On Direct Confrontation With the Government (Russian Edition)

I regularly point out that it generally makes little sense to confront the government directly. I am mostly thinking about the US government when I write on this topic, but it really can be considered pretty much a universal rule.

Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia’s most prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, and his brother, were recently convicted  of embezzlement. It is largely believed that the charges are trumped up, made as a result of Navalny's aggressive opposition to Putin.

Navalny ran for mayor of Moscow last year, and he won 27.2 percent of the vote. That was obviously sign enough that he was getting to popular and powerful.

Prosecutors are asking the judge for a sentence of 10 years,

NYT informs that local reporters described the men as “in shock” after hearing about the length of the requested prison terms.

But how can the brothers possibly be in shock? Were they not aware of the sentence handed to Putin critic, Mikhail Khodorkovsky?

Aggressively confronting government directly is usually a losers game.

Here's what Navalny can look forward to. Khodorkovsky  recently told FT:

We didn’t get meat very often in prison. And when we did, you never really knew what animal it came from.

-RW