Vinnik faces virtually life imprisonment in the United States
source: https://m.vz.ru/society/2022/8/5/1171157.html
A Russian national, Alexander Vinnik, who now faces more than 50 years in prison, has been arrested in the United States. On Thursday, he was actually fraudulently taken out of Europe to San Francisco in violation of all international legal norms. Apparently, this is how Washington responded to the verdict of the Brittney Griner, convicted in the Russian Federation for drug smuggling. Why is Washington abducting Russian citizens and is there a way to stop this, in fact, hostage-taking?
Alexander Vinnik, whom the United States accuses of cybercrime, was taken from Greece to the United States. “Everything happened and was staged as a kidnapping,” RIA Novosti reports the words of one of Vinnik’s family members. Relatives reported that the Russian citizen was taken from Greece to Boston on a private plane in violation of all legal procedures. “Alexander was allowed to call home from Boston,” a member of Vinnik’s family said. Later, the Russian was transported on a company plane to San Francisco.
The police at the Athens airport on Thursday evening claimed that they knew nothing about Vinnik’s extradition and that he had been taken to Athens. Employees of the consular department of the Russian Embassy in Greece were not allowed to see a Russian citizen, although he asked for a meeting. The Kremlin is monitoring the fate of Vinnik, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The procedural norms of Greek law did not allow to immediately send Vinnik from Greece to the United States, but in Athens “they turned a blind eye to this,” a relative of the captured Russian told RIA Novosti. “The Greeks will again say that they did not know, forgot, were confused, that they are sorry. As before, there was an extradition document with a fake signature of the Minister of Justice, and then it turned out that he did not sign anything,” the source said.
From an international legal point of view, the entire mechanism of Vinnik’s deportation to the United States via Greece is inadequate, so Russia equates such cases with kidnappings, Pavel Gerasimov, Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Vice President of the Union of Lawyers of Russia, explained to the newspaper VIEW. “In any case, foreign security forces had to appeal to the representatives of Russia in Interpol with the justification for sending Vinnik to the United States. But no one contacted either our Foreign Ministry or law enforcement officers,” the lawyer stated.
It should be noted that simultaneously with the American operation to kidnap a Russian from Greece, Joe Biden complained about the “unlawful” detention in Russia of US citizen Brittney Griner and the “unacceptable” sentence. Recall that a Russian court on Thursday found Griner guilty of smuggling drugs into our country. The judges sentenced the American to nine years.
Biden promised that the US authorities would use “all possible means” to return Griner and another American serving time in Russia, Paul Whelan, to their homeland. In mid-June, the Moscow City Court found this former Marine guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in a strict regime penal colony.
It can be assumed that the American side will try to use Vinnik captured in Greece (along with another compatriot of ours serving time in the USA – Viktor Bout) to bargain for the extradition of Griner and Whelan. Note that at the end of July, reports appeared in the American press that Biden approved a plan to exchange Whelan and Griner for Booth. Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken discussed the exchange of prisoners in a telephone conversation. Lavrov urged the head of the State Department to return to “quiet diplomacy” on this issue, the Foreign Ministry said.
It is also worth noting the briefing held on Thursday by the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council (NSC) USA by John Kirby. According to TASS, a White House official was asked whether Washington believes that Russia will accept the American proposal, which does not involve an equal exchange of prisoners – one for one or two for two? That is, it was initially assumed that the United States intended to offer one Russian in exchange for two Americans. “I can say that we have made a serious offer… I won’t go into details, but we urge them (the Russians) to accept it,” Kirby replied evasively. It can be assumed that Vinnik, who was taken by private plane to the United States, may become this second Russian, who is supposed to be exchanged for convicted drug smuggler Griner and spy Whelan.
Regardless of whether a person is guilty (in this case, a Russian Vinnik) or not, the law must act, but the absolute arbitrariness on the part of the United States is comparable to extortion,
State Duma deputy Oleg Morozov told the newspaper VIEW. “This practice is on a par with the bombing of Iraq, when the United States didn’t care what others thought about it. They are detaining a Russian citizen on the territory of a third country and they don’t care what the law says and the world community thinks about it,” the politician stressed. Incidents like the capture of Vinnik have long been part of the international practice of the United States, stated Deputy Morozov. “There are many cases when Russian citizens are detained on the territory of third countries, and then absolutely illegally and secretly extradited to the territory of the United States, where they are put on trial,” the source said.
Let’s explain – several countries are involved in the Vinnik case, which has been going on for more than five years, and the Strasbourg Court was involved. In July 2017, a Russian IT specialist was arrested in Greece at the request of the United States. The American investigation accused Vinnik of creating a BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange without a license from the United States authorities, through which, according to the American side, billions of dollars were laundered. The Russian was also accused of failing to register his activities with the US Financial Intelligence Service (FINCEN) and failing to comply with anti-money laundering requirements. In the United States, 33-year–old Vinnik faces 55 years in prison – in fact, life imprisonment.
In January 2020, Greece extradited Vinnik, not to the United States but to France. Here, a Russian IT specialist was charged with 19 criminal offenses. A French court acquitted Vinnik of all charges brought by France and sentenced him to five years on one American charge. Moreover, the judges considered that the Russian had committed not a criminal offense, but a misdemeanor. The term of imprisonment ended, but Vinnik remained in prison. He was already supposed to be returned to Greece for extradition to the United States. However, the European Court of Human Rights banned the transfer of Vinnik to Greek justice. On Thursday, a Paris court decided to release Vinnik as part of the extradition case to the United States – Paris formally refused to transfer the Russian to the Americans. But the same French court immediately ordered to detain the Russian citizen and redirect him under escort to Greece. The very next day, a private plane took Vinnik from Athens to Boston.
As lawyer Gerasimov explained, the normal scheme from the point of view of international law should have looked like this: Greece detains Vinnik at the request of the French, since the case against him was opened in France. Further, in the French court, the process takes place with the participation of a representative of Russia, and the Russian consulate had to respect the rights of our citizen. Including consideration of the issue of Vinnik’s extradition to Russia.
“But the participation of American representatives in this case without substantiating the cross–border nature of the crime in general would be impossible by law, since Vinnik is not a US citizen,” the lawyer pointed out. – Another justification for American involvement could be that it was the United States that suffered the main damage from Vinnik’s alleged crime. But Washington has not provided any justification.” Moreover, at the stage of discussing extradition, the American side did not contact Moscow in any way, so the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a note of protest.
Now, in order to be able to exchange Vinnik or simply extradite him to Russia, he must be convicted in the United States, Gerasimov explained. “After that, Moscow tells Washington that the Russian side is ready to accept Vinnik to serve his sentence in Russia. This starts a two-way dialogue. If the two states agree, and if Vinnik arrives in Russia, then here he has the right to appeal for a judicial review and try to prove that the American court made an unfair decision,” the lawyer detailed.
At the same time, lawyer Gerasimov added, it cannot be ruled out that the arrested Russian may be transported to Puerto Rico or to the base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where a special prison is still operating. “Legally, this will not be an American territory, but the same US law enforcement agencies will “work” with the detainee there,” the lawyer noted. “You can only be safe without committing crimes. But in any case, it is better to rest in the Crimea, and not abroad,” the interlocutor added, not without sarcasm.
The issue of countering American international racketeering is primarily a political issue, said Deputy Morozov. “It’s impossible to live by the principle of “what if the Americans accuse me of something, so I can’t move beyond the Ural Mountains.” The only way to answer is what Russia, China and many other countries are doing now: they break the world order established by the Americans, refuse to participate in an unfair world order and will offer the world completely different norms and rules,” the interlocutor stressed. – Sooner or later we will come to a world where Americans will no longer be allowed to engage in extortion. In the meantime, the United States, unfortunately, acts on the principle of might is right, that they themselves are the law.”
In the meantime, the Russian Foreign Ministry has outlined Moscow’s position: our side is ready to discuss the exchange of prisoners with the United States, but only within the framework of the channel that was approved by the presidents of the two countries at a meeting in Geneva last June. This was stated on Friday by the head of Russian diplomacy Sergey Lavrov, commenting on reports about the plan approved by Biden to rescue Griner and Whelan.
I would suspect that there will be no prisoner trades between the United States and Russia until at least 2025. The Russians are fortunate that no one but a small percentage of Americans care about the American basketball player. When the president refers to “her wife” it just reminds most Americans how far removed from the mainstream she is. She will at least learn some Russian language during her captivity. I hope they treat her decently; despite her ignorance she does not appear to be a bad person.
Actually, she has multiple domestic charges against her in the USA . She also turned her privileged arse on the country that made her rich for bouncing a ball around. She can stay there in Russia
Briner can learn Russian pronouns, which totals 24 (M,F,Neuter, Plural) x 6 cases.
