The Attorney General of the United States of America Eric Holder has taken the unusual step of writing a letter to the Russian Federation essentially making promises that United States will do nothing unusual or in any way against U.S. law if the Russian Federation will just put aside its own norms, the Russian Constitution, international law and conventions and just, as the U.S. Ambassador put it, “return” Mr. Edward Snowden to the United States.
Read more: http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_07_28/Holder-s-desperate-letter-proves-Mr-Snowden-is-in-grave-danger-8292/

The violence and instability in the Middle East is getting worse as summer approaches, it is being fueled by Shiite - Sunni strife, regional animosity, civil war, shattered economies, rising Islamic fundamentalism, the ongoing conflict in Syria, Israeli moves against it neighbors, the instability in post invasion Libya and Iraq, and US military expansion. It is no coincidence that right in the middle of almost every single Middle Eastern conflict is the CIA, with suitcases of money for Karzai, money for Al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria, money for NGOs in Egypt and support for insurgents and terrorists in almost every single recent conflict. A pretext is needed by US “nation builders” for an all out invasion of Syria and Iran, will the CIA give them one or can be peace be brought about in the Middle East despite US efforts?
 

Read more: http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_04_30/CIA-fueling-corruption-and-war-in-Afghanistan-Karzai-s-millions-058/

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http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_04_13/Russia-s-Guantanamo-List-officially-published/

With the publication of the US Magnitsky List the short-lived “reset” in Russian – US relations, for all intents and purposes, is dead and buried. The US attempt to further meddle in the internal affairs of the sovereign state which is the Russian Federation by passing a law and making public a list of Russian officials and individuals connected to the tragic case of Sergey Magnitsky, has now been officially answered by the Russian Federation. Moscow’s answer is not as broad but is based on fact rather than conjecture.

Moscow has now issued an official list of US nationals who are now barred from setting foot on the territory of the Russian Federation. Whether this list will be taken up by other CIS countries and Russia’s allies is not yet clear and that question has not been addressed by officials as of yet. Moscow’s list differs greatly from the US Magnitsky List in that it is based on well documented and accepted facts and evidence and attempts to draw to light egregious violations of international law, human rights and the rights of Russian citizens abroad by the United States of America.

The first part of Moscow’s list deals with individuals who are known architects of the US Government’s official yet illegal torture programs and are known to have been instrumental in ignoring the Geneva Conventions and implementing programs or policies in clear contradiction of international and even US laws. The listing of such individuals is one of the first moves by a country against Bush era war criminals and could logically be expanded to include hundreds if not thousands of names. Moscow’s list, as does the US Magnitsky List, also contains a secret section which has not been made available to the public.

As a journalist I personally went over the documents that were available which were used in formulating the Magnitsky List and what I noticed was that most if not all of the documents used were one-sided, taken out of context and selectively hand-picked to portray Russia in a pre-determined light that had long before been set. A large amount of documents from mostly neoconservative US based entities were also present and further shed a questionable light on the Magnitsky List and the real intentions of its authors, which appears to be the further demonization of a sovereign state.

After analyzing the material it seems clear that the US is in reality raising such a storm not because of the tragic death of Mr. Magnitsky, but due to the billions of dollars that the company in question was supposed to extract from the Russian Federation, again that is the conclusion one might come to after analyzing the documents, and is my opinion. The authors of the US list also took it upon themselves to include almost anyone who had even the slightest connection with the case in an attempt to grant legitimacy to their effort.

Moscow’s list on the other hand is based on well known facts and well documented violations of international laws and human rights and hopefully the world community will take heed and attempt to implement further multi-lateral measures in order not to allow the United States of America to further violate international laws and standards with impunity.

The following are the current persons on Russia’s US human rights violators list, “The Guantanamo List”, with the first four individuals being known architects and key figures in formulating of United States illegal torture programs:

1. David Spears Addington born January 22, 1957, as Chief of Staff to Vice President Richard Cheney, Addington was one of the key architects of the Bush torture program, the sidelining of the Geneva Conventions, the creation of the illegal prison at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, the unlimited expansion of executive power, indefinite detention without recourse and the skirting of the US Constitution with regards to the above issues and the crack down on the US populace following 9-11. Addington is an extremist neoconservative with former ties to the CIA and according to the site NNB once an employee of the Long John Silver’s restaurant chain. For Addington’s role in enabling the US Government to ignore the Geneva Conventions alone, he could be classified as a war criminal.

2. John Choon Yoo born July 10, 1967, the author of the infamous Bush torture memos allowing for torture. Yoo’s views are so extreme and his manipulation of the law so egregious and have led to so much of the pain and suffering caused by the neoconservatives who took over the US Government after 9-11, that were the Hague War Crimes Tribunal and independent body many believe he would be a prime candidate for answering to the body. Yoo has openly stated that even crushing the testicles of a child is okay if the president deems it is needed. His role in enabling and promoting the state use of torture would qualify him as a war criminal.

3. US Major General Geoffrey D. Miller, born 1949, was directly responsible for formulating and implementing torture programs at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and in Afghanistan. In 2006 he was named in a war crimes complaint to the German Government along with Alberto Gonzales, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, John Yoo, David Addington, and others for their role in making policies for allowing torture by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Department of Defense (DOD). His direct involvements in ordering torure and specifying techniques would be classified as War Crimes.

