Navalny dead, Putin on the rise: the failure of the West

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This photo is going around the world: Mourners said goodbye to Alexei Navalny († 47) in Moscow on Friday. The dissident and hope of the Russian democracy movement died last week in a Siberian prison camp – as a result of a “blood clot”, as authorities initially announced.

The international horror is great, but the knowledge of Navalny’s martyr status and his posthumous danger to the Moscow leadership will leave President Vladimir Putin (71) unmoved. One of his most annoying opponents is dead. Political assassination is the last, the ultimate tool to maintain power, which the Kremlin ruler has probably used again and again during his time in office.

It is a perverse aspect of recent world history that the West, which has stationed the most powerful armed forces ever on earth, has become frozen in resounding powerlessness in the face of the despot in Moscow. Putin’s army is making psychologically important territorial gains in Ukraine, while Kiev is losing the war.

Moscow’s stay-the-course tactic seems to be working at the moment. Volodymyr Selensky (46) has never been so lonely since the Russian attack two years ago. His brash attitude towards his allies may not be enough to provide the beleaguered Ukrainian army with sufficient supplies.

Despite the actual superiority with the shorter lever

A divided West fits into this oppression: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (65) and Emmanuel Macron (46) publicly argue about their Ukraine policy. The French president is publicly considering deploying ground troops, while his German colleague is currently having to answer for a listening attack by the Russians: The Kremlin listened in on German officers talking about an attack on Crimea. Russia happily spread the material and story of the West, as a warmonger is well fed.

It’s another of Putin’s many small propaganda victories. Something connects him to the terrorists, dictators and warlords of the world: they know only one direction that benefits them: escalation.

In the midst of this fever dream, Switzerland is trying to act as a mediator. Federal President Viola Amherd (61) was inspired by Selenski in Davos GR with the idea of ​​a peace summit. Originally scheduled for late March, the event will now take place sometime in the summer. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis (62) is making a tireless pilgrimage to the superpowers, because the Federal Council knows that a conference in Ukraine will only bring results and therefore prestige if all major players participate. Currently it is up to China, which is still hesitant. And Russia’s participation is still a long way off. This is the sine qua non, the mandatory condition for a real solution.

Putin is aware of this. Despite its de facto superiority, the West has gotten the short end of the stick. And Alexei Navalny is dead.

Source: Blick