Posts Tagged ‘cnn’
Putin, a hypocrite on Snowden, Navalny
One of the many disturbing aspects of the NSA spying revelations is how much joy they have brought to the world’s chronic violators of human rights and political freedoms.
On Thursday in Moscow, where former NSA contractor Edward Snowden awaits his asylum papers, a Russian court removed a major critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin from the Kremlin’s list of worries, sentencing the charismatic opposition leader Alexei Navalny to five years in jail on theft charges. Amid intense anger at the verdict and fears that it would raise Navalny’s profile, the court agreed on Friday to release him pending appeal.
The trial and the predictable verdict, as the European Union foreign affairs chief said, “raises serious questions as to the state of the rule of law in Russia.” That’s putting it mildly. Navatny is the most prominent, but just one in a long series of politically-motivated prosecutions in a country where the courts seldom make a move that displeases Putin.
Navalny was particularly worrisome to the Russian president. He had gained an enormous following by speaking out against corruption and cronyism, labeling Putin’s United Russia “a party of swindlers and thieves” and using social media to help mobilize the president’s critics. He had just announced he would run for mayor of Moscow. But, like other Putin opponents with any possible chance to loosen the president’s complete hold on power, he will likely go to prison instead. Now that he’s released, Navalny is considering whether to stay or withdraw from the race for mayor.
Meanwhile, Putin and his backers are having a field day. They claim it is Washington that leads the world in violating human rights, even as dozens of people who dared protest against Putin’s rule face trial or languish in jail, in a country where a number of journalists who criticized the president have turned up dead under mysterious circumstances.
When Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once the wealthiest man in Russia, decided to turn his attention from business to politics, the tax authorities turned on him. He was sent to prison in Siberia, and when he became eligible for parole, the state filed another case, winning another conviction which extended his sentence.
Read More →
Facebook
Twitter
Google Buzz
LinkedIn
del.icio.us
Google Bookmarks
Yahoo! Buzz
Tumblr
StumbleUpon
FriendFeed
NewsVine
Digg
What Obama needs to do about Russia
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.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Magnitsky List – death to Putinism
Three years ago Sergey Magnitsky died in Moscow prison “Matrosskaya Tishina” (Seaman’s Silence) under suspicious circumstances, widely believed to be a combination of neglect and torture.
Now his name is given to the law, which instills fear into corrupt Russian bureaucrats, who are widely accustomed to ignoring the rule of law in Russia, thieving and taking money to the foreign banks, hoping for further carefree existence.
On November 16, 2012, a group of citizens held single pickets in front of the British and American Embassies in support of the “Magnitsky Law”, known in the USA as Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012. It has been approved in the House of the Representatives on the same day. This report from Politvestnik.tv takes you to the Russians, who support this legislation. займы без отказа займ на карту zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php займы на карту
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
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.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Another Magnitsky-like case should not be allowed to happen
During the March of Millions on May 6th in Moscow protestors clashed with the police. Mostly this is attributed to the fact, that the special forces were not positioned according to the preapproved plan and a bottleneck was created where should have been none. A few masked provocateurs threw pieces of pavement and bottles at the police, resulting in injuries on both sides and obviously, investigation followed.
However, the subjects of investigation were only from the protestor’s side, even though attention should have been paid to the both sides of the conflict. Particularly, because there were legitimate questions about wrong position of the police forces and how the provocateurs managed to bring sticks and glass bottles through the search points.
As of today, 13 people are detained and despite arguably insufficient evidence, or even alibis in some cases, there is a strong possibility of a serious sentence for all of them, up to 8 years in jail.
One of these people is Alexander Kamensky. He has not even been at the Bolotnaya Square, where the clashes have happened on May 6th. He was detained at the Revolution Square, before ever getting to any place where protests were on. Nonetheless, he is being held under arrest according to the article 212 of the Criminal Code, for organizing, participation and instigation of the riots. There are witnesses who were arrested together with him that can confirm that he was nowhere near the scene of the protests. But the Basmanny Court has declined to call on these witnesses.
The first round of the hearing was held on June 13th, unfortunately at the time there were no any witnesses in support of the charges. The next day three witness reports have mysteriously appeared in support of the abovementioned charges.
What is making the court’s decision to keep him inder arrest even more questionable, is the fact, that Alexander has had a major surgery not very long ago and needs another one shortly. Considering the case of Sergey Magnitsky, who died under arrest from lack of proper medical care, the situation is quite serious and the court’s behavior might be interpreted as not just careless, but potentially criminal. займы на карту срочно hairy girls www.zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-in-america.php микрозаймы онлайн
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
