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A comment on Chelsea Manning Is Expected to Leave Prison, 28 Years Early. Parent comment

Re:Chelsea Manning Is Expected to Leave Prison, 28 Years Early by accountyaccount on Wednesday May 17, 2017 @11:43AM (#14359548)
>I also do not draw a major distinction between attempting to prosecute American journalists under the espionage act and simply having them killed

I'm no expert, but _attempting_ to prosecute and actually killing is probably a worthwhile distinction.

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Re:Chelsea Manning Is Expected to Leave Prison, 28 Years Early by grandalf on Wednesday May 17, 2017 @12:33PM (#14360083)
> I'm no expert, but _attempting_ to prosecute and actually killing is probably a worthwhile distinction.

You're being too charitable. Both have the same intent. The more asymmetrically powerful the ruler is, the less lethal the threat needs to be to create a chilling effect.

For example, rival gang members (with power parity) must kill each-other because they lack other mechanisms of coercion and must play their only card in the moment.

Creating martyrs is always sub-optimal compared to catching and incarcerating "criminals" or forcing compliance by the threat of capture or alienation/ostracism.

As a thought experiment, which state has stronger control over its citizens, Russia or Singapore?

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