4. Jeffrey Harbeson, as the Commander of the Guantanamo Bay torture prison Harbeson continued and oversaw the polices of torture and the continued holding of hundreds of suspects without trial, charges or legal recourse. He was denied a visa to travel to Russia due to his continued overseeing of human rights abuses. He currently holds the post of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Deputy Director for Politico-Military Affairs for Europe, NATO and Russia. His violations would constitute him to be guilty of war crimes and thus a war criminal.

Individuals responsible for human rights violations with regard to Russian citizens abroad:

5. Jed Saul Rakoff, born August 1, 1943 is a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. He is largely responsible for the illegal prosecutions and detentions of prisoners illegally captured overseas as part of the US practice of entrapping suspects in foreign countries, and in the case of Viktor Bout a third country, and then in illegally kidnapping and transporting them to the US where they stand trial in New York. Such suspects have almost no redress, are tortured and in the case of Viktor Bout, did not in fact commit any crimes. Viktor Bout’s case was illegally fabricated and he was illegally detained, transported and held. The Court has also prosecuted Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko, also illegally detained and held on questionable evidence.

6. Preetinder S. Bharara is the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and has prosecuted and been instrumental in convicting and imprisoning suspects who the US has unilaterally determined to be threats to US security and has illegally detained and brought to New York, most on flimsy or circumstantial evidence.

7. Michael J. Garcia former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, made prejudicial statements to the press regarding the Viktor Bout case, was instrumental in the illegal detention and case against Mr. Bout and the illegal detentions and imprisonment of many others.

8. Brendan R. McGuire assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, while ignoring the illegal detention and kidnapping of Viktor Bout McGuire made prejudicial statements to the press and exaggerated the case against Mr. Bout. The case is a unilateral attempt by the US to claim jurisdiction over most of the world. As the entire case against Viktor Bout was based on hearsay and was in fact a pre-emptive prosecution before any actual “crime” was committed any and all persons involved in the case acted illegally under international law. Even if Viktor Bout had in fact been involved in transporting anything to FARC, under international law, this would not have been illegal, the fact that he did not must not be forgotten. Mr. Bout in fact did nothing illegal. The case was a litmus test whether the US could effectively take jurisdiction of any part of the world, and while Viktor Bout continues to be illegally detained, thus is the case.

9. Anjan S. Sahni, assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Viktor Bout and other cases.

10. Christian R. Everdell, assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

11. Jenna Minicucci Dabbs, assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

12. Christopher L. Lavigne, assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

13. Michael Max Rosensaft, assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

14. Louis J. Milione Senior Special Agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), gave evidence implicating Bout, Yaroshenko and other cases.

15. Sam Gaye Senior Special Agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) gave evidence against Bout and Yaroshenko.

16. Robert F. Zachariasiewicz, Special Agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) also instrumental in Bout prosecution.

17. Derek S. Odney Special Agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) gave fabricated evidence against Bout.

18. Gregory A. Coleman Special Agent for the FBI based in New York, instrumental in providing questionable evidence in various cases.

This list may be preliminary in nature and may be expanded at anytime if Official Moscow deems it to be necessary. The list has been implemented to not allow known human rights violators and individuals who may be considered to be war criminals to engage in travel to the Russian Federation or federation subjects.

In related news the family of Konstantin Yaroshenko, the Russian pilot who was illegally convicted and imprisoned in the United States, identified five people involved in his case on the list published by the Russian Foreign Ministry according to Yaroshenko’s wife.

"In the list we saw the name of the Judge of the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York Jed Rakoff, federal prosecutor or the Southern District of the same state Preetinder S. Bharara and Deputy Federal Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Christopher L. Lavigne. The same list includes Louis J. Milione and Sam Gaye, Senior Special Agents for the US Drug Enforcement Administration who detained my husband in Liberia ", said Victoria Yaroshenko.

Mrs Yaroshenko also stated: "These people deserve to be on the list of U.S. citizens who are denied entry to Russia, published by the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation. But we would like to get an answer from our Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Justice, if it would be possible to add to the list people who will hear the forthcoming appeal in the case of my husband, which is set for May 15".

She said that according to defense lawyers the time that they will be allowed to address the court of appeals in the case Yaroshenko will only be 8 minutes, while the U.S. prosecutor will have 12 minutes to speak, and that in itself creates unequal conditions in favor of the prosecution.

Victoria Yaroshenko has also reported that her husband is in urgent need of surgery and that this was agreed on by American doctors who examined her husband in St. Patrick’s Hospital. However, prison officials have ignored the requests of the Russian pilot to undergo a necessary operation and have notified the Russian Consulate General in New York that he is healthy.

It is clear that in this case, as Victoria Yaroshenko rightfully requests, that the list, if expanded, could grow to contain thousands of names. If Russian officials decide to do as the US has done they could follow up by listing those responsible for children’s rights violations, the deaths of Russian orphans and those responsible for a plethora of other illegal and questionable activities by the United States of America.

During the presentation by Hillary Clinton to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov several years back of a “reset” button, the US State Department made the mistake of calling “reset” “overload”, perhaps they did so on purpose, it seems that is what we have ended up with.

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