JRL Table of Contents :: Johnson’s Russia List 2012-#152 – 23 August 2012

Johnson’s Russia List
2012-#152
23 August 2012
davidjohnson@starpower.net
A World Security Institute Project
www.worldsecurityinstitute.org
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“We don’t see things as they are, but as we are”

In this issue

POLITICS

1. Interfax: Poll: Only 4% of Russians care about restricted rights, freedoms.
2. ITAR-TASS: Russia is not totalitarian – ombudsman. (Vladimir Lukin)
3. Der Spiegel: SPIEGEL Interview with Mikhail Gorbachev. ‘They Were Truly Idiots.’ Mikhail Gorbachev discusses the last days of the Soviet Union, his failure to resolve problems with the Communist Party and the ensuing bloodshed he says still troubles him today. He also accuses Vladimir Putin of pulling the country “back into the past.”
4. Moscow Times: Business Fights Back Against Kremlin War on Vice.
5. ITAR-TASS: RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW. Experts talk about confrontation of elites in the Russian society.
6. RIA Novosti: Konstantin von Eggert, A Tale of Two Regimes.
7. The Day (UKraine): “A historically new situation for Russia.” Lilia Shevtsova on evolution of the Kremlin’s regime and its new stage, agony.
8. Russia: Other Points of View: Gordon Hahn, PUTIN, PUSSY RIOT, AND THE PROSPECTS FOR PROPER POLITICS IN RUSSIA.
9. Moscow Times/BBC Monitoring: What the Papers Say, Aug. 23, 2012.
10. Moskovsky Komsomolets: WEIGHING WALLETS. Premier Dmitry Medvedev wants employees of state corporations and companies to declare their income.
11. Moskovsky Komsomolets: POLITICAL REFORMS AND ELECTRONIC BALLOT BOXES. The Central Electoral Commission is to install electronic ballot boxes at polling stations in Russian regions.
12. RIA Novosti: Ombudsman May Appeal Pussy Riot Verdict.
13. Interfax: Moscow Calls Hasty And Politically-motivated Western Comments on Pussy Riot Case.
14. www.aljazeera.com: Anatoly Karlin, A PR disaster: Five views on Pussy Riot’s war. Russia’s prosecution of the feminist, anti-Putin punk group is much more complex than portrayed by Western media.
15. www.russiatoday.com: Ombudsman shocked over ‘Orthodox squads’ idea.
16. ITAR-TASS: Orthodox patrols may split Russian society.
17. Gazeta.ru: Aleksey Malashenko, Not Another Chechnya. The activity of Islamic radicals in Tatarstan should be neither exaggerated nor ignored.
18. www.foreignpolicy.com: Anna Nemtsova, The Life and Death of a Great Russian City, The tragic plot to destroy Nizhny Novgorod’s centuries-old historic city center.

ECONOMY

19. RIA Novosti: Economics Ministry Paints Blacker 2012 Outlook.
20. Interfax: Material needs of Russians declining – research.
21. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Ogoniok: Weather-related food shortages and price increases likely to continue. Russia likely to suffer along with the rest of the world.
22. Moscow News: Financial institution shake-up looks ‘promising.’ The government is on the right track with its raft of projects to improve the financial sector, analysts say.
23. Interfax: Senators Set Up Commission To Monitor WTO Accession Effect On Russian Regions.
24. Valdai Discussion Club: Mikhail Delyagin, Short-term and long-term effects of Russia’s WTO accession.
25. Reuters: ANALYSIS-Russia and China in WTO – a world apart.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

26. Valdai Discussion Club: Alexander Rahr, First 100 days of Vladimir Putin’s third term in office.
27. Interfax: Moscow rejects Washington’s accusation of inaction in Syrian settlement.
28. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Evgeny Satanovsky: The threat of a military conflict with Iran is real. Russia expert believes a war between the Islamic republic and Israel will break out in the first half of 2013.
29. AFP: US Cold War trade rule stays as Russia joins WTO.
30. Reuters: U.S. exports seen at risk as Russia enters WTO.
31. RIA Novosti: Fyodor Lukyanov, Can European Experience Solve Asian Problems?
32. Global Times (China): Alexander Kondrokov, Russian weakness sparks fear of thriving Chinese growth.
33. Kommersant: BASES IN CENTRAL ASIA. RUSSIAN-AMERICAN COMPETITION FOR CLOUT WITH CENTRAL ASIA IS GETTING FIERCER.