichever portrayal is convenient for Russian propaganda at any given moment) has been blown to bits.

Putin admitted that Ukraine had invaded to improve its negotiating position. He vowed to 'drive the enemy out'. Up until now, he has failed to do so.

Nobody expects Ukraine to seize more of Russian territory, but nobody expected that Ukraine would even seize any Russian territory in the first place. Western observers expected a purely defensive war, with Ukraine increasingly pressured to keep hold of territory and possibly negotiate over the Russian-occupied areas.

Now Russia is the one having to defend itself. How the tables have turned.

Russia produced the great novel, Crime and Punishment. It's time for Russia to read it-- properly.

Russian state-of-the-art tank T-90 Proryv captured by Ukrainians during the attack in the Kursk region, August 19, 2024. Source: ukr.warspotting.net

P.S. Putler's Wunderwafe completely intact with all the "secret" hardware has been put at the disposal of the Ukrainian army... By the 910th day of the war, the army of Russian war criminals has lost 8522 tanks in Ukraine...

[mistressofthecats-blog]

Let's gooooo 🎉🎉🎉

[originalleftist]

Pictured below: Wanted war criminal Vladimir Putin telling his dog that he's a good boy.

(Photo: Putin sitting for an "interview" with Tucker Carlson)

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

@observingukraineandrussia The worst will be "the West expects Russia to conduct a full and fair investigation" into Navalny's death. That will NEVER happen. But Western headlines always keep saying this or a variation thereof whenever a Russian dissident is murdered. They were asking for "full investigation" into the murder of Nemtsov, Politkovskaya, and so on. They asked for a "full investigation" when Putin tried murdering Navalny with Novichok and Russia refused to answer questions sent by the OPCW about its flagrant violation of international laws and treaties. Terrorist states do not conduct full and fair investigations into their own crimes.

These headlines like "the West holds russia responsible " are hilarious like. He was in a prison in Siberia. Who else is responsible.

[tomorrowusa]

Iran is an ally of Russia and Iran is the main backer of Hamas. So it's certainly possible that there may have been some nudges and winks from Moscow which led to the October 7th terror attacks which set off the Gaza-Israel war.

Nobody gains more from that war than Putin whose atrocities in Ukraine get far less attention than before because of war in the Middle East.

In any case, if Putin wishes to compare himself to Napoleon, we should not stand in his way!

[autumngracy]

The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Putin : NPR

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes involving accusations that Russia has forcibly taken Ukrainian children.

The ICC also issued a warrant for Putin's commissioner for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.

The court said in a news release Friday the two are "allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation."

The move by the criminal court at the Hague marked a significant step, requesting the arrest of a sitting world leader — even as analysts acknowledged the chances of arresting President Putin are slim.

Indeed, in Moscow, officials were quick to note Russia has never signed on as a party to the ICC as they dismissed the charges outright.

"The very question itself is outrageous and unacceptable," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "Russia, like a number of other states, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court, and therefore any of its decisions are insignificant for the Russian Federation from a legal viewpoint."

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin called the court's decision "historic."

Like the United States, Ukraine is also not a party to the ICC. But Kostin noted that the Ukrainian government has cooperated with the court on criminal investigations in its territory. He said his office handed more than 1,000 pages of documents over to the ICC regarding the alleged forcible deportation of children to Russia.

A report released last month by Yale University researchers and the U.S. State Department accused the Russian government of operating a systematic network of custody centers for thousands of Ukrainian children.

Russian officials have not denied the arrival of Ukrainian children in the country, but have characterized the centers for children as part of a large humanitarian program for abandoned, war-traumatized orphans.

The court warrant is a "stunning move" ICC President Piotr Hofmanski said the judges decided to make these warrants public to try to deter further crimes.

(...)

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

No American politician has any justification for doubting the brutality and terroristic nature of Vladimir Putin and the modern Russian state. By all means, debate how much aid can be given at any one time. But don't think that refusing to stand against Putin will lead to a reduction in his terrorism. It won't.

I am pretty certain Putin has some of them on his payroll

[agentfascinateur]

The US's "à la carte" use of the ICC (and of binding/non-binding resolutions) when it serves them

Only kings allowed themselves these whims. It's not democratic.