Russia to ban marriages to Americans?

[Belvis]

Agreed...if we reciprocated against the growing anti-American sentiment within Russia with laws against Russian ex-patriate activities in the US, I believe the exile Russians would unite and bring effective pressure against the Duma and Putin.

So? A ban on U.S.-Russian marriages which could be easier to enforce inside US? Unexpected twist 

[ECOCKS]

So? A ban on U.S.-Russian marriages which could be easier to enforce inside US? Unexpected twist 

You'll find it pretty difficult to ban American citizens from marrying citizens of other countries so "reciprocate" isn't the right word.


Certainly we could "retaliate" (if we cared to) by tightening visas, lowering the immigration allocation/green card lottery numbers against a country that participates in it (Russia is already excluded), restricting adoptions from our side, changing medical standards, currency transfer restrictions, work permits, trade sanctions, etc. We could even send another unit or two to NATO, if we can afford it.

[cc3]

So? A ban on U.S.-Russian marriages which could be easier to enforce inside US? Unexpected twist 

I am not espousing a ban on US-Russian marriages within the US. Read my post with a little more discernment. I said :" ...laws against Russian ex-patriate activities...". I contemplate that laws restricting Russian financial and residence activities, within the US, should Russian legislation become exaggeratingly and overtly extremely anti-American,  directed at the Russian 'nouveaux riche', who buy their way into the US, would cause a reaction, from abroad, against the xenophobic hysteria growing back within the rising 'Iron Curtain' of the re-Sovietizing Russia. 

[cc3]

You'll find it pretty difficult to ban American citizens from marrying citizens of other countries so "reciprocate" isn't the right word.


Certainly we could "retaliate" (if we cared to) by tightening visas, lowering the immigration allocation/green card lottery numbers against a country that participates in it (Russia is already excluded), restricting adoptions from our side, changing medical standards, currency transfer restrictions, work permits, trade sanctions, etc. We could even send another unit or two to NATO, if we can afford it.

+1
I think we are of of the same mind...and you are right about my choice of words. "Retaliate" is better than "reciprocate".

[Belvis]

Certainly we could "retaliate" (if we cared to) by tightening visas, lowering the immigration allocation/green card lottery numbers against a country that participates in it (Russia is already excluded), restricting adoptions from our side, changing medical standards, currency transfer restrictions, work permits

Well, this is exactly what russian authorities would welcome.  Tightening visas and  work permits will help them to stop the brain drain.

[cc3]

Well, this is exactly what russian authorities would welcome.  Tightening visas and  work permits will help them to stop the brain drain.

Who cares about Russian brains? We want Russian tennis players, especially the female ones,  . Maria Sharapova could finally step forward as an American and Floridian, instead of posing as a Russian resident. 

[Belvis]

Who cares about Russian brains? We want Russian tennis players, especially the female ones,  . Maria Sharapova could finally step forward as an American and Floridian, instead of posing as a Russian resident. 

You can keep Maria Sharapova. Russia cares more about brains than legs 

[ECOCKS]

LOL, OR we could increase the visa allocations, offer in-state tuition to Russian students and so on.

Just saying that I cannot conceive of a way or situation that the US could successfully ban heterosexual marriages by citizens. Even with Cubans and North Koreans this is  not a possibility.


 

[cc3]

You can keep Maria Sharapova. Russia cares more about brains than legs 

Good! We'll do that...we get most of our good brains from Asia anyway!

[cc3]

Good! We'll do that...we get most of our good brains from Asia anyway!

Actually, it's her screams, when hitting the ball, that I like  .

[Chicagoguy]

I will start by saying I am older than my wife and she is no spring chicken either. A couple years ago I told her I thought I stole her from Russia and Russian men. She had never been married, great figure, very cute and a wonderful personality and temperment. I was serious. Taking away someone like this.
She scoffed at me and replied "there aren't enough men in Russia". That, plus the fact that she has a very low opinion of the Russian men. So like the orphans, it would be the women who would be the losers if this really happened. IMHO

[roykirk]

My wife and I were discussing this last night; could they even ban foreign marriages if they wanted to?  I think about the only way you do that is by restricting foreign travel, which I doubt the Russian people would tolerate.  Maybe you discourage it by threatening to confiscate property and freeze bank accounts of anyone suspected of emigrating for the purpose of marriage? 

