www.tenc.net
[Emperor's Clothes]
[Note: Below is a joint statement by Michel Chossudovsky, Jared
Israel and Nico Varkevisser. The text that follows this statement
is by Jared Israel].
On the Arrest of Pavel Borodin
Last Wednesday (January 17th) Pavel Borodin, Secretary of the
Russian-Belarus Union, was arrested following his arrival by plane
in New York City. Mr. Borodin was in the U.S. on official State
business. He was an invited guest at President Bush's Inauguration
ceremonies. The official justification for arresting this Russian
diplomat is that the Swiss wanted to question him about alleged
kickbacks. But the real reason for his arrest, and his subsequent
imprisonment without bail, is that Mr. Borodin is Secretary of the
Russian-Belarus Union. There is ample evidence that Washington
fostered the breakup of the Soviet Union and has tried to undermine
political and economic links between the former Soviet Republics.
Just as Washington financed the Afghan terrorists during the 1980s
(this was done with the cooperation of Saudi Arabia, to the tune of
over $6 billion), U.S. foreign policy, open and covert, has been
behind several of the civil wars within the former Soviet Union
including the war in Chechnya. The outrageous incarceration without
bail of Mr. Borodin, when he had been invited to America by George.
W. Bush, is an obvious ploy to disable one of the key figures in
the Russian-Belarus Union and to pressure others in Russia and
Belarus to follow political and economic policies that are to
Washington's liking.
- Jared Israel, Michel Chossudovsky and Nico Varkevisser
Bush Gov't Attacks Russian-Belarus Union
by Jared Israel [1-23-2001]
Newspaper accounts of the arrest of Russian diplomat Pavel Borodin at
Kennedy Airport last Wednesday focus on charges of corruption. They
barely refer to the real issues - Washington's desire to a) punish Mr.
Borodin for encouraging close ties between Russia and a Belarus led by
the independent (of Washington) President Alexander Lukashenko and to b)
embarrass and destabilize Russia. The idea is, if the Russian government
does not distance itself from Borodin, the Western media can smear it as
corrupt. If they do desert Mr. Borodin, or if his arrest is downplayed,
this may discourage others from taking actions independent of
Washington. This is American diplomacy: about as subtle as an axe.
But the American media doesn't deal with these real purposes of the
arrest of Mr. Borodin. Instead the media either does not cover the story
at all, or talks about corruption. This is a wonderful thing. Pres. Bush
told Barbara Walters the other day ("20/20", Jan. 19th) that the world
needs to "raid out corruption", and I agree. But why try to start this
difficult "Raiding" process thousands of miles away? Wouldn't it make
sense to pioneer "corruption raiding" right at home? In the Barbara
Walters interview, didn't our new President say, in no uncertain terms,
that people in uncivilized countries need to "build a democracy under
our--under our image"? By "raiding corruption" right here, in the US of
A, wouldn't we be showing these backward types how it is done?
For example, just before leaving office in 1992, Mr. Bush's own father
granted the Barrick Gold Company (in Canada) the rights to a U.S. gold
mine worth $10,000,000,000 (billion). Barrick's cost: $10,000
(thousand).
"So can you guess what happened next? Right: George I then
joined Barrick's board of directors, where he pocketed big
money for the next seven years. And he didn't mind singing for
his supper either; Barrick frequently dispatched the
ex-president to meet with the bloodthirsty dictators who were
his "old friends," like Indonesia's Suharto and Zaire's Mobutu
Sese Seko, to rig up juicy backdoor deals for his corporate
masters.
"Perhaps not incidentally, Barrick poured $148,000 into George
II's campaign this year. And Daddy's dirty work as a bagman
and fixer for other corporate interests has also served l'il
Georgie well. For example, George I went to bat for the Mirage
Casino corporation when they wanted to muscle in on some
Argentina territory; this year, Mirage kicked back $449,000 to
GOP coffers. Daddy G also did some highly remunerative flack
work for Chevron Oil with his old friends in Kuwait; in
return, Chevron pumped $657,000 into the Republican tank in
2000." ('The St. Petersburg Times,' December 12, 2000)
Nevertheless Senior Bush was not arrested at the airport.
