RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2016-193 :: Tuesday, 18 October 2016

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#193
Tuesday, 18 October 2016
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1. Sputnik: Antares Rocket Takes Off to ISS. [DJ: This occurred in our back yard in Chincoteague, Virginia. Russian rockets engines.)
2. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Eurasia.Expert: Dmitry Yevstafyev, Why the U.S. thinks it could vanquish Russia in Syria without a fight. Despite the signs that the U.S. and Russia are on the verge of a military confrontation in Syria, Washington is counting on Moscow to back down in the event that it decides to intervene. However, this betrays a lack of understanding both of the significance of Syria for the Kremlin and of the way public opinion is formed in Russia.
3. Valdai Discussion Club: THOMAS GRAHAM ON OVERCOMING US-RUSSIA TENSIONS AND DEADLOCK (Video)
4. New York Times: A Senior Russian Envoy’s Take on Relations With the United States: ‘Pretty Bad.’ (UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin)
5. BBC Monitoring: Senior Russian diplomat says US acting like ape. (Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov)
6. Techdirt: Karl Bode, NBC Happily Parrots The CIA’s Case For Escalating Cyber War With Russia. From the putting-out-fires-by-burning-the-house-down dept.
7. Russia Direct: BRICS summit, Turkey and US elections. Russian media roundup: The annual BRICS Summit in India, Vladimir Putin’s visit to Turkey, and the second round of U.S. presidential debates all made headlines in Russia last week.
8. www.rt.com: High-ranking Kremlin official dismisses media report of planned ‘KGB revival.’ (Sergey Ivanov)
9. Paul Goble: Russians Increasingly Indifferent to Idea of ‘Russia for the Russians,’ Polls Show.
10. Kremlin.ru: Meeting on financing fundamental science.
11. TASS: Putin urges sustainable growth rates in Russian economy.
12. Interfax: Econ Ministry restores original GDP forecasts under baseline scenario – newspaper.
13. Reuters: Russian recovery likely to be drawn out and weak, says Fitch.
14. http://vestnikkavkaza.net: Russia’s inflation reaches record level.
15. Government.ru: The 30th session of the Foreign Investment Advisory Council in Russia. (Medvedev)
16. Russia Insider: Paul Goncharoff, The Moscow Stock Exchange Has Seen Incredible Growth. Today the MOEX ranks among the world’s top 20 exchanges by trading volume and total market cap of shares traded, and among the top 10 derivatives exchanges.
17. TASS: Minister: Sanctions do not prevent majority of foreign companies from working in Russia.
18. Oilprice.com: Exxon Has Lost Over $1 Billion From Russian Sanctions.
19. Valdai Discussion Club: Abdallah Al-Dardari, THE RISE OF RUSSIA: INESCAPABLE ACCOUNTABILITY IN A CONNECTED WORLD.
20. TASS: Russian researcher says without Chinese capital Syria will have no chance to rebuild.
21. Interfax: Militants in Syria receiving U.S.-made Tow anti-tank guided missile systems – Russian Defense Ministry.
22. Wall Street Journal: Bombing of Aleppo Paused to Allow Aid, Russia Says. Preparations are being made to let relief workers enter the Syrian city on Thursday, defense minister says.
23. The Independent (UK): Robert Fisk, When Mosul falls, Isis will flee to the safety of Syria. But what then? The entire Isis caliphate army could be directed against the Assad government and its allies – a scenario which might cause some satisfaction in Washington.
24. Consortiumnews.com: Robert Parry, Good Deaths in Mosul, Bad Deaths in Aleppo. As the U.S.-backed offensive in Mosul, Iraq, begins, the mainstream U.S. media readies the American people to blame the terrorists for civilian casualties but the opposite rules apply to Syria’s Aleppo.
25. TASS: RBS group says it is ready to discuss RT bank accounts – editor-in-chief.
26. www.rt.com: Bank didn’t decide to close RT accounts in Britain on its own – Lavrov.
27. www.rt.com: Bryan MacDonald, UK media & elite greet Russian Patriarch with suspicion and indignation.
28. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Is a war for the Arctic possible? The Arctic remains an area with low conflict potential, despite territorial disagreements and the current tension between Russia and the West. But to preserve this state of affairs, the international community must make serious efforts to work together.
29. Russia Insider: Marko Marjanovic, Is She in Putin’s Pocket Too?! Leaked Emails Show Clinton Praised Putin, Sought ‘Positive Relationship’! You really thought Putin would control just one of the two major presidential candidates?
30. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Simultaneous interpretation of Russian now possible on Skype. Skype Translator now offers Russian language for its service of real-time translation of calls.
31. The Diane Rehm Show (National Public Radio): WikiLeaks, Russia And The 2016 Presidential Race. (excerpt re hacking with NYT’s David Sanger and Brookings’ Fiona Hill)
32. Financial Times: Ivo Daalder, The best answer to Russian aggression is containment. Its greatest vulnerability is its economy, so strong sanctions will hurt.
33. Financial Times: Nick Butler, Can the oligarchs save Russia?
34. TASS: Russia’s influence on DPR has limits – Kremlin comments on militia commander’s murder.
35. BBC Monitoring: Russian press: Ukraine on war path after Motorola killing.
36. Sputnik: Ukraine’s Civil War Threatens to Expand to Directly Involve NATO, Russia.
37. Forbes.com: Kenneth Rapoza, How Corruption Corrodes Ukraine’s Economy.