RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2016-73 :: Monday, 18 April 2016

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#73
Monday, 18 April 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.
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RUSSIA

1. Ben Aris: JRL#71 response/Brian Whitmore.
2. Paul Goble: 15 Characteristics of Russian Propaganda.
3. Patrick Armstrong: Worthless Values.
4. Kremlin.ru: Answers to journalists’ questions following the Direct Line.
5. Russia Direct: Ivan Tsvetkov, Three controversial points from Putin’s ‘Direct Line’ call-in show. While the recent call-in show with Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t offer any big surprises, his answers suggest there are three important problems – the country’s economic situation, bureaucratic corruption and the plight of the Russian opposition – worth monitoring over the coming months.
6. TASS: Kremlin pledges Putin’s Q&A session was not choreographed beforehand.
7. Russia Direct: Dmitry Polikanov, Putin’s ‘Direct Line’ was surprising for how unsurprising it was. There were few surprises in this year’s “Direct Line” with President Vladimir Putin. Foreign policy issues took up little of the agenda, as Russia’s citizens appeared much more concerned with economic and social issues and a return to stability and consistency.
8. Carnegie Moscow Center: Tatyana Stanovaya, Putin, the Caring Candidate.
9. TASS: Form of cooperation between Kudrin, government suits both sides – Putin.
10. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, Vladimir Putin’s Approval Rating Appears To Have Peaked.
11. Bloomberg: Putin Swears Off Stimulus as Policy Mix Moves Toward ‘Orthodoxy’
12. Russia Insider/Komsomolskaya Pravda: Vladimir Vorsobin, Why Do We Keep Preserving the Body of Lenin? Preserving it will cost almost $200,000, but removing it from Red Square could split the country into Reds and Whites again, and that would be stupid.
13. Russia Insider/Fishki.net: 12 Symptoms That Diagnose a Russian Liberal. One alone is enough to understand why voters never send them to Parliament!
14. The Unz Review: The Saker, Putin Creates a Russian National Guard.
15. Sputnik: Russia Should Counter Information War in Run-Up to Elections.
16. Intellinews.com: Mark Galeotti, Bastrykin’s manifesto for the ‘North Koreanisation’ of Russia.
17. CNBC.com: Russia: Why the worst is over for our economy. (Anton Siluanov)
18. Reuters: New Russian Budget Rule to Be Based on $40-50/barrel Oil Price – Interfax.
19. New York Times: Russian Enclave Seen as a Fault Line of East-West Tensions. (Kaliningrad)
20. Russia Beyond the Headlines: U.S.-Russia Baltic Sea incident: Was there a risk of a military clash? The “buzzing” of an American destroyer in the Baltic Sea on April 11 and 12 by Russian Su-24 bombers led to a stormy reaction in the U.S., with Washington stating that the ship had the right to shoot down the Russian warplanes. Would this have led to a full conflict? RBTH answers this and other questions about the incident.
21. Dances With Bears: John Helmelr, BOY ON BURNING DECK – WHAT THE USS DONALD COOK AND THE POLISH NAVY WERE DOING OFF KALININGRAD WHEN THEY WERE BUZZED BY THE RUSSIAN AIRFORCE.
22. RFE/RL: Polish Minister Says Russia More Dangerous Than Islamic State.
23. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Comment by the Information and Press Department on the US Department of State’s report on adherence to and compliance with arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements and commitments.
24. Russia Insider/RIA Novosti: Fyodor Lukyanov, The G8 Epoch Is Over.
25. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin, Salusa Syriana.
26. Financial Times: Western sanctions ‘pushing Russia towards closer ties with China.’ Western sanctions are pushing Russia to explore deeper financial links with China, according to Moscow’s deputy finance minister.
27. Valdai Discussion Club: Anatol Lieven, OBAMA’S FOREIGN POLICY DOCTRINE. IF SO, HAS IT WORKED? PART 1
28. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, Were the Panama Papers Planted? Who Cares.
29. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin, Sovok Jews 4 Trump!
30. AP: Bolshoi’s New Director Promises the Best of Classical Ballet.
31. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Elena Potapova, 5 foolproof ways to identify Russians on holiday abroad. I will not waste your time describing boring images of Russians squandering money and wearing tawdry outfits on vacations abroad. You have probably already read such tropes a million times. Here I’d like to discuss the not so obvious, but no less true, signs that a tourist is from Russia.
32. Russia Insider: Despite Economic Crisis, Russian Happiness Index Skyrockets. 83% Russians feel happy, only 15% are dissatisfied with their life, while the economy is the main concern.
33. Meduza: ‘But I love Russia, and I love Russians’ Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul speaks to Meduza.

UKRAINE

34. Interfax: Less than half of Ukrainians support NATO membership – poll.
35. Facebook: Ivan Katchanovski, Maidan Snipers.
36. Russia Insider: Jon Hellevig, Meet Andriy Parubiy, the Former Neo-Nazi Leader Turned Speaker of Ukraine’s Parliament.
37. TASS: Moscow to take steps to return Russians sentenced to prison terms in Ukraine – consul.
38. Kyiv Post: IMF ready to continue supporting Ukraine.
39. New York Times editorial: The Next Chapter for Ukraine.
40. Washington Post editorial: Ukraine’s president consolidates his control.
41. Brookings: Steven Pifer, What Ukraine’s new prime minister is (and isn’t) likely to achieve.
42. Fort Russ: The US Will Not Fight for Donbass.
43. World Affairs: Ukraine: A Bridge Linking the West and Russia? Alexander Motyl interviews Jiri Valenta.

 

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

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