November 20, 2018

Putin is about to gain control of the world's main law enforcement organization

By Vladimir Kara-Murza
DemocracyPost contributor
November 19 at 5:23 PM


On Sunday, delegates of the general assembly of Interpol — the International Criminal Police Organization, the coordinating body for law enforcement from 192 countries — met in Dubai for their 87th annual session. The most important agenda item will come on the final day: on Wednesday, delegates will elect the organization’s new president to replace Meng Hongwei, who went missing in China in October. (The Chinese authorities later announced that Meng had been arrested on “corruption charges,” and sent what was purported to be his resignation letter to the agency’s headquarters in Lyon, France.)

The leading candidate to become the next president of Interpol is Alexander Prokopchuk, a police general in the Russian Interior Ministry who has for the past seven years headed Interpol’s Russian bureau. Prokopchuk’s candidacy was kept under wraps until the last moment — and, presumably, until the Kremlin was confident of securing enough votes. The British government has determined that Prokopchuk’s victory is assured to the extent that “there is no point in trying to stop him.” A British human rights group, Fair Trials, wrote to the Interpol secretariat strongly protesting the nomination and noting that “it would not be appropriate for a country with a record of violations of Interpol’s rules (for example by frequently seeking to use its systems to disseminate politically motivated alerts) to be given a leadership role in a key oversight institution.”

“Politically motivated alerts” have been a favorite Kremlin tactic, used to legitimize its prosecution of political opponents and make their lives more difficult by limiting their movements. Despite the explicit ban in Interpol’s constitution on “any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character,” the organization happily accepted Moscow’s requests to issue “red notices” — in effect, international arrest warrants — against prominent Kremlin opponeAmong the most recent targets of Kremlin-inspired “red notices” was Bill Browder, a U.S.-born financier who has spearheaded the international campaign for targeted sanctions on corrupt officials and human rights abusers in the Russian government. Sentenced in absentia to a prison term in Russia, Browder was most recently arrested in Spain on an Interpol warrant in May of this year. (He was quickly released.) He is unable to visit several countries because of the ongoing legal risks.

With a Putin-appointed police general at the helm, the Kremlin would no longer need to abuse Interpol to pursue its goals; it would be able to place the organization at its service. One should look no further than the federal wanted list from Russia’s Interior Ministry, which includes the likes of longtime Kremlin opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the Crimean Tatar leader and Ukrainian lawmaker Mustafa Dzhemilev, to guess what names could be singled out for future “red notices.” (Disclaimer: Khodorkovsky is the founder of the Open Russia movement, of which I serve as vice chairman.) Americans who helped the passage of the Magnitsky Act — and whose questioning Putin demanded from President Trump in Helsinki — are likely candidates as well.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2018/11/19/putin-is-about-to-gain-control-of-the-worlds-main-law-enforcement-organization/?utm_term=.ea4ccf21ce7b

November 16, 2018

Letter being circulated on Capitol Hill shows multiple incoming freshmen WILL support Pelosi

https://twitter.com/AynRandPaulRyan/status/1063552982728339456


NEW: A letter being circulated on Capitol Hill reveals multiple incoming freshmen — who were largely noncommittal on the House speaker race during their campaigns — will in fact support Nancy Pelosi https://cnn.it/2QNlKyo

November 16, 2018

Charlie Pierce on Kathleen Rice, a leader of the Dem anti-Pelosi movement

https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1063486511486812161


I asked Kathleen Rice - a leader of the Dem anti-Pelosi movement - if she’s concerned this fight will show their party in disarray. “It was not as successful as some hoped it would be, we didn’t pick up as many seats as we thought we were going to get,” she said of the midterms.

She added: “Yes are in the majority, but if we don’t start listening to voters and the message they are sending us, then we’re not going to be the majority again.”


https://twitter.com/CharlesPPierce/status/1063554797259943936



@CharlesPPierce

More Charles P. Pierce Retweeted Manu Raju
I note that Rep. Rice was a Republican until 2005 and, according to this report, is eager to work "across the aisle" with her former colleagues. This whole thing sounds like a put-up job to defang the new majority in its crib.





I, for one , am satisfied with the number of seats we got ! Is she implying we didn't lean right enough and pick up more seats in red districts?

From the link in Charles Pierce's tweet:

Four local Republican officials crossed party lines to endorse Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice for Congress on Tuesday, citing her efforts toward bipartisan public service.

“Kathleen Rice listens to her constituents, represents her entire constituency rather than just a select few,” said Thomas Tweedy, mayor of the Village of Floral Park. “She has earned our respect and support.” https://theislandnow.com/politics-99/kathleen-rice-wins-backing-from-gop-officials/

November 16, 2018

Now that the mid-terms are over, time for drug prices to rise!

https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/1063523592367980545


BREAKING: Per @WSJ just now, Pfizer will raise prices on 41 drugs they delayed over the summer to please Trump.

Now the election is over and it’s back to business.

November 16, 2018

No wonder Tim Ryan's so angry....

https://twitter.com/EricBoehlert/status/1063527007999455232


No wonder Tim Ryan's so angry....

Genuinely wild to compare the demographics of Democrats who flipped seats in the 2006 wave vs. the 2018 wave.

...in 2006
- 3% POC
- 13% Women
- 23% Under 45
- 83% White men

...in 2018
- 21% POC
- 68% Women
- 53% Under 45
- 24% White Men

November 16, 2018

Distraction incoming!

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1063517544131280898


NEWS: House Judiciary Committee chairman has initiated the process to subpoena JAMES COMEY and LORETTA LYNCH to appear before the committee the week after Thanksgiving.

November 16, 2018

Legislation passed when Pelosi was Speaker

https://twitter.com/ariberman/status/1063188518099243008?s=21



Legislation passed when Pelosi was speaker:

Obamacare w/ public option
Dodd-Frank
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay
Econ stimulus
Don't ask, don't tell repeal
Dream act
Cap-and-trade
CHIP reauthorization
Employee Free Choice Act
Fair sentencing act
Disclose act

November 15, 2018

U.S. Is Optimistic It Will Prosecute Assange

The Justice Department is preparing to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and is increasingly optimistic it will be able to get him into a U.S. courtroom, according to people in Washington familiar with the matter.

Over the past year, U.S. prosecutors have discussed several types of charges they could potentially bring against Mr. Assange, the people said. Mr. Assange has lived in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since receiving political asylum from the South American country in 2012.

The people familiar with the case wouldn’t describe whether discussions were under way with the U.K. or Ecuador about Mr. Assange, but said they were encouraged by recent developments.

Ecuador’s relationship with Mr. Assange has deteriorated sharply since last year’s election of President Lenin Moreno, who has described him as a “stone in our shoe” and said his continued presence at the embassy is unsustainable.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-is-optimistic-it-will-prosecute-assange-1542323142

November 15, 2018

Stunning new stat out of Ohio

https://twitter.com/AlecMacGillis/status/1063135679897628672

Stunning new stat out of Ohio:

We already knew that Republicans got 12 of OH's 16 US House seats despite winning only 52% of total congressional vote.

But get this: Republicans also managed to hold supermajorities in the Ohio legislature despite LOSING the total state leg vote.

November 15, 2018

Of 13 members on anti-Pelosi list, 10 are to the right of Dem Caucus

https://twitter.com/mattgrossmann/status/1062838794548924416?s=21

Of 13 current members on anti-Pelosi list, 10 are to the right of the Democratic caucus median & 11 are to the right of Pelosi. Copying Freedom Caucus tactics, but not a revolt from the left. Capitulating to a centrist minority of caucus would have implications for the session.

And 14 of 17 are men.