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(Edited)

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I may have to read this. I did not realize it was published. Of course, this story is still going on since Russia has been (or had been) trying to get Trump to drop the Magnitsky act. And yes, the US is not Russia, but there is still too much crony capitalism and too many oligarchs here.

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It's a great book and it would probably be more thrilling reading it in Russia, especially if the FSB takes interest.

The US is by no means perfect however comparing the two countries in terms of liberty is not really possible. When people run against Trump, he has rude Twitter fits. Apparently, he also hires Russians because they are really good at fixing elections.

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Although not common due to costs with the exception of suing estates, trial in absentia or posthumous trials have happened many times.

I'm not defending the actions of Putin or Russia, however the Magnitsky Act was an interesting step backwards in world peace. Sanctioning another country for applying its version of the rule of law however skewed it is within its own boarders on its own citizen is an interesting development in world relations. Those sanctions were an official attempt to influence politics of a sovereign nation, strange how that act may have bit the democrat party in the ass.

False imprisonment and show trials is a common occurrence in many countries. Some of USA's biggest allies have used the courts to do even more questionable things.

None of the oligarchs are innocent and I'm not saying sanctions are not justified to promote human rights. If the rule of law were applied equally I can think of many more countries including a few of USA's largest trading partners which should be added to that list.

There is a better book by Anna Politskovskaya, on the subject of Putin's Russia. I feel Brower was a little upset he lost his hedge fund and most of what he wrote was 20 years after the fact and questionable.

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I will have to take a look at that book. I also want to see if I can find a bideo from Russia about the trials.

It was the first trial of a dead man in Europe in over 1000 years. It is also when the west suddenly learned that Putin's Russia will not follow Europe's modern vision of human rights and capitalism. He has more in common with Mafias than members of parliment.

It was a ground breaking piece of legislation because it was the forst time a country was sanctioned for their internal affairs. It reignited the cold war and many African and Asian countries are at liberty to do as they want without sanctions. However from my understanding the sanctions were applied to individuals, some of whom have never been to the US and probably aren't dumb enough to try. Technically they were all tried in absentia, too.

I do think the Russian reaction of banning adoptions of orphans was unconscionable. Korea has done a similar thing with international adoptions. Bottom line is it makes the country look bad. However they say adoptees can get abused. The thought of this is sickening.
Unfortunately they don't mention things like the adoptee can also get abused in their country of birth and there is never enough data to compare and make a solid opinion.

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Adoptions are another matter worth debating. That's a tough thing to side with, I agree with the older orphans not being adopted, it's often tough on a kid to be adopted at a higher age and by a new family that doesn't speak Russian. There have been cases of abuse upon a kid who exhibits extreme behaviour. Also gay adoption is a whole other debate most Russians don't agree with.

One interesting thing I hear from a lot of Russians are rumours of child services in European countries targeting them because of a high unfilled demand for white babies. Basically immigrants complain their children are taken from them for dubious reasons. There are warnings spread about moving to certain countries with young children, a simple slap and your child is gone. It's hard to take a side in such cases with limited evidence. It's certainly not unconscionable to understand the other side of the debate. Pride is a matter too.

Bottom line we should explore the reasons why the demand for Russian orphans is higher than say Syrian or African orphans whom are in much greater supply and are in even worse conditions. The answer is obvious.

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Yeah, orphans and adoptions is a tricky issue. I do think children in America are better off, especially vulnerable ones.
In the book it was call unconscionable, I borrowed the word.
I do think when it comes to race and sexuality, you are on to something. At an early age culture can be adapted to easily. Racial and sexual diversity is a cultural thing, especially in terms of openess and acceptance towards it. Interracial families aren't a big deal in America and neither are 'the gays' Russia has a serious problem with gay people (I don't know which country is more racist, they both have serious issues). Actually, Russia has a right to decide what they want to do with their orphaned babies, but they definitely policized the issue at a suspicious time. It is best to judge a country's compassion by how they treat the most vulnerable. Most countries mess up big here.

