A New Return Policy for Russian Children

Ever wanted to send your kid back to where they came from? Well a US single mom from Tennessee actually sent her 7-year-old son back to Moscow with a note saying she no longer wanted him.

The Foreign Minisiter, Sergei Lavrov, said that this is the "last straw" in a montage of bad adoptions and has threatened to suspend adoption privileges for American families. This last straw is resulting in creating international agreement on adoptions. There were plans before this weeks incident for a team from the State Department to visit and address adoption issues.

About 1,600 Russian children were adopted last year by US families and all further adoptions must wait until an accord has been reached.

Want a surprising tid-bit? At least 15 Russian children have been killed by their US parents since the mid-1900s, but up to 15 children adopted by Russian parents die every year. It doesn't matter who the fingers are being pointed at, one thing is apparent: reform is needed in rules that affect adopted children.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/adoption-flap-not-expected-to-last-long/403850.html

Metro Terrorism Leads to A New Unit to Combat Terrorism

On Wednesday President Dimitri Medvedev called for a new unit to be created to combat terrorism. The new permanent unit will be created by April 16th. The group will be responsible for combating terrorist attacks. What happened so suddenly that caused Medvedev to order the creation of a unit to combat terrorism? A series of terriorist attacks in Russia that are attributed to Cachen or Caucusus "Emirates".

The latest attack on March 29th, 2010 killed 40 people and injured 121 others. Two women, natives of Dagestan, are suspected of being responsible for the attack. It is suspected that one of the woman's brother was the mastermind behind the operation. The father of these siblings is currently in jail after a sentence of nine months for possession of a grenade.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/new-caucasus-unit-will-fight-terrorism/403503.html

Want a Dangerous Job? Try Human Rights Activist in Russia.

President Dmitry Medvedev had promised to make the job of a human rights worker in Russia safer, yeah right. This occupation has become increasingly dangerous, making it necessary to have Western protection for these people.

The government seems to have taken the approach that money solves all problems. Lyudmila Alexeyeva, chair of Moscow Helsinki Group, told a European Union conference in Moscow that Russia has taken the approach of paying compensation to victims and rarly takes action to prevent future situations. Currently the most protection that these people receive is from parts of the media.

Ella Pamfilova, the presidential human rights commissioner, told the conference that a lack of functioning democratic institutions and widespread corruption are two factors that have hindered any progress in increasing the safety of these workers and journalists.

To look at a list of journalists killed in Russia check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_Russia

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/human-rights-activists-seek-western-protection/402427.html

The Silicon Valley in Russia

Above: The Moscow School of Management Skolkovo.

The President Dimitri Medvedev announced on Thursday that Russia's Silicon Valley will be located in Skolkovo, which is located in a region of Moscow. Skolkovo hosts the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo; one of the top business schools in Russia. This area is considered a prestigious area and was formerly home to the billionaire, Roman Abramovich.

President Medvedev commented, "I made the decision — we will build this center where we have already laid the groundwork for doing it quickly. Speed matters, so we will build it in Skolkovo."

The building of this project will begin as early as this year and will have five of the "presidential" priorities for modernization: energy, IT, telecommunications, biotechnology, and nuclear technology.

Critics of this project say that building this high-tech center from scratch is a waste of resources. Especially when past technology centers have all the necessary infrastructure and are underused or not utilized at all.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/skolkovo-designated-silicon-valley-location/402114.html

Medvedev Visits France with Hopes to Srenghten Political Ties

The president of Russia, Dmitri A. Medvedev, arrived in Paris on Monday with warships, natural gas, and a special relationship with Europe on his mind. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, greeted him warmly on the start of what will be a three-day visit, intended to enhance the prestige of both men, profit their companies and remind French voters that Mr. Sarkozy’s foreign policy is not beholden to Washington.
Despite open American criticism from the Obama administration and from Congress, as well as from European Union allies in the Baltics, Mr. Sarkozy announced that France had entered “exclusive negotiations” to sell four Mistral-class amphibious assault ships to Russia.
The Russian naval commander has said that with the Mistral, which can carry helicopters or tanks, Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia would have been much faster. The arms sale would be the largest by a North Atlantic Treaty Organization country to Russia.
But in a joint news conference with Mr. Medvedev on Monday evening, Mr. Sarkozy said that Russia was “a partner,” no longer an enemy, and that it was “time to turn the page” on the cold war.
Mr. Medvedev called the deal “a symbol of trust between our two countries” and pressed for “Russia and France to be partners on European security.”

Will Russia's new "partner" prove to be a postive force in the years to come, or will the alliance suffer from resentments from the Cold War. Thoughts?

Jury Trials and Terrorists

A 2008 amendment keeps terrorists from being able to receive a jury trial, which is believed by human rights activists and lawyers to be the fairest form of trial. The 2008 amendment banned people suspected of terrorism and espionage to be tried by a jury. On Tuesday the Constitutional Court started a hearing case that reviews this amendment.

"The plaintiffs claim that the right to a jury trial is fixed by the Constitution, which guarantees equality of rights and freedoms," the Constitutional Court said in a statement. “They believe that the ban on jury trials for terrorism charges violates the Constitution.”

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/ban-on-jury-trials-to-be-considered-by-courts/400801.html

Vancouver XXI: Chill Descends Over Russia

While there are medal opportunities left, Russians won only three medals in the first five days; by the same point in the 2006 Winter Olympics, they had had won nine.
The gloom seemed to thicken on Friday as Russians woke up to the news that their superstar figure skater, Yevgeny Plushenko, took only the silver.
Even worse, Russia's powerhouse men's hockey team faltered against Slovakia, falling to the former Soviet satellite, 2-1, in a shootout.
Favored Russians have floundered in the biathlon, and the women’s hockey team was trounced twice by a collective score of 18 to 1.
After Australian aboriginal groups accused a Russian ice dancing pair of mocking aborigines, Valentin Piseev, president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, suggested that they were the target of an international plot to force them to alter their performance.
“I think that this is a well-executed strategy directed against our athletes,” Mr. Piseev told Russian television from Vancouver.
In Russia, international athletic competitions — particularly the Winter Olympics, in this frozen country — are considered one of the last prominent international arenas to showcase the country’s strength. The anxiety has been heightened because Russia will host the next Winter Games at the Black Sea resort of Sochi in 2014.
The governing United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, released a statement on Thursday suggesting that there could be repercussions for athletic officials if Russian athletes continued to fall short in Vancouver.
“Anything under fourth place for our team will certainly be a failure, including for those who oversee athletics in our country,” said Boris Gryzlov, a United Russia leader who is speaker of Parliament.
Russia was ranked 11th in the medal count as of Wednesday morning.