Putin has finally, completely lost it

[Onkel Neal]

http://world.time.com/2012/12/20/why-has-moscow-passed-a-law-to-ban-u-s-adoption-of-russian-orphans/

Russia cannot take care of it's orphans, now Putin wants to ensure no one can.

Passing a new law in Russia has never presented much of a problem for Russian President Vladimir Putin. With perpetual control of both houses of parliament and a couple of loyalist “opposition” parties to boot, legislation backed by Putin generally amounts to a Kremlinfiat. The hard part this week was in explaining his newest law to the public. Intended as a political strike against Washington, the law does some shocking collateral damage. In effect, it will doom the chances of thousands of Russian orphans, many of them handicapped and emotionally scarred, from being adopted by families in the United States. How do you justify that?

On Thursday, Putin tried to explain himself in front of a hall full of Russian and foreign journalists, many of whom were clearly outraged by the adoption law passed the previous day. The first question asked Putin why he had made “the most destitute and helpless children into instruments of political battle.” The second was even more blunt, calling the law, “cannibalistic.” Live on Russian television, Putin mounted a strange defense: How could the journalists stand idly by while the U.S. “humiliates” Russia? “You think that’s normal?” Putin demanded. “What’s normal about being humiliated? You like that? What are you, a sadomasochist? The country will not be humiliated.”

[soopaman2]

http://world.time.com/2012/12/20/why-has-moscow-passed-a-law-to-ban-u-s-adoption-of-russian-orphans/

Russia cannot take care of it's orphans, now Putin wants to ensure no one can.


It is his way of saying, "you want it you got it, we do not give a (stuff)"

And a way to blow the USA off without addressing it's civil rights abuses.

Ask any former satellite nation, or any Muslim living within its boundaries.

Putin=Stalin, with his anti religions stance.

Only death will get him out of power. I would respect him more if he outright declared himself a dictator, like Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev did. But they (he) would lose the ability to protect China, Iran and N korea (in the UN) like they do, if they were seen as oppressive as they really are.

[Jimbuna]

The guy is simply an international joke...about as much credibility as a peanut butter sandwich.

[AVGWarhawk]

That is absolutely bonkers. Sometimes I wish our dear leaders would wear the shoes of the common folk for a day or so. It might make them realize it ain't so rosy for some.

[AVGWarhawk]

The guy is simply an international joke...about as much credibility as a peanut butter sandwich.

Nailed it! :up:

[Takeda Shingen]

Another article about the 4-hour long press conference.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/20/vladimir-putin-holds-a-marathon-news-conference/

Some greatest hits from Putins comments:

“The end of the world is going to come … in 5 billion years, because, if I am not mistaken, this is the cycle of the sun, around 7 billion years. 4 billion years have already passed. In 3 billion years, the sun’s reactor, so to say, is going to extinguish,”

Putin is an astronomer now.

“If I believed that the authoritarian system was the best system for us, I would have changed the constitution,”

Well that's comforting to know.

“Democracy is first and foremost compliance with the law,”

Democracy is doing what you're told. Got it.

[soopaman2]

Democracy is doing what you're told. Got it.

There are some house of representative members in America who need to be told that. *cough Cantor and Boehner*

Not like we are any cleaner, just more direct.

Putin is a passive aggressive coward.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive%E2%80%93aggressive_behavior

If the shoe fits...If it quacks like a duck...etc

[Jimbuna]

But in his defence, his office have just released tis to the international press :O:

https://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/12/7/27/LTurfPHRo0OZwOD5vnyp5w2.jpg

[Skybird]

It's tit for tat.

For the Russian side, it is a diplomatic retaliation for an American law that the Russians see as a sanctionising against Russian officials that are claimed by the US to have commited human rights violations. The socalled Magnitsky Act is poisening bilateral relations since longer time now. The law is internationally disputed indeed.

I don't comment. I just explain the background. A has pushed B. Now B pushes A back.

[August]

I don't comment. I just explain the background. A has pushed B. Now B pushes A back.

But B seems to be pushing back by hurting his own country and his own countries image. What's next? He going to retaliate for our lack of respect by crapping on his own flag?