Three Things About the Arrest of Pavel Borodin
First , Mr. Borodin is a diplomat. Is the U.S. State Department familiar
with this term?
dip·lo·mat [díppl[(schwa)] màt ] (plural dip·lo·mats) noun
1. government representative abroad: a member or employee of a
government who represents his or her country in dealings with
other nations
2. tactful person: somebody who is tactful and good at dealing
with people
Arresting Mr. Borodin (after inviting him to the Inauguration, no less)
is not diplomatic and may be seen as a provocation by Russia and
Belarus. For starters it violates diplomatic procedure, arguably
international law as well. This is irrelevant of whether or not Mr.
Borodin was carrying his diplomatic credentials when arrested. This
arrest denies diplomacy and affirms the Law of the Bully. Did we need
more affirmations?
Second, it is beyond credibility that Borodin's invitation to the Ball
and his subsequent arrest were not coordinated actions. Mr. Fishkin,
Borodin's lawyer, commented:
'"The arrest warrant is issued on January 10th, he receives an
invitation to the inauguration on January 13th and a complaint
is filed in New York for his arrest on January 17th'" ('NY
Times', 1-19-2001)
Mr. Fishkin remarked to the 'NY Times' reporter that this appears to be
a setup. It does indeed.
Third, Mr. Borodin is the Secretary of the Russian-Belarus Union. The
Clinton administration has made clear its fury at Belarus, which has had
the temerity to resist neoliberal policies. Moreover, its government has
not bowed down to the usual Fifth Column "civil society" groups run by
Madeline Albright out of well-furnished offices at the National
Endowment for Democracy (sic!). The U.S. finds this both authoritarian
and anti-democratic.
The arrest of Borodin is the most sensational attack the U.S. has made
on the Russian-Belarus Union. It demonstrates the continuity of U.S.
foreign policy from Clinton to Bush. Having installed its puppet regime
in Yugoslavia, the U.S. Establishment is now escalating the attack on
the states of the former Soviet Union. Coming shortly after the death of
Laurent Kabila, President of the Congo, under circumstances that
strongly suggest U.S. involvement, this indicates a general escalation
of U.S. interventionism around the world.
In case the Russian and Belarus leaders failed to get the message
delivered via Borodin's arrest - that is to say, that they were being
publicly insulted by a bully, with the implicit dare: "Whatcha gonna do
about that, wimp?!" - in case they failed to get the message, George W.
was interviewed Friday by Barbara Walters on the ABC TV show '20/20'.
Junior Bush's apparent assignment was to rub Russia's face in the dirt.
I say 'apparent assignment' because he himself did not seem to be sure
about that or anything else in the interview but fortunately for the
diplomacy of the Free World, Walters was privy to the Humiliate-Russia
plan, so she helped him out. Held him up, one might say.
The exchange went as follows:
"WALTERS: How will your foreign policy be different from Bill
Clinton's?
"President-elect BUSH: We're going to make it clearer to
people that our nation is not going to be a--a nation of
nation builders. We'll be humble in our approach. We can't
have troops going into nations and say that we're going help
you. We're going to--we're going to--you're going to build a
democracy under our--under our image. But if you expect
capital to come into your country, you must make reforms. You
must make--raid out corruption. You must...
"WALTERS: Russia. You're talking about Russia?
"President-elect BUSH: Well, I'm talking about a lot of
countries.
"WALTERS: Do you consider Russia a friend or a threat?
"President-elect BUSH: I don't know yet. I hope--I hope Russia
is a friend. "
Note that when Walters cues Junior Bush, saying "Russia. You're talking
about Russia?" (which means "RUSSIA! YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT RUSSIA!
DAMMIT!!") George doesn't get it. So Walters prompts him further: "Do
you consider Russia a friend or a threat?"
Note also that Junior Bush, in the very process of attempting to
humiliate Russia (by having a corrupt, incoherent American deliver a
stern warning against...corruption!) sticks in the incongruous line,
"We'll be humble in our approach." Amazing coming from a fellow whose
handlers have just busted at the airport a Russian diplomat whom they
lured to said fellow's Inauguration.
This profession of humility reminds one of Mr. Bush's oft repeated
phrase, "I am going to be president of all the people, not just those
who voted for me." Apparently they teach Junior Bush these phrases, and
he repeats them, amiably enough, though as often happens with phrases
learned by rote, not necessarily at the correct times or with exactly
the right wording.
Junior Bush's inability to get things straight when he speaks in public
is apparently going to be sold to us during the next, painful, four
years as Charming Stupidity; thus is virtue fashioned from necessity.
