JRL E-Mail Newsletter Table of Contents :: Johnson’s Russia List 2012-#230 – 31 December 2012

Johnson’s Russia List
2012-#230
31 December 2012
davidjohnson@starpower.net
A World Security Institute Project
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“We don’t see things as they are, but as we are”

DJ: Happy New Year!

In this issue

POLITICS

1. The Voice of Russia: Russian guru optimistic over ‘fiscal cliff’ avoidance. (Yevgeni Yasin)
2. The Voice of Russia: 2013: Black Water Snake year horoscope.
3. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Ogoniok magazine: How Russians celebrated New Year before revolution.
4. ITAR-TASS: Putin, Medvedev, high-ranking officials to see in New Year in their families as most Russians.
5. ITAR-TASS: Over 275,000 policemen to ensure security during New Year, Christmas holidays.
6. www.russiatoday.com: RT recalls 2012: Putin’s back, opposition turmoil, Pussy Riot prank.
7. Nezavisimaya Gazeta: SECOND ADVENT. CENTRAL POLITICAL EVENT OF THE PASSING YEAR: VLADIMIR PUTIN IS BACK IN THE KREMLIN.
8. Nezavisimaya Gazeta: PENDULUM SWINGING BACK. REFLECTIONS ON THE RETURN TO DIRECT GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION.
9. www.opendemocracy.net: Peter Pomerantsev, 2012: the year the Kremlin lost control of the script.
10. Interfax: Moscow law on ‘Hyde Parks’ to become effective on January 7.
11. Nezavisimaya Gazeta: ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN. NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 2012: A SERIES OF CORRUPTION SCANDALS WITHIN THE GOVERNMENT.
12. BBC Monitoring: Russian Audit Chamber head welcomes ‘serious’ anti-corruption work in 2012.
13. Interfax: Khodorkovsky calls for help to old people, orphans.
14. Wall Street Journal: John O’Sullivan, Turmoil Over America’s Radio Voice in Russia. The mass firing of Radio Liberty journalists prompted a protest by human-rights activists in Moscow.
15. www.russiatoday.com: Russians’ nostalgia for USSR is dwindling – poll.
16. Interfax:Russians think Soviet breakdown could have been avoided, many have no regrets – poll.
17. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Rossiyskaya Gazeta : Soviet Union: 90 years since formation. Fyodor Lukyanov talks about what Russia gained from the collapse of the Soviet Union and why it makes no sense to look back and try to find reference points in the Soviet past.
18. RFE/RL: A Year After Tragedy, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Is Playing Again — And Thriving.
19. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Top 10 Russian cultural events of 2012.
20. National Public Radio (NPR): The Mysterious Disappearance Of The Russian Crown Jewels.

ECONOMY

21. ITAR-TASS: RF government to focus on privatisation, pension reform, mega regulator and offshore-free economy in 2013.
22. Interfax: YEAR IN REVIEW: Gas comedy.
23. Interfax: YEAR’S RESULTS: Modest results and record demand for Gazprom this year.
24. Kommersant: Russian Finance Minister Siluanov on Financial Prospects For 2013.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

25. New year’s greetings from US Ambassador Michael McFaul and his wife.
26. www.russiatoday.com: ‘US, Russia plunging into new Cold War.’ (interview with Stephen Cohen)
27. New York Times: Madeleine Albright and Igor Ivanov, A New Agenda for U.S.-Russia Cooperation.
28. The Voice of Russia: Igor Siletsky, US riled by Russian strategies.
29. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Russia in Global Affairs: Fyodor Lukyanov, When orphans used as a geopolitical tool. The Russian leadership is putting itself in an uncomfortable position. The image of a country speculating on orphans to exact political revenge is worse than the label of aggressor Russia earned for its war with Georgia.
30. RIA Novosti: Pundits Believes US Adoption Ban Will Damage Russia’s Reputation Abroad.
31. The Obsever (UK): Church backs Vladimir Putin’s ban on Americans adopting Russian children. Russian Orthodox church criticised for supporting Kremlin again.
32. Interfax: Russian law office vows unrelenting war on Russian adoptees’ abuse in U.S.
33. Wall Street Journal editorial: Putin and the Children. The Kremlin’s adoption ban reveals its true nature and methods.
34. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Eugene Ivanov, Was the Magnitsky Act Inevitable? Russia will continue to suffer the consquences of the Magnitsky Act as long as it fails to realize that the act itself was preventable.
35. The Guardian (UK): Laurie Penny, Russia’s ban on US adoption isn’t about children’s rights. The row between Russian and the US on adoption ruins lives and leaves both countries looking sordid.
36. AFP: Russia sees no chance of Assad stepping down.
37. Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Moscow Daily: Scenario of NATO Invasion of Syria ‘Most Likely’ in New Year.
38. New York Times: In Russia, Exile in Comfort for Leaders Like Assad.
39. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: Few Russians Have Travelled Abroad, Polls Show.
40. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: Moscow Needs to Restore Russian Empire, Not the USSR, Leontyev Says.
41. Nezavisimaya Gazeta: BACK IN THE OPPOSITION. AN UPDATE ON GEORGIA.