Just the fact that marijuana is illegal in Russia speaks volumes about why Russia isn’t Democratic and actually mirrors the underlying Drug War on the Poor that’s so disgusting about the US.
North Korea does better. It’s considered a folk remedy just like most rural Russians and most Russian’s ancestors understand it correctly to be.
Funny you should comment in this way. First: Russia has different laws. Every foreigner has to respect these. Second: How many ‘americans’ are in prison due to the same infringement? Does that imply that the us is not a democracy too? Please don’t react with the platitude that the constitution only mentions ‘republc.
The U.S. isn’t a Democracy. Not after 2020.
That doesn’t really affect the discussion, but I thought it should be repeated, that the current, illegitimate regime has no credibility to criticize anyone.
The US has never been a democracy. It was founded by rich white slave owners who didn’t want to pay taxes.
what the United States is doing with Russia is cowardice, and it tells us that Washington is determined to destroy the planet with a world war. Unfortunately people don’t understand that we are now all over the planet having a spiritual war. Even if you don’t believe it, behind the scenes terrible things are happening. The West decided to make war and destroy the East at any cost:
https://youtu.be/LOx508ekrhA
Each state decides what conduct to designate a crime. Thus, each state has its own criminal code. In Arizona, for a simple possession, you can be charged with a felony. Sentences for felonies can range anywhere from one year to life in prison. It all depends on a serious nature of the felony.
Excuse me I think the ban on marijuana in Russia is a wise law.
They avoid copying the moral blurred environment on American universities thus forcing the students to a more serious study into being adult men and women.
Is this a big deal to avoid marijuana? No its not. There are plenty of other ways to enjoy life.
Cannabis possesses a great deal of potential as medicine. Cannabinoid system and all.
From this angle, I’m curious why they don’t at least pursue it as a medicine? Has a long history of use by humans, and is well established as a medicine/therapeutic. Far safer than alcohol, at the least.
There is the hemp variety of the plant, which contains CBD, among many other useful compounds. Far greater to use this for light to moderate pain, as well as a host of other illnesses, which it helps alleviate symptoms.
I fully agree, re universities and young people ought to wait until their brains are developed enough before partaking.
The simple reason is Du Pont and others in the 1930s were instrumental in the banning of Cannabis purely for monetary reasons. Hemp has over 4000 uses, including as a base for Paint, clothing, diesel and bricks. The argument for making it illegal was to do with pure greed. Banning cannabis in effect banned the real target Hemp. Interestingly enough the US legalized it briefly during WW2 as it helped the War effort. Our masters can’t have us wearing hemp clothing that can be passed down to the next Generation as it’s not profitable. If I remember correctly there is a Bridge in Europe built by the Romans using Hemp blocks still standing to this day.
you are right I slept on a hemp bedsheet my grandmother inherited from her mother recently – it’s more than a century old
After all we have been aware of, nothing of this character would surprise anybody. But I think the Russian Authorities maybe just need an application to grow hemp for clothing, m.m.
In the case of Griners use its more obvious it has a demoralised nature, and I think this is what the ban is for.
I think many of us dislike the smell of a dead skunk. Remember driving over a spot where a skunk was killed by a vehicle. Since legalization in Canada, I am subject to this unpleasant skunk smell as both my neighbors smoke the “sh-t”. Early in the am they are in their backyard choking and coughing as the smell of skunk enters my open window which I must close. If it’s so pleasant, and smells so great, why don’t they smoke it in their own home. Close their doors and windows for a greater hit but, no, they choose to be a nuisance to their neighbors. Where is my right to breathe fresh air? Legalization of cannabis is just one more money grab, like the pulp mill smell tat we have in town, that some call the “smell of money”. They allow the pulp mill smell, which can be eliminated with a chemical process, but they refuse because it makes paper cheaper.
Yes, it was built in France by the Merovingians. The compound is called “isochanvre”, and is a combination of hemp hurds and limestone. It is over 900 years old, and can be driven over.
Legalizing weed is a slippery slope. While it is not habit-forming, it does have negative effects on the human body over time, and serves as a gateway drug for many.
I wonder about this too, and I was quite fond of the stuff over a half century ago. Enjoying it was a statement then but now it seems pathetic that people are just smoking their lives away. I smell it everywhere when I walk around my city. I suppose it’s a good thing that people can buy it legally, because that keeps them away from the other more deadly products stocked by illicit drug dealers. But it seems like yet another symptom of the malaise that has taken over the country, expressed in staggering rates of alcoholism, obesity, superstition, violent crime, and bone-weary desperation. An MIT professor recently wrote a book called “Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty”, in which he finds that generally what causes states to collapse is the grossly unequal distribution of wealth where once it was shared more equitably, and that describes the US to a T. One hopes that the defeat of the thugs in Kiev will hasten the downfall of the oligarchy that has hijacked Washington and brought this country to the edge of disaster too.
Gee Tommy sorry to say but as a person from a family of many serious alcoholics, I would rather see people smoking or otherwise ingesting marijuana all day long rather than see them pick up one alcoholic drink
.
I am interested that you think that with a ban on marijuana will force “the students to a more serious study into being adult men and women.” Have you heard of frat parties? Or hazing? Or any of the other alcohol related activities that go on in American universities?
IMO, alcohol is a greater worldwide scourge that marijuana, for sure. That goes for Russia also.
I can understand how concentrated Cannabis extracts can fall under the banner of something resembling hard drugs, however, Cannabis in its raw, flower form is a different animal altogether, imo. Harder to abuse flower vs the concentrates. Has it always been illegal in Russia?
This is historical.
USSR flat-adopted the international conventions as drugs, in general, were seen as a bad thing and it was classed as a prohibited drug by countries where it was traditional.
There was never really a debate on this over there as it was not a “traditional” drug there – it does not grow well in cold climates … The (initial) debate is happening only now.
After many years spent in USA and Canada – I am glad it’s illegal in Russia
I have seen what these new hybrids of marijuana do to formerly intelligent people.
They get addicted quickly and often some it every day. They gradually start forgetting more and more while at the same time they start believing things that never happened are true.
I sat outside with a few friends who were smoking it in Los Angeles in my garden. I did not smoke it – after about 15 minutes I went back inside to continue studying for my project management certification.
After about an hour I realized I was still reading the same paragraph. I normally read and understand everything very quickly.
After a few years spent in Canada after the totalitarian psychopath Turdo and his nazi-jewish sidekick Freeland made it legal – I think one of the reasons why Canadians now live in world’s premier transgender gulag is having been numbed down into a bunch of passive zombies basically.
I worked with drug addicts there and seen the mental decline everywhere. My niece and nephew who went to school there told me almost everyone in their primary school smoked it .
So, legalise ganja and have morons and zombies like Seth Rogen or Sarah Silverman roam Russia?! Marijuana may have some therapeutic properties but the fact the Satanists of the US promote it so hard tells a different story. Every medication is a poison too. To have marijuana taken every day is tantamount to brain frying. It zombifies the (ab)user.
At the end of the day, a healthy human will have a normal functioning cannabinoid system, which can regulate itself.. while consuming any external form of cannabinoids would not contribute much to said system, from the pov of medicinal value argument, but may be detrimental in the long term (look at the Western world lol to be fair, we can’t assign blame to this plant, but it might be a factor in the dumbing down of citizens, in tandem with the full frontal psychological war waged on us all at any moment, no doubt!)
At the end of the day, it is illegal in RF, and Griner was well aware of this, and their laws ought be respected, or one suffers the consequences of their actions.
When I moved to USA from London in 2006, I was glad it was legal (not that I ever smoked it- but I just like freedom in general unless it harms others)
after a few years spent with American and Canadian friends who smoked it almost daily, I realized what this does to human brain – it basically zombifies the users.
I once spoke to a professor from Stanford who specializes in dope-related brain damage – he told me that if you are over I think 25 or so it will not damage your brain (but he said it will definitely stunt the brain development of the younger people – and as I said above in Canada almost all kids in primary schools smoke it – according to my nephew and niece who went to one of the best schools in Toronto and then to best universities there).
So it definitely does harm. My old roommates from Los Angeles (some were architects, some Vogue, GQ models, a Marlboro man etc) are all brain damaged -it makes me sad to see them and remember how much better their brain functioned not so long ago.
Canadian government is famous for predatory and dirty tricks it plays on it’s already zombified and mostly quite dumb, and self-harming population. One in 3 has some kind of Psychological disorder like Schizoprenia, Borderline etc – lots of child abuse, and the last thing these already not so well mentally people needed was more drugs. I worked with drug addicts there and I know there is on average 50 overdoses daily in Toronto and on average 11 other forms of suicide like jumping under trains etc. A big bridge in downtown Toronto had to have fences erected all around it because there were so many Canadians jumping off it almost daily.
