“… The Trump administration announcement of export restrictions in response to accusations Moscow used a nerve agent to poison a former Russian spy in Britain […]
Headlines
JRL NEWSWATCH: “To advance almost all of our core national security and economic interests, the U.S. does not need Russia. Remember that.” – Michael McFaul/twitter
(Michael McFaul – Twitter @McFaul – August 12, 2018) “To advance almost all of our core national security and economic interests, the US does not […]
JRL NEWSWATCH: “Buddhism flourishes in Siberia, opening window on its pre-Soviet past; Orthodox Christianity may be Russia’s most high-profile religion, but it is only one of the country’s four official ‘founding’ faiths. Another of the four, Buddhism, has been experiencing a rebirth in post-Soviet Russia.” – Christian Science Monitor/Fred Weir
“… For ethnic Buryats, the resurgence of Buddhism is part of a more complex awakening, as local scholars explore the Buryats’ distinctly non-Russian historical and […]
JRL NEWSWATCH: “In Gorky Park, with nuclear worries” – The Hill/Matthew Bunn
“… U.S. nuclear weapons are aimed at military targets, from nuclear missile silos to military bases and production facilities. But many of those targets are […]
JRL NEWSWATCH: “Misery” – Irrussianality/Paul Robinson
“… If the only American media you consumed was the New York Times, you’d come to the inevitable conclusions that a) Americans are united in […]
JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Administration Gets Tough on Russia – Despite Trump; The president holds chummy meetings with Vladimir Putin, while his administration imposes new sanctions.” – New York Times Editorial
“… [N]ew sanctions imposed on Russia … [feature] a ban on export of anything with a potential military use, announced by the State Department …. […]
JRL NEWSWATCH: “This is not a hoax, and things are not okay” – Washington Post/Joe Scarborough
“… Imagine that U.S. military leaders spent most of 1941 warning President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Democratic Party of a coming Pearl Harbor attack. […]
RUSSIALINK: “Experts discuss Russian responses to new U.S. sanctions” – Bear Market Brief
“… On Friday, PM Dmitry Medvedev called potential new US sanctions ‘economic war,’ noting that Russia must respond with economic, political, and if necessary, other […]
RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-148 :: Monday, 13 August 2018
To inquire about a subscription to the full Johnson’s Russia List e-mail newsletter, e-mail David Johnson at davidjohnson@starpower.net [check back for updates, including more links; […]
How conservative is the Russian regime? Russia’s intensifying neoliberal policies and the accompanying conservative rhetoric are clear evidence of the prolonged crisis facing the Putin regime.
(opendemocracy.net – Ilya Budraitskis – August 8, 2018 – opendemocracy.net/od-russia/ilya-budraitskis/how-conservative-is-the-russian-regime – text originally commissioned for Slovak magazine “Kapital,” 8/2018 – translated by Thomas H. Campbell.) […]
JRL NEWSWATCH: “In Moscow’s Newest Park, All of Russia Comes Together” – New York Times/Roslyn Sulcas
“[The author visits] ….Zaryadye Park, Moscow’s first new green space in 50 years, designed by … American architects Diller Scofidio & Renfro … one of […]
A Landmark Caspian Agreement — And What It Resolves
(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – – Bruce Pannier – August 9, 2018- also appeared at rferl.org/a/qishloq-ovozi-landmark-caspian-agreement–and-what-it-resolves/29424824.html) It has taken more […]
NEWSLINK: “Factbox: U.S. Companies With Exposure to Russia” – Reuters
“… But new developments have raised the possibility of fresh challenges for U.S. companies in Russia. The United States on Wednesday announced it would impose […]
RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-147 :: Friday, 10 August 2018
To inquire about a subscription to the full Johnson’s Russia List e-mail newsletter, e-mail David Johnson at davidjohnson@starpower.net [check back for updates, including more links; […]
When Does Vladimir Putin’s Russia Send In Troops?
