RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2020-#150 :: Thursday, 20 August 2020

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2020-#150 :: Thursday, 20 August 2020
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1. New York Times editorial: The Trump Campaign Accepted Russian Help to Win in 2016. Case Closed. “Cooperation” or “collusion” or whatever. It was a plot against American democracy.
2. Washington Post editorial: The Senate’s findings on Russian interference are explosive. They shouldn’t be ignored.
3. Wall Street Journal editorial: The Russian Grassy Knoll. The collusion conspiracy theorists keep looking for a second shooter.
4. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, NEGATIVE ASSUMPTIONS (Re Senate Intelligence Committee)
5. jonathanturley.org: Jonathan Turley, Senate Intelligence Report Is Long On Pages And Short On Intelligence.
6. rt.com: Kremlin, WikiLeaks, hackers, trolls, you name it: US spies’ OBSESSION with RT comes full circle in Senate report – rt.com/usa/498476-senate-russiagate-report-rt-obsession/
7. American Committee for East-West Accord: David Speedie, Russiagate and the New “Conspiracism”
8. Reuters: Russia to Begin COVID-19 Vaccine Trials on 40,000 People Next Week.
9. Kremlin.ru: Meeting with Accounts Chamber Head Alexei Kudrin – en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/63914
10. Moscow Times: Coronavirus Pandemic Rebalances Russia’s Corporate Landscape. Earnings season shows tech companies setting record-high share prices, and closing the gap on Russia’s energy giants.
11. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin, Gas Realism – unz.com/akarlin/gas-realism/
12. TASS: Kremlin vows should Navalny’s poisoning be confirmed, an investigation will follow.
13. rt.com: ‘Navalny’s condition is stable, but his life is in danger and we are working to save it’ – doctor treating Moscow protest leader – rt.com/russia/498524-navalny-poisoning-danger-condition/
14. rt.com: Alexey Navalny ‘in coma’ after falling ill on flight from Siberia, spokeswoman suspects Moscow protest leader’s tea was ‘poisoned’ – rt.com/russia/498486-navalny-hospitalized-suspected-poisoning/
15. rt.com: ‘We wish him a speedy recovery’: Putin’s spokesman open to possibility of protest leader Navalny going abroad for treatment.
16. Intellinews: Ben Aris, Belarus’ President Lukashenko launches a counteroffensive against protests in co-ordination with Moscow. OMON riot police were back on the streets of Minsk as Lukashenko launched his counteroffensive against the protests in co-ordination with Moscow, which has launched a new more aggressive campaign against the demonstrators.
17. Intellinews: James Pearce, Why Belarus is exceptional. There have been a lot of comparisons between Belarus’ revolution and the other “coloured” revolutions in the former Soviet Union space, but looking more closely the similarities are only superficial.
18. rt.com: ‘We want to be a bridge between East & West’: Belarus opposition does NOT plan to end country’s ‘deep’ relationship with Russia.
19. TASS: Belarusian opposition ready for contacts with Russia.
20. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin, Belarus Sitrep 4 – unz.com/akarlin/belarus-sitrep-4/
21. Russia Briefing: Chris Devonshire-Ellis, Belarus Situation Shows The Downside Of Continuing A USSR Mentality Of Over-Stability, Autocratic Rule And Lack Of Progression. – russia-briefing.com/news/belarus-situation-shows-the-downside-of-continuing-a-ussr-mentality-of-over-stability-autocratic-rule-and-lack-of-progression.html/
22. Awful Avalanche: Belorus Sitrep: Opps Coordination Council + Potash Strike – Part II – awfulavalanche.wordpress.com/2020/08/20/belorus-sitrep-opps-coordination-council-potash-strike-part-ii/
23. The Nation: Stephen Crowley, The Factory Joins the Square: Putin’s Nightmare Unfolds in Belarus. To overcome further economic stagnation that could lead to unrest, Russia will have to wrestle with a sizable Soviet legacy.
24. Meduza: Of two minds. Russia’s mass media and state officials can’t seem to decide where they stand on Alexander Lukashenko. That’s because the Kremlin doesn’t know, either.
25. Carnegie Moscow Center: Eugene Rumer, Turmoil in Belarus: Looking Beyond the Horizon. Friends of Belarus need to recognize that a revolution is not the end, but merely the beginning of what is certain to be a long and difficult road toward making it a “normal country.”
26. Financial Times: Putin prepares for a controlled succession in Belarus. Russia seeks to protect its influence over longtime client state following disputed election.
27. Consortium News: Joe Lauria, There’s Enough Blame to Go Around in Belarus . There are many similarities to what is happening in Minsk today to what happened in Kiev in 2014, but there are also significant differences – consortiumnews.com/2020/08/20/theres-enough-blame-to-go-around-in-belarus/
28. Infobrics.org: Have no doubt: it’s in the West’s interest to see Lukashenko topple – infobrics.org/post/31601
29. The Unz Review: The Saker, Will Belarus Become the Next Banderastan? – unz.com/tsaker/will-belarus-become-the-next-banderastan/
30. Valdai Discussion Club: Timofei Bordachev, Russia and the Conflict Between China and the United States – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/russia-and-the-conflict-between-china/
31. The National Interest: New START: Why An Extension Is In America’s National Interest. Failing to renew the New START arms control treaty with Russia “is not a wise direction of travel,” said Rose Gottemoeller, a former Deputy Secretary General of NATO who ranked as one of President Barack Obama’s top nuclear security experts.
32. New Europe (Brussels): Yuri Polakiwsky, The Maidan era in Ukraine is over.
33. Russia Matters: Lincoln Pigman, Exposing Putin’s Hidden Riches Won’t Stop Russia’s Election Meddling
34. Antiwar.com: Matt Taibbi on the Origins of the Russiagate Hoax. A New Whistleblower Exposes the ‘Cambridge Four’ (excerpt) – original.antiwar.com/scott/2020/08/19/matt-taibbi-on-the-origins-of-the-russiagate-hoax/