Public Comment

What an incredible brave man. Having narrowly escaped death by a deadly Russian poison, Aleksei Navalny decided to return to Moscow with full knowledge that he would be immediately detained by Kremlin police, face physical abuse or possible death.

Navalny must have been acutely aware that there was little chance of overthrowing the “president for life” Putin militarily. He must have realized that despotic regimes can only be demolished using the moral force of truth.

All positive changes in the world are made by uncommon men of enormous courage like Nelson Mandela who humbled South Africa’s apartheid or Gandhi and brave Sikhs slaughtered by British General Dyer who forced “the sun to set” on the former British empire. Soviet human rights stalwarts Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Andrei Sakharov and Natan Sharansky accelerated the demise of the former Soviet Union. Their efforts were reinforced by Lech Walesa of Poland and Vaclav Havel of Czechoslovakia. 

Navalny has skillfully used social media to expose Putin and corrupt Russian oligarchs’ opulent life style which has stirred moral outrage among ordinary Russians suffering from the COVID pandemic and economic decline. International pressure demanding Navalny’s release from prison must be intensified. Bravo, Mr. Navalny you a credit to the human race.