This is truly a noble gesture by an independent Russian journalist whose publication was closed by V. Putin. He says the Nobel Prize should have gone to Alexei Navalny, the bold leader of the opposition to Putin, who was imprisoned for nine years for opposing Putin; Navalny was warned a few days ago that another 15 years may be added to his prison sentence, just because…
After winning the Nobel Peace Prize last October, the Russian journalist Dmitri A. Muratov said he thought the honor should have gone to a different Russian: the jailed opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny.
Mr. Muratov, the editor of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta (who shared the prize with the journalist Maria Ressa of Rappler, a news outlet in the Philippines), later announced that he would donate his roughly $500,000 in prize money to support various charitable causes.
And now, Mr. Muratov — whose paper suspended publication in late March, saying Russia’s increasingly draconian press laws made it impossible to truthfully cover the war in Ukraine — is giving away the 23-karat gold Nobel medal itself.
On June 20, the medal will be sold in New York by Heritage Auctions. All proceeds will go to UNICEF.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yes, let’s celebrate a man who called Muslims “cockroaches” by giving him a Nobel. It would fit right in with Obama and Kissinger getting Nobels.
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Good point, if true — that would make him almost as bad as Tulsi Gabbard when she tweeted this @3:08 PM, Sep 11, 2021:
“Let us #NeverForget that it was the Islamist ideology which inspired the terrorist attacks and declaration of war against America on 9/11. And it is this Islamist ideology that continues to fuel terrorist attacks around the world…”
Oddly, some on the left who hate Dems actually like Tulsi Gabbard instead of condemning her as another Kissinger.
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I think I will take Dmitri Muratov’s view over yours, Dienne. He is a genuine hero. He has maintained an independent journal despite threats by Putin, despite the murders imof journalists who worked for him. I believe he knows more about Navalny than you do. In his eyes, Navalny deserves the Nobel for his courageous opposition to Putin, which continued even after he nearly died of poisoning. I suggest you watch the CNN special about Navalny. Muratov is a brave man, and so is Navalny. You should be more skeptical of what you read.
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Remind me to check in with you about your core ethics when your home is being bombed, your friends and neighbors are being killed numerously at random, and you are forced to flee to secular god knows where.
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Disinformation, Dienne.
Read the comments here: https://archive.org/details/VideoAlexeiNavalnyComparesMuslimsToCockroaches
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There are still some good people left on this planet that want to do good things and truly care about others.
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Meanwhile, Tucker Kookson started writing a new piece exposing the threat Muratov and Navalny pose to Americans…
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That’s Tucker McNear Swanson Montgomery Burns Kookson
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I hope Mr. Muratov isn’t living in Russia and he’s keeping his location a secret. Anyone Putin thinks is a threat of any kind or doesn’t totally agree with him usually ends up poisoned, dead or in prison. Poison is usually reserved for those that live outside of Russia.
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As of April 27, he was still living in Putinlandia and he was attacked. Someone threw red paint with acetone on Muratov and it has affected his eyesight.
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Six of the Novaya Gazeta’s journalists have been killed over the years because of their work holding the Russian government and its military to account. That is mind-boggling.
As reported by NPR (KGOU), 4-7-22.
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De-escalation, diplomacy, and détente will end this war. Purchasing more weapons with which to escalate and/or prolong this war isn’t going to reduce casualties, destruction, or result in a peaceful resolution. Zelensky ran for office in 2019 as a peace candidate, and he should be allowed to negotiate and end to this war.
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Huh?! What about Putin, you know, the guy whose military invaded the Ukraine in the first place. Ukraine did not invade Russia. The onus is on Putin to stop warring against Ukraine and to get the heck out of there. Putin is not a peace candidate, he’s a war autocrat and virtual dictator, he’s responsible for the slaughters and bloodshed.
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The war will go on until Putin decides to negotiate. He has already seized 20% of Ukraine. He wants more. He wants all of Ukraine. I’d love to hear ideas about how to get him to stop the aggression.
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James Eales,
Yes, I suggest you lead a delegation of like-minded people to Moscow where you will all hold signs demanding that the war end and all actions that cause casualties stop.
I’m sure you will get a very peaceful response. Remember, you do that in Moscow and some other people will do it in Kyiv and we will see which country’s leaders want the war to end.
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Mr. Eales and Dienne77 would actually have to be against Russia’s making war on Ukraine in order for them to engage in such protest, and ofc, yes, if they were against the war, and if they engaged in such a protest, they would end up two of Putin’s vast numbers of political prisoners. These people are utterly deluded.
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Dienne and James seem actually to believe that Putin is gloriously liberating Ukraine from Nazis.
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Russia getting the ____ out of Ukraine will end this war.
Then there will be the issue of how one repatriates the 1.4 million Ukrainians forcibly removed by Russia to Russia in violation of the antigenocide and crimes against humanity provisions of international law.
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Bob Shepherd wrote, “Dienne and James seem actually to believe that Putin is gloriously liberating Ukraine from Nazis.” Alas, I oppose all wars, and I never suggested anything like the opinion that Mr. Shepherd attributes to me. I assume most readers will recognize the straw man argument voiced by Mr. Shepherd, at least when attempting to counter my words here.
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I said “seem.” Glad to hear that you do not support Putin’s illegal, murderous war.
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This is anecdotal, so take it for what it might be worth, but in the first few days of random conversations with various Europeans, they have greater faith in the U.S. than many Americans like me do. I think that has to do with their knowledge of history and is obviously affected by a lack of personal interactions during the pandemic. Tonight I happened to be in a restaurant at a table next to one of the most prominent left wing members of the German parliament. Ended up speaking to him and he was convinced the U.S. would find its way, after all look at the great job Biden is doing on rallying NATO. He seemed baffled when I told him Biden was getting no credit and 40% of Americans have embraced fascism and at least 10% were malleable.
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My estimated stats: 10% fascist. 30% willing to travel with them. 30% hostile to them. 30% apolitical.
Are you really Forrest Gump? You always run into the most interesting people.
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Although I’m generally a shy and withdrawn person, my job requires me to travel a lot and introduce myself and what I do to people I don’t know. So it carries over a little. Years ago when I really traveled a lot, I was in an airport with Ronaldinho, arguably the best player in the world then and people came up to me to have me take pics since I didn’t have a camera. That started an autograph booklet that includes people like Elvis Costello, Alice Cooper, Marcia Wallace (Bob Newhart Show and The Simpsons), Kristi Yamaguchi, Sam Donaldson, Cheryl Teigs, and some other famous soccer players. They generally enjoy chatting with people if they’re alone. Didn’t have it with me last night, doggone it. It’ll be a fun graduation gift.
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