US investor and writer Bill Browder gives a talk in the Festivities Hall of the University of Iceland Friday 20 November 2015 at 12–13, sponsored by RNH, the Public Book Club (Almenna bokafelagid) and the Institute of International Affairs at the University of Iceland. The title of the talk is “Putin’s Russia”. In Red Notice, a book recently published in Icelandic, Browder describes his eventful life and the reckoning with Putin. The grandson of Earl Browder, leader of the US Communist Party, Bill Browder rebelled against the left-wing views of his family and studied finance at Stanford University. He became one of the most successful investors in Russia after the collapse of communism, in a very unstable environment. For a while he supported Putin against the Oligarchs, but then Putin turned against him. When Browder’s Russian friend and lawyer, Sergey Magnitsky, was imprisoned by the Russian authorities, tortured and left to die, Browder took a vow that justice should be obtained for him. On his recommendation, the US Congress passed the “Magnitsky Act”, barring those responsible for Magnitsky’s death from entering the United States or doing any business on US territory. Allegedly, Putin regards Browder as his Enemy No. One. Browder’s book is being published in 22 languages. Its name is derived from a “red notice” which Interpol, at the insistence of Russian authorities, put out against Browder for alleged crimes in Russia, withdrawing it almost immediately when the charges were found to be groundless. Browder’s talk, as well as the publication of his book, forms a part of the joint project of RNH and AECR, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, on “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalism”.
Former Justice Minister Bjorn Bjarnason chairs the meeting, and a discussion will follow the talk. Here is a speech recently given by Browder on how he became Putin’s Enemy No. One:
