Posts Tagged ‘american enterprise institute’

21
December 2020

Three cheers for the Magnitsky Act and American values

American Enterprise Institute

In the next few days, the House and the Senate will almost certainly vote on and pass the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act. The bill is named after a 37-year old lawyer who was tortured to death in a Moscow prison after he uncovered an elaborate scheme that had defrauded the Russian treasury of $230 million. November 16th will be the third anniversary of his death.

The Magnitsky Act would deny entry to the United States and freeze the assets and property of those individuals responsible for this embezzlement, the death of Sergei Magnitsky and its cover up, as well as any current or future abuse of human and political rights.

The anti-Putin opposition in Russia has overwhelmingly supported the Magnitsky Act. Even leftists and nationalists have been ardently in favor. Just as vehemently, the Kremlin has denounced the legislation, crying “interference in its internal affairs” and threatening an “appropriate response.”

The “interference” objection has not a leg to stand on. The legislation is directed not against Russia but against those who torment and defraud it. Moreover, Russia and the Soviet Union—to which Russia is the legal successor—are party to multiple agreements, most notably the Helsinki Act of 1976 and its subsequent iterations that explicitly make human and political rights subject to international scrutiny.

As for the Kremlin’s response, Russians on the internet have had tons of fun with it: “No more shopping trips to Moscow by the wives of US officials!” “No more Black Sea vacations for them!” “US officials will be prohibited from keeping their money in Russian banks and their children denied admissions to Russian colleges!”

Although it might precipitate a petty tit-for-tat, the Magnitsky Act is part of something far larger than mere ups and downs in U.S.-Russian relations. It is a long overdue step reaffirming the core values that guide U.S. foreign policy and advancing what is—or ought to be—one of its key, overarching geostrategic objectives: The emergence of a stable, free, and democratic Russian state at peace, in the long last, with its own people and the world. быстрые займы на карту hairy girl https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php https://zp-pdl.com/get-a-next-business-day-payday-loan.php займ на карту без отказов круглосуточно

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20
November 2012

What Obama needs to do about Russia

CNN GPS

At least as far as foreign policy went, Russia received an unexpected amount of attention in this year’s U.S. presidential election campaign. Whether it was the Romney team’s dismissing the so-called reset, its claim that Russia is America’s “number one geopolitical foe,” or President Obama’s infamous open mic moment, in which he promised his Russian counterpart “flexibility” on missile defense if reelected, ties with Moscow kept cropping up.

It is, of course, true that the Cold War world no longer exists, and that Russia occupies a far less significant space in American foreign policy. And the U.S.-Russia relationship simply is not as overtly antagonistic as it was in the Soviet era. But it is also clear that Russia continues to pose serious challenges for the United States.

With this in mind, here are some suggestions for President Obama for how he should approach Russia in his second term.

Forget the reset. The election is over. It’s time to face reality. And the reality is that Russia has rapidly regressed from soft authoritarianism into a less qualified dictatorship that shields brutal regimes around the world with ever greater brazenness. What’s more, the Russian leadership has all but acknowledged that the reset is over. And if you don’t trust the Kremlin’s words, then consider its actions. Putin blamed opposition protests on “signals” that Hillary Clinton had supposedly sent to incite revolts against his regime. In September, the Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of USAID from Russia and rejected the State Department’s request for a six-month extension to wind down grants. And, last month, Moscow decided that it will not negotiate a follow-on Nunn-Lugar cooperative threat reduction pact with the U.S. These are trends that even the reset’s most ardent supporters cannot ignore.

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20
December 2011

Russia, human rights, and the WTO

The American

Recently, my colleague Daniel Hanson outlined the mounting problems of the WTO system. He uses Russia’s 18-year accession negotiations as a case in point. I can’t speak to the WTO’s broader defects but I can echo his frustration with Russia’s prolonged exclusion from an organization that supervises global trade liberalization. Russia was finally inducted into the WTO on Friday.