[Oberon]

I don't think Putin really cares about how the rest of the world sees Russia, he's got enough guns and enough allies to not be particularly bothered about that, and his main rival is the world leader which means that they're automatically polarising the world for and against them, so Putin can just sit back and let potential allies fall into his lap if he wants to.

What Putin cares about is how his people see him, particularly the hardliners and the old favourites, military, intelligence, etc, and this tit for tat is a response to a small amount of Russian children being abused by American families. It's a simple procedure, you get the state press to make a big thing of it, and neglect to mention that more Russian children are abused by Russian adoptive parents than American ones, then when the people are sufficiently engaged by it, you introduce a law to 'fix' it, and reap the small popularity boost amongst those who brought the story hook, line and sinker. In the cities, that will be pretty much no-one, but out in the wilds where there are those who still miss Stalin, then you'll see a different figure.

Putin is a shrewd person, he has definitely not 'lost' it. :03:

[Cybermat47]

I want Gorbachev back :wah:

[CCIP]

I don't think Putin really cares about how the rest of the world sees Russia, he's got enough guns and enough allies to not be particularly bothered about that, and his main rival is the world leader which means that they're automatically polarising the world for and against them, so Putin can just sit back and let potential allies fall into his lap if he wants to.

What Putin cares about is how his people see him, particularly the hardliners and the old favourites, military, intelligence, etc, and this tit for tat is a response to a small amount of Russian children being abused by American families. It's a simple procedure, you get the state press to make a big thing of it, and neglect to mention that more Russian children are abused by Russian adoptive parents than American ones, then when the people are sufficiently engaged by it, you introduce a law to 'fix' it, and reap the small popularity boost amongst those who brought the story hook, line and sinker. In the cities, that will be pretty much no-one, but out in the wilds where there are those who still miss Stalin, then you'll see a different figure.

Putin is a shrewd person, he has definitely not 'lost' it. :03:

:up:

Exactly. As I keep saying in threads of this type, you guys are mistaking the point and intention of these "shows" that Putin and his regime put on. They are not meant for you, i.e. they are not at all aimed at the West or the international community. Rather, these are purely displays meant for domestic consumption, and as such, they work.

Granted, it's easy to see how any liberally-minded Russian (of which I consider myself one) could only respond with exasperation to the way the regime treats Russian people - like children, with a lot of finger-wagging and threats of spanking. It's a crying shame. But sadly that's life in Russia for you.

[TarJak]

I want Gorbachev back :wah:

Why do your remember him well?:hmmm:

[Cybermat47]

Why do your remember him well?:hmmm:

No.

But the most important thing he did was dissolve the USSR, while all Putin has done is throw people in jail for not letting him buy their companies and this.

[Takeda Shingen]

No.

But the most important thing he did was dissolve the USSR, while all Putin has done is throw people in jail for not letting him buy their companies and this.

You know he didn't disolve the USSR willingly, right? I mean, the dissolusion was largely due to the anti-Gorbachev coup attempt in 1991. He didn't tear the wall down so much as the "wall" fell apart.

[Cybermat47]

You know he didn't disolve the USSR willingly, right? I mean, the dissolusion was largely due to the anti-Gorbachev coup attempt in 1991. He didn't tear the wall down so much as the "wall" fell apart.

Meh, at least he was crap/sensible enough to let it work.

[TarJak]

Ask your History teacher about it. You might learn something new.

[Cybermat47]

You might learn something new.

I'm always learning something new :yeah:

[CaptainMattJ.]

Ask your History teacher about it. You might learn something new.
To be fair, the western powers still aren't coming to terms of what communist russia was REALLY like in the cold war (Stalin's regime was the darkest days of the USSR for the average russian, im talknig about the cold war). What they try to teach me in school is that communist russia was a deplorable highlyoppressive place.

It wasn't all that great, but it's not the demon it's made out to be. Talking to the people who actually lived through it in Russia, i can say that the majority of the population wasn't abused or totally oppressed. Free education, Free healthcare, rights (yes they enjoyed some rights in soviet russia). Granted the sattelite countries were mistreated and the few who really spoke out against the USSR during the cold war era were arrested, but the majority of the population had little to complain about.

So the history books (and some teachers) are still under the impression that cold-war soviet russia was the greatest evil there ever was. When, in fact, cold war america wasn't that fantastic a time either. I mean look at Joseph McCarthy, or the red hysteria of the time.

