The URL for his article is http://emperors-clothes.com/news/bor.htm
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 (1) held 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 after he stepped off a plane from Moscow.
He was on his way to the Bush Inauguration, to which he had been invited.
That is, Mr. Borodin was asked by the U.S. to come to the U.S. on what
amounted to an official State visit, and when he came he was arrested. This
was a deliberate provocation intended to humiliate Russia, separate it from
the spirited government in Belarus, and further reduce it to a colony.
We had no choice
Washington's explanation is as follows: FBI agents arrested Borodin to
satisfy an arrest warrant issued by Switzerland. The Swiss police wanted (and
still want) Borodin extradited to Switzerland so they can question him
regarding kickbacks and subsequent money laundering that allegedly occurred
when he was in charge of remodeling the Kremlin. (Note that the Swiss have
not charged Borodin with any crime.)
So. The Swiss issue a warrant; Washington, which, like Justice itself, is
blind, has to comply; international politics is not involved.
That's the story.
That is unbelievable.
Arresting a leader of another country, especially Russia, creates an
international incident. This particular arrest, which has given the mass
media the opportunity to talk endlessly about supposed Russian corruption,
can only serve to smear Russia. If Washington wished to avoid an incident
with such negative consequences, it had a host of remedies; it failed to
employ them. This was not an oversight. It was not the result of confusion
during the Clinton-Bush transition. Quite the contrary, the Clinton State
Department and the Bush people worked together to guarantee Borodin's arrest.
The Setup
Three days after Switzerland sent Washington a warrant for Borodin's arrest,
the Bush administration invited Borodin to the Inauguration. The invitation
came from one Vincent Zenga, a member of what Bush calls his 'Inauguration
Team.' The notion that the invitation was issued by mistake (as Mr. Zenga now
claims) is not credible. (2)
The State Department knew Mr. Borodin was coming. How can we be sure? Because
Mr. Borodin requested a diplomatic visa from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
According to the 'Washington Post' (Jan. 19th), this routine request led to
"urgent" consultations between the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the State
Department. Why did the Embassy have to consult urgently with State? Because
if the Embassy gave Mr. Borodin a diplomatic visa his diplomatic immunity
would have been more apparent, and his arrest more questionable legally. More
important, if Borodin had an official diplomatic visa and were nonetheless
arrested, it would have played badly in the mass media. Ordinary people in
Western countries would have wondered: how can they arrest a diplomat?
The State Department told the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to stall, neither to
issue Borodin a diplomatic visa nor to urge him to stay home. Mr. Borodin
didn't want to miss his plane, so he left Moscow, using a previously issued
standard American visa.
An arrest complaint against Mr. Borodin was then filed in Brooklyn Federal
Court. This was on the morning of Jan. 17th, while Mr. Borodin's plane was in
the air. When he landed at Kennedy International, he was arrested.
A Russian official commented:
"The Americans didn't do during the first stage what they could have done in
principle."... "In particular, they could have given a signal that Borodin
shouldn't go to the United States. Finally, they didn't have to make a scene
and flood the arrivals lounge with FBI agents, but could have put Borodin
back on the plane he had arrived on and sent him back home." (Unnamed Russian
official quoted by Interfax Russian News, January 29, 2001)
Alexander Fishkin, a N.Y. lawyer for Mr. Borodin, observed:
"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 that this was a deliberate attempt to humiliate
Russia by accusing it of out-of-control corruption, President-elect Bush
tried to make things clear. He was interviewed on '20/20' by Barbara Walters
two days after the arrest. In that interview, with the assistance of Ms.
Walters, Bush attempted to lecture Russia and other emerging colonies about
the importance of "raiding out corruption." (3)
The Swiss Refuse to Accept a Voluntary Meeting
As we noted, the Swiss authorities say they issued the warrant because they
needed to question Mr. Borodin regarding supposed money laundering. But
according to Mr. Borodin's Russian lawyer, the Russian government previously
offered to have Mr. Borodin meet voluntarily with Swiss officials. (4) The
Swiss rejected a voluntary meeting. They insisted Borodin be extradited -
that is, taken to Switzerland by force. The Swiss have admitted 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)
This is double-talk. 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 a Russian 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 tensions. Why do it?
Unless of course Switzerland and Washington wanted to increase international
tensions.
What could Switzerland, that is Washington, have hoped 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?
For one thing, they wanted to intimidate the countries of the Former Soviet
Union, and in particular they hoped 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.
Some may wonder why we are devoting space to this arrest. Isn't it a
relatively minor incident? No, it is not a relatively minor incident. It is
an important 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 experience and money. It
presently guides millions of people directly or through proxies on every
continent, for instance 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 Colombian Army, the grisly Islamist secessionists in the Former
Soviet Union and similar types in Algeria, Indonesia, etc. It is true that
virtually all these proxies are gangsters involved in drug trafficking and
money laundering, but the U.S. is involved as well and therefore one cannot
properly speak of corruption.
Switzerland is new to the business of Colonial Guidance; hence it is a Junior
Guide. In the past it disdained such work, preferring to operate from on
high, handling money matters for 'people' like the Nazis and investing
profitably in war. But Washington has humbled Switzerland and made it part of
the team. Perhaps Mr. Bush will call this the "Guidance Team", assigned to
putting new colonies (like Russia) in their place. Since Switzerland is just
a Junior Guide it is only natural that Switzerland be given Junior tasks,
such as issuing arrest warrants that force Washington to arrest people whom
Washington wishes to arrest.
The legal (or should we say, illegal) attack on Mr. Borodin will be
accompanied by endless discussions in the Western mass media concerning
Russian corruption. The goal of such discussions is to condition public
opinion to view Russia with contempt, thus creating an atmosphere that
facilitates new aggressions in the financial and military spheres, new
attacks on the people of the former Soviet Union.
Why has Washington chosen this time to increase the attacks on Russia? Not
because the U.S. Establishment has a new facade in Washington but rather
because it has installed a reliable government in Belgrade. As always, the
precondition for attacking Russia is defeating Yugoslavia.
But are the Serbs truly defeated? They have been underestimated before.
Hitler underestimated them, much to his regret. For that matter, the Russians
have been underestimated too.
Perhaps history is not over. Let's not give up on her, yet.
-- Jared Israel, February 1, 2001
(Another article on this subject, 'Borodin Arrest Targets Russian-Belarus
Union', can be read at http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/borodin.htm
)
Further reading
1) For the text of the press conference given by Pavel Borodin's Russian
lawyer, please go to http://emperors-clothes.com/news/bordoc2.htm
2) For a discussion of Mr. Zenga's invitation, see
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/borodin.htm#f
3) The relevant section of Bush's interview with Barbara Walters is posted on
Emperor's Clothes. It can be read at
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/borodin.htm#2
4) The Russian offer to have Borodin meet with the Swiss on a voluntary basis
is discussed by his lawyer. Please see
http://emperors-clothes.com/news/bordoc.htm#8
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