RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2016-232 :: Monday, 19 December 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-#232
Monday, 19 December 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 contributionswhinin from readers.
Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php – Donate Online: direct link

1. TASS: Kremlin appreciates Kissinger’s ‘character out of Dostoyevsky’ remark about Putin.
2. Interfax: Peskov: president has ‘crazy day and busy schedule’ on Monday.
3. Facebook: Fred Weir comment on “Russia hackers cracked Pentagon communications and seized emails of Barack Obama’s top military advisers.”
4. The National Interest: Graham Allison and Dimitri K. Simes, A Blueprint for Donald Trump to Fix Relations with Russia. A policy memo to the president-elect. Priority: high.
5. TASS: Putin hails government’s performance in 2016.
6. Kremlin.ru: Meeting with Government members.
7. Intellinews.com: Chris Weafer, Oil price and ruble exchange rate to determine Russian asset prices in 2017.
8. TASS: Putin predicts 2016 inflation will be lowest in 25 years in Russia.
9. http://theduran.com: Alexander Mercoueris, Russia’s inflation rate continues its plunge. Despite expected plunge in inflation to 5.5% by year end Russian Central Bank refuses to cut interest rates.
10. Financial Times: Substantial recovery still elusive for Russia economy. Rise in oil price provides boost but lack of reform and investment drags on demand.
11. Oilprice.com: Could Tillerson Open Up The Russian Arctic For Exxon Again?
12. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russia’s tech infrastructure scrutinized by international agency. UBI Global, an international research firm based in Stockholm, evaluated 72 incubator and accelerator programs established by Russian universities. How do the Russians differ from their international counterparts?
13. Russia Beyond the Headlines: 2016 in review: Top 5 political events. From the war in Syria to high-level corruption and doping scandals, here are the stories that shook up Russian politics in the past year.
14. Carnegie Moscow Center: Tatyana Stanovaya, Putin Bides His Time: The Kremlin’s Transition Strategy.
15. Deutsche Welle: Navalny is useful for Putin. Russia’s most famous opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, is running for president in 2018. That would be good for Russian democracy, but also for President Vladimir Putin, says Juri Rescheto.
16. www.rt.com: Opposition party PARNAS loses senior members as ex-PM Kasyanov keeps chairmanship.
7. Russia Direct: Ivan Tsvetkov, Why the woes of the European University at St. Petersburg matter. A university known for its embrace of Western ideas over the past 20 years now appears to be under pressure from the state. That could pose problems for Russia to modernize its educational system.
18. Russia Insider: Phil Butler, Why Did a Top Russian Liberal Racially Slur RT Chief Margarita Simonyan? A note on chivalry and against the new Russian “Bolshies”
19. www.rt.com: ‘No one in Russia plans to attack NATO’ – US envoy to alliance.
20. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, THE PEACEFUL CITY. (re Aleppo)
21. The Independent (UK): Patrick Cockburn, There’s more propaganda than news coming out of Aleppo this week. There was a period in 2011 and 2012 when there were genuinely independent opposition activists operating inside Syria, but as the jihadis took over these brave people were forced to flee abroad, fell silent or were dead.
22. http://theduran.com: Alexander Mercouris, Vladimir Putin outlines road map for Syrian peace settlement. Russia’s President Putin proposes a peace conference to seek a settlement of the Syrian conflict in the Kazakh capital Astana. Proposes Turkey as co-sponsor. Proposal however elicits hostile reaction from the Western powers.
23. www.rt.com: If Saddam had remained in power, rise of ISIS ‘improbable’ – Hussein’s CIA interrogator. (John Nixon)
24. Vedomosti: Russian experts see no possibility of Kurils compromise.
25. The Guardian (UK): Shaun Walker, Tragedy or triumph? Russians agonise over how to mark 1917 revolutions. The February uprising sparked a brief period of democratic rule before the Bolsheviks seized power – and the legacy of 1917 still divides the country.
26. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Leonid Brezhnev: General Secretary of stability and stagnation. Leonid Brezhnev, born 110 years ago, on Dec. 19, 1906, was head of Soviet Union for 18 years. The long Brezhnev era is now considered either an era of tranquil stability or a period of stagnation, depending on the viewpoint.
27. The Moscow Times: William Browder, Making the Case for Putin.
28. The Unz Review: Eric Margolis, Moscow Attacks!
29. New York Times: Masha Gessen, Arguing the Truth with Trump and Putin.
30. Sputnik: Dmitry Babich, Democracies? Where are Democracies?
31. Club Orlov: Dmitry Orlov, Brain Parasite Gonna Eatcha!
32. Interfax: DPR reports nearly 1,700 Ukrainian army attacks in past 24 hours.