Posts Tagged ‘posner’
Why Some Russians Need the West’s Help
“The West will help us.”
Ostap Bender’s famous phrase from Ilf and Petrov’s “The 12 Chairs” may have been on Konstantin Fetisov’s mind when he met with Michael Posner — U.S. assistant secretary of state for the bureau of democracy, human rights and labor — in the Moscow region a week ago.
Fetisov is a leader of the movement opposing the construction of the Kremlin-supported $8 billion Moscow-St. Petersburg highway that will travel through the Khimki forest. He was beaten badly by unidentified assailants last November, leaving him with impaired speech and memory loss.
During his meeting with Fetisov, Posner said the United States needs to “redouble” its efforts to press Russia on protecting human rights.
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U.S. reset with Russia at new stage as officials meet with human rights activists
Michael Posner got up at 4 a.m. in Moscow, bound for this Volga River city where he began filling a yellow spiral notebook with stories of newspapers silenced, human rights advocates threatened and political parties repressed as the United States prepares for a new chapter in its relations with Russia.
Call it reset 2.0.
Posner, U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, describes the task as moving decisively to another level in an area where the United States has not made visible progress.
On a trip to Russia that began Monday and ended Saturday, Posner visited Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan, asking activists and opposition politicians what the United States could or should be doing to better support their efforts. He listened, took notes, asked questions and answered even more.
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Report Says Decline In Freedom Continues Across Former Soviet Union
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
There is only one region in the world where political rights and civil liberties have been in continuous decline since 2001 — the wide swath of territory made up of countries of the former Soviet Union, with the exception of the Baltic states.
That’s according to Arch Puddington and Christopher Walker, the principal authors of the latest “Freedom in The World” report compiled annually by the U.S.-based rights watchdog Freedom House. The authors say there is no general explanation for the region’s downward trend. But Puddington, Freedom House’s director of research, lists a handful of possible factors.
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