Election day and NGO GOLOS and a Cup of Coffee in Russia…

I have to say that the Western press is having a cow over this election in Russia! I really believe that the Western press has gone off the deep end this time, with the lies and stories. But that is another issue and since the Western press is a total falsification of any pertinent facts and truth, then listening to the Western press is detrimental to your mental health in all aspects…

I am home alone this Sunday because Sveta has traveled to her mother so that they can go vote together. Misha Sveta’s son will meet them at grandma’s flat and they will all go vote. I know that this year as well as the last few years, they are going to vote communist…

I find that strange to hear for this past brainwashed American (me). Communist is such a dirty word in America. In fact I have seen several instances lately of politicians using the communist word…

Why just a few days ago this was all over the American news – “I helped Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp develop supply side economics. I helped lead the effort to defeat communism, in the Congress.” said Newt Gingrich to Fox News…   Read more: >>>

So it looks as if the word communist still is a vote tactic that will never die. Just as, hate evil Russia or China will never die. But until we (America) get over our idiosyncrasies and hypocrisies, then we will never become the respected country that we have disillusioned ourselves to think we are…

So while America is dreaming of their grandeur of escapades in destroying communism! I sit here drinking my morning cup of coffee and contemplate the fact that a whole bunch of people I know in Russia are going to vote for the communist party. People that I never realized who would vote for them are voting for communist. Now if I see a really small turnout of communist votes, then I maybe starting to wonder!  I realize that Putin has been working on at least a semblance of a two party system and this looks to be baring fruit. Hmmm we will have to wait and see…

I never though in my life I would be rubbing shoulders with communist and you want to know something? If it was not for the word communist being used to label them. I would swear that they are human just like you and me… 🙂

Next on my thinking’s is about an issue that is really a prime example of American interference in Russian elections…

I have a question: How would America react if there was a NGO (like Golos) violating the rules and morals of her laws and political structure?

Russia found that Golos had violated Russia’s election laws and fined the organization just under $1,000 for violations. Russia also said that Golos received funding from foreign sources for their political activities, which is point blank against Russian law, just as it is in America. This was all in conjunction with information that America was ready to instigate a color revolution in Russia soon after the elections…

Now this is very believable and most likely true but as I already know most Americans will still point the finger at Russia and say, “Bad Bad Bad Bad Russia!” If you know about this then I bet that you have already made a derogatory statement about Russia and her cheating political system. Yes I hear you right now…

Why would Russia trust any organization such as Golos that is directly funded by the USA to play games with in the borders of the Russian country. The USA would not so why should Russia? Since we all know that America is causing issues in many countries all over the world and in fact, we now have so much evidence to the positiveness of that fact, that the US hardly even tries to cover up their instigation anymore…

This is a sign that the people living in the borders of the US are so domiciled that the government is running amuck with no citizen control…

Try this:

Reference ID 07MOSCOW5526 (original text)
Subject NGO GOLOS PREPARES TO OBSERVE DUMA ELECTIONS
Origin Embassy Moscow
Classification CONFIDENTIAL
Released Aug 30, 2011 01:44
Created Nov 26, 2007 15:41
VZCZCXRO5520
PP RUEHDBU
DE RUEHMO #5526/01 3301541
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 261541Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5447
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 005526

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2017
TAGS:
SUBJECT: NGO GOLOS PREPARES TO OBSERVE DUMA ELECTIONS

REF: MOSCOW 5338

Classified By: Ambassador William J. Burns: 1.4(d).

1. (C) Summary: The NGO Golos is preparing to observe the
Duma elections on December 2, and has begun monitoring
pre-election activities. Golos has already run into legal
trouble in one region, and while its leaders are unaware of
any other impending legal action, they remain potentially
vulnerable because of the sensitive political environment,
their rationale for observing elections, and the
organization’s legal structure. Golos is also subject to
charges that it is a tool of Western governments, because
almost 90 percent of its budget comes from USAID and because
it is increasingly identified with marginalized parties.
Nevertheless, Golos remains the only credible Russian NGO
capable of nationwide election day monitoring. End Summary.

——————————
Plans to Observe the Elections
——————————

2. (C) Russia’s electoral law allows only accredited
journalists and members of political parties to observe
elections inside polling stations. Lyudmila Alekseyeva of
Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) noted that because of the new
law, MHG would be unable to observe elections this year as it
had done since 2000. Golos is preparing to have 3,000
monitors in polling stations around the country on election
day, and has established a toll-free telephone number for
citizens to report election law violations. Golos considers
its 3,000 observers as journalists for the quarterly
eight-page newsletter, “Citizens’ Voice.” While this claim
has not been legally tested, Shibanova is confident that
these journalist credentials would hold up in court.

3. (C) Golos Director Liliya Shibanova said that Golos’s 80
long-term observers have already noted violations of
electoral law throughout the country, and that the Golos
hotline has been receiving calls from citizens across the
country. “There are already enough violations to question
the legitimacy of the elections,” she argued, citing examples
of abuse of administrative resources, and pressure on
employees from state enterprises such as hospitals and
universities. On December 2-3, Golos will run a public
information center to send out news on the elections.

