It was reported in the BBC News today that he was poisoned with Novichok!
DK
Angela Merkel made a speech announcing that Alexei Navalny was poisoned. I had not understood how the news was broken. This is very serious diplomatically.
Yep, @dk168 it's all over the news here.
My phone was down this afternoon and I didn't get home until now...
The German Chancellor seems to be pretty certain. German military confirmed it was - as suspected from the beginning- a neurotoxin from the Cholinesterase inhibitor family.
German Chancellor formally called in the Russian Ambassador.
She publicly condemned this and appears to have said that the poison seems to have been procured by Russian officials...
She was very very clear about the gravity of the situation.
I missed two of your posts while I was posting Chancellor Merkel's speech, @kipari. I see that, indeed, this is causing a huge diplomatic incident. (I can't keep up with this thread!)
Deb
Especially if you know her at all. She's extremely Science-minded at when in doubt will rather wait than act.
Well...she has a doctorate in physics. One pundit here in the States commented on the irony of our presidential candidate Joe Biden's wife always being referred to as "Dr. Biden" because she has a doctoral degree in education, while Chancellor Merkel, who has a doctorate in physics, is known simply as "Angela".
Some good news. Alexei Navalny has been brought out of his coma.
Sept. 7, 2020,
"BERLIN — The Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny is no longer in a medically induced coma and is responsive, doctors treating him at the Charité hospital in Berlin said on Monday. But they did not rule out lasting damage from what they called his 'severe poisoning' with what the German government has said was a military-grade nerve agent.
Mr. Navalny was flown to Germany on Aug. 22 for treatment of a suspected poisoning. Specialists from the German Army later determined the poison came from the Novichok family of substances developed by the Soviet Union and used at least once before on an opponent of the Kremlin.
Ties between Berlin and Moscow, already strained over Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea and suspected involvement in the slaying of a Chechen rebel commander in a Berlin park last year, have been further eroded by the poisoning of Mr. Navalny.
The German government has demanded an explanation from Russia, but the Kremlin does not seem inclined to offer one, saying it has not yet been shown proof that Mr. Navalny was poisoned.
Mr. Navalny has been brought out of the medically induced coma and is being weaned from a respirator, the hospital said in a statement. 'He is responsive to verbal stimuli' the statement said.'It remains too early to gauge the potential long-term effects of his severe poisoning.'"
German authorities have called upon the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons( OPCW) to collect Navalny's blood and urine samples from Berlin's Charité hospital today.
They are certain that Russian authorities were involved in the poisoning (because of the strong nerve agent used AND because of the tight surveillance from the FSB he was under).
They have also stated that he was definitely supposed to die - only the pilot's decision to land in Omsk saved his life.
forever
This bothers me a lot, she used to be a good friend of Putin. He is also "forever" kind of a ruler. She is different, and Germany is not Russia, but why they have someone who is there for them "forever"?
@Musia , both points are not accurate.
She's never been a " friend " of Putin at all.
She was born into a Lutheran Pastor's family in West Germany, but her family went to East Germany when she was a baby. This was because her dad wanted to help people of faith under the communist regime in de GDR. Her family was part of the resistance there. Spied upon by the secret service (stasi).
Growing up she learned Russian in school.
In the beginning Putin wasn't the autocrat he revealed himself to be and all leaders of the free world had high hopes.
He was stationed in Germany as a young soldier. So everyone thought there must be a good chance for a positive relationship between these two.
His "friend" In Germany was ex Chancellor Gerhard Schröder who got a high paying job at the board of a Russian oil company. Years after his active political career.
Public outcry was huge.
Regarding the term "ruler" : please don't mix up different political systems.
Angela Merkel is Germany's chancellor. she is taking all decisions, but is heavily relying on her party and the parliament. We do have a multi party system where she has to seek coalitions with one or more political parties.
The protocolarian head of state in Germany is the president. ATM Frank Walter Steinmeier. He can only serve two terms max (4 y).
So when the Queen comes to visit, her state banquet counterpart is the president.
He is supposed to NOT interfere too much in every day politics and is supposed to be a unifying entity. He is not elected directly, but indirectly by parliament. It's obviously a highly prestigious position and his word in moral decisions etc counts a lot.
Your question " why they have someone who is there for them "forever"? " is easily answered:
"Forever "is 14 years in this case. The German people have given her party sufficient votes to form a government for 14 years in a row.
Her party and the party the have formed coalitions with have sufficient faith in her to grant her the position of Chancellor in said government every time.
The max. term number for a German Chancellor has not been limited in the German constitution.
And yes, @mellowyellowgirl , her succession has always been a topic of discussion. As I said: the German political system stresses parties a lot and the chancellor is supposed to be a person who is well versed in all topics. It's not an election on personality at all. People vote party. But since we have more than two, it's less divisive than in a two party system.
She will leave a huge gap, especially in the international context, where people have come to respect her. But the next German Chancellor will also be a tried and true person , approved by more or less both sides of the aisle.
Every time the Russian officials reference Crimea as Russian territory EU will issue a statement that EU doesn't recognize this status and it's unlawful.
Annexation of Crimea had happened "peacefully", but the war that is going on is long and bloody. The Russians also brought their Buk Missile System to the territory controlled by them and they crashed Malaysia airplane, and nothing serious had happened. IMO, EU can do nothing in order to punish Putin and Russia. I personally expected much more severe actions. But Russia is still there, and Putin is doing well inside of his country. They will deny their involvement this time too, of course, they didn't poison Navalny. I even don't know why they did it, Navalny wasn't tremendously popular in Russia, he didn't have a great support among even opposition which is weak and disorganized. FSB was following him, of course, but I don't think he was a great threat to Putin. Only opinion, I remember we are not allowed to discuss politics.
FSB was following him, of course, but I don't think he was a great threat to Putin. Only opinion, I remember we are not allowed to discuss politics.
Problem is that no one wants and can afford to start a full on war on Russia evidently. And even sanctions are always a fine line to thread. They are supposed to hurt the wrong - doer, not the local population.