RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#208 :: Monday 26 October 2015

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#208
Monday – 26 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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1. Kremlin.ru: Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club. (transcript concluded)
2. Russia Direct: Memo from Valdai: Treat Russia like a normal country with its own interests. At the 12th annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, Russia Direct reached out to Timothy Colton of Harvard University to talk about the current dynamics in U.S.-Russia relations, including possible signs that the bullying rhetoric of the past year has been fading.
3. www.rt.com: Bryan MacDonald, Time to co-operate? Putin tries to build bridges with the West at Valdai.
4. Irrussianality: Paul Grenier, NIKOLAI STARIKOV AND THE PROBLEM OF HISTORY.
5. TASS: Xenophobia, nationalism in Russia ease over years.
6. Business New Europe: Putin’s approval rating reaches all-time high of 90%.
7. Russia Beyond the Headlines: New bankruptcy law may bring Russians relief from debt collectors. Debt collectors in Russia often exceed their authority and resort to bullying, intimidation and even physical violence in order to force individuals to pay. However, a new law on individual bankruptcy is designed to help borrowers avoid such unpleasant encounters, though critics fear it may be open to abuse.
8. Moscow Times: Mark Adomanis, With Russia’s Economy, Talk is Cheap.
9. Sputnik: Resourceful Russians Learn to Make Own Home Products Amid Food Embargo.
10. Moscow Times: European Union Prohibits Studies of Sanctioned Russian Banks.
11. TASS: Health minister: HIV epidemic in Russia may run out of control.
12. Russia Direct: Ivan Tomofeev, 7 trends for Russian foreign policy you need to know. After the Ukraine crisis and military intervention in Syria, the key principles and ideas underpinning Russian foreign policy are becoming easier to understand.
13. Moscow Times: Pyotr Romanov, Facing Uncomfortable Truths About Terrorism.
14. The Unz Review: The Saker, Week Three of the Russian Intervention in Syria. The return of diplomacy.
15. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, If Kremlin doesn’t fight Islamists in Syria, will it have to in Russia? Radical Islamists are a legitimate threat to Russia’s security, particularly via its post-Soviet neighbors to the south. But the risk of blowback is high too.
16. TASS: Most Russians believe authorities can protect them from terrorism – poll.
17. Moscow Times: Vladimir Frolov, Putin Is Angling for a Quick Exit From Syria.
18. Financial Times: Russia calls for fresh elections in Syria.
19. Wall Street Journal: U.S. Sees New Need to Engage Russia, Iran on Mideast. Washington and allies acknowledge efforts to stabilize region will be hard without Moscow, Tehran.
20. Wall Street Journal: Afghanistan Looks to Russia for Military Hardware. Kremlin’s more-assertive foreign policy raises potential for clash with U.S.
21. Sputnik: Calm Down: Russian Subs Will ‘Definitely Not Damage’ Undersea Data Cables.
22. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, The Baltics Are Still Depopulating At An Alarming Pace.
23. The National Interest: Lyle Goldstein, Russia and China: Beware the Budding Eurasian Colossus? Could these two great powers get even closer?
24. UNIAN (Kyiv): Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko: Russians want war. My nation wants war.
25. New York Times: Michael McFaul, The Myth­ of Putin’s Strategic Genius.
26. The Washington Post: David Kramer, The West should take on the Putin P.R. machine.
27. Paul Goble: Kyiv Must Use Military Means to Recover Occupied Territories Now, Borovoy Says.
28. http://sports.ndtv.com: FIDE Hands Two Year Ban to Garry Kasparov. Ahead of last year’s presidential poll, Garry Kasparov, bidding for the office, and then general secretary Ignatius Leong made a deal in which Kasparov paid Leong $500,000 so that Singapore voted for him.
29. The Kremlin Stooge: Mark Chapman, Institutional Incoherence: The Atlantic Council’s Desperate Scaremongering.
30. Russia Beyond the Headlines: U.S. professor unveils Russian ‘Architecture at the End of the Earth’ in DC. William Brumfield presents new book on cultural heritage of Russia’s north.
31. Reuters: Russia’s Bolshoi Theater appoints new ballet director after acid attack scandal.
32. Moscow Times: Will ‘Sunstroke’ Make the Oscar List?
33. Washington Post: David Hoffman, In 1983 ‘war scare,’ Soviet leadership feared nuclear surprise attack by U.S.