So in reality it just wasn't a very good time at all. Based on the now many russians who lived through or whose parents lived through the cold war, they still claim that it wasn't nearly the demon that peopel make it out to be. And it wasn't. Now, back when Stalin was still in power, that's an entirely different matter. THAT was, in terms of death toll, even worse than Hitler's regime. But after Stalin things improved dramatically in Soviet Russia for the average person, according to first hand accounts.

[Tribesman]

Putin has finally, completely lost it
Did he ever have it?

[NeonSamurai]

Ironically, and sadly too, he is actually doing naive Americans (and other nationalities) a favor. These kinds of adoptions rarely end up very well. Usually these kids are too emotionally scarred and deprived from their experiences to recover very well and be functional adults.

I've had 3 such kids (now teenagers) in the last 2 months in adolescent inpatient where I am, and the prognosis was very bad for all of them (out of control, aggressive, violent, and practically animalistic). All of them came from well off loving families (that were growing broke from all the medical bills, therapy, and other forms of treatment, and trying to do everything they could to help them), and were adopted at fairly young ages (3-5 years old).

They had no idea what they were getting themselves into.

[Skybird]

But B seems to be pushing back by hurting his own country and his own countries image. What's next? He going to retaliate for our lack of respect by crapping on his own flag?
That's how you see it. Not them. And Americans wanting to adopt children from other countries have Russia very high on their demand list, Russian children are amongst their favourites.

Personally I do not understand this craving for adopting an "exotic" child. Must be something about "exotic" indeed, like having a tropical fish or a parrot.

[Skybird]

Oberon is on target, I think.

[CCIP]

You want to hear someone who really lost it by the way? Here is a recent speech by a Russian parliamentarian on the subject of banning adoptions of Russian children by the USA...

The USA, before the eyes of the whole world, are instigating one slaughter after another. This is how the interests of the golden billion are resolved but, it seems, wars require human material. In the USA, a national body responsible for foreign adoption was thus created. Simultaneous to that, assistance funds were launched to find lobbyists in other countries to aid in the adoption and delivery of children. This is the objective reality of today. And thus the flow of children to America from under-developed countries began, including from Russia. 60,000 orphans were taken out of the country. And even if 1/10th of these children will be snuffed out and used for transplantation organs or for sexual pleasure, there will still be over 50,000 left to recruit into the military for war - even war with Russia.

(-Svetlana Goryacheva, MP)

MY POOR BRAIN :dead::dead::dead::dead:

[Takeda Shingen]

Oh crap, they're on to us. Quick, everyone hide the organ harvesting equipment!

[Betonov]

It wasn't all that great, but it's not the demon it's made out to be. Talking to the people who actually lived through it in Russia, i can say that the majority of the population wasn't abused or totally oppressed. Free education, Free healthcare, rights (yes they enjoyed some rights in soviet russia).

Same with Yugoslavia.

[geetrue]

Putin has finally, completely lost it (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=1982930#post1982930)

it’s just so interesting that this even deserves it’s own thread

The Berlin wall did not come down over night …

The Berlin wall did not come down without God hearing the prayers of many years before it fell.

This is only seed thought … not an attempt to turn the subject into Russia being an evil empire or anything like that.

Just good plain seed thoughts.

http://www.unsolvedmysteries.com/usm527355.html?t=Conspiracy (http://www.unsolvedmysteries.com/usm527355.html?t=Conspiracy)


The Truth About Korean Airlines Flight 007

On September 1st, 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was on its way to Seoul, South Korea, when it strayed into Soviet Air Space. A VVS--Soviet Air Force--SU-15 was scrambled up, and shot down the airliner, killing all 269 people
.


Korean Air Lines Flight 007
Total Persons on Board:269 passengers and crew, including US Congressman Lawrence McDonald.




http://www.rescue007.org/kal_007_diver_gives_interview.htm (http://www.rescue007.org/kal_007_diver_gives_interview.htm)
Russian deep sea diver Vadim Kondrabaev, one of the civilian divers brought to explore the wreckage of KAL 007 in 1983 gave an interview to the Russian magazine Itogi published on October 1, 2000. It can be read in English here (http://www.royfc.com/news/oct/0001oct01.html). This interview is significant in supporting a number of points made in the book Rescue 007. Kondrabaev is one of three divers referenced on page 89 in a quote from the Izvestia series about KAL 007.