The same sort of feat was performed with Slick Willie, whose tendency to
rub on any available leg, and to lie, was sold to us as Puppy Dog
Cuteness.
Stupidity is superior in many ways to Doggieness. For one thing, it
elicits the sympathy of reporters throughout the Western media, who are
forced to write nonsensical stupidity which insults their intelligence
or else lose their jobs. For another, it provides an excuse for almost
any occasion. When in doubt, more and more folks in the Bush entourage
will tell us, "Like, you know, I mean, like, I dunno." To be stupid is
the ultimate stonewall.
Team of Fools
Consider the case of Vincent Zenga, whom you may refer to as Vincent the
Dumb. Vincent was an official member of Junior Bush's Inauguration Team.
(Everything with Junior is a Team, for reasons that ought to be
apparent…) It was he who supposedly invited Pavel Borodin to the
Inaugural "candlelight dinner". That is, Vincent Zenga is supposedly the
reason Pavel Borodin got off that plane at Kennedy airport and thus
could be nabbed by our corruption-fighters.
Mr. Zenga is described in the 'NY Times' as:
"a lawyer from West Palm Beach, Fla., who has contributed
sizable sums to the Republican National Committee and to Mr.
Bush's 1998 campaign for governor. "
Have you noticed that everything with the Bush family involves lots of
money? Is this corruption-fighting thing some kind of psychological
projection?
Zenga denied any complicity in the arrest of Mr. Borodin. "Mr. Zenga
said the invitation was sent by someone in the Moscow office of one of
his companies, Star Capital, " said the 'Times.' (1-19)
In a 'Washington Post' interview, Vincent the Dumb took the line that
Borodin had been invited "inadvertently".
Huh? How do you invite someone 'inadvertently'? Here's the 'Washington
Post' again:
"Zenga said he was mystified about how a letter went out over
his signature inviting Borodin to several exclusive events and
promising not only tickets, but also 'a car with driver' and a
hotel room. The Jan. 13 letter, which advised Borodin to bring
his own black-tie formal clothing, included tickets to a
candlelight dinner for 2,000 attended by Bush last night, and
promised tickets to an inaugural ball Saturday night.
'I have no idea how it happened' said Zenga of the invitation.
'We were surprised at it too.' "
Then, rather incongruously, Vincent added: "We [were un]aware of his
legal problems." ('Washington Post', January 19, 2001)
If Borodin was invited by mistake, whatever that means, what is the
relevance of Zenga having been ''unaware '' of Borodin's "legal
problems"? Is Vincent trying to tell us that, had he known of the legal
difficulties of this man whom he neither knew nor invited to the Ball,
he would not have invited him? Did somebody at CIA screw up and give
this guy two contradictory cover stories? Or is he just trying to
emulate his Master?
Just by the by, how can everybody in an American company that does
business in Russia be unaware of Borodin's "legal problems"? Those
problems have been discussed at least 308 times on Western TV and
newspapers over the past year. (I counted) And if you add the very
important word "Belarus" to the search, you still find 119 stories. This
does not include news reports or commentaries in the Russian language
media.
How does a highly successful man with a telecommunications company in
Russia manage to unwittingly invite a well-known Russian leader to the
Inaugural ball without knowing he has been accused of corruption?
Here is a bit more information.
"A State Department official said Borodin entered the country
on a multiple-entry, combined tourist and business visa issued
in 1998 for a three-year period. He had applied for a
diplomatic visa in Moscow on Tuesday night, prompting the U.S.
Embassy there to send an urgent request for guidance to the
State Department. But there was not enough time to respond
before his departure, and so Borodin used his personal
passport and left his diplomatic passport behind, the State
Department official said. "('Washington Post', January 19,
2001)
Why did the U.S. Embassy have to send "an urgent request for guidance"
to the State Department? Obviously because they read the newspapers and
therefore knew there was a Swiss warrant out for Borodin's arrest and
wanted to know what they were supposed to do: give him a diplomatic visa
which would rule out arresting him at Kennedy Airport or not give him a
visa and risk an international incident.
Nowadays urgent requests can be delivered and answered almost
instantaneously. So the outgoing State Department officials certainly
had time to consult with Bush's handlers. (Of course that's a bit of a
moot point since it was of course Bush's handlers who arranged to send
Borodin the invitation luring him to the U.S. in the first place. But
then, they did that unwittingly. Right?)