What a sick country with lost social contract and a lot of individual brain damage needs is definitely not more legal drugs.
tomo, you’re right. This cannabis is not the same cannabis of 40 years ago. Then, the most it did was make you think everything was funny and make you hungry. I’ve tried a joint, a dab, edibles, a bowl, recently for pain, since my daughter uses it. With the dab, I vomited for hours, struggled to breathe, and felt like I was outside my body looking in. This has been chemically altered over the years from a relaxing substance to something much more harmful. Even the innocuous joint has a mind altering capability. And it’s addicting as many cannot give it up. It’s not cheap either. If the purpose is to make a huge part of the population mindless zombies, the growers (pharma/govt?) have accomplished that. Shame.
Everything today is done to excess, when a doctor asks your weight before he writes a prescription…..it’s for dosage.
For THC consumables….take your weight times your…….just kidding, that’s the issue, many people who are not used to, or consume more than needed (edibles being the most easy to over use….human impatients again), well anxiety attacks are common….nothing a good nap won’t fix but it really is all about moderation. And learning ones tollerance…..
Cheers M
Edward Abbey: “At the end of the day, it is illegal in RF, and Griner was well aware of this”
Yes. I read she had attended the off-season Russian hoops circuit for eight (8) years already. No excuse at this point. And travelling professionals usually have managers and teams which appraise them of specific countries’ particulars. This was likely careless laziness, an expression of arrogant exceptionalism which came to bite back.
ZZzzzzzzzz……………
Cindy: “This has been chemically altered over the years from a relaxing substance to something much more harmful. Even the innocuous joint has a mind altering capability. And it’s addicting as many cannot give it up. If the purpose is to make a huge part of the population mindless zombies, the growers (pharma/govt?) have accomplished that.”
You make excellent points. We are permanently mired in the Great Poisoning (thx for phrase to Catherine Austin Fitts [CAF]) – at least until the AZE Beast is slain. They have been at it for several generations now.. It is a stacked function – how to harm the person’s health for the Big Pharma/Medical Cartel racket in the process of acquiring loot from their vices. it is a testament to the miraculous nature of the divinely ordained human immune system that we have not all been culled yet. But the minions are relentless and persistent in poisoning everything they touch.
I do not smoke tobacco but read accounts that prior to Big Tobacco, it was not toxic if taking the pure plant in reasonable quantities.. Back in the day in Africa, many died in their 80s and 90s after smoking for over a half century, without sequela.. But the industrious Nazis fiddled in their labs and potentiated with chemicals that result in high addiction. These are among the studied 4,000 poisons released during its burning and inhalation.. Even second-hand smoking kills 41,000 in USA every year due to these cumulative effects. And this are understated CDC stats. Extrapolate hundreds of thousands worldwide in less affluent cramped environs with less environmental smoking controls..
At this point, I would think all pushed drugs are similarly “goosed.” And much of the addiction is acquired through media advertisements, known to make it sexy for 4-5th graders, when these habits are acquired for life. Several decades ago, I volunteered and taught elementary school kids counter-strategies in the Tar Wars program – focusing on raising self-image, highlighting deceptive media propaganda (that cool smokers do NOT always get the pretty girl!) and putting in context the exorbitant cost for those with little to no disposable income.. these kids are surprising smart and once the ads are broken down and the reality exposed, are incensed at the trickery.. but peer pressure remains potent.
ZZzzzzzzzz……………
Lone Wolf: “we have never seen a “morphine industry” dedicated to supply morphine to anyone who request it under flimsy pretexts.”
Unfortunately it exists, and has done for well over a century. The same dynasties in New England which brought opium to the Chinese in their beautiful clipper ships brought their handiwork home.. but it was marketed for the upper classes under medical diagnoses (liberally prescribed by understanding doctors) and dispensed at sanitary and shining pharmacy counters and not considered illicit drugs by law enforcement.. too many brands and tales and books to list document these shenanigans. It is instructive to look at more recent scandals such as the Rush Limbaugh OxyContin case (prescription fraud) and the trail which eventually led to the infamous Sackler family which pushed OxyContin..
CAF notes the decision to flood the white suburbia and affluent middle classes with these prescription opiods was made in mid-1990s when the budget could not be balanced. So as with elders more recently in covid, they decided to cull them and eliminate SS and other unfundable liabilities through lowering life spans via drugs and the crime and dissolution they bring with them.. very dark
@AHH
Morphine is a cheap and very effective pain killer, but it is off patent and therefore not a money spinner for the US pharmaceutical industry. Very few pharmacists have it in stock, and not many doctors will prescribe it, because there are no kick backs.
Which illegal drugs and how much. Under the exemption, adults aged 18 years and older in BC Canada will not be arrested or charged for the possession of four types of illegal drugs for personal use: Opioids (including heroin, morphine, and fentanyl.May 31, 2022
Tobacco uses more pesticides than any other agricultural product. Look at what is in those pesticides (arsenic) and then look at what the effects of arsenic poisoning and you see all the dangers of smoking. It was the commercialization of tobacco that made it poisonous. We are purposefully being poisoned, in food, in medicine, in recreational drugs, air and water (fluoride). Fortunately eating real food does a pretty good job of detoxifying the body.
exactly my experience
and that is probably the purpose
at least in predatory Canada always pretending to be so morally superior – but it turned out to be a democidal totalitarian shithole unlike anything I have seen in any other country.
I am so glad I moved back to Serbia a year ago – it’s better to be a beggar in Serbia than a billionaire in Canada or USA.
It’s not legal here, I know people smoke it probably , I know a lot of people here and see no brain damage of the kind I saw in Toronto, Vancouver, SF or LA
How many African-Americans and other second class humans are involuntary guests of the US (largely private) prison system for similar, or lesser, ‘crimes’?
Not enough by far, as some private jails actually like prisoners, the more the $$$ merrier… You should invest in this sector, dividends guaranteed!
Do you judge all world countries from the perspective of your dependencies? I guess you look at the Thai treatment of Opium smugglers the same or have you not fallen to that level of depravity yet?
The fact that an adult must take something to “handle” the world is weak enough but this spiel is just so very revealing, it is a sign of “democracy” to behave like a lawless rogue nation in your eyes? You sure cured me from any empathy regarding the Western collapse that´s coming, just “light it up, brah”.
Then make vodka illegal too. See how that goes over.
It may be a folk remedy if a high tetrahydrocannabivarin strain. Otherwise it imbues diabolism. Good for Russia banning recreational use of THC!
Russia’s laws regarding marijuana are comparable to US laws a few decades ago. They’re really not that strict, relatively speaking. In Burma people have been put to death for simple possession. In Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Phillipines, Malaysia, Singapore, and China you can also get the death penalty for trafficking marijuana, and it’s often the case that these laws are centuries old.
Nobody makes this kind of fuss when it isn’t a media darling, though.
Never go full retard.
Blah blah blah. Spent some time in Russia in 2017. The moment I got off the plane I could smell the freedom and opportunities. If thats a dictatorship I’ll take it. As I walked around I did not see pure misery on the faces of the population like I do in London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow. Women didn’t speak to me through clenched teeth of hatred (white hetro male) there was actual eye contact. I did not see a totally cucked population whom the minute they go out their house are confronted by a massive weight of rules and regulation and cameras watching their every move. Even buying a train ticket at the actual train station reveals the state of the country weighed down by relentless bureaucracy. They censor our alt media, they throw journalists in jail. They fake crimes and blame other countries. It is the Evil Empire for sure and yes the west are the bad guys. But yeah man, democracy though, its great eh..
Russia should send a Kalibr missile to Greek Intelligence (oxymoron ) Services. Might jog their memory.
Like Ukraine, the CIA run Greece and the missile will probably eliminate a few Yank b*stards.
WTFUD, let’s get prioities straight: the missile should be one of those hypersonic thingies and its target should not be Greece but, rather, the building in Davos where and when the WEF has its next annual meeting. I think during the keynote by Klaus would be the correct moment.
If the US thought this was a good move. It only shows how little they understand.
The only valid response to kidnapping – for a state party – is to not provide the ransom. For it only encourages further kidnappings. This is sad for the guy, but it is the only way this practice can stop.
Plus the Russian better understand that Greece is an occupied country with no agency whatsoever. If they did not by now.
Lunacy is loose, anything can happen now.
its not lunacy — its high crime – really criminal
You are both correct. Nation States engaging in high crimes and expecting to be taken seriously and treated with respect are insane, especially if the definition of insanity is repeating actions that do not yeild positive results.
In this country, if you’re an honest person, you can’t get promoted at Wal-Mart. Imagine what it’s like being a teacher. Having to teach so many lies to innocent children.
Politicians, Officials, and Judges are completely arbitrary. The only consistency in law is that they don’t like you. Or any other decent person.