He points out that after he and the other civilian divers were brought to Sakhalin on September 10, 1983, they were kept there until "the end of September." "...They literally forgot about us for several days." When they did get to the wreckage, they were surprised to find neither bodies nor luggage. "We worked beneath the water almost a month for 5 hours a day and didn't find one suitcase, not even a handle from them." He states that it was difficult to verify that what they were finding was more than rubbish and parts deliberately strewn around. He did retrieve a small Bible which he found in the pocket of a raincoat and kept that along with a few other souvenirs.





http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1933194,00.html (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1933194,00.html)
On the night of Nov. 9, 1989, an East German official held a press conference to announce new government travel policies but inadvertently announced that crossings to the West would be opened "without delay."

Two years earlier (note:1987 was four years after KAL 007) , Reagan had addressed a crowd of some 20,000 near Berlin's Brandenburg Gate and challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Wall.


As early as 1967, while still governor of California, Reagan said the U.S. should have knocked down the barbed wire separating East and West Berlin the moment the communists put it up
.

What does all of this have to do with the Berlin wall coming down?

Simply this that God doesn’t do anything without prayer.

Do you know who was on the KAL 007 flight?

http://www.conservapedia.com/Korean_Airlines_Flight_007

The most prominent passenger on KAL 007 was a United States Congressman from Georgia, Democrat Larry McDonald (http://www.conservapedia.com/Larry_McDonald), a fiery anti-communist who was recently made the president of the John Birch Society, an organization dedicated to exposing the truth of communism and the Soviet Union. The theory goes was that the Soviets had wanted to silence McDonald, and being aware of his presence on the flight (he was on his way to Seoul for the 30th year anniversary of the U.S./South Korean Mutual Defense Treaty) sent the fighters aloft; it was sheer luck that the plane had drifted into Soviet airspace. About fifteen minutes behind was another flight, KAL 015, carrying to the anniversary celebration senators Jesse Helms (R-North Carolina), Steve Symms (R-Idaho), and Congressman Caroll Hubbard (D-Kentucky), all anti-communist like McDonald and also attending the ceremony in Seoul.


Yes, this is just a theory, but it is no theroy that God hears the prayers of his servants.



The theory specified that the Soviets knew of McDonald's activities and wished to silence him, despite the presence of several more tempting targets on the other flight.
There is no known evidence that the Soviets were even aware that McDonald was on the plane at all. They would find out after the news media broke the story on September 1.




http://www.conservapedia.com/Korean_Airlines_Flight_007
One thing Helms could not forget and would speak of often, and mention in his letter to Boris Yeltsin, was a meeting at Anchorage airport while both KAL 007 and KAL 015 were taking on fuel for the next leg of the trip, a meeting that he had with two child passengers, Noel Anne Grenfell, aged 5, and her sister Stacy Marie, aged 3 [25] (http://www.conservapedia.com/#cite_note-24).
"I’ll never forget that night when that plane was just beside ours at Anchorage airport with two little girls and their parents. I taught them, among other things, to say I love you in deaf language, and the last thing they did when they turned the corner was stick up their little hands and tell me they loved me. I’ll never forget that, and I know you won’t."


Back to the threads OP … I believe that Putin did the right thing. These are not normal children. They are very naughty, little liars and thieves with bad habits that try the patience of any parent. They have many metal problems.

I agree with Neon Samurai ... Putin did a lot of parents in America a favor

[Alex]

Putin’s Baby Crime



To the many crimes of President Vladimir Putin, a new one was added last month: kicking babies, sweet, innocent, plump babies — out of sheer wickedness. This crime was discussed ad nauseam, until it became a meme which was summed up (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/opinion/friedman-break-all-the-rules.html?_r=0) by the NY Times’ own Thomas Friedman: “When recently confronted with his regime’s bad behavior, [Putin’s] first instinct was to block American parents from adopting Russian orphans, even though so many of them badly need homes.” Surprisingly, in Russia the voices against the new ban are even more shrill. At recent press conference, no less than eight different Russian journalists badgered President Putin on this one topic, each offering little more than loaded insinuations disguised as questions. The “White” opposition marched in force against the “Scoundrels” (as they describe the supporters of the ban) and compared Putin to King Herod.