Clearly if these exalted beings wished to avoid an insulting provocation
(and an apparent violation of international law - the arrest of a
diplomat invited to a State function, no less) they could have issued
Borodin a standard, diplomatic visa. Or they could have refused while
warning him that there was a warrant out for his arrest. That they did
neither suggests they were hoping Borodin would use his non-diplomatic
visa (they knew he had one because the U.S. Embassy had issued it to
him.)
Liars often talk too much. Note that the 'New York Times' reports that
"Officials in Washington said the United States was tipped off by
someone in Russia that Mr. Borodin was on a plane to New York." Given
that the Embassy had sent "an urgent request for guidance", why the
baloney about being "tipped off by someone" that Borodin was coming?
Note also that the Federal Judge in Brooklyn ordered Borodin held for a
week without bail. Why, if the United States were not trying to insult
and provoke Russia, did US officials insist the man be thrown in jail at
all ?
"In Brooklyn, one of Mr. Borodin's lawyers, Raymond A.
Levites, asked Judge Viktor V. Pohorelsky of the United States
District Court to allow Mr. Borodin to stay at the residence
of the Russian consul general while his legal problems were
sorted out. He said the Russian ambassador to the United
States, Yuri V. Ushakov, had offered to ensure that Mr.
Borodin made his court appearances. " (NY Times, Jan. 19,
2001)
Turning down this more than reasonable request is not only an insult to
the Russian Ambassador (implying his word is no better than that of, let
us say, an American President); it is also a further insult to Russia
and Belarus. Note that as of this writing (Tuesday AM, wee hours) Mr.
Borodin remains in jail, though as of Saturday, Mr. Bush became our
leader.
Our leader? As my long-dead Yiddish grandma would have said, "Oy vey is
mir." That literally translates, "Oh woe is me." But it means something
like, "What a world."
Recently some factually challenged fan of the US-sponsored regime in
Belgrade wrote a piece arguing that Baby Bush is going to give the world
a whole new enlightened foreign policy. Sure he will. And I can get you
this great deal on a really nice Bridge in Brooklyn.
Junior Bush may not be able to string two words together in coherent
fashion but his handlers know how to get the job done. The world is
their gold mine. - JI
***
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[Emperor's Clothes]
[Note: Below is a joint statement by Michel Chossudovsky, Jared
Israel and Nico Varkevisser. The text that follows this statement
is by Jared Israel].
On the Arrest of Pavel Borodin
Last Wednesday (January 17th) Pavel Borodin, Secretary of the
Russian-Belarus Union, was arrested following his arrival by plane
in New York City. Mr. Borodin was in the U.S. on official State
business. He was an invited guest at President Bush's Inauguration
ceremonies. The official justification for arresting this Russian
diplomat is that the Swiss wanted to question him about alleged
kickbacks. But the real reason for his arrest, and his subsequent
imprisonment without bail, is that Mr. Borodin is Secretary of the
Russian-Belarus Union. There is ample evidence that Washington
fostered the breakup of the Soviet Union and has tried to undermine
political and economic links between the former Soviet Republics.
Just as Washington financed the Afghan terrorists during the 1980s
(this was done with the cooperation of Saudi Arabia, to the tune of
over $6 billion), U.S. foreign policy, open and covert, has been
behind several of the civil wars within the former Soviet Union
including the war in Chechnya. The outrageous incarceration without
bail of Mr. Borodin, when he had been invited to America by George.
W. Bush, is an obvious ploy to disable one of the key figures in
the Russian-Belarus Union and to pressure others in Russia and
Belarus to follow political and economic policies that are to
Washington's liking.
- Jared Israel, Michel Chossudovsky and Nico Varkevisser
Bush Gov't Attacks Russian-Belarus Union
by Jared Israel [1-23-2001]
Newspaper accounts of the arrest of Russian diplomat Pavel Borodin at
Kennedy Airport last Wednesday focus on charges of corruption. They
barely refer to the real issues - Washington's desire to a) punish Mr.
Borodin for encouraging close ties between Russia and a Belarus led by
the independent (of Washington) President Alexander Lukashenko and to b)
embarrass and destabilize Russia. The idea is, if the Russian government
does not distance itself from Borodin, the Western media can smear it as
corrupt. If they do desert Mr. Borodin, or if his arrest is downplayed,
this may discourage others from taking actions independent of
Washington. This is American diplomacy: about as subtle as an axe.
