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Russia Suspends Foreign Non-Governmental Groups
washingtonpost.com — Russia has suspended the activities of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the International Republican Institute and more than 90 other foreign NGOs on grounds they failed to meet the registration requirements of a controversial new law designed to bring foreign activists here under much closer government scrutiny.
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- Monolith2, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11Russia is in the same predicament germany was post WW1. Let's hope things dont turn out the same way.
- VolatileWhimsy, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2I can bet you it will... But I think he will do as a co-op with China.....
- Idealistic, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5Hopefully Bush wont get any ideas, or maybe it was Russia that got the idea from us?
- ICSU, on 10/12/2007, -11/+4Just from those two ignorant and ridiculous comments I can guess you are Americans. Go back to watching Rambo now...
- captaineuphoria, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Leave Rambo out of this!
- Idealistic, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4Demolition Man > Rambo
- vertinox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2With the things are going over there, Putin might make Chechyna his Danzig as a pretext to invade Georgia.
- VolatileWhimsy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Russia is in a sad state of late, their media is now state ran, he is forcing these charties out.. He wants a list of all financial as well as all events and who will be attending them for the whole year.. No wonder they couldn't make it within the time frame he demanded.. :/
- CGreen, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3State ran? Iran? Bush?
- VolatileWhimsy, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Ha ha ha.. I'm taking you are joking cause you sure as heck aren't reading american news if you think that....
- dp2006, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2VolatileWhimsy, all Putin is doing here is putting in place just a minimal amount of control over the activities of foreign institutions that have set up shop in Russia. One would believe a sovereign country is fully entitled to do that -- to control foreign activities on its soil, wouldn't you say? I mean, how would you like Iranian, North Korean or Libyan operatives to operate their "charities" without any supervision in the United States? It's a question of state sovereignty.
Speaking more generally, will people in the West please stop feeling like they have a moral (or political) right to teach Russia how to take care of itself? Western teachings already have reduced the country to rubble in the 1990's. Don't stand in the way of Putin trying to undo some of that damage.
(For the record, yes, I'm Russian.) - VolatileWhimsy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Meh I'm ok with Russia being what it wants to be... As long as they aren't the school yard bully.. Hey my fav gun, markorv comes from there...
"Putin is doing here is putting in place just a minimal amount of control over the activities of foreign institutions that have set up shop in Russia. One would believe a sovereign country is fully entitled to do that -- to control foreign activities on its soil, wouldn't you say?"
I will not disagree at all with this statement. What I disagree with is the length he is going to get an iron grip on his country.. Journalists have been murdered and so forth.. Previously ppl from his own cabinet resigned because of what he was doing to the country.. He is simply a short mean bully. - dp2006, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Don't get me wrong, I'm not Putin's fan. I think he is too soft. But as regards that journalist's murder, it is by no means clear who did it -- Western and Russia'a left-wing media have been quick to blame the Kremlin for it but that's nothing but partisan speculation at this point until further details become known. That particular shrill b*tch of a journalist had made everyone into her enemies over the years -- including some Chechen clans (her erstwhile political bedbuddies). So she may have been disposed of by just about anybody.
Of course, appealing to people to hold off assigning blame on this one is too much to ask for, as lots of folks are used to seeing Russia as a monster and have a knee-jerk reaction to want to take a swipe at it at every opportunity.
Besides, even if journalists are murdered in Russia, that's still no one but Russia's business. We're going back to the whole idea of state sovereignty. I.e. just sit back and watch what happens in other countries but don't make their internal politics your own.
Sometimes there are bigger things at stake than somebody's "human rights" or "freedom of the press".
- borninda818, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10In Soviet Russia....um....whatever
- Azur2, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4Some day the west will have to deal with the fact that Russia is not a democracy but more like a medieval feudal kingdom; that it _will_ use its natural gas to blackmail the EU; that it _is_ hostile to the US; and that it _does_ still try to resurrect the Soviet empire.
- punchingjudy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Sorry, what? Democracy? Where is there an actual democracy? Even the United States is more of a plutocratic republic. And I know this may come as a surprise, but democracy isn't going to be appropriate for every culture or country. Also, Putin isn't trying to resurrect the Soviet empire; he's trying to make his own.
- Crimsoneer, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Gotta agree with you there...except with the soviet empire part. As much as its not a democracy, its not trying to bring back the USSR. There is areason it imploded and russia knows that as well as we do.
- VolatileWhimsy, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6I seriously can't believe you ppl are so self involved with America that you have no idea what the hell is going on in the rest of the world.. I am aghast to say the least...
@punchingjudy
According to Gorbachev himself democracy was the best thing for Russia but moving to it so fast all but destroyed it.. :/
- ElFredo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@Crimsoneer,
Given the current state of relationships between Russia and Georgia or Ukraine, I think Azur2 is mostly right - except that Putin's empire will differ on the form. - Bioshocker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Punchingjudy, what the ******* are you on about?
