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Caged in Court, Navalny Mocks Putin and Chases Fans

Navalny was back in court on Friday for the next hearing in the defamation case, showing no signs of backing down as he berated the judge.

“Stop shaming yourself and enrol in some courses to improve your knowledge of the laws of the Russian Federation,” Navalny said, backing a request from his lawyer for the judge to be replaced.

If the February 2 hearing was a piece of political drama, then the defamation trial has become a comedy, said political analyst Anton Orekh.

But the appearances are also Navalny’s only chance to keep up his fight against the authorities.

“If you don’t have an opportunity to take part in polls and speak in parliament, if you don’t have an opportunity to peacefully take to the streets and express your feelings and thoughts, if you have been stripped of access to state TV channels, the only thing that remains is a courtroom stand,” Orekh wrote on his blog.

Since emerging as the Kremlin’s top critic a decade ago, Navalny has stood in stark contrast to Putin and painted the 68-year-old as out of touch.

In the age of social media, Navalny’s courtroom theatrics are especially appealing to young Russians, Kalachev said.

“Putin is losing support among young people, polls show it,” he said. “For young people, he is like an alien, a man from the moon.”

Navalny “speaks the same language as young people, they can see themselves in him,” Kalachev added. “His clothes, his tastes, his wife, his family… he represents the urban middle class.”

Source: Caged in Court, Navalny Mocks Putin and Chases Fans

In Latest Attack On Trans Athletes, Georgia Republicans Now Want to Scrutinize Young Girls’ Genitals

GOP is obsessed with looking in people’s pants…! zoo8oni0jjyzzejz1q3h.jpg

Joining their colleagues in more than a dozen states around the country, Republicans in Georgia last week introduced a bill that would bar trans girls in high schools and public universities from participating in sports according to their gender identity, defining “gender” as based solely on “a person’s reproductive…

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Myanmar grants prisoner amnesty as Facebook blocks military misinformation | Financial Times

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Facebook, which is used by almost 40 per cent of the population, said on Friday it was reducing access to a swath of military-run pages and profiles, and “treating the situation in Myanmar as an emergency”.  The social media company said it would take action against the pages, including the “True News Information Team”, a military propaganda outlet, and other pages which the company accused of spreading misinformation. Facebook said it was “reducing the distribution” of the pages, meaning users would see significantly less of the content in their news feeds. The US company also suspended government agencies’ ability to send content removal requests by asking for accounts to be suspended or posts taken down.

Myanmar’s dissenters have circumvented the blocks on social media sites by using virtual private networks to voice opposition to the coup and spread news about protests. Demonstrations were held in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, the eastern city of Mawlamyine and elsewhere for the seventh consecutive day on Friday. Anti-China sentiment also flared across the country this week, with social media users alleging that the junta had enlisted Chinese support to implement the draft cyber security law or build an internet-blocking firewall. Protesters gathered on Friday outside the embassies of China and Russia, whose governments they accused of supporting the junta.

Source: Myanmar grants prisoner amnesty as Facebook blocks military misinformation | Financial Times