But the American media doesn't deal with these real purposes of the
arrest of Mr. Borodin. Instead the media either does not cover the story
at all, or talks about corruption. This is a wonderful thing. Pres. Bush
told Barbara Walters the other day ("20/20", Jan. 19th) that the world
needs to "raid out corruption", and I agree. But why try to start this
difficult "Raiding" process thousands of miles away? Wouldn't it make
sense to pioneer "corruption raiding" right at home? In the Barbara
Walters interview, didn't our new President say, in no uncertain terms,
that people in uncivilized countries need to "build a democracy under
our--under our image"? By "raiding corruption" right here, in the US of
A, wouldn't we be showing these backward types how it is done?
For example, just before leaving office in 1992, Mr. Bush's own father
granted the Barrick Gold Company (in Canada) the rights to a U.S. gold
mine worth $10,000,000,000 (billion). Barrick's cost: $10,000
(thousand).
"So can you guess what happened next? Right: George I then
joined Barrick's board of directors, where he pocketed big
money for the next seven years. And he didn't mind singing for
his supper either; Barrick frequently dispatched the
ex-president to meet with the bloodthirsty dictators who were
his "old friends," like Indonesia's Suharto and Zaire's Mobutu
Sese Seko, to rig up juicy backdoor deals for his corporate
masters.
"Perhaps not incidentally, Barrick poured $148,000 into George
II's campaign this year. And Daddy's dirty work as a bagman
and fixer for other corporate interests has also served l'il
Georgie well. For example, George I went to bat for the Mirage
Casino corporation when they wanted to muscle in on some
Argentina territory; this year, Mirage kicked back $449,000 to
GOP coffers. Daddy G also did some highly remunerative flack
work for Chevron Oil with his old friends in Kuwait; in
return, Chevron pumped $657,000 into the Republican tank in
2000." ('The St. Petersburg Times,' December 12, 2000)
Nevertheless Senior Bush was not arrested at the airport.
Three Things About the Arrest of Pavel Borodin
First , Mr. Borodin is a diplomat. Is the U.S. State Department familiar
with this term?
dip·lo·mat [díppl[(schwa)] màt ] (plural dip·lo·mats) noun
1. government representative abroad: a member or employee of a
government who represents his or her country in dealings with
other nations
2. tactful person: somebody who is tactful and good at dealing
with people
Arresting Mr. Borodin (after inviting him to the Inauguration, no less)
is not diplomatic and may be seen as a provocation by Russia and
Belarus. For starters it violates diplomatic procedure, arguably
international law as well. This is irrelevant of whether or not Mr.
Borodin was carrying his diplomatic credentials when arrested. This
arrest denies diplomacy and affirms the Law of the Bully. Did we need
more affirmations?
Second, it is beyond credibility that Borodin's invitation to the Ball
and his subsequent arrest were not coordinated actions. Mr. Fishkin,
Borodin's lawyer, commented:
'"The arrest warrant is issued on January 10th, he receives an
invitation to the inauguration on January 13th and a complaint
is filed in New York for his arrest on January 17th'" ('NY
Times', 1-19-2001)
Mr. Fishkin remarked to the 'NY Times' reporter that this appears to be
a setup. It does indeed.
Third, Mr. Borodin is the Secretary of the Russian-Belarus Union. The
Clinton administration has made clear its fury at Belarus, which has had
the temerity to resist neoliberal policies. Moreover, its government has
not bowed down to the usual Fifth Column "civil society" groups run by
Madeline Albright out of well-furnished offices at the National
Endowment for Democracy (sic!). The U.S. finds this both authoritarian
and anti-democratic.
The arrest of Borodin is the most sensational attack the U.S. has made
on the Russian-Belarus Union. It demonstrates the continuity of U.S.
foreign policy from Clinton to Bush. Having installed its puppet regime
in Yugoslavia, the U.S. Establishment is now escalating the attack on
the states of the former Soviet Union. Coming shortly after the death of
Laurent Kabila, President of the Congo, under circumstances that
strongly suggest U.S. involvement, this indicates a general escalation
of U.S. interventionism around the world.
In case the Russian and Belarus leaders failed to get the message
delivered via Borodin's arrest - that is to say, that they were being
publicly insulted by a bully, with the implicit dare: "Whatcha gonna do
about that, wimp?!" - in case they failed to get the message, George W.
was interviewed Friday by Barbara Walters on the ABC TV show '20/20'.
