Michael Berglin: Russia and America, the quiet detente - a Pravda reader writes us

Since the first of a series of articles about the new Russian and American detente was published, John Collins, a Pravda.ru reader wrote in and commented about a bill before the US Senate floor. 

Mr. Collins referred us to efforts by U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell to require criminal checks on all American men who wish to marry a woman from a foreign country.  

Senator Cantwell uses the phrase human trafficking when talking about such agencies as www.womenrussia.com.  Senator Cantwell misses the mark with this phrase and it is a very strong term. 

Human trafficking is the practice of selling human beings for what ever purposes.  There are some countries where buying a person for prostitution is legal.   

What Senator Cantwell might want to do is change her phrasing to international marriage agencies.  Marriage agencies do not sell people. 

The thrust of Senator Cantwell proposal is well meaning and applicable. But she is only echoing the concerns this writer has already expressed more than a year ago.   

Our thanks to Mr. Collins for his keen observations and his letter his letter only enforces this writer's position.  A Russian woman has every right and need to know an American man's background.   

Pravda.ru will lead the way in presenting a viable solution.  And, we are waiting on responses by several law enforcement agencies. 

It should be the onus of the American man to prove that he does not have a history of felony convictions or convictions of domestic abuse.  This should be presented to the Russian woman upfront and immediately before any further correspondence happens. Or better yet, such proof should be a requirement of every American man who registers with any marriage broker.   

An American male can go into his local police department and ask for a criminal background check and the results in writing. 

Again, thank you, Mr. Collins for your letter. 

Michael Berglin