MORE NEO-SOVIET OUTRAGE!!!
DEFCON 2: RUSSIA SHUTS DOWN AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH AND ALL OTHER MAJOR FOREIGN NGOs IN THE COUNTRY!
The horror is unfolding so rapidly that even La Russophobe can barely keep up with or believe it. The Washington Post now reports that Neo-Soviet Russia has already moved from the frying pan of the Politkovskaya killing to the fire of obliterating the presence of all the major foreign NGOs in the country, including Amnesty and HRW. For sheer bellicose provocation, this makes the murder of Politkovskaya seem minor, when only days before her killing made all that had preceded it seem so. Here's the Post's report:
Russia has suspended the activities of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the International Republican Institute and more than 90 other foreign non-governmental organizations 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.
The measure, signed into law by President Vladimir Putin at the start of the year, was criticized as an attempt to rein in one of the last areas of independent civic life in Russia. But Russian officials called it necessary to prevent foreign states interfering in Russia's political process.
On Thursday, they defended the suspensions as simply due to the failure of private groups to meet the law's requirements, not a political decision on the part of the state.
"No political order has been given . . . to tighten the screws," said Vladimir Lukin, Russia's federal ombudsman, speaking at a Moscow forum hosted by the Council of Europe, a 46-country human rights organization based in Strasbourg, France. "Colleagues from international NGOs are not in the habit of keeping their affairs and documents in order."
Many of the suspended groups are American, including adoption agencies, the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute. The latter two organizations are funded by the U.S. Congress but act independently to promote democracy.
Other suspended groups include two branches of Doctors without Borders, the Danish Refugee Council and the Netherlands-based Russian Justice Initiative, which helps Russians bring cases to the European Court of Human Rights.
Russian officials stressed that the suspensions, which came into effect at midnight Wednesday, are temporary -- provided the groups meet the bureaucratic requirements.
"We are not speaking about closing organizations, that is out of the question," said Natalia Vishnyakova, a senior official at the Ministry of Justice, in a telephone interview. Concerning the registration process, she said: "We are working properly and put all our efforts into making it even faster. It is not at all complicated, believe me, absolutely not. It's really their own headache. On our part, we provided all necessary conditions."
Activists complained, however, that the requirements of the law are so vague and cumbersome that meeting the deadline was extremely difficult. Russian officials, they said, nit-picked their way through the submitted documents.
Human Rights Watch, for instance, called itself the "Representative Office of the Non-Governmental Organization Human Rights Watch in the Russian Federation." Officials at the registration office rejected that description and said the group should call itself the "Representative Office of the Corporation Human Rights Watch Inc. (USA) in the Russian Federation."
That change, among others, required Human Rights Watch to send its submission back to its headquarters in New York to have the document revised and renotarized in the United States, then re-translated into Russian and re-notarized in Russia.
Officials at the Human Rights Watch office in Moscow said they could not speak to a reporter because they interpreted the strictures of the suspension to extend to talking to the news media. The law says that suspended groups can do nothing to realize the aims and goals of their offices in Russia.
"We are registering and we are complying with the law," said Carroll Bogert, associate director of Human Rights Watch, in a telephone interview from New York. "But we have been really distracted from our work by the onerous burdens that this law imposes. But this is not particular to us. It's a hassle for everyone."
Other groups including the American Chamber of Commerce said they found the registration office helpful because people there pointed out errors before the group formally submitted its documents, allowing it to correct them and expedite the registration. Among major American organizations, the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Moscow Center were successfully registered. In all, 99 foreign groups were registered, officials at the Justice Ministry said.
A spokeswoman from Amnesty International said the organization was exploring whether it could continue to do field research in Russia by flying in researchers from London, where the organization is based. "We are seeking clarification," said Lydia Aroyo, a spokeswoman based in London. "But we are very unhappy. There were no clear guidelines as to what documents were required or how to fill them out. The process was very cumbersome and very time-consuming."
Labels:
neo-soviet crackdown,
russia
11 comments:
Good. I hope these NGO will fly away from Russia and take Russian (российских) grant-suckers with them. I don't believe bureacracy is of much use, but sometimes it works right.
UGLY: Yes, Russia will now be just like the USSR in every way. And it will meet the same fate. Russians pretend they are strong, but in fact they fear tiny little Amnesty International. What else to do you fear? Flowers?
ugly raccoons - How could any sane, rational person cheer the closing of an international rights group in their country, in any country, for that matter, unless they are stupid or as big a fascist as Putin?
Putin is a crude, vicious little thug with the same sharp little teeth that Stalin had. Those teeth will, in time, bite your sniveling little face too. People who cheer fascism deserve to get eaten.
I assume your grandparents were Stalin lackeys. No free press, journalists systematically murdered, Soviet show trials back in fashion, private property extorted back to the state, intolerance of other ethnic groups out in the open again....what plans have you made to ensure your offspring won't be zeks in the next round of Russian gulags?
What human rights group would you like us to contact on their behalf?
PENNY: a sane, rational person couldn't . ;)
LR: Russia will now be just like the USSR in every way
What I like in you, you're not afraid to look idiotic for your cause too. Did you live in USSR? I did. Do you live in Russia? I do. And you are not afraid to say perfectly idiotic thing I quoted above, even if you knew it is a lie and you'll look like complete moron for anyone who can compare SU and RF first-hand. Please, use words like every way a bit more carefully.
