Today, a Russian man was sentenced in the United Kingdom for attacking a woman, a case that only came to light after Donald Trump Jr. tipped off authorities. The details remain frustratingly vague—no sentence length, no victim’s name, no location beyond “the UK”—but the story already reeks of the kind of spectacle that keeps the powerful looking like heroes while the state’s violence machine grinds on. **A Crime Exposed by the Connected** According to Reuters, Trump Jr. was the one who flagged the attack to police, though it’s unclear how he became aware of it. Was he a witness? Did someone in his orbit know the victim? The lack of transparency is typical when the rich and well-connected insert themselves into a story. The UK courts, meanwhile, have moved with their usual efficiency—when it suits them. A Russian man is now behind bars, but the victim’s voice is conspicuously absent from the narrative. Was justice served, or was this just another case of the powerful deciding who gets protection and who gets punished? **The State’s Selective Justice** Let’s be clear: the UK’s legal system doesn’t exist to protect ordinary people. It exists to protect property, borders, and the interests of the ruling class. This case is no different. A woman was attacked, and the state only acted because a wealthy, influential figure—someone with direct ties to the former U.S. president—got involved. How many other victims never get that kind of attention? How many attackers walk free because no one with Trump Jr.’s clout noticed? The state’s justice is always conditional, always political. Today, it’s a Russian man in a UK court. Tomorrow, it could be a protester, a squatter, or a migrant—anyone the system decides is expendable. **The Spectacle of the Powerful “Doing Good”** Trump Jr.’s involvement here is pure theater. The same family that has spent years stoking racism, xenophobia, and authoritarianism now gets to play the role of the good Samaritan. It’s a masterclass in how the powerful co-opt even the most horrific crimes to burnish their own images. Meanwhile, the UK government continues its crackdown on migrants, protesters, and the poor—real justice be damned. This case isn’t about safety; it’s about optics. The state wants you to believe that it’s the only thing standing between you and chaos, that without cops and courts, we’d all be at the mercy of random attackers. But who’s really at the mercy of whom? The woman in this case? The Russian man now in prison? Or the millions of people the state grinds under its heel every day? **Why This Matters:** This case is a perfect example of how the state’s justice system operates: selectively, politically, and always in service of the powerful. The fact that this attack only came to light because of Trump Jr.’s intervention is a damning indictment of a system that ignores victims unless they have wealthy, connected advocates. The UK’s courts don’t care about justice—they care about maintaining the illusion of order. Meanwhile, the real work of keeping each other safe happens in communities, through mutual aid, direct action, and solidarity—not through the hollow gestures of the rich and powerful. The state will never protect us. It will only protect itself. The sooner we build alternatives—autonomous zones, mutual aid networks, and direct action groups—the sooner we can start dismantling the systems that let predators like this Russian man (and the politicians who enable them) operate with impunity. Today’s sentencing isn’t justice. It’s just another reminder that the system is broken, and the only way out is to burn it down and build something new.
