RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-140 :: Tuesday, 31 July 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#140
Tuesday, 31 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. Observer.com: John Schindler, There’s Nothing New About Trump’s Russian Spy Problem.
2. www.rt.com: Most Russians approve of Putin’s performance and country’s general direction, poll shows.
3. TASS: Poll reveals what Russians think of GMOs, HIV and vaccinations.
4. The National Interest: Dimitri Alexander Simes, A Russian Perspective On Foreign Affairs: An Interview with Konstantin Zatulin. Is Vladimir Putin truly on a mission to resurrect the Russian empire or the Soviet Union?
5. Moscow Times: Eugene Rumer, Russia Is Winning – or Is It? Russian critics of the West should ask themselves what it will be like if China supplants the West as the global rule-maker.
6. TASS: Izvestia: Risk of recession in Russia down to 20%, experts forecast.
7. TASS: Russia’s top prison warden vows to punish anyone responsible for brutality cases.
8. Interfax: Venediktov quit Ekho board of directors to avoid conflict of interest over radio station’s budget.
9. www.rt.com: PM Medvedev announces Crimea’s full integration into Russian Federation.
10. www.rt.com: Russian rocket engines to continue launching America into space.
11. CNN.com: Russia dumped 84% of its American debt. What that means.
12. The National Interest: Christian Whiton, Did Russia Tip the 2016 Election to Donald Trump? It is unlikely that Moscow’s actions had any real impact on the 2016 election or U.S. politics.
13. www.aljazeera.com: Leonid Ragozin, Why the Russia hysteria in the US is dangerous. The US exaggerating and obsessing about foreign threats seems quite similar to what is happening in Russia.
14. Kennan Institute: Anna Arutunyan, Optics, Then Disappointment: Trump Can’t Deliver Much to Putin.
15. Lobe Log: Mark Katz, Putin Benefits From Trump’s Anti-Iran Sanctions.
16. Foreign Policy: Alexander Bick and Brian Katulis, Trump Should Work With Putin to Develop a New Framework for Syria. U.S.-Russia relations have reached a generational low-but there’s still room for cooperation to avert a wider war in the Middle East.
17. www.aljazeera.com: Marwan Kabalan, Russia’s endgame in Syria: Iran for Ukraine? Russia wants to use the gains it made in Syria as a bargaining chip with the US on Ukraine and the economic sanctions.
18. Valdai Discussion Club: Andrei Korobkov, SUZERAIN-VASSALS RELATIONS: HOW TRUMP SHAPES HIS EUROPEAN POLICY.
19. AP: Russian secret-spilling site Dossier steps into spotlight.
20. Interfax: Almost 80% of Belarusians don’t have negative attitude towards EU – poll.
21. Awful Avalanches: Moscow Celebrates Baptism, Rejects Autocephaly – Part IV. [awfulavalanche.wordpress.com/2018/07/31/moscow-celebrates-baptism-rejects-autocephaly-part-iv/]
22. Daily Beast: Andrew Nagorski, Farewell to Vladimir Voinovich, the Satirist Who Mocked the Soviet Union and Predicted Putin. His novels earned him exile from Russia, and then he was welcomed back, but Voinovich was always a thorn in the side of the powerful.
23. Salon.com: Andrew O’Hehir, Bill Browder and Vladimir Putin: A tangled tale of two nations, two centuries and a lot of history. Behind this week’s Helsinki headlines lies a fascinating mystery with deep roots and many unanswered questions.
24. Salon.com: Andrew MacLeod, How the Russia scandal became an excuse to crack down on dissent. Whatever the facts about Trump and Russia, mainstream media and Democrats have used the scandal to attack the left.

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