Junior Bush's apparent assignment was to rub Russia's face in the dirt.
I say 'apparent assignment' because he himself did not seem to be sure
about that or anything else in the interview but fortunately for the
diplomacy of the Free World, Walters was privy to the Humiliate-Russia
plan, so she helped him out. Held him up, one might say.
The exchange went as follows:
"WALTERS: How will your foreign policy be different from Bill
Clinton's?
"President-elect BUSH: We're going to make it clearer to
people that our nation is not going to be a--a nation of
nation builders. We'll be humble in our approach. We can't
have troops going into nations and say that we're going help
you. We're going to--we're going to--you're going to build a
democracy under our--under our image. But if you expect
capital to come into your country, you must make reforms. You
must make--raid out corruption. You must...
"WALTERS: Russia. You're talking about Russia?
"President-elect BUSH: Well, I'm talking about a lot of
countries.
"WALTERS: Do you consider Russia a friend or a threat?
"President-elect BUSH: I don't know yet. I hope--I hope Russia
is a friend. "
Note that when Walters cues Junior Bush, saying "Russia. You're talking
about Russia?" (which means "RUSSIA! YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT RUSSIA!
DAMMIT!!") George doesn't get it. So Walters prompts him further: "Do
you consider Russia a friend or a threat?"
Note also that Junior Bush, in the very process of attempting to
humiliate Russia (by having a corrupt, incoherent American deliver a
stern warning against...corruption!) sticks in the incongruous line,
"We'll be humble in our approach." Amazing coming from a fellow whose
handlers have just busted at the airport a Russian diplomat whom they
lured to said fellow's Inauguration.
This profession of humility reminds one of Mr. Bush's oft repeated
phrase, "I am going to be president of all the people, not just those
who voted for me." Apparently they teach Junior Bush these phrases, and
he repeats them, amiably enough, though as often happens with phrases
learned by rote, not necessarily at the correct times or with exactly
the right wording.
Junior Bush's inability to get things straight when he speaks in public
is apparently going to be sold to us during the next, painful, four
years as Charming Stupidity; thus is virtue fashioned from necessity.
The same sort of feat was performed with Slick Willie, whose tendency to
rub on any available leg, and to lie, was sold to us as Puppy Dog
Cuteness.
Stupidity is superior in many ways to Doggieness. For one thing, it
elicits the sympathy of reporters throughout the Western media, who are
forced to write nonsensical stupidity which insults their intelligence
or else lose their jobs. For another, it provides an excuse for almost
any occasion. When in doubt, more and more folks in the Bush entourage
will tell us, "Like, you know, I mean, like, I dunno." To be stupid is
the ultimate stonewall.
Team of Fools
Consider the case of Vincent Zenga, whom you may refer to as Vincent the
Dumb. Vincent was an official member of Junior Bush's Inauguration Team.
(Everything with Junior is a Team, for reasons that ought to be
apparent…) It was he who supposedly invited Pavel Borodin to the
Inaugural "candlelight dinner". That is, Vincent Zenga is supposedly the
reason Pavel Borodin got off that plane at Kennedy airport and thus
could be nabbed by our corruption-fighters.
Mr. Zenga is described in the 'NY Times' as:
"a lawyer from West Palm Beach, Fla., who has contributed
sizable sums to the Republican National Committee and to Mr.
Bush's 1998 campaign for governor. "
Have you noticed that everything with the Bush family involves lots of
money? Is this corruption-fighting thing some kind of psychological
projection?
Zenga denied any complicity in the arrest of Mr. Borodin. "Mr. Zenga
said the invitation was sent by someone in the Moscow office of one of
his companies, Star Capital, " said the 'Times.' (1-19)
In a 'Washington Post' interview, Vincent the Dumb took the line that
Borodin had been invited "inadvertently".
Huh? How do you invite someone 'inadvertently'? Here's the 'Washington
Post' again:
"Zenga said he was mystified about how a letter went out over
his signature inviting Borodin to several exclusive events and
promising not only tickets, but also 'a car with driver' and a
hotel room. The Jan. 13 letter, which advised Borodin to bring
his own black-tie formal clothing, included tickets to a
candlelight dinner for 2,000 attended by Bush last night, and
promised tickets to an inaugural ball Saturday night.
'I have no idea how it happened' said Zenga of the invitation.
