committed an offense, the court may depart from the guidelines.
United States Sentencing Commission Guidelines Manual § 5K1.1 (emphasis added). To conclude that the Government's investigation was not "furthered" in any manner because information tending to demonstrate the lack of guilt of the suspect was disclosed as a result of the defendants' cooperation, is disingenuous and displays a disregard by the Government of a primary objective of its office and its responsibility to the public.
The Government's silence as to the details of the assistance provided by the defendants is troubling. Due to the paucity of facts of the defendants' cooperation offered by the Government, the Court is unable to conclude, at this time, whether the Government has acted in good faith in declining to move for a downward departure.that in the 1990s, amid domestic chaos and economic collapse, Russia's views no longer mattered.

A generalised resentment, similar to the sour undercurrents of Weimar Germany, began to focus on specific issues: the nonchalance of the Clinton Administration about Russian sensitivities, especially over the Balkans and in opening Nato's door to former Warsaw Pact members; the neo-conservative agenda of the early Bush years that saw no role for Russia in its global agenda; and Washington's ingratitude after 9/11 for vital Kremlin support over terrorism, Afghanistan and intelligence on extremism.

More infuriating was Western encouragement of “freedom” in the former Soviet satellite states that gave carte blanche to forces long hostile to Russia. In the Baltic states, Soviet occupation could be portrayed as worse than the Nazis. EU commissioners from new