If you want to know what life in America would be like with an unrestrained and emboldened demagogue like Donald "Rump" Trump, take a look at what's happening across Russia today. Autocrat and kleptocratic thug Vladimir Putin has had thousands of dissidents rounded up and detained so that they wouldn't organize and participate in mass demonstrations against Putin's inauguration on Monday. After his fraudulent "election" in March, Putin will become the longest serving head of Russia since Josef Stalin, an apt comparison given Putin's human rights record and his wistfulness for the former Soviet Union. Wasn't it nice that obsequious bootlicker Rump "congratulated" Putin on his sham election?
In Moscow today, Putin opponent Alexi Navalny, who was barred from running in the rigged election, was detained as he addressed a crowd in Pushkin Square:
“We will force the authorities, made up of swindlers and thieves, to take into account the millions of citizens who did not vote for Putin."The BBC has more on the efforts of the Putin regime to shut down Navalny's voice:
"[Navalny] was barred from running for president against Mr Putin this year because of a conviction for embezzlement, which he denies, saying the case against him was politically motivated. He has been arrested at protests on numerous occasions before, and is typically held for a few weeks before being released.
Reports say he was forced to stay at a secret location on Friday night in order to make it to the Moscow rally at all. When the Moscow city authorities warned people of possible 'negative consequences' of taking part in unsanctioned rallies on Saturday, Mr Navalny tweeted back: 'And I would like to warn everyone of the negative consequences of non-participation in the rallies. If you stay at home, Putin's gang will tear the country apart and deprive you personally of a future,' he said." (emphasis added)The comparisons with Putin's puppet Rump are glaring. The vote suppression, the personal corruption, the autocratic impulses, the belligerence, the self-aggrandizement: both are of the same character. So, watch what's been happening in Russia since Putin's rise, and be committed to resist Rump's efforts to model it here.
UPDATE: Read this chilling account of Russia's fake news industry.
(photo. Agence France Presse. Anti-Putin demonstrators in Pushkin Square, Moscow)
