Russia and the US

[Stan]

Hey Brian !

Personally, I think some of the best lobbying we could all do right now is to grant Russia most favored nation status and grant Russian Federation Citizens automatic right to enter the USA without a visa and work. Set up a special mutual passport recognition, but make it unilateral if Putin doesn't like it.

I might be inclined to most favored nation status, but visa-free entry would literally equate to opening Pandora's Box on this end of the world. The long-awaited Schengen Visa policy is already a quagmire promising little benefit in exchange for Russians to freely tramp across Europe.

There'll be some criminals, but most of them get over here anyway, they just bribe people at embassies. Costs about $50K to wash a record over there and convince key people to put the stamps on. (I've heard reports of as low as $10-$15K, but if they're true, somebody has an employee over a barrel.)

Jeez, I hope that's not going on at US Embassies. Washing one's record of mafia-relation is one thing (eliminates the host nation MFA from declining the visa request), but 'selling' a US visa for 15K seems highly unlikely.

There's an interesting Russian opinion here regarding Putin's visit to Tehran.

Solution of the Iranian nuclear issue is in Tehran and Washington, not in Moscow