RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2016-192 :: Monday, 17 October 2016

To inquire about a subscription to the full Johnson’s Russia List e-mail newsletter, e-mail David Johnson at davidjohnson@starpower.net

[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter]

Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#192
Monday, 17 October 2016
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.
JRL homepage: russialist.org – JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist – JRL on Twitter: @JohnsonRussiaLi
Support for JRL is provided in part by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York to the George Washington University and by voluntary contributions from readers.
Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php – Donate Online: direct link

1. The Guardian (UK): Antarctic marine reserves deal within reach as Russia thaws environmental stance. After five years of failed negotiations, conservations are hopeful Russia is prepared to make a deal to protect the Ross Sea and East Antarctica.
2. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, BOOK REVIEW: THE NEW POLITICS OF RUSSIA (re Andrew Monaghan)
3. BBC: Jonathan Marcus, Russia and the West: Where did it all go wrong?
4. Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Avoiding US-Russian clash over Syria priority – pundit. (Fyodor Lukyanov)
5. Facebook: Old Russia hands debate the pumpkin craze in Putin’s Russia. (Fred Weir, Greg Alton, and Matthew Fisher)
6. Newsweek.com: U.S. MULLING RETALIATORY CYBER ATTACK AGAINST RUSSIA: REPORT.
7. https://medium.com: Jeffrey Carr, Putin’s Response Options To U.S. Cyber Attack.
8. New York Times: Biden Hints at U.S. Response to Russia for Cyberattacks (excerpt). [Putin and Lavrov confess?]
9. Kremlin.ru: Russia Calling! Investment Forum (excerpt re Putin on hacking) [Or do they?]
10. www.rt.com: Putin on Biden cyberthreat: First time US admits such thing on highest level.
11. www.rt.com: ‘Maybe I said something wrong’: Putin mocks US surveillance during presser power blackout.
12. www.rt.com: Robert Bridge, US anti-Russia rhetoric goes nuclear with threats of covert cyber-attacks.
13. Reuters: Kremlin-Backed Broadcaster RT Says Loses UK Banking Services.
14. www.rt.com: ‘Get lost’: Moscow to keep counter sanctions & other highlights from Putin’s BRICS presser.
15. Kremlin.ru: Vladimir Putin answered questions from Russian journalists.
16. Russia Insider/Svobodnaya Pressa: Mikhail Delyagin, Is Yeltsin-Era ‘Reformer’ Chubais Scarier than War?Liberal reforms caused as much as or more damage to the country than war.
17. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Kremlin seeking to repatriate children of Russia’s elite, say reports. Amid growing tensions between Russia and the West, Russian media have reported that the children of officials who are living abroad will soon have to return to Russia.
18. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, FOREIGN EDUCATION.
19. Washington Post: David Filipov, Are the Russians really preparing for war?
20. BBC Monitoring: War with USA deemed unlikely by Russian TV.
21. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Putin adviser Ushakov’s job at risk as Kremlin shake-up continues. Russian experts and political bloggers are arguing over whether the impending dismissal of the Russian president’s adviser for international affairs Yury Ushakov speaks of the Kremlin’s desire to find a common language with the Clinton administration, or is simply part of the ongoing renewal of Putin’s inner circle.
22. Wall Street Journal: Fitch Revises Russia Outlook to Stable. Russia less likely to default on financial obligations, ratings firm says, citing a mild economic recovery.
23. Russia Insider/Komsomolskaya Pravda: Russia Is on the Way to Becoming World Food Hegemon. 5 key developments in Russian agriculture.
24. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Can BRICS-2016 help Russia dismiss claims of global isolation? Vladimir Putin has been extended a warm welcome in Goa for the BRICS summit, which also includes outreach meetings with Southeast Asian countries. Experts, however, remain divided over how much Russia actually can gain from the meetings.
25. Asia Times: M.K. Bhadrakumar, India and Russia are enjoying a second honeymoon.
26. Russia Direct: Sergey Markedonov, Following the swing of the Russian-Turkish pendulum. The recent warming of relations between Moscow and Ankara does not necessarily mean that the two will work together to form a new alliance. Deep geopolitical differences between the countries still exist, and even economic agreements are unlikely to prevent future clashes of national interests.
27. Carnegie Moscow Center: Alexey Arbatov, The Ominous End of the Russia-U.S. Plutonium Agreement. Moscow is trying to rattle Washington by projecting its political and military might as the most dangerous crisis develops in U.S.-Russian relations since the Cold War era. The suspension of the 2000 plutonium agreement may threaten a whole range of nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation treaties.
28. Valdai Discussion Club: IF THE USSR HAD NOT COLLAPSED…VIEWS FROM RUSSIA AND CHINA.
29. Wall Street Journal: Douglas Smith, Not Beautiful at the Bolshoi Ballet. Simon Morrison’s ‘Bolshoi Confidential’ reveals the scandal, intrigue, rivalry and back-stabbing at Russia’s most fabled cultural institution.
30. Consortiumnews.com: Robert Parry, NYT’s Absurd New Anti-Russian Propaganda. The New York Times is so determined to generate hate against Russia that it has lost all journalistic perspective, even portraying Russia’s military decoys – like those used in World War II – as uniquely evil.
31. Washington Post: Jackson Diehl, Putin’s hope to ignite a Eurasia-style protest in the United States.
32. Time: Masha Gessen, Trump Can’t Make Russia Our Friend. ‘Russia is effectively in a state of war with the U.S.’
33. Paul Goble: Russians Now Killing Doctors as Aggressiveness Spreads throughout Population, Commentator Says.
34. Wall Street Journal: Robert Kaplan, What Can the Next President Do About Russia? Moscow sees its ‘near abroad’ as one operational theater. To end the stalemate in Syria, exert NATO pressure in Eastern Europe.
35. Awful Avalanche: Motorola’s Assassination: This Means War – Part I.
36. RFE/RL: Ukrainian Nationalists Stage Torchlight March In Kyiv As New Far-Right Party Is Born.
37. www.foreignpolicy.com: Campfire Songs and Kalashnikovs. Welcome to the nationalist Azov Battalion’s camp for kids, where young Ukrainian patriots train for battle and sing songs about death to Russians.
38. Interfax: If paid timely, Russia ready to supply Ukraine with gas it needs to safely go through winter – Russian energy minister.
39. Facebook: Ivan Katchanovski, Maidan Massacre.
40. www.opendemocracy.net: Tetiana Bezruk, Ukraine’s ministry of internal hatred. Ukrainian citizens displaced following the outbreak of conflict in the Donbas are still fighting for their rights – and public officials are using them as scapegoats.
41. The National Interest: Dimitri K. Simes, Pratik Chougule, and Paul J. Saunders, Course Correction. America needs a foreign policy that abandons triumphalist clichés, flawed assumptions and predetermined conclusions in favor of facts and serious analysis.