A New Day for Human Rights in Russia?

Posted on 15. Jan, 2010 by admin in Around the Planet

Few saw it coming. In the past 10 years, Russia had pretty much cemented its reputation as the human rights curmudgeon of Europe – unleashing military brutality on its neighbors and its own citizens, using the courts to settle political vendettas, letting cases involving murders of journalists go unsolved.

But low and behold, Russia has changed its tune. This week it officially ended opposition to reforming the European Court of Human Rights.

Morning by the Kremlin

The Strasburg-based international court was created in the 1950s to protect democracy and human rights in 47-member countries. In recent years, Russia had been the only member opposing a key reform – Protocol 14 – that would give the court more tooth to hold member countries accountable for crimes and speed up work by requiring fewer judges to oversee individual cases. But this week Russian lawmakers voted to ratify Protocol 14.

The reason for Russian opposition to Protocol 14 was no mystery. The court has ruled against Russia in over 100 cases dealing with Russian atrocities in Chechnya and elsewhere – rulings which Russia has largely ignored.

So is a new era dawning for human rights in Russia? Not likely.

From a political standpoint, the Kremlin can afford to loosen its belt. In the country, there’s no substantial government opposition to speak of, and in the former Soviet states, the idealistic “color” Revolutions of the mid-2000s have ended with a whimper. The one exception is Georgia, but in a European Union report on the 2008 war, for once Georgia – not Russia – was blamed for starting the bloody conflict. And on the global stage, President Obama’s “Reset” button on US-Russia relations has eased fears about US missile systems in Eastern Europe and NATO expansion.

Also, while the political elite may feel more secure to undergo international rebukes on human rights, an economically chastened Russia sees the benefits – or even the necessity – of greater international integration in the wake of the global economic crisis, particularly with its richest neighbor, the Europe Union.

So Russia has every reason to put forth a better face on human rights – and little to lose. But on the Moscow streets, has anything changed?

On New Year’s Eve, Moscow Police arrested a group of peaceful protesters holding an unauthorized “March of Dissent” against the Kremlin. One of those arrested was 82-year-old Lyudmila Alekseyev, who heads the Moscow Helsinki group and was the 2009 winner of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

- Ivan Weiss

A War in Pictures

Posted on 17. Nov, 2009 by admin in Around the Planet

Russia and Georgia just can’t get enough of not getting enough of one another. The latest weapon: celluloid. In March, Russia released a film about its 2008 war with Georgia. That film, called “Olympius Inferno,” was about an American reporter who came upon evidence that Georgia actually started the war. (The non-partisan EU report on the war supported this claim, though it blamed both countries for escalating the violence.)

Not surprisingly, “Olympius Inferno” wasn’t very popular in Georgia. And now a new film is being shot with Andy Garcia in the part of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Val Kilmer as a war correspondent. The extent to which the film will be pro-Georgian remains to be seen, but it has the full cooperation of the Georgian government. Significantly, the film’s director Renny Harlin, best known for “Die Hard 2” and “Cliffhanger,” is originally from Finland, the one country that successfully repelled the Russian Bear in the run-up to WWII.

Is a picture worth a thousand bombs?

Although Russia dwarfs Georgia in population and military might, Georgia has continued antagonizing Russia like it was 2005 (the time when Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan were staging revolutions against perceived Russian hegemony). Taking stock of these three countries now, has the hope of those revolutions materialized?

Despite the anti-Russia fervor of the Orange Revolution, Ukraine has been politically chastened due to its failure to clean up corruption or fight back against Russia’s natural gas blockades. While the EU is no fan of Russia’s energy politics, calls for Ukraine to join NATO have grown quieter, and its EU membership prospects seem as distant as ever.

Preliminary polls in Ukraine show that the presidential election this January will kick out Viktor Yushchenko, who’s estimated poll number barely breaches 2 percent. Yushchenko spearheaded the Orange Revolution – and perhaps was poisoned from political rivals because of it, though the evidence remains inconclusive. Moscow-backed candidate Viktor Yanukovich – Yushchenko’s bitter rival in the last election – currently leads polls with an estimated 26 percent of the vote.

While the Tulip Revolution promised greater political independence in Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek has been careful to appease Moscow in recent years while wringing as much money as possible from the US for the use of its military base servicing soldiers in Afghanistan.

Georgia alone seems to be upholding the old revolutionary fire. Yet has it overplayed its hand? Will its feisty independent spirit – and close relations with the US – give it the upper hand against its giant neighbor and former Imperial master? Will its movie win an Oscar, or at least the international box office?

Only time will tell if Georgia gets its desired Hollywood ending.

- Ivan Weiss