RUSSIA & UKRAINE: Johnson’s Russia List contents with links :: 2014-#68-69 :: Thursday-Friday, 27-28 March 2014

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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#68 :: 27 March 2014
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1. CNN.com: U.S. intel assessment: greater likelihood Russia will enter eastern Ukraine.
2. Foxnews.com: Russian troop movements ‘worrying’ officials, Ukraine Defense Ministry says.
3. Euromaidan PR: Admiral believes Putin is preparing to invade Ukraine.
4. Washington Post editorial: West must prepare for a long struggle with Russia.
5. Wall Street Journal editorial: Obama’s Uncertain Trumpet. The American bows to European passivity on Putin.
6. Politico.com: John McCain: Russia is a ‘gas station’
7. The Hill: Reid: Putin is ‘homesick’ for Soviet Union.
8. The Heritage Foundation: Beyond the Crimea Crisis: Comprehensive Next Steps in U.S.-Russian Relations. (excerpt)
9. C-SPAN: Conference on Russia’s Annexation of Crimea.
10. The Economist: The future of NATO. Russia’s annexation of Crimea has given NATO renewed purpose.
11. www.azernews.az: Angela Stent, No more resets.
12. Wall Street Journal: Matthew Kaminski, Putin’s Neo-Soviet Men. The young Crimean bar hoppers singing the Soviet national anthem don’t know what they’re missing.
13. www.project-syndicate.org: Jeffrey Sachs, Ukraine and the Crisis of International Law.
14. Los Angeles Times: Michael McFaul – an eye on Russia. He left as U.S. ambassador in Moscow last month after two years in the job. Back at Stanford, he watches from a virtual window as Russia is once again on the outs with the West. (interview)
15. New York Times: Military Cuts Render NATO Less Formidable as Deterrent to Russia.
16. Moscow Times: What the Papers Say, March 27, 2014.
17. Interfax: Russia adherent to joint work with U.S. in settling Syrian crisis – deputy FM.
18. RIA Novosti: Cooperation Between Russia, Ukraine On Atomic Energy Continues – Rosatom.
19. RIA Novosti: Ukraine on Brink of Economic Bankruptcy – Acting PM.
20. www.russiatoday.com: IMF unlocks up to $18 bn for Ukraine’s shattered economy
21. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Gevorg Mirzayan, New assertiveness signals a fresh foreign policy era for Russia. President Vladimir Putin’s address to both houses of Russia’s parliament last week signaled that Russia has had enough of what it perceives as Western double standards. The speech, alongside events in Crimea, herald the birth of a tougher approach to foreign policy.
22. New York Times: Ian Bremmer, A Tortured Policy Toward Russia.
23. Business New Europe: Without “nominal relations” with Russia, Ukraine is doomed.
24. The Independent (UK): Mary Dejevsky, Ukraine crisis: Strong words, but diplomacy is bound to follow. Crimea is the prize of Putin’s presidency. There is no chance he will give it up
25. The Independent (UK): Mary Dejevsky, The silver-bullet solution to the Crimean crisis is clear: work together with Moscow, for our benefit and for that of Ukraine. The Western objection will be that Russia should not be rewarded for bad behaviour
26. Moscow Times: Igor Ivanov, Western Sanctions Are a Sign of Weakness.
27. http://pjmedia.com: David P. Goldman (Spengler), The West’s Ukrainian Folly: Wisdom from an Old Cold Warrior. (Norman Bailey)
28. www.russiatoday.com: Helmut Schmidt, Russia’s actions in Crimea ‘completely understandable’ – German ex-chancellor.
29. Moscow Times: Sergei Markov, After Kiev Coup, the West Will Focus on Moscow.
30. Komsomolskaya Pravda: Vitaliy Tretyakov, Enigma of operation ‘Crimea’; our columnist believes Crimea’s annexation had been part of Russian politicians’ plans for a long time.
31. Interfax: Russian president’s job approval rating stands at over 80% – VTsIOM.
32. The Voice of Russia: Over 70% of Russians think negatively of US role in world affairs – poll.
33. www.russiatoday.com: Obama’s words on Russia’s weakness only expose ‘agony of USA’ – leading senator. (Valentina Matviyenko)
34. Business New Europe: Poroshenko top Ukraine presidential contender, leading polling firms report.
35. Moscow Times: Tymoshenko to Run for President in May Election.
36. Interfax: Russia’s Gazprom undecided on gas prices for Ukraine in April.
37. Moscow Times: Heroin Addicts and School Students Among Those Facing Challenges of Crimea Transformation.
38. Interfax: Russian rouble “the most sanction-proof currency” – Central Bank official.
39. Reuters: U.S., EU to work together on tougher Russia sanctions.
40. Business New Europe: Roland Nash, PERSPECTIVE: Soft war – when finance becomes continuation of politics by other means.
41. Reuters: As Kiev looks West, Putin turns east to build Eurasian dream.
42. Moscow Times: Minister Sees End to U.S. IT Purchases.
43. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Putin’s new soft-power media machine.
44. Izvestia: Sergei Roganov, Here We Go Again; Philosopher Sergey Roganov on the Russian Oppositionist’s’s New Political Move. (re Navalnyy)
45. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: Putin Draws His Own ‘Red Lines’ across Post-Soviet Space. (Yevgeny Krutikov)
46. www.russiaotherpointsofview.com: Gordon Hahn, RUSOLOGY AND THE DECLINE OF HONEST DEBATE.
47. Los Angeles Time: Ukraine’s loss of Crimea has NATO examining its core mission. NATO member nations are split over how aggressively to respond to Russia’s takeover of the Crimean peninsula.
48. Kremlin.ru: Speech and the Following Discussion at the Munich Conference on Security Policy. (Putin in March 2007)

JRL 2014-#69:
1. Le Monde diplomatique – http://mondediplo.com/, Oliver Zajec: Ukraine isn’t Armageddon; The conventional readings of the Ukraine crisis, and of the Russian response to it under Putin, with the annexation of Crimea, don’t accurately reflect the situation in Ukraine, Russia or Crimea. And they’re no help for the future