Constantine Eggert, a leading anti-Putin voice in the oligarch-owned Kommersant daily, mixed Dickens treacle with rat poison to bewail (http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2094769) the misfortune of the Russian orphans who have been deprived of their chance to grow strong and healthy beneath the splendor of the Stars and Stripes: “Perhaps because of the ban just one sweet kiddy will never read Winnie the Pooh, will not blow out candles on his birthday cake, will not proceed to school and afterwards to a college accompanied by his applauding new family in Texas or California… His fate will forever darken the conscience of the Duma (Parliament) Members and of the President who deprived him of his chance”.

This was to be expected from Russian mainstream media, as it is predominantly oligarch-owned and pro-Western. But the great majority of ordinary Russians (76%) support the new law banning Americans from adopting Russian children, according to an independent poll by the US-funded WCIOM (http://wciom.ru/index.php?id=459&uid=113548). The opposition Communist Party also voted for the new law. The well-known liberal democrat and feminist Maria Arbatova (http://arbatovagidepar.livejournal.com/826879.html), an ex-MP and writer, much involved with orphanages and adoption, wondered aloud why the opposition was so enraged by the ban, and suggested that it was for tactical reasons: “They need fuel for their protests. Pussy Riot is old hat; these orphans are fresh fodder!” Radical poet, and leader of the proscribed NBP party, Eduard Limonov also supported the ban, and scoffed at the opposition for defending US interests rather than Russian children.
It’s not that Russians have suddenly discovered that adoption into the US is bad for children. While the timing of the ban was admittedly affected by politics, this ban had been impatiently waiting in the wings for some time. Before considering the grounds for such a pointed law, let us dispose of this issue of timing. The ban is little more than a rider to a much larger package crafted by the Duma with the intention of signalling to America Russia’s displeasure of something called the Magnitsky Act. The Magnitsky Act is a particularly troublesome piece of American legislature that allows the US to seize, freeze and confiscate the assets of Russian citizens if their names are placed on a secret list. The stated objective behind this American law is to harass the people who may have been responsible for the death of Russian lawyer Sergey Magnitsky. Magnitsky, who had represented a US fund, was arrested for alleged tax evasion and died in jail under suspicious circumstances. The Duma did not create retaliatory laws to protect a couple of prison guards and an investigator or two who fall within the stated objective. The issue is much larger: every Russian citizen is under the power of this secret Magnitsky panel and their secret Magnitsky list.
The defense of human rights has been used as a pretext for sinister agendas by many governments throughout history. The US is particularly generous with their efforts to defend human rights around the world, and the Magnitsky Act can be used to arrest and rob any Russian, anywhere. Every Tom, Dick and Harry, or rather Ivan, Sergey and Vladimir might be declared an offender against the US concept of human rights and lose his property, thanks to this US law. The citizens of Russia have good reason to be concerned, as they have legally invested at least 500 billion dollars of their assets in Western banks. The West had strongly encouraged this Russian transfer of wealth into Western banks and properties, possibly as a way to control Russian politics. Zbigniew Brzezinski famously said: “Since $500 billion owned by Russia’s so-called elite is held in our banks, you should first understand whose elite it is!” The US Magnitsky Act created the legal machinery to seize the assets of Russia’s decision makers without even the semblance of a legal or democratic process. Just as the US President is empowered to execute any person on the face of earth by the power of his omnipresent drones, so may he add any Russian name to the secret Magnitsky list.

Worried Russian leaders immediately prepared a whole package of measures to counteract the Magnitsky Act. They created their own verision of the Magnitsky Act, which forbids entry to and allows the state to seize the assets of any American offender of human rights. Such a law could be used against the American DEA agents who took custody of Viktor Bout (http://www.victorbout.com/), or against the American policemen who mistreated the Occupy demonstrators, or even against the American officals who enforce the Magnitsky Act. This law, however, was a paper tiger. US-Russia relations are far from symmetrical, and very few Americans own any assets in Russia or even visit Russia.

