RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-19 :: Monday, 29 January 2018

St. Basil's Domes

To inquire about a subscription to the full Johnson’s Russia List e-mail newsletter, e-mail David Johnson at davidjohnson@starpower.net

[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter]

Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#19
Monday, 29 January 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.
JRL homepage: russialist.org – JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist – JRL on Twitter: @JohnsonRussiaLi
Support for JRL is provided in part by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York to the George Washington University and by voluntary contributions from readers.
Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.phpDonate Online: direct link

1. Moscow Times: Birth Rate Hits 10-Year Low in Russia.
2. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, BOOK REVIEW: ORDERS TO KILL. (re Orders to Kill: The Putin Regime and Political Murder by Amy Knight)
3. Wall Street Journal: Putin Sells Voters on Economic Turnaround, Even a Small One. As he runs for another term, president claims credit for uptick after country’s dismal oil-based recession.
4. Intersection: Stepan Goncharov, Who is Optimistic About the Future of Russia – And Why? A recent survey looks at what specific factors underpin an average Russian optimist’s worldview.
5. Carnegie Moscow Center: Andrey Pertsev, The Grudinin Effect: A Populist Shakes up Russian Politics.
6. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, Opposition activist Navalny arrested as thousands protest ahead of Russian presidential elections.
7. Meduza: ‘The road to the Kremlin is closed due to technical difficulties’ How Navalny’s ‘Voters’ Boycott’ rally went down in Moscow this Sunday.
8. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin, Russia Elections 2018: Navalny’s “Elections Boycott” Protest Fizzles.
9. Washington Post: Today’s anti-Putin protests weren’t huge. But they showed the breadth of simmering Russian discontent.
10. Russiafeed.com: Putin opposition leader Navalny arrested in Moscow on Sunday – but is it news? The American press tries to herald ‘dissident’ Alexei Navalny as a popular hero, but the reality is far from spectacular.
11. Financial Times: Putin opponents face dilemma over call to boycott election. Navalny’s exclusion leaves only candidates who pose no threat to president.
12. The Nation: Tony Wood, Why There’s So Little Suspense Ahead of Russia’s March Presidential Elections. It’s widely assumed Putin will win. The real question is what will happen in six years, and whether the authoritarian system first established by Boris Yeltsin will persist.
13. PONARS Eurasia: Yana Gorokhovskaia, Grassroots Capacity Building: Why Municipal Politics in Moscow are Important Signposts of Russia’s Democratic Development. (excerpt)
14. Vesti.ru: The Russian Elections Are Right Around the Corner – Here What the Candidates Have to Say!
15. Bloomberg: Leonid Ragozin, Putin’s Enemies Exploit Growing Rural Anger With the Kremlin. The presidential election is a lost cause for opponents, but poverty and corruption may be turning once-reliable supporters against him.
16. Paul Goble: Few Russians Think ‘Era of Oligarchs’ is Over.
17. Rethinking Russia Alexander Konkov, Vladimir Putin Suggests Solutions to Problems of Russia’s Muslim Ummah.
18. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, Russia Inc goes into profit as the budget breakeven price for oil falls to $53.
19. www.rt.com: Russian economy under Putin: Quality of life tripled, foreign debt fell 75%.
20. Bloomberg: Leonid Ragozin, When Russian Officials ‘Nightmare’ Your Business, You Can Lose Everything-Even Your Life. If a well-connected rival wants somebody’s law practice or tech startup, there’s a fair chance he can get it. Here’s the latest twist on these assaults.
21. www.rt.com: Bryan MacDonald, Joe Biden again claims Russia is in ‘enormous decline’ – but he’s completely wrong.
22. Russian International Affairs Council: Igor Ivanov, Russia and Europe: From Romanticism to Pragmatism.
24. Moscow Times: David Filipov, The Adaquete American Leaves Russia . I went on Russian TV where “Western” guests are brought on to be ridiculed to see what it was like.
25. Moscow Times: Jon Huntsman, We Can and Must Improve Ties With Russia . For a better future for Russians, Americans and the world, we have to begin to find solutions to the common problems.
26. Interfax: Ambassador Huntsman hoping for more meetings with Russian officials to normalize dialogue.
27. Interfax: Trump would like to see relations with Russia improved – U.S. ambassador to Russia.
28. Washington Times: Edward Lozansky, The poor state of U.S.-Russia relations does not serve American interests.
29. Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Russian pundit views US new defence strategy. (Fyodor Lukyanov)
30. China.org.cn: Sajjad Malik, America in search of new threats.
31. Carnegie Moscow Center: Dmitri Trenin, Avoiding U.S.-Russia Military Escalation During the Hybrid War. (excerpt)
32. Facebook: Michael Kofman, Hybrid War.
33. Washington Post: Dina Smeltz, New poll shows Russians are defiant in face of U.S. sanctions.
34. www.rt.com: Sanctions anyone? US receives Russian LNG shipment, 2nd tanker reported on its way (VIDEO)
35. Russia Matters: Oksana Antonenko, US-Russia-Turkey Dynamics in Syria After ‘Olive Branch’: One Door Closes, Another Opens. (excerpt)
36. New York Times: Lev Golinkin, How the Holocaust Haunts Eastern Europe.
37. Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA): Report: Ukraine had more anti-Semitic incidents than all former Soviet countries combined.
38. Intellinews.com: Anders Aslund, Russia and Ukraine: More similar than either wants to admit.
39. http://theduran.com: Alexander Mercouris, Storm clouds gather over Ukraine. As economy sinks Ukraine’s belligerent law on Donbass, point to growing instability and a return to war.
40. CNN.com: Nick Paton Walsh, The Russia threat is real — and it matters.
41. The Hill: Facebook tells Congress it can’t prove or disprove Trump-Russia collusion.
42. https://steemit.com: 10 Reasons The Dutch-Russia Hacking Story Is Fake News.
43. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, Release the Dutch Evidence of the DNC Hack. If the Dutch intelligence service watched the Russians breach the Democratic National Committee, there’s no more reason to hide the evidence.
44. Wall Street Journal editorial: Fusion’s Russian Dirty Work. How the firm sought to discredit an anti-Kremlin activist.

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

Map of CIS Central Asia and Environs

Eurasia Map

Comment