Free Navalny!

Houston TX

02 February, 2021

5:11 PM

Description

Starting in 2016, Russia landed on my radar. Vlad Putin's Russia didn't fly through, like most of those various internet bursts of activity, it landed. I'm not going rehash those early days, but I discuss them at length here: [1] "Washington, we have a problem. My experience with (probably) Russian interference in local politics."https://patch.com/texas/housto...[2] "Is the Russian FSB targeting USA military recruits? Two incidents on Facebook have caught my attention: directed hacking & a false military recruiter. I see a vulnerability."https://patch.com/texas/housto... Needless to say, I've been watching and trying to empathize with the source of this activity to understand, predict, and nudge it into more positive efforts. An invaluable source for understanding Vlad has been the admirable and brave leader: Mr. Alexei Navalny. While Mr. Navalny has been tireless in tracing Vlad's many, many, many corrupt enterprises, I've been tracking the inevitable fallout from such poor leadership: massive safety violations with no consequences. A light survey includes:[A] 2018 Kemerovo fire: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...[B] Nyonoksa radiation accident: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...[C] Kamchatka Toxic Spill Disaster: https://www.forbes.com/sites/n... And that's just what happens to make the international news. I've randomly received articles pushed into my feed from Russia discussing (a) a town area with no water supply, lasting 20 years, (b) trains operated with missing parts, and (c) a disturbing trend of defenestrating anyone who thinks Russia can do better. Yowzaa! So now with the arrest and imprisonment of Mr. Navalny, I think that we should all find ways to help out former President Trump's favorite nation. Here locally, there's a Russian Consulate, and I'd like to encourage everyone who has some free time to contact its personnel, and let them know that "Corruption is antithetical to safety. They need to free Mr. Navalny." Now is really the time to push. In safety, we discuss the "Near-Miss Relationship" or Safety Triangle in that for every Serious incident, there are 600 Close Calls or near-misses. If we look at the disasters above, [A] happened in 2018, [B] happened in 2019, [C] happened in 2020. (COVID clearly is happening now, but it remains to be seen how bad it is.) Unfortunately, Russia is due for another disaster with Close Calls occurring twice daily on average. Consulate General of the Russian Federation in HoustonAddress: 1333 West Loop South, Unit 1300, Houston, TX 77027, United StatesPhone: +1 713 337 3300https://www.yelp.com/biz/consu... For anyone who happens to go in person: there appears to be a small, fun looking adult gym area outside of the parking lot... Elizabeth Jensen, PhD, PE, CSPTreasurerReferee PAChttps://refpac.org/