Every country should be moving towards democracy, not away from it. The movement away from democracy in Russia (which is easily measured - suspension of freedom of press, assassination of journalists critical of the government, etc) is being driven by a political elite bent on amassing more power for themselves. It's not at all being driven by culture.
It simply isn't acceptable to sit by while a country degrades to a dangerous (using its energy supplies to blackmail its neighbors into submission) dictatorship, and just go "oh that's only their culture". - Idealistic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Every country should be moving towards democracy, not away from it. The movement away from democracy in Russia (which is easily measured - suspension of freedom of press, assassination of journalists critical of the government, etc) is being driven by a political elite bent on amassing more power for themselves. It's not at all being driven by culture."
"It simply isn't acceptable to sit by while a country degrades to a dangerous (using its energy supplies to blackmail its neighbors into submission) dictatorship, and just go "oh that's only their culture"."
How is this different than the US, politicians (both parties) are power hungry. The Executive branch gains more power every day. Theoretically the people retain some power from the fact that they can vote out those that they dont like, but that is minimized by gerrymandering and stupid (easily mind controlled) people.
We aren't to the point where we kill journalists (though I'm sure politicians would like to sometimes) but the news does seem to be mostly just propaganda anyway now a days (liberal and conservative). Now all this doesn't directly relate to your point, but i think that the US should ***** its own government system (or just come out and say what they are trying to do with it, rather than going on and on about constitutionality and freedom) before it trys to point out the problems evident in other countries. Just seems hypocritical (full of *****) to me. Or maybe we should just go on the way we are and other people should understand because, after all, its part of our culture. - Nixolay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Bioshocker,
and what do you want? Interfere? Fix this problem? The whole world should have copy-pasted USA goverment model? Controlled by USA? And if someone does something *not so pleasant* - shoot him? Don't you think it's stoopid? It sounds like you want to control every problem in the world? Would you mind if someone will come and say, "Hey guys, there's something wrong with USA democracy. We need to fix it to be exaclty like ours?".
No one in the world likes when you tell them how to live. Hope we'll figure it out ourselves. We appreciate you attention, but no, thanks.
- ElFredo, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Argh, missed the reply link - bury me (digg definitely needs a delete button)
- wacka, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I guess Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the International Republican Institute are the most important 3 foreign NGOs in Russia to be suspended. Since those were listed at the front of the article. It seems a bigger loss to me for Russia to lose international adoption agencies, which were mentioned farther down, below were most people have probably read.
- trovoltex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the International Republican Institute which are ruling by ex-CIA? Very democratic institutionals.
- dp2006, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Putin didn't suspend them, they suspended themselves. They had almost a year to complete their registration, yet didn't bother to (I guess they probably actually wanted to become banned in order to raise yet another stink about "horrible totalitarian Russia").
Here's an article from MSNBC ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15338791/ ) that mentions an interesting detail (quote): "Many of the suspended organizations are American, including adoption agencies, the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute. The latter two are funded by the U.S. Congress..."
Surely, nobody would suspect the U.S. Congress of any ulterior motives in a foreign country, though, would they?...
- kuchino, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the soviet union wont come back, the people of Russia wont let it.
- dp2006, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The Soviet Union would be a pretty good deal compared to today's Yeltsin-devastated Russia. Most people wouldn't mind a return to the good old days at all, trust me.
The Soviet Union looked scary only on the outside, on the inside it was a nice, cozy and orderly place -- I grew up in it. The only diss was shortage of consumer trinkets -- that's why people didn't defend the old system when a bunch of ragtag "democrats" with Yeltsin as the ringleader started to rock the boat, promising everyone Western levels of creature comforts within a year or two after transition to "democracy".
- dp2006, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The Soviet Union would be a pretty good deal compared to today's Yeltsin-devastated Russia. Most people wouldn't mind a return to the good old days at all, trust me.
- micro506, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2 Союз нерушимый республик свободных
Сплотила навеки Великая Русь.- 2ndRevolution, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Это не имело смысла.
- Nixolay, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Ага. Мы так всегда шутим в их форумах. Молодцы! А потом появляются стереотипы.
- 2ndRevolution, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Какие стереотипы Вы подразумеваете?
- Nixolay, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Soviet Russia. Я про коммент микро506. Вы же видите. Людям из Оклахомы надо объяснить что к чему :))
- 2ndRevolution, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Оклахома? Почему Оклахома?
- VolatileWhimsy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Can you refer me to a translaton book?
- trovoltex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1A tool for transations:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr
- scorchedearth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's a shame that HRW and AI were pushed out.
But the International Republican Institute being driven out is a good thing. They have a nasty habit of interfering with foreign elections with the goal of having politicans favourable to American investors elected in those countries. Read about their involvement in Haiti as well as Venezuela to find out what I am referring to. - hodyoaten, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International."
