Can anyone "in the know" (perhaps someone that can read Russian news) comment on this?
From what I've read (mostly linked from HN) it seems like he was poisoned by the Russian FSB. And, agents from those agencies were tricked into admitting on tape they did in fact do the poisoning.
Given how much Germany wants NordStream to happen, I don't think this will derail it. I don't think Biden will give a rat's arse about the whole episode. So given those two things, NordStream will happen.
Oh, I think we’ll see Biden add a whole bunch of names to the Magnitsky Act sanctions list, recommit to NATO, and look for additional punitive economic sanctions — probably via third countries — to squeeze the siloviki at the center of Russian power. But I agree that Nord Stream 2’s a done deal, despite strong and unusually-bipartisan US opposition. Don’t know how long it’ll take Russia to finish the work, but looks like they’re headed for the home stretch.
> This would not have been a subplot in a Le Carre novel.
Not sure I understand what you're trying to say. Are you claiming your (b) is more likely than your (a)? And it is so because of something to do with the Nord Stream pipeline? That's quite some conspiracy theory.
I don't find this likely. Why? I watched the youtube clip where Navalny dupes one of the members of the team assigned to assassinate him. And what struck me is how charismatic Navalny is. He is a formidable political opponent to Putin. I can certainly see Putin preferring to live in a Navalny-less world.
Aside from his charisma, is it possible that everything Navalny puts on Youtube is fabrication? How difficult can it be to get a prop to answer a phone call and read some lines emailed to him ahead of time? It probably wouldn't be, but you'd see people pointing at various inconsistencies.
I just found an older youtube documentary created by Navalny about Medvedev [1]. Could it also be a fabrication? I seriously doubt that: New York Times covered this, as well as other prestigious publications, and they don't suspect any shenanigans.
Related: the video of Navalny calling one of the FSB agents who poisoned him is definitely the best prank of 2020 [1]. (Video has English subs)
Watching Navalny grill Konstantin Kudryavtsev about why they failed to kill Navalny (flight quickly grounded, quick medical aid on the ground) was unreal and the best spy moment of 2020 for me.
One thing that's been making a difference is Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation's "Smart Voting" system, which helps people vote out "United Russia" members and bring in opposition or at least non-United-Russia candidates [2].
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[ 5.5 ms ] story [ 32.2 ms ] threadFrom what I've read (mostly linked from HN) it seems like he was poisoned by the Russian FSB. And, agents from those agencies were tricked into admitting on tape they did in fact do the poisoning.
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/12/21/if-...
Are there any senators in the US actually moving sanctions forward regarding this kind of behavior? Is this likely to have an impact?
For example, this:
https://www.coons.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/09.24.2020%20Russ...
The Russians have become either: a) an incompetent joke given their historical track record of assassinations and coverups (too many to list)
b) Navalny is seeking to be in the limelight and faking all or part of this for some manufactured consent
This would not have been a subplot in a Le Carre novel.
This is the perfect monkey wrench “plot” to dismantle the Nord Stream pipeline:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream
For those who would want to watch a dark comedy on Soviet political machinations I highly recommend “The Death of Stalin.”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4686844/
Not sure I understand what you're trying to say. Are you claiming your (b) is more likely than your (a)? And it is so because of something to do with the Nord Stream pipeline? That's quite some conspiracy theory.
I don't find this likely. Why? I watched the youtube clip where Navalny dupes one of the members of the team assigned to assassinate him. And what struck me is how charismatic Navalny is. He is a formidable political opponent to Putin. I can certainly see Putin preferring to live in a Navalny-less world.
Aside from his charisma, is it possible that everything Navalny puts on Youtube is fabrication? How difficult can it be to get a prop to answer a phone call and read some lines emailed to him ahead of time? It probably wouldn't be, but you'd see people pointing at various inconsistencies.
I just found an older youtube documentary created by Navalny about Medvedev [1]. Could it also be a fabrication? I seriously doubt that: New York Times covered this, as well as other prestigious publications, and they don't suspect any shenanigans.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/embed/qrwlk7_GF9g?hl=en&cc_lang_pref...
Watching Navalny grill Konstantin Kudryavtsev about why they failed to kill Navalny (flight quickly grounded, quick medical aid on the ground) was unreal and the best spy moment of 2020 for me.
One thing that's been making a difference is Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation's "Smart Voting" system, which helps people vote out "United Russia" members and bring in opposition or at least non-United-Russia candidates [2].
1: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ibqiet6Bg38
2: https://votesmart.appspot.com/