Posts Tagged ‘clinton’
Russia accuses US of using ‘cold war tactics’ over new law
The Guardian
Row comes after the Senate passes Magnitsky Act banning Russian officials accused of human rights abuses from the US.
Russia has accused the United States of engaging in cold war tactics and threatened tit-for-tat retaliation after the US Senate passed a bill banning Russian officials accused of human rights abuses from travelling to the country.
The US Senate on Thursday passed the Magnitsky Act, named after a Russian lawyer for London-based investor William Browder who died in prison, as part of a bill that lifts Soviet-era trade restrictions on Russia. The bill, which must be signed by President Barack Obama before coming into force, includes a visa ban and asset freeze on those officials involved in Magnitsky’s death.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said after meeting Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, in Dublin late on Thursday that Russia would retaliate. “We will also close entry to Americans who are guilty of human rights violations,” he said.
Many Russians laughed off the threat, noting that the Russian propensity to keep assets and property in the US is not reciprocated. “And now they’ll shut down entry to Russia for some American officials who are involved, let’s say, in the death of Afghan kids. What are they going to do, cry?” Margarita Simonyan, the Kremlin-friendly head of Russia Today, the state-run international news channel, wrote on Twitter.
The Kremlin marshalled the Young Guard, the youth wing of the ruling United Russia party, to protest. The group held a protest in front of the US embassy in Moscow on Friday with the sign: “The US is a police state.”
“The US positions itself as a country of freedom. And yet, the American leadership is itself infringing upon the freedom of citizens of another country,” Maxim Rudnev, a member of the Young Guard, said in a statement. “It’s worth asking: is the United States deserving of hosting the Statue of Liberty?”
The Russian foreign ministry lashed out on its official Twitter account late on Thursday, saying the Senate’s adoption of the Magnitsky Act “will adversely affect the prospects of bilateral co-operation”. Then it went further, writing that the move “is like something out of the theatre of the absurd”.
“Apparently, Washington has forgotten what year this is and still thinks the cold war is going on,” the official account wrote. “It is perplexing and preposterous to hear human rights complaints from the US, where torture and kidnapping are legal in the 21st century.”
“This biased approach is nothing but a vindictive desire to counter Russia in world affairs,” it said.
Sergei Magnitsky was arrested in late 2008 while uncovering an alleged $230m (£143m) fraud carried out by a group of Russian police and tax officials. He was found dead in a Russian prison nearly one year later, after being repeatedly denied medical treatment and allegedly tortured. Browder, who hired him to investigate the fraud, has lobbied hard for Russian officials to be punished abroad, noting that justice in his lawyer’s death is unlikely to come in Moscow.
A new poll released on Friday found that 39% of Russians supported the US law, versus 14% who were against it.
Obama praised the Senate’s decision to pass the bill 92-4 on Thursday and is expected to sign it into law soon. займы на карту без отказа hairy woman https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php zp-pdl.com займ на карту без отказов круглосуточно
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Clinton sees Congress moving on Russia trade measure
The U.S. Congress may move this month to upgrade trade relations with Russia, a key part of the Obama administration’s effort to bolster sometimes strained ties with Moscow and open the Russian market to more U.S. companies, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday.
Clinton, addressing the Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) meeting in Vladivostok, said the Obama administration was working closely with Congress on lifting the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment, Cold War-era legislation which has blocked normal trade privileges for Russia.
“To make sure our companies get to compete here in Russia, we are working closely with the United States congress to terminate the application to Jackson-Vanik to Russia and grant Russia permanent normalized trade relations,” Clinton said.
“We hope that the Congress will act on this important piece of legislation this month.”
Congress is under pressure to approve the permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) bill because of Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) last month, a move the United States strongly supported.
U.S. business groups hope the House of Representatives and Senate will pass the legislation in September before lawmakers return home to campaign. Businesses worry that without it U.S. firms may not get access to newly opened services markets and be subject to potential arbitrary Russian trade reprisals.
But with concerns in Congress about Moscow’s support for Iran and Syria, as well as its broader human rights record, the timing of a vote remains unclear.
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Time running out for Russia trade bill
The Russian parliament is expected to vote to join the World Trade Organization (WTP) on Tuesday, giving Congress a short window to either adopt trade legislation or risk seeing U.S. companies trail competitors in the world’s ninth-largest economy.
Establishing normal trade relations with Russia is a no-brainer for U.S. businesses eyeing a vast export market, but lawmakers in the House and Senate are still debating how to do that while retaining leverage over the country on human rights.