Considering Putin is ex-KGB, that hit list sounds about right. Guess they should bring in Halliburton for a nice no-bid contract on Lublyanka Prison Phase 2. - Nixolay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Come on guys.
This is definitely not a good thing, that is going in our country, but you should not start yelling out stereotypes, like KGB, Soviet Empire. Sounds way too stupid, like you do not watch nothing but Fox News. I think it's just business. Money is the thing that matters. That's all.
Looks like the whole world is going down to some very unpleasant state (Russian "democracy", USA "democracy", whole world "democracy").
Someone stop this planet. I'm getting off here.- Viliam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Exactly. This has nothing to do with being ex-soviet or not. USA and Russia act in a very similar way, if you remove the cultural differences. The "war against terrorism" in Iraq and Chechna works similar... the soldiers of the big country on pretext of fighting terrorism terrorize the civilian population, torture prisoners and rape girls. The governments remove the civils rights because having rights to disagree would just help the enemy. The cultural difference is that USA now removes habeas corpus; while in Russia journalists are being shot. (Also American forces sometime kill journalists, but they do it abroad.)
Sometimes it seems to me that the leaders of both empires just decided that instead of indirectly fighting each other in the Cold war, it is better to make peace, divide the world, and start establishing their power in "their" parts of world. Less work, more power. And average people in both countries probably dislike what is happening... unless they are completely uninformed or convinced by official media that the leaders are doing the right thing. If you remove the cultural differences, it is the same mechanism. - VolatileWhimsy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1How can you think that its just business as usual with Putin? Even from the first he got office he has been steering Russia to a point..
And no Russia and America do not act in a similar way at all.. :/
I have no idea where you are getting that.. We are not economically destroying surronding countries if they even blink at us wrong... We didn't send our cops in blazing to kill whoever in the school.. :/ We didn't jail the "oil guy" to get in control of his business.. I could go on.. Don't fool yourself.. Putin knows what he is doing and he has had an agenda all along... - trovoltex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@VolatileWhimsy
Bull of *****! You lie.
>We are not economically destroying surronding countries if they even blink at us wrong
Look down on the map, you see small CUBA, you have the sanctions agains them. I could go on..
>We didn't send our cops in blazing to kill whoever in the school.. :/
Jes.., you are mad, think before saying somethin, if you can think, terrorist supporter. Damn whatch your own schools, we will be watching ours. I could go on...
>We didn't jail the "oil guy" to get in control of his business..
What the ****? Hulliburton? Enron? I could go on...
>I could go on..
Go, and **** yourself.
>Putin knows what he is doing and he has had an agenda all along...
The only true. - VolatileWhimsy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1tr you are either not grasping at what I am saying or you are just ignoring it.. Why do you think we have sanctions with cuba... Cause your country where puting nukes there...
The deal with Enron? what the hell are you talking about? These men stole from teh people.. A concept I understand from what you are saying is ok.... Well here we don't think it is ok and they were prosecuted..... They aren't kept in a cage during trial...
Meh I am not a terroist supporter and I agree that Russia has a severe problem with them there.. It just amazes me that you jerks like to kick America around when you are 10 times worse...
Oh and by the way can you tell them to hurry up and release part two of Night Watch in the U.S.? - trovoltex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1>It just amazes me that you jerks like to kick America around when you are 10 times worse...
Again, it's not true. We don't kick America, you are kicking yourself by your actions.
More, newspapers we read here and western news medias I look kicking our ass, but here, we don't have that antiUS nor antiWestern tone which almost all western media has agains Russia.
Now we don't want to dominate the world, communists are over. We want to live in our country, free of your suppression and your moralities. We want stability in our country, we want justice, and we don't want Iraq-type democracy. We all upset of killings and terror we had last time, we are working on it and we will find all criminals involved in latest killings (I note, that's not that easy, just think about JFK). But please, take back your CIA-ruled NGGs, they aren't that funny.
US has many sanctions, even some on Russia, a 100 years old sanction called something-Venik. We take our sanctions - just we broke all relations with a country which goverment is militaristic and very anti-russian.
We are 10 times worse? Amazing! In what?
- Viliam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Exactly. This has nothing to do with being ex-soviet or not. USA and Russia act in a very similar way, if you remove the cultural differences. The "war against terrorism" in Iraq and Chechna works similar... the soldiers of the big country on pretext of fighting terrorism terrorize the civilian population, torture prisoners and rape girls. The governments remove the civils rights because having rights to disagree would just help the enemy. The cultural difference is that USA now removes habeas corpus; while in Russia journalists are being shot. (Also American forces sometime kill journalists, but they do it abroad.)
- jo42, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Heil Putin?
- dp2006, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Na, Putin is too soft.
- pevail, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Blame Putin?Most of those American N.G.O.'s are probably fronts for the C.I.A. trying to wreak havoc in the name of "democracy".
- jake8689, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yeah 1950's Russia here we come
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