'We were surprised at it too.' "
Then, rather incongruously, Vincent added: "We [were un]aware of his
legal problems." ('Washington Post', January 19, 2001)
If Borodin was invited by mistake, whatever that means, what is the
relevance of Zenga having been ''unaware '' of Borodin's "legal
problems"? Is Vincent trying to tell us that, had he known of the legal
difficulties of this man whom he neither knew nor invited to the Ball,
he would not have invited him? Did somebody at CIA screw up and give
this guy two contradictory cover stories? Or is he just trying to
emulate his Master?
Just by the by, how can everybody in an American company that does
business in Russia be unaware of Borodin's "legal problems"? Those
problems have been discussed at least 308 times on Western TV and
newspapers over the past year. (I counted) And if you add the very
important word "Belarus" to the search, you still find 119 stories. This
does not include news reports or commentaries in the Russian language
media.
How does a highly successful man with a telecommunications company in
Russia manage to unwittingly invite a well-known Russian leader to the
Inaugural ball without knowing he has been accused of corruption?
Here is a bit more information.
"A State Department official said Borodin entered the country
on a multiple-entry, combined tourist and business visa issued
in 1998 for a three-year period. He had applied for a
diplomatic visa in Moscow on Tuesday night, prompting the U.S.
Embassy there to send an urgent request for guidance to the
State Department. But there was not enough time to respond
before his departure, and so Borodin used his personal
passport and left his diplomatic passport behind, the State
Department official said. "('Washington Post', January 19,
2001)
Why did the U.S. Embassy have to send "an urgent request for guidance"
to the State Department? Obviously because they read the newspapers and
therefore knew there was a Swiss warrant out for Borodin's arrest and
wanted to know what they were supposed to do: give him a diplomatic visa
which would rule out arresting him at Kennedy Airport or not give him a
visa and risk an international incident.
Nowadays urgent requests can be delivered and answered almost
instantaneously. So the outgoing State Department officials certainly
had time to consult with Bush's handlers. (Of course that's a bit of a
moot point since it was of course Bush's handlers who arranged to send
Borodin the invitation luring him to the U.S. in the first place. But
then, they did that unwittingly. Right?)
Clearly if these exalted beings wished to avoid an insulting provocation
(and an apparent violation of international law - the arrest of a
diplomat invited to a State function, no less) they could have issued
Borodin a standard, diplomatic visa. Or they could have refused while
warning him that there was a warrant out for his arrest. That they did
neither suggests they were hoping Borodin would use his non-diplomatic
visa (they knew he had one because the U.S. Embassy had issued it to
him.)
Liars often talk too much. Note that the 'New York Times' reports that
"Officials in Washington said the United States was tipped off by
someone in Russia that Mr. Borodin was on a plane to New York." Given
that the Embassy had sent "an urgent request for guidance", why the
baloney about being "tipped off by someone" that Borodin was coming?
Note also that the Federal Judge in Brooklyn ordered Borodin held for a
week without bail. Why, if the United States were not trying to insult
and provoke Russia, did US officials insist the man be thrown in jail at
all ?
"In Brooklyn, one of Mr. Borodin's lawyers, Raymond A.
Levites, asked Judge Viktor V. Pohorelsky of the United States
District Court to allow Mr. Borodin to stay at the residence
of the Russian consul general while his legal problems were
sorted out. He said the Russian ambassador to the United
States, Yuri V. Ushakov, had offered to ensure that Mr.
Borodin made his court appearances. " (NY Times, Jan. 19,
2001)
Turning down this more than reasonable request is not only an insult to
the Russian Ambassador (implying his word is no better than that of, let
us say, an American President); it is also a further insult to Russia
and Belarus. Note that as of this writing (Tuesday AM, wee hours) Mr.
Borodin remains in jail, though as of Saturday, Mr. Bush became our
leader.
Our leader? As my long-dead Yiddish grandma would have said, "Oy vey is
mir." That literally translates, "Oh woe is me." But it means something
like, "What a world."
Recently some factually challenged fan of the US-sponsored regime in
Belgrade wrote a piece arguing that Baby Bush is going to give the world
a whole new enlightened foreign policy. Sure he will. And I can get you
this great deal on a really nice Bridge in Brooklyn.
Junior Bush may not be able to string two words together in coherent
fashion but his handlers know how to get the job done. The world is
their gold mine. - JI
***
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