Russia ends student exchange with US because student was adopted by gay couple

[Josquius]

Exchange programmes are usually meant to be mutual. Many american kids studying rrussian these days?

[garbon]

Exchange programmes are usually meant to be mutual. Many american kids studying rrussian these days?

Russia was one part of the Soviet Union.

Where do FLEX students come from?

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Moldova
Russia
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Ukraine

Given that FLEX is paid for by the US, it would apparently behoove Russia if they want to bring Americans over.  Besides, do you think no exchange happens between the student and host family?

[grumbler]

FLEX doesn't send American kids to FSU.  It is a one-way program.

If Russia doesn't want to play, that just means more students from other FSU countries get to go to the US.  Russia's "punishment" of the program for "kidnapping" is kinda cut-off-own-nose-ish.

[Ed Anger]

Good. They won't see the Big Board.

[derspiess]

If Russia doesn't want to play, that just means more students from other FSU countries get to go to the US.  Russia's "punishment" of the program for "kidnapping" is kinda cut-off-own-nose-ish.

Then it's in line with the rest of its policy towards the US

[grumbler]

If Russia doesn't want to play, that just means more students from other FSU countries get to go to the US.  Russia's "punishment" of the program for "kidnapping" is kinda cut-off-own-nose-ish.

Then it's in line with the rest of its policy towards the US

Not just the US.  Russia's deals with China consist of Russia arguing strenuously for China to fuck Russia up the ass.

[DontSayBanana]

Never ceases to amaze me just how far into isolationism Putin seems to be willing to let Russia slip.  He's gotta realize that isolationism is just going to leave him less margin for error in the event of any domestic crises/resource shortages.  The less involved Russia is in world politics, the less he can blame domestic problems on foreign influence.

It's like he's putting the "kick me" sign on his own back.

[Jacob]

The less involved Russia is in world politics, the less he can blame domestic problems on foreign influence.

Your conclusion does not follow from your premise.

[Syt]

Never ceases to amaze me just how far into isolationism Putin seems to be willing to let Russia slip.  He's gotta realize that isolationism is just going to leave him less margin for error in the event of any domestic crises/resource shortages.  The less involved Russia is in world politics, the less he can blame domestic problems on foreign influence.

It's like he's putting the "kick me" sign on his own back.

He wants to insulate Russia from foreign influences, but he still wants to play a role in international politics. Heck, half his blustering is an attempt to be counted as a world power who can run with the big boys.

[KRonn]

Medvedev is still around.  I think Putin has plenty of fellow travelers and like-minded souls. 

Of course, probay none of them has his cojones/hubris/gravitas.

I think the real question is which mechanism determines who succeeds Putin? Vicious no-holds barred in-fighting? Something a little more restrained and organized followed by purges? A fairly smooth Chinese politbureau transition?

Hmm, doubtful, but maybe another Russian civil war as they straighten things out and decide on which course they want to take as a nation.   

[Martinus]

Apparently, one of the separatist republics in Eastern Ukraine just passed a law criminalising gay sex with 5 years of imprisonment.

Mark my words, gays in this "cycle" will be what Jews were in 1930s.

[Valmy]

Apparently, one of the separatist republics in Eastern Ukraine just passed a law criminalising gay sex with 5 years of imprisonment.

Mark my words, gays in this "cycle" will be what Jews were in 1930s.

Or what the Gays were in 1930s.

Is there any surprise that they eagerly tow the Russian line? 

[Martinus]

Apparently, one of the separatist republics in Eastern Ukraine just passed a law criminalising gay sex with 5 years of imprisonment.

Mark my words, gays in this "cycle" will be what Jews were in 1930s.

Or what the Gays were in 1930s.

Is there any surprise that they eagerly tow the Russian line?

I don't think gays were as prominent in the nazi propaganda - they were more of an afterthought in the Holocaust. Right now it is different - gays play the central role in the Russian hate agenda.

The most disgusting part - at least from my personal perspective - are Polish right-wingers who hate Putin but say that "at least he is right about gays". This is an almost 100% repetition of what Polish right wingers used to say (and, perhaps not openly, still say) about Hitler and Jews.

[Syt]

http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-united-states-flex-program-gay-student-/26626078.html

Seems the "stolen" teen is gay and afraid to go home.

Gay Russian Student 'Afraid To Go Home'

WASHINGTON -- The lawyer for a Russian teenager who remained in the United States after completing a U.S.-Russian exchange program says her client is seeking political asylum due to fears of persecution in Russia because he is gay.