[ECOCKS]

My wife and I were discussing this last night; could they even ban foreign marriages if they wanted to?  I think about the only way you do that is by restricting foreign travel, which I doubt the Russian people would tolerate.  Maybe you discourage it by threatening to confiscate property and freeze bank accounts of anyone suspected of emigrating for the purpose of marriage?

They could certainly order that no marriages to citizens of XXXXXXX would take place within their system. I also took it that IF a government worker married an American they would lose their job [with the government].


That just means you need to get them out of the country though. The Russians cannot really stop you from getting married to an American if the two of you are patient and thorough.

[noelscot]

It really is scary the level of mind control the press exerts over there.  People can joke all they want about MSNBC or Fox News, but they don't hold a candle to what Russians will believe when they watch television.  My wife has lived here several years now, and I've slowly convinced her that Putin is not all he's cracked up to be and have slowly taught her to regard mainstream press with a healthy dose of skepticism.  She's an educated woman, two masters degrees, very sharp.  But when I told her these stories Russian politicians were making up about Americans adopting babies to harvest their organs she immediately says, "but I've heard stories about that.  They say it's been happening for years."  When I asked her where she heard the stories she said, "On the televis...."  Her face turned bright red as she realized how hard it is to get away from that mindset of believing everything you're told.  It's the way she was raised, and it's going to take a while before she can really start thinking on her own.  Imagine how hard it is for people who still live there.

The American media, and pretty much all media, does the same thing--serve the government and/or their corporate masters. Herd-people will mindlessly believe whatever the media and/or government tells them, and more skeptical people will always ask, "Cui bono?" (who benefits) Americans/Westerners are just as mindless as the average Russian.
 
Russia banned foreigners from adopting because they are experiencing a population crisis. There are more abortions in Russia than live births. That trend is unsustainable for future generations. So it's not purely an anti-American policy per se, but rather a self-preservation policy.
 
It's cultural relativism if you think Russians are fundamentally different from Americans/Westerners. Also, some of the smartest people I have known have no college education whatsoever and were self-educated businessmen. It's not necessarily part of being worldly. 

[mendeleyev]

To add, births in Muslim republics outpace white Russian births by a wide margin. That is one of the reasons for the appointment of governors in order to control local politics.

As one can imagine that live birth trend has ethnic Russians nervous.

[Ranetka]

 
Russia banned foreigners from adopting because they are experiencing a population crisis. There are more abortions in Russia than live births. That trend is unsustainable for future generations. So it's not purely an anti-American policy per se, but rather a self-preservation policy.

I believe Russia only banned American adoptions. 

[mies]

2. A ban on U.S.-Russian marriages

Fyodorov, the United Russia deputy, submitted another bill that would forbid government employees from marrying foreigners. He believes that having a foreign spouse is much like owning foreign real estate: Both raise questions of loyalty to the motherland and should be outlawed.

What do you think?

God, please let me see the moment when Russian government employees will stop owning foreign real estate.

[Ranetka]

God, please let me see the moment when Russian government employees will stop owning foreign real estate.

+1.


I do not care what kind of human right or personal freedom will be broken.

[noelscot]

To add, births in Muslim republics outpace white Russian births by a wide margin. That is one of the reasons for the appointment of governors in order to control local politics.

As one can imagine that live birth trend has ethnic Russians nervous.

They're whistling past the graveyard.

[noelscot]

I believe Russia only banned American adoptions.

You're right. I read more about it. Americans will simply adopt from home and other countries abroad. Part of this new legislation is that Putin sees Obama as weak and is basically telling him to go get his shine box.
 

 
And Obama is no Joe Pesci. Putin would rip his head off in a fight.

[cc3]

To add, births in Muslim republics outpace white Russian births by a wide margin. That is one of the reasons for the appointment of governors in order to control local politics.

As one can imagine that live birth trend has ethnic Russians nervous.

Simply go to a one child policy a la China. Russia, after all, is no longer a truly democratic nation that respects human rights (if it ever was). It could apply the one child policy to the Muslim states only.

To preempt scathing replies, my comment is, more or less, tongue-in-cheek.