Navalny Died in "Arctic Soviet Gulag," Biden Had Prior Knowledge of Russian "Space Nuke," Elon Puts Brain Chip in Patient Who Can Control a Computer Mouse with His Mind (The Five for 02/20/24)
Plus, Ecuador descends further into gang violence, Roommate murder at Colorado college.
Hey, welcome to The Five.
Fair warning…the news is…quite heavy today.
[one]
In Russia, Putin’s biggest critic died this week of “Sudden Death Syndrome” according to Russian officials. There MAY have been some reasons for that, according tot the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, who reported on Navalny’s Arctic Gulag confinement:
Navalny spent three years in Russian prisons, but the concrete cage in the mountainous far north is considered one of the country's toughest.
Analysts say it's designed to break inmates physically and mentally.
Prisoners reportedly endure beatings, medical neglect and stretches of time outdoors in wet clothes in below freezing temperatures.
Through social media updates, written and posted by his lawyers, Navalny shared some of the conditions he faced at the "special regime" prison up until his mysterious death on February 16.
Through his signature dark humour and irony, the 47-year-old didn't want his treatment and torture to be forgotten.
Navalny suffered health issues throughout his time in prison, and had effectively returned from the dead after he was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent in 2020.
Guards played on his health vulnerabilities by making him share a small cell with an inmate with gastric issues and diarrhoea.
He was also placed in a cell with a prisoner with serious tuberculosis, an infectious disease that is a particular threat to people whose health is already fragile.
The Australian Broadcasting Coporation goes on to cite Professor Robert Horvath of Latrobe University in Melbourne, Australia, who commented that the Gulag system of the old USSR has “not been seriously reformed” since the USSR fell. Communism may not have lasted, but the torture tactics sure did.
Alexei Navalnly left behind two young children, as well as his widow, Yulia, who are all living in Germany. Yulia has vowed to take up her husband’s work in fighting the Kremlin. She joined Twitter this week, and was briefly suspended, which Twitter claims was an “error.”
Originally a lawyer by trade, Alexei rose to prominence in 2008 after uncovering major embezzlement at state-owned oil and gas corporations, which led to his rise as a blogger on Russian corruption. He later ran for Mayor of Moscow and lost, and attempted to challenge Putin in a Presidential run, but was denied by the state.
The U.S. has announced a “major sanctions” package against Russia as a result of Navalny’s death, which leads to the question “what exactly is there left to sanction after we sanctioned everything due to the Ukraine war.”
[two]
You know that thing where Russia has a space nuke that could knock out our satellites and cripple our economy? Well, Biden has known a lot longer than you.
One reason U.S. officials didn’t widely disseminate intelligence about Russia’s efforts to develop a new space weapon: The administration was trying to start talks to convince Russia to back off the program.
Senior intelligence and administration officials had been reaching out to Russia — along with India and China as possible intermediaries — about the project for weeks before it became public, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the outreach.
The intelligence indicated that Russia might be planning to start tests of the device — a space-based antisatellite weapon with nuclear capabilities, the people said. Both were granted anonymity to speak about ongoing sensitive negotiations with Moscow.
The two people said that the administration had been worried that if the program became more widely known in Congress or in the public, that might scuttle the nascent efforts to get Russia to abort those tests. The Biden administration had also worried, they said, that if the details of the intelligence were revealed, the source of that information might dry up.
What exactly are we “bargaining” with here…we’re funding and arming the Ukrainian army, who are in open war with Russia. “Don’t blow up our economy so we can continue to have money to fund the people killing your soldiers” seems like a very tough sell….
[three]
Well, the first person/computer hybrid is a reality, as of this morning.
The first human patient implanted with a brain-chip from Neuralink appears to have fully recovered and is able to control a computer mouse using their thoughts, the startup’s founder, Elon Musk, said late on Monday.
“Progress is good, and the patient seems to have made a full recovery, with no ill effects that we are aware of. Patient is able to move a mouse around the screen by just thinking,” Musk said in a Spaces event on the social media platform X.
Musk said Neuralink was now trying to get as many mouse button clicks as possible from the patient. Neuralink did not immediately reply to a request for further details.
The firm successfully implanted a chip on its first human patient last month, after receiving approval for human trial recruitment in September.
The study uses a robot to surgically place a brain-computer interface implant in a region of the brain that controls the intention to move, Neuralink has said, adding that the initial goal was to enable people to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts.
Musk has grand ambitions for Neuralink, saying it would facilitate speedy surgical insertions of its chip devices to treat conditions like obesity, autism, depression and schizophrenia.
Yeah, this terrifies me, personally. I can’t imagine handing over my mind to a computer, but the research on this is moving forward at a concerning speed.
[four]
A college student has been arrested for allegedly murdering his roommate and a woman in the dorm room the pair shared.
The suspect arrested on murder charges in the fatal shooting of two people at a University of Colorado Colorado Springs dorm was the roommate of one of the victims, police said.
Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez on Tuesday morning confirmed to NBC News that suspect Nicholas Jordan, 25, of Detroit, was the roommate of victim Samuel Knopp, a senior at the school.
Knopp, 24, and Celie Rain Montgomery, 26, who was not a student, were found dead Friday morning at the university’s Crestone House residence.
The deaths triggered an hourlong campus lockdown until it was determined there was no active shooter, and were being investigated as homicides.
An arrest warrant was issued for Jordan — a student at the university — late Friday on two counts of first-degree murder. He was located in a vehicle Monday morning and taken into custody in Colorado Springs, police said on social media.
Vasquez said officials were concerned during the search that Jordan could have fled the area.
[five]
Ecuador, a nation I have vistited twice, now operates in a semi-lawless state with drug cartels controlling (arguably) as much as the official government. This recent wave of anarchy kicked off when Kingpin José Adolfo Macías escaped from…a very luxurious prison, allegedly heavily influence by the gangs.
With its four-piece bathroom suite, queen-size bed and mini fridge, the untidy prison cell of the notorious leader of the Los Choneros gang, José Adolfo Macías, could have been in a hotel instead of one of Ecuador’s largest prison complexes.
This is “better than at home… [he] lives like a king,” a soldier exclaims in the second of several videos showing Macías’ room and personal grassy courtyard, filled with half a dozen of his pet fighting roosters. The videos, shared with CNN, were taken in La Regional prison and filmed by members of the military last year.
In another video shot inside Macías’ prison cell, a colorful mural depicting the gang leader better known as “Fito,” warns “silver or lead.” The phrase, popularized by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, offers the grim choice of taking a bribe or being shot – a possible warning to prison staff.
The clips offer more evidence to the stark reality that Ecuador’s prison system has turned into the headquarters for criminal groups that have amassed foot soldiers and influence across the country, experts say. In less than a decade, organized crime has turned the relatively peaceful country into one of the most dangerous places in Latin America.
Prison massacres have become more frequent in recent years, leading to the deaths of hundreds of people, some of whom were found dismembered. In the latest riots, more than 130 prison guards and administrative employees were kidnapped across several prisons. They have since been released.
“The criminal groups have all the control [of the prisons] – that’s why Fito had all those benefits in prison: TV, internet, food, alcohol, women – everything he wants,” Jean Paul Pinto, an Ecuadorian security expert who has previously advised Ecuador’s police and intelligence agency, told CNN.
Experts speculate that those freedoms the drug kingpin enjoyed while incarcerated are also why he was able to escape La Regional prison – a jailbreak that captured the attention of the world and kicked off a storm of violence across the country last month.
Al Jazeera reports that many Ecuadorians are afraid to leave their homes, and essential businesses remain closed for fears of being randomly slaughtered in gang violence.
Until the next one,
-sth