20 years ago, I was the last person you would think would say this, but……anyone who joins the U.S. military currently, is knowingly entering a criminal enterprise.
Miss! Is Anne Frank fiction or nonfiction?
Let her spend sometime in a gulag. The whole situation shows how little respect Griner has for rules and regulations outside of the states. She thinks she’s special bc she can spank a ball and marry a woman. An example needs to be made of her and her “special” status.
For that reason the Russians were surely certain of what they would find in her pockets…which is why they went after her..certain of the insane American democracy and specialism in the world.
Back in the day at college I smoked.. I stopped when school was done and have not smoked pot since. Since legalization I thought of it but I was confident cannabis had been engineered, alterred for inflicting popular harm and I was right
I am off the same ethnicity as Griner but I do not empathize for that of any reason. She had to have known Russian requirements and she needs help surely to come to grips with the fact that that habbit/product harmful, that she is probabaly alreadyterribly addicited needs to stop if she can at all to save her life
Russian jail would be curative for her,which she could quite well she might acccpet as a good thing. The Russians might require her to serve 4-5 after which they might be satisfied, parole or some such.
But in that time they would ensure she became healthy and free of addiction and stays that way. She would go back to the States healthy and hopefully ideologically prepared to stay that way
The US kidnapped lots of people since 1990, see Guantanamo, see illegal flights over Germany, see the 2000 killed by Obama with drone strikes, and the presidents after are non the better. They do illegal things all the time! And nobody up to now has stopped them short. But as Bob Dylan once sang, “the times they are a changing”, he sang the truth.
Lawlessness under the color of law weakens all criminal justice systems in the world.
I think that, should Putin make the decision to trade people with US, then he should make Julian Assange and his wife part of the package.
Putin would be seen as even more of a world savior than he presently is should he secure this outcome. Wow. Just wow.
Pick up Hunter Biden, there is enough evidence of impropriety in multiple jurisdictions to do so.
My thought exactly!
Hold on there. Julian Assange is not in US custody. Not yet, anyway. He is in a UK prison awaiting a decision on his appeal against extradition. His wife is not in any custody at all. I agree with your sentiment though. The whole Assange/Wikileaks thing is a bloody scandal and disgrace.
This is just a tip of the iceberg. Extrajudical killings, kidnappings and general contempt for the laws are USA agencies modus operandi. Most notorious case “we came, we saw, he died” by war criminal Hillary Clinton. They do not even attempt to hide it anymore, there is a perverse belief that everything good guys from USA do is for good cause and end justifies the means.
Another example of US deep state lawbreaking similar to everything that went on between 2001+ in Afghanistan & Iraq. And Trump’s also engaged in similar activities in killing people abroad.
This is why the world has long been turning on this empire of evil run by pigs which the average US citizen wouldnt support either.
It is why the internal rot and the house of cards is crumbling.
And it began in 1960s with their war in Vietnam.
I thought Trump was a good guy trying to avoid wars and all. Yet, my son tells me he did way more drone strikes than Obama. There was a great article in global research enumerating the US atrocities against other countries. Since 1960s, so many countries intervened in with 33 million resultant deaths, counting civilians and the ongoing effects of our invasions/assaults. Other countries see the US for what it is now. Just hope they have the strength to say no, enough.
Terrific comment! Accurate, to the point and clarifying particularly reevant to Donald Trump an absolute fake, as brutal as an president before him but probably not as bad as Hillary would have been.
The only difference between Hillary and Brandon is that he is crazy/senile and others are writing his notes for him to read. Hillary was’nt, could see clearly, read and understand and take full, conscious part of the presidency she would have represented. Hillary isnt still is’nt senile and will be as brutally, violenlty criminally conscious and fully, capably on board as Obama but to a degree far worse, an extent we can imagine now that we have seen what the Davos crowd did under Trump and in less than 2 years so far under Brandon.
There can be no change for any of the canadidates from the uni-party currently offered for the leadership. None of that leadership represents the interests of the ordinary people of the world, represen plans sooner or later calculated to dominate all the people of the world, plans as we can see likely contain all and every imaginable requirfement to ensure the power of those who already dominate regardless of their current differences and preparedness to fight each other
These elites have already carried out every extreme of criminality, evil, deceit and cunning: all manner of exploitation, genocide and mass murder…… that there is no penalty or retribution or anything but quick and open massive global trial for every last one of them, for the majority of Khazars for example and all the royals etc. but the immediate death penalty?
What else could they be about but the depopulation of the Earth then, the reduction of the human species, when the majority of the human species is divided along our current inescapable historical fault-line, produced by all our previous ‘evolution’ for want of a better descriptive…than is for the human species to revolutionize itself, or depopulated itself! From the top down! For the popular folk of the human species, of the world, to legally punish the elites, on the basis of such historical ecnoomic/social crime, that again, was/is a product of that ‘evolution!’… or become the victims of the consquences of that very evolution.
The ordinary people, the popular folk have it in our historical responsibility to save humanity from itself. The majority can live only by truth which exposes that inescapable fact of this stage…that human problomes can be solved only by placing the stage of we have arrived at, have achieved at the disposal of all humanity, to be used for the puposes of an to meet the needs of all humanity globally, in our vavious nations to meet the needs of evryone.
That way the people can organize ways in which all the available resources can be formed into social systems that will indeed meet all needs and set humanity up properly. When there is enough to meet all needs, even of more billions than we already have. And if the stage of that day is taken over by the people and used by them for this purpose, then humanity would achieveseven greater advances that are going to challenge human survivival but by development not genocide. ‘How does humanity meek indefinite population growth, sustainability when all needs are basically met and security to high llevel is assured?’
The US increasingly looks like a mafioso owned Hotdogstand with nukes, mascerading as a country.
The Ulcered Sphincter of Ass-erica (thanks, V for Vendetta) never abandoned the extrajudicial policy of extraordinary rendition, which they used to the max during the chaotic years of the WOT.
This is not a simple kidnapping, this is extraordinary rendition, pure and simple.
This is a classic CIA, below the belt coup to Russia, for having condemned that drug addict junkie to 9 years in prison. And for Russia having rejected the 1 for 2 exchange of prisoners, instead demanding the release from prison in Germany of Vadim Krasikov, convicted of murder in 2021. Germany would have to agree to release him, which threw a wedge into the exchange.
As for the pot-heads complaining about Russian laws on marijuana, Russia does not want to fall into the same junkie stuporous stupidity in which full generations of US youngsters are falling into, “groovy man, groovy” idiotic behavior.
She was lucky not to have been caught in Indonesia or Singapore, she would have been dead by now.
Lone Wolf
Pot rules are stupid. Period.
There is way worse stuff sold over the counter at pharmacies. WAY WORSE.
That said, the law is the law.
Also she would be not sentenced to 9yrs if it was accidental. She knew what she was doing, hence tried to hide the stuff. Arrogance and bad luck in one.
I’m not a fan of this Russian law, in my opinion it plays into the hands of the drug mafia … i.e. the enemy.
That said, as a guest in a country you need to respect the law of the land … so no sympathy.
I guess she will be treated well and sendt to a female jail, not a male one …
My understanding of drug use in China since the Opium wars and British importation into China in 1949 there were over 100 million drug addicts in China. Mao got rid of that by eliminating drug dealers.
In my opinion this is getting ridiculous. Over the years EOL has kidnapped many RF civilians from third countries and taken them to EOL to face real/imagined charges in their court. This must stop.
America (and its allies) specialize in kidnapping people throughout the globe based upon trumped up pretexts.
The case of Julian Assange is one of the most famous examples.
In fact, for the past 30 years, the USA has openly institutionalized an *illegal* practice of kidnapping people from around the world, who are subsequently put in shadowy detention facilities for possible torture and interrogation.
It’s called Extraordinary Rendition.
Extraordinary Rendition
https://www.aclu.org/other/fact-sheet-extraordinary-rendition
Just keep kidnapping as much high profile Americans as possible as ransom/bargaining chips. How hard can it be.
We are back in the Middle Ages :-).
You do not fight evil by becoming one.
You. Just. Do. Not.
Yes you do.. Better for Western people to stop this naive way of thinking, while they’re governments slaughter the planet.
There is a price for everything…time to pay your dues.
There are other ways to collect the dues. Way more painful ones.
Kidnapping random people is NOT painful to the elites of the West. Actually, it is desirable. It would only CONFIRM their “Evit Russia” narrative.
An that is not even getting to the point of not being evil to have a moral standing whatsoever. Period. There is a reason Russia is now respected world wide way more than it was a couple decades ago. And only half the reason is related to their military power.
A lot of Russians live all over the world – and they should all take note. Well, the ones, that consider themselves Russian. The rest should do as they see fit.
The US is involving every other nation in their crimes, in their double standards. Huge avenue for escalation here as well, especially given the provocations committed by the moronic ukr diaspora-refugee collective.