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Great review. The worry isn't that Trump is as bad as Putin, its that Trump doesn't challenge him, and that he admires those traits that make Russia dangerous

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That is definitely something to be concerned about. Putin only respects power. Trumps quotes about North Korea are also extremely concerning. I think of it as sarcastic and comedy. I stopped taking him serious long before he was president.
Recently Ukraine elected a comedian, too, so America isn't alone here.

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Thanks for the interesting post based on the true story. Russia is indeed a dictatorship disguised as a democracy with votes and elections. Putin seems to be bumping off or arresting his opponents at the moment leading up to the next election. He had been in power for about 20 years there, controlling the other oligarchs. What a dangerous world. At least we can learn about it from good books written by those who experienced the dangers and wickedness first hand.

A book on my top ten list that shows how criminal America is, called "Confessions of an economic hitman" by John Perkins, explains how the CIA overthrew entire nations illegally and caused the death of thousands of innocents. At least Putin keeps in his own country. America is raping the entire world.

My country of South Africa is a rotten mess run by mafia politicians too. A book called "My president's keepers" by Charl Pauw, a journalist, gives names and details of how the ex president destroyed the best state institutions like the tax collection office to protect himself.

I would say no country is free from criminal leaders. The bigger the country, the bigger the crimes their leaders commit. Russia is quite big and run by mafia criminals like Putin. America and China are very big and engage in atrocities on their own people and the rest of the world. My little country is run by mafia types too. They all do it.

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as @crypticat points out, there are two sides to every story. Browder was mistreated by Russia, but were the American sanction on Russians fair? The Russian government is run by the oligarchs, but America is also corrupt to a different extent. I just think Russia is worse, but then again that's Russia's business.

I've read confessions of an economic hitman, it's a great book. Actually, in Red Notice, Browder starts off doing something similar, he started in Poland and basically destroy a bus company, he didn't want to but his boss did. However he wrote about it 20 years after and who knows what his true thoughts were at the time.

The bigger the country, the bigger the crimes their leaders commit.

This is true but there is an equation between area, population, military power, and perhaps most important but difficult to guage freedom/liberty/democracy. For example, Canada is large, but hardly evil criminal compared to much smaller countries like North Korea or Israel.

I took a course on Southern African (we also focused on Angola Zimbabwe etc.) politics in university and I learned a little about post Apartheid South Africa. I mostly read economic journals talking about the cold war and post cold war environment, but it was really interesting. I'll have to see if I can get a hold of that book or at least some of the papers that influenced it. I do know some stories that are shocking. As a regional power, South Africa does have some responisibility and that is the point. America, China and Russia try to assert dominance beyond their boarders and even beyond their regions and deserve extra scrutiny. I do think America has calmed down since the Bush Administration (Trump is nowhere near as evil IMO), however, Xi and Putin are absolute despots and Russia and China are at their peak of incivility. Trump may actually be bringing troops home soon. He keeps asking for more and more money (may as well try) to keep troops abroad and is fighting with the generals. Let's see because according to some Americans he is the last person you would expect given all the crap he is doing internally.

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Great review! First book review that I've read on STEEM... should be a more common thing! I totally agree with you on the Trump not being Putin... people do have a habit of blowing things up a little bit (this people only one thing...) ... they aren't even on the same order of magnitude!

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I do wish more people discussed books on Steem, too. Reading a book takes a lot of effort and it's good to get a recommend first. Also it will improve SEO and bring people to Steem compared to something like 'cats' where competition is impossible.

Everyone is called a racist, supremacist, fascist, or another sort of extremist these days. Also, things are taken so out of context we cannot trust anything until we see the actual sound clip or quote. Then there is the issue with every other question by a journalist seeming to be entrapment or misleading and not a legitimate question. My favorite recent one was "Would you kill baby Hitler?" Of all the pointless questions to ask someone unless you are in some kind of philosophy classroom.

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