Vladimir Putin just doesn’t know what to do about Alexey Navalny. Putin’s regime generally knows how to perpetuate itself. It controls all state institutions—not only the executive branch but the courts and the parliament—insuring that Putin’s power remains unchecked. It dominates the information sphere, creating the illusion that no alternative to Putin exists. It has reduced elections to empty spectacles with preordained outcomes. These measures have kept the regime stable and largely undisturbed for more than twenty years. At times when protest has nonetheless erupted, as it did in 2006 and 2007 and again in 2011 and 2012, the Kremlin has responded with many detentions, a few long prison terms, and unrelenting harassment and threats against protest leaders. Many protest organizers, threatened with criminal prosecutions, left the country. Many of those who failed to stay away have been killed. And then there was Alexey Navalny.
Read Full Article »
