From Russia in protest

Today I watched reports from Alexei Navalny and am in awe for the bravery of this man to challenge the man in power in the Kremlin; Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. 
Navalny released his latest report on Putin's corrupt governance of Russia  what shows in 2 hours what Russia's leader thinks he is; a tsar, who can rob the people of Russia. 

I also watched the stunning  report of Navalny's interrrogating  phonecall with one of his exterminators of August last; who thus named his actions and actually confessed them..

Today's a Historic day for Russia and I wish the Russian people the bravery to free themselves from Putin; I think it would be a gift to Michael Gorbachev if this happened now that he still lives.

 From today's papers I took the following extracts:

"Whoever is silent now commits a crime.

Lawlessness
From Vladivostok to the annexed Crimea, tens of thousands of people took to the streets, despite threats from the Kremlin. They refuse to accept a future in a land of state terror and lawlessness. Because that is what they fear after the failed assassination attempt and subsequent imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The vehemence among the protesters shows that after Navalny's arrest there is still hope for the Russian opposition. In St. Petersburg, protesters blocked Nevsky Prospekt, the main street of Russia's former capital. In the Siberian city of Yakutsk, people demonstrated at minus 50 degrees Celsius. And even in the annexed Crimea - a military stronghold of Putin - people took to the streets against Putin.

Protests outside the densely populated cities of Western Russia have occurred earlier, but not on this scale. It is not yet Belarus or Hong Kong with hundreds of thousands of protesters on the streets, but the fact that people across the country face the danger of arrest and the winter temperatures of sometimes minus 50 should give the opposition new courage and confidence.

"The question is whether this turnout will get the older protest generation out of their homes, because those older people have stayed at home. Out of despair and because demonstrating is dangerous. You can get into trouble at school or at work and there are always a few detainees who are actually convicted to frighten the rest. The Kremlin is confident that it can win this with the usual repression of banning demonstrations and heavy-handed arrests.
Protests outside the densely populated cities of Western Russia have occurred earlier, but not on this scale. It is not yet Belarus or Hong Kong with hundreds of thousands of protesters on the streets, but the fact that people across the country face the danger of arrest and the winter temperatures of sometimes minus 50 should give the opposition new courage and confidence.

"The question is whether this turnout will get the older protest generation out of their homes, because those older people have stayed at home. Out of despair and because demonstrating is dangerous. You can get into trouble at school or at work and there are always a few detainees who are actually convicted to frighten the rest. The Kremlin is confident that it can win this with the usual repression of banning demonstrations and heavy-handed arrests.

Thanks to the young protesters, the atmosphere is also full of humor. In that documentary, a gold toilet brush worth a thousand dollars passed, so just as a protester with a pee brush climbed a lamp post, the crowd started to laugh. There are also snowmen with toilet brushes for arms. Another recurring theme is the blue underpants, because when Navalny was poisoned, they put that novichok on his blue underpants. "

So after the umbrella revolution in Hong Kong, Russia will have its underpants uprising?
"Much will depend on the response of the international community in the near future. What does Joe Biden do when he sees thousands of Russians arrested? And what is the European Union doing?

"Today is a tipping point for the Russian opposition: a huge turnout, despite Putin's clear willingness to take out his opponents. This is a historic event. "