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Today I will post a clip of a trumpet playing during Navalny’s funeral.
This week we learned that Navalny, safely off in a penal colony, or so I thought, was killed by the Kremlin, using a toxin not found in Europe, never found there (because of diet) in any captive animal. We are talking of action, not by an individual who believes in homicide, but state-level action. In other words, “Russia done it.”
Such are the values of the Kremlin.
My concern is that it’s not merely young “long haired hippies” or middle-aged “soft liberals” who believe folks are universally against war… It’s also representatives in congress and the current White House.
It was that guy who wrote about the Russian gulags, Solzhenitsyn, who said that violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be supported by violence.
(I am thinking of Trump’s violent temper—and revenge—if a congressmen disagreed that the election was stolen… while the evidence for “stolen,” after many expensive ballot recounts and court cases, is zilch)
You would think the Russians, after the horror of World War II, would believe in peace. You would be wrong. Not if they are lied to, not in a nation that still requires violent penal colonies… while some athletes wear a Russian army Z at international competitions.
Here at home: The moment our society, or our leaders, believe in telling lies, without being held accountable, such as “(regarding immigrants) They are eating the dogs” then it’s only a single step to believing that it’s okay to lie about ICE shooting people, and then failing to investigate such shooting—to support the lie.
Now, for my Yankee readers:
If I were a US citizen who refuses to believe that democracy is dead, believing it is still worthwhile to write to my congressman, then I would send a quote from a Canadian, who’s name I forget, saying,
“NO RATIONAL PERSON BELIEVES ANYTHING THE RUSSIANS SAY”
…. whether it’s for “Trumped up indictments” (pardon the pun) against Navalny, or for sacred peace talks.
Here’s a 25 second Youtube clip, from the Scottish Sun, of the song Navalny requested as his coffin is being carried. I heard the telephone sound was part of the tune, of a call that will never be answered.
And here’s a nearly four minute clip that your congressman—unless maybe he or she is a democrat—won’t have the guts to watch, but you might send it to them anyway, called Why They Played the Terminator at Navalny’s Funeral
… …
… …
Sean Crawford
One time zone inland,
From the west most part of NATO,
February
2026
Afterthoughts:
Given that I attend Remembrance (memorial) Day, without it being political, I respect an athlete’s memorial helmet for war-dead athletes, a helmet that cannot hurt the feelings of any formerly “Russian” athletes at the Olympics this week since Russia is officially not competing.
Extra reading: From the Washington Post, for students with extra time, (ha!) here is Solzhenitsyn, on how to manage lies told under a one-man government. (advice unknown to the White House Press Corps)
Personal note: I too played Terminator 2—Right at the start of my student presentation about the film for our writing class, explaining that the subtitle, T2, was merely for marketing purposes, while the proper title, Judgement Day, carried the theme. The movie, I argued, is judgemental, but also moral. My talk illustrated, using little details, how the script has to be moral for the film to become a major motion picture, even in our supposedly “anything goes” society.
At nearly two and a half minutes, here’s the main title, complete with children’s laughter near the start, that Navalny liked.