Once the Russian parliament ratifies accession to the world trade body, Russia will automatically become a WTO member within 30 days. If the vote happens Tuesday, it means Congress would have to act before the August recess to prevent U.S. companies from losing out.
“The [Obama] administration has consistently urged Congress to terminate application of the Jackson-Vanik amendment and authorize the president to extend permanent normal trade relations to Russia before it becomes a WTO Member,” a spokesperson for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative told The Hill via e-mail.
Doing so would “ensure that American workers and businesses will be able to reap the full benefits of Russia’s WTO membership and to put them on a level playing field with their competitors in Latin America, Europe and Asia,” the spokesperson said.
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Matvienko and Clinton discuss “Magnitsky law”
The discussion of the “Magnitsky law” in the US Senate is an attempt to influence Russian investigative and judicial institutions, the speaker of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko, said at a meeting with the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, RIA Novosti reports.
On Tuesday, the law about visa sanctions for the Russian bureaucrats allegedly connected to the death in prison of the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009 was approved by the international committee of the
US Senate.
“We would understand if it was some universal law that would forbid the entrance to the US of state employees and bureaucrats that violate human rights. But it is obvious that the situation with
democratic development is not that bad in Russia,” Matvienko added.
According to Matvienko, Clinton promised to try to remove this amendment. займ на карту займ онлайн zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/apply-for-payday-loan-online.php микрозайм онлайн
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U.S. could feel effects of amendment meant to hurt Russia
Almost four decades ago, as the Cold War raged, the U.S. Congress passed an amendment to the Trade Act of 1974 aimed squarely at the Soviet Union’s policy preventing Jews from emigrating from the USSR.
The Jackson-Vanik amendment, which denied favorable trade relations to the Soviet Union, worked. In 1991, Russia stopped slapping exit fees on Jews who wished to emigrate and they have been free to leave ever since.
But the amendment has stayed on the books even though it has outlived its purpose, a Cold War relic that infuriated the Kremlin. In reality, it was only symbolic; since 1994, presidents, Republicans and Democrats have certified annually that Russia complies with the amendment. In fact, the U.S. maintains normal trade relations with Russia.
As part of its “reset” with Moscow, the Obama administration urged Congress to abolish the amendment, to “graduate” Russia from Jackson-Vanik. Now, there’s an economic reason to do it.
Last December, after 18 years of trying, Russia was given the green light to join the World Trade Organization. Russia’s Parliament is expected to ratify and approve entry, and President Vladimir Putin to sign it by the end of July. Once that happens, the Jackson-Vanik amendment could end up hurting the U.S. instead of Russia.
Having it on the books means the U.S. is in violation of WTO rules requiring all members to grant other members “immediate and unconditional free trade.” The U.S. would not be able to take advantage of all the concessions Russia will make as a WTO member – including market liberalization, transparency, committing to intellectual property protection, eliminating nontariff barriers and other provisions – and that would mean higher tariffs for American businesses seeking access to Russian markets.
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Clinton in the WSJ Strays on Russia Relations
In her op-ed in the June 20 Wall Street Journal, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls for the rescinding of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment that excludes Russia from permanent normal trading relations with the U.S., and argues that this will encourage a more open and prosperous Russia. At the same time, she indirectly argues against the proposed Magnitsky law (H.R. 4405) that would bar Russians involved in the murder of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who investigated high level corruption, from entering the U.S.
In fact, rescinding Jackson-Vanik without passing the Magnitsky Law would be tantamount to abandoning any serious attempt to influence the internal situation in Russia and would not lead to a more “open and prosperous Russia.”
In her op-ed, Clinton refers to the “tragic death” of Magnitsky as if he died in a traffic accident. In fact, Magnitsky was deliberately tortured and murdered with the full participation of high-ranking Russian officials. She also states that the State Department has already imposed a visa ban on those implicated in Magnitsky’s death, without mentioning that the supposedly banned officials have never been named and, in the absence of a law, their ability to enter the U.S. could be restored at any time. There are also strong indications in statements from the Russian side that instead of the 60 officials that members of Congress believe are involved in the case, the State Department is prepared to ban only eleven.
