RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-145 :: Wednesday, 8 August 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#145
Wednesday, 8 August 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. www.rt.com: RT receives Emmy nomination for haunting reports on war-ravaged Mosul. [Text with photos and video https://www.rt.com/news/435357-rt-emmy-mosulsos-mosul/]
2. Russia Matters: Simon Saradzhyan, When Does Vladimir Putin’s Russia Send In Troops? [Text with links and chart https://www.russiamatters.org/analysis/when-does-vladimir-putins-russia-send-troops]
3. Real Clear Politics: Daniel Mahoney, Post-Communist Russia Is Not the Soviet Union. [https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/08/07/post-communist_russia_is_not_the_soviet_union_137730.html]
4. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, Russian growth is stymied by a crisis of confidence. [Text with charts http://www.intellinews.com/russian-growth-is-stymied-by-a-crisis-of-confidence-146513/?source=russia]
5. Intellinews.com: Russian Audit Chamber to get stronger anti-corruption mandate.
6. TASS: Russia’s Central Election Commission approves retirement age referendum questions.
7. The American Interest: Aaron Schwaartzbaum, Putin’s Pension Headache. For the Russian President and his team, social security reform is no walk in the park.

Putin’s Pension Headache


8. Financial Times: Russian ‘mood swing’ points to trouble for Putin. Disgruntled public no longer seems willing to put patriotism before wellbeing.
9. New York Times: Putin’s Monolithic Party Shows Cracks Over Pension Cutbacks.
10. The Independent (UK): Alexander Lebedev, Russia can build on the sense of national cohesion we saw during the World Cup. It is a shame that some of those who made their fortunes in their home country now choose to have nothing to do with the Russian state. [independent.co.uk/voices/russia-world-cup-moscow-russian-property-london-andrei-borodin-national-pride-a8475886.html]
11. TASS: Russia calls to abandon doubtful methods in drug addiction treatment.
12. TASS: Kommersant: US anti-Russia bill restrains Donald Trump rather than Moscow.
13. Bear Market Brief: Defending America Against Kremlin Aggression Act. (text) [reporting on: https://www.kommersant.ru/docs/2018/_2018d140-Menendez-Russia-Sanctions-Bill.pdf]
14. TASS: Politico: Putin offered Trump a number of arms control initiatives at Helsinki summit.
15. Politico.com: Leaked document: Putin lobbied Trump on arms control. A list of issues he shared with Trump in Helsinki suggests Russia wants to continue traditional nuclear talks with the U.S. – but doesn’t answer all questions about their meeting. [Text with links https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/07/putin-trump-arms-control-russia-724718]
16. War on the Rocks: William Potter and Sarah Bidgoog, THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF THE COLD WAR: U.S.-SOVIET COOPERATION ON NONPROLIFERATION. [warontherocks.com/2018/08/the-good-old-days-of-the-cold-war-u-s-soviet-cooperation-on-nonproliferation/]
17. Meduza: ‘It’s our time to serve the Motherland’ How Russia’s war in Georgia sparked Moscow’s modern-day recruitment of criminal hackers.
18. TASS: Kommersant: US unofficially finds Saakashvili guilty of starting 2008 war.
19. www.rt.com: Bryan MacDonald, Was the modern concept of ‘fake news’ born in Georgia a decade ago? [rt.com/op-ed/435414-fake-news-ossetia-conflict/]
20. Moon of Alabama: Repost: Saakashvili Wants War? He Will Get It. (repost from 2008) [moonofalabama.org/2018/08/repost-saakashvili-wants-war-he-will-get-it.html#comments]
21. Wall Street Journal: Mikheil Saakashvili, When Russia Invaded Georgia. It happened in 2008 and foretold a decade of Putin’s adventurism.
22. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Comment by the Information and Press Department on the 10th anniversary of the August 2008 events in the Caucasus.
http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/3315007
23. www.rt.com: Russian diplomats urge Georgia to sign non-aggression treaty with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
24. TASS: Timoshenko remains favorite among Ukraine’s possible 2019 contenders, survey suggests.
25. Forward: Hannay Rosenthal, Global Neo-Nazism Is Increasing. Why Is The State Department Anti-Semitism Envoy Position Still Vacant? (re New York Times coverage of Ukraine)
26. Reuters: U.S. Think Tank’s Tiny Lab Helps Facebook Battle Fake Social Media.
27. www.zerohedge.com: Tyler Durden, A Four Person NATO-Funded Team Advises Facebook On Flagging “Propaganda”
28. Sic Semper Tyrannis: Christopher Steele, FBI’s Confidential Human Source by Publius Tacitus.
29. The Daily Beast: Amy Knight, This Russian Spy Agency is in the Middle of Everything. Only a few years ago, the GRU looked like it might be dissolved. But Putin found new uses for it: covert war in Ukraine and ‘active measures’ that helped Trump get elected.
30. Washington Post: Robert Kagan, Believe it or not, Trump’s following a familiar script on Russia. The West has spent a decade playing into Putin’s hands.
31. Washington Post: Michael Morrell, Putin is afraid of one thing. Make him think it could happen. To protect our democracy, more steps, and stronger ones, are urgently needed.
32. Washington Post: Christian Caryl, The Russia that Republicans love doesn’t exist.
33. Washington Post: Ala Creciun Graff, 100 years later, Russia is still revising the story of the imperial family’s execution by Red Army guards.

 

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