Posts Tagged ‘clinton’
U.S. must maintain way to press Putin regime on human rights
HAVING CAMPAIGNED on a platform of anti-Americanism, Vladimir Putin likely will be proclaimed the winner of Sunday’s presidential election in Russia, giving him a new six-year mandate — and likely inaugurating an era of unrest in a nation whose rising middle class rejects him. The United States, which has focused on cutting deals with Mr. Putin while largely ignoring his autocratic domestic policies, now has a clear interest in encouraging the emerging mass movement demanding democratic reform.
It’s therefore unfortunate that the Obama administration’s first initiative after Mr. Putin’s return to the presidency will be to lobby Congress to grant Russia permanent trade privileges. The problem is not the preferences, per se; it is the administration’s resistance to replacing an outdated protocol for pressing Moscow on human rights with one suited to this moment.
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U.S. must maintain way to press Putin regime on human rights
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Washington Post
Having Campaigned on a platform of anti-Americanism, Vladimir Putin likely will be proclaimed the winner of Sunday’s presidential election in Russia, giving him a new six-year mandate — and likely inaugurating an era of unrest in a nation whose rising middle class rejects him. The United States, which has focused on cutting deals with Mr. Putin while largely ignoring his autocratic domestic policies, now has a clear interest in encouraging the emerging mass movement demanding democratic reform.
It’s therefore unfortunate that the Obama administration’s first initiative after Mr. Putin’s return to the presidency will be to lobby Congress to grant Russia permanent trade privileges. The problem is not the preferences, per se; it is the administration’s resistance to replacing an outdated protocol for pressing Moscow on human rights with one suited to this moment.
The White House is seeking the repeal of a 1974 law known as Jackson-Vanik, which links the trade preferences for Russia to free emigration. Repeal is logical for a couple of reasons: Russia, unlike the former Soviet Union, does not restrict the exit of Jews and others; and if the law is not removed, U.S. companies will be penalized after Russia enters the World Trade Organization later this year.
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We should get smart about how we use sanctions
Governments rarely want to be seen to be doing nothing in the face of a humanitarian challenge. This is the dilemma presented by the terrible pictures out of Homs – but such challenges evidently go far beyond Syria. Because going to war is rarely an option, this has led to an increasing reliance on the use of economic sanctions. Given London’s leading role as a world financial centre, when taken by the UK such measures can have a strong effect.
Yet how and when should we use such sanctions? Can we make greater use of them? In particular, there is a growing case for better use of “smart” sanctions – the subject of an important call today from my colleague Dominic Raab MP.
The UK’s current use of sanctions can be divided into three broad categories. First, economic sanctions used as an instrument of policy, helping us to achieve our overseas objectives. For instance, the UK has joined with other European countries and the US in prohibiting exports to Iran that might assist its nuclear programme.
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Our Friends the Russians: The State Department and John Kerry still believe in the ‘reset’
In its latest display of political retribution, the Kremlin is putting a human-rights lawyer and corruption whistleblower on trial for tax evasion. The notable news here is that Sergei Magnitsky died in police custody two years ago. His prosecution is a poke in the eye of the man’s family, the U.S. and the rule of law in Russia.
Magnitsky worked for an American law firm in Moscow whose clients included a Jewish rights group and the investment house Hermitage Capital. In 2008 he uncovered evidence of police corruption and embezzlement. The police promptly put him in prison, claiming he had helped Hermitage evade taxes. Eleven months later, he died.
A Russian government committee found that Magnitsky was beaten and denied treatment for pancreatitis and recommended that his prison doctors and interrogators be investigated. This didn’t happen. Instead, with the Kremlin’s blessing, the police last summer reopened the case against a dead man and have now announced plans for a trial.
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The “Magnitsky list” is prepared for a reset
It is being proposed to extend sanctions to all human rights violators.
The US Congress has come close to the adoption of a bill imposing visa and economic sanctions against individuals responsible for human rights violations. The reason for the expedited review of this document is what the US is calling the “unfree and unfair” State Duma election. Experts warn that if the law is adopted, this will be a much greater blow to the “reset” between Moscow and Washington than disagreements on any other issues.
The Subcommittee on European Affairs of the US Foreign Relations Committee has held hearings on the state of human rights in Russia. The reason for the hearings was the State Duma election, which the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, characterized as “unfree and unfair.” The main topic at the hearings was the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011, introduced in Congress in May by Ben Cardin (D-MD) and John McCain (R–AZ). It imposes visa sanctions and seizure of financial assets of individuals responsible for human rights violations in the RF.
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After Russian Vote, U.S. Pledges to Raise Concerns ‘Forcefully’
The Obama administration plans to continue speaking out “forcefully” about human rights violations in Russia, even after Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin responded angrily to criticism of his country’s elections by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a top State Department official said Wednesday.
The official, Phil Gordon, assistant secretary of state for Europe, welcomed a call from President Dmitri A. Medvedev for an investigation of the Dec. 4 parliamentary elections but said the United States would not hesitate to keep pressing Moscow for greater accountability and respect for human rights.
But any action in Russia is unlikely before Dec. 21, when a new parliament is seated.
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Shadows and Light: US Policy Options, Human Rights, and Rule of Law in Russia
“What would your good do if evil didn’t exist, and what would the earth look like if all the shadows disappeared? After all, shadows are cast by things and people.” Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and the Margarita
The Senate Subcommittee on European Affairs will conduct a hearing on Wednesday, December 14, to evaluate “The State of Human Rights and Rule of Law in Russia: Policy Options.”
In light of the Duma elections and in the shadow of Putin’s reaction to US criticism that the elections were “neither free nor fair,” the hearing will focus on the state of human rights and rule of law, evaluate US policy including the “reset,” and look forward at US policy assistance to the Russian people and human rights actors. It will also address the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011, “a Bill to impose sanctions on persons responsible for the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky, for the conspiracy to defraud the Russian Federation of taxes on corporate profits through fraudulent transactions and lawsuits against Hermitage, and for other gross violations of human rights in the Russian Federation, and for other purposes.” The Act was introduced in the 112th Congress by Senator Cardin with bi-partisian cosponsors including Senators McCain, Ayotte, Begich, Blumenthal, Durbin, Johanns, Kirk, Kyl, Leiberman, Rubio, Shaheen, Whitehouse, and Wicker.
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US senators seek visa bans for two senior Magnitsky officials
Two senators have urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to consider banning entry into the US for two senior Russian police officials who are believed to be complicit in the death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
Earlier, the State Department put dozens of Russian officials blamed for Magnitsky’s death on a no-visa list after Russian authorities refused to take action against them.
Generals Tatiana Gerasimova and Nikolai Shelepanov, senior figures in the Russian Interior Ministry’s criminal investigation arm, are planning a visit to Washington to discuss intellectual property rights.
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U.S Senators Urge Clinton To Reconsider Visit Of Russian Officials Connected To Magnitsky Case
Two U.S. senators have urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to reconsider allowing the visit of two Russian officials allegedly involved in the prosecution and prison death of anticorruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
In letter dated November 8 that was obtained by RFE/RL, Senators Benjamin Cardin (Democrat-Maryland) and Roger Wicker (Republican-Mississippi) urged Clinton to “immediately review any visa applications” submitted by Russian Interior Ministry Generals Tatiana Gerasimova and Nikolai Shelepanov.
The officials are due to arrive in Washington early next week to discuss Moscow’s record of enforcing intellectual property rights, which U.S. trade officials have described as a major stumbling block to deeper economic cooperation.
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