Russia is a “criminal state”? Er…
November 23, 2009When lawyers die in custody and serious questions are raised about what was and wasn’t done to save them, it is sick and disturbing, as sick and disturbing when journalists get gunned down in downtown Moscow. It means that none of us are safe.
However, let’s put Bill Browder’s comments on this situation in perspective.
How many people – most of them poor, most of them not exactly blond and blue-eyed – have died in custody in the U.S.? How many of those cases are properly investigated? I’m not even talking about the highly publicized or somewhat publicized debacles. I’m talking about the completely messed-up stories we used to hear while living in North Carolina, a state which is home to many immigrants, many of them undocumented and vulnerable. I’m talking about being told that I was lucky I was a white foreigner, you know what I’m saying?
I do not hear anyone branding the U.S. a “criminal state” over the abuses that have gone on, and still go on. Why? It’s not politically expedient to do so. Russia, on the other hand, was and is a convenient boogeyman.
At times like these, it is important to remember that Russia is not the Borg. It’s a complicated society, where there are many clashing ambitions and ideologies. Blaming Putin for everything that goes wrong in a country where the saying “the sky is high, the Czar is far” is still apt today is simplistic, and a cop-out.
I don’t see Sergei Magnitsky’s death as anything other than horrifying. But neither can I unquestioningly swallow the latest round of political posturing.
Also worth mentioning is the fact that Bill Browder’s credibility on this topic is low. He was a cheerleader for Russian business and an apologist for many social and political problems as long as he was still allowed in to make money. Once they came after him, his tune changed.
And yes, you’re absolutely right about the hypocrisy of Americans criticizing the Russian penal system when ours is rife with atrocities.
I think part of this is privilege. Lawyers are usually quite privileged, and arresting them and keeping them in jail is unheard of in American society. (Unless they’ve actually committed a crime like embezzlement or something.) Another part and parcel of this is the horrifying extremes Russia has been known to go to. The Polonium poisoning, anyone?
Polonium poisoning is extreme? And occupying Iraq is not? gimme a break.
People have rightly called the U.S. a criminal state for its secret prisons, its indefinite detention of alleged terrorists at Guantanamo, and its torture of said detainees. Rightly so because we know these abuses were ordered by then-president George W. Bush and his closest advisers.
Browder has alleged that his lawyer was locked up for political reasons. Here, he’s implying that authorities killed the attorney or deliberately allowed him to die.
It’s important to consider the context in which Browder made these comments. IIRC, Browder is fighting a takeover of his company multimillion dollar company by tax collectors and state security forces. We’re talking forged registration papers, secret bank accounts, the works… He says the authorities framed his lawyer was framed in order to retaliate against him.
If Browder’s charges are true, and he seems to have a lot of evidence to back them up, then he’s got some pretty good grounds for regarding Russia as a criminal state. He’s allegedly being oppressed by very high-level federal authorites.
The BBC would never run a headline with “The U.S. is a criminal state.” Browder would never have the balls to make pronouncements like that on such a large platform. The U.S. doesn’t get flogged like Russia does, and it won’t get flogged like Russia does, no matter who is president.
I’m well aware of the context of Browder’s comments, and I can’t help but notice that he was a cheerleader for the new regime in Russia… for as long as it benefited him. We all make our compromises, that’s just the way life works over here – but don’t pretend you’re a sheep when you run with the wolves.
I also notice how he speaks of Magnitsky as a “hostage.” And what exactly did he do to save this hostage? He was safely back in Britain while Magnitsky was dying in jail.
Perhaps what Browder really needed was a martyr. And he got his martyr.
For the record, I’m not a supporter of the Iraq war, and I personally think it was extreme. But endangering hundreds of people for the sake of eliminating one man is also quite extreme. I’m still not sure Putin is behind it-for one thing, I’m sure he’s not that dumb, but someone high up in the food chain signed off on it.