Remember that day about three and a half years ago when the Obama administration presented a pad with a red button on it to the Russians? The pad had the Russian word for "price cut" on it, although the geniuses at the State Department thought it said "reset". The point of the exercise was this: the days of tense Russian-American relations that had prevailed under George Bush were over; we had arrived at the new Nirvana of peace and happiness between the two former adversaries. Since then, the relationship between the USA and Russia has gotten significantly worse, rather than better. Right now Russia stands as the main obstacle to action by the UN to stop the Syrian civil war and the main protector of Iran from sanctions that might actually affect the Iranian nuclear program. My point, however, is not to recap the list of problems between the two countries. No, today's subject is the new ban enacted in Russia against the adoption of Russian children by Americans.
Yesterday, president Putin of Russia signed into law a measure that bans any adoptions of Russian orphans by Americans. Here's what the AP says about the reasons for the ban:
The passage of the bill followed weeks of a hysterical media campaign on Kremlin-controlled television that lambasts American adoptive parents and adoption agencies that allegedly bribe their way into getting Russian children. A few lawmakers claimed that some Russian children were adopted by Americans only to be used for organ transplants and become sex toys or cannon fodder for the U.S. Army. A spokesman with Russia's dominant Orthodox Church said that the children adopted by foreigners and raised outside the church will not "enter God's kingdom."
Let's translate this into English. Russia under Putin is going back to the constant slander of America and Americans that prevailed during the days of the Soviet Union. Friends do not falsely accuse friends of adopting orphans in order to harvest their organs or for use as sex toys.
Congratulations are in order for president Obama and secretary Clinton on the great "success" of their Reset diplomacy. The last time relations between Washington and Moscow were this bad, Leonid Brezhnev was in power as the Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR.
Yesterday, president Putin of Russia signed into law a measure that bans any adoptions of Russian orphans by Americans. Here's what the AP says about the reasons for the ban:
The passage of the bill followed weeks of a hysterical media campaign on Kremlin-controlled television that lambasts American adoptive parents and adoption agencies that allegedly bribe their way into getting Russian children. A few lawmakers claimed that some Russian children were adopted by Americans only to be used for organ transplants and become sex toys or cannon fodder for the U.S. Army. A spokesman with Russia's dominant Orthodox Church said that the children adopted by foreigners and raised outside the church will not "enter God's kingdom."
Let's translate this into English. Russia under Putin is going back to the constant slander of America and Americans that prevailed during the days of the Soviet Union. Friends do not falsely accuse friends of adopting orphans in order to harvest their organs or for use as sex toys.
Congratulations are in order for president Obama and secretary Clinton on the great "success" of their Reset diplomacy. The last time relations between Washington and Moscow were this bad, Leonid Brezhnev was in power as the Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR.
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