Russian anger proves self-defeating: After Washington passed a law

to punish Russian officials involved in the murder of a whistleblowing

lawyer who worked for an American company, Russia passed a law

which punishes Americans who may have wanted to adopt Russian

orphans. Many Russians find it hard to see the connection.

Duma Reaction to Magnitsky Bill Deals Blow to Russian Orphans - and Duma (Izvestia, Russia)

"The ban on adoptions is itself such a hot topic, that just discussing it has led to acute social and political turmoil. ... Photographs of poor suffering children who will now never see the American dream are migrating from blog to blog. The gut-wrenching, not at all Christmassy stories of the fates of orphans who couldn't be spirited away in time, are being passed around. ... Duma members have now brought down an avalanche of bitter and angry questions on their heads - about the nightmare of our orphanages, murders and rapes in our foster care system, and nonexistent child patient survival - and socialization."

Igor Karaulov*

Translated By Anastassia Tapsieva

December 25, 2012

Russia - Izvestia - Original Article (Russian)

The State Duma has slipped on a banana peel. All it had to do was respond to the Sultan of Washington's "Magnitsky Bill" - by coming up with something commensurate and symbolic, and then close shop for New Year’s recess with a clear conscience. Instead, a strange and inexplicable thing happened: the primary measure of retaliation was a ban on American adoptions of Russian orphans, called the "Dima Yakovlev Bill."

[Editor’s Note: Sergei Magnitsky was jailed in 2008 on charges of tax evasion and fraud, after he implicated senior Russian officials in a complex scheme to defraud the government, and died awaiting trial. Magnitsky's colleagues say the charges against him were fabricated by investigators, whom Magnitsky had accused of being involved in the theft of $230 million of state funds through fraudulent tax returns. The U.S. Congress responded by passing the Magnitsky Bill, which punishes Russian officials thought to be responsible for Magnitsky's death, by prohibiting their entrance into the United States and freezing their U.S. assets. Now, in retaliation, Russian lawmakers have passed the Dima Yakovlev Bill, named after a Russian boy who choked to death because his adoptive American father forgot him in a car. The bill seeks to prevent  U.S. citizens from adopting Russian orphans, freezes the assets of Americans with assets in Russia deemed to have "violated the rights" of Russian citizens, and excludes them from the country].

The fact that this measure has nothing to do with Magnitsky is only half the problem. The ban on adoptions is itself such a hot topic, that just discussing it has led to acute social and political turmoil. Even as four Duma members spoke out against the bill, it was quickly pushed through the Duma - and who can remember the last time that happened?

As for the reaction of the public, it's as if the gates of hell burst open - a hell we hadn't seen since Pussy Riot. Some cite Alexander Galich: "We'll remember the names of everyone who raised their hand." Others handed out obscene cartoons of the key sponsor of the bill, Duma Member Ekaterina Lahova, which doesn't do her any good - and repeated the rhetoric of Vladimir Semichastny against Boris Pasternak.

[Editor's Note: In 1958, Vladimir Semichastny, an up and Communist Party operative under Nikita Khrushchev, led a smear campaign against Boris Pasternak, after he was nominated for the Nobel prize in literature. Among other things, Semichastny said of Pasternak, who had just written Doctor Zhivago, "Even a pig doesn't foul his own sty!"].

Photographs of poor, suffering children who will now never see the American dream, are migrating from blog to blog. The gut-wrenching, not at all Christmassy stories of the fates of orphans who couldn't be spirited away in time, are being passed around.

SEE ALSO ON THIS:
Svoboda News, Russia: Senators in U.S. Get Cold Shoulder Over Magnitsky Act
Moskovskij Komsomolets, Russia: Opposition Must ‘Learn to Swim’ – Not Complain to U.S.
Yezhednevniy Zhurnal, Russia: The Magnitsky List, America’s ‘Secret’ Weapon!
Kommersant, Russia: U.S. Magnitsky Act to Trigger 'Harsh Backlash'
Voice of Russia, Russia: Russian Opposition Wants Magnitsky List Expanded
Gazeta, Russia: Good Guys vs. Bad Guys: Russia Today is the Latter
Gazeta, Russia: America is Neither Friend Nor Foe
MK, Russia: Obama's ‘Hope’ Keeps Putin from ‘Window on Paradise’

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The most hysterical voices belong to unstinting adherents of the America cult, which still flourishes among our bourgeois-intelligentsia. In their world view, Americans are angels who deigned to descend from their luminous heavens to rescue someone, anyone, from the icy Russian Mordor. And what kind of miscreant would try and stop them?

Yet there are many sane and intelligent people who find the Duma members' plan repellant.

It's worth remembering that exporting children to the U.S. is not an obligation of Russia. It is to Russia's benefit and is an act of good will - like issuing visas. To show or not show good will is a sovereign matter for each state, and in this respect there are differing positions. For instance, the European Union doesn't recommend that its members allow adoption of their children by foreigners - precisely because civilized countries find this distasteful. Poor African nations, by contrast, readily pass their children on. Unfortunately, in this case, we are the third world country. We, too, trade our orphans: out of sight, out of mind. And this fits seamlessly with our economic model: if we sell our crude oil and timber abroad, why not our unwanted children? And if we've been officially dreaming of kicking our addiction to the "raw material needle" for over 20 years, then ceasing to export our children is obviously also a worthy goal.