'Russia, observe your constitution'

Representative of the Russian community in London and supporters have protested today in the British capital against the suppression of peaceful protests from Russia. This took place in front of the Russian consulate, attracting media attention.

The protesters held out banners, sang songs, drew a caricature of Putin, exhibited the Russian flags, gave interviews and spread leaflets, parading the kind of freedom they say lacks in today’s Russia. It took about an hour for two employees of the Russian consulate to come out, but there was no official exchange of statements.

Public figures, such as Russian dissidents Vladimir Bukovsky and Pavel Stroilov, as well as British MEP Gerard Batten (UKIP) came to show their support.

Here’s what the protesters state in their campaign hand-out:

“Today, 31 August 2010, the Russian government has again dispersed peaceful opposition rallies in a number of cities. The protesters were severely beaten: several dozens were arrested, including prominent opposition campaigners Boris Nemtsov, Ilya Yashin, Eduard Limonov, Sergei Udaltsov, Konstantin Kosyakin and others.

Vladimir Putin has taken personal responsibility for this cruel and unlawful suppression by publicly declaring yesterday that the protesters should ‘get a whack on the head’.

The Russian opposition holds rallies on the 31st day of each month to demand the government’s compliance with Article 31 of the Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of assembly. The brutal suppression of those rallies has become traditional in today’s Russia. Putin’s government openly defies its own constitution and its obligations under the international human rights treaties.

It is time for the world community to raise its voice in support of brave Russian democrats and in condemnation of the Kremlin lawlessness. Today, we have come to the Russian embassy to demand:

                        RESPECT YOUR OWN CONSTITUTION.

We invite democrats of all political persuasions to joins us.”

See more images of the protest here

Vladimir Bukovsky and Gerard Batten (UKIP) to protest against pro-democracy rallies suppression in Russia

Tomorrow at 6 pm, several dozens of Russian emigrants and British campaigners are set to come to the Russian Embassy in London to support freedom of assembly and protest against the suppression of pro-democracy rallies in Russia.

The Russian opposition holds rallies across the country on the 31st day of each month to demand compliance with Article 31 of Russian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of assembly.

The London protesters include Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky and Member of European Parliament for London Gerard Batten (UKIP).

Vladimir Bukovsky said: "In 1965, my friends and I first went to Moscow streets under the banner Respect Your Own Constitution, only to be imprisoned for anti-Soviet propaganda. Today, 45 years later, our challenge and the regime’s response are essentially the same. It is hardly a big improvement that Russian demonstrators of today are being jailed for days rather than years. By definition, a government which imprisons its citizens for a demand to observe the law has no legitimacy whatsoever." 

"The experience of Russia’s descend into tyranny stands as a warning to every society which is too apathetic to defend its freedom against the corrupt elite. We should support those brave people who came out to the streets of Russian cities today to resist Putinism. Putin’s regime is a threat to the free world, and so is the Putinism in the Western political class. By protesting against suppression of freedom in Russia, we protest against what may become our own future", Batten opinionated.

Lost Question

Gen. David Petraeus today in Brussels gave the acceptance speech in a press briefing which I attended. Only three questions got through to him. Reporters were chosen beforehand by a PR rep.

Here's the 2-part question that did not get through:

"Whether an army is fighting for their country, or indeed for a multi-national institution such as NATO, it would be unfair to anyone to ask a professional military to comment on political decisions, even if it affects them directly.
However, how do the military professionals feel when the public perception is that Afghanistan is rapidly becoming Vietnam II, when they are expected to support political ideology in a rapidly deteriorating military situation?"

Kindly ask reporters from selected media outlets to ask this in a future Q&A staging.

Why is Mr. Gorbachev visiting Romania now?

Not so long ago, a document from Poland’s Foreign Affairs Ministry Archives made official what both the last Soviet President and the first Romanian President after the 1989 Revolution denied for 20 years. Can it be related to Gorbachev’s visit to Romania this spring?

Revealed in Romania by Revista 22, the document brought into the limelight a most important secret related to the fall (and death) of Romanian communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The man who discovered – Adam Burakowski (b.1977) – is doctor in Political Sciences and works for the Institute of Political Studies at the Polish Science Academy. According to Revista 22, the document was declassified by the Law passed in January 22 1999.

