Thread: US Congressman:repeal Jackson-Vanik Amendment

U.S. Congressman Urges Repeal Of Jackson-Vanik Amendment


(RFE/RL)
February 21, 2007 -- U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos (Democrat, California) has called for an end to a decades-old U.S. restriction on trade with Russia.


Speaking in Moscow, Lantos called the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment a "relic of the Cold War" and vowed to "spare no effort" in seeking its removal.

Lantos is the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The amendment links bilateral trade to emigration rights.

Russia has long urged the United States to cancel the amendment. Moscow regards the amendment as a major barrier to its effort to join the World Trade Organization (WTO).

WTO rules prevent members from imposing such trade restrictions on other members.

Lantos, a Holocaust survivor who was born in Hungary, has often been a harsh critic of Russia.

He is in Moscow for talks with Russian officials.

(AFP, AP)

http://www.americaneconomicalert.com/ne ... ID=2499731

Last night I read a law passed in the 1800's, dealing with Chinese coming here to work...amongst all the legal mumble-jumble, I gathered it started out with a treaty...saying the Chinese could come here...after being flooded for years with Chinese, and them staying to themselves, making towns to resemble China and not learning English....Americans were fed up and wanted to stop the migration from China.....a law was passed stating that the USA could say who, and how many come here.

Is the above amendment about Russians migrating here in return for trade?

The Jackson-Varnik Amendment was enacted in order to pressure the Soviet Union, which was imprisoning millions of Jews who were prevented from emigrating abroad.

It was a key piece of legislation during the tail-end of the Cold War era, which was marked by some of the deepest and most extensive repression within the USSR of dissidents both abroad and domestically, especially "refuseniks" like Natan Sharansky and Andrei Sakharov.

Along with the Helsinki Accords it was probably the most pivotal non-military, non-intelligence aspect of destroying the Evil Empire.

Critics carp at Gerald Ford-and make it seem as if he was a total incompetent-but they refuse to acknowledge the leading role he played in unraveling the preeminence of the Soviet Union.

They constantly highlight his-admittedly stupid-gaffe during the 1976 presidential debates with Carter-but never credit him for doing things that set the stage for the great Ronald Reagan, who dealt the finishing touches to that monstrously inhuman octopus.