(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Simon Saradzhyan – August 7, 2018) Simon Saradzhyan is the founding director of the Russia Matters Project at Harvard Kennedy […]
JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. Think Tank’s Tiny Lab Helps Facebook Battle Fake Social Media” – Reuters/New York Times
“A day before Facebook announced that it had discovered and disabled a propaganda campaign designed to sow dissension among U.S. voters, it exclusively shared some […]
RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-146 :: Thursday, 9 August 2018
To inquire about a subscription to the full Johnson’s Russia List e-mail newsletter, e-mail David Johnson at davidjohnson@starpower.net [check back for updates, including more links; […]
NEWSLINK: “This Russian Spy Agency is in the Middle of Everything; Only a few years ago, the GRU looked like it might be dissolved. But Putin found new uses for it: covert war in Ukraine and ‘active measures’ that helped Trump get elected” – The Daily Beast/Amy Knight
“… Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, is getting blamed for all sorts of things …. Robert Mueller indicted 12 GRU officers for hacking […]
NEWSLINK: Mikheil Saakashvili: “When Russia Invaded Georgia; It happened in 2008 and foretold a decade of Putin’s adventurism” – Wall Street Journal
“Like many other heads of state, I had planned to attend the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. I canceled my trip after Russian-backed separatists began […]
RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-145 :: Wednesday, 8 August 2018
To inquire about a subscription to the full Johnson’s Russia List e-mail newsletter, e-mail David Johnson at davidjohnson@starpower.net [check back for updates, including more links; […]
U.S.-Russian Relations, U.S.-Ukrainian Relations
JRL NEWSWATCH: “Newest U.S. Sanctions Against Russia Hit an Economic Nerve” – AP
“… The Trump administration announcement of export restrictions in response to accusations Moscow used a nerve agent to poison a former Russian spy in Britain […]
Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
JRL NEWSWATCH: “Buddhism flourishes in Siberia, opening window on its pre-Soviet past; Orthodox Christianity may be Russia’s most high-profile religion, but it is only one of the country’s four official ‘founding’ faiths. Another of the four, Buddhism, has been experiencing a rebirth in post-Soviet Russia.” – Christian Science Monitor/Fred Weir
“… For ethnic Buryats, the resurgence of Buddhism is part of a more complex awakening, as local scholars explore the Buryats’ distinctly non-Russian historical and […]
Economy, Business, Investment, Trade
JRL NEWSWATCH: “Newest U.S. Sanctions Against Russia Hit an Economic Nerve” – AP
“… The Trump administration announcement of export restrictions in response to accusations Moscow used a nerve agent to poison a former Russian spy in Britain […]
Russia & Ukraine
JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. to impose ‘crushing’ set of sanctions on Russia’s debt and oil” – bne Intellinews/Ben Aris
“A proposed ‘crushing’ bipartisan bill introduced by the … Senate … will not be debated until … autumn and many … harsh terms could be […]
JRL NEWSWATCH: “Four Years After Its Revolution, Ukraine Is Still a Mess; Lingering corruption and a lagging economy contributed to the country’s stalled reforms” – Bloomberg/Leonid Ragozin
“… Ukraine has improved its ranking on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index since 2013 … [but] still shares 130th place (out of 180 …) with […]
JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russian Orthodox Church a ‘national security threat’ to Ukraine, says president; Petro Poroshenko said the Russian church was separated from the state ‘only on paper.'” – PoliticoEU/KAIT BOLONGARO
“… At a ceremony marking [Ukraine’s] conversion to Christianity 1,030 years ago … [Poroshenko] said that the Russian [Orthodox] [C]hurch’s sway among Ukrainian believers is […]
JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia to play minor role, if any, in Paul Manafort trial” – AP
“The trial of President Donald Trump’s onetime campaign chairman will open … with tales of lavish spending, secret shell companies and millions of dollars of […]
Oil, Gas, Energy
A Landmark Caspian Agreement — And What It Resolves
(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – – Bruce Pannier – August 9, 2018- also appeared at rferl.org/a/qishloq-ovozi-landmark-caspian-agreement–and-what-it-resolves/29424824.html) It has taken more […]
Nuclear, Missile Defense
JRL NEWSWATCH: “In Gorky Park, with nuclear worries” – The Hill/Matthew Bunn
“… U.S. nuclear weapons are aimed at military targets, from nuclear missile silos to military bases and production facilities. But many of those targets are […]
Human Rights
JRL NEWSWATCH: “In Russia, the Corporate Raiders Are Often Cops; Companies face harassment from law-enforcement officials, according to business owners, lawyers and activists” – Wall Street Journal/James Marson, Thomas Grove
“… Russian companies routinely face harassment from law-enforcement officials seeking to extort money or expropriate businesses, according to business owners, lawyers and activists. One in […]
Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's
JRL NEWSWATCH: “Amid growing tensions with Russia, a push for meaningful dialogue” – Christian Science Monitor/Linda Feldmann
“… U.S.-Russian relations have only sunk into deeper distress … more sanctions, more diplomatic expulsions, more military clashes in Syria, and a growing sense that […]
Chechnya, Dagestan, North Caucasus
Armenia’s “permanent revolution”: why do the protests continue in Yerevan? With the resignation of Armenia’s prime minister, it looks as if Armenia is line for radical change. But the Armenia’s entrenched network of power is not giving up so easily.
