RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-16 :: Tuesday, 23 January 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#15
Tuesday, 23 January 2018
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1. Los Angeles Times: Eugene Rumer, Our national obsession with Russia is preventing sane debate.
2. Paul Goble: Washington’s ‘Kremlin Report’ Marks End of an Era in International Relations, Shevtsova Says.
3. Financial Times: Russian bank chief warns of growing risk of conflict in Europe. Andrei Kostin says build up of arms could spark an ‘accident’ between Nato and Russian forces.
4. Carnegie Moscow Center/Vedomosti: Andrey Movchan, Navalny’s Blinkered Economic Program. Most of Navalny’s economic proposals are seriously concerning and evocative of left-wing populist slogans. The policy platform contains outright errors, but its greatest problem is that it attacks all vocal parts of society in favor of a mythical “people.” Attracting voters with such a platform will prove to be difficult.
5. Interfax: Presidential candidate Yavlinsky’s public support HQ gets three co-chairs.
6. Russiafeed.com: Nick Ivanov, The West doesn’t realize how moderate Vladimir Putin really is. Who Vladimir Putin truly is, and why you should thank God he’s president and not a more extreme candidate.
7. http://theduran.com: Seraphim Hanisch, Vladimir Putin portrayed as national saviour during Russian Presidential race. Increasingly visible alignment with the Russian Orthodox Church is shift away from macho image of the past.
8. Orthodox Christianity: PERCENTAGE OF RUSSIANS CONDEMNING ABORTION HAS TRIPLED IN 20 YEARS.
9. Politkom.ru: Pundit says Russian election campaign enters ‘active phase.’ (Tatiana Stanovaya)
10. Novaya Gazete: Russian paper says candidates ‘outraged’ by unequal access to media.
11. Bloomberg: Putin Won’t Tell Voters How He’ll Pay for Domestic Spending.
12. Vice.com: GOP SENATORS ARE GETTING SOME RUSSIA SANCTION IDEAS FROM ANTI-PUTIN YOUTUBE VIDEOS. (re Alexei Navalny)
13. Paul Goble: Russians So Overwhelmingly Apolitical that Poll Numbers are Meaningless, Kagarlitsky Says.
14. Vesti.ru: They’re Hacking the Elections! Svoboda Radio Spreads Propaganda in Run-Up to March 18.
15. TASS: IMF names Russia among sources of global GDP acceleration.
16. Intellinews.com: Russia’s Watcom Shopping index finished on a high after disappointing year.
17. www.rt.com: Davos 2018: Russia’s economic growth driving foreign investor interest.
18. CNBC.com: Russia has ‘learned its lesson’ about oil price volatility, wealth fund chief says.Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos, RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev eemphasized the importance of diversification in the Russian economy.
19. Bloomberg: Why the U.S. Is Buying Natural Gas From Russia.
20. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, THE NATIONAL INTEREST?
21. TASS: Kommersant: US calls on EU to support new sanctions against Russian elite.
22. Carnegie Moscow Center: Andrey Devyatkov, An EU-Russia Modus Vivendi in the East? There are signs that the EU and Russia are managing their relations better in their common neighborhood. Neither has achieved its ambitions in countries such as Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. Although a “grand bargain” is not possible at the moment, the two sides have a common interest in halting a deterioration in relations.
23. TASS: Russians name their icons and heroes of the 20th century.
24. Russia Beyond: ‘To avoid a new war’: How Stalin pitched the idea of joining NATO.
25. Washington Post: Community Deaths: Keith Bush, Russia specialist.
26. The Mirror (UK): Putin to deploy ‘canine KGB death squads’ to butcher thousands of stray dogs in football World Cup host cities, claim campaigners.
27. The Daily Beast: Amy Knight, Was This Russian General Murdered Over the Steele Dossier? The notorious dossier on Trump that Republicans want to discredit may well have been credible enough in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s eyes to get at least one person killed.
28. Washington Post: Jennifer Rubin, ‘Collusion’ can be mere cooperation – and there was lots of that.
29. Wall Street Journal: William McGurn, The Curious Case of Adam Schiff. The one man in America uninterested in whether the Steele dossier is true or not.
30. New York Post: Paul Sperry, It looks like the ‘James Bond’ behind the dossier let a Putin pawn do all the work.
31. Antiwar.com: Justin Raimondo, Russsia-Gate Implodes. The real “collusion” is the alliance of foreign actors and the Democrats.

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