Jay - your description of your dinner with Kara-Murza and Navalny's widow walking by "smiling and waving gaily" at your group brought tears to my eyes. The strength these amazing people have to carry on in the face of unimaginable pain is beyond inspiring. Thank you for continuing to chronicle their stories. When you left NR I feared that no one would pick up your human rights megaphone. Well I didn't have anything to worry about. You brought it with you to Substack. Keep on keeping on, Jay.
Thank you for highlighting the bravery and perseverance of these dissidents. When I read about real persecution and the denial of others' humanity and rights, I can't help but think of the faux persecution complexes of many Americans who seem to think that persecution is not getting what they want when they want it, or being held to account for violations of criminal or civil law, or just not being accorded the status and respect they think they deserve.
What makes these attitudes so corrosive of and dangerous to our nation is that these faux persecution narratives lead some Americans to think that our constitutional republic/representative democracy is no better than Putin's dictatorial regime (note that the aggrieved label America's government a 'regime' as well). Joni Mitchell's lyrics come to mind: "Don't it always seem to go/That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?/They paved paradise and put up a parking lot." In our case, it's not "paradise" that we may lose - no system of government is perfect. But the authoritarian, strongman government that some Americans seem to prefer would "pave over"/plow under our individual freedoms, suppress innovation, and close off opportunities - through sometimes (often?) messy, slow democratic processes - to make ours "a more perfect union."
Thank you for bringing these people to my living room. They are worthy of great respect. But there are other people worthy of great anger, and worse, for what they could be doing to help these people and these situations, but will not do so. I hope you will have some words for them also as this new venue of yours advances. Your balance of such was skillfully done at NR.
This is what I was waiting for, and I'm glad to see the links to some of the presentations.
"That night, I have dinner with Vladimir, Evgenia, Bill, and estimable others. If I have been part of a more joyous dinner, I can’t remember it."
One of the great things about my Catholic faith is that I believe I will meet them all, too - and Alexei Navalny as well.
Jay - your description of your dinner with Kara-Murza and Navalny's widow walking by "smiling and waving gaily" at your group brought tears to my eyes. The strength these amazing people have to carry on in the face of unimaginable pain is beyond inspiring. Thank you for continuing to chronicle their stories. When you left NR I feared that no one would pick up your human rights megaphone. Well I didn't have anything to worry about. You brought it with you to Substack. Keep on keeping on, Jay.
Thank you for highlighting the bravery and perseverance of these dissidents. When I read about real persecution and the denial of others' humanity and rights, I can't help but think of the faux persecution complexes of many Americans who seem to think that persecution is not getting what they want when they want it, or being held to account for violations of criminal or civil law, or just not being accorded the status and respect they think they deserve.
What makes these attitudes so corrosive of and dangerous to our nation is that these faux persecution narratives lead some Americans to think that our constitutional republic/representative democracy is no better than Putin's dictatorial regime (note that the aggrieved label America's government a 'regime' as well). Joni Mitchell's lyrics come to mind: "Don't it always seem to go/That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?/They paved paradise and put up a parking lot." In our case, it's not "paradise" that we may lose - no system of government is perfect. But the authoritarian, strongman government that some Americans seem to prefer would "pave over"/plow under our individual freedoms, suppress innovation, and close off opportunities - through sometimes (often?) messy, slow democratic processes - to make ours "a more perfect union."
Thank you for bringing these people to my living room. They are worthy of great respect. But there are other people worthy of great anger, and worse, for what they could be doing to help these people and these situations, but will not do so. I hope you will have some words for them also as this new venue of yours advances. Your balance of such was skillfully done at NR.
Gee, I wish there were some Americans included in this article about standing up to dictators and injustices.
The closest I guess is you, Jay, thanks for telling their stories.
I think we can take some credit for Bill Browder, though he gave up his citizenship years back.
You are correct. We should.