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domenica 30 dicembre 2012

Lettera aperta a Putin di Alexander D'Jamoos

Alexander D'Jamoos, an International Relations and Global Studies sophomore in the College of Liberal Arts, spent his summer
climbing Africa’s highest peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro. Born in Penza, Russia, he grew up in an orphanage for children with disabilities. At
age 16, he was adopted by an American family and moved from Russia to Texas, where he learned how to walk on prosthetic legs.
His goal is to show other disabled orphans in Russia – and countries throughout the world – that nothing is impossible or unreachable.

He wrote a open letter to the president Putin

Dear President Putin,

My name is Alexander D’Jamoos. I am 21 years old. I am currently a sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin where I am planning to major in Government and International Relations.

I was born in Russia with deformed hands and legs, which prevented me from walking. I grew up in a state orphanage for children with physical disabilities in Nizhniy Lomov. At the age of 15, I was lucky to be adopted by a loving family in Dallas. It is because of my experience that I, like thousands of other adopted children throughout the world was in shock by the passing of the Anti-Magnitsky Law by the Russian parliament. The law, which bans international adoption of Russian orphans by American citizens, victimizes the estimated 800,000 orphans in Russia.

Throughout my childhood I had never expected to be loved by a family. My biological parents had left me in the hospital because of my disabilities. My orphanage housed about 100 children, all of whom were physically disabled and had been neglected by their parents. Some of the horrible conditions at the orphanage included no heating during harsh winters, lack of water during summer-time, rudimentary education, lack of sanitary facilities, inadequate accessibility equipment, and the worst of all, lack of love and care. Like millions of disabled Russian orphans, I expected a gloomy future in a state-run nursing home full of people rejected by Russian society merely because of their physical conditions.

I was adopted and my life has changed more than I could have ever hoped. Today, like never before, I am fully in control of my life and have great hopes and goals for my future. At Texas Scottish Rite Hospital my legs were amputated so that I would be able to wear prosthetic limbs. For the first time in my life I was able to walk. This has dramatically transformed my life. As a result of my academic success, I received many scholarships that enabled me to attend one of the best universities in the world. I learned to ski. Last summer I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro on my prosthetic legs to raise hope for disabled orphans in Russia. I now have caring parents and a little brother, whom I love dearly. I value my upbringing. I continue speaking Russian, and I stay in touch with all of my childhood friends and teachers.

These orphaned children, to whom I feel a very strong connection, are victims of an incentive-based, cruel political retaliation. The anti-adoption law claims that Americans abuse Russian children and adopt them simply to get financial benefits. These claims are not only preposterously false - they are insensitive to thousands of adopted children and their families in the U.S. Of the nearly 60,000 children who had been adopted from Russia in the past 20 years, 19 have died, while in Russia hundreds of children die in Russian families and Russian orphanages regularly. The fundamental right of every child to have a family and have a successful life is being brutally violated by this law. Every child in every country should have a right to be adopted by Russians, British, Americans or any other family regardless of their origin. The rhetoric of the Anti-Magnitsky legislation is illogical, heartless, and simply inhumane. The victims of this political demagoguery are the thousands of children who will not have hope for a bright future. Like most of my childhood friends, they are destined to spend their lives in unsanitary nursing homes or on the streets.

Like many adopted children in America, I believe the Anti-Magnitsky Law insults the very concept of a family. Had this law been introduced 6 years ago – today I would have no home, no family, I wouldn’t be able to hug my little brother, wouldn't attend a university and wouldn't experience the joy of walking and having full control of my life.

Every civilized country ought to improve the lives of their children by closing orphanages and encouraging domestic adoption. This law includes no determination to takes such actions. It merely deprives children of all last hope they had for a life with a family. Banning adoptions due to the Anti-Magnitsky law is inhumane and is an immoral act which uses vulnerable children for meeting political goals. It does not help the orphaned children. They will be simply forgotten.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, on behalf of thousands of children in Russia and the United States, I strongly urge you not to sign this law into effect.