Look at what`s left of the law today in the US – nada – it`s PURE politics or extorsion from divorce cases to child/family related matters to basically anything else. Right or wrong has nothing to do with the justice system. Law has nothing to do with it.
What did you think about the concentration camps of the Japanese back when? Well, think again.
The swamp is desperate. They will(are) try to direct the narrative – no matter what. They know, if they can not squeeze this L into a W, they will not only not be able to hold on to their privileges, fortunes, power, status, but probably not even their lives.
The fear of progroms have been an ever-returning theme of conversation from time immemorial for them.
Remember – “never again”
Putin should offer Griner for a pardon of Julian Assange and watch the globohomo asshats choke on it.
There is massive turmoil in cryptos.
Lev Menand on *The Fed Unbound: Central Banking in a Time of Crisis*
Regulating the shadow banking system is one possible solution to address an increasingly unbound Federal Reserve.
https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/06202022/lev-menand-fed-unbound-central-banking-time-crisis
The Fed and Davos are up to their ears in Central Bank Synthetic Currencies. Anyone who does not understand is roadkill. This is huge. It is part of the failed bailout of the shadow banking system. It is very likely Russia is well informed.
The collapsing crypto bubble is bigger than the 2008 Subprime Mortgage Bubble, and we now know what that meant. There are runs on derivative of this bubble.
Vinney’s BTC-e was involved to upset the Feds so much.
Either way, the crash cannot be avoided.
This has nothing to do with basketball, vaping, but an existential threat to the Establishment.
Considering this, what will Russia’s reaction be?
@ user on August 06, 2022 · at 4:02 pm EST/EDT
There is way worse stuff sold over the counter at pharmacies. WAY WORSE.
————————————————-
True.
That does not mean marijuana is not dangerous.
Just wait 10 years and you will see the effect of “medical marijuana” in generations of idiots. I can see them now, as I am in the (alternative) medicine field. No doubt marijuana has medicinal qualities, and many cultures have historically used it for healing purposes. Problem is, once the US turns anything into an “industry,” it all goes to hell.
The “food industry,” the “pharmaceutical industry,” the “health care industry,” are all examples of corporations ruling and ruining the lives of citizens, the “food industry” producing cancer, diabetes, heart attacks, obesity, and all other sort of ailments, of which the “health care industry” is supposed to take care of by breaking people’s budgets, turning doctors into drug pushers, making them dependents to the “pharmaceutical industry,” which enslave them to drugs, opioids, turning people into addicts.
Anyone can go now to a doctor, complain of anything, and get a prescription for medical marijuana.
Anyone.
Medical marijuana should be strictly regulated as a medicine, not distributed freely. Its use should be strictly supervised in a medical setting, aware as we are of the addictive qualities of the drug. Morphine has been used for decades in medicine, however, we have never seen a “morphine industry” dedicated to supply morphine to anyone who request it under flimsy pretexts.
The junkie basketballer arrested in Russia assumed (if you ass-umed you’re an ass!) she could get away with it. She didn’t “forget” about her vaping being full with marijuana, she thought Russians were idiots who wouldn’t notice the difference. Now she got 9 years somewhere to think about how not to be stupid ever again, particularly while dealing with the Russians.
All the pot heads can whine about marijuana being an “innocent” drug, but it is not. Not in the way that is being pushed by the new corporations making marijuana a massive mind controlling substance for idiots.
Lone Wolf
Perhaps a bit off topic, so pardon me please…
Generally we agree, but I’d qualify this…I’d say that on the level of the individual there are gradations of effect, pot is clearly in the several extracts beneficial to some, and nearly irrelevant to most…people who use a little puff before bedtime…but more generally dope, including “pharmaceutical” dope, has a significant deleterious effect on the Moral Law – especially in war-time, when the people must act as one. The Rockefeller Drug Laws being an example – “license” smack and coke through alliance with criminals, skim off the “profit”…and ruin a nation’s ability to even be a nation. Destroy the civil right champions and their people… That Great and Benevolent Fine Gentleman The George Soros’ sponsorship of pot legalization in US being, some say, an example of encouraging anesthesia…and pot is illegal in US law, and legal sorta in States… Yesterday on cop-o-tronic the feds were rousting a fella…the product being, as practical effect, a free lunch for the Fed Flatfootedfinks. So I’d say. Jefferson wrote about the correlation of alcohol and poverty or weakness of nations.
I spoke of the “Moral Law” in a rather more general sense than Sun Tsu, who is quoted in translation as writing> ” The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.”
In that sense Russia and China are well and properly prohibiting dope, considering situation.
In the fullness of time, after denazification and the resolution of problems with nazipirate empire, I’d expect a change toward not legalization so much as tolerance with respect to marijuana in both Russia and Chine…but the war is now….not a time to get loaded.
You wrote> “Morphine has been used for decades in medicine, however, we have never seen a “morphine industry” dedicated to supply morphine to anyone who request it under flimsy pretexts.”
I’m not so sure…see “Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia”, and CIA and French “security” and Mafia may be seem by some as “industries”.
Morphine and diacetyl morphine and cocaine were over the counter materials in the US for many years, and after the prohibition – presto bigbig money! quis custodiet ipsos custodes? The off books money spends ever so well if the rulers take a cut. And if the intermediate actors get out of hand? Well, “Panama” or the old Dallas gag.
Can I get an Amen to that, so true Mr P.
Cheers M
Lone Wolf – I am 77 & take medical MJ for pain via a spinal injury. I have used MJ for many years recreationally with no ill effects on Work or pleasure. I gree with obeying rules – – when in Rome — -. In my extensive knowledge of MJ I have never seen violence or bad vibes & NO one has ever died from MJ overdose. Also you do not ever need to increase the last dose. Alcohol which can be a horror drug if misused is responsible for a thousand times more damage than MJ.
In closing I think you don’t know a lot about MJ & should stick with your military posts which seem well informed.
Many countries have anti-cannabis laws. You can blame US propaganda for that.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=U.S.+anti+drug+propaganda+movie&t=h_&iax=images&ia=images
“Reefer Madness” watch and die!
I ask: How can one negotiate with these people on any level?
This is related. Look at this from the Observer for tomorrow
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/06/russian-prison-camp-ukrainians-deaths-donetsk
https://archive.ph/Prz8j
See what they are doing? Taking that missile strike against the Azov contingent, and turning it into the moral equivalent of Odessa.
To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson (almost)
“The louder she talked of her values, the faster we counted the spoons.”
Good one John! Thanks! I’d almost entirely forgotten it.
Thanks Mr p
The British have a principle. Always get your retaliation in first.
I forsee a debacle.
One in which the British are turbocharging their accusations, and the Russians are scrambling to defend themselves.
Far, far too passive.
“I ask: How can one negotiate with these people on any level?”
The same way you deal with Psychopaths.
Their M.O. is known, and I’m sure the Russians smelled a rat with the ukies insisting on locating the prisoners in this jail. Maybe this will help untie the tung of the Azovs that should have been there. Loyalty only goes so far.
I once knew a chemical engineer that got bored and became a board certified dermatologist, but he was still bored, so he became a part-time cop. I asked him how to deal with psycos… And he said that the tactic was first to be friendly and ask them to follow instructions, and if they did not, that the next step was to beat the chit out of them. Scout’s honor true story. BTW I too have used such tactics, in my misspent youth. It worked pretty well.
The bigbigplan of Comrade Xi and VVP seems to allow for both tactics, but the “Mr Nice Guy” part seems to have failed.
It looks like the Mr. Nice Guy part is over, yes, but I wouldn’t say it have failed.
It looks like some kind of martial art going on. The West is commiting suicide by its own hands, it have exposed and alienated itself to the rest of the world, which have stepped back.
All this before, Russia have even started anything seriously yet … as Putin put it.
Russia the supposed ‘victim’ have shown the Psychopaths that they have no power over it, as a matter of fact it is the other way around. Outsmarted and intellectually beaten to pulp before anything really started.
Unfortunately, being exeptionalists, it will be impossible for them to admit defeat to themselves. I imagine them like a schoolyard bully that have been forced to back down, going of in search for another victim. I’m worried for the Serbs. There is still unfinished NATO business on the balkans, the soft underbelly of Europe.
I recall the schoolyard bully. He started crying after a very brief correction of attitude. I was astonished at that. He wasn’t really hurt, the tears and tattling were manifestation of a too sudden change for him.
Nothing will compare to what was done to those people in Odessa. I think it was on this site or in the comments I found a link to the photos and circumstances of what happened there. Half burned people in different places all over that building. Why wasn’t that considered a crime against humanity? Why wasn’t that tried in the International Court or UN related agency, whoever handles that?
Ukraine is not a party to the International Criminal Court, like the US. So there is no case.
