Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-California) rebuked statements from members of a panel at the Rayburn House Office Building on Tuesday for their criticism of human rights violations in Russia when conditions in China are much worse, he said. "The nerve to attack Russia" and ignore what is happening in China is a travesty. "We talk about Russia meddling in Georgia," he said, but look at what's going on in China which "is a threat to us."
Rep. Rohrabacher was speaking from the audience at a gathering of about 50 mostly congressional aides who came to hear a presentation, "Jackson-Vanik after Russia's Accession to the WTO," sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Russia is expected to be admitted to the World Trade Organization this month which will have enormous trade benefits for the U.S. if it permanently waives provisions of the 1974 Jackson-Vanik Amendment. It was originally designed to pressure "non-market economies," including the Soviet Union, to improve human rights and permit trade advantages. The law has succeeded with Russia since it no longer restricts emigration, one of the key component of the legislation. (However, Cuba and North Korea are other targets of the amendment since they do block emigration, said speaker Richard Perle of the American Enterprise Institute.)
Jackson-Vanik is "the single most important human rights legislation passed by Congress," Perle said. It was "cold war legislation" and its repeal, favored by no one speaking, is desired by Russian leader Vladimir Putin because the "KGB despises" it. Repeal would be a "huge concession" to Russia, Mr. Perle said. The President of the United States can single handedly waive provisions of the law annually, a benefit enjoyed for many years by Russia, China, and Vietnam.
Randi Levinas of the U.S.-Russia Business Council/Patricia Leslie
Also up for discussion at the lunchtime session was U.S. trade with Russia. Speaker Randi Levinas of the U.S.-Russia Business Council was happy to make her pitch: Only four percent of Russia's imports come from the U.S., and the opportunities for growth are huge. Last year California's trade with Russia grew by 40 percent, and New York's, by 75 percent. Top exported American goods to Russia, she said, are machinery, spacecraft, cars and parts, and computers. (? Hewlett-Packard says most computers in the U.S. come from China.)
One-third of Russia's citizens are middle-class, 99% are literate, and about half the population has university degrees (about 20% more than found in the U.S.).
Russia's economy will be the ninth largest in the world by the end of this year, Ms. Levinas said. Forty percent of its imports come from Europe, and 16 percent, from China.
Joining the WTO will mean Russia has to follow the rules, Ms. Levinas said.
Lara Iglitzin of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation/Patricia Leslie
Lara Iglitzin of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation said human rights violations over the last ten years demonstrate "a culture of impunity in Putin's Russia...We are gravely concerned about the direction of human rights" there, urging that U.S. leaders continue to speak out against human rights violations by the Russian government.
William Pomeranz of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center was moderator of the event, also co-sponsored by Kennan and the Jackson Foundation. Next year will be the centennial celebration of the birth of Senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson (1912-1983) who, in addition to many causes, was particularly devoted to human rights for all. Jackson-Vanik was named for him and for Rep. Charles Vanik.
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