Sincerely, Alexander D’Jamoos

21 December, 2012

Magnitsky Act.2

Nikolaj Malishevskij, 18 dicembre 2012

Theoretically, the «Sergei Magnitsky Rule of the Law of Accountability Act», became law in the United States, imposing personal sanctions against those allegedly responsible for detention, abuse , death and other serious violations of human rights in Russia. In practice it was hastily adopted to replace the so-called Jackson-Vanik amendment, which had turned into a burden for U.S. companies, preparing to enter the Russian market which has already joined the WTO... The swiftness of organization in which the Americans are well-versed in terms of the practices of the WTO, and gave them a competitive advantage over Russian entrepreneurs who are still adapting to the new conditions.

Experts have already thrown to the media several options for Russia in response to the allegedly unexpected and unfriendly acts from the U.S. For example, the suspension of the export of beef and pork from the United States (the formal pretext being that the meat contains the very harmful additive ractopamine which is used extensively by the Americans to build muscle on animals, and is banned in 160 countries, including China). One can say that beyond the threat to «meat» exports, which is estimated annually at $ 500 million, it may prevent the U.S. Senate approving a bill to expand bilateral trade and strike a blow against the futures market on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Or temporarily «freeze» the activities of the structures of the Presidential Commission, established in 2009, between Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama and includes over two dozen working groups covering all the main areas of cooperation between Russia and the U.S., science, energy, anti-terrorism, etc.

I must say, these options are not only asymmetrical, but also can create unnecessary problems inside Russia (in the stopping of exports of harmful beef, it is not necessary to link it to human rights). The answer to the «Magnitsky Act» can only be symmetrical. This, incidentally, has already been said by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said that the answer to the enactment of the law «will be balanced and include a ban on the entry into Russia of U.S. citizens, which the Russian side believe to be guilty of actual human rights violations».

Unfortunately, until a clear answer to the question is formulated in respect of which U.S. citizens are responsible for the detention, abuse, death, and other gross violations of human rights, Russia should impose personal sanctions. Meanwhile, everything is on the table.

According to official data, over the last decade, U.S. citizens have killed 19 children adopted from Russia (also several more children have died allegedly as a result of disease and accidents). According to non-profit organizations that monitor the deaths of Russian children in American families, this figure is understated by more than half. Also it does not include children who are «lucky» and which, after the Americans throw them out, Russian-speaking authorities on Children's Rights literally stated the following: «The boy is healthy, there are no signs of injuries, there are only a few old scars».

In many of the cases where children from Russia were brutally murdered or maimed (more than 40 people), the American courts and lawyers passed unduly lenient sentences against their citizens - murderers and sadists like the Leschinsky couple from Colorado, who for 4 years abused their adopted daughters from Russia. There are clear examples, such as the case of Daniil Bukharov (American Jessica Beagley participated in talk shows and even leaked online videos showing footage of her abusing her 7 year old child) and of Vanya Skorobogatov (deemed to have died from «complications from a traumatic brain injury,» despite that on the child's body, doctors counted more than 80 injuries, more than 20 of them to the head, and also during the examination of the body, it turned out that the child was malnourished, was utterly exhausted and did not receive any medical care, his adoptive «father,» said Vanya «just fell and hit his head»).

The operation in the U.S. of «concentration camps» for Russian children is a deeply kept secret. Their existence is carefully concealed. But some things have yet been made public. For example, the so-called ranch for abandoned children «Ranch for kids» (owned by Joyce Sterkel in Montana), is as far away as possible from the outside world and is located at the Canadian border, contains dozens of children from Russia. The owner of «Ranch for Kids» failed to submit accurate data to licensing inspectors (J. Sterkel was deprived of a license a few years ago) about just how many children have been kept at the ranch during the time of its operation.

Regarding the conditions described eloquently by an escaped 9-year old Russian girl, in statements by the district attorney claimed that the children were exposed to violence. According to the words of a representative of the American Themis, Lady of Justice, despite all this, the owner of the ranch «manages to resolve all these questions».

