RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-128 :: Friday, 13 July 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#128
Friday, 13 July 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. Russia Beyond: Everything you ever wanted to know ab out Russian dachas. [Text with photos and links: rbth.com/lifestyle/328741-what-russian-dacha]
2. Carnegie Moscow Center: Dmitri Trenin, Détente Revisited in Helsinki. Helsinki will mark the first détente in the four-year-old Hybrid War between Russia and the United States. But there will be no major breakthrough. President Putin regards a meeting with the U.S. president not as a reward but as a resumption of normal business.
3. Foreign Affairs: Michael Kimmage, The Surprising Promise of the Trump-Putin Summit. The Real Opportunity Behind the Media Spectacle.
4. Reuters: Trump to talk to Russia’s Putin about substantially reducing nuclear weapons.
5. The Unz Review: Robert Roth, Trump’s Summit with Putin Could Reduce Risk of Nuclear War. [Text with links: unz.com/article/trumps-summit-with-putin-could-reduce-risk-of-nuclear-war/]
6. Moscow Times: Vladimir Frolov, What to Expect From The Helsinki Summit . Both presidents are entering with high hopes, but Russia has more to gain that the United States.
7. Russia Matters: Survey: What Can We Expect From the Trump-Putin Summit?
8. Washington Post: Joshua Tucker, Will it be ‘happy talk’ – or will Trump and Putin focus on arms control and other critical issues? (interview with Michael McFaul)
9. Harper’s Magazine: Alexander Cockburn, How to Start a Nuclear War. The increasingly direct road to ruin.
10. Carnegie Moscow Center: Alexander Baunov, Lucky With Trump: Putin Prepares for Helsinki. The Kremlin is seeking ways of de-escalating tensions with the West without making major concessions. It sees the isolationist unpredictable Trump as a partner in this endeavor.
11. Washington Post: David Ignatius, Better relations with Russia are a worthy goal. But at what price? Trump seems unaware that he may be seen as rewarding Vladimir Putin for bad behavior.
12. New York Times: Stephen Sestanovich, The Art of Containing Trump (and Putin).
13. www.paulcraigroberts.org: Paul Craig Roberts,The View of Russia in the West. [Text with links: paulcraigroberts.org/2018/07/10/the-view-of-russia-in-the-west-paul-craig-roberts/]
14. Russia Insider: Andrei Martyanov, Why Trump Will Return Empty-Handed From Helsinki. Russia isn’t in a very compromising mood right now, the US doesn’t have much Moscow wants, and besides the Russians regard the US as agreement-incapable.
15. AP: Analysis: Iran Role in Syria Key Item at Trump-Putin Summit.
16. Indian Punchline: M.K.Bhadrakumar, Russia can mediate a grand bargain on Syria.
17. Financial Times: Russia ready to invest $50bn in Iran’s energy industry. Moscow and Tehran seek stronger links just as US tries to isolate Islamic republic.
18. Washington Post: Josh Rogin, Trump and Putin may be about to make a terrible deal on Syria. A bad deal would worsen conditions for the Syrian people, the region and America’s security.
19. Valdai Discussion Club: Oleg Barabanov, TRUMP AS A HAWK AT THE NATO SUMMIT.
20. The Nation: Benjamin Schwarz, It’s Time to Disrupt NATO. But not for the reasons Trump gives.
21. Counterpunch.org: Brian Cloughley, Lessons That Should Have Been Learned From NATO’s Destruction of Libya.
[Text with links: counterpunch.org/2018/07/13/lessons-that-should-have-been-learned-from-natos-destruction-of-l/]
22. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, Russia’s finance ministry raising trillions of rubles to pay for Putin’s May decree plan.
23. TASS: Russia’s energy chief blames US trade war for current oil prices.
24. Reuters: World Cup’s spirit of openness rubs off on some Russians.
25. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, QUESTIONS FOR THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT (re visas)
26. TASS: Nezavisimaya Gazeta: EU citizens finding it harder to obtain Russian visas.
27. https://halfreeman.wordpress.com: Hal Freeman, FOOTBALL, POLITICS AND LIFE IN RUSSIA. [Text with links: halfreeman.wordpress.com/2018/07/12/football-politics-life-in-russia/]
28. 38 North: Kenneth Dekleva, Putin, Trump and North Korea: The Road to Washington Leads Through Asia.
29. Interfax: Pardon request sent by Sentsov’s mother to Putin to be processed as soon as it is received – Peskov.
30. www.rt.com: ‘Highly likely thing’ becomes a rule in West’s Russia policy – Lavrov on Larry King show.
31. www.craigmurray.org.uk: Craig Murray, The Holes in the Official Skripal Story.[craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/07/the-holes-in-the-official-skripal-story/]
32. The Blogmire: Rob Slane, British Government Chairs Emergency Meeting of COBRA to Discuss the Sinister Discovery That Russia Isn’t Mordor. [theblogmire.com/british-government-chairs-emergency-meeting-of-cobra-to-discuss-the-sinister-discovery-that-russia-isnt-mordor/]
33. Sputnik: ‘Circus’ at US Congress as FBI Agent Accused of Anti-Trump Bias Testifies. [Text with graphics: sputniknews.com/amp/us/201807121066304870-Circus-Congress-FBI-Anti-Trump-Bias/?__twitter_impression=true]

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