Retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman argued that former President Trumpās recent comments about NATO are likely a ācontributing factorā in the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
āDonald Trump invited Vladimir Putin to attack NATO. I would say that that probably was a contributing factor in the calculus around the assassination of Navalny,ā Vindman told MSNBCās Michael Steele Friday.
Vindmanās comments come just a week after Navalny died in prison. The Biden administration has blamed Russiaās government for the death, but Russia has said he died of natural causes.
My personal belief is that this entire recent iteration of the beef between Russia and the US kicked off because of the Magnitsky Act, which was entirely created by Bill Browderās testimony and at least partly from the US congressās genuine concern over the human rights issues involved, i.e. very little to do directly with anything geopolitical. I donāt think the intent was to go all the way to hot proxy war and active democracy-undermining conflict with them, but we definitely didnāt react āoh dead lawyer who GAFā even back then when it was a much smaller deal.
You are aware that Russia is excluded from most international forums big and small and under heavy sanctions currently and that weāre sending (or were sending until a few months back) tons of high-powered weapons to Ukraine to use to blow their soldiers up, yes? And that we just enacted a whole bunch more sanctions specifically because of Navalny?
Personally, my initial reaction was actually inclined to agree with you on this part. I have trouble seeing how anything Trump says would have anything to do with what they did to Navalny. On the other hand, Vindman has a lot more familiarity with Russiaās operating principles than either of us; heās from the USSR and spent significant time in the US diplomatic corps and professional study of the topic, so Iām a little reluctant to just airily dismiss what he has to say about it. Heās much more qualified than you or I are on it so Iām more inclined to hear him out.
Itās an interesting theory. I assumed it was due to the protests of 2011 -> ratings rapidly fell -> inventing external enemies, taking Crimea, turn brainwashing to the 1000%. I feel like nothing external was at play, and if there werenāt no country but Russia, like literally empty space, theyād still blow the provocation whistle.
The timing of that is interesting for Alexei was sitting in prison for years. My assumption was again internal: that he was killed one month before the Putinās re-election, to show he would violently suppress anyone whoād get in his way. But can it be an external signal? To who? To NATO countries other than USA, who may lose their strategic partner? To exact politicians whoād be against it? Iām confused.