RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#221 :: Friday 13 November 2015

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#221
Friday 13 November 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. http://www.joshualandis.com: “Regime-Change without State Collapse is Impossible in Syria,” Joshua Landis Interviewed by RT’s Sophie&Co.
2. Moscow Times: Muscovites Get Keen On Making, Not Buying.
3. Interfax: Two-thirds of Russians see Russian administration’s foreign policy success.
4. Moscow Times: Nearly Half of Russians Fear Terrorist Attack – Poll.
5. https://shariaunveiled.wordpress.com: ISIS Threatens Russia With Internal Terrorist Attacks in the VERY Near Future. (Video)
6. Kremlin.ru: In the run-up to the G20 summit, Vladimir Putin gave an interview to Russia’s Interfax news agency and Turkish Anadolu Agency.
7. Forbes.com: Kenneth Rapoza, Regardless Of Sanctions, Russia Recession Ends In 2016.
8. http://readrussia.com: Mark Adomanis, Don’t Look Now, But Russia’s Business Climate Is Improving (Maybe)
9. TASS: Debates on higher retirement age picking pace in Russia. [DJ: Example of a real, substantive issue in Russia.]
10. Russia Direct: What the Russian economy needs to do next to avoid stagnation. RD Interview: Oleg Buklemishev, former assistant to the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister, decodes the Russian economic puzzle and explains what needs to happen if the Russian economy is going to start growing again.
11. Vedomosti: Russian opposition politician sceptical about economic reform possibility. (Grigoriy Yavlinskiy)
12. Reuters: Putin: If doping claims are true, heads will roll.
13. Moscow Times: Russia’s Doping Scandal: The Main Allegations.
14. New York Times editorial: A Doping Travesty Russia Cannot Duck.
15. Spiked: Mike Hume, RUSSIAN OLYMPIC SCANDAL, OR DOPEY WESTERN STUNT?
16. Bloomberg editorial: Russia’s Promising Peace Plan for Syria.
17. www.rt.com: Putin: Free Syrian Army shares intel on ISIS targets, US reluctant to cooperate.
18. European Leadership Network: Ian Kearns, Aligning Western Values and Interests in Syria: Time to Learn from Putin.
19. The Economist: Russia and terrorism. Tolerance for casualties/ Russians’ stoicism gives Vladimir Putin time to work out a response.
20. www.rt.com: ‘Are you really journalists?’ Moscow slams Reuters for biased bombshell on Syria.
21. Russia Direct: Will the BRICS be part of the new wave of globalization? Russia Direct organized a round table on the future of the BRICS, bringing diplomats, investors, experts and academics together at the Russian Embassy in Washington to discuss the new challenges facing the world’s developing economies.
22. Russia Direct: The BRICS may be non-Western but they are not anti-Western. RD Interview: In the aftermath of the 2015 BRICS summit in Ufa, Fyodor Lukyanov, head of Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, discusses how the BRICS are evolving in response to changing geopolitical conditions. (July 2015)
23. Interfax: Most of investments into Russia in past year come from Asian market – Putin.
24. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russia to focus on economics, security at EAS summit in Kuala Lumpur. Russia’s will look for promote the Russian Far East as an investment destination at the upcoming East Asia Summit in Malaysia.
25. Washington Post: Robert Person, 6 reasons not to worry about Russia invading the Baltics.
26. Meduza: ‘Putin’s tactics may be brilliant’ ‘Meduza’ interviews Celeste Wallander, one of Barack Obama’s top advisors on Russia.
27. National Public Radio: Intelligence Community Rethinks Strategy After Russian Military Moves.
28. Eliot Borenstein: Plots against Russia (Book and Blog).

UKRAINE

29. Counterpunch.org: Halyna Mokrushyna, Perpetrators Honoring Their Victims, or An Incomprehensible Logic Concerning Donbas “Terrorists”
30. AFP: Initial ICC probe says no crimes against humanity at Ukraine’s Maidan.
31. Facebook: Ivan Katchanovski, Re ICC Report.
32. Ukraine Today: Special ops on trial for killing Euromaidan activists. Evidence points to Russian involvement in killing of protestors in central Kyiv on February 2014.
33. Ukraine Today: No proof yet of Russian traces in Maidan massacre – Ukraine’s Prosecutor General.
34. Ukraine Today: President Poroshenko says Russia was involved in shooting Euromaidan protesters. (February 2015)
35. Russia Beyond the Headlines: EU and Russia remain hostage to Ukrainian crisis as progress stalls. After modest progress made this fall on organizing elections in eastern Ukraine and the withdrawal of weaponry from the frontlines, talks on resolving the conflict in the Donbass region have again run into trouble, with the timeline for implementing the Minsk peace agreements to be extended into 2016. Where does this leave the peace process and is there a risk of the region sliding back into co
36. Politco.eu: Sergii Leshchenko, Journalists can save Ukraine. The war against corruption is a war for information.
37. Wall Street Journal: Ukraine to Receive Third Billion-Dollar Loan Guarantee From U.S.. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew praises Kiev’s reforms, but says more work is needed.
38. Forbes.com: Kenneth Rapoza, Fitch Ratings Hints Ukraine Bankruptcy Close As Kyiv Defaults.
39. TASS: Pre-default Ukraine to double military spending.
40. www.rt.com: EU urges Russia not to impose food embargo on Ukraine.
41. Washington Post: Grigore Pop-Eleches and Graeme Robertson, Ukraine isn’t unified yet. These 4 charts explain.
42. Kyiv Post editorial: Meaning of equality. (re anti-discrimination legislation)
43. Ukraine Today: Meeting on decommunisation in Ukraine’s Kharkiv ends in mass brawl as tempers flare.
44. Ukraine Today: Ukraine’s Decommunisation Progress: Residents of ‘Bolshevik’ village aren’t ready to rename hometown.
45. Politico.eu: Vijai Maheshwari, A Ukrainian mongrel. Welcome to Surzhyk, the lingua franca of a people who now shun Russian.
46. Voxukraine.org: Yuri Zhukov, The Economics of Rebellion in Eastern Ukraine.