Russian opposition leader Putin hospital after mystery illness

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/20/russian-opposition-leader-puti.html

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“Russia: if the cause of death isn’t poison, it’s accidentally falling out of an window.”

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Just since 2016:

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I worry for the US Democratic Candidates:

Q President Putin, did you want President Trump to win the election? And did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?

PRESIDENT PUTIN: (As interpreted.) Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-president-putin-russian-federation-joint-press-conference/

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Eez nassing to see hear. Bits me why you always theenk people get poisoned just becauz zey oppose great leader who also used to be member of official government poisoning agency [I get my 50 rubles now, boss?].

I worry about anyone who’ll oppose Biff’s regime should he get a second term. He and his coterie see Putin as a role model.

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It’s official-ish.

"The Tass news agency quoted one source at the Omsk Emergency Hospital as saying: “Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny, born in 1976. Poisoning intensive care.”

However, the deputy head physician of the hospital later told media that it was not certain Mr Navalny had been poisoned, although poisoning was “naturally” one of the diagnoses being considered."

Also:

“The Kremlin said that it wished Mr Navalny a “speedy recovery”.”

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After a quick call from the Kremlen the diagnosis was changed to “definitely not poison, 100% natural causes”.

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Putin hospital

clara-see-what

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Putin wants Trump to win, but a big part of that is his desire to keep the United States divided and weak. That’s why the Russian interference to date has been structured in such a way that Trump supporters have been able to convince themselves that Putin hasn’t been manipulating them from the start.

If Putin tried something as bold as outright assassination of American political candidates then the delicate balance he’s been maintaining so far could tip away from him, uniting the American people in righteous anti-Putin fury.

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Agreed. But who says anything about an “outright” assassination?

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Color me Claude Rains.

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“The hospital’s chief doctor told Navalny’s team that his condition was “unstable” without giving further details. The doctor then locked himself in his office and refused to take further questions.”

Hope he’s on the ground floor…

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Navalny’s a nationalist scumbag, but he’s still done a lot for democracy in the Russia, by exposing some of the grotesque corruption among the ruling elite and generally being a voice of opposition. Beyond the basic fact that poisoning anyone is unacceptable, this reads to me like a warning shot.

“Whatever might happen in Belarus, you better believe we’re not having any of that nonsense about democracy or revolution in Russia.”

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I agree with you but I wonder… I mean, if putting a bounty on American soldiers’ heads didn’t sway the Trumpists against him when they are all over troop worship then killing a Democrat might just be something they celebrate. I do wonder how far they’ve gone over the edge.

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A German Bombardier Challenger (callsign D-AFAD) is at Omsk airport since early morning and news just got out that he’ll be allowed to be flown to Berlin’s Charitée …
Fingers crossed that we’ll at least know what shook him down!

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Now that I think about it I think it would have a lot to do with whether it happened on American soil. If it was somewhere else it would be much easier to push aside and maybe blame the victim for getting into a danger zone (even if it happens at Davos or something). But as 9/11 (and Pearl Harbor and the Zimmermann telegram, etc.) have shown Americans are really weird about attacks close to home (as long as they aren’t school shootings or far right terrorism). Even Trumpists might actually feel attacked if they feel their sovereignty was impinged on.

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Remember when everybody was excited for Kasparov to run against Putin and Kasparov was like “Yeah, no, I’m not doing that.” ?

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Why is it always tea?

Do they not have any more creative ways to do this?

I mean this is horrible, but it seems comical that they consistently use the same method and somehow think people won’t immediately suspect them.

Thankfully evil is often stupid

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They want people to suspect them. They are sending a message.

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