RUSSIA - Get Rid of Foreign Owned Press

Putin's Kremlin Is a Fugitive From International Justice By Mark Lawrence Schrad Aug. 20 2014 19:46 Last edited 19:46 In the summer of 2006, some Russian friends visited my Moscow apartment, where I was busily preparing course lectures on international law for the fall semester. "But you're an American," they guffawed, "what could you possibly know about international law?" Then they delighted in listing America's legal transgressions — Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, Kosovo, etc. It was galling, but they were right. Teaching courses on both international law and Russian politics in subsequent years, I've been particularly attuned to international law as a tool of Russian foreign policy. Acting as self-appointed global counterweight to the U.S. — and often wielding its veto in the United Nations Security Council to that effect — Russia has consistently invoked international law and the principle of national sovereignty to oppose everything from additional sanctions against Iran to humanitarian intervention in Syria. And though many may disagree with Russia's politics, until recently the Kremlin's invocation of international law has — with the glaring exceptions of the 2008 war with Georgia, the expropriation of Yukos, and the endless Chechnya-related petitions before the European Court of Human Rights — been largely consistent, understandable and defensible. The Kremlin even alludes to international law some 17 times in the most recent "Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation," the mission statement of Russian foreign policy. Approved by President Vladimir Putin in February 2013, it prioritizes strengthening international law ahead of even international security, economic cooperation, environmental concerns and human rights. But with breathtaking speed, the Kremlin has gone from one of the staunchest defenders of international law to being one of the biggest fugitives from it. Russia's "unconditional respect for international law" as declared in the 2013 "concept" can only be read as a farce in light of Russia's overt and covert intervention in Ukraine in 2014. The Kremlin's "concept" articulates the legal foundations in the UN Charter, the 1970 Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation Among States, and the Helsinki Final Act of 1975. The most fundamental provision of the UN Charter is Article 2(4): "All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state." This was the basis for the Kremlin's accusations against Western interference from Kosovo to Syria. Now, it more readily applies to Russia's invasion of Crimea, aiding rebels in the Ukrainian east, and threatening military force by massing tanks at the border. But if overturning the entire legal foundation of both the European and global security order — one that the Kremlin itself swore to uphold just months before — wasn't enough, the invasion and annexation of Crimea adds more to Russia's rap sheet. [...] Mark Lawrence Schrad is the author of "Vodka Politics: Alcohol, Autocracy and the Secret History of the Russian State," and director of Russian studies and assistant professor of political science at Villanova University. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/kremlin-is-a-fugitive-from-international-justice/505528.html ........................................................................ This is nothing but a US propaganda piece published in a Finnish owned publication and written by a US academic who lectures at Villanova Uni ... which happens to be in Pennsylvania (here). Generally, I'm all for freedom of press.  However, in this instance, my feeling is:  Russia, kick out foreign owned press. Russia gets enough anti-Russian propaganda in the western press and in the web of western lobbying NGOs etc.  So it's not like they need this crap 'in-house'. Straight up, the article goes into Russia being 'self-appointed' this or that, like Russia needs to justify its existence and its actions to some Yank who thinks the world revolves around the US.  Newsflash:  it doesn't.  Russia's actions are Russia's actions, independent of the US.  Or, putting it another way, it is what it is -- it's not some challenge to the US.  If the US and it's supporters wish to view it as such, so be it, but no need to smear Russia for its actions -- particularly when the US are the biggest bully violators of nations and resources on this planet.  And, no, they weren't born to rule. Russia's entitled to call on whatever laws it wishes.  It's just as entitled to be inconsistent and to do whatever it takes to pursue Russia's interests.  It's not like the US obeys international laws or its own laws and the US is certainly not consistent, so who gives a toss about consistency or which laws are invoked to serve whatever purpose.  It's dog eat dog and the US is the dirtiest dog of the pack. US wankers are big on invoking the 'global security' bullshit -- while decimating global security. Anyone that's interested in reading the hypocritical beat-up article can do so.