Posts Tagged ‘russia’
Floor Statement by Senator John McCain on Russia
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today delivered the following statement on Russia on the floor of the U.S. Senate:
“I want to take a moment to speak about Russia — and to review the state of what this Administration has trumpeted as the so-called reset of U.S.-Russia relations, especially in light of the flawed Duma election that just occurred this weekend, and in light of my strong belief that the growing demand for dignity and uncorrupt governance that has defined the Arab world this year may impact Russia as well.
“Now, let me once again make clear that I am not opposed to U.S. engagement with Russia. I am not opposed to working consistently and in good faith with Russia to find ever more ways to improve our relationship. To the contrary, we must continue to actively seek ways to cooperate with Russia in mutually beneficial ways. It is in our national interest to do so. And whatever can be said about the Administration’s policy toward Russia, no one can accuse them of a lack of sincerity and diligence in trying to increase cooperation with Russia.
Read More →
Facebook
Twitter
Google Buzz
LinkedIn
del.icio.us
Google Bookmarks
Yahoo! Buzz
Tumblr
StumbleUpon
FriendFeed
NewsVine
Digg
A Sobering Look Inside Putin’s Russia
Vaclav Havel was stooped and frail last week when he opened his annual Forum 2000 at the glittering Zofin palace beneath Prague Castle. While the voice of the iconic former Czech president is weakened by illness and the burden of 75 years, through these yearly events Havel still speaks truth to power.
Several speakers, most prominently opposition politicians Gregory Yavlinsky and Boris Nemtsov, painted a grim picture of a corrupted Russia groaning under the weight of a tyranny only slightly less cruel than in Soviet times. The 59-year old Yavlinski, whose Yabloko party will participate in December’s parliamentary elections, said Russia has neither rule of law nor property rights. “The judiciary,” he said, “is controlled by the ruling elite and money.”
Nemtsov, a leader of the People’s Freedom Party, said that by orchestrating a return to the presidency, “Putin has decided to be president for life.” He accused the Russian leader “of keeping totalitarianism to protect corruption.” Putin’s friends, he continued are the “crony capitalists” who have plundered state assets and safely deposited that ill-gotten wealth outside of Russia. Nemtsov, a deputy prime minister in 1997-1998, has been arrested three times this year. The Kremlin refuses to register his party, which is thus unable to contest the Duma elections.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Senators Cardin and McCain Discussion on Magnitsky Act & Rule of Law in Russia
US Senate
Senators Benjamin Cardin and John McCain colloquy on the Senate Floor – Discussion on the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Acountability Act of 2011” and the Rule of Law in Russia – May 26, 2011
payday loan hairy girl female wrestling zp-pdl.com https://www.zp-pdl.com займ на карту
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Single crusade against the Russian corruption
The Lawyer and bloger Alexey Navalnyj for last three years has created to itself reputation, so to say, Russian Dzhuliana Assandzha or Linkolna Stefensa, journalist Julia Ioffe tells in the article in magazine The New Yorker. In the blog it opens criminal cases of a personal profit in the large Russian oil companies, banks and the ministries. Three months ago Navalnyj has created site RosPil for corruption exposure in state structures. “Since this site has been started, the state contracts for the sum close to 7 million of dollars after Navalnyj and its army have considered their doubtful have been cancelled. The most remarkable that all is Navalnyj undertakes in the country where some reporters and the lawyers investigating similar cases, have been beaten or killed”, – is told in article.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
A Year Before Elections, What About Russia’s Corruption Fight?
The highly publicized cases of Sergei Magnitsky — a 37-year-old lawyer who died in pretrial detention in November 2009 after exposing a multimillion-dollar fraud against the Russian taxpayer — and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed business magnate who was sentenced at the end of 2010 to remain in prison through 2017, have again put the international spotlight on corruption in the Russian state.
By the time of his death, the ailing Magnitsky had been complaining for weeks that he was being denied adequate medical treatment for acute stomach pain. The subsequent inquiry into his demise represented a serious miscarriage of justice. Khodorkovsky’s latest case gained notoriety for the brazenly irregular manner in which he was charged and convicted of embezzling his own company’s oil, apparently with the predetermined goal of keeping him behind bars at all costs.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Risks of rushing back to Russia
Oil prices are on the rise and suddenly it’s time to make sure you’re on the investment train to Russia again. And, despite a continued perception of higher risks associated with investing in the country, the early birds are already there, as a report in Monday’s FTfm explains.
While emerging market funds in general have seen big net outflows this year, according to EPFR, a global fund flow data provider, fund flows into Russia have been picking up. Russia-focused funds have gathered a total of $1.22bn in the year to date, against outflows of $2bn for China and $980m for India in the same period, EPFR data show.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Russia’s investment rewards carry risks
Mention investment and Russia in the same breath and responses are likely to vary from concerns over corruption and political intervention to the allure of cheap prices.
Russia has been the laggard of the Bric quartet [Brazil, Russia, India and China] that has attracted investors in the past two years. But while emerging market funds have seen $7bn of net outflows this year, according to EPFR, a global data provider, flows into Russia have been picking up. Inflows to Russia total $1.22bn in the year to date, against outflows of $2bn for China and $980m for India in the same period, EPFR data show.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Invest in Russia or not?
According to the Maplecroft research, Russia has climbed five positions in the ranking of the most risky countries for the investment. In this rating list Russia stands among countries that suffer from armed conflict, but this fact doesn’t affect much the income of investors.
According to Political Risk Atlas of British consulting company Maplecroft, endemic corruption on all government levels, the absence of independent judiciary and business rules, an increased risk of expropriation, non-effective business management and unreliable law enforcement make Russia on of ten most risky countries for the investors. For the last year Russia has climebed five points and figures in top ten of 196 risky-investment countries in the rating. It’s important to note, that Russia made such a worrying jerk at the same time having some obligations to fight against terrorism on its territory, as opposed to the other countries in the list. In the rating list of countries with high risk for the investment, Russia stands near Zimbabwe and North Korea.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Nocera Hits the Bulls-Eye on Magnitsky Act
Commentary Magazine
Seth Mandel
04.17.2012 – 12:45 PM
President Obama has been decrying “the way Congress does its business these days” and promising to act “with or without this Congress,” so fed up is he by the lack of bipartisan solutions coming from the legislative branch. So the president, one would think, would be delighted that Congress has come together to produce a bipartisan, popular bill that would also give the president a strong foreign policy move while simultaneously beefing up his credentials on human rights and democracy.
I’m talking, of course, about the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011,” a bill that would sanction Russian human rights offenders. It is named after the Russian attorney who was detained without trial for investigating Russian corruption and then beaten and left to die in prison. It is intended to replace the Cold War-era Jackson-Vanik amendment, aimed at getting the Soviet Union to allow Jewish emigration, but which is outdated and will likely be repealed now that Russia is joining the World Trade Organization. The bill was introduced by Democratic Senator Ben Cardin and has broad bipartisan support. But Obama staunchly opposes the bill. Today, New York Times columnist Joe Nocera adds his voice to the growing chorus of commentators, both liberal and conservative, who support the bill:
I have to confess that when I first began receiving press releases about this effort, which has gained traction in Europe as well as the U.S., I didn’t take it very seriously. Visa restrictions didn’t seem like much of a price for allowing an innocent lawyer to die in prison. But after watching the reaction of the Russian government, which has repeatedly and vehemently denounced the bill — and which is now, out of pure spite, prosecuting Magnitsky posthumously — I’ve come to see that it really does hit these officials where it hurts them most.
Read More →