On Pavel Durov and His Recent French Arrest
Pavel Durov, the Telegram CEO, was recently arrested in France. More info here:
Telegram messaging app CEO Durov arrested in France
- Durov arrested in Bourget airport, police sources say
- Telegram says Durov has nothing to hide
- Durov has French and UAE citizenship
- Russia says Durov’s rights should be respected
- Russian lawmaker: freedom of speech is dead in Europe
PARIS/MOSCOW, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire founder and owner of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday and placed in custody, three sources told Reuters.
The arrest of the 39-year-old technology billionaire prompted on Sunday a warning from Moscow to Paris that he should be accorded his rights and criticism from X owner Elon Musk who said that free speech in Europe was under attack.
There was no official confirmation from France of the arrest, but two French police sources and one Russian source who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Durov was arrested shortly after arriving at Le Bourget airport on a private jet from Azerbaijan.
One of the two French police sources said that ahead of the jet’s arrival, police had spotted he was on the passenger list and moved to arrest him because he was the subject of an arrest warrant in France.
There have been a lot of interesting takes on this one. I’m not going to regurgitate them, as most everything and every angle has already been said.
However, one thing that I am seeing that is often overlooked is the nation-state take: Durov’s abandonment of his homeland.
Durov is a Russian. Or at least he was. Before he decided to runoff and be a billionaire-technocrat-world-explorer with no national ties. A supposed money-bot machine that thinks that ‘we’re all the same blood’ with silly borders getting in the way.
He even threw away his native citizenship to trade it in for French and UAE citizenship.
Like all idiot billionaires, he thought money could replace blood. And now he is learning how that is not the case.
Listen, I love Telegram. I enjoy having a spot without interference by the state. I get it. I’m not pro-Russian or anti-anonymous speech. Hell, I am even anonymous here. I think places like Telegram should exist. But the only way they can truly exist for long is under the authority and protection of a genuine nation-state that desires to protect such a thing. Without that nation-state, you get what we have right now: Corrupt corporations masquerading as “free” and “protected” but secretly infiltrated.
The only thing that could actually create a safe and private place for truly anonymous online communication would be something built under a nation-state foundation where that nation decides to care about such protected speech.
We don’t have that because we threw away nationalism/the nation-state. If we truly want such conditions back permanently, we need to get that foundation back first.
Whether anyone likes it or not, your blood and tribe are given to you. It is important and innate. There’s nothing you can do to change it.
You can only fight for them or forsake them; the latter as Durov did. And then you become a lone man against very powerful nation states. Your wealth will only hold you for so long.
Billionaires always think they are insulated. But the time is coming where the capitalist will be destroyed by the very corrupt system that they’ve helped create.
The wealthy are always allowed a far ranging leash. But the ones that truly hold the power (I.e., not the moronic billionaires) can bring it in at any point. As is the case right here with Durov.
The wealthy can choose to fight against this alone, as most do. Or they can choose to fight against this with a nation-state. But in their proper place, as a subordinate within such a system. They often choose incorrectly, just like Durov did.
One of the worst things since the Enlightenment is how the merchant class has come to lead us and become an idol for us. Read this to get a deep understanding of what I mean: Who The Nation Admires.
The merchants are not supposed to lead. It is not their natural position. But under a capitalist world system, they get these imaginations in their heads that they are the top of the line.
But eventually, the true power structure will reassert itself. One where the merchants are placed far below, back where they belong.
True power lies with states and civilizations, not lone wealthy individuals.
The nation-state is natural. This capitalist world system lone-libertarian-against-the-world is unnatural. Eventually, the natural order will always reset itself.
You can fight for your people, or you can fight alone. No other people will ever truly adopt you, even if your shiny citizenship card says otherwise. You can cry about that as much as you want; it doesn’t change the facts. Pavel Durov should be our shining example of that.
Even by betraying his homeland, and doing everything else Clown World demanded of him, he still got smashed by his own adopted state. Reality check.
That is a harsh reality. But it is reality, nonetheless. The sooner the wealthy learn it, the better off we all would be.
Summary newsflash, billionaires: Nation-states defend their own. One man, no matter how rich, will eventually have to pay up to the state. You can only pretend to be a nationless tech untouchable until one of the civilizations or nation-states gets you in their crosshairs. Without your own nation to defend you, you will eventually be destroyed or subjugated, as the worthless foreigner that you are.
Now, with that in mind, how about you choose to help your own people for once?
Read Next: Moronic Billionaires
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