[CrashList] Borodin Falsely Arrested - Washington's Excuse a Lie

Mrs. Jela Jovanovic Fri, 02 Feb 2001 23:43:33 -0800

The URL for his article is http://emperors-clothes.com/news/bor.htm
For a printable version, click here.

www.tenc.net
[Emperor's Clothes]

Borodin Falsely Arrested - Washington's Excuse a Lie

by Jared Israel [revised 1-31-2001]

Elsewhere we have posted excerpts from a Moscow Press conference given by Genrikh Pavlovich Padva, a lawyer for Pavel Borodin. Mr. Borodin, a Russian diplomat and Secretary of the Russian-Belarus Union, was arrested on January 17th at Kennedy Airport in New York as he stepped off the plane from Moscow. He was on his way to the Bush Inauguration. That is, Mr. Borodin was invited by the U.S. to come to the U.S. on what amounted to an official State visit, and then arrested.

Washington's story is that FBI agents arrested Borodin because the Swiss police wanted him for questioning regarding kickbacks and subsequent money laundering that allegedly occurred when he was in charge of remodeling the Kremlin. The Swiss issued a warrant and Washington, which, like Justice itself, is blind, had no choice but to comply. That is why Borodin was picked up as soon as he got off the plane.

That is unbelievable.

Arresting a leader of another country, especially Russia, creates an international incident. If the U.S. government wished to avoid such an incident it had a host of options. Indeed, the Clinton State Department and the incoming Bush administration were both involved in getting Borodin to the U.S. The State Department made sure he did not have a diplomatic visa.

In other words, Washington did not simply fail to avoid arresting Borodin. Washington made it happen.

The Setup

The Bush administration invited him. This was done by one Vincent Zenga, a member of what Bush calls his "Inauguration Team." The notion that he was invited by mistake (as Mr. Zenga now claims) is not credible. The Swiss issued an arrest warrant and three days later the "Inauguration Team" issued an invitation.

And the State Department knew. How can we be sure? Because Mr. Borodin had requested a diplomatic visa from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. According to the 'Washington Post' (Jan. 19th), this routine request produced "urgent" consultations between the United States Embassy in Moscow and the State Department. Why the consultations? Why the urgency? Because if the Embassy gave Mr. Borodin a diplomatic visa his diplomatic immunity would have prevented the mob of FBI agents waiting at Kennedy Airport from arresting him.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow was instructed by the State Department to stall, neither to issue Borodin a diplomatic visa nor to urge him to stay away from the U.S. Mr. Borodin didn't want to miss his plane, so he left with a previously issued standard visa.

An arrest complaint against Mr. Borodin was approved in Brooklyn Federal Court on the morning of Jan. 17th - that is, after the 'urgent' discussions between Washington and its Moscow Embassy. Alexander Fishkin, a N.Y. lawyer for Mr. Borodin, commented:

"The warrant for his arrest was issued in Switzerland on January 10. He was sent an invitation to inauguration festivities on January 13. Borodin himself told me he did not know until January 15 whether he would fly to America or not. It took him quite long to get all the approvals for his trip. In the morning of January 17 when he was still in the air an appeal was submitted to the federal court in Brooklyn for the issue of an American warrant for his arrest. The appeal stated the date and time of his arrival and even the number of his foreign passport. The request was immediately satisfied and in the evening the State Secretary was taken into custody," Fishkin said. " ('Interfax Russian News', January 23, 2001)

If any question remained, President-elect Bush appeared on '20/20' Friday evening, where, with prompting from Ms. Walters, he delivered a lecture to Russia and other emerging colonies about the importance of "raiding out corruption." (1)

The Swiss Prefer Extradition to Voluntary Consent

Mr. Borodin is supposedly wanted by the Swiss authorities for questioning regarding supposed money laundering. But Mr. Borodin's Russian lawyer reports (below) that Swiss officials rejected a Russian offer for Mr. Borodin to meet with them voluntarily. The Swiss admit this is true:

[Swiss Prosecutor Bertossa said:] "Yes, an offer of that kind did indeed reach us. We analysed it closely and reached the conclusion that the Russian Government had no legal instruments for ensuring that voluntary appearance." (Izvestiya, Moscow, Jan. 26, 2001)

What could the Swiss possibly have lost by agreeing to the Russian offer? If Mr. Borodin did not meet with them, they could simply have issued the warrant. Why turn down the offer to have Borodin meet with them and then issue an arrest warrant to force Borodin - to meet with them?

Arresting Borodin could only increase international tension. Why do it? Unless of course Switzerland and Washington wanted to increase international tension.

What can Switzerland, that is Washington, hope to achieve by having a slew of FBI agents swoop down on a Russian diplomat on his way to an official U.S. State event? They hope to intimidate the countries of the Former Soviet Union, and in particular they hope to drive a wedge between Russia and Belarus, which is led by the independent (from Washington) President Alexander Lukashenko. Mr. Lukashenko is currently a focus of demonization; originating in Washington, London and Berlin, this demonization has been taken up by the mass media and is being parroted by the usual parrots, including some birds on the Left. Lukashenko is authoritarian; he is crazy; and so on. Yes, Lukashenko is crazy enough to resist Washington's neoliberal economic policies, with the result that working people in Belarus are better off than working people in other parts of the Former Soviet Union. The world needs more crazy leaders like him.

Some may wonder why we are devoting space to this relatively minor incident. The reason is, it is not a relatively minor incident. It is an arrogant message, delivered by the United States Establishment to the politicians and ordinary people of the Former Soviet Union. The message is as follows: We are the rulers, you the ruled. Since you are incapable of functioning in an honest, democratic fashion, you must learn humility and let us control and guide you. However, those who resist may be arrested, or possibly shot.

How big-hearted of Washington and Switzerland to guide the backward Soviet people.

The Senior guide is, of course, Washington. It has the experience. It presently guides millions of people directly or through proxies on every continent (via the KLA in Kosovo, the Djindjic government in Belgrade as well as similar governments in Albania, Bulgaria and so on, the Ugandan and Rwandan armies in Congo, the Colombian death squads as well as the regular Colombia Army, the grisly Islamist secessionists in the Former Soviet Union and similar types in Algeria, Indonesia, etc.).

Switzerland is only a Junior guide; it is new to the business of Colonial Guiding. In the past it avoided open involvement, preferring to work behind the scenes, handling money for 'people' like the Nazis and investing profitably in war.

But then, to paraphrase Mr. John Milton who, like American Justice, was blind, 'They also guide who only stand, and profit.'

Pavel Borodin's arrest indicates that new aggressions are planned in the military, political and financial spheres, new attacks on the people of the former Soviet Union. Why is Washington escalating now? Not because the Establishment has a new facade in Washington but because it has a reliable government installed in Belgrade. As always, the precondition for attacking Russia is defeating Yugoslavia.

But are the Serbs truly defeated? They have been written off before. Hitler wrote them off, much to his regret. For that matter, the Russians have been written off too. Perhaps history isn't finished. Let's not give up on her, yet.

--Jared Israel, 1-31-2001

(Another article on this subject, 'Borodin Arrest Targets Russian-Belarus Union', can be read at http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/borodin.htm )

[For the press conference by Pavel Borodin's Russian lawyer, go to http://emperors-clothes.com/news/bordoc.htm ]

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[CrashList] Borodin Falsely Arrested - Washington's Excuse a Lie

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