So the Russians added some teeth to their anti-Magnitsky package: they took steps to reign-in US-supported NGOs, and notably they forbade American citizens to lead or be members of Russian NGOs that have political agendas. Support for this reform measure had already been building for years: Russia – like most countries – dislikes the openly political meddlings of these US State Department-financed NGOs and considers them a source of foreign intrigue. Some time ago the Russian legislature demanded that the leaders of foreign NGOs register as foreign agents (as is done in the US), but unfortunately this law has been totally ignored by the NGOs, and the Russian Department of Justice preferred to look other way.
Looking for an additional way to express their displeasure with the Magnitsky Act, Russian politicians co-opted a rider (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider_%28legislation%29) – a proposition long lobbied-for by veteran Duma Member Katherine Lakhova, professional pediatrician and head of the Duma’s Women, Children and Family Committee. Mrs Lakhova had for years fought her lonely crusade against foreign adoptions, with very little result, until last December when her addendum was abruptly adopted by the Duma.

Foreign adoption in Russia is a leftover from Yeltsin’s era. In Soviet days, orphans were taken care by the state system; there was simply no question of passing them abroad. In fact, it was much more common for foreign children to be brought into Russia, for example the “Spanish Kids”, the orphaned children of Spanish anti-fascist fighters killed by Franco in the 1930’s. In the 1990’s, after the collapse of the USSR, with millions out of work and others busy stripping and selling whatever could be sold for cash, some clever entrepreneurs discovered an as-yet-untapped resource: children. There is a strong and growing demand for children by childless couples, by gay and single citizens – and, sad to say, by the ever-present pedophile rings and the burgeoning transplant industry. The market was willing to pay over $100,000 per child – a fortune in Yeltsin’s Russia. Officials were corrupted, doctors issued false certificates, and Russian children were trafficked abroad.

One case to consider was that of Masha Allen, or the “DisneyWorld Girl”, as she was called by the US media. She was five years old in 1998 when she was shipped from her native Russia to come live with 41-year-old Matthew Mancuso, a single American millionaire and a rabid pedophile. “He legally adopted her from a Russian orphanage and brought her to his home in the small western Pennsylvania hamlet of Plum. Over the next five years, Mancuso sexually abused and exploited Masha, videotaping and photographing her in various stages of abuse, and posting the images on the Internet to share with others members of an online community of paedophiles and child pornography fans” – wrote Julian Assange (http://wikileaks.org/wiki/One_Child%27s_Unending_Abuse_-_From_Disney_World_Girl_to_Drifter) about the case. She was rescued in 2003 by the FBI, and her abuser languishes in jail. The case became notorious, however, because the people responsible for allowing such an adoption to happen – in Russia and in the US – were never prosecuted or punished.

The recent and traumatic case of Dima Yakovlev, whose American adopted name was Chase Harrison, provided the name for Mme Lakhova’s rider; in fact, the whole package has become known as Dima’s Law. Dima Yakovlev died of heatstroke after his adoptive father left him in a parked car for nine hours. Gene Weingarten received a Pulitzer Prize for his story (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701549.html?sid=ST2009030602446) on the case. Russians are particularly horrified that the negligent father remains unpunished by US courts. The tragedy began in Russia when little Dima was forcibly separated from his grandmother and sister by bribed officials, and his health certificate faked.

Both Maria Arbatova and Catherine Lakhova cite many similar, dreadful cases: children exported for the organ trade; children who vanished after being adopted by bogus parents; children adopted to be re-adopted; children dropped off at airports with one-way tickets back to Russia. These two women with very different world-views agree: adoptions abroad must be stopped. Unfortunately the adoption industry takes in some fifty million dollars every year, and this profit is currently shared between more than 80 US adoption agencies acting in Russia; such a lucrative business cannot be stamped out overnight. Before the new law, Lakhova was a lonely voice in the wilderness standing up against the political clout of the international adoption agencies, against the kind of leverage that can only be purchased by multi-million dollar profits. While both Arbatova and Lakhova are pleased that adoption to the US have stopped thanks to Dima’s Law, they will not be satisfied until there is an end to all overseas adoptions.

