DECLARE VLADIMIR PUTIN AS THE “BULLY” HE IS

…What the press calls the “Putin Smirk”

 

If the British, Belgium and French can do it, why not the US?

 

With all that’s been going on within the American electoral political scene, I have been avoiding writing very much about the international political scene.  That is now coming to a stop.

 

It is finally time to make it clear just how much of a bully and a virtual gangster that Russian President, Vladimir Putin is today.  And that description truly applies to him from his actions, both inside and outside of Russia.

 

This is not just a statement for myself as an American political writer and blogger.  The same accusation has been made on a legal level from two international court rulings against the Russian government.  Both the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), have ruled against the Russian government.  This ruling was made after they determined that the Russian government owed damages to shareholders of the dissolved Russian Yukos Oil Company.

 

All this wrong that has happened was achieved under the personal direction of the Putin Administration.

 

Based on the courts investigations, the Russian government issued punitive tax claims and asset seizures in the aftermath of the 2003 arrest of Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Yukos’s assets were then distributed to Russian front companies that were acquired by the state owned Rosneft Oil Company, which then became the largest oil company in Russia.  These actions, all approved by Putin, wiped out the holdings of all of the previous Yukos’s shareholders which forced the international law suit.  (Word on the street has it that Putin holds a big chunk of Rosneft stock.)

 

Obviously, this suit was in the courts for years, but after years of deliberations the Yukos shareholders prevailed in both The Hague and the ECHR.  The courts had determined the Russian government owed a combined $52 billion in damages to shareholders of the dissolved Yukos Oil Company.

 

What is also interesting is that to have a suit brought before The Hague, both parties including the shareholders and the Russian government had to consent to arbitration.  They also had to agree to abide by the court’s ruling. Moscow was even allowed to nominate one of the three judges who heard the case. 

 

However, when it was over, all three judges ruled against Russia.

 

In addition, under the New York Convention, to which Russia is a signatory, shareholders can ask other governments to enforce the court’s rulings by seizing Russian state assets. As for the ECHR, Russia is a member of the Council of Europe and has been on the losing side of hundreds of ECHR verdicts, so it has no grounds to object to the court’s jurisdiction in this case.

 

Of course, this all sounds good for the shareholders, but as expected, the Russian authorities have appealed The Hague ruling.  Their prospects for overturning the ruling are however, slim to none. 

 

Also as expected, in more than a year from the decisions, Russia shows no intent for complying with the court’s decisions.

 

So this is now leaving it to other nation states to find ways to force Russia’s compliance with the court’s decisions.

 

Which brings us to ask, “What could the US do to make the Russian president follow the court’s decisions?

 

Well, one must then ask, “Is there an organization that is under American influence that is responsible for the majority of the false propaganda from the most corrupt political regime in the world?”

 

The answer is “yes” there is a Russian paid for and sponsored organization that has a global reach that is responsible for what they claim is a, “cable and internet audience of 700 million people in 100 countries”.

 

That organization is the Russian RT Cable Network.

 

RT Cable has a large studio in Washington DC and additional bureaus throughout the United States and Europe.

 

Last Summer, the British decided to freeze RT’s accounts in order to comply with the court’s verdicts.  Belgium and France are in the process of doing the same.

 

Since RT is the key to Putin’s approach to discredit President Obama and the West while denying that Russia is doing anything wrong, why shouldn’t the United States and other countries follow Great Britain’s lead?

 

The Russian authorities are aware that the RT Network is an inviting target. Even for Russia, $52 billion is a lot of money, especially in the midst of their current economic crisis; their low oil prices; and the squeeze of continued Western sanctions against the regime.

 

The nervous Russians have now hired Western law firms to challenge their possible asset seizures.

 

Russia has recently warned the United States that it would seize US assets in Russia if seizing steps are taken by US authorities.  Russian legislation has also been introduced in the their Parliament allowing for confiscation of property of foreign states in response to any Western measures.

 

But Russia is very aware that any seizing actions by their government would immediately drive international investors and corporations out of Russia in a hurry.  That’s an exodus that Russia’s down economy can hardly afford.

 

The reality is that going after seizing the RT Network could achieve multiple US goals.

 

First, it would allow the United States and its Western allies to teach a very corrupt Putin regime that there are consequences for their outrageous behavior.

 

Second, it would show that it doesn’t pay to ignore the results of the international courts.

 

Third, it would shut-down a primary source of Putin’s untruthful propaganda machine.

 

But the most important political part is that it’s finally time for the United States and the Western nations to go on the offensive against one of the world’s biggest bullies.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2015