(opendemocracy.net – Mikayel Zolyan – April 25, 2018) Mikayel Zolyan is a historian and political analyst from Yerevan, Armenia. He writes here in a personal […]
Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime
JRL NEWSWATCH: “In Russia, the Corporate Raiders Are Often Cops; Companies face harassment from law-enforcement officials, according to business owners, lawyers and activists” – Wall Street Journal/James Marson, Thomas Grove
“… Russian companies routinely face harassment from law-enforcement officials seeking to extort money or expropriate businesses, according to business owners, lawyers and activists. One in […]
Media, Social Media, Internet
JRL NEWSWATCH: “Misery” – Irrussianality/Paul Robinson
“… If the only American media you consumed was the New York Times, you’d come to the inevitable conclusions that a) Americans are united in […]
JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. Think Tank’s Tiny Lab Helps Facebook Battle Fake Social Media” – Reuters/New York Times
“A day before Facebook announced that it had discovered and disabled a propaganda campaign designed to sow dissension among U.S. voters, it exclusively shared some […]
RUSSIALINK: “Venediktov quit Ekho board of directors to avoid conflict of interest over radio station’s budget” – Interfax
MOSCOW. July 30 (Interfax) – Ekho Moskvy editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov said he quit the radio station’s board of directors over a conflict of interest; the […]
Trump Bump and Trump Filter Bubble: How the media’s obsession with Trump may encourage the Russian propaganda machine
(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Andrey Miroshnichenko, Sergei Samoilenko – July 27, 2018) Andrey Miroshnichenko, is a Ph.D. student in communication and culture at York […]
JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Kremlin is spearheading a new ‘social-media monitoring system’ to hold local officials more accountable” – Meduza
“The Kremlin is reportedly spearheading a new social-media monitoring system called ‘Incident Management’ … follow[ing] social networks in real time …. being tested in two […]
NEWSLINK: “Implausible Deniability: Novichok Victim Dies: Did the Kremlin Really Lose Control of its Deadliest Poisons? The real question is where does the Russian criminal state end and the criminal underworld begin, and how do they work together in what amounts to a new murder incorporated?” – Daily Beast/Amy Knight
“… Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley visited … Salisbury and somehow ingested the exotic nerve agent used in the poisoning of Russian defector Sergei Skripal […]
RUSSIALINK: “Sobchak on Sobchak: A New Film about Russia in the 1990s; Vera Krichevskaya and Ksenia Sobchak teamed up to make a film about Anatoly Sobchak” – Moscow Times/Andrei Muchnik
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Andrei Muchnik – June 29, 2018) Ksenia Sobchak, recent presidential candidate, TV host and socialite, and director Vera Krichevskaya, known […]
NEWSLINK: “Tech didn’t spot Russian interference during the last election. Now it’s asking law enforcement for help.” – Washington Post
“Silicon Valley companies and law enforcement are starting to talk about how to ward off meddling by malicious actors including Russia on social media in […]
NEWSLINK: “Mueller asks to secure evidence in ‘Putin chef’ case, citing Russian intelligence and ongoing interference operations” – Washington Post/Spencer S. Hsu
“Federal prosecutors say they believe operations to interfere in U.S. elections are ongoing and want a court to tightly control how evidence gathered by special […]
NEWSLINK: “David Dimbleby on a Russia in crisis and the holes in President Putin’s defence” – The Times (UK)
“With coercion and cunning propaganda, the president has kept Russians in line. But on a pre-World Cup visit David Dimbleby finds money is running out […]
Europe, EU
Growing Russian Sympathy for West a Bigger Problem for Kremlin than Regime’s Declining Ratings, Shevtsova Says
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, August 4, 2018) According to a new Levada Center poll, 68 percent of Russians do not want […]
Health, Alcohol, Smoking, AIDS, Epidemics
RUSSIALINK: Interfax: “Duma speaker warns of Russia’s dangerous dependency on U.S. pharmaceutical imports”
MOSCOW. April 20 (Interfax) – Russia must take efficient measures to swiftly make available in its market domestically produced medicinal drugs to secure itself from […]
Assassinations
JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Administration Gets Tough on Russia – Despite Trump; The president holds chummy meetings with Vladimir Putin, while his administration imposes new sanctions.” – New York Times Editorial
“… [N]ew sanctions imposed on Russia … [feature] a ban on export of anything with a potential military use, announced by the State Department …. […]
NEWSLINK: “This Russian Spy Agency is in the Middle of Everything; Only a few years ago, the GRU looked like it might be dissolved. But Putin found new uses for it: covert war in Ukraine and ‘active measures’ that helped Trump get elected” – The Daily Beast/Amy Knight
“… Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, is getting blamed for all sorts of things …. Robert Mueller indicted 12 GRU officers for hacking […]
NEWSLINK: “How the GRU spy agency targets the west, from cyberspace to Salisbury” – The Guardian (UK)/Andrew Roth
“… A British security source … [said] the nerve agent attack on the former double agent Sergei Skripal was also ordered by the [GRU] intelligence […]
JRL NEWSWATCH: “Novichok Was in a Perfume Bottle, U.K. Victim Says” – New York Times/Michael Schwirtz, Eric Schmitt
“… The latest poisoning raised the prospect that in their haste to flee the area, the would-be assassins simply tossed aside a top secret, Soviet-designed […]
Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Theater, Music
RUSSIALINK: “Amazon Getting Ready to Launch ‘The Romanoffs’; The series breaks usual practices, formats, and genres” – Moscow Times
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – HOLLYWOOD – July 30, 2018) Amazon Studios’ much-anticipated original anthology series “The Romanoffs” will hit the world stage on Oct. […]
Religion
JRL NEWSWATCH: “Buddhism flourishes in Siberia, opening window on its pre-Soviet past; Orthodox Christianity may be Russia’s most high-profile religion, but it is only one of the country’s four official ‘founding’ faiths. Another of the four, Buddhism, has been experiencing a rebirth in post-Soviet Russia.” – Christian Science Monitor/Fred Weir
“… For ethnic Buryats, the resurgence of Buddhism is part of a more complex awakening, as local scholars explore the Buryats’ distinctly non-Russian historical and […]
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