Gil Duran and George Lakoff write:

Alexey Navalny was one thing Vladimir Putin can never be: heroic.

Navalny’s murder, carried out by Putin’s agents in an Arctic Circle prison on February 16, is a testament to this fact. The dictator could only beat him by killing him — or so he believed.

Even now, Putin continues to fear his murdered opponent. He refused for weeks to hand Navalny’s body over to his family for burial. The punishment for Navalny’s crime continued even after his death.

Let’s always remember the “crime” for which Navalny gave his life: the act of believing in democracy and freedom. His audacious and insistent hope that Russia could one day be free from the chains of corruption and dictatorship terrified Putin. The mere act of using his voice to inspire others apparently constituted an existential danger to the dictator.

The murder of Navalny provided a depressing end to a two-week run during which Putin — with lots of help from prominent Republicans — dominated the news. [Continue reading…]