This smells like the same ol’, same ol’… plenty of muck in all the byres, I say…
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RF Gosduma Deputy Aleksei Pushkov, the heads of the Gosduma Committee on Foreign Affairs, declared that if the US Congress approved the so-called Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Act, Russia would respond accordingly. Yesterday, one of the committees of the US House of Representatives approved the draft bill. The Act stipulates visa-issuing and financial sanctions against Russian officials who, in the authors’ opinion, were privy to the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. Experts interviewed by VOR believed that both chambers of the US Congress would approve the Act.
On 7 June, the majority of Congressmen in the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs approved the so-called Magnitsky Act. The initiator of this bill is Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) {he’s one of the most virulent and biased members of the Israel Lobby… so this is no surprise, along with being one of the most pro-Corporate and anti-transparency whores out there (he’s no leftist, by any measure): editor}. He’s made a list of people who’re, in his opinion, involved in the death of Magnitsky and responsible for violations associated with his arrest {note well that it ISN’T the fruit of an objective formal investigation… it’s just a pol’s unhinged and unfounded speculations and suspicions: editor}. To recap, Sergei Magnitsky died in a Moscow isolation ward in 2009 whilst under investigation on tax charges. Cardin drew up the Magnitsky Act on the basis of a list of officials’ names. The Act would freeze their assets in US banks and deny them US visas.
According to official procedure, after passing the Committee on Foreign Affairs, two other committees must approve the Act. Then, it goes before the entire House of Representatives for a vote. Then, a similar procedure would occur in the US Senate. Political scientist Yuri Korguniuk said, “Considering that elections for the US Congress are to be held in November, it’s obvious that both parties will use the bill to score political points. I can’t see any obstacles to the Congress accepting this Act. In the election campaign, the Democrats want to demonstrate that they’re not encouraging Russia to violate human rights. Some lobbyists could be against the Act stressing that it’d be better not to aggravate relations with Russia. Anyway, I don’t think anyone will listen to them in the heat of the election campaign.”
In March this year, several US Senators with Republican John McCain at the head, spoke in favour of cancelling the Jackson-Vanik Amendment in exchange for the approval of the Magnitsky Act by Congress. Jackson-Vanik, adopted in the 1970s, introduced restrictions on trade with the USSR, and, later, with Russia. The Obama Administration declared that this doesn’t solve anything, and is now negotiating with Cardin and other Senators. Many US businessmen are against the notorious bill, amongst them the President of the influential National Foreign Trade Council, William Reinsch.
Valery Garbuzov, an expert in American studies, said, “However, when one man’s tragedy is used for political purposes, it’s unlikely that the Congress will listen to reason. Obama’s promoting a ‘reset’ of relations, but the Congress has a strong influence on US domestic and foreign policy. Dozens of congressmen have Russophobic views, and they won’t change them in the near future. We should consider this as reality. Actually, one could predict such a response from the USA”.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasised that it could consider the approval of the Magnitsky Act by the US Congress as interference in Russia’s internal affairs. For example, Deputy Pushkov said that Russia could take equivalent measures, such as make lists of Americans who violate the rights of Russian citizens, and refuse them Russian visas {this is a not-so-veiled reference to Viktor Bout and others illegally nicked by the Americans outside of the USA: editor}. At the same time, experts pointed up that it’s too early to forecast the aggravation of Russian-American relations if the Congress approves the Magnitsky Act. Political experts noted that Russia and the USA have common interests on a whole range of topics, such as the preservation of the strategic armaments balance, non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, and providing global security.
8 June 2012
Voice of Russia World Service
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_06_08/77530131/
Editor’s Note:
Magnitsky was involved with a Langley-affiliated front, “Hermitage Capital Management”. In short, he was a Langley asset in all but name (much like Potapov, when he was at the BBG). That is, America believes that it has the right to place its agents in any country, and that it has the right to interfere in those countries, as it wills. Most states take umbrage at that, quite properly. Could you imagine the brouhaha if the Russian Ambassador to the USA did a tenth of what the USA attempts to pull in Russia? Why, there’d be pandemonium in Congress. If we wouldn’t like it if it were done to us, we shouldn’t be doing it to others, full stop.
Very conveniently, Hermitage Capitol has an incorporation in Guernsey and the Cayman Islands, which means that it’s immune from US government oversight. It sees one of its main functions as exposing political/corporate corruption in Russia. Hell, they don’t have to go that far… just dig around in the District; you’d find beaucoup instances of corporate/political fraud. They’d come up with more corruption on one block of K Street than they’d ever find in the entire Kremlin. Oh, I forgot… all the pols are on K Street’s payroll, so, the lobbyists have a “Get Out of Jail Free” card signed by Cardin and Darrell Issa… bipartisan from both houses, dontcha know! Judged by the standards of the District, the Russian government are a bunch of pikers compared to the US Congress (Mark Twain had a thing or two to say on that score) when it comes to featherbedding, corruption, earmarking, and general raking in of the boodle.