About Amnesty and others - no one fears them. It is a matter of souvereignty. If these NGO weren't funded from abroad, no one gave a damn about them. Make your papers clear, show your funds are clear, and you are welcome. But for now - get lost and whine somewhere else. If your goods here not bought, go find another market. Easy.
penny: any sane, rational person should cheer the expelling of foreign-funded organization meddling in internal affairs of his country. Those who shouldn't - they have no dignity.
Your dreams about Putin biting me (what a horror, I did think he'll just kiss my belly) - let'em stay with you. If you have not other amusement, at least this will keep you afloat.
My grandparents? Peasants who became workers. Some of my ancestors and relatives were in camps (by various reasons), some got state awards - and I honor them all, and, when some foreign nincompoop tries to berate them with her silly conscience formatted by comic-books and Hollywood films, I just don't care. I know my history, you know only scary stories intended to push your morning BigMac down your throat... (you know I may use stereotypes too, heh). Sorry, you lose.
No free press - care to prove? Care to prove there was free press? What you mean by 'free' - owned by oligarchs? You're living in the world of stereotypes, and you believe your habits, hopes and believes are good for anyone - but it's not so. You and your views are just not needed here, like these meddlers from Amnesty and all other two-bit crusaders.
what plans have you made to ensure your offspring won't be zeks in the next round of Russian gulags?
The same you made to ensure your offspring will not jump away from window of burning skycraper hit by airliner or will not blow himself up on anti-personel mine in faraway oil-rich country. In other words, first ensure your own future (and I mean not the ensurance made by 'keep smiling' and stating to everyone 'all will be OK'), after ask about mine.
What human rights group would you like us to contact on their behalf?
I will not link the fate of my children to you and likes of you. You are unworthy, by my opinion.
UGLY: You really do need to try to read dear, or learn English. I said "will be." That's future tense sweetheart. It means it is not the case now but about to be the case in the future. Don't drink and post, makes you look silly.
LR: Sorry, but my respect for your power of event prediction is even less than my respect for your power of reality description. As I said, I can compare SU and RF from my own experience, and I am saying that present RF will not be future SU. Now or ever. Especially 'every way'. Moreover, I find such prediction idiotic, and I said so above. Even you could understand that.gmjlj
raccoons - I think you're a liar, far too superficial and glib to have much more than a most superficial relationship with Russia. As a Useful Idiot for any old garden variety fascist, you are about average, with the right balance of poor reasoning skills, narcissism, immaturity, lack of curiosity, and intolerance.
My guess, you're a lonely teenager. And, trolling is your entertainment.
Spare me a response. Use the time to reconnect with humanity. Get out of your bedroom and do something nice towards someone. Make a friend. Read an inspiring book. Turn your hostility into something positive.
Russophobe,
Again I see a question not answered by you. I clearly can't find it on your blog. Have you ever lived in Russia? And for how long?
This question seems to skip your eyes every time it pops up.
Probably because the words ignorant, baboon or lies don't sprout up in your mind when you're reading that question.
FFS, state it clearly in your blog somewhere...
Because the image you are bringing to me is an ignorant, republican american housewife who has nothing better to do all day than look for every possible filth in some far away country. What was it what the bible says: Or how can you tell your brother,'Brother, let me remove the speck of chaff that is in your eye,' when you yourself don't see the beam that is in your own eye?
So tell us all. Have you ever lived in Russia? For how long? Where? Do you know a lot of Russians? tells us. Why all this negativaty about Russia? There is a lot of good there too. Russia is a state that only exists for 15 years. There was a lot of bad things, and in the course of the revolution a lot of bad happened as well. Same as in America.
You surely don't like all that negative talk about Bush and america all the time as well? Or do you dwell in that as well?
But before answering that, or flaming me, answer that one question first. Suprise me.
penny: Yeah-yeah... 'you are a fool, and don't answer, I am not listening!' And you call me immature?
I am Russian. I gave here link to my blog, my real name can be found in yandex easily. I am living near Moscow all my life and I am perfectly real.
So it is you who tries to offset her complete incompetence in the Russan matters by arrogance and by making 'conclusions of cosmic scale and of cosmic foolishness', as it stated in one good Russian book.
Yes, I am not fitting in your nicely crafted picture of the world for poor brainwashed Westerners. But it is not my fault, and your pitiful attempts to explain me are betraying your own disadvantages... I'll not dwell on these. You're punished enough by your own nature.
Have a nice day.
DANIEL:
I've answered that question many times. It's you who've missed my answers. I've lived in Russia for several years worth of time, in several different cities, and speak Russian as a result.
What's more, since you seem to have a lot of respect for Sean's blog, I suggest you read it more closely. Sean recently said the fact that David Johnson doesn't speak Russian and has never lived in Russia makes no difference to him and has no bearing on Johnson's ability to circulate the JRL. If you don't agree, tell Sean. I'll back you up.
Now answer me this: Do you ask me because you can't attack anything I've written on the facts, so you decide to try a personal attack instead?
PS: I have no obligation to answer any questions from anyone, and I find your suggestion to the contrary full of hubris. Although I have no obligation to do so, I go out of my way to do so, and your failure to recognize that is quite unfair.
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