Yes, all the same, UK prison cells and Russian Gulag with people tortured and worked to death. There is no difference between a $10 fine for parking in the wrong spot and the death sentence. The later is just a little bit more "harsh".
I'm not pro-Russia, pro-Putin or pro-anyone-who-detains-opposition-for-life. I'm also not pro people saying "Russia bad" when these things happen everywhere and somehow think they are morally superior.
You keep shifting your arguments around.
"Save the Children"
So it's no longer about political prisoners (I assume you think Assange is one), but about children?
"we happily send billions of dollars to a country"
Who is we? You have sent billions of dollars to the US? I haven't.
I thought the article was about Russia, why exactly are we talking about the US prison system now? What is the goal? Making the Russian Gulag look good? Improving the US prison system?
I've campaigned against the US prison system with AI. Did you? If you didn't, it's simply Whataboutism.
Whataboutism has one goal, and one goal alone: Deflect criticism.
"I'm not pro-Russia"
You're words tell a different story.
"morally superior."
Straw man argument.
I or you don't have to prove any alliance here. I could be burning a Russian flag in front of your eyes and you would probably still find a reason why I cannot have criticism on one side doing exactly the same injustices and (criminal) acts as the regime of the flag I just burned. Let me be clear that Navalny should not have been treated and died the way he did and in a fair justice system people would be held accountable.
That doesn't mean I cannot state an opinion that it is repulsive things like this happen everywhere yet somehow one side doing it is worse than the other and claims the moral high ground. They are both bad.
You are using logical fallacies to make a point. The UK does not set out to kill political prisoners in it's prison system. It hasn't done since at least the 80s (depending on your view of the 6 counties)
> we happily send billions of dollars to a country
who are a different sovereignty, outside of our control.
Realpolitik here. The world is unsavoury, The "West" wages war, just like russia, china, india and empires of old. However, the crucial point here is that even the UK, doesn't routinely imprison people for political crimes, that is, having an opposing view of the present government. There are, for the moment freedoms and rights that we enjoy.
Lord know it's trying (see protest laws) but the difference in outcome is stark. I can freely say that Sunak is a total failure, a posh wanker who has made things worse for the populace. At no point will that comment land me in jail. If I stand for office and say the same thing, I will not end up dead two years later.
Your viewpoint that the UK is just as "morally free" as russia, really doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Sure, you can support the end of USA hegemony, but that doesn't mean that Russia is a bastion of freedom.
In 1977 the Balmcombe Street IRA ASU was arrested, and proclaimed the Guildford Four were innocent. It later came our that police had lied and submitted false evidence during the trial.
All to further the British occupation of Ireland which is similar to the Russian occupation of the Ukraine.
Yes UK prison cells are the same. The British tested torture techniques on Irish they arrested in the 1970s, there is a book called the Guineapigs about it.
So 1977 is today? (personally when making that argument I'd use the Boers genocide by the British in the prison system, would have more impact). The dungeons of 1244 France are the same as the prison system in France today? The German prison system today is the same as in 1944? What kind of physics theory of time equivalence is that?
Did the UK torture prisoners. Sure. Should someone go to jail for this. Sure. Is todays UK prison system the same as Russias Gulag? No.
British occupation of Ireland ended over a 100 years ago. And many people in Northern Ireland do not want to be part of the ROI. There would have been no conflict if that wasn't the case.
I have strongly criticized the British actions during The Troubles in the past on many difference fronts, but to equate the invasion of Ukraine with the complex situation in NI is offensively misinformed.