In short, this is typical DC Sturm und Drang… it’s the usual hypocritical posturing and bloviating. Let’s see… how many Congressmen AREN’T millionaires? There’s not many of those, are there? Cardin had best keep his mouth zipped or his manifest ties to Corporate America might become better known. He certainly DOES know corruption (could one say from the inside?)…
BMD
Appendix:
Mark Twain had something to say about the US Congress:
It’s defended official criminals, on party pretexts, until it’s created a US Senate whose members are incapable of determining what crime against law and the dignity of their own body is… they’re so morally blind… and it’s made light of dishonesty till we have, as a result, a Congress which contracts to work for a certain sum and then deliberately steals additional wages out of the public pocket and is pained and surprised that anybody should worry about a little thing like that.
He also said:
Who’re the oppressors? The few… the King, the capitalist, and a handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who’re the oppressed? The many… the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat.
There… Mark Twain’s verdict on the Benjamin Cardins and John McCains of this world (along with their corporate paymasters)… it’s none too flattering, is it? America dares to “judge” the world… and does worse in its own precincts. They need to muck out their own byre before passing judgement on others. I seem to smell it from here… pass me the jug…
BMD
Voices from Russia 
Dolgov Presents Démarche to USA Over Deterioration of Prisoner’s Health
Tags: Fort Dix, legal affairs, Liberia, Moscow, political commentary, politics, Russia, Russian, United States, USA, Viktor Bout, Yaroshenko
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On Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID) said that Konstantin Dolgov, MID Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, presented a formal démarche to a minister-counsellor of the American embassy, who the MID summoned to the ministry in Moscow on Friday, over significant deterioration in the health of Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko, who is serving a lengthy prison term at Federal Correctional Institution Fort Dix. The MID said, “We emphasised, on our part, that American authorities bear all responsibility for our compatriot’s life and health”. Repeatedly, the MID said that Russia brought up the question of Yaroshenko’s health, as his treatment exacerbated his chronic diseases, from “the torture and humiliation he was subjected to during his arrest in Liberia and by the lack of proper medical aid. Unfortunately, they’ve still made no measures to improve the situation”.
The MID informed American diplomats of Russia’s intention to arrange a visit to Yaroshenko at Fort Dix in the near future by a group comprising Dolgov, senior diplomats from the Russian Embassy in Washington and Consulate General in New York, and Russian doctors to organise a qualified medical inspection of Yaroshenko and decide his treatment, saying, “We called on the American authorities not to obstruct this mission and give it any possible help”. Moscow expects a prompt and positive response from the USA, as it should take into account the humanitarian aspect of the situation, as it puts a human life in danger.
American authorities arrested Yaroshenko in Liberia on 28 May 2010 on the charge of preparing to smuggle a large haul of cocaine, deporting him to the USA. An American court (illegally) sentenced the Russian pilot to 20 years in prison on 7 September 2011. Russian representatives charged that the USA violated international law in this case, as the American special services captured a Russian citizen in a third country and brought him to the USA in secret. On 15 August 2013, Dolgov told Interfax that the New York Federal Court of Appeals decision declining an appeal in the Yaroshenko case makes it possible to use the 1983 European Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and that precedents of such coöperation between Russia and the USA already exist.
14 February 2014
Russia Beyond The Headlines
http://rbth.ru/news/2014/02/14/russia_presents_demarche_to_us_over_deterioration_of_prisoners_health_34227.html
Editor’s Note:
Not to put too fine a face on it, both Konstantin Yaroshenko and Viktor Bout are in American prisons illegally, as American law and courts have NO jurisdiction whatsoever outside of the USA. The Americans hold Yaroshenko and Bout as helpless pawns… the USA will use them to get release of its spies from (legally-imposed) Russian imprisonment. That’s an old story, isn’t it? Besides that, Americans are arrogant and hubristic… they think that their money buys them everything… including exemption from the law (look at how Wee Willy Romney’s father bought him a bogus “clergy exemption” in the Vietnam War… and how the Republican Party nominated such a cowardly amoral unpatriotic greedster as its standard-bearer).
It explains why certain clergy are protecting a convicted perv. The law doesn’t apply to them, dontcha know! Interesting… one of those in on the cover-up is a retired judge (at least, he’s kept silent publicly on the public silence on the kid glove treatment of the perv)… none dare call it evil.
BMD