"Our client is afraid of returning to Russia because Russia persecutes gay people. That's what this is about," Susan Reed, an attorney with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, told RFE/RL on October 7.

The boy lived with an American family and attended a U.S. high school in 2012-13 as part of the decades-old Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX).

But he did not return to his home country at the conclusion of the exchange as required by the program. His decision to remain in the United States emerged last week when Russia cited the case in its decision to suspend its participation in FLEX.

Moscow's subsequent explanations of the move, conveyed through state-controlled Russian media and Twitter, were rife with lurid insinuation that the boy had been manipulated by homosexual adults during his time in the United States.

Russia's child-protection ombudsman, Pavel Astakhov, told Russia's TASS state news agency that "a U.S. homosexual couple" had illegally established "guardianship" over a boy whose mother remains in Russia.

A TASS report based on sources in the Russian Embassy in Washington said that Russian diplomats clarified that in Michigan, where the boy attended high school, "like in many other states, it is not illegal to have sexual relations with a 16-year-old adolescent and is not considered the basis for criminal prosecution against those who seduce minors."

Reed told RFE/RL that the statements and reports from Russian officials seem to suggest "that there's some person or some people whose sexual orientation is relevant. And that's just not the case."

"There's no adoption, there's no untoward behavior," she said. "He met many caring adults, both gay and straight in the U.S., and he decided to stay here because he was afraid to go home."

Controversial Law

Critics say the Kremlin is fostering a menacing atmosphere for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Russia, where antipathy toward homosexuals continues to run deep, according to public opinion polls in recent years.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last year enacted a controversial law banning "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships" among minors. Western governments and rights groups decried it as discriminatory toward gays, while Putin and other Russian officials claimed the legislation was aimed at protecting children and encouraging Russia's birth rate.

Violent antigay militant groups in Russia have in recent years also embarked on a brutal guerrilla campaign in which they use the Internet to lure homosexuals into meeting up with the promise of a romantic encounter.

In Focus: War Against Gays


Instead, the victims are assaulted, humiliated and forced to disclose their personal information in videos that the attackers then distribute online.

Citing privacy concerns, Reed had previously refused to confirm publicly that he applied for political asylum based on his sexual orientation.

She said, however, that she decided to discuss the matter publicly after an October 4 "New York Times" report that cited an unidentified U.S. official as confirming that the boy had applied for political asylum based on his sexual orientation.

Reed called it "shocking" that a U.S. official would speak to the media about an asylum-seeker's case or the basis for the application.

"But I think it does at least allow me now to say that this is about our client, and our client's identity, and our client's fear of returning to Russia. It's not about anybody else," she told RFE/RL.

She declined to give further details about her client's asylum application.

Russia's pullout will open more places for students from Ukraine and other nations in the government-sponsored program, which provides scholarships to high school students from 10 former Soviet republics to study in the United States for a full academic year.

The U.S. State Department's top official for European and Eurasian affairs, Victoria Nuland, said she is saddened by Russia's decision "to deny their own citizens the opportunity to study in the United States" and hopes Russia's participation will be restored "in the not-too-distant future."

"In the meantime, we will have more than 100 extra slots for Ukrainians," she said in a speech to students in Kyiv on October 7.

Those slots will bring the number available to Ukrainians to more than 300.

The rest of the nearly 240 slots currently occupied by Russians will go to Georgia, Moldova, and Armenia, according to "The New York Times."

[Razgovory]

Apparently, one of the separatist republics in Eastern Ukraine just passed a law criminalising gay sex with 5 years of imprisonment.

Mark my words, gays in this "cycle" will be what Jews were in 1930s.

Or what the Gays were in 1930s.

Is there any surprise that they eagerly tow the Russian line?

I don't think gays were as prominent in the nazi propaganda - they were more of an afterthought in the Holocaust. Right now it is different - gays play the central role in the Russian hate agenda.

The most disgusting part - at least from my personal perspective - are Polish right-wingers who hate Putin but say that "at least he is right about gays". This is an almost 100% repetition of what Polish right wingers used to say (and, perhaps not openly, still say) about Hitler and Jews.

I think you are right.  I think the Russians are using gays as an example of the corrupting influence of the West.  I think they might be able to get influence with right wing parties in Europe and beyond with that rhetoric.