It is significant that not all such private 'colonies' contain children abandoned by American adoptive parents. Some come here immediately after adoption. Some are still listed on the documents as «happily living in foster care». Judging by the way the U.S. government hides the existence of such children «in storage»; they know the answer to the question: can the U.S. government in fact be an honest partner with Russia, and acknowledge the failure of a significant number of American adoptive parents. Although every effort is made to hide the true state of affairs from the Russian side, this is not the only reason.

In the U.S., «adoption» of children from Russia has long since become a very profitable business. Numerous intermediaries make many millions of dollars out of Russian children, and have their own lobby in the government and the media, assuring citizens that «it is impossible to find cheaper white children».

It is the case, that in the United States (where officially there are registered more than 200,000 patients waiting for years for donor organs from children and are willing to pay from 200 thousand dollars for each «dismantled» part from a child), there are over 100 thousand children, mostly orphans, sent for international adoption. It is worth mentioning last year's official recognition by the Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, who said that 1260 «foster» children from Russia that went «missing» in recent years, had been found in private hospitals for organ transplants.

That is why the symmetrical and fair Russian answer to the American «Magnitsky Act» should be a conviction and admission of guilt for: a) sadists from the U.S., that abuse children from Russia and b) the American judges and others «in law enforcement» who do not apply justice to these rapists and murderers…

venerdì 28 dicembre 2012

MAGNITSKY ACT

La legge Magnitsky, conosciuta anche come Magnitsky Act, (il titolo originale si richiama a una legge degli anni Settanta, la "Jackson-Vanik" riguardante il commercio tra Usa e l'allora URSS: Jakson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012), è una legge approvata dal Congresso statunitense nel dicembre 2012 e firmata da Barack Obama il 14 dello stesso mese.

La norma prende spunto dalla morte del 37enne Sergej Magnitsky, avvenuta nel 2009 in una prigione di Mosca. Magnitsky, un avvocato che stava indagando su alcuni casi di presunta corruzione di alcune grandi società russe, venne arrestato a Mosca nel 2008. Dopo quasi un anno di detenzione in attesa di processo, e dopo aver sviluppato una serie di malattie intestinali, morì per cause mai accertate

La legge che porta il suo nome blocca negli Stati Uniti i conti dei funzionari statali russi coinvolti nella morte dell'avvocato e vieta loro di entrare nel paese.

La reazione russa alla legge è stata forte. Il ministero degli Esteri di Mosca l'ha definita un "atto da teatro dell'assurdo", mentre Putin ha sottolineato che avrebbe avvelenato le relazioni tra i due paesi. Ma la vera risposta è stata la promulgazione da parte della Duma di Stato di una legge che impedisce alle famiglie statunitensi di adottare bambini dagli orfanotrofi russi. La legge è stata chiamata con il nome di Dmitrij Jakovlev, un ragazzo adottato da una famiglia americana e morto nel 2008 per un attacco di cuore.

Si tratta di una svolta nelle relazioni tra Russia e Usa. Una riedizione della guerra fredda, anche dal punto di vista economico, appare anacronistica, vista la crescita sulla scena mondiale di altre potenze come la Cina, il Brasile o l'India. Però non si può negare che sono ancora una volta a confronto due modi di intendere il rapporto tra Stato e cittadino. Da una parte un paese che si considera il più libero del mondo, dall'altra Mosca, che sta progressivamente chiudendosi dentro le proprie frontiere, nel tentativo di arrestare la richiesta di democrazia che cova nelle grandi città sotto la coltre dello sviluppo e del benessere che in qualche modo Putin ha garantito alla popolazione in cambio della mano libera in politica.

Anche se la legge sulle adozioni porta il nome di un ragazzo morto dopo essersi trasferito negli Usa, si deve ricordare che la percentuale di morti avvenute in America dopo un'adozione è non solo bassissima, ma neanche lontanamente paragonabile con quella che persiste negli orfanotrofi russi. Inoltre, va ricordato che di norma le autorità russe che si occupano di adozioni internazionali tendono a mandare all'estero bambini non sempre in ottime condizioni di salute, se non, a volte, gravemente malati.