THE traffic death of Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny reminds us of the dark mind of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Navalny represented a popular, electoral threat to Putin, and that explains his cruel treatment by Putin.

Could international society have saved Navalny? The answer is yes. But it didn’t. It must not let the same fate befall Julian Assange who like Navalny is in a prison a long time now and his alleged crime is based on political vendetta, as in the case of Navalny.

By the time Navalny lay dying in the inhumanly cold temperature of Siberia, the West has utilised all its opportunities of putting pressure on Russia to save Navalny. The West since the Russian invasion of Ukraine has utilised all its sanctions on Russia, so there was no room to negotiate for Navalny’s release.

One of the flawed approaches of the West to Russia is its relentless crusade against Russia long before Ukraine ever became the centre of global attention. When Russia invented its COVID-19 vaccine, the US refused entry to anyone in the world that took a Sputnik vaccine. This was just plain, spiteful politics.

The US leaned heavily on Germany not to pursue the Nord Stream pipeline with Russia. When you relentlessly harass a country like that, you lose any leeway with it because it thinks you are inflexibly hateful. Navalny was a victim of such Western myopia. His death is yet another indication that Putin is not going to allow a strong opposition in Russia.

Unfortunately, the Russian invasion has allowed Putin to salvage some credibility which was declining before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. What has happened is that many important and strategic countries in the Global South have viewed the Western response to the invasion as hypocritical.

The Global South have taken the position that invasion by any country must be condemned against the background of respect for international law; and the West cannot condemn Russia while there have been Western interventions in several Arab states. Western double standards in relation to genocide in Gaza have thrown a lifeline to Putin.

Few countries in the Global South will pay any attention to Navalny’s tragic death, because they will ask why one man is more important than more than 20, 000 Palestinian women and children.

The people of the developing world will not give a moment of reflection to Navalny’s death because they will ask why his demise is more important that 30, 000 victims of genocide in Gaza. Navalny’s death then is so tragic, because his was made a victim of the hypocrisy inherent in the relations among states.

But while we must condemn Putin’s authoritarian mind for Navalny’s death, the West have another Navalny in their own prison. He is Julian Assange. All the western media predict that Trump will destroy the US if he gets back in power and that while in power he did incredibly undemocratic things, one of which was to incite insurrection against the Biden victory.

Yet it is this same unhinged man who brought charges against Mr. Assange. So how, on the one hand, we can condemn Trump for doing bad things but accept his imprisonment of Assange? The Biden administration through the words of Secretary of State Blinken, in response to a release request from the current Australian Prime Minister, has justified the charges against Assange.

Mr. Assange has not taken any documents as an employee from the US Government. He was given documents by a US intelligence employee, Chelsea Manning, who was charged and pardoned by President Obama. Mr. Assange passed on the documents to the New York Times, Le Monde and the Guardian and they printed what Assange gave them.

Mr. Assange’s supporters argued that he is being crucified for his courageous journalism. There are serious questions surrounding Mr. Assange’s health. A deteriorating situation is causing alarm and there is justified fear that he may die in prison.

How can we isolate the case of Navalny for special consideration and not put focus on Assange? Why is a Russian opposition leader’s death and detention more important than the fate of the imprisoned Assange? It is in these situations that people in the Third World question the West’s adherence to international law.

When Belarus intercepted a plane in international air space and forced it to land to arrest an anti-government journalist, the West sanctioned Belarus but Putin argued that the US did the identical thing when it intercepted a plane carrying the Ecuadorian president to arrest Assange, whom they thought was on the plane. Navalny’s death must be blamed on Putin. Should we allow Assange to die when we can save him?