Bye bye, little babushkas; enjoy your tuberculosis

[CountDeMoney]

Russia's Putin: I'll sign law banning American adoptions

By NBC News staff and wire reports

Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled on Thursday that he would sign a controversial bill banning Americans from adopting Russian children, a defiant move against the United States that has angered some who argue that it victimizes children to make a political point.

The law could block dozens of Russian children expected to be adopted by American families from leaving the country and cut off one of the main international routes for Russian children to leave orphanages that are often dismal. Russia is the single biggest source of adopted children in the United States, with more than 60,000 Russian children being taken in by Americans over the past two decades.

The bill is retaliation for an American law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators and part of an increasingly confrontational stance by the Kremlin against the West.

Putin said U.S. authorities routinely let Americans suspected of violence toward Russian adoptees go unpunished — a clear reference to Dima Yakovlev, a Russian toddler for whom the bill is named. The child was adopted by Americans and then died in 2008 after his father left him in a car in broiling heat for hours. The father was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Putin indicated that he would endorse the measure.

"I still don't see any reasons why I should not sign it," he told a televised meeting, The Associated Press reported. He went on to say that he "intends" to sign it.

Children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov on Wednesday said that 46 children who were about to be adopted in the United States would remain in Russia in case the bill comes into effect. On Thursday, he petitioned the president to extend the ban to other countries.

Would-be adoptive parents in the United States are left hanging by Putin's position on the bill, which was passed by Russian lawmakers last week.

Among them are John and Renee Thomas of Minnetonka, Minn., Kari Huus of NBC News reported. The Thomases have already adopted Jack, 7, from Russia. When they found out he had a little brother, they began the process to try to adopt him, too. The wait has stretched to four years, and now the adoption may be in danger.

"When Jack is asked about his family, he talks about his brother," John Thomas said. "He always asks, 'When is he coming home?' We just tell him we're waiting for the call."

UNICEF estimates that there are about 740,000 children without parental custody in Russia, while only 18,000 Russians are now waiting to adopt a child.

The U.S. State Department says it regrets the Russian Parliament's decision to pass the bill, saying it would prevent many children from growing up in families.

Critics of the bill have left dozens of stuffed toys and candles outside the parliament's lower and upper houses to express solidarity with Russian orphans.

[DGuller]

I was about to start this topic myself.  Funny how Russian minds work:  Americans punish corrupt murderous bureaucrats, Russians retaliate by ... punishing their own sick orphans.  They sure proved they're hardcore.  If it wasn't so sad, it would be very amusing.

[Liep]

2 birds 1 stone. Russia is in need of more Russians and in perpetual need of annoying America.

[derspiess]

As concerned as Putin is about his demographic implosion, you'd think he would take better care of Russian orphans in the first place.

[Admiral Yi]

If the ban is only on American adopters, how is he going to prevent 3rd party transfers? 

[merithyn]

That's not going to work, I don't think, Yi. Well, it might, but by the time the children make it through the different systems, the ban will be long gone.

Hmm. I guess that means that I have to cross Russia off my list of places for potential adoptions.

[Syt]

Hmm. I guess that means that I have to cross Russia off my list of places for potential adoptions.

Why do you want to be adopted by Russians?

[CountDeMoney]

Hmm. I guess that means that I have to cross Russia off my list of places for potential adoptions.

Why do you want to be adopted by Russians?

No shit, Meri.  Think, girl.

[Eddie Teach]

Then she'd have to cross off Iran too.

[CountDeMoney]

My brother-in-law's sister and her husband adopted a Cossack a few years ago, since her insides were a rocky place where his seed could find no purchase.

Went over there 3 times to get the run-around over him, coughing up more cash along the way.  Told them not to deal with those people, fucking Afghans would be easier to deal with, but noooo, they wanted a little Cossack.  When they finally scored, he had to get hospitalized at reentry because he tested positive as a TB carrier.  Of course.

He's frigging huge for his age, has a head the size of a Conoco 76 sign.  They're thinking Boris and Natasha lied about his age.  YA THINK
Ice skates like a brute, though.  Definitely going to be an enforcer.

[DGuller]

I wonder if some Americans go for the Russians because they're the only widely available white brand of foreign babies. 

[Ed Anger]

I wonder if some Americans go for the Russians because they're the only widely available white brand of foreign babies. 

available white babies.

[CountDeMoney]

I wonder if some Americans go for the Russians because they're the only widely available white brand of foreign babies. 

That's why they did it:  they figured if they went for Chinese carry-out, he/she would encounter "identity problems" growing up.
I thought it was a bullshit excuse, but hey.

[Ed Anger]

Chinese babies are full of lead.

[DGuller]

I guess Ukrainian orphanages are stocking up as we speak, they're about to get a big boost for their business.