RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2020-#186 :: Thursday, 15 October 2020

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2020-#186 :: Thursday, 15 October 2020
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1. rt.com: Paul Robinson, Western pundits confounded again as Putin’s popularity rises despite major shift in Russian news consumption from TV to online.
2. Paul Goble: On Social Justice, Russia Now Split into Two Nations, ‘TV Russians’ and ‘Internet Russians,’ Shelin Says.
3. Moscow Times: 2 in 3 Medics Say Russia Unprepared for Second Coronavirus Wave – Poll.
4. Bloomberg: Russia to Miss Covid-19 Vaccine Goal Amid Production Hurdles.
5. Washington Post: Night on the town, Moscow style: Few masks, but lots of worry about another lockdown.
6. TASS: Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Russians’ debt hits record high due to subsidized mortgages.
7. NYU Jordan Center: It Will Be Fun and Terrifying: Nationalism and Protest in Post-Soviet Russia. (talk by Fabrizio Fenghi)
8. Moscow Times: Fyodor Lukyanov, Is Russia’s Dialogue with the EU Coming to an End? Sergei Lavrov’s recent comments on the EU may sound extreme, but they were a long time in the making.
9. Wall Street Journal: EU to Sanction Members of Putin’s Inner Circle Over Navalny Poisoning. Russians face assets freeze and travel ban in response to attack on opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
10. Moscow Times: Mark Galeotti, EU’s Navalny Sanctions Miss the Mark. I cannot help but feel the pressure to act sometimes forces governments to do something soon, rather than do something smart.
11. Barents Observer (Norway): Moscow signals it will make national security a priority in Arctic Council. “Certain NATO members, among them the USA, try to restrict Russia’s activities in the Arctic,” says top security strongman Dmitry Medvedev and makes clear that issues of national security will be part of his country’s upcoming chairmanship priorities in the Arctic Council.
12. TASS: Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Moscow not going to save Trump with ‘nuclear deal’
13. Valdai Discussion Club: Andrey Baklitskiy, Russian-American Talks: No Arms Control Stability – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/russian-american-talks-no-arms-control-stability/
14. rt.com: Scott Ritter, Dangerous delusions: US claims arms control ‘agreement’ with Russia for Trump election points – rt.com/op-ed/503525-new-start-delusion-trump/
15. TASS: Izvestia: Russia skeptical about Turkish proposal for four-way talks on Nagorno-Karabakh.
16. Carnegie Moscow Center: Tipping Point in the Karabakh Crisis: What Next? With no end in sight to the renewed fighting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, this episode of the Carnegie Moscow Center English-language podcast focuses on the roles of Russia and Turkey in the conflict. Podcast with Alexander Gabuev, Sinan Ülgen, and Thomas de Waal.
17. Asia Times: M.K. Bhadrakumar, Russia rubs Turkey the wrong way. The two countries are at loggerheads over a number of issues and tensions are rising.
18. War on the Rocks: Michael Kofman and Leonid Nersisyan, THE SECOND NAGORNO-KARABAKH WAR, TWO WEEKS IN. – warontherocks.com/2020/10/the-second-nagorno-karabakh-war-two-weeks-in/
19. Institute for War and Peace Reporting: Arzu Geybulla, Karabakh: Hatred and Euphoria Are Fuelling Madness. Independent, dissenting Azerbaijani voices have never been so ostracised – iwpr.net/global-voices/karabakh-hatred-and-euphoria-are-fuelling
20. oneworld.press: Andrew Korybko, Scenario Forecasting: What Could A Russian Intervention In Nagorno-Karabakh Look Like? – oneworld.press/?module=articles&action=view&id=1739
21. Intellinews: Kyrgyzstan’s president Jeenbekov resigns as US embassy warns of organised crime swaying nation’s politics.
22. TASS: Media: Kyrgyzstan set to cooperate with Russia as power struggle deepens.
23. rt.com: Six years after MH17 tragedy, Russia withdraws from ‘pointless’ investigation consultations with Netherlands & Australia – rt.com/russia/503535-mh17-russia-netherlands-australia/
24. Meduza: Yeltsin’s disciple who would have bombed Iraq, too . Nine more declassified, revealing conversations between Vladimir Putin and Bill Clinton’s administration.
25. The National Interest: Ted Galen Carpenter, How the Media Has Whitewashed FBI Abuses in the Russia Probe. It’s hard to decide which development is worse: the FBI’s lengthy pattern of arrogant misconduct, or the mainstream media’s willingness to be an accomplice in excusing such misconduct. Either behavior undermines government accountability and the protection of civil liberties. The entire episode is a sobering example of irresponsibility on the part of institutions that nevertheless insist on respect from the public.
26. The American Conservative: Mark Episkopos, A Russiagate Film Full Of False Assumptions. Alex Gibney’s new, four-hour documentary on election meddling does little to seek the facts, and descends into conspiracy.
27. CBSNews.com: Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny calls on Trump to condemn poison used against him. In his first American television interview since nearly losing his life after being poisoned, Alexey Navalny says he’s sure Vladimir Putin is responsible and that President Trump needs to come out against those types of attacks. See the interview, Sunday. (Excerpt)
28. TASS: No US presidential candidate can relaunch ties with Russia – speaker.
29. Russia Beyond: 5 reasons to watch ‘TO THE LAKE’, a Russian mini-series about an epidemic. (Netflix) – rbth.com/arts/332201-outbreak-russian-series-epidemic
30. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to questions at the presentation of the Valdai International Discussion Club analytical report “History, To Be Continued: The Utopia of a Diverse World,” Moscow, October 13, 2020. (excerpt) – mid.ru/en/press_service/minister_speeches/-/asset_publisher/7OvQR5KJWVmR/content/id/4380725
31. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with radio stations Sputnik, Komsomolskaya Pravda and Govorit Moskva, Moscow, October 14, 2020 – mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4381977