Quote of the Week - Nemtsov Calls For Sanctions Against Russian Leaders

London knows best, little man...

“I have an idea for you [the West] how to help democracy in Russia. Let you implement sanctions against people who break [the] Russian constitution [and]… agreements on human rights and democracy, like you did with [Belarussian President Alexander] Lukashenko.” Former Russian deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, a liberal opposition leader who last month spent two weeks in jail for participating in a political demonstration, talking to Stephen Sackur of BBC’s HARDTalk.

The programme should be re-christened RUDETalk judging by Sackur’s attitude in this interview. He has perfected the BBC’s plummy-voiced sneer that is apparently required nowadays to show what a tough, uncompromising journalist you are, although in reality he ends up just sounding like a supercilious prick when he asks Nemtsov, “And you think that’s a serious proposition?”

“I’m talking about sanctions not against the state, but against persons who break and who destroy peoples’ rights in this country,” Nemtsov clarifies for the hard-talking hack. He continues by asking, “What’s the difference between Putin and Lukashenko?” The snippet ends there, so we don’t get to hear Sackur’s doubtless erudite and cogent riposte. Remind us again why the BBC’s respected around the world for its high standards of journalism?

Meanwhile, The Guardian’s Moscow correspondent Luke Harding has been refused re-entry to Russia, and was told by a airport security, “For you, Russia is closed.” If you’re wondering why, one of Harding’s apparent offenses has been to report on the contents of the WikiLeaks US embassy cables. One of his pieces from late last year opened with the line:

“Russia is a corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy centred on the leadership of Vladimir Putin, in which officials, oligarchs and organised crime are bound together to create a “virtual mafia state”, according to leaked secret diplomatic cables that provide a damning American assessment of its erstwhile rival superpower.”

Apparently that kind of analysis doesn't go down very well with the Kremlin. And if it's diplomatically unfeasible to expel US embassy staff, target the messenger instead.

Quote of the Week - Arch Puddington, Freedom House

"Questions about freedom? Sorry, can't hear ya!"

"It is often observed that a government that mistreats its people also fears its people. But authoritarian regimes will have a much freer hand to silence their domestic critics if there is no resistance from the outside world. Indeed, if the world’s democracies fail to unite and speak out in defense of their own values, despots will continue to gain momentum." Arch Puddington (great name, it has to be said), Director of Research at Washington, DC-based Freedom House, upon publication of the body's report published Thursday outlining decreased levels of freedom for the fifth successive year in the world's nations.

The organisation also highlighted Russia as one of "the world’s most powerful authoritarian regimes [acting] with increased brazenness in 2010.  Russia’s leadership showed blatant disregard for judicial independence in its handling of, among other cases, the sentencing of regime critic and former oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky after a trial that was widely considered fraudulent." Not to mention ongoing unsolved attacks and assassinations targeting investigative journalists and human rights advocates, and almost total state control of the media.

Quote of the Week – Prince Ali On Women’s Football

Women with tools of empowerment

“I think enhancing [women’s football] is also a great socio-economic tool to empower them and I want to work very hard on that and create professional leagues for women in Asia and hopefully get more places at the World Cup for women’s football.”

Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein of Jordan, newly elected Asian Football Confederation vice president and FIFA Executive Committee member, in an interview with World Football Insider.  He also acknowledged that “in Asia we’re very different cultures, very different backgrounds, but still there can be some cultural taboos about women’s football.” Still, with all sincerity, we wish you the very best of luck, and hope that a FIFA ExCom member talking sense won't get him into too much trouble. Though it's not hard to imagine some of his colleagues whispering, "It's understandable, he's new. Now someone take him to one side and quietly explain what we don't do here..."

Quote of the Week - Guardian on Khodorkovsky

Chuck and Vlad - men of influence

"It [the legal proceedings against Mikhail Khodorkovsky] has become a persecution and Khodorkovsky has entered the ranks of politically repressed. As such, whenever he is released, he will be a magnet for all the other injustices suffered under this regime. No one will believe President Medvedev when he talks about the rule of law in Russia. With Khodorkovsky sitting in jail, the president's words remain empty rhetoric. But outside it, Khodorkovsky will be even more difficult for the Kremlin to deal with." The Guardian evaluates why the Russian government only began to have a problem with Khodorkovsky's alleged thievery after he began disagreeing with the Kremlin and funding opposition parties, and why releasing him would now be a political problem for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. 

We are convinced, however, that FIFA Executive Committee member Chuck Blazer will back up his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's assertion that "this and similar cases have a negative impact on Russia's reputation for fulfilling its international human rights obligations and improving its investment climate" by calling his very close new friend Mr. Putin to chat about the matter and persuade him to order a fair and transparent re-trial without state interference. Pick up the phone, Chuck! After all, Vlad owes you one for that 2018 vote.