The event was barely mentioned in MSM at the time, if at all, despite Ukraine being full of foreign journos.
Why is there no mention of Marc Fogel?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/07/28/marc-fogel-teacher-russia-prison/?
This must be the ‘Rules-based order’ at work, where the US makes up the rules as it goes along according to what it wants at the moment. For those of us who studied US history, remember how upset the US was with the impression of US citizens by the British? The US has degenerated to using the same ugly methods.
Any prison swap between US and Russia regarding Brittney Griner should include Julian Assange. He will spend the rest of his life in an American prison. In Russia he will be free to live with his family. What do you think?
Why swap prisoners with a non contract capable belligerent, when before long they will be released by a defeated “partner” ?
“…the arrested Russian may be transported to Puerto Rico or to the base of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba…”
That says a lot about the colonial status of the so called “Commonwealth of Puerto Rico” when it comes to international law.
When Madeline Albright was warned that lawyers said the Ramboullet Agreement was illegal she said “get new lawyers”, When the EU told Nuand that what she was doing in Ukraine was not legal she said “fuck” the EU. USA is a rogue state
Salaam Vuki- you’re being very charitable aren’t you!The USA is an international terrorist gangster organisation .You name anything illegal, illicit or imoral and the exceptional ones are deep into it.The difference between civilized society and barbarian’s society -is law! Griner broke Russian law,so did Fogel ,there are penalties / punishment for these ‘transgressions’, when in Rome!
As-Salaam-Alaikum Qassem . Not all Americans are gangsters, but the worst gangsters are Americans.
Madeline Albright — Ashkenazi.
Victoria Nuland — Ashkenazi.
Nato statement:
https://twitter.com/wallacemick/status/1555945283590160387
One sane head:
https://youtu.be/EX35NW6DHac
@ Mr P on August 06, 2022 · at 5:39 pm EST/EDT
Perhaps a bit off topic, so pardon me please…
———————————————————————–
Not to worry, you’re very much on topic.
Thanks for your reply.
——————————————————
Generally we agree, but I’d qualify this…
…Jefferson wrote about the correlation of alcohol and poverty or weakness of nations.
—————————————————–
Just look at China during the opium times, used by the west to corrupt them and weaken them as a nation.
——————————————————
I spoke of the “Moral Law” in a rather more general sense than Sun Tsu…
——————————————————
Sun Tzu’s moral low is for the ruler to follow the laws under Heaven.
——————————————————
In that sense Russia and China are well and properly prohibiting dope, considering situation.
In the fullness of time, after denazification and the resolution of problems with nazipirate empire, I’d expect a change toward not legalization so much as tolerance with respect to marijuana in both Russia and Chine…but the war is now….not a time to get loaded.
——————————————————–
I certainly hope that is not the case. I hope they continue to have stringent laws that will keep marijuana outside legal avenues to facilitate its consumption
——————————————————–
You wrote> “Morphine has been used for decades in medicine, however, we have never seen a “morphine industry” dedicated to supply morphine to anyone who request it under flimsy pretexts.”
I’m not so sure…see “Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia”, and CIA and French “security” and Mafia may be seem by some as “industries”.
———————————————————
Well, of course, the infamous “Golden Triangle” was one of the CIA sources of money for their “black budget” that allowed them to have their own armies, their own air force, and their own operational capacity to attack and bomb countries to bits, permitting the usual plausible deniability to the US ruling class.
CIA is in business with the Colombian and Mexican cartels, and even more internationally, no doubt.
All kind of drugs, heroin, cocaine, marijuana, meth, you name it.
Look at Afghanistan after the Taliban was ousted by the US/NATO, becoming the second largest exporter of heroin in the world, thanks to the CIA. That after having reduced poppies growth substantially during the Taliban, almost eliminated it, according to UN data.
Ever wonder how is possible for the Mexican cartels to equip large armies across the border with the US, use the border as a sieve for human trafficking, drug trafficking, with total impunity? Armed branches of the Mexican cartels better armed than the Mexican army.
Ever thought what would have happened to a leftist, or just popular, guerrilla insurgency active across the southern border, a la Pancho Villa/Emiliano Zapata?
US Marines/Army/Green Berets/Special Forces would have fallen en masse across the border and massacre the entire population in order to save Mexico from the scourge of communism.
I am sure you remember the “cocaine for weapons” with the Nicaraguan contras during the Reagan administration, with infamous Oliver North making deals with the Colombian cartels.
I was referring to a morphine “industry” inside the US.
———————————————————-
Morphine and diacetyl morphine and cocaine were over the counter materials in the US for many years, and after the prohibition – presto bigbig money! quis custodiet ipsos custodes? The off books money spends ever so well if the rulers take a cut. And if the intermediate actors get out of hand? Well, “Panama” or the old Dallas gag.
———————————————————-
I didn’t know about it. Thanks for illustrating me, I will do some research on the issue.
Cheers.
Lone Wolf
Thanks for reply Amigo!
My sources from the construction unions, where it’s a rare day to encounter a man who has not been to jail or prison, tell me that it’s not visitors or prisoners that smuggle the dope into the jail, but the guards.
The same applies to a Country, the rulers “license” organized crime…means, motive, opportunity.
My Quaker Granny well remembered the Harrison Narcotics Act and all of that – she was at one time, because of that, “registered” as a codeine addict by her husband-surgeon-MD. Prior to that one simply went to the store without a note from the doc.
I wonder, whatever happened to the registration?
Are we back in the old (not so old) system?
I did a restart, try to register again, and can’t find the registration platform.
Guess is gone.
Lone Wolf
I read and update which stated that they were having some technical problems implementing the new registration system, and would roll back to the old system until futher notice. I seem to recall they would maybe try again towards the end of this month.
@ iR.47 on August 06, 2022 · at 10:59 pm EST/EDT
I read and update which stated that they were having some technical problems implementing the new registration system, and would roll back to the old system until futher notice. I seem to recall they would maybe try again towards the end of this month.
——————————————————
Thanks a million!
I like the new system better.
Good luck to Herb and the heroic Saker Team!
Cheers,
Lone Wolf
i wonder why the us doesn’t look for the extradition of Snowden?
i mean maybe they have i jus have not seen anything regarding it. Seems he would be of highest value rather than Griner and Whelan, on the level of Assange even.
Maybe they are just working up to it?
@MikeL
Russia does not have an extradition Treaty with the US. And even if the US demanded that Michel Snowden, who is now a Russia citizen, cannot be extradited to the US.
This all sounds like a broken record. Definitely not the first or last time US Gov uses underhanded ways to force negotiations. Remember Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Arrested by Canadian “vassal” government when USA demanded. She was later released after 3 years of house arrest but there was NO Crime ever committed; not in Canada or the USA. If there is no WW3, this World is gonna be divided as in Orwell’s 1984.
I’m amazed at reading all of these responses about “but it’s just cannabis, it’s just pot”, etc…..I for one think drugs should be legalized with regulation much like alcohol. But I live in the U.S. In my country. With our laws and our legal system. When you step into another country nothing you believe matters. What matters is the laws of the land you are in. There is no but, but, but……Years ago I used to travel to Bangkok. In giant print on the wall, I mean giant like 10 feet tall there was painted on the wall before you got to customs and immigration “DRUG TRAFFICKING IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH” painted right there on the wall. And they had a giant trash can there right before you got to immigration and customs. She was no victim. She played in Russia for 6 years. She called it her second home. AGAIN, SHE LIVED THERE AND PLAYED THERE FOR 6 YEARS. She knew the drill. But she was a minor/mid level celebrity. So just like celebrities in the U.S., she thought the laws don’t apply to her. And all this happened before the Ukraine SMO.
I do not see any way to fight this US habit, other than a fully reciprocal response. Russia needs to work with its allies and do exactly the same with the Americans – grab & extradite to Russia as many American citizens as feasible and practical. Under any pretexts and using any methods. And then sentence them under any sort of arbitrary charges.Then keep exchanging them until the American Government and the American people begin to behave as civilized people should.
Yes, I know that “people have no control over the actions of their Government” etc mantra. But in reality, its is always the ordinary citizens who implement the country’s laws. Eg. as it was with Victor Bout. It was the entire jury panel at a court in Manhattan, all of them ordinary “honest” Americans, who convicted Bout with “conspiring to kill Americans, conspiring to kill American officers or employees”. Really? Conspiring to kill ordinary Americans? Everyone of the panel could had blocked the panel’s ruling. Not a single one did.
Short of the above – there is just one another solution. And this is why Russia should not enter into any nuclear weapon treaty with USA.
This is why Russia and the DPR should be quiet about any Americans captured because the mainstream media will hype it to distraction. Only list any dead, once their identities are confirmed, because the dead can’t be maneuvered free only to go back to fighting, spying, or to give info on what they learned during or after capture.