————————–
Golos is Actually Two NGOs
————————–

4. (C) Shibanova explained to us that there are two
registered NGOs named Golos: “Association Golos” and
“Regional Civic Organization Golos.” Association Golos was
established in 2000 and is the publisher-of-record for the
quarterly newsletter, “Citizens’ Voice.” Association Golos
persists as a legal entity, but ended its operations in May
2007, dismissed its staff (who were promptly hired by RCO
Golos), and has no operating funds or a budget. Association
Golos is kept legally alive because it remains the owner of
the Golos newspaper “Citizens’ Voice.” Regional Civic
Organization Golos (RCO Golos) is the funded organization
that maintains an office and staff, operates the voter
complaint hotline, coordinates the activities of the 40
regional offices, and actually prints and distributes the
newsletter.

5. (C) RCO Golos was established to improve and decentralize
its operations, as well as to escape the threat of
potentially crippling tax liabilities. Association Golos had
received grants from foreign sources such as USAID, NED, NDI,
and the Mott Foundation. In standard requests to the GOR’s
Commission on International Humanitarian and Technical
Assistance, Association Golos applied for an exemption to the
“profit tax” on foreign grants. The GOR did not respond to
these requests, and Association Golos maintained no reserve
funds to pay the taxes if the request was eventually denied.

6. (C) Golos Deputy Director Grigoriy Melkonyants explained
that Association Golos and RCO Golos have a legal agreement
for RCO Golos to print and distribute the quarterly
newsletter ostensibly written by Association Golos. Each
observer-journalist signs an agreement with Association Golos
before becoming accredited. Association Golos also has
signed a cooperative agreement with each regional branch of
RCO Golos. Melkonyants said that Golos legal advisors had
assured him that this arrangement was legally sound. Tetyana
Bogdanova, a Golos project manager, told us that Golos has
provided photo IDs and journalists credentials to each
observer, and that all electoral commissions in the 40
regions where Golos is active have been provided with color,
notarized copies of the Association-RCO agreements.

MOSCOW 00005526 002 OF 002

———————
Preparing for Trouble
———————

7. (C) Shibanova described RCO Golos’s decentralized
organization as less vulnerable to official pressure. For
example, when the activities of Golos Povolzhye in Samara
were suspended last month (reftel), no other branch of the
organization was affected. However, the entire legal
justification for the observers as journalists still rests
entirely on Association Golos, which remains vulnerable to
suspension or closure.

8. (C) In order to prevent difficulties on election day,
Shibanova said that she was seeking a meeting with Central
Elections Commissioner Churov and Russian Foundation for Free
Elections (RFFE) Executive Director Andrey Przhdomskiy.
Przhdomskiy is also the head of the Public Chamber and NGO
Coordinating Committee on elections. She will seek
assurances from both that the accredited Golos observers will
be allowed access to polling stations across the country. She
and Transparency International’s Yelena Panfilova are
planning a November 28 press conference to provide the latest
data from their long-term campaign observation efforts and
preview their plans for election day.

——————————————— —
Association with the West and Dissenting Voices
——————————————— —

9. (C) Golos is frequently associated with the West and with
dissenting voices in Russia. Golos presently receives 90
percent of its funding from USAID, and many of the regional
branches are run by former members of Yabloko, the Green
Party, or members of “Other Russia.” Golos has a voter
hotline webpage named after its toll-free telephone hotline
(www.88003333350.ru), and welcomes other organizations and
parties to put this link on their webpages. To date, only
Yabloko and SPS websites carry the link, further establishing
the perception of Golos as a voice of dissent, not
impartiality.

10. (C) In Chelyabinsk, Golos is facing competition from a
pro-government NGO “Committee of Voters” (COV) which is
critical of Golos and its affiliation with the West.
Shibanova said that there was a PR campaign against Golos
organized by the COV, and that the Chelyabinsk electoral
commission has decided to work only with the COV. Shibanova
knew of no other regions where a local pro-government
electoral observer NGO had been formed.

11. (C) On November 25 on national television, a 45-minute
documentary by Arkadiy Mamontov mixed excerpts of his
“Velvet.ru” expose of Western support for colored revolutions
with footage of the Other Russia demonstrations on Saturday
and Sunday (septel). The documentary featured a segment on
NDI training for Golos monitors, and cited USAID support of
$20 million, $4 million of which it claimed illegally went to
Russian political parties.

——-
Comment
——-

12. (C) Golos is increasingly perceived as an opponent to the
government, and more often finds itself on the side of
opposition political parties instead of being perceived as a
non-partisan watchdog. The strongest press statements on
their website are directed at the government, not at
political parties. We believe that Golos is vulnerable to
legal action aimed at its organizational structure, and the
possibility remains that Golos journalists could be
challenged on election day by a finding that its newsletter
is not a real publication, and its observers, therefore, not
real journalists. The Embassy continues to reiterate the
importance of Golos maintaining the highest commitment to
non-partisan practice and public image.
BURNS

This tells that we understand what is happening and know that Golos is undermining the political situation in Russia. But we still look the other way and when someone catches us we act offended and try to point false fingers at everyone else…

I for one am embarrassed by the actions of my country (USA), while I know every country does bad things. I will keep insisting that America has taught us different, at least in the old days, and I believe that we should try to be the most honest, moral and decent country that there is on earth. If we built our Empire by morals and decency then the Empire would last forever, but since the Empire is built on hate, no morals, deceit and lies then the fall is inevitable…

That is what I think and sticking to it…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

PS: I wonder how well a Russian funded election watchdog would fair in America if they accused America for the so called truths that they found in elections? Not very well huh! That is what I thought! Like they would not be allowed there in the first place. You see the US elections are so truthful that no one needs to keep an eye out on things… 🙂

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