There are plenty of non-political reasons to single out the US: Americans have snapped up one third of all foreign adoptions; the US has never ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; US authorities continue to refuse to allow Russian consular workers to meet with adopted children; the US allows people who are not allowed to adopt American children to adopt foreign children; the US permits the re-adoption of and free transfer of adopted children. While America may have been the first to be struck off the list, it will not be the last. Other countries also play fast and loose with the laws set down by the Duma. I know personally of Russian children adopted by Israelis; against explicit rules they were converted into the Jewish faith and made to forget their original homeland, language and Christianity.

The vocal opponents of the new Russian law claim that the Americans are only adopting the handicapped children that Russians have refused to adopt. This sounds good on paper, but the definition of what constitutes a handicap becomes confusing when so much money is at stake. The Russian officials, social workers, orphanage managers, and doctors who cooperate to produce the necessary documents to turn a healthy child into a handicapped one are merely pawns in a larger game. Out of a thousand of Russian children adopted into the US last year, less than fifty were officially declared handicapped; furthermore, a recent inspection proved that almost all of them were right as a whistle from the start, and that in most cases the verdict of handicapped was given in exchange for a bribe. Impossible as it may seem, some foreign adopters have seemingly conquered the famed Russian bureaucracy, succeeding in extracting a child in one single day. It takes weeks for a Russian to adopt a Russian child, even under the best of circumstances.

In the wake of the ban, many cases were checked and many violations were uncovered. The previous Russian adoption law allowed children to be adopted abroad only if there were no waiting Russian adopters. To get around this law, the corrupt Russian officials simply scared off the Russian adopters, claiming that the child carried AIDS or other incurable disease. These corrupt officials did not scruple to separate a sister from her brother, sending them off to different countries. In short, the new law exposed terrible breaches of the existing law.

Adoptions that occur within the boundaries and laws of one country are more than difficult enough to evaluate and judge. If a couple (or a single person, or a homosexual couple) has no children, perhaps they are not meant to. People do not have a right to have children: this is a privilege granted by the Almighty. Children do have a natural right to natural parents, and this right is today being infringed by moneyed folk who hire wombs-for-rent or buy babies. Cross-border adoptions are even more troublesome, because then the child can be deprived of his relations, language and faith.

Perhaps in an ideal world, cross-border adoptions would be permitted in certain carefully considered cases. But the real world manifests the unequal footing of international relations: poor people in poor countries are coerced into giving their children to wealthy people in wealthy countries. There may be Americans who come to Russia or Malawi in search of children, but there are no American children flown to Russia or Malawi to be adopted. Swedes import children from Korea, but no Korean has yet been given a Swedish child into his custody. Although every adoptive parent always claims to have the best interest of the child at heart, they are in fact robbing an economically weak country of its most precious asset – its future generation.

For Russia, this law should have come much earlier: after all, Russia is now a very rich and prosperous country. Moscow is as chic as Paris, and much more expensive. Average incomes in Russia are on the level with other developed countries. America take note: the Yeltsin era is gone. Russia is not a colony anymore. The legal detritus from the quasi-colonial Nineties is being cleared away. The business of overseas adoption is much too close to the crime of child trafficking, and the boundaries between good deed and crime become blurred by legal documents, medical terminology and cold hard cash. The crime of child trafficking is far worse than the potential good (in an ideal world) of overseas adoption.

If the would-be adopters truly care about children, the US is not short of orphans, deserted children, hungry children. Let the Americans take care of them, and let the Russian kids grow up in Russia as happily as they can.

Israel Adam Shamir
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/29/putins-baby-crime/

Everyone has a more critical look over this matter now.

[Dowly]

Dont post full articles.

[Takeda Shingen]

Also, don't use sigs extolling the virtues of Holocaust denial.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/faq.php?faq=vb_faq#faq_hate_groups

Subsim allows for a wide range of opinions, politics, and attitudes but we do not accept members who are associated with hate groups. Examples include but are not limited to Neo-Nazi groups, Westboro Baptist Church types, racist supremacists, Klansmen, black militants, Islamic militants, Jewish conspiracists, anti-Semites, posting links to racist music, propaganda denying the Holocaust.

[Onkel Neal]

Also, don't use sigs extolling the virtues of Holocaust denial.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/faq.php?faq=vb_faq#faq_hate_groups

Yes, please don't.