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Abandoning Sergei Magnitsky
As Vladimir Putin settles into his third term as president, government corruption is running rampant. Putin is steadily cutting back on his people’s most basic rights — and Russians are finally saying “enough.” As the opposition movement gets off the ground, international efforts to discourage Putin’s government from squelching political dissent are critical. Unfortunately, however, a recent article by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signals that the United States may be preparing to forsake that role.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Clinton makes the case that Congress should repeal the Jackson-Vanik law, which was passed in the 1970s to hold the Soviet Union accountable for restrictions it placed on its citizens’ right to emigrate. Her argument, however, intentionally misstates the nature of Congress’s position on repealing the law. Jackson-Vanik “long ago achieved this historic purpose,” Clinton writes. “Now it’s time to set it aside.”
Suggesting that Jackson-Vanik’s mission has concluded, or describing its repeal as a simple trade issue, is disingenuous spin. No one is opposed to repealing Jackson-Vanik on economic grounds. Everyone would welcome the increased trade that lifting the law could provide. Jackson-Vanick, however, is a law intended to promote respect for human rights in Russia. Congress is deeply opposed to repealing Jackson-Vanik without replacing it with effective human rights legislation that meets today’s circumstances. Clinton, on the other hand, would apparently prefer that human rights issues not enter the conversation.
But the discussion of Jackson-Vanik cannot be separated from the increasingly authoritarian drift of Russia during Putin’s 13 years in effective control of the country. Putin has methodically removed every force in society that could challenge his hold on power: He has taken control of the national television channels, destroyed all real opposition parties, and dominates the Duma, Russia’s parliament. His party also effectively controls the judiciary and other branches of law enforcement — it can obtain any ruling with only a phone call. It set up youth groups that draw their members from small towns within driving distance of Moscow and St. Petersburg, and indoctrinated its charges at state expense in outrageous nationalism, anti-Americanism, and pro-government dogma. When needed, it buses in crowds of duly indoctrinated youth to intimidate foreign diplomats, human rights defenders, and anti-corruption activists.
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Obama set to press Putin on Syria at G20
After a week when it sometimes felt as if the cold war had never ended, Barack Obama will finally get some quiet time on Monday with Vladimir Putin to press the new Russian president on the crisis in Syria.
With senior diplomats from both countries trading unusually aggressive barbs in recent days, Mr Obama plans to use a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Mexico to privately test whether the US and Russia can find common ground on Syria, according to senior US officials.
The first encounter between the two presidents since Mr Putin’s return to presidential office will be a critical showdown in the diplomacy of the Syrian crisis. But it also will provide an indication of where US-Russia relations are headed under a leader who has a notoriously sceptical view of US power – and who declined to attend last month’s G8 summit at Camp David, a move many interpreted as a snub.
Mr Obama faces the delicate task of trying to forge a good working relationship with Mr Putin while Congress is moving close to passing the Magnitsky bill, which criticises Russia’s human rights record.
Complicating matters even more, Mr Obama is in the midst of an election campaign in which his Republican opponent is looking to pounce on any signs of concessions.
“The Magnitsky case … supports my point that we are in for much more difficult times in the relationship with the US,” says Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the Russian parliament’s foreign affairs committee.
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Syria Crisis and Putin’s Return Chill U.S. Ties With Russia
Sitting beside President Obama this spring, the president of Russia gushed that “these were perhaps the best three years of relations between Russia and the United States over the last decade.” Two and a half months later, those halcyon days of friendship look like a distant memory.
Gone is Dmitri A. Medvedev, the optimistic president who collaborated with Mr. Obama and celebrated their partnership in March. In his place is Vladimir V. Putin, the grim former K.G.B. colonel whose return to the Kremlin has ushered in a frostier relationship freighted by an impasse over Syria and complicated by fractious domestic politics in both countries.
The tension over Syria has been exacerbated by an accusation by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday that Russia is supplying attack helicopters to the government of President Bashar al-Assad as it tries to crush an uprising. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, rejected the assertions on Wednesday, saying that Moscow was supplying only defensive weapons and countering that the United States was arming the region.
The back-and-forth underscored the limits of Mr. Obama’s ability to “reset” ties between the two countries, as he resolved to do when he arrived in office. He has signed an arms control treaty, expanded supply lines to Afghanistan through Russian territory, secured Moscow’s support for sanctions on Iran and helped bring Russia into the World Trade Organization. But officials in both capitals noted this week that the two countries still operated on fundamentally different sets of values and interests.
The souring relations come as Mr. Obama and Mr. Putin are preparing to meet for the first time as presidents next week on the sidelines of a summit meeting in Mexico. With Mr. Obama being accused by Mitt Romney, his Republican presidential opponent, of going soft on Russia and Mr. Putin turning to anti-American statements in response to street protests in Moscow, the Mexico meeting is being seen as a test of whether the reset has run its course.
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