RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#202 :: Friday 16 October 2015

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#202
Friday – 16 October 2015
A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs
The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or the George Washington University.
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RUSSIA

1. Moscow Times: John Freedman, A Critic Who Raised the Curtain.
2. TASS: Almost half of Russians don’t believe in external threat – opinion poll.
3. The National Interest: Dimitri K. Simes and Paul J. Saunders, Obama’s Dangerous “No War, No Peace” Strategy in Syria. “U.S. leaders should respond to Moscow with a combination of strength and pragmatism rather than weakness and inflexibility.”
4. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with NTV’s programme Pozdnyakov, Moscow, October 13, 2015.
5. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions during Government Hour at the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Moscow October 14, 2015.
6. www.breitbart.com: U.S. Secretary of Defense: Russian Aggression ‘Here to Stay’
7. Wall Street Journal: Stephen Sestanovich, Is Russia an ‘Existential Threat’?
8. Washington Post: Fareed Zakaria, Stop swooning over Putin.
9. Carnegie Moscow Center/Gazeta.ru: Andrei Kolesnikov, Frozen Russia. Russian consumers are increasingly unhappy, but their discontent is being frozen in depression rather than manifested in social protest.
10. RFE/RL: Brian Whitmore, Containing The Putin Syndicate.
11. Voice of America: Russian Pollster: Kremlin Nurtures Rising Anti-Americanism.
12. Forbes.com: Kenneth Rapoza, Russian Ruble Stabilizing, Might Even Get Stronger If Oil Cooperates.
13. Moscow Times: Standard & Poor’s Lowers Russian Growth Forecast.
14. Business New Europe: Chris Miller, Fitness training for dinosaurs. As austerity begins to bite, Russia’s state-owned firms are facing growing pressure to shape up.
15. TASS: Holy books in Russia to be immune from extremism charges.
16. Spiked: Tara McCormack, THE WESTERN MEDIA HAVE LOST THE PLOT IN SYRIA. Commentators slam Russia’s interventions while ignoring the West’s.
17. Interfax: All Russian drones in Syria either at airbase or on mission – Russian General Staff.
18. Sputnik: Russian Warplanes Have Destroyed 456 ISIL Targets in Syria Since Sept. 30.
19. Moscow Times: Russia Says Fewer Air Strikes in Syria.
20. AP: NATO: Russia more interested in shocking, intimidating. (Alexander Vershbow)
21. Valdai Discussion Club: Grigory Kosach, WAR IN SYRIA: TWO COALITIONS, TWO APPROACHES.
22. Salon.com: Patrick Smith, Putin might be right on Syria: The actual strategy behind his Middle East push – and why the New York Times keeps obscuring it. There’s actually common sense and historical vision behind the Putin plan. Not that our media covers it honestly.
23. Russia Direct: Sergey Grachev, Why the Kremlin should be concerned about ISIS terrorist acts within Russia. With Russia’s direct military involvement in the Syrian campaign against ISIS, there are increasing concerns that the radical Islamist organization might export terrorism to Russia.
24. www.rt.com: Putin: 7,000 people from ex-Soviet republics estimated to fight alongside ISIS.
25. Russia Insider: Edward Lozansky, What to Do in Syria, Mr Obama? With friends like Turkey and Saudi Arabia the US does not need enemies in its struggle against ISIS.
26. TASS: Top Russian MP welcomes US extending presence in Afghanistan.
27. In These Times: Anderson Cooper’s Claim About Bernie Sanders’ Soviet Union Honeymoon Was Redbaiting and Deceptive.
28. Antiwar.com: Justin Raymondo, The New McCarthyism. Neocon Cathy Young gives us a blast from the past.
29. ZEPHYR PRESS new book: ANATOMICAL THEATRE by Andrei Sen-Senkov.

UKRAINE

30. The Guardian (UK): Giovanna Barberis, Polio in Ukraine: nationwide vaccination campaign needs to start straight away. With two WHO-confirmed cases of polio in Ukraine in September, vaccinating the country’s 1.8 million children needs to start as soon as possible.
31. Wall Street Journal: Ukraine’s Bumper Crops of Wheat Are At Risk. Amid record crops, Ukraine’s wheat farmers are struggling with a weak currency, high interest rates.
32. TASS: Conditions created in Donetsk republic for beginning withdrawal of weapons – DPR envoy.
33. Interfax: Extending implementation of Minsk peace deal for Ukraine depends only on its sides’ political agreements – source.
34. Politkom.ru: Russian pundit says breakaway republics seek reintegration into Ukraine. (Aleksandr Gushchin)
35. Levada.ru: More Russians oppose giving Crimea back to Ukraine – poll.
36. Kyiv Post: Poroshenko, Yatsenyuk slammed over prosecutors.
37. Russia Insider: Alexander Mercouris, As Predicted Dutch Safety Board Produces Inconclusive Report on MH17. Report fails to take technical advice from Almaz-Antey into account and leaves key questions unanswered.
38. Dances With Bears: John Helmer, DUTCH REPORTS ON MH17 HAVE MISTAKEN BUK MISSILE MODEL, WARHEAD TYPE – THE FOOTNOTE WHICH PUTS THE BOOT TO BUK.
39. Consortiumnews.com: Robert Parry, NYT Plays Games with MH-17 Tragedy.
40. Council on Foreign Relations: Steven Pifer, Crisis Over Ukraine. Contingency Planning Memorandum Update.