• kescusay@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Not half. Never forget that the insane, reactionary conservatives are a minority in this country. They’re just extremely loud.

      • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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        2 years ago

        They’re only a “minority” because a third of the country will happily sit on the sidelines while they try to kill the other third.

      • scarabic@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        They’re a solid 30%. Which means they’re life or death for their party. Which means they get their way. They’re as influential as any other group, or even more successful than others with similar numbers. I don’t see how we can just wave that away as “they’re a minority.”

        • GoodEye8@lemm.ee
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          2 years ago

          US elections are mostly by state not by county. You can see states that voted blue despite being majority red on the county level. And Alaska is the opposite example where county level seems more blue but the state is red. It’s a misleading map because it doesn’t represent population density. Most of red counties are low population areas.

          The state distribution however is kinda BS, but the real reason republicans can have power with a clear minority is because of the FPTP voting that prefers a two party system instead of a multiparty system. GOP would be far more fringe party if more alternatives existed.

      • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Half the people who vote. Technically the others don’t matter to the system.

      • uis@lemm.ee
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        2 years ago

        Why you call insane right-wing reformists conservatives?

          • uis@lemm.ee
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            2 years ago

            When someone wants turn your country into shithole that iy is they are reformists. Reformists and conservatives aren’t good and bad. In some countries (15-ish former republics) conservatives are left-wing.

            • Tinidril@midwest.social
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              2 years ago

              The conservative movement traces directly back to royalists following the French revolution. They looked at the same world as Marx and decided to go the exact opposite way. Ultimately, conservatives are feudalistic.

    • sizing743@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      “This country” This is world news thread, and even then is a UK news article. Americans and their damn elections …

  • Gork@lemm.ee
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    2 years ago

    I still don’t understand why Navalny returned to Russia. He knew he would be arrested, so why do it at all? Now he’s dead, quite conveniently for Putin.

    • goetzit@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      My assumption would be that he hoped he could at least become a martyr for the Russian people. It is one thing to be accused of crimes, and flee your country forever, it leaves space for Russians to think “well if he is an innocent man, why is he on the run? If he wishes to represent this country, how can he if he flees it?”. Maybe he hoped that by coming back and facing the ridiculous charges, it could at least give him some credibility with the citizens who would maybe see the absurdity of it all, and maybe spark some kind of political unrest. It obviously didn’t work, but in the face of the hopeless political situation in Russia, can you blame him for trying?

    • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      I don’t think he wanted to die. People like Alexei have a strong moral character. When they know their cause is good and right they will refuse to back down every time. That sense of righteous gives them strength to stand up to even the most horrible dictators. While short sighted in terms of self preservation many would rather die on the side of righteousness than live in a world that is inherently flawed. He died with his dreams in tact which many of us will never have. I don’t think he wanted to be a martyr he just never saw any other choice.

  • GiuseppeAndTheYeti@midwest.social
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    2 years ago

    He’s absolutely not Vladimir Putin but let’s not hail him as this shining beacon of truth just because he’s a martyr. He was still a Russia first nationalist that supported the Russians during the Russo-Georgian war and was vocally supportive of the annexation of Crimea. He even made a youtube video where he played a pest control specialist and explains how to rid themselves of immigrants while comparing them to fleas and cockroaches. In the video he is attacked by a figure presumed to be one of the muslim immigrants he is calling to be exterminated and shoots them twice in the chest.

    • PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      And yet would still be an improvement on the psychopath currently in the presidents office. crazy ain’t it?

      • GiuseppeAndTheYeti@midwest.social
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        2 years ago

        100%

        I understand that better needs to not be the enemy of perfect, but I don’t want people to think that Navalny was going to be some savior of Russia like they seem to. He was just an island of semi-sanity in an ocean of diarrhea.

    • drathvedro@lemm.ee
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      2 years ago

      It’s not “muslim immigrant”. It’s Shamil Basayev, a former Ichkerian guerilla fighter (which short existence was fueled largely by kidnappings and slave trade), who later turned terrorist and is directly responsible for numerous bombings and hostage crisises.

    • uis@lemm.ee
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      2 years ago

      Didn’t your boss explode on his plane? I guess Simonyan is your new boss.

      For those who don’t understand what happened here’s short version: he was opposing annexation back in 2014 when it started, and in video he talks not about immigrants(because they did not immigrate, Russia did. Twice.), but about certain Russian citizens - Chechen mafia.

  • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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    2 years ago

    I don’t get the focus on whether he was poisoned/actively killed or not. If he died of “just collapsing” the Russian regime is still 100% responsible for his death. They killed him either way. Putin killed Navalny, the means by which that happened are secondary.

    • quackers@lemmy.blahaj.zoneBanned
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      2 years ago

      Because he very likely has been. Putin has a long history of people “mysteriously” dying. if it happens once in a blue moon, it’s a conspiracy theory. But it happens so damn often that it’s practically undeniable.

      • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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        2 years ago

        I agree, but does it matter in this case? It feels like a potato potato discussion. Let’s assume for a moment he wasn’t poisoned. Was he not still killed brutally by Putin’s regime? From years of being mistreated and abused? What difference does it make whether he was poisoned, shot, or just exhausted to death? The means by which his death occurred are secondary, him dying by the hands of Putin is primary, isn’t it? Putin is his killer, one way or the other.

        And I think we are all in the clear that Putin and his regime like to kill off people that aren’t taking part in their shenanigans. Navalny’s death, even if officially proven to have been accelerated by direct means, will not change the minds of those who don’t believe in the government’s brutal killing spree.

    • UsernameIsTooLon@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      He was a dead man the moment he ran and he knew this. I hope his message reaches out to the citizens of Russia