It’s about a coded message sent by the Embassy of the then People’s Republic of Poland in Bucharest to the ministry in Warsaw, on December 23, 1989. The text indicates that one of the Polish diplomats met with a representative of the Soviet diplomacy in Romania (the name is not mentioned). The Soviet informed the Polish diplomat that ex-Romanian president Ion Iliescu (FSN, later PDSR, later PSD) and Silviu Brucan, an established figure of the communist regime in Romania, came to the Soviet Embassy as FSN (National Salvation Front) representatives. They asked for military help. USSR’s embassy refused, but pledged to offer them any other kind of support they would ask for.

The Polish Embassy used to send coded messaged from Bucharest to Warsaw, as there was concern in Poland over the Polish citizens in Romania’s capital. Sometimes the messages featured a summary of discussions held with diplomats of other states. The information is being considered reliable.

The Soviets intervened with their Red Army in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Adam Burakowski assess that had the Soviet army come to Bucharest, Iliescu would have lost all the support he won a day before. He believes Kremlin realised Iliescu might be skilful enough to hold on to the power with the tools he controlled. Plus, he says, USSR had just lost the war in Afghanistan. He reads in Iliescu and Brucan’s request a possible fear for their warm seats.

On Thursday, March 25 2010, Romanian daily Adevarul informed that Mikhail Gorbachev was invited to Romania on April 14 by a private company to assist the cutting of the red tape of a new newspaper, namely Puterea (The Power). The publication is going to be financed by one of the biggest media trusts in Germany, but the name was not to be revealed just yet, rep Adrian Thiess told Adevarul.

The newspaper claims that the three major trusts don’t seem interested in investing in Romania. The Bertelsmann Group was present in Romania through the company Gruner + Jahr, ex-main shareholder of Evenimentul Zilei, another Romanian daily, from 1998 to 2004. Axel Springer has recently secured a partnership with Swiss trust Ringier, which includes five East European countries, but the operations in Romania are not yet part of the new “joint venture”. German group WAZ is holding shares in Romania with the “R” Society, which edits daily Romania Libera and Domus magazine, Adevarul goes on.

According to this paper, sources say Puterea is allegedly financed by Russian Magnate Alexander Lebedev. Gorbachev is currently working for him, which would justify his presence in Romania on April 14, the publication carries on. Thiess claims it’s not Lebedev, though he wished it had been.

To bring Gorbachev to Romania, Thiess says they spent approximately one million dollars. The 1990 Peace Nobel Prize awarded ex-Soviet President will meet Ion Iliescu, who presided over Romania for 10 years. According to sources, Gorbachev will hold a press conference to address the relationship between the ex-USSR and the Romanian 1989 Revolution. His event follows Iliescu’s denial of the facts unveiled in the Romanian press about how events in Romania were directed by the Soviet Union in December 1989.

Iliescu denied any involvement in staging Gorbachev’s visit to Romania this spring. “Should he come, I will surely have a meeting with him, but I didn’t invite him”, Ion Iliescu told Adevarul reporters.

Now, it is very difficult to doubt the Polish document. Thus, if Mr. Gorbachev denies the extremely significant details the archive jewel revealed, we might as well assume that's a rescue operation: he’s being paid a million dollars to give false evidence to the public. And if he does go this route, let’s hope it backfires and revives the topic.

"A much better line than we thought we might get"

Professor James Crawford has been awarded a Romanian national order as “Knight” last year for helping Romania to win the trial addressing the Black Sea maritime border with Ukraine in Hague. He teaches International Law at Cambridge University and he’s a member of the English and Australian Bars. Professor Crawford recently had the time to tell us about the trial and about the role he played. 

Article commissioned by HotNews.ro 
Read the interview here

Romania is "Europe's dead end"

Once a year it is time for xenophobic reactions against Romanians, whose presence in the EU is so disturbing for the oh-so-"civilised" rest of the EU members. Two years ago it was the Mailat scandal in Italy, the Romanian Gypsy ethnic who raped and killed a woman. Last year, it was the Ulster affair, when the North Irish had enough with the pack of Romanian Gypsy in their neighbourhood and decided to throw stones at their windows and threatened to kill or hurt them. The minority found refuge from the steaming mob in the nearby church. Police whisked them to an ad-hoc set up camp, where both Romanian and North Irish officials came to discuss not the racism and xenophobia, but solutions for the injured group. Many of the Gypsies returned to Romania, just as the not-so-tolerant-themselves Romanians were rejoicing the ethnic minority members finding another country where they could not integrate, as they do in Romania.

