Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Open Letter To Queen Elizabeth II

Dear Queen Elizabeth II,

Please, do not let your country to ruin the peace in Europe. I know that UK is fond of the wars in the Middle-East, playing with new toys in the sand, but don't bring unrest to our peaceful continent. Russia, which you have recognized as an independent country, has its own constitution. This constitution has many parts, and one of them seems to be they don't extradite Russian citizens to your country because of this kind of crimes. Why do I need to tell you, the leader of a great nation, this?

We have a similar part in our constitution in Finland; Finland will not extradite Finnish citizens to be trialed in a country where from that crime maximum penalty is a death sentence. You can't make us without us breaking our constitution. How would you feel about any country that takes actions against you if you are not willing to break your constitution? What kind of country would that be? What would be the meaning of the constitution if you wipe your behind with it?

Did you guys extradite Berezovski and Zakajev to Russia? Nope, didn't think so. Seems to me you are practicing the logic of a 4-year old. "I'm not letting you have my toy car, but you must give me your lollipop." What did that one dude say some time ago? "Do to others what you would have them do to you." Show a little backbone, please.

Up until now Aleksandr Grushko has said that they are not counter-extraditing British diplomats, as they want the best of their people and don't want this kind of silly political debates endanger the safety of their people. Please do the same. You can ask, you can beg, you can demand, and you can plead, but still, they have their own laws and it's not right (in so many levels) to force this issue. Extraditing diplomats is a very very bad decision if you want to have at least some diplomatic relations to Russia.

And another point. Russia is not Soviet Union, but they still have - among other things - nuclear weapons. Get it? Nuclear friggin' weapons! You want to willingly test their zen-skills?

Yet another point. Soviet Union survived without UK. Russia is not too far from that kind of independence. You need their natural resources more than they need yours. Are you planning to cut diplomatic relations and with it all trade with Russia? "Hm... My leg is itching. Maybe I just shoot it?" Yes, yes, Anthony Brenton says this incident will not affect the trade between the countries. But for how long? Putin is not (as far as I know) a Buddhist and does not follow Gandhi's teachings. He will not bend in the wind forever, you know.

This opinion has nothing to do with Litvinenko's murder. That was wrong, and yes, it was horrible death. Still I think ends don't always justify the means and solving crime by breaking laws is one of these cases. Especially when it's no ordinary law, but the constitution.

Have respect for it.

Do not wake the bear.


Yours sincerely,

Sami Rautiainen

3 comments:

Sami Rautiainen said...

Darn...

Today I read from the newspaper Russia is going to extradicte four British diplomats and refuse to give out any visa's to British tourists. They say they cannot do co-operation with Great Britain against "the war on terror".

UK, hey, come on. It's a show anyways. You know they are not going to extradicte any Russians anyways...

Sami Rautiainen said...

Darn...

Today I read from the newspaper Russia is going to extradicte four British diplomats and refuse to give out any visa's to British tourists. They say they cannot do co-operation with Great Britain against "the war on terror".

UK, hey, come on. It's a show anyways. You know they are not going to extradicte any Russians anyways...

Don KeyShot said...

Dear Sami...

Much like yourself, I always hope for the best and even knowing that despite our oh such great leaders can always get away with anything (if one can have sex in the Oval Table and get away with it, what makes you think the others wont want to fuck us around?) - the people will one day have their say. My only concern is that part of our society seems to "evolve" to a similar species as the one seen on that movie you talked about some time ago: Idiocracy.

One of the worst examples of the "do as I say and not as I do" is the US administration. When you read articles such as: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/05/141256
and http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/01/08/usint16108.htm
you lose all faith in the people that represent such government. Some weeks ago, I saw a documentary on BBC about these outsourcing prisons serving Guantanamo. A Canadian citizen had been detained and now that he has been let out, the American Government refuses to accept any responsability or even discuss this case.
And no one seems to care. Many simply sollow the herd. Even when they know they are being lied to. The Matrix effect - the blue and the red pill...
But you are absolutely right when you say that some of these diplomatic issues sometimes lead to countries shooting themselves on the foot - or cutting a leg because of an itch... lol
What happens, I think, is that sometimes there is precedence in the cases - that determines how to act under those circumstances - or these is the need to create one...
Remember the guy who chew his arm off to save his life?...

Maybe the Queen has a major itch and scratching is leading nowhere...
Plus, Russia had better days with the leaders of the western world. UK are just being solidary with their best friends.