>>?Here's what $$$Billions of cooperation and understanding (Weimarisation, i.e.) get you, you taxpayers. A<>E<>R << From http://www.theglobeandmail.com/gam/International/20000904/USPYYN.html }}>Begin Moscow denounces U.S. threat in spy flap GEOFFREY YORK Moscow Bureau Monday, September 4, 2000 Moscow -- A bitter dispute over an alleged American spy is fuelling new tensions between Moscow and Washington, culminating in an extraordinary U.S. threat of economic pressure against Russia. Russian politicians are angrily accusing Washington of "blackmail" for its threat to discourage Americans from travelling to Russia unless the Kremlin frees Edmond Pope from a Moscow jail. On the weekend, parliamentary speaker Gennady Seleznyov warned the United States not to interfere in the charges against Mr. Pope. "If Pope's guilt is proven, then he will have to answer before the law," he said. In an echo of Cold War tactics, some Russian analysts say the Kremlin could try to swap Mr. Pope for convicted spy Aldrich Ames. Mr. Ames is a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who is serving a life prison term in the United States for passing secrets to the former Soviet Union's secret service from 1985 to 1993. The controversy also is casting a shadow over a planned meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Bill Clinton during a United Nations summit in New York later this week. It coincides with another surge in anti-Western rhetoric from Russian politicians and military leaders, many of whom claim that a Western submarine caused the sinking of a Russian nuclear submarine and the deaths of 118 crewmen last month. The spy dispute began in April when Russia's Federal Security Services (FSB), the successor to the Soviet KGB, arrested Mr. Pope on espionage charges. They accused him of covertly meeting Russian scientists and trying to buy secret torpedo technology. Mr. Pope, 54, is a businessman and retired U.S. naval intelligence officer who travelled often to Russia and had created two private companies to acquire Russian marine technologies for commercial uses in the West. After almost five months in the infamous Lefortovo Prison, where political prisoners and foreign spies are traditionally kept, Mr. Pope is said to be weak and in deteriorating health. His wife, who visited him last week, said he has lost 30 pounds and is not getting proper treatment for a thyroid condition and a rare form of bone cancer that is in remission but needs constant monitoring. He faces a 20-year prison term if he is convicted on the espionage charges. No trial date has been set, although the FSB says it has completed its investigation. The United States has repeatedly proclaimed Mr. Pope's innocence, and more than 140 members of Congress have demanded his release from prison. In an unusual pressure tactic, Washington escalated its campaign by threatening to issue a formal warning about travel to Russia. It would discourage Americans from visiting Russia, damaging tourism and investment. Washington argues that the jailing of Mr. Pope demonstrates that other Americans might not be safe in Russia. "We're examining the implications of this [case] for other Americans, business people who might travel to Russia, and we are looking at the consular information that we provide," U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters. The Russian government has reacted with outrage to the U.S. threat, calling it an "especially worrying" development. "Attempts to put pressure on the investigating and judicial bodies do not add to the prestige of the United States," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a terse statement. "What we are witnessing is a new manifestation of double standards. The U.S. authorities show no lenience to people convicted on similar charges inside the United States, whatever the state of their health, but expect other countries to use a different approach." Sergei Shishkarev, deputy chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the lower house of the Russian parliament, termed the U.S. threat "open blackmail" against Russia. "It's time for the Americans to learn to lose with dignity," he told a Russian news agency. The Russian media also have lashed back at Washington, denouncing the threat as an unprecedented case of "hard-line pressure" by the U.S. administration, probably motivated by the politics of the U.S. election season this fall. "Russia has in effect been issued with an ultimatum: either Pope is freed or business contacts are curtailed," the daily newspaper Kommersant commented. "People at the Russian Foreign Ministry could not remember a case where the Americans had raised an ordinary spy scandal to such a high level." It said the Kremlin is in a dilemma because it does not want a quarrel with Washington, yet it also does not want to appear to be yielding to U.S. pressure. Another Moscow newspaper put great emphasis on a scheduled trip to Moscow this month by Louis Freeh, chief of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. The visit could lead to a deal to swap Mr. Pope for Mr. Ames, the newspaper said, citing confidential sources. While the Americans have argued that Mr. Pope was trying to purchase 20-year- old Russian technology that is sold on the open market, the Russians have described the technology as a secret weapon, similar to the Squall torpedoes that were reportedly being tested on the nuclear submarine Kursk when it blew up and sank in the Barents Sea last month. Some reports say the Squall is the fastest torpedo in the world. The FSB has launched a publicity campaign to defend its case against Mr. Pope. According to the FSB, Mr. Pope paid large sums of foreign currency to a Russian scientist to obtain secret information on a Russian high-speed underwater rocket that can travel as fast as 100 metres per second. This weapon, which can destroy a modern warship, has been eagerly sought by the U.S. military, the FSB said in a statement. It said Mr. Pope deliberately met his Russian contacts in different locations to avoid the FSB's surveillance. On the weekend, the FSB also disclosed that a second American, a 68-year-old man, had been arrested at the same time as Mr. Pope, but had been released because of his old age. This showed that the FSB often considers "principles of humanity" in deciding who to arrest, a Moscow radio station said. The FSB said that doctors have examined Mr. Pope more than 10 times since his arrest and that his health is fine. But U.S. officials say the Russians have refused to allow Mr. Pope to be examined by a doctor from the U.S. embassy. A Moscow court is scheduled to hear Mr. Pope's latest appeal for release on Sept. 11. End<{{ A<>E<>R Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The libertarian therefore considers one of his prime educational tasks is to spread the demystification and desanctification of the State among its hapless subjects. His task is to demonstrate repeatedly and in depth that not only the emperor but even the "democratic" State has no clothes; that all governments subsist by exploitive rule over the public; and that such rule is the reverse of objective necessity. He strives to show that the existence of taxation and the State necessarily sets up a class division between the exploiting rulers and the exploited ruled. He seeks to show that the task of the court intellectuals who have always supported the State has ever been to weave mystification in order to induce the public to accept State rule and that these intellectuals obtain, in return, a share in the power and pelf extracted by the rulers from their deluded subjects. [[For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, Murray N. Rothbard, Fox & Wilkes, 1973, 1978, p. 25]] <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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