Putin's powers on anti-terrorism abroad receive final approval

[Robbien]

MOSCOW, July 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's upper house of parliament gave its final approval Friday to a federal law giving the country's president the right to use the Armed Forces and secret services abroad to fight international terrorism.

. . .

In line with the document, the Armed Forces and secret services can act abroad to stop terrorist activity in order to protect citizens' rights and freedoms, Russia's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

The law, drafted following Russia's ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism, introduces amendments to the counter-terrorism law as well as to the penal code, and the laws on the media, communications, and money laundering.

It reinstates a provision allowing the state to seize property from people charged with major crimes such as treason, espionage, seduction, hostage-taking, kidnapping, drug and human trafficking, extortion, money counterfeiting, and smuggling of materials and technologies that could be used to manufacture weapons of mass destruction.

The law also puts restrictions on mass media coverage of anti-terror operations, designating the leader of an operation as the only person entitled to provide reporters with any related information.

President Vladimir Putin said July 6 that using special services overseas to combat terrorism was not a breach of international law. "I see no violations here. Under Article 51 of the UN Charter, states can individually or jointly rebuff an aggression. It does not say that this aggression should come from one state against the other," Putin said during a Web cast.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060714/51344404.html

[JuniperLea]

1. I hope George W. Bush isn't the particular terrorist he has in mind

Can the world get any scarier?

[timeisnear3]

2. I thought about that too.

There was some story earlier where Putin was telling the West to butt out of his affairs. The tone of it didn't sound good to me at all. Lots of tension in the world right now.

[JuniperLea]

3. Welcome to DU, timeisnear3!

:hi:


Exactly. And isn't Russia getting chummy with China? You know, that great big country with a great big army that owns so much of our debt?

[timeisnear3]

4. Yes, it is

What bothers me the most is how Putin might interpret "aggression". His telling the West to butt out of the situation involving Russia and some of the former-USSR states indicates that he thinks we and some of the Europeans are already meddling in his affairs. Does that count as aggression?

The China thing is scary because I think the two of them together would pose a nation-ending threat to the USA. If the two of them did attack, all-out nuclear war is assured.

[TheLastMohican]

7. He has every right to believe so

If Russia were to dick around with Mexico and Canada, installing puppet dictators which suit Russian interests, the USA would go berserk too.

[Tellurian]

9. ...

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. This has been building since georgie cut off Russia's contracts

with Iraq.... had georgie reinstated the Russian, French and German (and others) contracts after we won the war..... U.S. credibility would have been saved.... the insurgency would have shriveled up... and our boys and girls would be home/alive. Corporate America has seen to it that this simply is not the case.

[Tellurian]

6. At least Putin is smart enough to have the Law and the country on his side

before he makes a move, that incidentally was mostly likely "his" idea in the first place.
Unlike the (humiliating) backpedaling seen by our CIC and his cohorts making up Ad Hoc rules as they go along.

[Tellurian]

8. (Looking at my watch..)

How long do you think it will be before a country declares Bush a "terrorist"?