This year's xenophobic winner is Denmark. Here the story is more consistent. Once upon a time Romania was under communism. It ended in 1989. Or so the neo-communists want us to believe. But before it did, the political communist police, namely the Securitate, used a man called Marian Clita to assassinate the anti-communist dissident Gheorghe Ursu, then in prison. But Marian Clita did its time and duty and was free to travel again. In Denmark, he recently killed a stewardess in a hotel. Instead of being put to jail without too much fuss, as an ordinary trial would happen for an ordinary assassin, this became the subject of a long series of media items offending the Romanian nation and (what's left of the) identity.

The Romanian paper I write and edit for read today:

• Ove Dahl, spokesperson and chief investigator for the Copenhagen police, has declared after the murder committed by Marian Clita (the assassin of anti-communist dissident Gheorghe Ursu), who savagely murdered a stewardess in a hotel in Copenhagen: "Romanians don't have scruples. They will kill you for 100 Krones (15 euros). It is a culture completely different from ours. The biggest problem is the open borders, through which we are being invaded by Eastern Europeans. They commit bank robberies, break into homes, serious thefts, beg, break into stores - everything." The statement has set the Danish press on fire, and even generalist daily papers like Belingske - the oldest newspaper in Denmark, published since 1749 - read on first page: "Romanians are top criminals".

The matter was raised by other Romanian papers. An article from Danemarca.dk was featured in this Monday's press review:

• Romania becomes the target of xenophobic attacks after Romanian Mariab Clita kills a stewardess in Copenhagen, the national press reads. According to Romania Libera, Danish Ekstra Bladet tabloid, quoted by Danemarca.dk, described Romania as "Europe's dead end" and the Bucharest - Copenhagen bus route, as "a real pipe for gangsters from Romania. The hold of the bus is always full of stolen goods". And Bucharest is the city “where not even lice survive”. 

• Dahl's gesture was mirrored by a Copenhagen police branch chief in Dan Sorensen, according to whom Romanian immigrants committing crimes are more numerous than other immigrant criminals. He said the problem with Romanian nationals amplified after Romania joined the EU. "Romanians are difficult to expel and they find it easy to return", he added.

• Danish Women Trafficking Department chief Rene Hansen stated that about one third of the prostitutes in Copenhagen were Romanians. She said the girls were tempted with promises and once arrived they are forced to prostitute. They are often murdered by the traffickers. I wonder who the traffickers are.

• Danish Liberal Socialist Party vice-president Zenia Stampe criticised chief-investigator Ove Dahl for the insults he has brought, breaching the Penal Code, which punished racial, colour or ethnic discrimination. He told Romania Libera reporters that he never meant to insult Romania, but argues that Eastern-Europeans bring an increasing number of problems.

• Both the Romanian Embassy in Denmark and the Romanian Foreign Affairs Office refused to comment. "If we don't take action in this case it doesn't mean that we regard the situation with indifference. It is almost certain that we will go through with the action, we will have an official position", Ambassador Victor Micula declared. The law allows Romania to request public apologies for the offences brought by the Danish authorities.

Finally today the Romanian Foreign minister told RFI and HotNews.ro that the claims were unfair, unacceptable and shocking. He put a lot of the blame on the shoulder of Romanian citizens leaving from towns and villages into Europe without the awareness of the laws in the countries they choose to emigrate to. He suggested people got informed before they went. It's not a bad idea, but this makes it all sound as if murdering and prostitution were part of the Romanian national culture and absent in the richer EU countries.

Imagine that all Romanian people living in Denmark and all Romanian tourists visiting Copenhagen, who do not feel they fit Mr. Dahl's xenophobic description, would pass by the Copenhagen Police headquarters, where Mr.Dahl works. And each of them would lay a flower at the door of the building, as a sign of protest to the unsupported denigration he exhibited and as a mourning for dead ethics, encouraged by the Danish state/tax payers to remain six feet under by hiring staff like Mr. Ove. Would then Mr. Dahl ask himself what was first: the crime or the intolerance?