I do think the DPR and Russia should list all the dead mercenaries, though, and what countries they were from, but it is best not to take prisoners and have the enemy die in the fighting.
I have to wonder if the Red Cross, OSCE or other “humanitarian” organizations gave the GPS coordinates on where the Ukrainian prisoners were being held and that was used to precision target and kill them. And that is another reason why not to mention any living prisoners – especially mercenaries – because the west will finagle visits and use those visits to spy and send GPS info.
@ AHH on August 07, 2022 · at 12:51 am EST/EDT
CAF notes the decision to flood the white suburbia and affluent middle classes with these prescription opiods was made in mid-1990s when the budget could not be balanced. So as with elders more recently in covid, they decided to cull them and eliminate SS and other unfundable liabilities through lowering life spans via drugs and the crime and dissolution they bring with them.. very dark
It is darker than that.
If the decision would have been to flood the white upper and middle classes in suburbia, they have the means to cope with the consequences.
However, the Sackler’s evil went well beyond that, and they advertised heavily in rural areas where jobs like logging, mining, and other repetitive activities, eventually cause muscular and bone deficiencies and pain. These people were caught in the OxyContin et al addiction, and once someone blew the whistle about the damage it was causing in rural, working class communities, and the drug started to get “regulated” back by the not-so responsible government, these people found themselves in even greater pain, now induced by the withdrawal syndrome from the “pain killers”
This is what I am talking about.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/01/31/a-town-of-3200-was-flooded-with-21-million-pain-pills-as-addiction-crisis-worsened-lawmakers-say/
A town of 3,200 was flooded with nearly 21 million pain pills as addiction crisis worsened, lawmakers say
—————————————-
As the government, dragging its feet, went into regulating the pain killers, taking some doctors…ahem, drug pushers, licenses, the Mexican drug cartels saw the withdrawal syndrome crisis as an opportunity, and flooded rural US with cheap “black tar,” heroin, adding another plague to an already overwhelmed health care system, with tens of thousands of overdose cases.
Also, noticed how the legalization of marijuana altered (no pun intended) the drugs market supply, changing from traditional marijuana to heavier drugs, i.e. heroin and methamphetamine, among others.
————————————————
https://thecrimereport.org/2015/01/12/2015-01-drugs-across-mex-border/
Mexican Traffickers Send Flood Of Cheap Heroin, Meth Across Border
By | January 12, 2015
Mexican traffickers are sending a flood of cheap heroin and methamphetamine across the U.S. border, in a new sign that marijuana decriminalization in the U.S. is upending the North American narcotics trade, the Washington Post reports. The amount of cannabis seized by U.S. federal, state and local officers along the boundary with Mexico has fallen 37 percent since 2011, a period during which U.S. marijuana consumers have increasingly turned to the more potent, higher-grade domestic varieties cultivated under legal and quasi-legal protections in more than two dozen U.S. states. Made-in-the-USA pot is quickly displacing the cheap, seedy, hard-packed version harvested by the bushel in Mexico’s Sierra Madre mountains.
That has prompted Mexican drug farmers to plant more opium poppies. The sticky brown and black “tar” heroin they produce is sent by traffickers into U.S. communities hit hardest by prescription painkiller abuse, offering addicts a $10 alternative to $80-a-pill oxycodone. “Legalization of marijuana for recreational use has given U.S. consumers access to high-quality marijuana, with genetically improved strains, grown in greenhouses,” said Raul Benitez-Manaut of Mexico’s National Autonomous University. “That’s why the Mexican cartels are switching to heroin and meth.” U.S. law enforcement seized 2,181 kilograms of heroin last year coming from Mexico, nearly three times the amount confiscated in 2009. Methamphetamine, too, has surged, mocking the image of backwoods bayou labs and “Breaking Bad” chemists. The reality is that 90 percent of the meth on U.S. streets is cooked in Mexico, where precursor chemicals are far easier to obtain.
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https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/at-u-s–mexico-border-a-flood-of-heroin/article_a0e3543c-6734-55ff-a5ec-e35f4c0aafb9.html
At U.S.-Mexico border, a flood of heroin, meth
SAN YSIDRO, Calif. — Mexican traffickers are sending a flood of cheap heroin and methamphetamine across the U.S. border, the latest drug seizure statistics show, in a new sign that America’s marijuana decriminalization trend is upending the North American narcotics trade.
The amount of cannabis seized by U.S. federal, state and local officers along the boundary with Mexico has fallen 37 percent since 2011, a period during which American marijuana consumers have increasingly turned to the more potent, higher-grade domestic varieties cultivated under legal and quasi-legal protections in more than two dozen U.S. states.
Made-in-the-USA marijuana is quickly displacing the cheap, seedy, hard-packed version harvested by the bushel in Mexico’s Sierra Madre mountains. That has prompted Mexican drug farmers to plant more opium poppies, and the sticky brown and black “tar” heroin they produce is channeled by traffickers into the U.S. communities hit hardest by prescription painkiller abuse, offering addicts a $10 alternative to $80-a-pill oxycodone.
“Legalization of marijuana for recreational use has given U.S. consumers access to high-quality marijuana, with genetically improved strains, grown in greenhouses,” said Raul Benitez-Manaut, a drug-war expert at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. “That’s why the Mexican cartels are switching to heroin and meth…”
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The whole guacamole can be equated to Dante’s seven circles of hell, people falling into addiction with any of those drugs, living in the seven circle, lust.
More accurately, dying in the seven circle.
There you have the real evil on the drug issue.
White middle to upper class? They live on drugs, alcohol, pharmaceutical drugs, whatever. That’s their pattern.
What was truly diabolical was to hook working class people to a drug that destroy them, brought grief to their families with thousands dying from OD, and wrecked the moral fiber of these rural communities, forever.
Cheers,
Lone Wolf
We are not in disagreement. I don’t believe in race and am not racist. I am not even “white” myself. I merely highlight that the targets in this unusual aggression were towards the former key constituency of the 1%.. Those they had formerly treated as co-owners of America Inc. Those they had preserved as their top white-collar management class. This betrayal was a true canary in the mine.
The treatment towards small farmers, rural areas, minorities, lower classes, former blue-collar survivors of the Rust Belts and offshoring, etc.. had not materially changed, although the oppression intensified on them too, as the Butter part of LBJ’s Great Society was rolled back. They could no longer afford even the upkeep of pretensions.
All this was action which indicated Project USA was being dismantled, as the supranational crooks without any fidelity whatsoever absconded offshore with their stolen trillions. And they set up scorched earth behind themselves, like UkroNazis burning down grain and cities as Russians approach, so that USA survivors wouldn’t even have wherewithal to question what took place, nevermind chase them down… but they didn’t account for the SMO and the celestial civilizations, lol! The Lord always gives pushback, and from the bitterest quarters too.
PS: “As the government, dragging its feet, went into regulating the pain killers, taking some doctors…ahem, drug pushers, licenses, the Mexican drug cartels saw the withdrawal syndrome crisis as an opportunity”
Additionally, veterans became a new significant pool of addicts. Not just those returning with IED blasts but with PTSD looking to get numbed. What alcohol, crack and heroin were to earlier generations, found recruits for new designer drugs since the ME wars.. veterans like Alzheimers patients literally died twice, many causing incalculable grief when they returned to their home communities.
Even the middle and upper classes are hitting their limits, being as burdened as rest of society with onerous debt, so these addictions hollowed them out too, leading to despair, broken families, falling out of society/work/even class. All these drugs – opioids, amphetamines, porn, tobacco, harder drugs, etc, really finished off what used to be wholesome about America. All have lost so much.
Kapricorn4: yes I know. I briefly worked in a private drug discovery lab. All the money is made in the synthetic formulations. A chemist tweaks the natural opioid with a proprietary addition, then they ensure it’s not too toxic (at least not attributable in the short term!), get their buddies at the FDA to approve novel product exclusivity for a decade or so, and the billion-dollar gravy train rolls. There is a special place in hell reserved for Big Pharma and those profiting from harming the health of men!
We are in close agreement, I believe.
>Tweaking dope…as you probably know (but many do not), ordinary racemate amphetamine, with simple change of some reagents produces amphetamine MDMA “ecstasy” or ” 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine ‘ Similarly, synthesis of methcathinone. Similarly from poppy straw (very cheap!) narcotic homologue “oxycontin”. Like atomic infernal device physics, the chemistry can be compellingly attractive.
A relative died from long term results, and I miss him now for a decade. Good fella. I used to hire him on construction jobs, but his nonsanitary injections finally did their work. Poof! dead at 63. Later his friends said he’d been making dope in his workshop for years… He was a fine man, but fell to his tragic end.
Best regards!
