RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-105 :: Monday, 11 June 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#105 :: Monday, 11 June 2018
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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1. Bear Market Brief: A new wave of deurbanization is revitalizing Russian villages.
2. The Telegraph (UK): Russians taught how to smile ahead of World Cup.
3. Deutsche Welle: Are Russia’s soccer fans dangerous? In the West, many people are wondering if mass brawls among fans will mark the World Cup in Russia. Russian fans have a negative image in Europe, with many remembering the riots in Marseille during the 2016 European Cup.
4. The Spectator (UK): Owen Matthews, Putin says he’s making Russia great again. In reality, it’s crumbling. The country has been bolstered by European disunity but that obscures a multitude of ills.
5. The Times (UK): David Dimbleby on a Russia in crisis and the holes in President Putin’s defence. With coercion and cunning propaganda, the president has kept Russians in line. But on a pre-World Cup visit David Dimbleby finds money is running out and the Kremlin’s cultivation of a siege mentality is starting to backfire.
6. Irish Times: Playing the World Cup in Putin’s Russia is a grotesque sham. Allowing Russia to be hosts helps normalise its outrageous actions over the last decade. [irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/playing-the-world-cup-in-putin-s-russia-is-a-grotesque-sham-1.3525678]
7. Vox.com: There’s actually lots of evidence of Trump-Russia collusion. The untenability of the “no collusion” talking point.
8. www.rt.com: Patriotism in Russia at highest level in 18 years – poll.
9. Awful Avalanche: Russian Patriotism – Sociological Survey – Part I.
10. Russia Insider: Dmitry Orlov, I Watched Putin’s Entire 4 Hour Q+A With the Russian People – He Even Answered My Question. [Text with videos: russia-insider.com/en/politics/i-watched-putins-entire-4-hour-qa-russian-people-he-even-answered-my-question/ri23749]
11. Vedomosti: Experts warn Kremlin governor nominees of election struggle
12. Russian and Eurasian Politics: Gordon Hahn, Snyder’s Distortions of Ilyin.
13. Politico.eu: In Russia, change will come from grassroots. As Vladimir Putin cracks down on civil society, activists need EU support.
14. Off-Guardian: Tony Kevin, How the West continues to fatally misunderstand Russia & Putin. [off-guardian.org/2018/06/09/how-the-west-continues-to-fatally-misunderstand-russia-putin/]
15. Sputnik: Gulag Camp Files Are ‘Kept Forever’ – Russian Deputy Minister.
16. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, SOFT POWER.
17. http://usforeignpolicy.blogs.lalibre.be: Gilbert Doctorow, Russian Soft Power on Display. The International Forum on Development of Parliamentarism, Moscow, 4-5 June 2018. (excerpt) [Full text: usforeignpolicy.blogs.lalibre.be/archive/2018/06/10/russian-soft-power-on-display-1167543.html]
18. Kremlin.ru: Video address on the occasion of the 2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony
19. Financial Times: Max Seddon, Russian football struggles to score on and off pitch. World Cup comes at nadir for national side that reflects problems in domestic game.
20. Moscow Times: Marc Bennetts, Russia’s Forgotten Football Dreams.
21. www.rt.com: Let’s stop ‘babbling’ and get back to real work: Putin fires back at G7 criticism on Russia.
22. Interfax: Moscow prefers G20 to G8, has not asked to return – minister.
23. PBS Newshour: Ryan Chilcote, How the G-7 looks from Russia.
24. The American Conservative: Daniel DePetris, Washington Melts Down Over Prospect of Trump-Putin Meeting. Statecraft is not like elementary school, and we can’t keep the Russians in ‘time out’ forever. 
25. Valdai Discussion Club: Feng Shaolei, WHY DO THE CHINESE ADMIRE PUTIN?
26. Asia Times: Pepe Escobar, How Singapore, Astana and St Petersburg preview a new world order. Key economic forums in cities across Eurasia point the way to new power structures rising to challenge Western dominance. [Text with links: atimes.com/article/how-singapore-astana-and-st-petersburg-preview-a-new-world-order/]
27. www.rt.com: Bryan MacDonald, Atlantic Council: Pro-NATO pressure group uses distortions to fight ‘disinformation’ [Text with links: rt.com/news/429171-atlantic-council-disinfo-group/]
28. AFP: Anya Tsukanova, Falling for a lie. [re Kiev’s invented Babchenko’s death]
29. www.rt.com: Russian Foreign Ministry blames West for provoking Ukraine into new Donbass war.
30. Russia Beyond: How not to blow your cover as a CIA spy in Russia.
31. The American Conservative: Jeff Groom, 40 Years Ago Today: When Solzhenitsyn Schooled Harvard. The famed, exiled author of the “Gulag Archipelago” took the West to task for, of all things, too much liberty.
32. Financial Times: John Thornhill, The dark humanity of ‘The War Within’, Alexis Peri’s Pushkin House prize-winner. Peri’s book, a remarkable record of 125 unpublished diaries written during the siege of Leningrad, examines morality in the face of horror.

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