Over the last 18 years, Russia’s WTO membership bid has faced two hurdles from U.S. opponents: trade issues (high tariffs, subsidies, intellectual property rights, etc.) and human rights. The former was largely settled by 2006 when the Bush administration signed a bilateral agreement on Russia’s entry into the WTO. But the issue of human rights continues to pose an impediment to U.S.-Russia trade relations. Even though Russia is now formally a member of the WTO, the United States will have to exempt Russia from WTO rules and regulations (and Moscow will respond in kind) if it doesn’t grant Russia permanent normal trade relations status. This requires repealing antiquated Cold War-era congressional legislation—known as the Jackson-Vanik amendment—that makes trade contingent on emigration rights for Soviet Jews. In short, unlike their counterparts throughout the WTO, U.S. businesses won’t benefit from Russia’s long overdue accession to the organization unless Congress takes swift action to graduate Russia from Jackson-Vanik.

But some argue that Jackson-Vanik should be used to highlight Russia’s poor human rights record, which in itself should preclude Russia from reaping the benefits of WTO membership. There are a few problems with this approach. First, misapplying legislation on Jewish emigration adopted 37 years ago against a country that no longer exists dilutes very justifiable concerns about human rights in Russia. Second, neither Russia’s exclusion from the WTO nor Congress’s refusal to excuse it from Jackson-Vanik have persuaded the Kremlin to improve Russia’s human rights record. If anyone has evidence that suggests otherwise I’d love to see it. Finally, as Daniel notes, countries with human rights records far worse than that of Russia have been admitted to the WTO in recent years—China being the most obvious example.

Trade liberalization and human rights promotion aren’t mutually exclusive. They’re objectives that can and should be pursued simultaneously. To achieve this with respect to Russia, Congress should replace Jackson-Vanik with the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law and Accountability Act (opposed by the Obama administration), which would punish Russian officials suspected of being involved in the torture and murky prison death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. This would send a much clearer signal about the U.S. commitment to human rights in Russia. However, it wouldn’t do so at the expense of preventing discrimination against U.S. businesses and subjecting Russia to the rules, regulations, and norms of the WTO. займ на карту онлайн payday loan https://zp-pdl.com/get-quick-online-payday-loan-now.php zp-pdl.com микрозаймы онлайн

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05
April 2011

Russian Forum In Washington Fomented A Scandal: The Russian-American “Reload” Revived Atmosphere Of The Cold War

EU Russia Centre

Russia’s Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak complained in a speech that economic relations between Russia and the US were “immature” on account of the Jackson-Vanick amendment that banned the sale of sophisticated technologies to Russia and unwillingness of the United States to “develop cooperation across the Pacific”.

Meanwhile Daniel Russel of the US State Department promised abolition of the amendment in the future and said that its abolition would mark establishment of full-fledged relations of partners between our countries. Russel, reported to be the next US Ambassador to Russia, said that outstanding issues between the two countries included human rights observance in Russia, the situation in Georgia, and the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

The American Enterprise Institute’s Richard Pearl said that development of the bilateral American-Russian relations was greatly impeded by undue centralisation of power, absence of free media, and neglect of the law in Russia: “I do not mean Khodorkovsky’s affair alone. There was also the matter of Sergei Magnitsky and many others.” займы без отказа займы без отказа https://zp-pdl.com/how-to-get-fast-payday-loan-online.php https://zp-pdl.com payday loan

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05
April 2011

The Status Quo Fatigue

American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

In Moscow, a striking contrast exists between signs of economic revival after the 2008-2009 crisis and the general pessimism among intellectuals, opposition leaders, top analysts, entrepreneurs, and media figures. An investigation of this paradox points to several explanations. Unlike a few years ago, there is a pervasive sense that the political and economic model Vladimir Putin offered the country–stability in exchange for “guided/sovereign democracy,” sustained by state-guided oil- and gas-driven growth–is nearly exhausted. Disillusionment with President Dmitri Medvedev’s ability to translate liberal rhetoric into action and implement meaningful reforms adds to the despondence. The presidential election of 2012, which some view as no more than carefully scripted political theater, offers no hope for change.

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