@ AHH on August 07, 2022 · at 7:50 am EST/EDT
We are not in disagreement.
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Of course we are not. We are reading from the same page.
I don’t believe in race and am not racist. I am not even “white” myself.
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I didn’t see any race-oriented comment in your post. You mentioned suburban whites, or something to that matter, my point was to add what I have witnessed myself in rural communities across the US, mostly the east coast. These are mostly white communities. I am fully race blind, I start noticing differences when people call their ethnicity into being. On my neck of the woods, that is not proper, even though people may have racial biases or being bigots.
I know no racist people.
There are, I have no doubt.
Cheers,
Lone Wolf
PS: I was a witness to the damage drugs have done to the war veteran community. Drugs devastated them, on top of the permanent damage done by chemicals (orange agent among the few Viet Nam war veterans surviving, phosphorous and other chemicals among the Gulf War I-II veterans), many dealing with permanent pain, fallen victims to opioids, which left them with even more pain, forced them to use “medical marijuana” permanently to cope with it. The use of “medical marijuana” on a permanent basis numb their systems to alternative medicine treatments, condemning them to a life of pain, a total FUBAR.
So you’d argue if someone stole millions from American citizens, that the US should not seek any charges?
Russia and it’s allies should declare the United States Government to be a state sponsor of terrorism (actually this is more than that. This is a case of state sanctioned terrorism).
Washington is without a doubt a terrorist state. Israel is too. They are lawless, gangster states. I think the American people are slowly waking up to the gangsterism of Washington. I can’t speak for Israelis. I’m not Jewish. I don’t really have any Jewish friends and especially no Israeli friends. So I don’t know if Israelis are waking up to the gangsterism of their government. Of course the Israelis also have a strong ethnic/religious/cultural/tribal aspect that simply does not exist in the United States.
What unites (or should unite) Americans is something completely different. Americans should be united by a common love and devotion to the ideas of Freedom and Liberty enshrined in the Constitution (the Bill of Rights). It’s becoming clearer and clearer with each passing day that the biggest threat to traditional American Freedom and Liberty is the Federal Government in Washington DC and the numerous State and Local Governments that have a blatant disregard for the Bill of Rights. Washington’s tyranny abroad has come home to roost as more and more Americans wake up to this threat to their freedom.
@ james1 on August 07, 2022 · at 12:18 am EST/EDT
Your first post of this has been sent to Saker for review as as being a personal medical post.
mod
Russia needs to punish countries like Greece just as harshly as the US. If they can’t uphold their own laws and abide by international laws then they can do without Russia’s energy and business.
Whatever happens Russia shouldn’t trade on US terms. Since Vinnik was illegitimately captured (kidnapped) Russia should demand his unconditional release before any prisoner swap discussions can resumed.
For decades the US has been arresting citizens of Westerns, and non, countries to achieve its goals. The French Alstom acting CEO was arrested as well as a retired CEO of the same company to force the sale of Alstom to GE. The CEO of Huawei was arrested to put pressure on China. There have been countless arrests of Russian and other nationals who were sent to the American political gulags.
The US will use foreign citizens as escalation. Russia will disengage in retaliation. The fruits of this relationship will be Europe’s fall with the dollar and the US following shortly after.
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-07-14/Huawei-Alstom-A-tale-of-two-companies–S7Q60KEUKs/index.html
I supplied a number of medical MJ patients to treat war PTSD. They all insisted to me that weed was the only thing that could affect the symptoms. Typically this was expressed in seriously scary rage issues. A few puffs, and the subject is playing video games and their anger became unimportant. One friend of mine who was SOF in Vietnam said that he was only able to sleep regularly after discovering MJ edibles after 50 years of insomnia. So, Russias ignorant attitude about the medicine is a bit confusing to me. Although I do see the utility of the issue in cultural propaganda for RU I will wager that the attitude will change. THC cures cancer also, BTW by destroying tumors and you can verify this on the US Cancer Soc website. Alcohol does not cure any of the above plus it kills and we have no problem with that is why I say its cultural. If its against the law in a country in which someone is a guest then it is gross disrespect and should be treated that way. In the case of the athlete two cartridges does seem like it could have been an accident. And BTW the argument that Todays Weed aint your Grandmas weed so it should be illegal is stupidity. THCs a molecule just like Alchohol. Peace
A few thoughts about dope…but better at Cafe..tobacco and polonium, cannabis extract and tetanus…
“Sooner or later we will come to a world where Americans will no longer be allowed to engage in extortion. In the meantime, the United States, unfortunately, acts on the principle of might is right, that they themselves are the law”, deputy Morozov said…
Russian government, Russians: Stop doing business or cooperating with the U.S. regime on anything except direct measures for prevention of nuclear weapon launch misunderstandings and accidents. Stop selling the U.S. oil, minerals or any other resources. Stop selling them rocket engines. Stop working with the U.S. on the so-called “International Space Station”.
Stop restraining yourselves from simply shooting down U.S. spy satellites, planes etc. which give intel to Ukrainian regime forces to target Russian soldiers and civilians. Stop exempting U.S. personnel directly participating in actions against Russians in the current Ukraine War from retaliation. Stop treating captured Western mercenaries with kid gloves. Stop the endless, paralyzing “negotiations” and talks, backchannel or otherwise. Get rid of your wan, pathetic, self-defeating hopes for return to the previous sickly “normality” and resumption of business-as-usual with “respected partners”. Just ignore everything, including especially the endless accusations and war propaganda of enemy-state media and organizations; and ramp up and win the goddamn war already – actually WIN it, not end with negotiations and a “signed agreement” with the Ukronazi regime after an incomplete, inconclusive “victory”. THAT is what will gain you real security and worldwide respect, not talks with Biden.
All this stuff has gotten pretty old. We are tired of saying and writing these things, for years and years now. Russia needs a complete change of mentality and abandonment of her weak attitudes and behaviors, if she wants to survive. “Coming to a world where Americans will no longer be allowed to engage in extortion” cannot happen by itself, as if by magic.
And by the way – the idiocy of this Russian guy Alexander Vinnik lay in choosing as a base for his clandestine IT activities Greece, an E.U. client/member state with a ruling class utterly subservient to the Russophobic E.U. elites and the U.S. regime and a brainwashed pro-Western population, on the supposition that he’d be fine there because Greeks are a “historically Russia-friendly people”. He is paying for that delusion now.
The Russians do not need to bargain … it is the Democrats who are desperate for Griner’s release to satisfy their “woke” constituency. But the European collusion in the Vinnik case is just one more nail in the coffin for the transfer of Russian natural resources to Europe anytime soon. The Russian bear is very angry at the West and is now calling the shots. Nothing the Europeans do will assuage the Russians now short of kicking NATO off the continent.
I agree!
The Vinnik case-the Russians are in the right, they need to insist on procedure and all legality or they may be forced, manouvered really to compromise at a disadvantahe to give up Griner. And that would be to everyones loss including Griner’s.
The Americans have met none of their requirements on the Vinnik case, the Russians can respond in no way save point this out and or plead with them on their terms on their exchange demands… which meet no international requirements.
Griner is an unequal return for all 3 Russians. including Vinnik
As someone else posted earlier the one and only way to stop this kidnapping of Russian citizens is to reciprocate and start arresting Western citizens on trumped up charges too. That might not be pretty,but this is war and the unwritten rule of war is “all’s fair in war”. Once Russia has a nice assortment of Westerners in custody,we will see a marked decrease in kidnapping Russians.If a government isn’t willing or able to protect it’s citizens. Then those citizens start to think they have the wrong government in power and start to look for another to replace the one they have. Something the Russian government needs to consider long and hard about. There is an end to any people’s patience.
UB…
Who do you think you are in war with?
When Iran played hardball with Greece, it got its seized tankers back. This shows that Greece will act as a tool for the U.S., but not when they are hit back with reciprocal measures.
Simple solution, Russia kidnaps an American, now a 3 for 3 exchange although I would prefer the Russians keep Griner.
I am being serious here; When one considers how the US Gov’t operates, it is identical to, if not worse than the Mafia. At least the Mafia of old had a “Code of Honor”, there were clear lines drawn that they would not cross. The US Gov’t has no code or honor. Unofficially, it runs the largest illegal drug trafficking operation in the world, and they are involved in pedophilia and human trafficking as well. They “make people disappear” all the time.
She made the stupid mistake of crossing an international Border with illegal drugs. She did the Crime and she must do her time.
First thing, I’m happy to see there’s no real consensus on the cannabis topic. Things are not black or white. Alcoohol makes waay more damages than weed, and demographic facts and figures can’t be denied on this matter.
2nd point. Russia, which I admired even recently, seems to go backwards with respects to many modern subjects (the ban against homosexuality comes to ly mind instantly).
Putin should free this basketball player, she’s not part of the game imo.